"But God"
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Introduction:
Introduction:
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 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. 3 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
eph 2:1-
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 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. 3 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as 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 so that we would walk in them.
Review---We learned last week---Stand is the Series-----This is sermon “But God”
Paul’s heart for the church via is personal prayer request for the believers at Ephesus:
-Prayed for Wisdom & Revelation
-Prayed for enlightened heart so that the believer would know the settled hope of their calling(past), Their inheritance in glory (future), and the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe(Present) Paul prayed that the believer would constantly be focused on these three facets of their salvation.
-We learned the not only are our blessing in the heavenly places Christ is also in the heavenly places.
-We also learned that Jesus has been exalted and given a name above every name. Meaning that he is the sole authority in the heavenly places....
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Thesis Statement: Our spiritual death has separated us from God, but his quickening power has given us life so that we may respond to him.
I. Dead in Sin
I. Dead in Sin
I. Dead in Sin
I. Dead in Sin
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
(v.1) “And you” Paul moves from the heavenly places to the earthly places. Notice his conjunction. The conjunction tells me that he is connecting the previous chapter with this chapter. Although he has change perspective he has not change the subject. The Subject is how “heavenly blessing” & “heavenly activities affect earthly life. Paul is switching between heavenly realities and earthly realities. The seen and the unseen. His overarching point is that the heavenly places dictates what happens in the earthly places.
“And you”- This conjunction also tells us that Paul is about talk personally about the believers at Ephesus. He is about to give an update on their spiritual condition pre-christ(pre-salvation)
2 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.
(v.1) “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,” The verb “were” gives us the timing of Paul’s spiritual assessment of the believers at Ephesus; Paul is about to take the Ephesians believers backwards before he takes them forward. Sometimes in your Christian walk it is good to take a stroll down memory lane. You remember the smells, you remember the sights, you remember the guilt, you remember the shame, you remember the embarrassment, you remember the close calls.
-When the word takes you back it is not for the purpose of heaping guilt on you, but for the purpose of praise.
(v.1) “dead in your trespasses and sins” let’s define those words to separate greek words.
a. trespass—deviation from the truth; to wander---this is truth mix a little error. Our lives were characterized by a consistent desire to add to or take away from truth. Satan said to Eve “Has God really Said?” “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” Pre-Christ we all have this internal desire to wander.
b. sins—to miss the mark---shot in the dark---the standard is the bullseye with no second place, or points given for closeness to the center. The Standard is dead center. To sin is to miss the bullseye(dead center) there are no consolation prizes, nor accolades for getting close.
(v.1) The Bible is using “dead” as a metaphor to helps us to understand the underlying point. Just as a dead man is unable to do anything about his situation, so is a man that is spiritually dead and separated from God. Like a dead man the spiritually dead man needs help from an outside source to respond to any internal or external stimuli.
What does it mean to be dead in your trespasses and sins?
Let’s take a look at the preposition “in Christ” first to help us. Notice how many times Paul uses that preposition just in Chapter 1: v.1, v.3, v.4, v.10, v.12, v.20. Clearly to understand Paul point from Chapter 1 we need to do some work into this preposition. Because it is repeated in the negative in .
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3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Points:
a. I died
b. Christ has taken up abode in me and I in him and he has become my new OS.
c. My old life or the old me as been crucified with Christ. I am new because when my Dad sees me he sees his only begotten.
d. The Son is hidden in the Father.
answer: To be “in Christ” means to have your total being subsumed(absorb into someone else) into a Greater Being, Christ. So that in the heavenly places the old you is not seen, but the new you that is “In Christ”
By Analogy: Trying to get into VIP at a concert by yourself, or trying to get into VIP section with the actually singer vouching for you.
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
(v.1) “dead in your trespasses and sins” this means that pre-salvation our lives were so saturated with and blinded by sin that we were unable to rescue our own-selves from our own impending doom. We were falling off a cliff and could not stop it.
Illustration of Wolves licking the blood from the knives.
2 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.
(v.2) “in which you formerly walked” Paul reminds them again of the former condition in their BC days. You will noticed that Paul says “walked” You will see this word used metaphorically many times in the bible. That word means “a way of life” or “a lifestyle” the summary:there was a time in which you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and it was a way of life for you.
(v.2) “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world” Paul then introduces one of the three enemies of a Christian. Look what he says that we “walked” according to the course(current) of this world. The best way to view that word course is to view the world system as having a current like the ocean. Like the ocean the world has both a surface current and an undercurrent. The surface current will fool you into thinking that you can handle the powerful undercurrent. The world’s current looks fun and exciting on the surface. But the world’s undercurrent is undefeated. You will die trying to fight the undercurrent of the world.
2 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.
eph 2:2
(v.2) “according to the prince of the power of the air” if you are looking critically at this text you will notice that Paul uses the same conjunction “according” to describe these two enemies. This is a strategic use by Paul, so that we will see that these two enemies are absolutely unified and going the same direction.
“Satan causes chaos, but his kingdom functions in Unity.” Larry E. Johnson
(v.2) This text tells us that the world functions according to the direction, and mandate of “the prince of the power of the air”
a. Prince: Archon—this is technical title for a ruler, or king.
b. Power: Exousia—This term refers to his demons.
(v.2) “of the air” ---the lower air, the air that surrounds the earth.
The word “air” here is aer (ἁερ), “the lower, denser atmosphere” “the rarer atmosphere above the mountain tops.” The kingdom of Satan is in this lower atmosphere where human beings exist and functions. The seen world.
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 62.
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8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ” 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
-(v.8-9) Satan offered the Lord real power and authority. He offered Jesus to be second in command of the earthly domain.
2 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.
(v.2) “of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” Paul says that a spirit is “energizing” the sons of disobedience. In the same way that the HS is empowering the believers to live a holy and godly life Satan’s spirit is also “empowering” the world of unbelievers to live lives that are in opposition to the Lord. Before God “snatched us” we were going happily along without a care in the world doing Satan’s bidding.
(v.2) “The Sons of Disobedience”
a. Never seek spiritual advice from an unbeliever. Career advice, Car advice, Financial Advice does not always fall into the category of Spiritual advice. There are good things you can learn from unbelievers. Notice I said “spiritual advice” question of moral decisions, relationship decision, child-rearing decision. Some Career decisions & some financial decisions need not go to any unbeliever in your life.
b. Never compare your life journey to the life of an unbeliever. It will create discontentment in you.
c. Never let an unbeliever to your inner circle. Keep them on the periphery of your life. We befriend the unbeliever for one purpose and that is to lead them to Christ. If you have a life long friend that is unsaved recognize that they are being energized by Satan. Don’t let them into your secret places. You are going a different direction than them. This does not mean turn your back on them, it just means “don’t cast your pearls before swine”
3 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.
(v.3) “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” Paul then introduces our third and final enemy and that is our flesh. Our flesh is the domain in which our five senses function. What we see., What we hear, What we smell, What we touch, and finally what we taste.
(v.3) “we formerly lived according to the lusts”
a. Lust—Strong desires or longings.....We might say “cravings”
(v.3) We live according to the cravings, or strong desires of our flesh. Like a spoiled child when our flesh cries for something we caved into our flesh and give it what it wants.
(v.3) “indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind”
a. Indulging—the esv, csb have the best rendering of this word. Carried away. That is to say that our wills gave in to what our flesh and mind wanted to engage in. Meaning we were slaves to our own flesh. Like a spoiled child we gave our flesh whatever it wanted.
b. desires—Thelma---Desires that come from the emotion, not truth
Illustration about the wolf that licks the blood of the ice and kills himself.
(v.3) “we were by nature children of wrath” Paul sets the table then puts the food on it, and finally makes it plain. We follow the desires and lusts of our flesh because our very nature is most satisfied when our flesh satisfied. Our nature was on the same page as our flesh. They were like husband and wife. Or Mother and Child. So closely intertwined that by ourself without external intervention we could not break the hold that our nature has on us.
“I must confess that I never would have been saved if I could have helped it” (Autobiography 1:91)…Charles Spurgeon
You ever wonder why pigs love mud or slop. Well I did a little research. The First reason is because they have very few sweat glands so they use the mud to cool them down. While playing in the mud their temperature can go down several degrees. Secondly Pigs have parasites the eat of their bodies. Ticks & Lice. They use the mud wipe them off and relieve the itching. All pigs by nature use the mud satisfy their fleshly desires. You can clean a pig up, you can curl their ears, you can put clean clothes on them, and spray perfume, but if you put them around mud they are going to Wallow, or play in the mud. Like the pig before Christ we will always find our way to the mud of sin, we use sin to cool our internal lusts that heat within us. We also use sin/mud to scratch our fleshly itches. Yall stop talking about the pigs. If you want a pig to not wallow in the mud, something has to fundamentally change about his nature. He needs a total makeover from ground up.
-Our Wills are bound up in our Nature
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11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God;
11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”
(v.3) “even as the rest” Paul tells the believers of Ephesus “Yall were just like that” This statement was given so that they would not live under any illusion that somehow they were not in this group. Paul can hear some of the people contention: “Paul I know so people were like that, but I was not in the world like that, I never worshiped Satan, and I was a good person(very moral)! Guess what you just commited the worse Sin. Worse than homosexuality, worse than fornication, Worse than alcoholism, Worse than lust, and that is PRIDE......
(v.3) “even as the rest” Paul tells the believers of Ephesus “Yall were just like that” This statement was given so that they would not live under any illusion that somehow they were not in this group. Paul can hear some of the people contention: “Paul I know some people were like that, but I was not in the world like that, I never worshiped Satan, and I was a good person(very moral)! Guess what you just commited the worse Sin. Worse than homosexuality, worse than fornication, Worse than alcoholism, Worse than lust, and that is PRIDE......
-These two scriptures tells us that we were enslaved to three enemies all more powerful than us: The Flesh, The Course of this World, and The Prince that controls an innumerable amount of Demons had us in their grip.
Transition Statement: Paul used these first several verses to set up this next verse. Remember Paul is always looking for ways to exalt Jesus so if he has to humble man to exalt the Lord he will do it.
II. Made Alive in Christ
II. Made Alive in Christ
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
eph 2:
(v.4) “But God” conjunctions connect dependent and independent clauses together. The “And” conjunction is normally used to connect two like or expected dependent/independent clauses. I like burgers and french fries.
“But” is often used to connect two independent/dependent unexpected clauses. Examples:
Pastor Hood went to the Hospital and was told that he would not make it out, But he went home.
Johnny was told his whole life that he was stupid and that he would never go to college, But Johnny finished his PhD
The Brown’s were told that their marriage would not last past 5 years, but they are celebrating 50 years.
Let me take you to scripture:
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20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
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14 David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
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6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
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29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. 30 “But God raised Him from the dead;
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7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans
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10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
(v.4) This conjunction is a game changer. These ought to be your favorite two words in the bible. If you are in this room today and are a blood bought believer you had a “But God” moment.
(v.4) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which He loved us” this text tells us that the Lord went to his storehouse of mercy. Motivated by his great loved which He loved us which caused him to act on our behalf. It was his love, not our loveliness.
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
(v.5) “even when we were dead in our transgressions,” made us alive together with Christ” This verse is the companion verse to Paul is magnifying the agape love of Christ. That is a love that is not contingent on the behavior of the recipient. It is a love that comes from the will not the emotion. It is a pursuing love, it is a forgiving love, it is a patient love, it is enduring love, it is a tender love, it is a truthful love, it is a faithful love.
(v.5) “made us alive” this verb is active and refers back to what he does not what we do for ourselves. That word “alive” means “quickens” which is a divine impartation of his life into our life. Cardioversion is the method you use when a person flat lines. They take the two paddles and shock the heart to get it beating again, and on rhythm. In a sense God gives our spirit some shock therapy in one explosive moment of power he raises our dead spirit, so that we can respond in faith to the message of Salvation. When our spirit is made to live Jesus becomes the obvious choice. The message that we once ran from and rejected looks glorious. Our nature has been changed; we begin to desire the things of God, and we begin to despise those things that God despises.
(v.5) To the former pigs in the room. We start to not like wallowing in mud, and we prefer to wash with water to cool us down and cleanse us.
(v.5) Paul then inserts this statement “by grace you have been saved” Paul inserts this statement as a reminder. We might say “don’t get it twisted” this is how this translation should read when you take into account the verbal forms of this clause:
Not look what he did
“By grace you have been saved in past time completely, with the result that you are in a state of salvation which persists through present time.”
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 66.
(v.6) “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”
a. Raised us up---immediate spiritual resurrection(prior to this unable not to sin, after our resurrection day we are now able not to sin(freed from the power of sin) & future physical resurrection(freed from the presence of sin)
b. Seated---made us to sit together or enthroned us. Already joint heirs in his kingdom. If he seated us that means we have a chair/throne in heaven....we are now “Truly children of the King”
(v.6) “in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” this is the third usage of this prepositional phrase in the first two chapters of Ephesians.
So far what exists in the heavenly places?
-Our blessing are in heavenly places
-The Lord Jesus is in heavenly places
-The believer is seated in heavenly place
Illustration about leaving to go to college and coming back home to find that mom had moved your personal belonging from the house letting you know that you can use my house as a temporary dwelling but you no longer have place at home.
In the converse the Lord is putting my personal belongings into heaven letting me know that my place is not on this earth. This earth is only a temporary dwelling; my home is with him in the heavenly places, my rewards are with him, my future jobs is with him, and most importantly My Lord is in the heavenly places.
Open up the doors of the church