Sermon Starter for Sunday, February 7^th, 2016

Ephesians 2:1-3
¹  “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
²  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
³  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

“How Dead is Dead; and, What can a Dead Man Do?”

As the LORD allows, we will begin our verse-by-verse study of Ephesians Chapter Two this coming LORD’s Day!

I could not be more excited!

It is very likely true that with the two exceptions of John 3 and Romans 10, more people have been led to faith from Ephesians 2 than any other Chapter in the Word of God!

This is also one of the most profoundly theological of all of the Chapters in the Bible…

In the first three verses, we certainly dive into the deep end of the pool!

These verses deal with the “Radical Depravity” and “Spiritual Deadness” of human beings in a way that staggers the mind and dramatically offends our pride.

It rips away what we like to think of ourselves and lays bare who and what we really are before a holy God…

We are, indeed, radically depraved and spiritually dead.

These three verses completely destroy the popular myth of “the sin-sick sinner.”

(Oh to think of the millions of sermons that this Chapter refutes…) including many of my early ones!

Grab a pen and a sheet of paper; read these three verses over and over; write down questions and other thoughts that come to mind.

Beg God to give you wisdom and understanding of what it means to be “radically depraved” and “spiritually dead”.

The biblical doctrine expressed in these verses is extremely unpalatable, but very necessary to understand.

I tremble when I read these verses; and I tremble at the thought of preaching them. I hope you will take time to read these verses over a few times and think very deeply about what God says.

As my dear friend and hero Tom Rains loves to say, “I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side.”