Were Dead in Sin

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Ephesians 2:1-3
Psalters: 374, 21, 146, 308
  1. The condition.
    1. “Dead” is spiritual death, not physical and is the wages earned by sin – original and actual (Rom. 6:23).
    2. Man’s condition is to be “according to the course of this world” (2).
    3. The controlling principle of this present evil world is “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit….”
      1. The “spirit” is the evil principle which is a working energy or force in this world, which principle is governed by the devil.
      2. The devil and his host deceive by saying that life is to do our own will and that service of God is slavery and bondage.
  2. Spiritual death is practiced, for we “walked,” “fulfilling” our own desires.
    1. First, man’s life is one of “trespasses and sins.”
    2. By birth we commit sins and trespasses because we are governed by “the lusts of our flesh.”
      1. The strong, urgent cravings for the satisfaction of my flesh manifest themselves in the “desires of the flesh.”
      2. The lusts of the flesh also show themselves in the “desires of the mind.”
  3. The explanation for our spiritual deadness is that it is the result of original sin.
    1. We are “children of disobedience,” i.e., fathered by the disobedience of Adam.
    2. And we are “children of wrath” – it is not too strong to say that natural man is fathered by divine wrath.
    3. The result for every human is that they have a “nature” (3b), something by birth.
    4. This is true not only of “ye” but of “we all.”
  4. This truth must be and is our humble confession.
    1. We are to remember (not immediately forget) our natural relationship to Adam and what is our only right.
    2. “But God” (4a) and He alone made the difference!