And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Paul’s epistles always focus on the bad first- he paints a before and after picture.
Paul is a good salesperson- knows that He needs to make his audience appreciate the problem before selling the solution.
Story about Dean’s bible study- Brian Scalabrine -I’m closer to Jeffrey Dahmer than I am to Jesus.
-Smith’s parachute sermon- Jesus is the parachute and we only appreciate him if we know we area free-falling to the ground.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked –
: Paul is talking to all the believers in Ephesus.
“The most vital part of a man’s personality- the spirit- is dead to the most important factor in life- God” – A.S. Wood
Adam and Eve introduced Death
You were born into it so you do not even recognize it. We just think it is normal to live in this way- we have gotten so used to it. We slowly get accustomed to the stench of death.
We don’t have a sensitivity to sin. Sin is more than just the bad actions we do, it is who we are. In fact, the extent of our sinful actions are determined by our circumstances. (Rwandan Genocide example) Same with Holocaust and same with those that crucified the Messiah.
-We think we are rational when it comes to our sin, but we are absolutely not.
Nobody is in more danger than the person who thinks they are okay!!
Jesus told told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed[a] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. -Luke 18: 9-13
We cannot rely on our resume of deeds before God. the only qualification for salvation – if you needed to have a resume to apply for salvation it would be:
- Dead
- Willing to admit you need the life-giving God
in which you once walked, following the course of this world
Walked there is to meander purposelessly.
“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” 1 John 2:16
- Pleasure
- Possessions
- Recognition
“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” – James 4:4
We can sometimes want to keep our ties to the world.
, following the prince of the power of the air
We think that following Satan means being a satanist and performing cult rituals or witchcraft but its far more common than that.
The motto of the Church of satan is simply “do what thou wilt” … It is so easy to follow Satan because he gives us what we want. “I will ascend above the throne of God and be like The Most High”- Satan… We are doing the same thing when we do not submit to God.
We believe the lie that our can be better than God’s will for our lives.
the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – Jesus calls the Pharisees sons of the devil. We falsely assume that everyone is sons and daughters of God, but the bible teaches we are adopted.
“he predestined us[a] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” -Ephesians 1:5
But to all who did receive him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind
The flesh is our nature that opposes God. It rationalizes and justifies all of our wicked desires. The filter by which we view life.
Paul writes about the flesh in Romans- For I do not do what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate.
St. Augustine’s Confessions
and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
This is what Jesus saved us from. God’s righteous judgement of sin. Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath. This is the part that people cannot seem to accept.
Jordan Peterson- Great thinker, brilliant and speaks highly about Jesus as an archetype but misses the point completely. Christianity is NOT Moralism! Jesus is NOT JUST a moral example. Jesus himself condemns Moralism.
- You are in freefall.
- Your enemy does not want you to know this.
- You need to pull the chute.