DEAD MEN WALKING
INTRODUCTION
A. In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul describes the old man or the old self as a dead man walking.
B. We shall examine two portraits of the old man and then show why, even at his best, the old man is lost.
I. A PORTRAIT OF THE OLD MAN AT HIS WORST
A. We live in a world that has been influenced by the Judeo-Christian ethic, so we don’t see humanity at its
worst up close and personal on an everyday basis.
B. Here is how Paul describes the old man of the first century (Col 3:5-10).
1. Few, if any, are guilty of all of the sins cataloged here, but if we say that we are free from all of them,
then the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8).
2. And some people’s pet sins are not even listed here—envy, jealousy, gossip, drunkenness, lust.
II. A PORTRAIT OF THE OLD MAN AT HIS BEST
A. Cornelius is an example of an old man at his best (Acts 10:1-6, 30-33, 11:13-14)
B. Paul’s words should be on the lips of even the best example of the old man (Rom 7:24).
III. MAN AT HIS BEST IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
A. It is in the Son and only in the Son that we can have life (John 3:16-21; 1 John 5:6-12).
B. The cross is both the greatest manifestation of God’s love and his unwillingness to accept anything less
than perfection—ours or his Son’s.
CONCLUSION
A. We are dead-men-walking in sin until we die and are raised with Christ. We then become dead men
walking in Christ—dead to sin and alive unto Christ (Rom 6:11).
B. There is no other option—either we are dead in sin or dead to sin.
