From Dead Meat to a Heartbeat
Text: Ephesians 2:1-10
OPEN WITH THANKS AND PRAYER
Well good morning to you all. It’s so good to be gathered with the Church on this Lord’s Day. I’m so thankful that we all have chosen to be obedient to God’s Word and not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together – especially because we see the Day of the Lord approaching.
Let’s go ahead and open up our Bible’s to Ephesians chapter two. We’re going to be looking at familiar passage, one that probably many of you could quote by memory, and we’re going to read through it, and spread it out like puzzle pieces from a box, and hopefully by the end of the sermon we’ll have a fully assembled puzzle that displays a beautiful picture of God’s glory, and His amazing grace – Amen!
(READ Ephesians 2:1-10)
Now Paul is writing to the Christians in Ephesus here, and in chapter one he’s talked to them about the spiritual blessings that they now have in Christ Jesus – he tells them in chapter one that God has blessed them with every spiritual blessing in Christ – so you’ve got to be in Christ to get these blessings… and the way that happens is that… (Ephesians 1:4) God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world so that we would be holy and blameless before Him… Then he tells us that it was “In Love” that God predestined us for the adoption as sons – TO HIMSELF – THROUGH JESUS – In accordance with HIS will. It’s not of him who runs or of him who wills, but of God who has mercy upon whomever HE wills. Paul tells us that it’s by being in Christ that we have redemption – that we’ve been bought back – bought away from our previous master – which is sin… we’ve been redeemed, and the price for that redemption was the blood of Jesus, which also washes away our sin and makes it so that we can be forgiven and in right standing with God the Father. Paul goes on and says (Vs. 11), BECAUSE we’ve been predestined according to the purpose of HIM (that’s God) who works ALL THINGS according to the counsel of HIS will – we NOW have obtained an inheritance… and we’ve been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit – who GUARANTEES our inheritance.
That’s how Paul starts this letter to the Ephesians out… by talking about all that God has done. By talking about how amazing and awesome God really is… and then he says… (in Ephesians 1:15)… “Because of all those things – for this reason… I have heard of your faith.” In other words, “Because of all that God has done, and all of these spiritual blessings that God has bestowed upon you in Christ – I am hearing good things about ya’ll – I’m hearing about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward the saints. And I give thanks to God for you.”
Paul goes on says that he is praying for them. Specifically that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom, and revelation knowledge of Himself… He prays that God would open up their understanding so that they would know more fully what the hope of their calling was, and what God’s riches are towards the saints… that they would come to know just exactly what this inheritance is that God gives to Christians – to those who have believed. And then; in verses 19 and 20 Paul says, “I want you to know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places…”
So all of that is our context. All of that is what leads to our text this morning… Paul just said, “I want you to know the power of God, the goodness of God, the great might that God worked when He raised Jesus from the dead, and goodness, and grace of God.”
He wants them to know that… so he tells them (and us) in Ephesians 2:1-10.
This is the immeasurable greatness of God’s power – His great might that He worked in Christ – when He raised Him from the dead.
Jesus was dead! He died on the cross! He was buried in a tomb.
Now look at Ephesians 2:1, “And YOU were dead in trespasses and sins…”
Jesus was dead, because of our sin – and you and I were dead because of our sin.
It says, “And you were DEAD” not sick, not in a hard place, not just far from God – D-E-A-D! DEAD!
We all come into this world dead to God, because we all come into this world as sinners.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom WE ALL once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
So we come into this world spiritually dead. I get so sick of preachers who say, “You’re sinking in the waves, but God will throw you a life-line, and you just need to reach out and grab it.” LIARS! That’s not what the Bible says, and it’s not what the Bible teaches. You’re not sinking… you’re already 20 feet under and you’ve stopped breathing. You’ve drowned already! Your lifeless corpse can’t reach out and grab the life-line, because YOUR DEAD! That’s what the Bible teaches. As dead as Lazarus in the tomb! As dead as the bodies littering the Valley of Dry Bones.
God’s power and great might, and grace isn’t a life-line that He throws out for you to take hold of and save yourself – it’s the power to resurrect the dead! It’s the power to give a hunk of meat a heartbeat!
We were born in sin – spiritually dead – born separated from God, and we continue to walk in sin, think in sin, live in sin, love our sin… because that’s the course of the world. It’s what everyone does. That’s what this world does… and when I say world, I mean the world system… This is the way the world works, the way the world thinks, the way the world operates, the things the world values… all of that – is infected throughout with sin… all of that is appealing to the spiritually dead.
This world is full of spiritually dead people, who think the things of this world are great! This world is full of spiritually dead people who think that the things of the world are going to bring them happiness and joy, peace and satisfaction, contentment and fulfillment. And so… look what Paul says, they “Follow the course of the world.” And who is it that’s leading the way? It’s right there in the last part of verse 2… “The prince of the power of the air – the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” That’s the devil in case you weren’t sure. Are you seeing this part of the picture?
Spiritually dead people following the path that the world lays out, being led down that path by none other than Satan… and then… in verse 3 Paul says, “That was all of us at one time or another.” Let’s look at it – Verse 3, “Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Now I don’t know if you caught it or not… but Paul just named our three enemies. The World, the Devil, and the Flesh… The world system, the devil, and our sin nature – that’s what “the flesh” is. Our sin nature, our passions, the desires of the body, the desires of the mind.
Hold your place here in Ephesians and turn with me over to the Book of James 1:14, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” So our sin nature has passions, desires of the body and the mind. The world has those things that we are passionate about, and that we desire with our bodies and our minds… and the devil loves to dangle them in-front of us… he loves to entice us with those things that we desire. That’s the fight we’re in here. But for the person without Christ, it’s not even a fight, it’s just the norm… it’s just what they do, and they don’t even realize it. Paul says in verse 3 that WE ONCE LIVED that way… The person who has been saved by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, should not be living that way.
Look at verse 4, “BUT GOD…” Let’s pause right there. So… we were once controlled completely by our sin nature, which desired the things of this world, and we were led to them… or lured to them… or enticed to them by the devil. That’s how it was. BUT GOD! “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us… even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved…”
Hopefully the puzzle is becoming a little more clear now.
We’ve got spiritually dead folks wandering around, chasing after whatever their sin nature desired, being enticed by Satan himself… and God looking down upon us, choosing to love us, in-spite of our sin, in-spite of our sin nature, in-spite of the fact that there are none who are righteous, no not one… none who seek God, no not one… but He chooses to set His love upon us, because He is rich in mercy… and He reaches down, and by His amazing grace, makes us alive together with Christ.
Church – never forget it is BY GRACE that you have been saved.
You didn’t reach out and grab a life-line. God reached out to you, a spiritually dead corpse, and breathed new life into you.
That is the GREAT POWER that He has used! To raise us to life, in Christ Jesus our Lord. And it’s all by His grace!
But it didn’t stop there, He has also raised us up with Jesus and seated us with Himself in the heavenly places IN CHRIST JESUS! (That’s verse 6). Why? Why does God do this? Verse 7, “So that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us, in Christ Jesus!” What an amazing God we have!
And just in case we don’t get yet, Paul goes on and says… verse 8 and 9, “For by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Paul wants to make sure that we understand what he’s just said. You and I were saved by the grace of God alone, through faith in Jesus Christ alone – and that… all of that… the grace that saves, and the faith that salvation comes through, and every single aspect of salvation, is not our own doing. WE were not somehow smart enough, or wise enough, or special enough to believe where others would not. No… not according to what the Apostle Paul has just been telling us… Every aspect… every part of salvation is from God. Salvation belongs to the Lord…
“But pastor Ken, I believed.” That not of yourself… Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing (the hearing that produces faith) through the Word of Christ.” Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, THE FOUNDER and perfecter of our faith…”
Salvation is the work of God. Totally. Wholly. And completely! So that no one can boast. You can’t boast and say, “I had something within myself that caused me to believe where others would not. I was smart enough to believe. I was wise enough to believe. I was educated enough to believe.” You can’t say that… God did it, SO THAT NONE COULD BOAST.
Would you ever pray the following prayer, “God I give you glory for everything, EXCPET for my choice in receiving You. This is the one thing that is my own, that I produced. This little bit of glory is mine alone. I don’t give you any praise for my choice, because after all… it was MY choice.
So… I praise myself, because I’m not like others who rejected you when you extended that life-line of salvation to them, because I did chose You. I did reach out and take hold of it, by my strength and might. So God, I’ll give you glory for some things, but not for this, which is the one part that I contributed to my salvation.”
I hope not.
Anyone who would pray that way, or who thinks that way, doesn’t know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward us. They don’t know the working of His great might – that He worked in Christ when He raised Jesus from the dead. Your faith is only as good as the object you place it in. Do you have faith in your decision, or faith in Christ alone? And once you understand this, it will change a lot of the things you do, and a lot of the ways you do them. You don’t need a “seeker sensitive” service, because you know that there are NONE who seek God, no not one… Instead you’ll preach the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation. You’ll stop relying on pragmatism – because that’s just being worldly to attract the worldly. You’ll proclaim God’s Word as HE intended it. You’ll give up on that emotional story telling, feel good, self help junk that has no power to save souls, or change hearts.
The glory of salvation belongs to God alone, it is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, through the preaching of His Word alone.
Let’s Pray
