Dead or Alive
Ephesians 2:1-5
The book of Ephesians was written by Paul. He was the man that wrote fourteen books out of twenty-seven books in the New Testament. They are referred to as the Pauline Epistles. At one point, Paul stayed with the Ephesians for three years. Though he did not write this letter while he was in Ephesus, but rather in Rome, Paul knew the Ephesians well enough to talk to them the way he did in this chapter of the letter. In tonight?s sermon, the Ephesians, according to 2:1, have something in common with a man that I once knew ? they were both spiritually dead.
Around October there was a man that I went to witness to by the name of Frances. Of course while I was there, I was a bit nervous because this man used to be a baseball coach of mine at least ten to twelve years ago.
He was dying of cancer so he looked nothing like I had remembered. The last time I saw him he was a fit man with a little belly and hair as white as snow, he had a beard to accompany his hair that was just as white.
This time he was hairless and as thin as a rail because of his chemotherapy. I knew I had something that he needed and that was Jesus.
You see...he was spiritually dead, as the word of God says that before a relationship with Jesus we are all dead in trespasses and sin. In tonight?s sermon I want to touch on three points, which are: Spiritual death, Physical death and Eternal death.
What does that mean to be spiritually dead? Well let?s look to the Word of God. (Now just a little side note when you’re studying the word of God and you have a question look for it and you will find it. God will reveal his word.)
Let?s take a look shall we? Verse 2 shows us what spiritual death is. ?Where in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience? verse 3 says ?Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.?
Now that was King James Version ? This is what it says from the New Living Translation, ? You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the Spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature, and we were under God?s anger just like everyone else.? All right, now just for a few minutes let us look more deeply into verses 2&3. This will give us a clearer understanding as to what spiritual death is.
Verse 2 ?you used to live just like the rest of the world?? now before I continue on I want you to notice that this is past tense, that means that when Paul was writing to the Ephesians he was talking to them as if they were already saved.
I think we can use what Paul knew about the Ephesians, from those three years he lived with them, as a template as to whether we are truly saved from sin. He?s saying that you used to live like the rest of the world, and many of you may be asking: ?What?s wrong with living like the world??
Well let?s find out what the Bible says about the world - James 4:4 ?You adulterers! Don?t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can?t be a friend of God.? Now I think that is pretty clear how God feels about the world. As we work through these few verses I want you to do a little self-introspection.
Let?s ask ourselves some questions:
Am I apart of this world that God hates so much?
Am I involved in activities that God would be unpleased with?
Am I involved in smoking, drinking or drugs?
Now, I?m talking to everyone in here, not just the teens, the Word of God is used to mold and shape everyone from young children to senior citizens. Are you living like the rest of the world? Full of sin? You know what sin is - ANYTHING unpleasing to God.
Are you obeying Satan? Because the Word says that Satan is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. If your not obeying God than guess who your obeying. There is no shade of gray folks, you’re either on Gods side or you?re on the devils side. Verse 3, ?All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature?? notice that when writing this Paul was again in past tense saying we used to live that way. If you can?t apply this to your life in a past tense sentence, then it is a good chance that you are still spiritually dead. We used to be full of sin we used to obey Satan. When you are saved that is when you come to understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what he really did for you, you could not and would not stay the same. You tell me how someone can accept Christ in their heart and stay the same. You can?t! It is impossible to have Christ enter into your heart, ask him to be your Lord (that is allowing him to have total ownership over your body) and there still be no change.
What does 2 Corinthians 5:17 say? ?Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become knew.? You cannot allow Jesus Christ in your heart and at the same time be a habitual sinner. Habitual being the nature of a habit. If you say that you are saved but habitually sinning then God must be chastening you (meaning correcting you). If you don?t feel bad or guilty, then you better check that relationship that you thought you had. To put it simply, if you?re an apple tree and your producing oranges, then you need to revisit the cross.
So my first point was spiritual death, which is separation from God. And my second point is physical death, which is separation of body and spirit.
Remember that gentleman that I was telling you about earlier? I told you how he was spiritually dead. Well, the day before Thanksgiving this man entered into point two of tonight?s message. He died. This is something that every person will have to go through, physical death. There is no way around this.
Physical death is appointed to every man.
No matter how much you try to run from death when it?s your time you have to go.
No matter how much you exercise, get face-lifts or tummy tucks when its time to go its time to go.
No matter how hard you try to stay young with the clothes you wear or the style of your hair.
No matter the car you drive or the house you live in, when its time to go its time to go.
Death has no respect of age, color, or status on this
earth.
Death is mentioned many times in the Bible. Physical death is mentioned in Genesis, with Isaac on his deathbed preparing to bless his children, and runs
straight through to the end in Revelation, which refers to the more everyday people like you and I.
You see, death is the worst thing that the devil could do to you, that?s why Jesus was here, to defeat death. John wrote in the book of Revelation 1:17-18, ?When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said:? Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the Living one; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.?
The keys represent authority, that?s why we don?t need to be afraid of death because Jesus has the keys.
Have you ever noticed how people hate to talk about death? People are terrified to talk about it. I know people that cannot stand to watch the news on television because of all the deaths. I know people that read the obituaries in every newspaper seeing who they knew.
I guess they think that as long as they don?t recognize some of the people?s names than they will have more time here on this earth. And I’m sure you have heard this one - death comes in threes, how dumb is that? If you open a newspaper to the obituaries section you can clearly see that there are certainly more than three people dying each day.
As it says in Mathew 6:27, ?who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?? A rhetorical question asked by Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. But be encouraged death only needs to be worried about when Jesus is not present in your life.
My third and final point is eternal death. So we have had spiritual death, which is separation from God. We have had physical death, which is appointed to every man and that is the separation of the body and spirit. And finally eternal death, which is, mans eternal separation from God.
This is the final death; the book of Revelation refers to it as the second death. Rev. 20:14-15 says ?Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone?s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.?
Revelation 21:8, ?But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars ? their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.?
This is the death that needs to worry you. Now that is only for those of you whose name is not found in the Lamb?s book of Life. The only way to by-pass this eternal death is if you go back to my first point of the sermon. That is spiritual death. If you have yet to receive Jesus into your heart than you are spiritually dead. Spiritual death is the only death that you can make a difference in and that is by accepting Jesus into your heart. You can still make a decision about receiving the gift of eternal life or eternal death. Come on, we all know the promise that God makes us for everlasting life. John 3:16, come on everyone say it with me, ?God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever beleiveth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.? But how many people know what the Bible says about receiving eternal damnation.
In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about how the sheep will be separated from the goats in the final judgment. The sheep representing those who are on Christ side and the goats are those that are not. He says, ?Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels?. Take notice that it says eternal fire; you know what that means right, FOREVER!!!
That means that there is no turning back that?s it. End of the road, game over, and the fat lady has sung! If you go to hell as your eternal resting place its no ones fault except yours.
There is nothing that bothers me more than when people want to blame God. ?Well if God is truly loving than he would not send me to hell? is what people say.
I say NO! because God does love you so much he was willing to pay the penalty of sin! He did not have to do it. Jesus could have turned back any time he wanted to but he did not. He was willing to be beaten, yelled at, ridiculed, hated, betrayed, spat upon, and cursed at. He was willing to have nails banged into his feet and hands and a crown of thorns thrust in his head all for you! He is giving each and everyone of you a chance to come to him right now. If you are UNWILLING to get up and allow Jesus Christ to come into your heart, then the only person you can blame for your decision is yourself.
You remember that guy that I was telling you about? First I went to his house to witness to him because he was spiritually dead, while I was there I presented the Gospel to him. And I asked him if he would like to receive the gift of eternal life and he said that maybe next time that I came by for a visit we could go through the process. I told him that it could be done right now, very quickly, I added before he could say that he was to tired or something along those lines. But he still said no maybe next time.
Folks I want you to know right now, tonight, that I never got to see that man again before I saw him in his smooth hunter green casket with the ivory white lining. Although his beautiful casket bore many crosses, the one he was intended to bear was never picked up before it was too late.
How many times have you been to a funeral? My brother in law who just turned twenty has been to numerous funerals since he was in high school alone. All of which consisted of people your age. People who lived in middleclass neighborhoods. They were people that went to normal, everyday high schools just like you. They died in all different ways, suicide, drug overdose, car accident, etc. Count it a blessing that God woke you up this morning, if you do not know for certain that you have eternal life right now please before it is to late, come just as you are to Jesus.
ILLUSTRATION: A week ago my second son was born. Now, many of you may not be able to relate to this story as closely as a pregnant woman but I?m sure that everyone has known someone to be pregnant and then give birth to a child. When coming down to the end of pregnancy the doctors always tell the husband and wife to make sure that the bags are packed and sitting by the front door in case something happens and you have to go to the hospital. You never know when your water may break or contractions might start.
Well, it?s the same thing with our lives, we need to make sure that our lives are in order because we never know when it is time for us to leave. And I mean before we die. You better make sure you have your bag packed, that is JESUS in your heart. You don?t want to get caught with your bag unpacked. And you know what my wife and I did? We even pre-registered with the hospital, to ensure that our names were on the books. We wanted everyone to know that we were coming.
How many people here tonight have pre-registered with Christ?
Does He even know that you?re coming?
Or are you going to try to register at the Day of Judgment?
You can only register with Christ before you physically die. There is no late admission.
As my parents said when I was a kid, ?it?s either now or never!?
Paul started out with how the Ephesians used to be, but he finishes it with what God has done. How exciting to know that God is willing to do for us, what most people won?t. That is to give us a second chance.
He was willing and is still willing to give you that second chance. How awesome because... think about it for a second? Jesus knew what he had to do on the cross before we were even born. He knew before the foundation of the world what he would have to do, but he did it anyway!
There is no better way to conclude this sermon then with God?s word. Ephesians 2:4,5 ?But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions ? it is by grace you have been saved.?
Do you know what mercy is? ? Withholding what we deserve.
Do you know what grace is? ? Undo favor
You have done nothing to be saved, but by His work on Calvary you can be saved.
