But God

If you're looking at our text, Ephesians chapter two, verses one and three is God's diagnosis. We're dead. Four through 10 provide God's own solution. We're going to have three points to this text. It only has two parts. First, we're going to see we are dead in our sin. This is the diagnosis. And then we'll consider who God is. And then we will consider his solution, how we are alive in Christ.

Dead in our sin

Ephesians 2.1, we are dead in our sin.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, and the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passion of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

This is a strange diagnosis to hear, to tell someone they're dead. Because a dead person can't hear, a dead person can't understand. It's the most severe diagnosis you can receive. Dead. Specifically here, dead in our sin, dead in our trespasses. And notice what's unusual about this dead. You walked in death. You followed in death. It's an active death. We once lived among the sons of disobedience. Obviously, there's something more than just the physical heart beating and the brainwaves and the body functioning. There's a spiritual death here. This is a dead diagnosis that still has activity.

We're actively dead, spiritually dead. dead to the things of God, unable to know him, not because he hasn't made himself known, but because of our own sin, physically alive, spiritually dead. Notice that we walked in those sins, we participated, we were active in this death, we're following the course of the world that is the rebellion against God, following the prince of the power of the air, that's Satan, the original rebel against God, Notice there, in our own passions in our flesh, verse 3, our internal desires are dead. We produce what makes us dead.

The sinful condition is complicated. There's a social contagion to sin. We do it together. Everybody around us is sinning, so we can either think we're going to justify our sin because everybody else is doing it, or we don't even realize we're sinning because everybody else is doing it, or we can find somebody who's worse than us. There's a social contagion that we follow in the pattern of this world and sin.

There's a slavery to sin. It's a harsh master. It demands all of you. This is why we need to be delivered from sin. It has a power and authority over us. The internal identity we make with sin, sometimes even identifying ourselves with our sin, we produce it from within, Jesus taught us a few weeks ago. What defiles us comes from inside of us.

And notice at the end, the penalty for sin. by nature, children of wrath, deserving of God's just judgment. We are all born in sin, we're born sinning, we're born to die in sin, born to face the wrath of God. Most significant, by our nature, children of wrath, like everyone. Here's a diagnosis for all humanity, walking in sin, dead in sin, Children of wrath.

It's important, that has not always been true of man. Because God designed us good for himself. It's only after we rebelled against him that we died, as he warned us. And now we're all corrupted in that design. It's important we see the fullness and gravity of this diagnosis. All humanity was plunged in the curse of Adam. As I was saying earlier, joy of the world.

His blessings might come as far as a curse is found.

God promised to reverse that curse, and we gather at the day of the resurrection to remember how he's reversed that curse.

We're spiritually dead, unable to fix our own problem, spiritually enslaved, unable to break free from the power of sin, and finally judged unable to wash away our own sin. We need help. We need help from God to know what's wrong with us. We need help from God to fix this dead heart, to free us from our own enslaving sin, to free us from our own desires that deceive us. Our act of sin kills us and is killing us. That's God's diagnosis. The good news that we're turning to next is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news, though, is only for sinners who are dead.

Jesus hasn't come to save people who are merely sick who can figure out their own solution. Jesus came to save sinners who were dead. Jesus came to save sinners so that they would not face the wrath of God. Jesus came to save sinners to give them new life. If you're still trying to recover yourself, Jesus will not save you until you trust him to give you all the life you need, not figure out your own solution. This is good news for sinners who were dead.

But God

Our next point comes from verse four. But God. I encourage everyone to memorize scripture in many sermons. That's your memory verse. I like to keep it simple. But God. That is the most important transition in all scripture. But, God, that changes the whole story.

If it said, therefore, we're going to get logically what should come next, and therefore God judged us, condemned us, and we remained all in eternal damnation. That's what therefore would complete. But God, He made the promise right after we sinned. He comes to Adam and Eve in the garden while they're hiding in shame to call out to them, to make the promise, I will reverse this curse. I will provide a solution. I will send a son who will save you.

But God, what kind of God is this? We often think of what God does for us, but we want to think about what kind of God is he? And our word tells us. Notice,

but God being rich in mercy.

He is not stingy in mercy. He is rich. God is not lacking in a way that He has to be selective as to how much mercy He'll give you or who He'll give mercy to. He's rich. He's merciful and merciful and full of mercy. He is absolute and abounding in mercy. No matter how much mercy He gives and shows, He never has less. He's rich. Rich means he's perfect in mercy.

And before we get to what he does, there's Paul tells us one more thing about this God. Why he does it? Because of the great love with which he loved us. Because of the great love with which he loved us. Let's go back to that description of who we were. We were dead, rebellious, deserving of wrath.

If you think about sin, Scripture gives us regular kinds of very important pictures to think about sin, and one of them is an unfaithful wife. Israel was regularly an unfaithful people, and God loves Israel and likens that relationship to a covenant of marriage. And whenever Israel's whoring after their gods, he calls that what it is. It's adultery. Idolatry is adultery.

If you think about who we are and how unlovely that is, that's why that diagnosis is so important, because we actually see more of who God is if we really think about that diagnosis. God does not love us because we're lovely. God does not fall in love with us. There's nothing lovely about our sin. There's nothing lovely about a dead sinner who continues to participate in that sin. Rather, he chooses to give himself over in love. Great love. because of the great love with which he loved us. That great love, he loved us in mercy. It's an undeserving love.

And to make sure we get that, notice verse five,

even when we were dead in our trespasses.

It doesn't say when we cleaned ourselves up. It doesn't say when we repented enough. It doesn't say when we put enough good works forward. No, because of his great mercy, because of his great love, even when we were dead, It's important we see a principle in scripture.

Alive in Christ

Where our sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.

God gives more grace. We were dead in our own sin, but God, who is rich in mercy, notice what he does. Three specific activities we're gonna focus on. He made us alive together with Christ. He raised us up with Jesus Christ, and he seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ. A third point, we are alive in Christ. He made us alive with Christ, he raises up with him, and he seated us with him in the heavenly places. We were dead, but God made us alive, raised us up, and seated us.

First, God is our only Savior. And the only way to be saved by God is in Christ Jesus. What we see here, the first two persons of the Trinity, the Father and the Son, I believe that's, it's really the Father there in verse 4 being the focus because He is the one who makes us alive with Christ. He is the one who raises us up. He is the one who seats us with His own Son.

We were dead but God made us alive. We were walking in our own destruction, following the course of this world, but God raised us up. We were children of wrath, but God seated us in the heavenly places. To just capture how great and dangerous and severe was our problem, and how God's gospel saves us perfectly and completely because of his great love and mercy. He meets us where we are, dead. He remakes us in our nature, our position, and our purpose. Now, the most important thing we understand is what's repeated there, but might not be real clear or obvious. He made us alive together with Christ. He raised us up with him and seated us with him Jesus Christ. This is the wonderful doctrine of union with Christ.

If you're a believer, you now have a new covenant identity. You were covenantally identified in Adam, but when you believe in Jesus, you are covenantally identified in Christ. And this fights against everything our culture teaches us because we think we're individuals. We pretend we're individuals. God's Word says, no, you have covenant identities. You are in Adam, or you're in Christ. You're with the world, or you're with the church.

Here, the covenant with Christ, he comes to give us all the blessings. He comes to unite himself with us, first in the incarnation, but within that covenant identity, we receive the blessings of what Christ accomplished on the cross, in the resurrection, and his ascension to the right hand of the Father. So if you're in Christ, you're loved by God, forgiven by God, receiving all of the great love and the rich mercy.

See, Jesus had to come to die for us and be raised from the dead for the gospel to be true. It was the only way for our sin to be forgiven. and for God to be righteous. A good God must judge all sin. A good God must judge all sin. And the only way for us to not face the judgment for our sin is for Jesus to come, the perfect man, the sinless man, God's son who took on flesh and be judged in our place.

He died so that he received the wrath of God, so that those who believe in him won't. So the first thing he does, he dies to be that lamb we meditated upon Friday. He dies so that God is both just and the one who's able to declare us innocent. And that's not all.

The life we need, he gives to us. Notice verse five,

he made us alive together with Christ. He raised us up with him.

We can look at other passages such as Romans 8, 11 or 1 Peter 3, chapter one, verse three. We receive the resurrected life of Christ. There isn't some new generic life God gives us. No, he actually gives us the resurrected life of Christ.

In the same way we receive his righteousness, we receive his resurrected life. That's why it's eternal, perfect, indestructible. We receive his immortality. It's incredible, the resurrection is a reminder to all Christians that God is always inviting us back to himself.

But it's not just a restart, no, it's a new life that we are given. New life from God himself, the life of Jesus. He comes so that we may live and truly be happy according to the life God created us for by giving us the life of Jesus Christ, our risen Savior himself. Christian ought to know his forgiveness and his life. That's why the resurrection is so central.

We're never without hope. In the midst of despair, grief, Fear, guilt, shame. We're never without hope because Christ is risen. He's risen indeed. We just buried a brother, Jim Even, this past week. And even at the graveside, we grieve with hope because Christ rose from the dead. So three things that Christ does for us. He makes us alive to truly live in Him.

No longer bound to sinful desires that lead to death. No longer living in fear. No longer living under the twisted lies. No, the life brings truth and wisdom and goodness and a new heart. He raises us up. from the grave. He raises you up out of the life that can be weighed down with sin. He raises you up out of shame and guilt. He raises you up out of the enslaving sin to walk anew in Christ.

The third one, I don't think we talk about this enough as Christians, and we don't think about it enough as Christians. We're seated with him. in the heavenly places. If you go back to Ephesians 1.3, it tells us,

blessed be the God and Father who blessed us with every heavenly blessing.

In Christ, you have every heavenly blessing from the heavenly places. Here, you're seated in the heavenly places. Christian, think about that position and what that means.

That's why we get to pray and draw near and enter boldly That's a position we have that cannot be taken away. We're to walk in the new way here and now, or to long for the new life of eternity, but seated. This is how the Son shares His Sonship with us. This is the adoption.

By grace you have been saved

We know we have a seat near God. You are seated near Him. Are you enjoying knowing Him? pursuing him to enjoy that nearness. No longer children of wrath, seated near the Father with the Son. Now the key question is how do we get this life? Well, Paul breaks into this in the end of verse five,

by grace you've been saved.

It is all of God. Let's look at verse 8,

by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.

So be very clear, you do not get this life of Christ with your works because it's His works, it's what He has come to do. It's not by your works, it's not by your own ability. It isn't you to figure out in your own mind to figure out exactly what you need to do.

Again, that's trying to pretend you can diagnose yourself when you're dead. You cannot wash away your own sins. You're dead. You cannot rehabilitate your life. You're dead. You cannot find your way to heaven and make sure you have a seat there. You're dead. No mortal man can restore his life.

Only God. who sent his son to die for our sins and rise again can give us this life. It is by grace alone. Paul burst into this twice. By grace alone. It is a great gift of the God who is rich in mercy because he loved you with great love. There's no earning it. He simply gives it. He who is rich and abundant, he gives it.

But it's important we understand it's through faith. You must believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died and rose again. You must believe Jesus Christ is the one who God sent to die for your sins and rose again. Faith is recognizing the truth of the gospel, that we're sinners, who were helpless and hopeless apart from God. One must believe the gospel that we need a Savior and that God alone is that Savior and Jesus Christ alone rose from the dead. Notice the outcome of this, there's no boasting. Because there's no works. Faith is simply turning your direction towards God in trust and understanding. That faith, though, does lead to works.

Notice there's a so that in verse 7.

So in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

God's grace is to bring him glory throughout all the ages. Christianity is this wonderful public religion.

Most of the religions have some kind of odd private thing that happened. One man finding a secret book no one else has ever seen? By definition, you don't trust that. But Jesus walked on the earth. He was seen by thousands while living. He publicly died on the cross. He publicly rose again and was seen by hundreds and had eyewitnesses, and those who saw him were willing to die for him. It's the most historically attested event in the ancient Near East.

Turn to Jesus

I can try to prove it, but I actually want you to ask, what will actually cure the sin you know resides in that heart that is just twisted? You can't do it on your own. Only God, and the only God who sent his son to rise again can save you from that sin you know you have no control over. If you're not a believer, hear God's diagnosis. We are all dead in our sin, all humanity. None of us are deserving of God's life or his love, but he sent his son so that you can be forgiven and live again. Please do not leave without talking to someone today about that.

Believer, now you're alive. You're forgiven. and made alive to enjoy the life Christ rose to give you. You aren't saved by your works, but the God who is at work in you, which is what it means that you're His workmanship, that works out. And we begin to enjoy the good works of God. We become His good work, who is working in us, and then we work out our salvation, and we show our faith with our good works. Christian, if you're not abounding in life, if you're not enjoying life and rejoicing in mercy, do not embrace hopelessness or the despair of sin. Do not pretend you can step aside and figure it out on your own. Let's be very clear. We're dead in our sin. Sin makes you stupid, and sin is stupid. We cannot figure it out. Here's the simple, sweet word.

Turn to Jesus. If you're not rejoicing in Christ, don't try to figure out how you can modify it. Turn to Jesus and repent. That's it. It's a life full of repentance. Believer, enjoy that new position, seated. He died for you. He rose to give you a new life.

Oh, to know how to regularly pray to the Father and the Son in that new position. To know how to draw near, as Hebrews tells us, boldly into his presence. God has called us to himself so that we might love him because he has loved us with great love. As we conclude, we rejoice Christ is risen. Let's do that again. As we conclude, we rejoice Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you've made yourself known as the God who makes promises that changes our destiny, that changes us from the dead to the alive, from the judge to the forgiven. We thank you that we can see that you're rich in mercy, that it is a great love of which you've loved us. Lord, whatever obstacle there is, in that mind that's fighting right now and justifying right now, Lord, may you bring just clear conviction of sin and the grace to repent. Help us to know how to rejoice together, seated in Christ, with you in the heavenly places. In his name we pray, amen.