The World of the Living Dead
The Power of the Blood Covenant • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsA Sermon Series based on the Book by Malcolm Smith
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First we talked about, where is the power? If you have been frustrated with the Christian life and have thought “There must be something I’m missing”
We know that our confidence and the reason for our
We are made for a covenant union with God Himself!
to be connected to Him, to love Him, to know Him
But we have to choose this! We were not made to be robots
God desired a relationship with us, His creation, who could respond in love back to Him!
And so he created mankind and set them in the garden and put the choice in front of him.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Here’s your choice: obedience or disobedience
We know what they chose. But why did they choose it?
Adam was a creature, made by the Creator.
He had everything that he needed, everthing that he could have possibly wanted
He only lacked one thing
And because he was created and not the Creator, he would never have this one thing
And with every breath he took, every bite of food he took, he was reminded that he did not have, nor could he have this one thing.
Divinity: He would never be God
His very existense was a reminder that he was 100% dependent on God and would never be God
And this is the very point on which the serpent attacked Adam and Eve
The sin of Adam was that he envied God. He envied who God was and that he could never be like that.
Satan began by portraying God as a lier who could not be trusted
Who had lied to them to keep something from them…divinity
And he told them that if they ate this fruit, they could have what they secretly wanted and what God was keeping from them.
Paul talks about this in : They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped the created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
At that moment, when they gave into this lie, the whole universe came crashing down around them and they died.
Let’s not misunderstand this:
This was not a simple feud between friends
one goes one way and one goes the other way
This was a cutting of ties between the Creator and the created.
The Creator is the source of life, nourishment, the sustainer of all things
This act of disobedience was like taking breath away from my lungs
like taking a fish out of water, his gills and mouth gasping for oxygen
It was like cutting a branch off a tree.
This was a fatal blow.
“The day that you eat of this tree, you shall surely die!” This was not a punishment,
Not a demerit for talking in class
This is not a speeding ticket
but a statement of fact. A statement of what the natural result would be for disobedience/rebellion
Why, because we were created to live in His Love, to be nourished by Him.
That act of rebellion was a turning away from His love.
They were created to say “Yes” to God and his love for them.
Instead they said “no” to Him and “yes” to Satan, the enemy of God. In doing so, they became the enemies of God
They said “no” to a covenant union with Him and “yes” to a dead-end existence of deception
They died
Now, there’s always this discussion about what do you mean? Did God mean that they would die on the spot?
Would they eventually die? What did God mean?
Would they have lived forever on this earth if they hadn’t sinned?
Not sure
What we do know is that their bodies eventually died and decayed.
But they did die that day. We say that they died spiritually. But what does that mean?
We were created to be alive in our physical bodies
But there are many different forms of life. An amoeba is a life form
A plant is alive. An animal is alive
IN that sense, we humans have life in our bodies
But we instinctively know that there is more to life than just simply living
There is something inside of us which yearns and longs for something more…spiritual life
At the moment of disobedience, man lost that spiritual life.
Because God is a Spirit, their rebellion was a severing of that spiritual connection to their Creator
They yanked out the I.V. They pulled the plug, They choked off the supply line of Spiritual Life that only God provides
Entered spiritual death
A man who is spiritually dead can’t grasp or understand spiritual things. Cannot hear or walk with God
They live with humans, they interact with humans, they receive from humans. Some people think they are part of the family
But they have no idea what it is like to be human. They don’t communicate like we do, they don’t love like we do, they don’t value the things that we value
In a small way, that is what it is like for man who has turned his back on God in disobedience
So when God is talking about death, he is talking about more than their hearts stopping and their lungs no longer filling with air.
This is an entrance into the world of the living dead.
And so God’s story of the Bible is one in which he draws man back into fellowship and life with Him
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Lives Heb. chayah—A quality of life that is more than just keeping body together
In the NT—zoe
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Abundant life or everlasting life
How many of you have pet dogs or cats?
They live with humans, they interact with humans, they receive from humans. Some people think they are part of the family
But they have no idea what it is like to be human. They don’t communicate like we do, they don’t love like we do, they don’t value the things that we value
They don’t have the life that humans have
In a small way, that is what it is like for man who has turned his back on God in disobedience
God wants to give you eternal life, abundant life.
Without that, you look at spiritual things like a dog or cat looks at humans.
In this condition We live high above animal and plant life, but far below the life that we were meant to live
This is why there are addictions. This is why men and women waste their lives chasing the American dream, being addicted to money, power, substances, sex.
This is why there is desperation, depression, suicide
Because they know that there is something missing. They know that they were meant to live far above where they are. And so they are chasing after that.
They are living on the fringes of God’s blessing. They may have food, shelter, clothing..the things we need to stay alive
But there is that longing for something more.
Something that they can’t have because they are dead. And this death is has an aweful finality to it
Because only God can fix this condition. ONly God can bring a person back from this death
And so many believers are there…like this letter that I read a number of Sunday’s ago.
They have asked Jesus into their hearts because they want to go to heaven when they die
But they don’t understand the power in the Gospel message.
They don’t understand that they are alive.
They don’t understand that they are now dead to sin and alive to God!
They live, knowing, feeling like there must be something more
This is something that can’t be filled by anyone or anything else:
No person
No substance
No experience
ONLY GOD ALONE
It is a spiritual awakening, a spiritual filling
Again, those who have rebelled against God are dead
, the story of the prodigal son
What did the Father say? “My son was dead but now is alive”
Death—a separation from the love of the Father
And this was all of our condition at one time.
The Bible says that we were “in Adam”. The whole human race was “in Adam” when he sinned.
Because of his sin, we are all held guilty. To remain in the rebellion of Adam is to remained separated from God
and Paul says that in “one man”, Adam, all have died—We were all separated from God.
It goes on to say, that in ONE MAN, JESUS, we are made alive! (but we will be talking about that more)
And so when all died spiritually, the only thing that we see to do is to live life in the flesh
We look on the flesh as the essence of life. We think that if we can feel enough, taste enough, experience enough, that means we are living.
But the flesh never gets enough, so we chase more and more things, realizing that it is futile, but managing to persuade ourselves that just one more high, one more taste, one more look, one more fling will get us that fulfillment
Look at the reaction of Adam and Eve after they had sinned. The spiritual life they had was taken away.
Immediately their attention turned to their flesh,
The Bible doesn’t really give an indication that they realized the enormity of what they had done
But their attention turned to their flesh and trying to cover it up.
Their flesh began to get their full attention and they were only dimly aware of the spiritual realm
The Bible describes this life in the flesh as futile or useless
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
1 Peter 1:
The irony of Adam’s sin was that he thought he could be like God. Instead he became a slave to the deceiver. And a slave to his flesh
We know that all have sinned. All were in Adam when he sinned, but as 1 Peter says, there is HOPE!
If you are in Christ, you were ransomed from that futile way of thinking with the precious blood of Christ!
In Paul says that you don’t have to live like that any more.
Don’t let sin reign in your bodies (implies that you have a choice here. You are not a helpless bystander or victim)
He says, “Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are no longer under the law but under grace”
“Don’t you know that to whoever you present yourselves, you become a slave to that person. If you present yourself to sin, you become its slave and it leads to death. If you present yourself to righteousness, you become its slave and it leads to righteousness!”
(, my translation)
To the Ephesians Paul says that “You He has made alive! You once walked in your trespasses and sins.
but now God, being rich in mercy, has made you alive with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the Heavenlies. Why? So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of of grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus!”
Did you get that?
While we were still dead. While we were completely helpless, God reached down, picked us up.
Didn’t just set us back on our feet. He raised us up into the Heavenlies and seated us right beside Christ Jesus. For the very purpose of showing us the immeasurable riches of His grace.
But here’s the tragedy
So many Believers are walking like they are dead…like this letter that I read a number of Sunday’s ago.
They have asked Jesus into their hearts because they want to go to heaven when they die
But they don’t understand the power in the Gospel message.
They don’t understand that they are alive.
They don’t understand that they are now dead to sin and alive to God!
They live, knowing, feeling like there must be something more
This is something that can’t be filled by anyone or anything else:
No person
No substance
No experience
ONLY GOD ALONE
It is a spiritual awakening, a spiritual filling
Folks here it is in a nutshell
Outside of Christ, we are in the world of the living dead. We look like we are alive but we aren’t even close to living
In Christ, there is abundant life! There is victory! Not only that, but we inherit all the blessings that Jesus does. We are seated beside Him! Because God desires that much to show his grace to us!
BAPTISM
In baptism we are dying another death
Not dying to our spiritual life in Christ
This time we are dying to ourselves. Dying to the desires to feed only our flesh. Dying to our former way of life