Sermon Tone Analysis

Ephesians 2 ESV (Part 4)

By Grace Through Faith

2:1 And you were dead ( dead, useless, ineffective, you can do nothing in yourself – you are not sick you are dead Wiersbe said, “The unbeliever is not sick; he is dead!

He does not need resuscitation; he needs resurrection.

All lost sinners are dead, and the only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay.

The lost derelict on skid row may be more decayed outwardly than the unsaved society leader, but both are dead in sin—and one corpse cannot be more dead than another!

This means that our world is one vast graveyard, filled with people who are dead while they live[1]) in the trespasses and sins

2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, (Satan) the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

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.

4 But[ God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive ( he quickened you- he resurrected you- Lazarus when he came out of the tomb didn’t get air back into his lungs – he was dead much to long for that – he was raised up) You don’t need resuscitation you need resurrection -AMEN together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,( in other words your position has changed)

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, ( where we get the word POEM – it means new creation) created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

(you are created for a purpose, not to just basque in your salvation, but to be a changed vessel, used by God)

Introductory Illustration – Its about coming back from the dead.

Those un-regenerated are called the walking dead

Part of the challenge is some of those dead people try to make other alive people into dead people.

We can call them Zombies

When Zombie shows make it into a main-stream, it is a reflection of the depravity of man and a picture of what life really looks like to some people.

Today’s Zombies

You don’t need to watch a movie to see dead people walking.

(AMEN PREACHER)

Bars are full of dead people walking.

Our jails are overcrowded by dead people walking,

Our communities are full of dead people walking.

Our homes are full of dead people

Chapter 2 starts with YOU WERE DEAD

Have any of you felt dead?

Your in a pit and there is no way out

You live life like it is just another horrible day.

You are living but inside you are dead.

You have no vision or zest for life.

You could be in a room with a thousand people and feel all alone and insignificant.

( When I went to YWAM i felt like a square peg in a round hole.

I new there was more to life than this but could not figure it out.

In our day and age right now we have teenage suicide, drug overdose, depression as main killers in our society.

This is not the way life should be- God gave us the solution to this problem.

Ephesians Chapter 2 shows us how to come alive.

It is a Chapter of Contrasts ( look at how many times Paul uses the word you and we

Dead and living

Former Life and New Life

Believer and Non-Believer

Wrath and Peace

Hate and Love

He was saying Those without life in them are nothing more than walking corpses

Those with life are brought near to Jesus- who becomes our Lord and Savior

Satan on the other hand is evil, he embodies evil and is the ruler of unbelievers – those not regenerated with life.

Many don’t even know they are slaves to Him.

Satan is opposed to the Spirit – in other words he doesn’t want life, he wants to take life.

Why do you think Christians are Pro Life- it is the Spirit in us that tells us life is precious.

So which Spirit runs planned parenthood and most pro abortion organizations.

The problem with evil is it is inherent it is not acquired.

You see evil was not made up in Hollywood, it entered the garden.

It deceived Eve

With the fall of man it is passed on generation to generation and will continue until God deals with it once and for all.

Evil comes with a present cost and an eternal one - dead in this Life and dead in the next.

Lets look at some of the Contrasts

Contrast 1 - Before and After Salvation

1.

Before Salvation - You are dead – Not searching for God - for the most part your just pleasing the flesh.

Morally Bankrupt and Spiritually Dead

Your position is a low position

You walked as the world walked – You were a goat following the herd to the slaughter

Lived under the weight of your sin (missing the mark) You are lost.

Life really is meaningless.

You could have a thousand friends on facebook and still feel all alone.

You are told be the world to live your life to the fullest because after this there is nothing or you can be reincarnated into a frog.

Many of you have heard of the great physicist Stephen Hawking's.

It is said he passed away peacefully on March 14, 2018.

He was a self proclaimed atheist.He said, ”heaven is a fairy story, for people afraid of the dark.

Pretty condescending bold statement.”

He thought science had all the answers.

He thought the universe was governed by science.

He thought people were like computers.

He could never answer the question why it came into being.

It is all just a random cosmic collage.

It is funny.

If he would of thought for a moment he would have realized that there is not one computer that made itself.

They are all made by a designer and developer.

To his surprise, he will meet one much smarter than he, and He will have to give an account of his life.

He wont be able to think his way out of it.

Science will be of little help to him.

After Salvation - God is alive and He is searching for you

“God wants us to worship Him.

He doesn’t need us, for He couldn’t be a self-sufficient God and need anything or anybody, but He wants us.

When Adam sinned it was not he who cried, ‘God, where art Thou?’

It was God who cried, ‘Adam, where art thou?” C. S. Lewis

When you give your life to Jesus - Your position becomes a high position – seated with Christ

Living above your sin - you acquire the title saint.

Paul says Romans 7:14-25 “14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.

17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.24