Ephesians 2:1-10<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION:<\/p>\n
A. Someone once said that “those born once must die twice, while those born twice must die but once.”<\/p>\n
B. The statement that “those born once must die twice” is made in view of the fact that<\/p>\n
1. One born physically must die physically<\/p>\n
2. And, one born who has never become a Christian will after the Judgment suffer the “second death” (Rev. 20:12-15); i.e. eternal destruction (1 Thess. 1:7-9)<\/p>\n
C. The statement that those “born twice must die but once” is made because:<\/p>\n
1. All men must die (Heb. 9:27)<\/p>\n
2. Yet those who are “born again” (Jn. 3:3-5) and remain faithful (Rev. 2:10) shall avoid the second death.<\/p>\n
D. In Ephesians 2:1-10 we are informed that we who were once dead in sin are made alive in Christ.<\/p>\n
1. The Ephesians’ former condition (Eph. 2:1-3)<\/p>\n
2. The Greatest news ever (Eph. 2:4-7)<\/p>\n
3. The amazing grace of God (Eph. 2:8-10)<\/p>\n
DISCUSSION:<\/p>\n
A. THE EPHESIANS’ FORMER STATE (2:1-3)<\/p>\n
1. In chapter 1 of Ephesians, Paul discusses what God wrought IN Christ, and now in chapter 2 will discuss what God wrought THROUGH Christ in men who “were dead through their trespasses and sins.”<\/p>\n
a. Paul is saying that God raised, exalted and glorified His Son — “AND YOU”!!!<\/p>\n
b. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead can give us new life<\/p>\n
c. Paul said you “WERE dead through your trespasses and sins”<\/p>\n
1) “Dead” means separation; cf. Isaiah 59:1-2<\/p>\n
2) “Trespasses” has reference to an error, a mistake in judgment, a blunder<\/p>\n
3) “Sin” literally means to “miss the mark”<\/p>\n
d. Sin had killed them — they were separated from God<\/p>\n
2. In verse 2 Paul tells them that they “ONCE walked according to the course of this world,” i.e. involved in trespasses and sins<\/p>\n
a. They were in conformity with the standards of the world, in CONTRAST with the standard of God.<\/p>\n
b. All this was done “according to the prince of the powers of the air,” i.e. as Satan would have you be.<\/p>\n
c. Verse 2 describes Satan as “the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience.”<\/p>\n
1) This shows that Satan is ultimately behind all the evil in the world<\/p>\n
2) Those who are called “sons of disobedience” are called such because their characteristics are the like the “disobedient one” — Satan<\/p>\n
3) To be a “son of disobedience” is to be an “offspring of the disobedient one”<\/p>\n
3. In verse 3 Paul proclaims, “among whom (i.e. the sons of disobedience) WE ALSO ALL ONCE lived in the lusts of our flesh”<\/p>\n
a. “We…all” were like this at one time<\/p>\n
1) Romans 3:23<\/p>\n
2) Children are sinless, for one must transgress God’s law to sin … 1 John 3:4<\/p>\n
b. We are told that we once fulfilled the “desires of the flesh and of the mind.”<\/p>\n
1) This involves doing the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19ff)<\/p>\n
2) These are sins done in action and thought<\/p>\n
c. What is the result of this disobedient life? We become “by nature children of wrath”<\/p>\n
1) “Nature” comes from the Greek word physis and means a mode of feeling and action which by long habit becomes one’s nature or way of life.<\/p>\n
2) A continued disobedient attitude will lead one not to know anything else<\/p>\n
4. Paul says the Ephesians were once like this<\/p>\n
B. THE GREATEST NEWS EVER (2:4-7)<\/p>\n
1. We were all condemned to an eternal hell when we sinned, “but God” intervened!!!<\/p>\n
a. Why??? …Because God is “rich in mercy,” cf. Ephesians 1:7<\/p>\n
b. Why is God rich in mercy??? …Because of His “great love wherewith he loved us,” cf. John 3:16<\/p>\n
2. Verse 5 tells us that God did this even though we were “dead through our trespasses.”<\/p>\n
a. Sin separates us from God<\/p>\n
1) When we sin we are repulsive to God<\/p>\n
2) God would have been completely righteous if He would have left us in our condemnation<\/p>\n
b. BUT, thanks be to God who “made us alive together with Christ”<\/p>\n
1) Romans 5:8-11<\/p>\n
2) How is this made available to us? … Romans 6:3-5<\/p>\n
c. Without God’s “grace” there would be no salvation<\/p>\n
3. Paul goes on to tell us in verse 6…<\/p>\n
a. How are we raised up with Christ? … Colossians 2:12<\/p>\n
b. When we are raised up with Christ through baptism we will reign with Him … Revelation 5:9-10<\/p>\n
4. Verse 7 tells us that we have an obligation to tell others of the rich blessings that God’s grace provides through Jesus, for how can others know of God’s kindness unless we tell them<\/p>\n
C. THE AMAZING GRACE OF GOD (2:8-10)<\/p>\n
1. Paul says in verse 8, “for by grace have ye been saved through faith…”<\/p>\n
a. God’s “grace” involves ALL that God had done to bring about salvation to mankind<\/p>\n
1) Promise of a redeemer<\/p>\n
2) Preservation of the Messianic lineage<\/p>\n
3) Prophets<\/p>\n
4) Death of Jesus for our sins<\/p>\n
5) The blood of Jesus which cleanses our sins<\/p>\n
6) The Holy Spirit which inspired the Bible writers<\/p>\n
7) The simple plan of salvation<\/p>\n
8) The simple plan of restoration<\/p>\n
9) The church for propagating the gospel<\/p>\n
b. “Faith” involves ALL that man must do to partake of the salvation that God has so graciously provided<\/p>\n
1) Belief in Jesus as the Son of God<\/p>\n
2) Repentance<\/p>\n
3) Confession of Christ’s Deity<\/p>\n
4) Baptism<\/p>\n
5) Shouldering the responsibility of the kingdom<\/p>\n
6) Living the Christian life<\/p>\n
7) Worship<\/p>\n
c. Paul goes on to say that this divine act of saving us is “not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”<\/p>\n
1) Our salvation was not prepared by man, neither is it earned by man<\/p>\n
2) It was prepared by God and bestowed on man by God<\/p>\n
2. Paul in verse 9 proceeds to tell us that this grace is “not of works, that no man should glory”<\/p>\n
a. The works of man’s devices allow glorying, but salvation does not come through such works<\/p>\n
b. We receive God’s grace by doing the works of God!<\/p>\n
1) Salvation is God’s work — NOT MAN’S<\/p>\n
2) 1 Thessalonians 1:3<\/p>\n
3) Philippians 2:12<\/p>\n
c. God appoints certain things to be done, man must do them to be saved<\/p>\n
1) When they are done man is doing God’s work<\/p>\n
2) Man is not saved by doing works of the old law or his own works, but by doing the works of God<\/p>\n
3. Verse 10 tells us that one of the reasons we were created was to do the works of God<\/p>\n
a. The church is divinely instituted for the purpose of doing “good works”<\/p>\n
b. From the beginning of time this was in the mind of God<\/p>\n
4. To say that we are saved by grace without doing any works of God is to condemn oneself to eternal torment<\/p>\n
CONCLUSION: We are alive in Christ…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sermon on Life in Christ Ephesians 2:1-10 INTRODUCTION: A. Someone once said that “those born once must die twice, while those born twice must die but once.” B. The statement that “those born once must die twice” is made in view of the fact that 1. One born physically must die physically 2. And, one … Continue reading “Sermon on Life in Christ | Alive in Christ – Bible Outlines”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}