April 30, 2023 PM
Paul Gotthardt
(#10 in series)
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In Christ: Redemption and Spiritual Death
Ephesians 2:1-3
Key Truth: Humanity is separated from God by sin and incapable of reconciling the relationship.
In verses 1-3, Paul uses three descriptions to show why humanity is relationally separated from God and spiritually dead.
Apart from Christ, we are…
· Dead in trespasses and sins (v. 1)
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,”
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…” – Romans 5:12
· __ to the __ of the flesh (vv. 2-3a)
“…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. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind…”
In verses 2 and 3, there are three forces that encourage disobedience:
· The __ (v. 2a)
“formerly walked according to the course of this world…”
· The __ (v. 2b)
“according to the prince of the power of the air.”
· The __ (v. 3)
“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind…”
· By __, children of wrath (v. 3b)
The wrath of God has been gradually __ and intensifying in __ to sin.
“Humanity’s position apart from Christ is __, disobedient, __, and doomed.” – Warren Wiersbe
We’ll never know how __ the good news is until we first see how __ the bad news was.