The Ravages of Sin on all Men

SOMETHING ABOUT YOU
Ephesians 2:1-3

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 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, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. NKJV
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to this worldly age, according to the ruler of the atmospheric domain, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and by nature we were children under wrath, as the others were also. Holman
Paul having just completed His hymn of redemption and prayer of thanksgiving moves on to the misery of the natural state of man. Chapter 2 can be divided into three sections; first, our spiritual state before conversion, second, the change that God has wrought in us, and third, the design for which the change has been affected. I want to focus on the first section today, verses 1 to 3: the thing that very few people will ever have the guts to tell you about yourself, the truth about sin.

I like to tease Parker. He can be a real sweet little guy at times, but he has his moods too. The other day I was telling him that I and mommy made him and Petra out of cookie dough. Petra was chocolate chip and Parker was oatmeal. Of course, Parker did not like the idea of having been made out of oatmeal and ran off crying.

It’s like the time when Petra was about two and we were watching the Bearenstein Bears. The story was about some bullies who were being mean to brother and sister bear and I decided that was a teaching opportunity. So I told Petra that the bad boys were really bad. Of course Petra scowled and said “they’re baaad.” Then I said to Petra, “but you’re good, right Petra?” and she smiled and said, “Well, I’m a little bit bad.” As humorous as that may be, even a two year old is able to discern and be offended about the nature of man.

Even though we were created to reflect the image of God, that image has been stained by sin. People don’t like to hear that, in fact, coming to terms with our sin nature is probably one of the biggest obstacle to accepting the gospel. But it is crucial to understand the disease in order to accept the remedy, which Paul offers in verse 4 (consider reading 4-10).

In order to understand our salvation then, we need to look at what it is we have been saved from.

John Piper calls these the three S’s: 1) we are sick with Sin; 2) Sabotaged by Satan; and, 3) sentenced to hell.

1. Without salvation we are dead in sin; spiritually useless.
2. Without salvation we are all in bondage and blinded by evil, that is, our eyes are veiled by Satan.
3. Without salvation we are all sentenced to hell

John Piper explains that there are two reason that these are not believed: 1) because they are unflattering; 2) because they have to learn from God and not man. That is why there is a multi billion dollar year self-help industry whose contents and philosophy (though sometime useful) by and large militates against the existence of sin.

Let’s begin then with the first S: sick in sin
You being dead in your trespasses and sin, in which you once walked according to the course of this world….
So, according the Bible, sin results in Spiritual death. When God created Adam, he placed him as head over the earth and gave him one simple rule, do not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if you do you will surely die.

So what did Adam do? He and Eve ate from the tree and as a result, death decay and destruction entered the universe. Adam did not immediately die, but death came eventually. In fact, that he did not die immediately and that we all do not die immediately, is a result of God’s universal grace which he pours out on all mankind, whether good or evil.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

People like to tell me that Parker has my eyes, Petra has Gerda’s eyes. I am 1/8th Black Foot Indian, and that’s likely where I get my brown eyes. What about you? Where do you get your features?

We all get our sin nature from our father, we inherit it from Adam the same way that we inherit other characteristics from our parents. The only person ever born without sin was Jesus, who was fully man and fully God at the same time.

You know, when you become a pastor, people really put you under the microscope. They look for every flaw and feel it is their Christian duty to inform me of it. They do it to my wife and children too as though a four and two year old are supposed to be perfectly sanctified because of their father’s calling. I’ve even been told by a member that I have a handy cap because I come from a single parent family. No surprise to me though, I’ve been to seminary, I’ve learned about sin, I know that I’m handicapped by it. That’s the point that we are all handicapped.

Look, I was not called to be a pastor because I was perfect. Paul was a murderer. “Not many wise, not many noble, God calls the foolish things out of this world.” He calls sinners and makes them into the image of his son. If anyone holds my sin nature against me and expects sinlessness from me, that is idolatry.

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is good. But as for you, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” “Do not look at the sliver in your brother’s eye when you have a log in your own eye.” “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

But this is the gospel, in that while we were yet sinners, while we were yet dead in sin and unable to save ourselves, Jesus, God became flesh and lived the perfect life free of the curse of sin. But then he did something that he did not need to do, he endured God’s wrath in our place, he exchanged his righteousness for our sin and he died. While we were yet sinners, Christ died so that we could have life and be reconciled to God. If you believe that, you’re a Christian. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).

We are sabotaged by Satan

The second S:
…you once walked… according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

Without salvation we are all in bondage and blinded by evil, that is, our eyes are veiled by Satan.

2 Cor 4:3-4 says that Satan complicates the hopelessness of those who are lost: “if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded”

Elsewhere we are told that Satan masquerades as an angel of light and that he is a roaring lion who seeks them whom he can devour. Jesus calls him the prince of this world and the prince of demons.

It was Satan who first challenged God in the garden when he said to Eve, “If you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of that tree you will become like him knowing good from evil.”

Satan is the father of lies. He is so adept at twisting God’s word and making it say what it does not. Without the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us into all truth, we are at the impulse of Satan. Even Jesus was at least tempted by him in the desert.

Ephesians 6:11-12 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” We are constantly being barraged by Satan’s fiery darts. In fact, I think that Satan concentrates his attack on Christians hoping to win some back into his Kingdom.

God permits Satan to reign for a certain period of time. And the Bible says that there will come a day when the Holy Spirit who is the one force that restrains Satan will be removed and Satan will unleash such deception in the world that it will lead the world into outright warfare with God and his church. And I believe that day is coming soon.

If you are not under the rule and dominion of Christ, you are most certainly under the rule and dominion of Satan and he has you right where he wants you. Don’t be his prisoner any longer, call out to God, he will release. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom; the truth shall set you free, and whomever the Son sets free, they will be free indeed.

There is a spiritual battle going on all around us, but our eyes are blinded to it. Nevertheless, there are things we can do to fight this battle, we can pray, we can resist Satan and he will flee, we can keep our thoughts pure and our conversation free of gossip and slander, which is the flame of hell.

Finally, the third S: “We were by nature children of wrath, just as the others”

God is an angry God. He is angry at sin and wills to destroy all rebellion and sin because He himself is holy and cannot endure evil. But his wrath is restrained by His mercy, His compassion, His love (which is as perfect as His wrath). His wrath, which will be meted out in hell, is restrained by his grace here on earth until the proper time.

Look at Ephesians 5:5: “5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

I am sorry; this is not a very seeker sensitive message. It may not build a mega church for me. But I am obligated by God to preach or be held accountable when I stand before him.

I was listening to Ian Gallagher who pastor’s the free Presbyterian Church in Cloverdale. He was preaching on Noah’s ark and how there may have been many skilled labourers who worked on the ark all those years and to whom Noah preached regarding the coming judgment. Yet none of them entered in. Pastor Ian said it was like that for him a few years back when they were building his church and there were many labourers who worked on the church who did not know Christ and he witnessed to them, but they would not enter in. When Noah climbed into the ark after one hundred years of preaching the coming judgment, only 7 other people joined him.

Will you enter in and escape the wrath that is coming on the sons of disobedience?

“When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,” (2 Thess 1:7-9). When he comes, he will come like a thief in the night.

There they are, the three S’s: 1) we are sick with Sin; 2) Sabotaged by Satan; and, 3) sentenced to hell.

So what can we do with this information?
1. If you are not a Christian, repent, put your faith in him. Do it now while you still have a chance. You might walk out this door and get hit by a car, or drop dead of a heart attack. Don’t put it off, you don’t know what can happen tomorrow, tsunami, mud slide, terrorism. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved.
2. If you are a Christian, rejoice! Look at what you’ve been saved from. Tell others so that they can be spared too. Who cares if they get mad at you. This is too important for you to place it behind your personal popularity. Besides, some will believe. Everyone here today is here because someone told us about Jesus. For me it was Scott.

Let’s pray.