The Christian Testimony
Notes
Transcript
Call to worship
Welcome everyone!
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord,
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord,
SERMON
Introduction
In chapter 2, Paul begins to show how our salvation we have in Christ makes a real difference in our earthly life. Salvation is not just about a hope that we will go to heaven, or something we receive when we die, but it truly does transform the way we live each and every day.
I have titled this message, “The ChristIan Testimony” because this passage explains this so well. The word testimony is just a a word that means, “a public profession of religious experience”. When one gives a testimony, he testifies to his experience in salavtion.
We use testimonies in this church to help us discern the genuineness of someone’s faith. It is certainly not the only means, but it does help. We do this because one of our convictions in this church is to keep a regenerate membership. In other words, we want the members of this church to have the real thing, to have been transformed by the gospel, and to be living according to that calling.
What does a testimony consist of? It gives in detail what our life was before we were saved, what happened when we were saved, and what our life is like now because we have been saved. And obviously people’s testimonies will differ on how they came to Christ, but every testimony is essentially the same. We were sinners practicing sin, God made us alive and called us to follow Him, and we then followed Him and our lives are a reflection of that.
Let’s take a look at the big picture of these verses:
(v 1-3) This is who we were before Christ. All of us. No matter how much we thought we had things together this was our life.
(v 4-7) This is what God did to us when we got saved. The primary statement in this verse is that, “God made us alive”. This effect is universal in all people who have been born again.
(v 8-9) “This is the human response in salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith”. When God calls us, we respond to Him by faith. And it is faith that always and must be present for salvation to happen
(v 10) This is our life in Christ. We become new creations who live completely different lives that bring glory and honor to God.
Turn with me to Eph 2:1-3
What life looks like before salvation
What life looks like before salvation
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Explanation
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins”
dead: morally or spiritually deficient
Jesus used this term to refer to those who did not follow Him
Matthew 8:22 “But Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.””
Paul is speaking of is not physical death, but spiritual death.
It is a living death, in which one is clearly alive on the outside (living, breathing, working, loving, laughing, planning out their life, doing all things normal people do)
BUT on the inside they are dead spiritually speaking. There is no real response to gospel. There is no real heart response to the things of God, to the Word of God, to the church of God. No kind of spiritual stimuli makes any lasting difference in their lives. Nothing penetrates the depths of the heart.
This is what it looks like on the inside.
What does it look like on the outside to be spiritually dead?
(v 2) “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world”
“Walked” is a metaphor for a way of life. To walk means a common way we do things. It speaks of a continual pattern that we follow. The NLT translates this as “you used to live”
The course of this world describes the way the world operates.
The values of this world.
This world has its own way or system by which it operates which is much differently than how Jesus tells His followers to operate
The world has its own methods, it’s own reasoning, it’s own “law” of how things are to be done which is almost always in opposition to Christianity.
All those who live and walk by the world’s system, methods, thinking, would be classified as spiritually dead.
That applies to us. I want to be gentle here, but I must make this even more clear. If our way of life matches the way of the world, we should seriously question whether or not we have been saved.
This must be one of the “measuring sticks” by which we judge ourselves or we will certainly misjudge ourselves altogether.
But it’s not just a way thinking, its also being under the control of Satan.
(v 2) “according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sins of disobedience”
The prince of the power of the air is a reference to Satan, Lucifer, the devil, the fallen one.
This world operates by his Satan’s system which is to live sinful lives disregarding God. Though most would not acknowledge it, and it is even hard for us to swallow it, but Satan is the leader of this world and the world follows the devil.
The world lives the life the way the devil desires them to live
And this way of life is characterized by sin and disobedience.
This is why Paul calls them: sons of disobedience.
“according to spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience”
This does not mean that everyone who is not saved is demon possessed.
Jesus did not cast a demon out of Matthew, Peter, John, and many others who began following him.
What this is referring to is a spiritual influence upon the human spirit. It is the inward part of man that is under the influence of the enemy.
I cringe when we see everyone as demon possessed. We must be careful in saying someone has a demon. This is not the same as being led by Satan. Remember that sin is a power or force that has come into he world and influence and controls everyone who has not been saved.
And this is not just the life is some people, but this is the description of us all
( v 3) “We all too formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we’re by nature children of of wrath, even as the rest”
Notice not one but twice in this Paul mentions that this characterized all of us!
“We all too”
“even as the rest”
Paul wants to make it clear that we are all the same!
We were all sinners, we were all followers of the devil, we were all children of wrath, we were all under the power of the prince of the air!
There is not one soul in this room who did not at one time fit into this category Paul has described.
And that should take all the shame away from coming to Christ!
How much easier is it to admit our guilt if we were all guilty!
How much easier to admit our transgressions if we were all transgressors!
How much easier is to admit our sin, if we were all sinners!
I think sometimes the devil wants us to think everyone else is without sin, so we will never be freed from our sin.
He wants us to hold it all in, hide it from everyone around us, even try to hide it from God and sweep it under the rug so no one will ever find out.
It is not as if others have lived especially evil lives, BUT THAT WE ALL LIVED EVIL LIVES, we all transgressed against God, we all serviced the devil.
And the truth of the matter is, we’ve all done the same things as everyone else and many of us in Christ much worse Than those who have never followed Christ.
I have done terrible things in my life, things I wish would have never happened because I was dead to God spiritually! Under the influence of Satan, but no different than anyone else.
This description equalizes us all. We were all the same. Sinners needing to be saved. Don’t let your background keep you from the great things Jesus has for you.
What happens when we are saved
What happens when we are saved
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Explanation
(v 5) “Even when we were dead in our transgressions, (God) made us alive together with Christ”
Notice the drastic transformation that is described by the terms “life” and “death”.
While we were dead God intervened and gave us life
He breathed life into us
He gave us something that we could not give ourselves
Not physical life, for this is a gift to all humanity BUT GOD GIVES US SPIRITUAL LIFE
The ability to respond to God
The ability to understand the seriousness of salvation, sin, heaven, hell, the ability to comprehend the Word of God
The ability to hear God’s voice and obey it
The ability to worship God in spirit and truth
The ability to persevere and follow Him all of our days!
The emphasis in this verse is on what God does to us
“God made us alive”
Salvation is nothing short of a miracle! Just as raising Jesus from the dead was a miracle so it is when God raises us from the dead. (God makes us alive)
Salvation is not something that we do. The change does not come because we decided to clean ourselves up, or wanted to get sober, or we thought following God’s principles would fix our problems.
That is mere religion. Following principles. Trying to clean ourselves up. But that will never make us alive.
Salvation is of the Lord
Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah.
“I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head. I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!
Jonah didn not save himself, NOR could he save himself! He was as good as dead! But God reached down into His life and pulled Him from the pit.
When someone is saved, God reaches down into their lives, and snatches them from the jaws of death. He brings them to life.
The Bible says it is the goodness of God that brings us to repentance.
The Bible says we love God only because He first loved us
The Bible says the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgement
What does it look like when God gives us spiritual life?
(v 5-6) “(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him and seated us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”
What have these Ephesians been saved from?
In contrast to the former verses, they have been saved from this world, from the prince of the air, and from the lusts of the flesh.
They have been saved from the evil spiritual force now working in the sons of disobedience
They have been saved from the wrath of God that is coming to the sons of disobedience
“and raised us up with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenly places”
Notice both of these verbs are past tense. “raised” and “seated”
If this is past tense it cannot be referring to a future time when we will forever be in the presence of God.
This is ion reference to something that happened when these believers were saved.
What this means then is that we have victory over the power of sin and death just and Satan, and this world just like Jesus was victorious over sin and death when God raised Him up from the dead and seated Him at His right hand!
Jesus’ victory is our victory. Salvation means freedom!
Salvation means we no longer live for this world or the prince of this world!
We are no longer salves to sin!
Who the Son sets free is free indeed.
Application
Salvation is much more than the forgiveness of sins. It is much more than joining a church, or saying a prayer, or being baptized. IT IS GOD’S supernatural power reaching down into our lives and giving us life.
And only Jesus can save us. Who do we need to call on to be saved? Just like Jonah, call on the Lord! Cry out to God. Turn to the Lord and ask Him to give you life!
Jesus said, “the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
The human response in salvation
The human response in salvation
God does give us life BUT that does not mean we are completely passive in salvation
We must respond to God
When God makes our sin very real to us, in a way that it begins to break us, and make us weep, Then we must turn from it and turn to the Lord and follow Him by faith.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Explanation
Saved By grace
Grace is unmerited favor
That means that God gives us something that we do not deserve.
We were rebels, living for ourselves, living for this world, following the prince of darkness
And during all that, despite our absolute unworthiness, God in His kindness and great love reaches down into our lives and calls us to follow Him
Grace is a gift “It is the gift of God”
A gift is something that we receive, not earn
And gift is not a payment, or a wage. It is a gift.
SANTA ILLUSTRATION
Santa’s gifts are not like grace
The good boys and girls get gifts
The bad boys and girls get coal in their stockings
Its not that way with Jesus. We’re all bad. And yet His grace still comes to us because it is a true gift.
Saved Through faith
Salvation happens when we place our faith in Jesus Christ
Faith is the same word as “believe”. When we have faith in God, we believe what God says no matter how impossible it may seem or how much against our own human reasoning.
This is not just an intellectual belief that God exists, but a belief that changes the way that we live our lives.
Hebrews has a “hall of faith” list I want to reference to help us understand this faith
Noah is a good example of faith. God told Noah that it would rain and flood then earth. It had never rained on the earth at that time. Noah believed God, built a massive boat, brought all the animals on it. And it happened just as God said it would.
Abraham was called by God to follow Him when he was a moon worshiper. God never told Abraham the destination, but promised a great nation to Abraham. God took Abraham outside His tent and showed him all the stars. Abraham had no children, and his wife was advanced in age. And this is what the Bible says:
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
This is saving faith. A belief that is deep down in your heart, so strong that we change the way that we live to align with what God says.
If a man believes a tornado is coming, he will act upon it. He will get his family together in the basement, get the flashlight, phone, Bible if your Ashley.
If a man believes the cold is coming, he will act upon it. Prepare the house, prepare the animals.
The Bible says Jesus is coming, and if we want to be saved from the judgement coming to this world, we must act upon it.
Turn from the sin in our lives
And begin to follow Jesus will everything we have in us.
The results of salvation
The results of salvation
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Explanation
God does not simply save us to go to heaven. That is the end result, but not the present result.
This verse reveals the present result
“For we are His workmanship”
That word means that we are a new creation of God…recreated by His Spirit, God’s masterpiece (NLT)
When He breathed spiritual life into these dead bodies, he made us into something brand new.
Paul calls us a new creation
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
What were we created for?
“created in Christ Jesus for good works”
Before we were saved we produced bad works. Sin, trespasses, lust of the flesh, We did what Satan wanted us to do which to rebel against God
But God’s new creation in Jesus Christ produces good fruit! We do good things, godly things, things that bring glory and honor to the Great High King Jesus!
“Works” is just another word for deeds. It’s not speaking of working for Jesus.
Deeds are the actions we do, the way we live our lives altogether. Monday through Friday in obedience and submission to the will of God.
“which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them”
This was God’s plan from the beginning. Not only did He choose us to be His children, He chose us to love godly lives.
We are citizens of heaven, pilgrims on this earth created to be little Christs who live like jesus lived.
Conclusion
Two final things:
EXAMINE YOURSELF
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
Take this passage seriously and be sure this has happened to you!
Be sure you can confidently see the changes in your life when you were dead and God made you alive
You may not know the day or the hour
Ruth Graham said she does not know the day the sun started shining, but she knows that it shines”
The critical thing is that you are no longer who you were, and God has made you alive to do good works
Start living by faith now
Maybe you are here and after hearing this message you may not know whether you have really been saved.
Maybe it has scared you, or deeply concerned you, and you don’t know what to do.
We cannot do God’s part, but we can do our part. And if you will begin right now to live by faith, I guarantee you God will save you.
For by grace we have been saved by faith.
Whatever God shows you, tells you, no matter how crazy it may seem, do it. And do it habitually. And God will save you
~PRAYER~
RESPONSE
PUBLIC INVITATION
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
OFFERING
We will now worship the Lord through our tithes and offering.
BENEDICTION
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His face to you, And give you peace.’”