1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Well, good morning. We're back in Ephesians, which is good or bad, depending on how you feel about that. 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Here we are. I've spent the last week just kind of going over chapter one in my memory, and here we are starting chapter two. 3 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:25,000 I'm going to go through three verses today, and so it's a great time to restart. 4 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:35,000 So if you're like, man, I botched it on chapter one, just that's okay. Let's start in chapter two and get these verses down and memorized. How about that? 5 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:43,000 This morning, as we begin to think about the sanctity of life, and especially as we look at our texts this morning, 6 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:59,000 I hope we understand that one of the major ways that the enemy attacks is to attack life. Over 900,000 babies were aborted in 2022. 7 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:06,000 Almost 50,000 people committed suicide, while over 1 million people attempted it. 8 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:14,000 There are celebrations from time to time around the country when someone receives the death penalty. 9 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:21,000 As one generation gets older, there are more and more schemes to take advantage of them. 10 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:33,000 At least 10% of adults aged 65 or older will experience some form of elder abuse, either by family members or care facilities. 11 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:43,000 We need to value life because every single human being from conception until death is an image bearer of our Creator. 12 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:49,000 We are made in His image, created by a God who holds all things together. 13 00:01:49,000 --> 00:02:01,000 The enemy is after life, and one way that He attacks, one way that He works is to get us to worship creation over the Creator. 14 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:07,000 Where we see created things is more valuable than human life. 15 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:20,000 If you were to kill a panda in China, that was back in the 90s, you would face the death penalty. 16 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,000 Today, it's punishable by 20 years in prison. 17 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:31,000 But at the same time, China has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, and it is completely legal. 18 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:37,000 So I begin to ask this morning a question. Why do we need a Savior? 19 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:46,000 We spent nine weeks taking a look at Ephesians chapter 1 in marveling how God has entered into our lives 20 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,000 and poured out a tremendous spiritual blessing for those of us who are His children. 21 00:02:51,000 --> 00:03:00,000 We've seen how God has chosen us before the creation of the world and has predestined us to be adopted into His family. 22 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:08,000 We've seen how Jesus has redeemed us from slavery to sin and an empty life. 23 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:16,000 We've seen how the Holy Spirit in our lives is a guarantee of our spiritual inheritance. 24 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:23,000 And we've seen how God fills our lives with His resurrection power, but that still doesn't answer the question, 25 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,000 why did we need God to do that in our lives? 26 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Now, perhaps Paul realized that his readers may have been asking that very same question. 27 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:42,000 And so here we go into chapter 2. Paul takes his readers back to what their lives were before they experienced God's grace. 28 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000 Let's read the first three verses of the chapter together. 29 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:54,000 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, 30 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:01,000 following the Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, 31 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:08,000 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, 32 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,000 and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 33 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Now, there is a sense in which we don't want to get too caught up in what our lives were before Jesus redeemed us. 34 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:30,000 The Bible is clear that our present lives are not to be paralyzed by thinking too much about what has happened in the past. 35 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:35,000 We want to leave the past behind because we are a new creation in Jesus. 36 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:43,000 But at the same time, I don't think we fully recognize the significance of what God has done for us 37 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,000 without understanding exactly what we were at one time. 38 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:54,000 So as Paul continues writing here in chapter 2, it's like he holds up this big gigantic mirror 39 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:03,000 that allows his readers of this book, that allows us to see what we were like before God intervened in our lives. 40 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:07,000 And frankly, it's not a very pretty picture. 41 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:12,000 In fact, there is a sense in which it is one of the hardest truths of the Bible 42 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:17,000 because most of us really don't want to hear how bad we are apart from Christ. 43 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:25,000 But in just three short verses, Paul gives us a clear and complete picture of what our lives once were. 44 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,000 So let's take a look in the mirror of God's Word. 45 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:34,000 Let's see what we were before, what our lives were like apart from God. 46 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 So what was my life like before Christ? 47 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,000 Number one is I was dead. 48 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000 I was dead. 49 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,000 Let me take you back to the question I asked just a minute ago. 50 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,000 Why do we need a Savior? 51 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:53,000 I think that most followers of Jesus would answer that question something like this. 52 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:58,000 I need a Savior because I have sinned, because I'm guilty before God. 53 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:04,000 So I need a Savior who can forgive my sins and take away the punishment that I deserve. 54 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:11,000 And while that statement is absolutely true, it just doesn't go far enough. 55 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:20,000 What Paul makes really clear in this passage is that without a Savior, we're not just in God's doghouse. 56 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,000 We're in the morgue. 57 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:30,000 If any of you like those crime shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, those of you that like those shows, 58 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,000 one of the key characters in all of those shows is who? 59 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,000 The corner. 60 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:37,000 Is that what you said? 61 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,000 Somebody said it. 62 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,000 So you're wrong. 63 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:40,000 Okay. 64 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:41,000 Undertake. 65 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Well, close. 66 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,000 Corner. 67 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:49,000 Who has to examine the dead bodies to find out how they died and why they ended up in the morgue. 68 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:50,000 How they got there. 69 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:59,000 Now, fortunately for us, Paul has done the work of spiritual corner and tells us why we ended up in the spiritual morgue. 70 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:05,000 Paul uses two words to describe the behavior that leads us into our spiritual death. 71 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:12,000 Now, all those, the words are often used as synonyms by Paul and other New Testament writers. 72 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,000 They have a slightly different meaning. 73 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:24,000 The first one is trespasses, that word trespasses is a word that means to take a false step, to go off a path, to slip or to fall. 74 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:34,000 As used here in this picture, it's a picture of us wandering from the right path, whether that occurs as a result of inattention 75 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,000 or whether that's just a flat out deliberate act. 76 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,000 We have taken a step off the right path. 77 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,000 We have trespassed. 78 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,000 The second one is sin. 79 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,000 It's missing the mark. 80 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:51,000 This word comes from an archery term, which means missing the mark. 81 00:07:51,000 --> 00:08:00,000 As used here in this text, it is a picture of us failing to hit the target of God's standard for our lives. 82 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:07,000 So it includes both sins of commission, meaning doing something in opposition to God's moral standard. 83 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:13,000 It also includes sins of omission, failing to do what God has commanded us to do. 84 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,000 And we're all guilty of both of those types of sin. 85 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,000 Our morality at times fails to live up to God's standard. 86 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:27,000 And I am confident that we have done things that God has commanded us not to do. 87 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:32,000 And I'm confident that we have not done things that God has commanded us to do. 88 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:38,000 The trespasses and sins in our lives, they don't just make us sick. 89 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:43,000 They are our spiritual cause of death. 90 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:50,000 So why is it such a big deal that we are dead and not just sick or not just in God's doghouse? 91 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:58,000 To answer that question, let's think just for a moment of a couple of characteristics of what a dead person is. 92 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,000 The first one is they're unable to respond. 93 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:11,000 Something that is dead is completely unable to respond towards surroundings or to others in any other way. 94 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:21,000 Before God entered into our lives, we were completely unable to respond to Him in any way since we are spiritually dead. 95 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:22,000 We can't do it. 96 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:28,000 That's why it's crucial that God is the one who initiates our relationship with Him. 97 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:37,000 As we've already seen in Ephesians chapter 1 in his letter to Rome, Paul explains this idea in even more detail. 98 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,000 In Romans chapter 8 verse 6, he says, 99 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:47,000 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. 100 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:53,000 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile towards God, for it does not submit to God's law. 101 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:54,000 Indeed, it cannot. 102 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,000 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 103 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:02,000 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit. 104 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:09,000 If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. 105 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:23,000 So Paul makes it really clear that apart from the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are incapable of submitting to God or even pleasing God. 106 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:34,000 As we've already seen, the only way to get the Holy Spirit in our lives is through the grace of God which He provides through His Son, Jesus. 107 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,000 Another characteristic of a dead person is their body begins to decay. 108 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:44,000 When a person dies, his or her body begins to decay immediately. 109 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,000 This is why they keep the bodies in the freezer. 110 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:53,000 This is why they take a body and they almost immediately and quickly embalm it for a funeral. 111 00:10:53,000 --> 00:11:00,000 Because without the life in the body, our bodies will waste away quickly. 112 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:06,000 Without Christ, this is also an accurate picture of what is happening to us spiritually. 113 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:14,000 Since we're spiritually dead, since we cannot respond, and there is not a thing that we can do about it on our own, 114 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,000 we then begin to decay spiritually. 115 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,000 Our lives are becoming more and more corrupt each day. 116 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:26,000 As I was thinking about this whole idea of being spiritually dead this week, 117 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,000 the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead came to mind. 118 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:38,000 When we read that account in John chapter 11, we find that by the time Jesus arrived at Bethany, 119 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:47,000 Lazarus had been dead for four days and his sister Martha commented about the odor that resulted from his decaying body. 120 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:54,000 If you have the King James version, I love this in the King James in John chapter 11, it says, he stinketh. 121 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,000 I love it. I love it. 122 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:07,000 The other thing that is readily apparent from the account is that Lazarus didn't do anything in order to be resurrected. 123 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:12,000 He was completely dependent on what Jesus did for him. 124 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:22,000 Before God initiated a relationship with him, before God initiated a relationship with us, we are all spiritual Lazaruses, 125 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:27,000 rotting away, completely helpless to do anything about our condition. 126 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:32,000 We were dead in our transgressive, transpasses and sins. 127 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:36,000 The second thing we notice is that I was dominated. 128 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:42,000 The second characteristic of our life from God is that we really don't have any control over our lives. 129 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:48,000 Our lives are dominated by three powerful forces that we can't break free of on our own. 130 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:53,000 The first one is the world. Paul tells us that we follow the course of the world. 131 00:12:53,000 --> 00:13:01,000 Paul is describing here a life in which we are habitually conformed to the ways of the world. 132 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:08,000 That our behavior is determined by these powerful influences all around us, our culture's attitudes, 133 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,000 our culture's habits and preferences and desires. 134 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,000 We are influenced by those constantly. 135 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:21,000 In his letter to the Galatian church, Paul writes about how we were slaves to that system of belief before Christ. 136 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:27,000 He says in Galatians 4, in your notes it says 4-4, it's actually 4-3. 137 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:34,000 He says, so also when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 138 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:41,000 So if you go back and look at that verse in context, you'll find when Paul writes when you were children, 139 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:46,000 he is referring to our lives before we became Christ followers. 140 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:52,000 And just as he writes in Ephesians, it is clear that without Jesus Christ in our lives, 141 00:13:52,000 --> 00:14:00,000 we are slaves to a worldview that is totally and completely hostile towards God. 142 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:08,000 The scriptures are filled with warnings to us as believers to not be consumed by that mindset. 143 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,000 Here's just a couple in Romans 12 verse 2. 144 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:18,000 Paul says, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 145 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:22,000 John tells us in 1 John 2.15, do not love the world or anything in it. 146 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:28,000 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 147 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:39,000 But the problem is, is that without Christ, we're just not capable of freeing ourselves from the ways of the world. 148 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:45,000 If that was the only force dominated our lives, that would be bad enough. 149 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:49,000 But there are two additional powers that also dominate our lives without Christ. 150 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,000 The second one is Satan. 151 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:58,000 He says, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience. 152 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:05,000 We've already seen Paul write about the idea of rulers and powers at the end of chapter 1. 153 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:12,000 And we discovered that Jesus has been raised to the right hand of the Father far above all these other powers. 154 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:17,000 We also saw that all these other powers have been placed under the feet of Jesus. 155 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:23,000 So how is it that the ruler of the kingdom of the air can have power over our lives? 156 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:33,000 The kingdom of the air, that phrase is just another word for the earth where mankind lives, where we dwell. 157 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:42,000 And according to this verse, there is a ruler who has the power in this world, who has power in this world. 158 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:48,000 There is no doubt here that Paul is referring, is writing about Satan and the demons that he controls. 159 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,000 We see this all the time. 160 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,000 As I said at the beginning, Satan attacks life. 161 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:02,000 He convinces us that creation is better than the Creator. 162 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:12,000 Why do you think the world is going crazy over global warming and cows that fart too much? 163 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:18,000 Why do we protect animals more than the unborn? 164 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:27,000 Why do we care more about how we are offended instead of us offending God? 165 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:33,000 Is it because that it's because that's the game that Satan plays? 166 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:42,000 He makes us begin to think that man is our enemy, that your opinions are truth and mine are ignorant. 167 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:52,000 He likes to stir up conflict in churches over the color of the carpet, or because money is being spent a certain way. 168 00:16:52,000 --> 00:17:01,000 The prince of the power of the air is our enemy, and we have to guard ourselves against his schemes. 169 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:11,000 We begin to hear things like, well, I'm just not getting fed here, and there are so many problems in that church. 170 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:15,000 So we go to another one until we find something wrong with that one. 171 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:20,000 I always tell people to look at the common denominator. 172 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:25,000 Because it seems like wherever you go, there's some issues, right? 173 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:32,000 I can't tell you how many times and how many people I know who are excited about the new year. 174 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:39,000 I hear things like, I can't wait for 23, because 22 kicked my teeth in. 175 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:45,000 I'm not bringing the heartache and the pain into this new year that I carried with me in the last year. 176 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:55,000 But do you know what? The same people who said those same things this year said them last year. 177 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:00,000 I can't wait for 22, because 21 kicked my teeth in. 178 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,000 I'm not bringing all those troubles I carried last year into this new year. 179 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,000 And they've been on the same cycle for the past decade. 180 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:14,000 We have to fight against that attitude, because that is exactly what the enemy wants. 181 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,000 He wants to rob you of life. He wants to steal your joy. 182 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:24,000 He wants you to be miserable. And in some of us, he's winning. 183 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:31,000 Fortunately, for those of us who are believers, Jesus has already defeated Satan on the cross. 184 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:36,000 But even though Satan has already defeated, Satan doesn't surrender without a struggle. 185 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:41,000 And he will continue to make his influence felt in this world. 186 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:48,000 And before we had Jesus in our lives, we were completely powerless to battle that influence. 187 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:58,000 In fact, the literal interpretation of this passage is that the ruler of the kingdom of the air is the spirit who's at work in the sons of disobedience. 188 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:06,000 Now, I can't help but think that Paul was influenced by the words of Jesus when Jesus spoke to the religious leaders who were questioning his divinity. 189 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:15,000 In John 8, 44, Jesus says, you are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. 190 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:21,000 He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. 191 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:28,000 When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 192 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:35,000 Before we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that describes exactly what our lives were like. 193 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:41,000 We were sons of disobedience, and the devil was our father. 194 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,000 There was nothing we could do to get out from under his influence. 195 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,000 Before Christ, we were dominated by the world. 196 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:54,000 We were dominated by Satan, but there was also a third force that dominated our lives, our flesh. 197 00:19:54,000 --> 00:20:01,000 Paul says, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. 198 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:09,000 Now, Paul is not referring to our physical bodies, but rather the sin nature that we are born with. 199 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:14,000 Every person who comes into this world enters it with a sin nature. 200 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:24,000 No one has to teach sin, because as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve, every person is born with a sin nature. 201 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:33,000 No, Daniel, my child is precious. My child is perfect. 202 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:42,000 No, your child is a little sinner. 203 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:49,000 I can give you countless examples using my own children to illustrate that point. 204 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:59,000 Do any of you have kids where you tell them to not do something, and they look you square in the eye, and they do it anyway? 205 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:03,000 I do. 206 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:11,000 Any of you dads ever get hit square below the belt because you told them no, and that's how they responded? 207 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,000 I have. 208 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:24,000 I have never once thrown myself on the floor and thrown a fit because I didn't get away, get my way in front of my children, but yet that's what they do. 209 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,000 Why? 210 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,000 Because they're little sinners. 211 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:35,000 Our sin nature is kind of like a worm and an apple. 212 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,000 Do you know how a worm gets into an apple? 213 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:43,000 Because I always assume that it ate itself into the apple from the outside. 214 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,000 But what I discovered this week is that the worm actually comes from inside of the apple. 215 00:21:48,000 --> 00:22:00,000 What happens there is an insect lays an egg and the apple blossom, and sometime later the egg hatches in the middle of the apple and the worm itself eats itself out. 216 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:08,000 We are born with that sin nature inside of us, and it continues to make its way out day after day. 217 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:18,000 And just like the world and just like Satan, this sin nature, our flesh, dominates our lives until Christ enters into it. 218 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,000 Look at how Paul described the sin nature in Romans. 219 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,000 We've already read it, but let me read it again. 220 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,000 Romans 8, verse 6. 221 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:39,000 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile towards God, for it does not submit to God's law. 222 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,000 Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 223 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:50,000 Notice that Paul writes that those controlled by the sinful nature cannot submit to God's law. 224 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:58,000 It cannot please God. Without God's help, there is no way that we can ever live lives that are pleasing to Him. 225 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:03,000 It's impossible because our very nature prevents us from doing so. 226 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000 So apart from God, I was dead. 227 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,000 Apart from God, I was dominated. 228 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:14,000 And also apart from God, I was doomed. 229 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:21,000 And were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 230 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:33,000 The result of my spiritual death and my domination by the world, by Satan and the flesh is that I am under the wrath of God. 231 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:40,000 What that means is that all of us are inherently deserving of the divine judgment of God. 232 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:48,000 And since God is a holy God, He cannot sit idly by when people transgress His law, 233 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:54,000 when they fall short of His standards and live their lives according to the principles of this world, 234 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,000 according to Satan, according to their own flesh. 235 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:03,000 And frankly, most of us don't like to think about the wrath of God a whole lot, do we? 236 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:10,000 And so I think we often get a wrong picture of what the wrath is like. 237 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:16,000 We tend to picture God just getting angry from time to time. 238 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:23,000 Lashing out in anger, destroying cities, sending people to hell, and then we kind of forget about it. 239 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:29,000 But when we look at what the Bible teaches about His wrath, we find that His wrath is consistent. 240 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:34,000 His wrath is controlled. His wrath is judicial. 241 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,000 Perhaps this is what makes it so frightening. 242 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:47,000 God's wrath is an inevitable response to all that stands in opposition to His righteousness and His holiness. 243 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:52,000 God's wrath has both present and future elements to it. 244 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:57,000 Jesus Himself spoke of the present aspect of God's wrath in John chapter 3. 245 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:08,000 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on Him. 246 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:17,000 Notice that Jesus made it very clear that those who reject Him have God's wrath remaining on them, 247 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:22,000 and the verb remains is in the present, not the future tense. 248 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:34,000 In other words, there is an aspect of God's wrath that we experience right here and now when we choose to reject God. 249 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:42,000 I think this is what Paul was referring to in Romans when he described how God gives those who reject them over. 250 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:50,000 He gives them over to their shameful lusts, and that they experience the painful and deadly consequences of their behavior. 251 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:56,000 Of course, I don't think anyone hears like this, right? 252 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:04,000 But there were several people back in Texas who would say things like, well, this is just the cross I have to bear. 253 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,000 This is just the life that God gave me. 254 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,000 God must be trying to teach me something through this. 255 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:18,000 My response was always, no, it's because you make bad decisions. 256 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:29,000 There are consequences for sin, and there are many people who are having to deal with them. 257 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:38,000 Sometimes his wrath looks like he just gives us over to it, and then we just have to reap the ramifications of that sin in our lives. 258 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,000 But obviously, there's a future aspect to God's wrath. 259 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:47,000 Paul writes about that in Romans chapter 2, but because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, 260 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:56,000 you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 261 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:07,000 For those who do not respond to the grace and mercy of God, there is a future judgment to be faced. 262 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:16,000 And at that time, those people will experience the wrath of God, and they will be separated from him for all of eternity, for eternal torment. 263 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:27,000 In a sense, this has to be one of the most depressing messages I've ever preached. 264 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:39,000 There's a whole lot that I, there's not a whole lot I can really do with what Paul writes here in a positive light. 265 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:49,000 The fact of the matter is that all human life apart from God is just not a pretty sight. Not a lot of hope in that, is there? 266 00:27:49,000 --> 00:28:00,000 But on the other hand, this also has to be one of the most exciting messages for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ. 267 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:08,000 Because it shows us the awesome greatness of what God has done for us. 268 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:14,000 He has reached down into our lives, and He has delivered us from death to life. 269 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:21,000 He has freed us from the domination of the world. He has freed us from Satan. 270 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:29,000 He has freed us from our own sinful natures, and He has delivered us from the wrath that we deserve. 271 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:34,000 We're going to see that even more clearly next week as we get into chapter 2. 272 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:44,000 And God did all of these things, freed us from all of these things, not because we deserved it, but because of His grace and mercy. 273 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:57,000 If you're here this morning, and you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, then you are exactly as Paul described in these three verses. 274 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:04,000 You are dead, and dominated, and doomed. 275 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:13,000 But perhaps God has been speaking to you. Perhaps God has been drawing you to Himself. 276 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:17,000 Maybe you have some questions that you need to work through. 277 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:24,000 I'm telling you, the solution to your issues, the solution to getting right with God, is not to put more money in the offering plate. 278 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,000 It's not to say 13 Hail Marys before you go. 279 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:34,000 Don't leave here this morning without responding to His call. 280 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:47,000 You can do that right where you're sitting, and pray to God, and ask Him, thank Him for drawing Himself to you, for drawing you to Him. 281 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:55,000 Confess your inability to overcome your own sin, and ask Him to forgive you. 282 00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:01,000 Place your faith in Jesus Christ alone as your payment for sins. 283 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,000 Not anything you can do, not anything you can earn. 284 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:12,000 You don't have to use fancy words, just speak to God as a friend, and tell Him what's on your heart. 285 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:25,000 But if you have surrendered your life to Him, if you have trusted in Him as Savior, maybe you just spend some time this morning thanking Him for that. 286 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,000 Praising Him for how good He is. 287 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:36,000 I often think about my life sometimes, what would my life look like if God didn't intervene? 288 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:41,000 What would my life look like if He didn't rescue me? 289 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:46,000 I think of my wife, and I think of my children. 290 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:50,000 I think of this church. 291 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:57,000 I wouldn't have Him. I wouldn't have you if He didn't intervene in my life. 292 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:10,000 So maybe we just respond just by thanking Him for that, understanding that without Him we are completely hopeless, completely broken, completely doomed and devastated by sin. 293 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:20,000 When was the last time you stopped taking advantage of His grace and just really surrendered your life again to Him? 294 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,000 Confess those things to Him. 295 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:27,000 Lay those things at His feet, and give Him praise because He has redeemed you. 296 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,000 Give Him praise because He has rescued you. 297 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:38,000 Give Him praise not because of anything that you did, but because of His grace and mercy. 298 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:44,000 So I'm going to pray for you. If you're struggling, if you have questions, then confess those things to God. 299 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,000 Ask somebody around you. 300 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:52,000 We don't necessarily have all the answers, right? 301 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:58,000 But God is faithful, and if He's drawing you to Him, He'll be faithful to complete it. 302 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:04,000 But at the same time, if you have surrendered, maybe we just spend some time thanking Him for that. 303 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,000 Are you living your life under God's wrath? 304 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:17,000 Meaning are the consequences of your sin hindering you from having joy, hindering you from walking in the fullness of life? 305 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:20,000 Maybe we confess those things today as well. Let me pray for us. 306 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:26,000 Father, I pray right now. 307 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:33,000 I pray for salvation to come to this room. 308 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:44,000 I pray, God, that as we look in the mirror, that we will see ourselves as wretched, as broken. 309 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:49,000 That without Jesus, that was our destiny. 310 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:56,000 But God, also, as we look in the mirror, I pray that we will see the picture of righteousness in the person of Jesus. 311 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:06,000 That when you look at us, you see us as righteous because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. 312 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:17,000 So, Father, I pray you move. I pray you speak. And I pray you just minister in this place. 313 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:23,000 I pray that your voice will be heard louder than the music. 314 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:32,000 That your voice will be heard in our lives so that we know how you want us to respond. 315 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:40,000 So, Father, we're thankful for Jesus. We're thankful for your grace. We're thankful for your mercy. 316 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:47,000 I thank you that I'm no longer dead. I thank you that I'm no longer dominated. 317 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,000 And, Father, I thank you that I'm no longer doomed to spend eternity apart from you. 318 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:58,000 So, God, I give you praise for that. I pray that you will be honored as we respond to you. 319 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:23,000 And I call these things in Jesus' name. Amen.