Pastor Darrin Hunt, of Susquehanna Valley Bible Church in Selinsgrove, PA,
tells a story about three buddies who were discussing death, and one of them asked the group; ‘What would you like people to say about you at your funeral?’
His own answer was, “He was a great humanitarian, who cared about his community.”
The second said, “He was a great husband and father, who was an example for many to follow.”
The third said, “Look, he’s moving!”
People want to go to Heaven; they just don’t want to have to die to get there.
Several years ago a movie came out called “Death Becomes Her”. I don’t recommend it. It was dark humor at best, but the few funny parts weren’t worth the cost of the movie rental; much less, a theatre ticket.
But the basic premise of the movie turns out to be a great illustration of the condition of all mankind outside of Christ.
Briefly as I can make it: two very vain women want to stay looking young forever. So they accept a potion from some mysterious voodoo-type woman, and drink it.
What the woman doesn’t tell them, is that when they die their bodies will stay animated, although they will then begin to decay.
Obviously, early in the movie both women meet an early ‘demise’. After that, no matter what happens to them they stay animated (‘alive’, if you will), but the damage done to their bodies by falling down stairs, or getting shot, or whatever, stays. As the movie progresses they are using more and more makeup to cover their decay ~ reattaching limbs with glue, or whatever,...not dying, but forever dead.
Like I said, the movie is supposed to be a comedy. But don’t laugh.
Because in reality, this is all of mankind in the eyes of God. And if we as Christians would look at the world through the eyes of God, then our hearts should be clenched by a Godly sadness, as we witness a world of people, frantically striving to preserve by artificial means that which is already dead.
WE WERE DEAD
Last week I said in reference to verse 1 of this chapter, that one of Satan’s most clever ways of keeping souls from the kingdom of Heaven, is by blinding them to the fact that they have a condition that separated them from God; a condition that must be dealt with by the Life-giver Himself.
That condition is death. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins...” and it is very clear that Paul wasn’t only addressing some select group of guilty people here. He is talking about an affliction that affects all of mankind. There can be no denying that.
Right here in these early verses of chapter two he makes reference to the ‘sons of disobedience’, and goes on to say “Among them we too ALL formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh...”
Now I’d like to point out to you that again, Paul is not just talking about really bad and nasty people. He said ‘all’; what’s more, he said ‘we all’. And this, from someone who was unarguably a very upstanding, righteous, religious man before he came to Christ.
But he says “we all”.
You know, I think this is generally a very difficult concept for us to grasp. We may ascent to it and even understand it on some shallow, surface level, but at the end of the day, we just don’t get it.
I’d wager that none of us here remembers being dead.
But the inerrant, unchanging truth of God’s eternal word is, that we were dead. Christian, you were dead. The Holy Spirit says so in Ephesians 2:1 and again in 2:5
So I want to take just a few minutes and let the scriptures draw us a picture of what God is seeing, when He looks at the unsaved person.
Go to Romans chapter 3 for a moment, a let’s just pan down through these verses from 10 through 18.
See some descriptive words and phrases here. “None righteous”. “None who understands”. So we were not good in any way; and we were ignorant. No understanding. No comprehension of the facts of our condition or what to do about it. We were, in the words of James, “like unreasoning animals”.
Let’s go on. Look at verse 12. “useless”. That’s a pretty discouraging word, isn’t it; when applied to ourselves?
In a world and a time when the psychology of the world is that we all need affirmation and encouragement; we all need to be told we’re really alright, and “I’m ok, you’re ok”, and no one is really wrong...we’re just different and we should accept one another’s differences and live in peace and harmony...
God says without Christ we’re useless. Wasted. Totaled.
And we do not do good. Period. Gosh! What would the humanitarians of the day say to that? What would the philanthropists say?
“Why, I do plenty of good! I give my money to feed the poor! I volunteer my time at the homeless shelter! I give away perfectly good clothes to the sharing ministries because I know it will help those who cannot afford to buy new ones! I involve myself significantly in programs to save the environment and preserve nature! I volunteer my singing talents at fund raisers to fight AIDS and for cancer research, and to send food and medical aid to sick and starving children in third world countries!”
God says, “There is none who does good, there is not even one.”
How can He say that? Because we were dead. And nothing comes from the dead but death. They can put makeup on it, and dress it in pretty robes, and prop it up with good intentions and parade it by you fast enough that you don’t have time to focus and see the decay; but nothing of eternal or Godly value comes from the dead.
Let’s go on.
(Still in Romans 3) Verse 13 “Their throat is an open grave”
How graphic is that?
Now you’ve all seen pictures or drawings of the way people generally were buried in that culture. You’ve seen paintings or drawings of Jesus, standing by the open tomb of Lazarus, as Lazarus, wrapped from head to foot in grave clothes comes to the opening.
The tradition was that they would purchase a small cave, or have one carved out, and it was the family burial place. On the walls of the cave, flat places would be chiseled out, and each time a family member died, they would open the tomb, and lay that family member on the bed prepared for them.
So you can imagine, over time, over the years, the decay and putridity in a place like that.
God says that mankind, dead in sin, is like that on the inside. When they open their mouths, it is like rolling the stone away from the door of a tomb containing varying degrees of rotting flesh, and the stench just roils out.
If that isn’t descriptive enough, he goes on to say, “the poison of asps is under their lips”.
In a viper, there are sacks of poison just behind the hollow fangs at the front of their mouth. When they bite down, the sacks are squeezed; milked, if you will; and the venom passes through the fang and into the victim, where it immediately begins to do it’s work.
The language of this line in Romans 3:13 describes a mouth so full of cursing and bitterness that when he opens it, some just falls out. The venom just oozes.
Finishing up; there is no respect for life, there is no peace, there is no fear of God.
Can you picture this? Some zombie-like man-creature, walking about with hollow, lifeless eyes in sunken, darkened sockets; gray-skinned, with chunks of flesh fairly dropping off the face. Yellow-green poison dripping off the lips and down the chin; an odor of decay emanating from it that is so offensive it makes your eyes water and makes you gag. And this thing is walking about, purposeless, useless, stupid and uncaring, cursing and blaspheming God... and yet something about its very demeanor let’s you know that in that rotting, worm-infested brain, exists a demented level of consciousness that is self-deceived into thinking his life is worth-while and he is accomplishing great and wonderful things.
This is the Biblical picture of the man dead in trespasses and sins.
“Among them we too all formerly lived...”
BUT GOD, BEING RICH IN MERCY
“But God, being rich in mercy...” STOP!
Just bask in the freshness of that for a moment. Did you feel it? Did it hit you like a breath of fresh, cool air?
When we lived in Texas I was dispatching for Police/Fire/EMS in Plano. We lived within about 10 minutes walking distance of my job, so for a long time I just walked to and from work, for the exercise and to save on gasoline.
One year in early October, I experienced the most amazing and sudden weather change I’ve ever seen.
Since we dispatched for the Fire Department one of our jobs was to keep track of the weather. On this particular day, working an evening shift, I saw just before leaving work at 10 pm, that they expected a cool front to come through the area within the next hour or so.
I was very happy for that, because the temperatures had been up in the upper 90s, and the humidity was also very high.
So I left work that night, and any of you who have lived in that sort of climate know what it’s like to step from an air conditioned building into the hot, humid outside air. My shirt immediately stuck to my body, and the perspiration immediately began to form on my forehead.
Approximately half way home, very suddenly and as though I walked into a wall, a breeze hit me in the face. The temperature immediately dropped about 15 degrees, and the humidity was gone. It was a sudden as that.
Breathing was easier, the viscidity was replaced by a cool dryness, and the experience was almost euphoric, so drastic was the change.
I was reminded of that evening as I sat preparing this sermon; as I drew this mental picture of the man dead in trespasses and sins, and then glanced back down at my Bible and saw the words,
“But God, being rich in mercy...”
and, “...because of His great love with which He loved us...”
I can’t get over this contrast! Listen!
We were dead in trespasses and sins. We walked according to the course of this world; according to the prince of the power of the air; the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. we lived in the lusts of our flesh. We indulged in the desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were children of wrath in our very nature.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us...”
This isn’t the only place we see this contrast.
We hear Jesus telling Nicodemus that God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.
We see the gospel writer telling us that as Jesus looked upon the multitude He felt compassion for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.
We see Him weeping outside the tomb of the man He was about to raise to life.
We see Him touching lepers, and comforting adulteresses, and blessing prostitutes, and visiting the homes of thieves.
We hear Him from the cross, whipped and pummeled and stripped and nailed down hand and foot, His compassion pouring out faster than His blood, saying “Father, forgive them...”
Where, oh, where, do we get this picture of a frowning, scowling, angry God, sitting on His lofty throne insisting that we better ourselves and work our knees and knuckles to the bone trying to please Him?
Where does all that come from? We don’t get it from God Himself; that’s for certain!
Of Himself, He says, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin;...” (Exodus 34)
We don’t get it from Jesus either! He said, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father”
And we don’t get it from the Apostle Paul. He says,
“But God, being RICH IN MERCY, because of HIS GREAT LOVE WITH WHICH HE LOVED US”
Now before we talk about what He did because of His great love and mercy, I want you to see when He did it.
EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD
Even when we were dead! Think about that.
Remember the zombie-like creature I described earlier? Could God love us, like that?
Could Jesus have actually meant that God loved the world...like that?
Could you? I couldn’t; I have to confess.
Now is this to say that God loved what we were? Loved what they are? That He loved them for being children of wrath; for being disobedient?
Of course not.
But He loved them anyway. He felt compassion for them; for us. Because He is compassionate and gracious, and abounding in lovingkindness.
He loved us while we were like that.
He loved us even when we were dead.
But more, He loved us enough to DO all the things He did for us, while we were dead.
I’m stressing this point, listener/reader, because if you begin to really understand this, then you have to begin to see that now that you have believed in the gospel of Christ and been saved, it is nothing short of absurdity to think that you must now work to gain or stay in His favor.
He loved you with His great love, even when you were dead in your transgressions.
But He didn’t just love you. He loved you enough to do something about your condition.
HE MADE US ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST
We come now to the main doctrinal point in this passage. I’m talking about the doctrine of regeneration.
Now here is where someone might say, ‘But we were just talking about God’s great love. Isn’t that a doctrine of the Christian faith? The doctrine of His Love? Wouldn’t that then, be the main doctrinal point in this passage?”
And I would say, ‘no, it’s not. It’s regeneration’. Why? Because I wrote the sermon and I say so. (not really..)
The reason I say Regeneration is the main point, is because Paul tells us that God made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the Heavenly places,
IN ORDER THAT He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And not just for a time. Not just for a moment, but “IN THE AGES TO COME”.
And he cites God’s great love with which He loved us, as the catalyst behind this purpose and this action of Regeneration.
Actually, Justification and Glorification and Sanctification are all implied in this also, because he covers the scope of these foundational doctrines of the faith when he talks about God raising us, and establishing us in the Heavenly Places in Christ. The whole message is implied there.
But for now I want to focus on this idea of Regeneration.
Do you see the wording of verses 4 and 5 together? Just for simplification, read, “But God”, then skip to verse 5 and read it like this:
“But God, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ...”
Do you see who is doing it all? Do you see any hint of action or attitude on our part there? Do you see that He called us out of death into life, JUST LIKE LAZARUS?
But Clark, what about faith? We’re saved by grace through faith! So didn’t we have to have some measure of faith to get this life?
Well certainly I wouldn’t deny the role of faith in salvation. That too is a very clear doctrine and not to be dismissed. Romans 5:1 says,
“Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God...”
But I want you to notice that Paul has even left the word ‘faith’ out of this verse, even when he says ‘(by grace you have been saved)’.
It seems to me that there is a very deliberate point of focus on Paul’s part here, and he’s choosing his words very carefully, even though he goes ahead in verse 8 and brings in the faith principle.
We were dead. He made us alive. Since without God we could not have had faith; could not have exercised faith; could not have understood the need either to exercise faith or for salvation at all, then we really may as well remove all the words and ideas that can serve to muddy the waters and just say,
“But God,...even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ...”
Friends, dead men don’t exercise faith. Dead men are not aware of their deadness. They’re just dead.
So doesn’t it stand to reason, that God, in His perfect foreknowledge and wisdom, having predestined those who would respond to His call, regenerated us and gave us faith to believe?
Now don’t think in terms of time, or what came first. There is no such thing with God. No time restrictions, no boundaries in time or space. Let’s not get bogged down with a ‘chicken vs egg’ issue.
God gives life to the dead, and calls into being that which does not exist.
We are not wrong in saying that somehow faith was exercised, and it was the exercise of that faith in a certain promise that gave us a consciousness of acceptance with God. A sense of approvedness.
But we were dead. And He made us alive.
And He made us alive together with Christ. And He raised us up and seated us in the Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus.
Let me say it again, this way. I am confident that immediately upon wakening to life, Adam knew God. But God breathed the spirit of life into a lump of clay, fashioned into a man. God gave life, and life was like a package, and one of the items on the invoice was ‘knowledge of God’.
So it is with regeneration. Even when we were dead in our transgressions, (He) made us alive.
You may remember that in the previous sermon we saw that Satan’s most determined goal is to frustrate life. To stop life, to interrupt life, wherever he can, whenever he can.
But God gives life to the dead. Where He is, there is life. What He touches becomes life.
Not just some animated zombie, dripping venom and oozing decay; but pure, vibrant, intelligent, purposeful, fulfilling, eternal, LIFE. It’s a package; and one of the items on the invoice is ’faith to believe’.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins ... BUT GOD, being rich in mercy and because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, MADE US ALIVE.
Glory to His name.
