TEXT:
“[1] And you were dead 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, 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 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, [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, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Spend a few moments sharing with one another your testimony.
Why is it important to see the gospel in light of our depravity? Put another way, “Why do we need to understand the bad news before we understand the good news?”
Spend a few moments discussing the beauty of verses 4-7. How is the message in these verses good news?
SERMON MANUSCRIPT:
At the end of chapter one, we find Paul praying for the church. He prayed specifically that the church would grow in their understanding of God and that they would know God better. He prayed that they would know the hope to which God has called them, that they would know what the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and that they would know the immeasurable greatness of his power toward those who believe.
Paul could've pointed to many different things to demonstrate God's power. He could have pointed to creation. He could have pointed to the parting of the Red Sea. He could have pointed to the fact that God's holding all things together at this moment in time. But instead, he points to the resurrection, ascension, and eternal reign of Jesus. So, we know God is truly powerful because the one who died on the cross for our sins has risen from the grave and is now seated at the Father's right hand. The empty tomb is the ultimate display of power for us who believe!
Well, at the start of chapter 2, Paul connects the dots between the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of our hearts. We will begin to see that what we have experienced upon belief in Jesus is no small feat. Your testimony is miraculous. Today's passage teaches us that God possesses the power to change us.
As a pastor, I hear people say all the time, "I just don't have a good testimony." Well, our passage today exposes that statement as a lie. The testimony of every believer is good. You were dead, but now you are alive. You once had a heart of stone, but now you have a heart of flesh. You were far from God, but now you are close to God. You were following your own flesh and desires, but now you deny your flesh. You were once walking in sin, but now you are walking in righteousness. The power that resurrected Christ from the dead has resurrected you from the dead. The power that has seated Christ at the Father's right hand in the heavenly places has seated you in the heavenly places.
Now, I'm going to assume there will be two camps of people here today: those who have never read these verses and those who have read these verses 1,000 times. I'm doubtful there's any in between for us today.
In my humble opinion, no ten verses in the Bible more clearly lay out the message of the gospel for us than these. No ten verses more clearly describe what occurs within the heart of those who believe in Jesus. So, my prayer for us today is that these verses will deeply grip our hearts in a way they never have before. I pray that we will walk out those doors with a sense of awe and wonder because we understand the immeasurable greatness of God's power toward us who believe.
So, let's dive in.
"[1] And you were dead 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, 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 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, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
As I look at these ten verses, I see three different sections:
Section one: who we are/were before Christ (vs. 1-3).
Section two: what God has done for us in Christ (vs. 4-9).
Section three: who we now are in Christ (v. 10).
Today, we will look at these first two sections: who we were before Christ and what God has done for us in Christ. Then, next week, we will unpack who we are now in Christ.
So, let's first answer the question, "Who were we before Christ?"
AND YOU WERE DEAD…
In verse 1, we find Paul pointing his finger at the church and saying, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…"
So, we see right from the jump that before Christ, we were dead. Before we trusted in Jesus, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. In the original language, believe it or not, the word dead means to be without life. It is to be lifeless. Dead means dead.
My brother and sister-in-law bought my children two goldfish a few years ago for Christmas. Flo and Phil were their names. For goldfish, they lived a long and healthy life. But, unfortunately, the day came for them to breathe their last breath. I came home to Flo and Phil floating upside down in their bowl.
At that moment, did anything visually change about the fish? Yes and no. They still possessed all of the vital organs of life; there was just no life within the fish anymore. They still had eyes, but they couldn't see. They still had a nose, but they couldn't smell. They still had a mouth, but they couldn't eat. They still had fins, but they could no longer swim.
Paul is saying the same is true of us spiritually apart from Christ. We possessed everything we needed to walk in life and godliness. There was just one minor problem: we were dead. As John Stott puts it, "[We were] blind to the glory of Jesus Christ, and deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit. [We had] no love for God, no sensitive awareness of his personal reality, no leaping of [our] spirit towards him in the cry, 'Abba, Father,' no longing for fellowship with his people. [We were] unresponsive to him as a corpse."
This highlights the reality that we are entirely incapable of experiencing life (or salvation) through our efforts because we were dead in our sins. I could put food in Flo and Phil's bowl, but I shouldn't expect them to eat what's before them. Those who are dead cannot walk in life, nor can they bring themselves to life.
IN YOUR TRESPASSES AND SINS…
We were dead "in our trespasses and sins."
"Trespasses and sins" are two words that highlight different nuances of the same truth. Tony Merida summarizes these words by saying, "'Trespasses' draws attention to acts of sin. 'Sins' is a more comprehensive account of human evil. We were dead, committing trespasses, in a sinful state."
A trespass is intentionally going past a set boundary. It's you knowing you should not do something and choosing to do it anyway. It's you seeing the "do not fish here" sign and still choosing to fish there. It's you choosing to hop the fence and walk past the no-trespassing sign. On a deeper, more spiritual level, it's Eve eating from the tree that God told her not to eat from. It's David calling up Bathsheba when he knew better. It's you knowing you should honor your father and mother and choosing not to honor them. It's you knowing you should not murder and still pulling the trigger. It's you knowing you should not commit adultery and going to her house anyway. It's you knowing you shouldn't pull up that website and pulling it up anyway.
God has placed good boundaries in our lives for our joy and protection. Yet, we don't always see them as good. Therefore, we decide to hop the fence and give in to temptation. A trespass is you intentionally walking past the good boundaries God has placed in your life. We've all done it, and we're all guilty. Therefore, we are dead in our trespasses.
A sin is the act of missing the mark. It's you falling short of a standard. It's you going in the wrong direction.
When Kayla and I first married, we were still in college, and I played baseball. I had a game in Pensacola, which is where I'm from. So, Kayla and her sister decided to come watch. On her way home, she gets on the interstate, and instead of turning west, she turns east, going in the opposite direction. Thirty minutes later, she begins not recognizing anything on the highway, leading her to realize she's going the wrong way.
This is us in our sinful nature. We've missed the mark, and we're driving the wrong way. Kayla was driving well. With both hands on the wheel, she was driving safely. But there was one problem: she was moving in the wrong direction. Similarly, we were all driving in the wrong direction in our sinful nature. We were all driving away from God. We may have been doing good things while navigating life's roads safely. But we were safely driving in the wrong direction: away from God.
FOLLOWING THE PRINCE OF THE AIR…
As we continue to read, we find that in our depravity, we followed Satan. Before we trusted in Jesus, we were following Satan.
Many people in this life pride themselves in being leaders, pioneers who go against the grain. But the reality of life is that we're all followers. We're all following someone.
As Christians, we now follow God, submitting to his will and word. But, before we surrendered to Christ, Paul is saying that we all once followed the course of this world that is being ruled by Satan— "following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience…"
Years ago, we visited some friends who live in North Carolina. While there, we went fishing at the bottom of the Hiwassee Dam. Every day, the dam would turn on or open up, causing the current of the water to move swiftly downriver. The power of the river's current hinged on the dam's power. The same is true of this world. Satan is the leader of this world. So, the current of this world is driven by the prince of the air. The world pursues, celebrates, and loves what Satan pursues, celebrates, and loves.
CARRYING OUT THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH…
The master plan of Satan is to lure and entice us into carrying out the desires of our flesh. Satan wants us to do what we want to do instead of what God wants us to do. He wants us to carry out our desires, not God's desires. So, before we trusted in Jesus, we served ourselves. We were carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. The lord of our life was ourselves. We did what we wanted, not what God wanted.
We live in a society that celebrates all desires/wants/cravings as a good gift from God. Satan and this world want us to view our desires as something worth giving into. But these verses teach us that not all of our inherent desires are good and godly. Not all things that come naturally to us are actually good for us. Not all things that our hearts race for should be pursued.
So, to rightly understand the power of God, we need to understand our depravity. Before we get to the good news of Christ, we have first to understand the bad news of ourselves. If you want to see a diamond's full beauty, it should be placed against a dark backdrop. In the same way, the beautiful diamond of Jesus' death and resurrection must be observed against the dark backdrop of our depravity.
The hope of the gospel is not simply that Christ came to save us from an outside oppressor. Yes, Christ did defeat sin, death, and Satan. But he also saved us from ourselves. The hope of the gospel is that God saved you from you. You were the offender of God. You were dead. You were the one following Satan and this world.
BUT GOD…
In verse 4, we find the biggest but in all of the Bible, the greatest but of all time. You were dead. But God... You were a transgressor. But God... You were a sinner. But God… You were running from God. But God…
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…"
What we see being highlighted here is God's mercy, love, and grace toward sinners. God hasn't loved you at your best; he loved you at your worst. It was while we were dead that God made us alive with Christ. It was while we were mocking him that he blessed us. While we were running away from him, he chased us. While we had nothing to contribute to God, he offered us hope.
This tells us that salvation is from God and God alone. Our salvation rests on the shoulders of God's grace. By grace, you have been saved through faith.
Mercy is the act of someone not giving you something you deserve; grace is the act of giving someone something they don't deserve. Mercy is not punching someone in the face when they deserve to be punched; grace is buying that same person dinner. God is rich in mercy, meaning he's more than willing to not give us the judgment we rightfully deserve. But he's also rich in grace, meaning he's more than willing to offer us life and blessing. God loves you; he wants a relationship with you, and he's taken extreme measures to make that happen through the atoning death of his Son on the cross.
Your dead heart was fascinated with darkness. Your flesh yearned for wickedness. But God, being full of love, mercy, and grace, made you alive with Christ. When you heard the call of God on your life and decided to trust in Jesus for your salvation, you were joined together with Christ. You have been made alive together with him and seated with him in the heavenly places.
Where is Christ at this very moment? At the Father's right hand, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named. So, if we're seated with Christ right now, in the heavenly places, then that tells us we have a position of superiority and authority over the evil powers. In other words, Satan does not have control over us anymore! We don't have to submit to him. You can walk in life and godliness by the power of the Holy Spirit within you.
The power of God is so miraculous that it not only resurrected Christ from the dead it also resurrects the heart of every believing Christian. In the same way Christ was dead in the tomb, we were dead in our sins. But in the same way that Christ was resurrected, we were resurrected. In the same way Christ is seated in the heavenly places, we have been seated in the heavenly places. And God has done this so that in the coming ages, he might "show the immeasurable riches of his grace." God has called you to life so that the world can stand in awe of the riches of God's grace! As John Stott puts it, "For as living evidences of his kindness we shall point people away and beyond ourselves to him to whom we owe our salvation."