EPIC: High-Impact Truths in the New Testament – Part 11

All right, well, we are continuing our series. It's called Epic. It's all about the high-impact truths in the New Testament. If you've been with us a while, you know what we're doing. We're hopping through the New Testament. We're finding the most power-packed passages that you can possibly imagine. We haven't hit a boring spot yet. I mean, the Word of God is, oh my goodness, in your face. It's controversial, it's powerful, it's incredible, it's inspiring, and today's not gonna disappoint either because we're in Ephesians. We're in Ephesians chapter two, and as we look at Ephesians two, we're gonna see some powerful truths of the gospel that are essential, they're core, they're major, they're a big deal. And so we start in verse one, and Paul writes, "'You were dead in your trespasses and sins.'" Now, notice that your problem was not that you were lying and cheating and stealing hubcaps out on the street. Your problem was not behavior alone. Behavior is a symptom. Behavior is an outworking. But what Paul is identifying is the problem with the planet. Now, the planet thinks their problem is morality. The planet believes that their issue is ethics, and that's why you will see many lifelong fights for better vocabulary and better education,

which are fine endeavors, nothing wrong with those. Better to have good education than poor education. Better to have a world full of peace than a world full of chaos. That's all fine and good. But when the world tries to legislate a solution to their problem, the world is always looking to legislate love. And so we think our issue is an outward one. And if we could just change our words, if we could just change the words and the vocabulary we use, then we would be a better people. If we could just change our policies in governments around the world, then we would be a better planet. If we could just legislate love and change, then that would be the hope. And what Paul is saying is, there's a deeper problem. There's a deeper problem at the core of your being, and it is not merely the words you're using. It's not merely the behavior you're engaged in. There is a problem of death at the core of your spiritual being, at the root of who you are. Now, you're not dead, dormant, dead, inactive, dead. No, you're dead to God. But you're alive to sin, and we're gonna see that. So we are not saying that the unbeliever is dead. We're saying they're dead to God. And that's an important thing, because there is a human spirit that is missing something,

and lacking something, and craving something. And so what does the world fill this vacuum with? We fill it with the occult. We fill it with politics. We fill it with behavior improvement. We fill it with trying to be a better person. We fill it with new age. We fill it with spirituality. We fill it with a generic faith. We fill it with all kinds of things, because the human spirit needs something. It is alive to sin, but it is cut off and dead to God. And so there's a vacuum at the core of our being that we are seeking to fill. A famous philosopher once said, a God-shaped vacuum that can only be filled by Jesus Christ. And so you can see the problem is more than the lying, and the cheating, and the stealing. It is actually a nature issue. So when Jesus comes along, he addresses this in two ways, with two main statements in his ministry. Number one, he says, I've come that you might have life. Now Buddha did not say that. Muhammad did not say that. You look at the world religions, and they will give you a way to behave, a better way to act, a proposed way to think, a philosophy, a set of actions, a book with principles and rules. You do it, and you're in good with the God of the universe.

You fail to do it, and you will be punished. Morality, ethics, principles, good living. That's what religion gives us. Jesus said, I've come that you might have life. And he's pinpointing the death, and the need for life. Now, furthermore, he said, you must be born again. And people balked at that. They weren't sure what he meant. The scholar of the day who heard it, who should have known what it meant, he. He knew the Old Testament Scriptures about I'll give you a new heart and I'll give you a new spirit and I'll put my spirit within you. That's Old Testament. He should have known about that. This is a scholar, an expert. And when he's told that he must be born again, he says, what am I going to crawl back in my mother's womb? That's his best idea. That's his best theory. What does this Jesus, this teacher, what does he mean born again? What does he mean I've come that you might have life? And so the world defines, we're always defining people by what they do. You meet someone and within 40 seconds, their question is, well, what do you do? And they want to know your job. And sure, they're just curious and they're just being friendly. But then, you know, we humans, we have a tendency to categorize and label people according to what they do and the outward appearance. It's called the flesh. We identify people according to the flesh, the worldly way of categorizing. And so the world thinks that this is our problem out here, what we're doing. And so then when you mentioned the Bible or Christianity, what is the assumption? The assumption is that we're going to fix what you're doing. We're going to change what you do. Stop doing what you do and start doing something different. And you can see why then that the average Joe looks in upon Christianity and believes that it is essentially a crutch or behavior reform or sin management or self-improvement because they're thinking of all the things that they're doing and how those things would have to change once they join the movement called Christianity. And Paul from verse 1 has outlined, no, no, there is a different problem. The different problem is that it's deeper than your thoughts

and your behavior. The different problem is that these are symptoms and you have an ache at the core of your spiritual being. There's an ache, a longing, a hope, a dream of being complete and whole and having someone that causes you to be whole again. And so this is what Jesus truly offers. And Paul is saying that from the outset, you were dead and also your location in your sins. Have you heard about Sally? She's living in sin. You say to that, no, she's living in Christ. She may be sinning, but now she's living in Christ. We Christians, we get our location wrong. We think that we go in and out and in and out. Have you heard about Joe? He's living in sin. No, he's living in Christ, even though he's struggling with sin. So salvation is a location change and salvation is life given to humanity. Wow. All right. Verse 2, he says, in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Now, this is not very, how shall I say it? It's not very politically correct, is it? I mean, we're supposed to be nice about the world. We're supposed to be nice and kind and not say anything that would offend. Paul, 2000 years ago, seems okay with offending because he's going to call a spade a spade. And look at what he's saying. He's saying this group in the flesh who is dead in their sins, they're in a course, they're taking a course. All right. They're in a course, they're in a stream, they're in a movement. And what does it say? It is the course of this world. They're going one direction. And then he even goes further. This is really offensive. Doesn't this put you in tears? I mean, he says that they are walking according to Satan. Man, I don't like that. That is just mean, Paul. Mean, mean, mean. Well, it's mean if all you're imagining is a horned devil with a pitchfork who is just running around doing bad stuff to people all the time. Satan is wiser and craftier than that. Satan is a liar. He is a deceiver. He is happy to fabricate a sense of morality. The first sin in the garden was chasing morality. In the day you eat of this, you will be bad. Was that the sales pitch? And the day you eat of this, you will be evil. Folks, they would have gone running for the hills, find the nearest hill and run for it. Now, that wasn't the sales pitch. It was in the day you eat of this, you will be godly. You will be like God. You will be ethical and moral. You'll be better off. You're good. Things are good. Nice garden, amazing animals, tasty fruit, vegetables, everything you need. You're in a good place. God's done good. But you could do one better. And in

the day you eat of this, you will be even more like him. So, do you see the deception? It's not please eat this and do bad. It's not please eat this and be evil. It's not a horned devil with the idea of immorality. No, this is a deceiver, a slick talker, somebody who's saying, hey, we need to get to the place where we are, in fact, recognizing. All right? That garden, that deception, that trick, it was a good flavor of flesh and nothing more. You got good looking flesh and evil looking flesh. And either way, it's flesh. All right, so Paul has laid out the problem. You're dead. You're in your sins. You're walking in the wrong direction. You know, he's even going to say a child of wrath. He's already mentioned Satan. So, this isn't very nice, but it's truthful. And so, speaking of truth, I want you to notice that speaking of truth, the problem is they're believing a deceiver. So, what do you do when you believe a deceiver? You turn and you believe the truth, the truth about yourself, the truth about who God really is, the truth about the lie that he's going to hold out on you or withhold his best or not be enough. You start believing the truth and the lie can look tantalizing. The lie can look religious. The lie can look like morality and ethics. I hope you hear that because here we are in the United States of America. Here we are in the Bible belt and Canada has its own Bible belt. And you look around the world and, I mean, we're infatuated with principles of better living. And what we need to see is that's actually the course of the world. That's the direction the world wants to go. Let's not be good. Let's be motivated by grace. Good is not good enough. The grace of God teaches us to say no to sin. Let's not pursue right and wrong. Let's walk by the Spirit. Do you see the difference? You've got evil and you've got good and then you've got the third way. That's what I'm saying. There's a third way. Anybody can pursue evil. Anybody can pursue good. There's a third way. You got the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Someone says, look at me. I'm on the good branch. I'm not on the evil branch. Oh, wow. Well done, but it's the wrong tree. Well done, but it's the wrong tree. There's a third way. Faith in Jesus for every moment. It's mystical. Yes, it's mystical. What I mean by that is you can't predict him and it's vibrant and it's dynamic and it's living and it's a relationship. When you're relating to your husband or wife, when you're relating to your best friend or your children, you don't just haul out some principles and abide by them. You talk to that person. You hear from that person. There's a connection with them. This is what Jesus intends when he cleans house and moves inside of us.

There's a dynamic, vibrant, living relationship. So when someone comes along and offers you tablets of stone, you say, that is a dead way and I have the living way. When someone offers you self-improvement and principles and rules to live by, you say, I don't need rules. I'm letting Christ rule. Big difference. Verse three, the apostle Paul says, among them, here's a Jewish man speaking, you know, we too, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of God. children of wrath, even as the rest." Are you sure, Paul? I mean, come on, you guys were Jews. Oh yeah, he's saying, we too, even as the rest. So he's having to process this thing because some people might try to argue with him. No, no, no, Paul, we're not as bad off as they were. Come on. I mean, those Greeks, I mean, those idol-worshiping Greeks, you're talking about those tribal warriors? You're talking about those people who never pursued God ever? Our God, Yahweh? You're talking about those nasty people? We're better off than them. Paul says, no, no. We too, all, all of us Jews, we too, all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging sin. And he says, even as the rest, we were doomed, we were dead. So what do you take from this? Law doesn't make you better. Being part of Israel doesn't make you better off in terms of sin. Still dead, still need life. Moses isn't the answer, Jesus all the way. Jesus for president, right? Can't do it, but wouldn't it be something? All right. Verse four, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. This is one of those famous verses. Someone in West Texas once gave me a plaque and it said two words, but God, that's it. God's intervention. God sees the problem and he intervenes. But God, why? Because of his mercy and his love. Look at that pitiful state of that pitiful people. They're sheep. They can't figure it out. They got a situation that's just pretty, pretty bad, right? I mean, they have no clue. They got no hope. They got no solution. And I feel bad for them. There's mercy, mercy coming their way. And because of my great love, I'm going to do, get this, I'm going to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. I'm going to rescue them because they can't rescue themselves. Catherine and I were taking a walk yesterday, walking down the path. It was getting to be dark. And, uh, there was a frog, a little frog, a tiny little frog on the side of the path. And, uh, we thought, you know, that frog is about, uh, well, 200, 300 yards from its pond. Maybe we could rescue this thing. And then we thought, well, maybe it's all right. It's got some water.

It's got a place to roam over here, but maybe it would prefer to be over by. And then we saw a second frog and then we saw a third and we saw a fourth and we thought, well, we'll be up all night here. We didn't have any mercy on those frogs. We left them in their current location. God, thank God, God didn't leave us in our current location. He looked upon us and he said, out of Adam into Christ, out of the flesh, into the spirit, a surgery at the core of your being because of his mercy and compassion and love. There you go. This God. Wow. But God intervened even verse five, even when we were dead in our transgressions, what did he do for us? He made us alive together with Christ by grace. You have been saved. Oh, I, I just wish I was closer to God, you know, closer to God. We wish we were closer. What does Ephesians tell us made alive together with Christ folks, you let Jesus save you. How about you let Jesus show you how close you are. You let Jesus save you. And he did a great job. How about you let Jesus show you your union with him. He did it when you were dead. The point here is you were hopeless. Like those frogs, you were hopeless. You couldn't do anything. You could fix your verbiage. You could fix your actions, but it wouldn't fix your heart. And so God had mercy and he looked upon us and he says, here's what I'm going to do for you. Even while you're dead, you can't lift a finger. You can't transform yourself. You can't fix yourself. You can't better yourself. I am going to make you alive together with me. Now, two things you need to see here. They are very simple, but they'll take you the rest of your life. stand fully and live by and here they are number one you're alive you're alive to God that means when they say you've got a wicked heart you say I've got a righteous heart when they say watch out for your heart you say I'm going to trust my heart when they say you've got a dead heart or you can't trust your heart or you need to test your heart or you need to get your heart right you can say God gave me a right heart God gave me a new heart when they say you need to be closer to God you can say I'm alive together with Christ do you see it two big things I'm alive I'm righteous I'm in union I'm one with him he gave me life and it's together togetherness with Jesus it's not your quiet time that did this it's God that did it it's not your church attendance that did this it's God that did it it's not your clean living that did this when God makes you close how close are you so I want you to imagine right now in this room and watching online wherever you are I want you to imagine picture it picture you in perfect union with Christ right now just think about it what's it like for a person to be like this with Jesus and sin is not an issue

and your struggles are not an obstacle and your growth is happening but you're perfect the whole time a perfect union you're fused and bonded to Jesus nothing interrupts this when you talk to other people you know this when you encounter struggle in life you know this when difficulty and pain comes your way you know this and it doesn't make everything else better out there but what's happening inside of you at least you've got an awareness of this now you don't have to imagine God did it you don't have to imagine this is your life one with him and there's no breaking up there's no musical chairs there's no mood swings with God this is your Christian life there is no other life you could play Sunday school and church and play quiet time and play that Bible reading gets you closer and play that good living gets you closer and should have would have could have done better but now I'm all washed up I'm done I'm a failure I'm too far gone you could play all those games as many months and years as you want it's a waste of time this is your life you're in union with him he did it he did it perfectly congratulations he's awesome and when he does it he does it right the first time and you can't improve upon it so yes let's gather together in his name yes let's read the great words on the page yes let's let's take time to reflect on the goodness and holiness and grace of God absolutely amen hallelujah but doing those things doesn't make this any more true it's just that we're now living from this this is what he did when you were over there dead in a ditch he made you alive together with him wow by grace you've been saved that's salvation salvation is union verse 6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus I always every time I read this verse I think of the lunchroom seventh grade the lunchroom you know you're walking out you got your food we had Stewart sandwiches they were awful everything in a bag microwaved in 60 seconds or less you're walking out with your Stewart sandwich and if it was pizza day you were lucky but that crust was pretty soggy now you were walking out and you were hoping that you would fit in somewhere right there's the cool group and there's the not so cool group and there's this group and you're the new guy and you're hoping you know what every time I I read this verse I think I don't have to hope I don't have to hope any longer I got the best seat in the house he raised me up and he seated me with him alive together seated in the cool group in the church in the body of Christ in the heavenly places The bride of Jesus we're in, we belong. Now, the second thing it seems like Paul wants us to know,

because he does say in other places, keep seeking things above, set your mind on things above. So he wants us to know this, not just to know that we belong and that we got a good seat, but he also wants us to know we can kind of look down. You know what I mean? You can kind of look down. If you don't know what I mean yet, hang on. Here comes a circumstance, death and loss and grief and pain and struggle, physical struggle, health problems, we can kind of look down. It doesn't make the pain go away, but we can look down on the situation. It also affects, have you noticed, it also affects the way that you look at sin. I look down on sin. I say sin is beneath me. I'm better than sin, I'm raised with Christ, I'm not made for sin, I'm dead to sin, I'm alive to God. I look down on sin. Now I don't mean I look down on the sinner. I don't mean that I'm judging other people who are in Adam. I mean that I look at the concept of life without God and I look down on that and I say, you know what? God's given me discernment, I'm better off than that. I'm in a better condition than that. I'm raised and seated above that. So when temptation comes, get this, I used to think temptation was coming like this and now I see temptation is coming at an incline.

It's beneath me. Temptation is coming at an incline. It's beneath you. You're above it. You're raised with Christ. Now we got just a few more verses and we'll finish, he says in verse seven, so that God could show off. That's verse seven, God the show off. So that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Have you ever wanted to show off? I'll never forget, I was a big show off, at least tried to be when it came to skateboarding when I was a teenager. I wanted my mom to watch because I had spent hours in the backyard with a half pipe and jump ramps and rails and all kinds of the hours and hours every day. So one day after many months, lots of practices said, mom, will you come out and watch? And so she comes out and I get to do my jump ramp and I'm doing all the airs, getting a few feet above the little jump ramp, landing on the pavement, surviving, living. It gave me that, I gotta tell you, I mean, showing off for mom at 13 years old, it kind of gives you that nice warm Italian feeling inside. You know what I mean? You're feeling like a real champ. Now, as you get older, you start trying to show off

and people call you on it, right? Because maybe it's a little selfish. Maybe you start showing off, it looks a little prideful. Now, here's the difference. God is God and he's got nothing but a right to show off his grace and he's got no pride issues. So what he does, watch this, because I sat my mom in that chair and I said, mom, watch this and then I proceeded for 15 minutes, do all kinds of tricks, tried to impress her. Look what Paul is saying. God has seated you. You're raised and seated right there, right next to Christ. You're raised and seated in heavenly places and he says, why did God do this? To show off for you. Watch this. Why did he raise you and seat you? To impress you. Now, I love that, that God wanted to impress you and he did, by the way. He's quite impressive, actually. And without any pride, no hint of pride, he did this so that he could show off the surpassing riches of his grace. He's saying, let me show you how kind I am. Let me show you how powerful the gospel really is. Let me show you my great love.

Let me show you. And it's good. When God does it, all the motives are pure and beautiful and wonderful and we're receivers. Will you let God show off for you? Through the gospel, he has shown off. Will you let him show off for you? That's what this is about. He's saying, look at my son. Look at my son. In the Naked Gospel, my first book, I told the story of a birthday party and Gavin, as a baby, two years old, a birthday party where I'm talking about Gavin and I hold him up and I give a speech at the birthday party with 30 people gathered in the back patio and I'm telling about Gavin and how we long awaited. And then one person raises their hand and says, excuse me. I have a struggle with nicotine addiction What? Anyway, Gavin, I love Gavin. I want to share with you about the story of Gavin my son my and then someone else raising Yeah, I I struggle with lust What? None of that happened But I tell you that ridiculous story to show you something God is showing off his son Jesus Christ and we're talking about our sins and we're talking about our past and we're talking about our struggles and God the Father is saying Look at my son Crucified buried raised seated at God's right hand. It is finished. I am NOT relating to you based on your sins I'm relating to you based on on your Savior Are you obsessed with the size of your sins or the size of your Savior God wants to celebrate Jesus he's showing off Will you let God show off in your life?

For by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. It's a freebie You can't pay for it. You can't make it better either. You can't improve it. He did it We'll finish with nine and ten not as a result of works So that nobody can do any bragging No place for bragging in this one. Well, I was baptized. No, no, no, no No, no, no Well, you know, I I got the spiritual disciplines going for no, no, no, no Nobody can brag it's him For we are his workmanship. Look at how beautiful you are church. We are his workmanship his handcraftedness We're created in Christ Jesus for good works Which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them any stress. No, he's got him prepped They're like bowling pins. You just walk into him every day. It's his spirit and his life and his fruit. We just bear it Secondly Did you notice you're good? I asked crowds of people I travel and I speak and I ask crowds of people. Are you good? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, not me. I said, are you good? No. No, I mean Jesus saved me. Amen, but I'm bad a well-known speaker stood up at a conference and Opened it with prayer thousands of people in attendance and he said opening words Lord. We are bad bad people this is The most common belief Christians believing that they're bad Paul says you're good. Not only does he say you're a slave of righteousness here He says God made you Handcrafted you you're his workmanship and look at your design because your design tells you you're made for good If you're made for good, then you're good You can't do good unless you are good. God made you good So we finish with this thought What did you see today? My friends God showing off. What's he saying? God is good He made you good and

He prepared good things in advance that you get to walk in Whoa, now that is a gospel. That is good Let's pray together father. We thank you for this truth We're not taking that course of the world we're not walking in that direction We got a new direction we got a new hope even more we got a new heart we got a new life We get to say yes to you. Thank you that sin is beneath us that we're above sin Thank you for giving us the best seat in the house For making us alive together with you We love you father. We thank you for showing off who we think you're amazing We love you so much in Jesus name. Amen