Death to Life
Notes
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Intro
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Change is hard
friends from high school — 20 year
we love the people but we hated the time
its taken 20 years to get from there to where we are at today
lifetimes have gone by
thankful God had us to endure this journey together — its been hard but together (change is hard)
ILL: Convo about crash diet vs. lifestyle change
You can do anything for a couple weeks before you fall off the wagon
Lifestyle change means undoing years, even decades, of
bad habits and behaviors
lies you believed
Tolstoy
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ― Leo Tolstoy
ILL: Turning over a new leaf (idiom is not about a leaf on a tree)
― Leo Tolstoy
changing yourself is too hard and too dangerous
ILL: Turning over a new leaf (idiom is not about a leaf on a tree)
Turning the page in the book of life
Are you reading the same blood stained pages of your life’s book?
Life should be a series of new leafs
What if you flip back? (3 days of cognitive dissonance)
— Where does real change—new pages—come from?
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
Your sin is your own responsibility.
you were dead
you previously lived according to the ways of this world
We all lived in our fleshly desires
we all carried out the inclination of our flesh and our thoughts
we were children under wrath
—we do escape the responsibility for our sin, our brokenness, our contributions to the fall of the human race
But there is a deception deeply embedded in the world that directs our steps away from living according to the great love of God
you previously lived according to the ways of the world — the world has patterned your steps
according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedience
the devil, the satan, the deceiver
his job is to tell you lies
lies about yourself — worthless, irreparable, used up, unworthy
lies about the world — its not so bad, its just how life is, everyone has to suffer this way
lies about other people — you don’t have to love everyone, that person doesn’t deserve your forgiveness, everything is their fault
biggest lie — you can never change, never get out, never turn over a new page
or (2)
you’re fine the way you are
it’s not your fault it’s theirs
These lies run deep in this world
they cut us to the heart
they cripple people, many times for a lifetime
we believe the lies and we get stuck on the same blood stained, tear stained page in life
The greatest two words in all of history are recorded here in our passage.
ILL: Turning over a new leaf story Your sin is your own and you are under wrath for it“you were dead in your trespasses and sins” — spiritual death is not Adam’s fault even if sin stems from Adam“you previous lived” — you make your own life choices “desires of our flesh” — you don’t need the devil to tempt youWhat about the devil? Ruler of the power of the air
Spirit now working in the disobedient What the devil did and didn’t do in the garden What the devil does today BUT GOD!
You were dead in your trespasses and sins…but God, who is rich in mercy...made us alive with Christ… (CSB)
Change is so hard because we often go at it alone
We try to do on our own power what God has reserved to be accomplished in us but His power
When we were dead, God made us alive with Christ
he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Doctrine of Regeneration
Regeneration is a change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit, who gives life to those who are dead in trespasses and sins by enlightening their minds to understand the Word of God and renew their whole nature, so that they love and practice holiness. Regeneration is a work of God’s free and special grace alone. change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit Regeneration is a work of God’s free and special grace alone.
to generate again — to make again
a fresh page, a blank canvas, a new leaf, a new life
comes from God who gave life in the first place
REGENERATION
A new way of life( Turning over a new leaf or something else?)VIII. REGENERATIONRegeneration is a change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit, who gives life to those who are dead in trespasses and sins by enlightening their minds to understand the Word of God and renew their whole nature, so that they love and practice holiness. Regeneration is a work of God’s free and special grace alone. change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit Regeneration is a work of God’s free and special grace alone.
A new way of life( Turning over a new leaf or something else?)VIII. REGENERATIONRegeneration is a change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit, who gives life to those who are dead in trespasses and sins by enlightening their minds to understand the Word of God and renew their whole nature, so that they love and practice holiness. Regeneration is a work of God’s free and special grace alone. change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit Regeneration is a work of God’s free and special grace alone.
Regeneration is a change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit, who gives life to those who are dead in trespasses and sins by enlightening their minds to understand the Word of God and renew their whole nature, so that they love and practice holiness. Regeneration is a work of God’s free and special grace alone. change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit Regeneration is a work of God’s free and special grace alone.
he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary RegenerationRegeneration is not a separate work of the Spirit added to the salvific work of Christ; it is the subjective actualization of Christ’s work.
life to those who are dead in trespasses and sins enlightening of their minds to understand the Word of God (Episodes #10 and #14) renewal of the whole nature2 Timothy 2:22love holiness; practice holiness
Why do we care?
Why do we care?
“A leopard can’t change its spots.”
Can’t change who you are, can’t change how you live.
Can’t turn over a new leaf on your own.
The promise of “But God” is that you can change by God’s power.
If there is internal change, though, your spots must change as well. (elaborate)
KINGDOM ANALOGY: the way of the world (self) vs. the way of the Kingdom of GodContrast between the old creature and the new What does it mean that you were spiritually dead, but now you are spiritually alive?
IOW, You can’t turn over a new leaf and begin to write the same old story over and over again.
It’s time to write a new story.
A new inclination
A new inclination
(CSB)
We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh…
inclinations of the flesh (habits) vs. spirit
flesh
childhood teaching
environment
culture
trauma (defense)
trauma (defense)
Spirit
‘But God’ means that we form new inclinations or habits according to the Spirit
training rhythms focused on love for others
training in righteousness according to the scriptures
training trust for fellow believers and love for the church
new inclinations are synergistic
A new way of thinking
A new way of thinking
(CSB)
We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our … thoughts…
The difference between inclinations and thoughts
thoughts are what we choose to believe (intentional)
inclinations of our flesh are what we happen to believe (habitual)
We live in a world that values intellect
Sometimes all we have are out beliefs
What comes with a blank page is a humility to admit that we couldn’t make the story work before and we are willing to think better
We are willing to see the world the way that God sees the world.
To love the people God has created no matter how broken they are.
To hate the sin that humanity created regardless of how much the world loves the sin.
Sins of the church
Dehumanization of people in the name of righteousness
OR the acceptance of sin on cultural terms
We can do neither — To think well we need to love people and love righteousness at all costs
A new pattern of living
A new pattern of living
A new life
A new life
(CSB)
…you previously lived according to the ways of this world…
patterns of inclinations of habits and thinking effect the way you live
new inclinations and new thinking inevitably results in a new way of living life
God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10 — David prayed for a new heart and that is my prayer for you as well
David prayed for a new heart and a steadfast spirit
A blank page
Ability to write an amazing story
The Promise of ‘But God’ for Christians
The Promise of ‘But God’ for Christians
God is growing you
God is still cleansing you of sin and trespass
God is still cleansing you of sin and trespass
God is still correcting the lies of the devil
God is still calling you out of the patterns of the world
God is still turning over new leafs to write new chapters
PRAY— that God will turn over leaves today
and begin to write you a new chapter
and begin to write a new chapter for our church
and that those chapters will be more beautiful, more fantastic, more life giving and eternity promising than we could have ever imagined.