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SERIES: EPHESIANS: THE CALL AND CONDUCT OF THE CHURCH, WEEK 12

TITLE: DEAD TO GOD

TEXT: EPHESIANS 2:1

INTRODUCTION: (1) HOW ARE WE TO ASSESS OR EVALUATE HUMAN NATURE?

* WELL, IN THE WHOLE OF THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN 3 BASIC ANSWERS TO THAT QUESTION.

** THE FIRST VIEW IS THAT PEOPLE BASICALLY ARE OKAY.

*** IN MEDICAL TERMS WE WOULD SAY THAT THEY ARE WELL OR HEALTHY, AS OPPOSED TO BEING SICK OR DEAD.

**** MOST WOULD ADMIT THAT WE ARE NOT PERFECT AND THAT HUMAN NATURE IS NOT AS HEALTHY AS IT MAY PERHAPS ONE DAY BE.

(2) THEY COMMUNICATE, WE LIVE IN AN EVOLVING WORLD, MANKIND IS GETTING BETTER. WITH BETTER EDUCATION, BETTER ENVIRONMENT AND BETTER ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES, MANKIND WILL CONTINUE TO IMPROVE AND STAMP OUT EVIL AND SUFFERING.

* THE WORLD IS GETTING BETTER. A BETTER DAY IS COMING.

** YET WE STILL HAVE WARS, MURDER, RAPE, MOLESTATION, STARVATION, THEFT, DISEASE AND INCREASING TERRORISM.

*** AND PLAIN REALITY SUGGESTS THAT THINGS ARE MORE SERIOUS THAN THE HEALTHY VIEW ALLOWS.

**** THE SECOND VIEW IS THAT MANKIND IS NOT WELL.

(3) WE ARE SICK, EVEN MORTALLY SICK.

* THERE IS INDEED SOMETHING WRONG WITH HUMAN BEINGS, BUT THE SITUATION IS NOT HOPELESS.

** PEOPLE ARE AT LEAST ALIVE AND AS LONG AS THEY ARE ALIVE, WELL, WHERE THERE IS LIFE, THERE IS HOPE.

*** THERE IS NO NEED TO CALL THE MORTICIAN OR THE FUNERAL DIRECTOR YET.

(4) NOW THE THIRD VIEW, THE BIBLICAL VIEW, WHICH PAUL CLEARLY COMMUNICATES IN OUR TEXT TODAY, AGREES THAT MAN IS NOT WELL.

* IN FACT, IT MAKES A MORE SERIOUS DIAGNOSIS: MAN IS DEAD – DEAD SO FAR AS HIS RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IS CONCERNED.

** HE IS DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS, AS GOD WARNED HE WOULD BE IN EDEN BEFORE ADAM’S FALL IN GENESIS 2:16&17 (READ THEM).

*** NOW SINCE ADAM, ALL HUMANS HAVE BEEN BORN DEAD SPIRITUALLY AND LIKE A SPIRITUAL CORPSE, A SINNER DOES NOT SEEK GOD, ONLY HIS BLESSINGS, READ ROMANS 3:10-12.

**** PSALM 14:2&3 SAYS: “THE LORD HAS LOOKED DOWN FROM HEAVEN UPON THE SONS OF MEN, TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY WHO UNDERSTAND, WHO SEEK AFTER GOD.”

V. 3 – “THEY HAVE ALL TURNED ASIDE; TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME CORRUPT; THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES GOOD, NOT EVEN ONE.”

(5) NOW AGAIN MY POINT IS WE DON’T SEEK GOD BECAUSE WE ARE DEAD SPIRITUALLY, WE FREELY CHOOSE OUR SIN AND OUR WILL OVER GOD’S WILL.

* BELOVED, THIS IS WHAT WE CALL THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL TO SIN AND IN CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, THE CRUX OF THIS MATTER IS IN HOW WE REGARD THE HUMAN WILL.

** AND WE AS A CHURCH TEACH THE WILL’S BONDAGE. NOW THERE HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT WAYS OF EXPRESSING THIS.

*** LUTHER EXPRESSED IT IN DIFFERENT TERMS FROM AUGUSTINE, CALVIN IN DIFFERENT TERMS FROM LUTHER.

**** JONATHAN EDWARDS HAD HIS OWN ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION ACCORDING TO JAMES MONTGOMERY BOICE.

(6) BUT UNDERSTAND THIS; ALL OF THESE MEN WERE UNITED IN SAYING THAT APART FROM THE SOVEREIGN GRACE OF GOD IN QUICKENING OR MAKING ALIVE THE HUMAN MIND AND SOUL, NO ONE EVER WILLINGLY TURNS TO GOD OR EMBRACES THE OFFER OF SALVATION.

* WHY? FOR SIN ENSLAVES US. INSTEAD OF TURNING TO GOD WE RUN FROM HIM.

** AND LET ME HUMBLY SAY, NO OTHER VIEW DOES JUSTICE TO WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES CONCERNING THE RADICAL NATURE OF SIN AND THE TOTALITY OF GRACE IN SALVATION.

*** JONATHAN EDWARDS HAD A CLEAR VIEW OF THIS. HE SAID IN SO MANY WORDS: THE PROBLEM IS NOT WITH THE WILL ITSELF, SINCE THE WILL IS SIMPLY THE MIND CHOOSING WHAT THE MIND DEEMS BEST.

**** THE PROBLEM IS WITH MAN’S MORAL NATURE WHICH IS OPPOSED TO GOD, AND WITH THE SINFUL “MOTIVES” THAT FLOW FROM THE CORRUPT NATURE.

(7) EDWARDS DECLARED THAT THE WILL IS ALWAYS FREE; WE ALWAYS CHOOSE WHAT WE JUDGE BEST IN A GIVEN SITUATION.

* BUT AS SINNERS WE ALWAYS JUDGE WRONGLY. WE THINK GOD UNDESIRABLE. HENCE, WE ALWAYS RESIST HIM AND REJECT THE GOSPEL.

** AND THE REASON FOR THIS GOES BACK TO OUR TEXT TODAY, UNSAVED PEOPLE ARE DEAD TO GOD, WE ARE SPIRITUAL ZOMBIES BEFORE SALVATION.

*** AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT A ZOMBIE IS, AND COULD NOT WATCH GHOULARDI AS A KID, A ZOMBIE IS A PERSON WHO HAS DIED BUT WHO IS NEVERTHELESS UP WALKING AROUND.

**** AND TO MAKE MATTERS EVEN MORE GROSS, THE BODY IS NOT ONLY DEAD, BUT DECAYING, PUTRIFYING. IT’S DISGUSTING.

(8) BUT THAT’S THE WAY WE WERE BEFORE SALVATION, WALKING DECAYING STINKING SPIRITUAL CORPSES.

* AND IT’S IMPORTANT FOR US TO UNDERSTAND THAT IN HAVING A FRAMEWORK OR UNDERSTANDING THE SOVEREIGN GRACE OF GOD IN SALVATION OR WHAT I WOULD CALL THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE.

** AND ONE OF THE FIRST TRUTHS IN UNDERSTANDING THESE DOCTRINES IS TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH OF TOTAL DEPRAVITY OR TOTAL INABILITY WHICH COMES FROM BEING DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS, WHAT V. 1 COMMUNICATES IN OUR TEXT TODAY.

*** IN LIGHT OF THAT, I’VE TITLED OUR MESSAGE “DEAD TO GOD”. AND UNDER THAT THEME WE’LL LOOK AT JUST TWO THINGS TODAY.

**** NO. 1 THE CONNECTION OF THIS TRUTH TO CHAPTER 1, V. 1A; AND NO. 2 THE CONDITION OF MANKIND BEFORE GOD, V. 1B.

(9) AND WITHOUT ANY FURTHER INTRODUCTION, LET’S DIVE INTO OUR TEXT TODAY BY LOOKING AT THE FIRST TWO WORDS IN V. 1. LOOK AT V. 1 PLEASE, “AND YOU” OR IF YOU HAVE AN NIV, “AS FOR YOU”.

I. THE CONNECTION, (READ V. 1A)

A. NOW THE WORDS “AND YOU” CONNECT OR PROVIDE THE CONTINUITY BETWEEN THE LATTER PART OF CHAPTER 1 BEGINNING IN V. 17 TALKING ABOUT THE POWER OF GOD AND VV. 1-7 IN CHAPTER 2 WHICH IS ONE SENTENCE IN THE GREEK TEXT.

* AND IF YOU RECALL PAUL HAD PRAYED THAT HIS READERS MIGHT KNOW THE GREATNESS OF GOD’S POWER TOWARD THEM IN 1:17-19.

** AND THEN PAUL PRAISED GOD FOR EXERCISING THAT SAME MIGHTY POWER IN RAISING CHRIST FROM THE DEAD AND EXALTING HIM TO BE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS FOR THE CHURCH IN VV. 20-23.

*** NOW BEGINNING IN V. 1 AND CONTINUING THROUGH VERSE 7, PAUL CONTINUES TO TALK ABOUT GOD’S MIGHTY POWER AND SPECIFICALLY IN THE CONTEXT OF SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION, THE POWER OF RAISING PEOPLE THAT ARE DEAD SPIRITUALLY FROM THE DEAD.

**** BELOVED, PAUL REMINDS BELIEVERS AT EPHESUS OF THE MIGHTY CHANGE THAT HAD BEEN EFFECTED IN THEIR LIVES: THEY WERE SPIRITUALLY DEAD, BUT OUT OF GOD’S GREAT KINDNESS AND MERCY, GOD BY HIS POWER IN RAISING HIS SON FROM THE DEAD AND EXALTING HIM HAS RAISED BELIEVERS AND EXALTED THEM WITH CHRIST.

1. “AND YOU”! WHAT A WONDERFUL CONNECTION. THE SAME POWER THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD AND EXALTED HIM IS THE SAME POWER THAT RAISED YOU FROM THE DEAD AND EXALTED YOU WITH CHRIST IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES.

* IN OTHER WORDS, PAUL’S READERS HAVE EXPERIENCED THE SAME POWER OF GOD WHICH WAS MANIFEST IN CHRIST’S RESURRECTION AND EXALTATION.

** BELIEVERS HAD TO BE MADE ALIVE OR QUICKENED FROM THE DEAD IN V. 5.

*** AND THIS IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE, THE GRAMMATICAL SUBJECT OF THIS LONG SENTENCE IN THE GREEK, VV. 1-7, THE SUBJECT IS GOD, V. 4.

**** AND THE 3 MAIN VERBS ARE “MADE ALIVE WITH” V. 5, “RAISED UP WITH” V. 6 AND “SEATED WITH” V. 6.

2. NOW THE OBJECT OF EACH OF THESE VERBS IS “US” THAT IS BELIEVERS, VV. 5&6.

* THUS THE MAIN ASSERTION, THE MAIN POINT IN VERSES 1-7 IS THAT GOD HAS MADE BELIEVERS ALIVE BY HIS GREAT POWER, RAISED THEM UP BY HIS GREAT POWER AND SEATED THEM WITH CHRIST BY HIS GREAT POWER. WHAT POWER!

** SO DO YOU SEE THE CONNECTION WITH THE LAST PART OF CHAPTER 1 BEGINNING IN V. 17 WITH THE WORDS “AND YOU”?

*** WHAT A WONDERFUL CONNECTION.

**** NOW ONE LAST THING BEFORE I MOVE ON TO OUR 2’D POINT, AND THAT IS IF YOU HAVE A KJV YOU’LL SEE THAT THE WORDS “HATH HE QUICKENED” ARE IN ITALICS AND IF YOU HAVE A NKJV THE WORDS “HE MADE ALIVE” ARE IN ITALICS.

3. MEANING THAT THESE WORDS ARE NOT IN THE GREEK TEXT, BUT HAVE BEEN ADDED BY THE TRANSLATORS FOR CLARITY IN SENTENCE STRUCTURE AND GRAMMAR.

* AND ALTHOUGH THESE WORDS ARE NOT IN THE GREEK TEXT, THIS TRUTH OF GOD MAKING ALIVE OR QUICKENING IS FOUND IN V. 5: “HATH QUICKENED US TOGETHER IN CHRIST” OR “MADE US ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST”.

** AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT GOD HAD TO DO, HE HAD TO MAKE US ALIVE FOR WE COULD NOT RESPOND TO HIM SPIRITUALLY, SO THROUGH THE WORK OF NEW BIRTH, THROUGH REGENERATION HE MADE US ALIVE, HE OPENED OUR EYES, HE OPENED OUR EARS, HE OPENED OUR HEARTS.

*** AND THAT NEEDED TO HAPPEN BECAUSE OF OUR CONDITION, OUR SECOND POINT TODAY, WE WERE DEAD. LOOK BACK TO V. 1 AGAIN PLEASE WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR 2’D POINT TODAY, THE CONDITION.

II. THE CONDITION, (READ V. 1)

A. NOW OUR CONDITION BEFORE SALVATION IS WE WERE DEAD. GOING BACK TO THE WORD YOU, IT IS IN THE EMPHATIC PLURAL FORM, YOU BELIEVER IN YOUR FORMER STATE, YOUR PRE-CHRISTIAN PAST, WERE PAST TENSE, DEAD.

* NOW THE GREEK WORD FOR DEAD HERE IS NEK-ROS, AND IN THIS CONTEXT IT IS TALKING ABOUT OUR FORMER STATE IN OUR SIN, NOT HAVING ANY LIFE, SPIRITUALLY DEAD, DESTITUTE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.

** AND B.C., BEFORE CHRIST, WE WERE NOT SICK, BUT DEAD. WE DID NOT NEED RESUSCITATION, WE NEEDED RESURRECTION.

*** A PERSON WHO IS SPIRITUALLY DEAD HAS NO LIFE BY WHICH HE CAN RESPOND TO SPIRITUAL THINGS, MUCH LESS LIVE A SPIRITUAL LIFE.

**** A SPIRITUALLY DEAD PERSON IS ALIENATED FROM GOD AND THEREFORE ALIENATED FROM LIFE. HE HAS NO CAPACITY TO RESPOND.

1. AND IN THE PHYSICAL REALM, ONE OF THE FIRST INDICATIONS OF PHYSICAL DEATH IS THE BODY’S INABILITY TO RESPOND TO STIMULUS, NO MATTER WHAT IT MIGHT BE.

* A DEAD PERSON CANNOT REACT. HE OR SHE NO LONGER RESPONDS TO LIGHT, SOUND, SMELL, TASTE, PAIN OR ANYTHING ELSE. HE IS TOTALLY INSENSITIVE.

** THE RESPONSE OF A DEAD PERSON IS NO RESPONSE. I MEAN IF I WERE TO DIE TODAY PREACHING, AND BETH HAD CALLING HOURS ON TUESDAY HERE, YOU COULD COME BY MY CASKET AND TAKE A REESE CUP AND PUT IT UP BY MY MOUTH AND I WOULD NOT EAT IT.

*** NOW THAT’S NOT MY NORMAL RESPONSE. IF I WERE ALIVE THAT WONDERFUL PIECE OF PEANUT BUTTER COVERED BY CHOCOLATE WOULD BE HISTORY IN SECONDS.

**** BUT WHEN I’M DEAD, YOU COULD GET 10 OF THOSE CUPS OUT AND I WOULD NOT RESPOND BECAUSE THE RESPONSE OF A DEAD MAN IS NO RESPONSE.

2. AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND IN UNDERSTANDING THE DOCTRINE OR BIBLICAL TEACHING OF WHAT IS CALLED TOTAL DEPRAVITY.

* NOW THE WORDS TOTAL DEPRAVITY ARE PROBABLY NOT THE BEST WAY OF SPEAKING ABOUT THE TRUTH OF UTTERLY PERVASIVE SIN OR MAN’S INABILITY IN SPIRITUAL THINGS, OUR SPIRITUAL DEADNESS.

** THE REASON BEING WE ARE ALL NOT AS BAD AS WE CAN BE AND EVERYONE IS NOT EQUALLY SINFUL. IN OTHER WORDS TOTAL DEPRAVITY IS NOT ABSOLUTE DEPRAVITY.

*** SOME PEOPLE SIN MORE THAN OTHERS AND WE ARE NOT AS BAD AS WE CAN BE. EVEN HITLER DID NOT KILL HIS MOTHER.

**** WE ARE TOLD THAT THEOLOGIAN JOHN GERSTNER USED TO SAY, “WE ARE NOT AS BAD AS WE COULD BE, BECAUSE IN EACH OF US THERE IS INFINITE ROOM FOR DEPROVEMENT!”

3. SO RATHER THAN SIGNIFYING THAT AN UNSAVED PERSON IS WHOLLY EVIL IN EVERYTHING HE DOES, TOTAL DEPRAVITY TEACHES THAT SIN HAS AFFECTED AND INFECTED EVERY PART OF OUR PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL MAKEUP SO THAT THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT US THAT REMAINS UNTOUCHED BY SIN.

* THEREFORE, IN THE INTERESTS OF ACCURACY, IT IS BETTER TO SPEAK OF RADICAL DEPRAVITY OR TOTAL INABILITY.

** FOR IN THIS SAD SINFUL STATE WE HAVE NO INCLINATION OR DESIRE TO SEEK GOD AND THEREFORE CANNOT SEEK HIM OR EVEN RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL.

*** WE ARE SLAVES OF SIN ACCORDING TO ROMANS 6 SO THAT WE DO NOT SEE OUR NEED OF CHRIST UNTIL THE LORD QUICKENS US OR MAKES US ALIVE BY HIS GRACE.

**** AND THEN EVEN FAITH MUST COME AS A GIFT, BECAUSE PRIOR TO THE REGENERATION WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OUR DEADNESS RENDERS US IMPOTENT TO COOPERATE WITH GOD’S SAVING GRACE.

4. AND JUST AS LAZARUS WOULD HAVE NEVER HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS WITHOUT FIRST BEING GIVEN LIFE BY OUR LORD, SO ALL PEOPLE “DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS”, MUST FIRST BE GIVEN LIFE BY GOD BEFORE THEY CAN COME TO CHRIST.

* THERE IS TOTAL INABILITY BEFORE THAT TIME BECAUSE OF DEADNESS.

** AND THAT’S WHY JESUS SAID IN JOHN 6:44: “NO ONE CAN COME TO ME, UNLESS THE FATHER WHO SENT ME DRAWS HIM; AND I WILL RAISE HIM UP ON THE LAST DAY.”

*** AND THAT’S WHY JESUS SAID IN JOHN 6:65: “AND HE WAS SAYING, “FOR THIS REASON I HAVE SAID TO YOU, THAT NO ONE CAN COME TO ME, UNLESS IT HAS BEEN GRANTED HIM FROM THE FATHER.”

**** NOW WITH THOSE TRUTHS IN MIND, WE UNDERSTAND TOTAL DEPRAVITY TO BE TOTAL INABILITY FOR A PERSON TO RESPOND TO CHRIST BECAUSE THEY ARE DEAD TO SIN AND CANNOT RESPOND FOR THE RESPONSE OF A DEAD PERSON IS NO RESPONSE.

5. WHICH LEADS BACK TO V. 1 OF EPHESIANS 2 WHERE WE’LL SEE THAT WE WERE DEAD IN OUR TRESPASSES AND SINS.

* NOW THE FOUR MAJOR TRANSLATIONS WE USE, THE NAS, THE NKJV, THE NIV AND KJV, TRANSLATE THIS VERSE IN YOUR TRESPASSES AND SINS RATHER THAN THROUGH TRESPASSES AND SINS.

** AND FOR INTEGRITY’S SAKE THERE IS DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER THE WORD SHOULD BE LOCATIVE DATIVE CASE OR INSTRUMENTAL DATIVE CASE.

*** AND NOT BEING A GREEK SCHOLAR AND NOT TRYING TO SOUND TOO TECHNICAL, THE 4 MAJOR TRANSLATIONS TRANSLATE IN WHICH IS LOCATIVE DATIVE AND OTHER SCHOLARS I TRUST.

**** MEANING “IN” COMMUNICATES THE SPHERE OR REALM, IN WHICH SOMETHING OR SOMEONE EXISTS.

6. SO WE WERE NOT DEAD BECAUSE WE HAD COMMITTED SIN, BUT BECAUSE WE WERE IN SIN.

* AND IN THIS CONTEXT TRESPASSES AND SINS, WHICH WE’LL TALK ABOUT SHORTLY, DO NOT REFER SIMPLY TO ACTS BUT FIRST OF ALL THE SPHERE OF EXISTENCE OF THE PERSON APART FROM GOD.

** AND IF I’VE LOST YOU, MAYBE THIS ILLUSTRATION WILL HELP. A PERSON DOES NOT BECOME A LIAR WHEN HE TELLS A LIE; HE TELLS A LIE BECAUSE HE IS ALREADY A LIAR.

*** A PERSON DOES NOT BECOME A THIEF WHEN HE STEALS, HE STEALS BECAUSE HE IS ALREADY A THIEF.

**** AND SO WITH MURDERS, ADULTERY, COVETOUSNESS AND EVERY OTHER SIN.

7. COMMITTING SINFUL ACTS DOES NOT MAKE US SINNERS, WE COMMIT SINFUL ACTS BECAUSE WE ARE SINNERS.

* AND JESUS CONFIRMS THIS WHEN HE SAID IN MATTHEW 15:19 (READ IT).

** AND OUR HEARTS BY BIRTH ACCORDING TO JEREMIAH 17:9 ARE: (READ IT).

*** SO WE ARE BORN WITH A HEART PROBLEM AND SPIRITUALLY WE ARE BORN DEAD “IN” OUR TRESPASSES AND SINS.

**** AND LET ME TAKE A MOMENT TO TALK ABOUT THOSE TWO WORDS TRESPASSES OR TRANSGRESSIONS AND SINS.

8. THE GREEK WORD FOR TRESPASSES MEANS TO SLIP, TO FALL, TO STUMBLE, TO DEVIATE OR GO THE WRONG DIRECTION.

* WHEREAS THE WORD TRANSLATED SINS ORIGINALLY CARRIED THE IDEA OF MISSING THE MARK, AS WHEN HUNTING WITH A BOW AND ARROW, YOU MISS YOUR TARGET.

** THIS WORD THEN CAME TO REPRESENT MISSING OR FALLING SHORT OF ANY GOAL, STANDARD OR PURPOSE.

*** AND IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM IT REFERS TO MISSING AND FALLING SHORT OF GOD’S STANDARD OF HOLINESS, AND IN THE N.T. IT IS THE MOST COMMON AND GENERAL TERM FOR SIN USED 174 TIMES ACCORDING TO MY STUDY PROGRAM.

**** NOW GET THIS, PAUL DOES NOT USE THESE TWO TERMS TRESPASSES AND SINS TO POINT OUT DIFFERENT KINDS OF WRONGDOING BUT SIMPLY TO EMPHASIZE THE BREADTH OF THE SINFULNESS THAT RESULTS FROM SPIRITUAL DEADNESS.

9. FOR EXAMPLE, PAUL’S STATEMENT IN ROMANS 3:23 – “ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD” DOES NOT GIVE TWO TRUTHS BUT TWO VIEWS OF THE SAME TRUTH.

* SIN IS FALLING SHORT OF GOD’S GLORY AND FALLING SHORT OF GOD’S GLORY IS SIN.

** SO IN OUR FORMER STATE, BEFORE CHRIST, WE WERE DEAD IN OUR TRESPASSES AND SIN AND WERE “DEAD TO GOD!

*** AND ALTHOUGH NOT EVERYONE IS AS BAD AS THEY COULD BE OR AS BAD AS SOMEONE ELSE, IN RELATION TO ACHIEVING GOD’S HOLINESS, WE ARE EQUAL FAILURES, WE HAVE ALL MISSED THE MARK AND ARE EQUALLY DEAD.

AND AS I WRAP UP THINGS TODAY: (1) THAT IS WHY THE GOOD, HELPFUL, KIND, CONSIDERATE, SELF GIVING PERSON NEEDS SALVATION AS MUCH AS THE MULTIPLE MURDERER ON DEATH ROW.

* AND THE PERSON WHO IS A GOOD PARENT, LOVING SPOUSE, HONEST WORKER AND CIVIC HUMANITARIAN NEEDS JESUS CHRIST TO SAVE HIM FROM ETERNAL CONDEMNATION OF HELL AS MUCH AS THE SKID ROW DRUNK OR THE HEARTLESS TERRORIST.

** THEY DO NOT LEAD EQUALLY SINFUL LIVES, BUT THEY ARE EQUALLY IN THE STATE OF SIN AND DEADNESS AND EQUALLY SEPARATED FROM GOD AND FROM SPIRITUAL LIFE.

*** BECAUSE OF THAT, MANKIND’S BASIC TROUBLE IS NOT BEING OUT OF HARMONY WITH HIS HERITAGE OR HIS ENVIRONMENT, BUT BEING OUT OF HARMONY WITH HIS CREATOR.

**** HIS PRINCIPLE PROBLEM IS NOT THAT HE CANNOT MAKE MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER HUMAN BEINGS, BUT THAT HE HAS NO RIGHT RELATIONSHIP TO GOD, FROM WHO HE IS ALIENATED BY SIN.

(2) AND HIS CONDITION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WAY HE LIVES; IT HAS TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT HE IS DEAD EVEN WHILE HE IS ALIVE.

* HE IS SPIRITUALLY DEAD WHILE BEING PHYSICALLY ALIVE. BECAUSE HE IS DEAD TO GOD, HE IS DEAD TO SPIRITUAL LIFE, TRUTH, RIGHTEOUSNESS, INNER PEACE AND HAPPINESS AND ULTIMATELY TO MANY OTHER GOOD THINGS.

** AND BELIEVER, THAT “WAS” OUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION, BUT OUR GOD HAS MADE US ALIVE BY HIS GREAT POWER, THE SAME POWER THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD AND EXALTED HIM AND IS IN US AND AVAILABLE TO US TO LIVE THE RISEN LIFE.

*** AND HERE’S THE SIMPLE APPLICATION TODAY. BELIEVER, THE MORE WE LEARN TO SEE THE DIMENSIONS OF OUR DEADNESS AND UTTERLY LOST CONDITION, THE MORE WE WILL BY GOD’S GRACE APPRECIATE OUR MARVELOUS DELIVERANCE, OUR MARVELOUS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.

**** I MEAN APPRECIATE, GREATNESS SHOULD BE FLOODING OUR SOULS! AND OUR GRATEFULNESS NEEDS TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO OBEDIENCE AND SACRIFICE FOR THE ONE WHO SAVED US BY HIS SOVEREIGN GRACE.

(3) WE WERE DEAD IN OUR TRESPASSES AND SINS, BUT WE WERE MADE ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST, BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED.

* YOUR RESPONSE? PRAISE, WORSHIP, OBEDIENCE, COMMITMENT.

** AND NO RESPONSE TODAY SHOWS YOUR DEADNESS, SO I CALL YOU TO TURN IN REPENTANCE AND RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR.

*** THE ONE WHO IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. I CLOSE WITH JOHN 11:25&26. (READ THEM AND PRAY).