Join Dr. John Kyle as he takes us on an enlightening journey through Ephesians Chapter 2, verses 1 to 3. Discover the Apostle Paul’s foundational teachings to the early believers in Ephesus, emphasizing the profound transition from spiritual death to new life in Christ. As Dr. Kyle unpacks these verses, we delve into the nature of sin, the consequence of the fall, and the marvellous grace that redeems us.
00:00:07 Introduction and Purpose of Expository Truths
00:00:51 Understanding Ephesians Chapter 2 Verses 1 to 3
Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we’re called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know truth when we know the Word of God, which is precise, without error, powerful and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Enjoy digging deeply with Dr. Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the powerful book of Ephesians, giving us a marvelous summary of the good news of Christ and its implications for our daily lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
Please bring your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. The letter of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to the faithful saints living in the city of Ephesus. Paul wrote this while he was under house arrest in Rome in about AD 62. And he wrote it to lay a proper doctrinal foundation for these believers so that they could then live out those doctrines for the glory of God. We’re now in the doctrinal section of this book that’s found in chapters 1 through 3. And it’s very interesting. Because this doctrinal section begins with two very long sentences. One that’s 12 verses long that’s filled with praise to our amazing God. And the other is a prayer that’s 9 verses long. And that’s chapter 1. What a chapter it was. Chapter 1. Chapter 2 begins by telling us what we once were before we came to Christ. Let’s look. Verse 1. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as the others. Now, We’re going to stop here, and as we look at this passage, we find two eye-opening truths about us before we were saved. First is this, you were dead. That’s it. And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now you say, but John, why focus in on the dead part when the first thing that the text says is that He made us alive? So John, why not be positive and start out with how he made us alive? Here’s why. Because the words he made alive in verse 1 aren’t in the original language, the Greek, but they are instead added in by the translators. The verse really should say this, and you who were dead in trespasses and sins. See, verse 5 is when those actual words, he made us alive, are seen. And we’re going to get to that good part next time. So the good part’s coming, but first, the bad. You were dead. And this is vital for us to understand because it makes what he did for us all that much better. Now question, why would translators add words into our English translations that aren’t there in the original? It seems, here’s why. It seems that they think that it helps us to read this more smoothly, which may or may not be the case. But look, a good English translation will indicate any of these additions by putting those words into italics. And that’s how we know that they weren’t part of the original text. So once again, you were dead. Now remember, in chapter 1, Paul revealed God’s eternal plan. Remember? And how He chose us in Him. And how He predestined us to adoption into God’s family. How? Because of Christ and what He did on the cross as a believer’s substitute for sin. And also, by the sealing of the Holy Spirit to those who hear and believe the words of the Gospel. And it’s in chapters 2 and 3 that Paul explains the execution of this eternal plan. by showing us how God makes sinners into saints and builds them up into the church, the body of Christ. In verses 1 through 10, Paul shows how sinners who deserve nothing but the wrath of God become trophies of God’s amazing grace. And the first thing he shows us is this, that we were once dead. Anybody here ever been to Death Valley? Anybody? It’s the lowest place in the continental United States at 208 feet below sea level in a place called Badwater. And it’s also the hottest place in the world with the official highest registered temperature ever on Earth at 134.1 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ve been there when it was 124 degrees and it was utterly miserable. Don’t walk on the pavement during the day in Death Valley in the summer because your shoes will literally melt. Don’t hike during the day in the summer in Death Valley because you’ll get heat stroke and will probably die if you’re not careful. True story. Well, here in Ephesians 2, Paul starts out by taking us down into, as one said, the Death Valley of the soul. Why? So he can first show us our miserable condition before Christ saved us. So he can then take us up, up, up, way up to the great heights of what Christ has done for every true believer. See, the bad is really, really, really bad. But, oh, come on, the good is really, really, really, really good. So again, first, you were dead in trespasses and sins. This is an absolute statement. See, Paul doesn’t mean that they were merely in danger of death or that they were just partly dead or even just mostly dead. No, Paul means that they were absolutely dead. Who’s dead? Everyone is dead. And while only Christians have been made alive, everyone starts out dead for this state of spiritual death is universal. Talking about all of humanity from top to bottom. Everyone is dead apart from Christ. No exceptions, except of course for Christ alone, who is God the Son. Now obviously, Paul isn’t talking here about physical death. Because the next two verses show us that they were very much alive physically. Instead, Paul’s clearly talking about spiritual death. So what happened? Well, to understand that, we have to go way back to Genesis chapter 3 to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There God created Adam to rule over all of creation. He was the one who named the animals. He was the one who named Eve. Adam was the head, the leader of the first human family. If you remember, God said to Adam and Eve, do whatever you want to do in the Garden of Eden. It’s all for you. But there’s one thing that you need to know. That tree over there, that’s the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don’t touch that tree, and definitely don’t eat of the fruit of that tree. If you do, you’ll die. Now question, why put that tree there in the first place? Well, the tree was there to test Adam and Eve’s heart, to test their obedience to their good God, and they needed some kind of test. James Boyce said, “…the presence of this tree would have reminded Adam that he was not his own God, and that he was responsible at all times to his Maker.” Another writes, abstinence from the tree was a kind of first lesson in obedience, that man might know that he had a director and lord of his life on whose will he ought to depend and in whose commands he ought to acquiesce. He says this truly is the only rule of living well and rationally, that man should exercise themselves in obeying God. So again, the tree was there as a test, and it was a reasonable test. I mean, God gave permission to eat of every tree except that one tree. But banning this one tree made Adam and Eve morally accountable to God, see? And they needed that. They needed that. But guess what? Anybody see it coming? Adam wants the one thing that he can’t have. He wants the fruit from that forbidden tree. Remember what happened? The serpent tricked Eve into eating that forbidden fruit. She gave some to Adam, who then also ate of that fruit. But look, as a leader, the responsibility falls on Adam. And so according to Romans 5.12, it was through one man, Adam, that sin entered into the world. That means that when Adam ate the fruit, he fell from a state of innocence into a state of guilt. He fell in that moment from grace to judgment. He fell from life to death. He fell from heaven to hell. Because that’s what sin does. And look, Adam’s sin has affected everything, the world and every human. Because by one man, sin entered the world. Question, why do I sin? Because you have a sin nature. Because when Adam sinned, you sinned. When Adam disobeyed, you disobeyed. When Adam fell, you fell. When he died, you died. No, we weren’t there in the garden, but because we’re descendants of Adam and his family, we suffer the consequences of what he did. See, when Adam was created, he stood as a representative for the whole human race. What happened to him happened to all of us because in God’s eyes, he was appointed to act in the place of everyone who would later come after him. Picture it like this. Adam was the driver of the bus of humanity. When he drove the bus over the cliff, we all went down with him. And so we’re all born with this sin nature. Look, we’re not naturally good. We’re naturally wicked. And apart from the grace of God, we’re all hopelessly lost in our sin. In fact, according to the Bible, we’re dead. See, you’re not evil because you do evil. I mean, even though that’s true. You’re evil because you are evil. Your basic nature is corrupt and depraved. That’s your inheritance from Adam. That’s true for everyone. Romans 5.12 says, Just as through one man’s sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. So back to the garden. Eve ate the fruit. Adam ate the fruit. And then Genesis 3.7 says this, Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. That’s very interesting, isn’t it? What does it mean? It means that now they’re painfully aware of their sinful state. In chapter 2, verse 25, it says, And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they weren’t ashamed. This verse speaks of their innocence before the fall. There was no guilt there at that time. See, no shame. And it reveals their sinless character. But now look, they ate the fruit and now they want to cover up. Why? Because their eyes were opened up and now they see their sin. They see their wickedness. They see their guilt. They see their shame. Which is a result of sin. And now, everything is different. Everything is different. Up to this point, all they knew was good. But now, they know the opposite. They only knew intimate fellowship with the Father. Now they have fellowship with the wicked one. They only knew love and joy and blessing. Now everything is changed and this kind of wisdom isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. How sad is this? Innocence truly lost. Makes me think of little children. Aren’t they the best? Come on. No? Come on. Little children. Aren’t they the best? I know they’re little sinners, right? You’re all thinking that. I know that. But they’re still innocent to the fact of the true wickedness of the world around them. I actually sometimes get really sad looking at some of our amazing children here at Faith Community Church. Why? Because I know that all of them are going to have to grow up and find out the wretched and tragic effects of sin. makes me sad they’re going to grow up and see it for themselves they’ll have to deal with it within themselves they’ll find out that there are some really wicked people out there and that pain is real and that life is hard because of sin just like we all found that out and because Adam sinned sin entered into this world into all of humanity into our very natures look Adam and Eve now know that they are naked and they feel the shame of their sins. So what do they do? They sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves. Isn’t that interesting? They just want to cover up. They want to hide their shame. One preacher said, this was a grotesque anticlimax to the dream of enlightenment. Think about it. They were in the same garden that they were in before their sin. They were looking at the same spouse in the midst of the same creatures under the same sky. But now, all of a sudden, came perverse evil thoughts. And now sin clung to their innocence. And they knew it. They felt it. They were exposed. Their purity was marred. And they’re now polluted by sin. So they tried to cover themselves, and it was a sad attempt to cover up their shame. It was a sad attempt to cover up their guilt. Didn’t work, because guess what? Now it’s inside of them. And while they could cover their bodies, they really couldn’t hide their sin. Hey, like them, you can try to cover up your sin, but guess what? Doesn’t work. Why? Because there’s only one who can truly cover your sin problem, and that’s the Lord. He’s the only one who can remove your shame. He’s the only one who can remove your guilt. He’s the only one who can save you from the deadly wages of your sin. He’s the only one who can restore that fellowship and paradise that’s been lost because of sin. The Old Testament words for sin mean to err, to go astray, to wander, to depart from the way and to depart from the truth, to rebel, to transgress, and so on. The New Testament word for sin means to miss the mark, to go astray, and to pervert. It speaks of doing evil, of disobeying, of being unrighteous, of being in debt, and of being in opposition to God. The word trespasses speaks of a deviation from living according to what’s been revealed as the right way to live. So it’s a stepping out of line, a deviation from the truth. And what it all boils down to is this. Sin is to disobey God and to violate God’s perfect standards, God’s law, God’s holy character. And when that happened the first time because of trespasses and sins, everything changed for the worse. But look. Not only did sin infect Adam, and not only did sin infect every human and the entire earth, but sin also has drastic consequences because the wages of sin is death. Spiritual death, physical death, and eternal death. So because of sin, Adam and Eve are now going to die physically, which they eventually did. But look. When they sinned, at that moment, they themselves died spiritually. And now they need to be made alive by God’s grace through faith because of Christ, and we’re going to look at that next time. But also look at this. Every person who is born after Adam and Eve will be born physically alive, but they will all be dead spiritually. Every one. So again, since Adam and Eve, every person who has ever been born, except for Christ, of course, they are born alive physically. But they are all dead spiritually because of trespasses and sins. That’s the result. That’s very strong language, isn’t it? Dead. Dead. Not weakened spiritually. incapacitated, disabled, or sick. No. Dead. Devoid of life. True spiritual life. And even though non-Christians are alive physically, look, in the area that matters the most, the soul, they have no life. They’re blind to the reality, the demands, and the glory of Christ. And they don’t love Him because they can’t love Him. Because a corpse can’t love anything. As John Stott said, we should not hesitate to reaffirm that a life without God, however physically fit and mentally alert the person may be, is a living death. And that those who live it are dead even while they are living. That’s right. That’s biblically true. Dead in sin, that’s every one of us apart from Christ who alone gives life. Now, this doesn’t mean that non-Christians can’t be nice or kind or benevolent or courteous. Not at all. It simply means that they can’t save themselves. They can’t awaken themselves out of who and what they are. They can’t come out from this mess unless God comes in and awakens them, unless God comes in and enlivens them, because again, they’re dead, as we once were too before Christ made us alive. Dead. The second truth about our past is that we once walked in death, in which you once walked. So Paul says that the Ephesian believers and every believer was formerly dead spiritually, and as a result, they walked like the spiritually dead walk. They lived like they were spiritually dead. Why? Because they were spiritually dead. Walk speaks of a person’s conduct and lifestyle. And here we see that before the Ephesians were saved, guess what? They lived like they were unsaved spiritually. Makes sense? They lived like they were spiritually dead to God. And even though they could do some good things, some nice things, some kind things, look, the overall direction and atmosphere of their lives was away from God and away from the things of God. That makes sense. Because they don’t know God or love God and they’re spiritually dead to God. That’s why we in Christ should have some compassion on the lost souls around us. We ourselves were once there. And they don’t know any better. See? They don’t know any better. They’re dead. They’re blind. They’re lost. Oh yeah, we can get angry at what’s going on around us. And we should get angry at sin and at hatred of God and at injustice and at all the depravity that we see going on. But have some compassion on the lost because they don’t know any better. They’re only being who they are. They don’t get it. They can’t get it. They’re desperately in need of Jesus and we’re no better than they are. And except for the grace of God, we could have been them. Or, hey, way worse. Have some compassion. They’re dead and blind and doomed. Notice that this is in the past tense. You once walked, but look, not anymore. See, when Jesus saves you and gives you life, your whole lifestyle changes. Anybody? Right? Right? You once walked one way, but not anymore. No, not anymore. Not now that you’ve been made alive by grace through faith in Christ. Jesus changes us from the inside out more and more. When we are saved, we are made alive and we live like we’re alive. When we are saved, we turn from those old ways and we change directions and we live for God more and more because now we are alive to Him and now we love Him and love for Him compels us to act like we love Him, to obey Him, to please Him, and to glorify Him. Anybody? I mean… You love him, it’s going to show, right? Has to. So you once walked and lived like a dead person, but not anymore, no. Now you live like an alive person, alive to God. Of course. Not perfectly, but powerfully, as we saw last week. Compelled by love. Is that true of you? Paul gets specific here and he shows us five ways that the Ephesians once walked before they were made alive. Five ways that we all lived before we were saved. First, the unsaved live according to the course of this world. And that’s how the Ephesians and us once walked before Christ saved us. What’s the course of this world? The Greek word for world, cosmos, occurs 185 times in the New Testament, and it originally meant order. The word may refer to the physical world, to the people of the world collectively, or else to the evil organized system under Satan, which operates through unbelieving people who are enemies of God. And that last one is clearly what Paul is talking about here, talking about the world system themselves. the world that’s in rebellion against God, the world that’s in opposition against God, the system that involves the world’s values, pleasures, pastimes, and sinful self-centered aspirations. John says that the world lies under the grip of the evil one. that it rejected Jesus when he came, that it doesn’t know him, that it hates him and his followers, and that this world is marked by Satan, sin, and direct opposition to the Lord. And this is how the Ephesians conducted their lives before they were awakened by God and were saved. See, it was godless. It was away from God. It was futile and empty. It was meaningless. It was the opposite of a God-pleasing life. See, before their new birth, they walked the wrong path of conduct. And their day-to-day life was determined by the spirit and practice of this evil age. Many non-Christians don’t understand this, but this is their reality nonetheless. They may think they’re good. They may think they’re doing good. They may think they aren’t as bad as the Bible says they are, but they are wrong according to the Word of God. And Satan has done his job well of blinding them to the truth of their true condition. They are dead, and they cannot truly please God. They are pawns of the God, little g, of this wicked world that opposes God, big G. They’re on the wrong team, see, even while many of them think that they’re on the right team. That’s you if you’re not a Christian. That’s you. See, if you’re not a Christian, you’re on Satan’s team. That’s strong language, but it’s true. If you aren’t a Christian, you’re part of the world that stands in hatred and opposition to God and saying otherwise doesn’t change the reality. But good news, God is good at giving life to dead sinners. Anybody? Right? Good news. And if you’re not a Christian, I believe that God has you here today for a reason. He wants your soul for himself. So here’s the good news. Jesus, God the Son, left glory and he came here. And he took on human flesh. He lived a perfect life. He died on the cross. And three days later, he rose up from the dead. Why? To save helpless, hopeless, dead, lost sinners like us. The wages of sin see his death, which ends us in hell forever. And so Jesus died so that all who believe could live and be saved and be forgiven and go to heaven instead of hell. Look, the believer’s punishment for sin that condemned them to hell was put onto Jesus. And Jesus was punished so that all who believe could be forgiven. Our sin was on him and his perfect righteousness was on us. He became the believer’s substitute and paid our wages so that we could be forgiven and go to heaven forever. See, every sin must be punished in full by holy God. And so Jesus came and paid up the full wages of every true believer’s sin in His own body on the cross. And now, for all who believe, life, life, eternal life. So, won’t you surrender to Christ and be saved today? Won’t you believe, truly repent and believe in Christ’s person and in His work and turn to Him as Lord and Savior and be saved from the wrath to come? He makes us alive, yes. Our call is to repent and believe, which is the proof of the life that he’s given to us. So what about it? What about you?
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the book of Ephesians on expository truths with Dr. John Kyle. Continue on with us next week at this same time and to find this sermon in its entirety as well as other sermons, visit vacavillefaith.org. Faith Community Church seeks to exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with a commitment to glorifying God through the pure, deep, and reaching message of the gospel through faithful exposition. Pastor John is the preaching pastor at Faith Community Church of Vacaville. a seminary professor and a trainer of preaching pastors overseas. Join Faith Community Church for worship Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. Located at 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A in Vacaville. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s vacavillefaith.org.
