April 19, 2026 | Dead People Made Alive With Christ

Do you believe the way that the Bible presents reality?

That if you went up to God and said, God, will you just tell me how things really are, would you believe that?

There are things that you would have no clue about unless the Bible told you that's reality.

And what it amazes me, even among Christians, we we read the Word of God and it says something, and we say, Well, I don't believe that's true.

And the Word of God can tell us it's true, and we can meet in small groups and we can ask the question, what does this verse mean?

And the question is not what does it mean to you as individuals and however you want to make stuff up, but what does it actually mean?

What is it saying?

And if you're on board with the way the Bible presents the reality and you just want to know what it says, you've come to the right place because we keep things very simple.

We just read the word and preach the word.

If you're all right with that, look at Ephesians 2.

Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

The Bible's about to tell you reality, your reality, before you believed in Jesus Christ.

The Bible is about to present the reality of all those right now who do not believe in Jesus Christ.

And you would not know this unless the Bible told you about this.

And now you're about to see what the Bible says.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1.

Ephesians 2:1

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

Are we by nature basically good, extremely sick, or dead?

What does it say?

Because we're dead.

Spiritually dead.

There is not a desire or a movement in us before we are in Christ for Christ.

We hear the word, don't understand it, because we are dead.

Some people may joke and say, Oh, I'm in the doghouse with God.

No, you're not.

You're in the morgue.

That's the reality.

And this is what I want you to hear today.

The gospel is not about making good people better, it's about making dead people alive.

That's what Christianity is about.

It's not taking good people and making them better, it's making taking dead people and making them alive.

So even though before Jesus Christ you were dead, you were still walking around.

So how do you explain that?

We're dead and yet we're walking around.

Look at verse 2.

In which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now in work in the sons of disobedience.

So even though you were dead, you are walking around.

You were the walking dead.

You can think of a zombie.

You're like, okay, what's a zombie?

Well, they're dead, and yet they're still walking around.

You'll even hear some of the news talk about those who are hooked on fentanyl.

And also combining that with the animal tranquilizer siling, these people, when they're hooked on that, are called trank zombies.

It's because when they're on that, they just are barely moving.

Some of them are really hunched over.

It's very, very sad to see them trapped in this decay and this enslavement.

And yet the Bible says that's you, spiritually speaking.

You're trapped.

You're dead, and yet you're moving around as the walking dead with no movement toward God.

Now, let me explain this to you.

I'm going to break it down to you.

You would not know this unless the Bible told this about you.

There are three areas that display your deadness before you're a Christian.

You are committed to the world, you're committed to the flesh, and you're committed to the devil.

This is what the Bible says about your reality before Jesus.

Look at verse 2 again.

In which you formally walked according to the course of this world.

Now the world is not just a reference to the earth, it's talking about the system of life that operates in opposition to God.

Those who do not know Jesus are caught up in the things of this world.

And in Paul's time, it could be physical idols.

In our time, it's a variety of other idols.

But think of it this way: the worldly system has people enslaved by its attitudes, standards, and habits opposed to God.

This describes every single person before they are a believer, even those who are raised in Christian homes.

You're like, I don't understand that.

How can it be true?

You know, you know, people have this concept of covenant children where you're born into a Christian home, and so they're teaching you the word, they're taking you to Iwana, you're being raised up, and yes, that is true.

You're part of this family, and we're gonna raise you in the Lord as best we can.

But the reality is until you are born again, you're also in submission to the world and its attitudes, even if you're growing up in a Christian environment.

So don't just think, well, this is for the unbelievers, this is for the pagans who did not grow up a Christian home.

No, this is true of everybody before they are in Christ.

Not only did you submit to the world, but you also followed the devil.

Look at verse 2.

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.

This is probably something you've never thought about, okay?

But this is the reality the Bible is describing.

That before you were a believer, you followed Satan.

You're like, what does it really say that?

Oh, yeah, it's talking about walking according to the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now at work in the sons of the disobedient.

So are you saying that you were a Satan worshiper?

Well, not exactly, but yes, kind of sort of, yes.

You were caught up in the ways of the enemy.

Now, if you're not a believer, you may you may go home and you may make fun of me and say, I can't believe the pastor said that I'm a Satan worshiper.

Isn't that crazy?

Before you're a believer, you're influenced by the enemy.

Now let's just pause for a moment because this may this may make you go, man, I don't know what's going on.

Like it, if I walk around the village, am I gonna like see a lot of people worshiping the devil?

Because you live next to people who don't know Jesus.

And if you're honest, some of you might want to say, unbelievers are nicer than you.

I mean, isn't that true?

The church, the church can have some of the meanest folks.

Yeah.

Unbelievers, like, what are they doing?

If they're following the world, if they're following Satan, what exactly are they doing?

Well, a lot of times, unfortunately, unbelievers are gonna look a lot like you.

And you go, well, what are they doing with their time?

Okay, now I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you something that I learned this week that this is what a lot of retirees spend a lot of their time on.

Now, maybe you've never thought about this.

If I if I divided you into groups and I said, okay, I want you to discuss what retirees spend their time on, this is probably what not you would not say.

All right, you ready for this?

Wall Street Journal just this week.

Two guys who are retired wrote this first person column of what they are doing in their retirement.

They've spent all of their years with, you know, bosses, deadlines, meeting, and now they have nothing left.

No more bosses, no more deadlines.

They're finally retired, and they have found in their own lives they are spending a significant amount of time zombie doom scrolling.

Isn't that really convicting?

You just find yourself on your phone.

You find yourself on your phone.

You've been waiting to have all that time in retirement, and I just spent this is what you do.

Right?

And so if you look around for all these Satan worshipers, those who are falling the world, you just they look they just they're just sitting there scrolling on their phone.

They look a lot like you, look a lot like me.

So you would never think in your mind, they need Jesus.

They're captive to the world, they're captive to Satan.

They need Jesus.

You would never think that unless the Bible tells you they need Jesus.

But they're also captives of the flesh.

Now, this is one is a big deal, the captive to the flesh.

Look at verse 3.

Among them, we too all, all of us, formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

So here's the concept of the flesh.

We're influenced by the world, the devil, and the flesh.

What do we mean by the flesh?

What are the stuff that we did and are tempted to do even now?

Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

I'm put this up right.

Galatians 5, 19 through 21.

It says, now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual morality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So before we were believers, we were captivated by our flesh.

We indulged our flesh.

We indulged in these sins.

And you say, Well, how does the world play a part?

How does Satan play a part?

How does our flesh play a part?

It's like before you were a believer, something would come to you in your mind, maybe it was the enemy, saying, get drunk, and your flesh would say, I was planning on it.

There would be this temptation that came your way before you're a believer that said, engage in some type of morality, and you said, Absolutely.

See, there was nothing that was blocking you.

There was no desire to say no to honor God because you were influenced by the world, you were influenced by the flesh, and you were influenced by the devil because the Bible says you were dead.

So, what did God think of us during this time?

Look at the very end of verse 3.

And were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

That is saying that not only were you a son of disobedience, but you're children of wrath.

And this is a description of all of mankind, humankind, that are by nature sinful, that at the core of who we are as human beings, we have inherited the sinful nature of Adam and are inclined to do evil.

Now I want to make sure you get this because there are churches around us that don't believe this.

I was listening this week to this little clip of this liberal pastor.

He was saying that preachers like me preach on total depravity because we are into depravity porn.

And the reason why we're into depravity porn is that we want to oppress other people, specifically women and minorities.

How that's connected, I have no idea.

But he would say, no, we are not basically bad.

God is not against us in wrath.

We are good people who make good choices.

And yet, when I read the Bible, if you want the way the Bible describes the reality, it says right here, we're by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Romans 5, 12 says, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin.

Because of Adam's sin, all humans were born into sin.

I never, ever, ever had to teach any of my kids how to sin.

Never did.

It just came naturally to them.

We're born into sin by nature.

And the Bible tells us that God's anger is aimed at sinners.

John 3, 36.

John 3.36 says, whoever believes in the Son has life.

Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

That is the reality of every single person who does not trust, believe in Christ, that God's wrath is a target on them as they are submitting to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

They are dead in their sin.

And if they were to die like that, they would spend forever under the wrath of God.

And you go, that is horrible.

That is bad news.

And then I say exactly, because if you don't understand the bad news, you won't understand the good news.

Why is Jesus good news?

If he's just gonna take a good person and make them better, how's that good news?

Is Jesus just here to give us a boost?

Or is he here to make dead people alive?

And then we come to the gospel summed up in two words.

Verse four.

But God.

Circle, underline, highlight, but God.

That's just the gospel right there, but God.

But God sees us under his wrath, sees us meaning to the world flesh and table, sees us dead in our sins, but God.

Doesn't say but John, doesn't say but Maria, because left to ourselves, we would have suffered the fiery wrath of God and hell forever, but God.

That's the good news.

But God.

Look at verse 4.

But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us.

Good pause for a moment.

It says that God is rich in mercy.

He has great love for us.

God is so rich in mercy.

We're told in Micah 7.18, who is a God like you, who pardons wrongdoing and passes over rebellious acts to the remnant of his possession.

He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy.

God loves showing mercy to sinners.

He's so rich in mercy.

And he and he's showing uh mercy to those who sin.

He's not showing mercy to those who have accidents.

It's not like showing mercy to someone who got into a car accident.

No, it it's like this.

It's like a man, he gets drunk, he drives, smashes headlong into a family, kills the whole family, he loses his arm, he loses his leg, he's in jail the rest of his life.

That's the kind of person God's like, mercy.

He's not showing mercy to our accidents or our excuses, but he's showing mercy to our sins.

And so if you are rich in sin, God is rich in mercy.

And God's not keeping score, he's not like going, you know what, I have all this mercy.

But man, he Jason has done a lot of bad stuff, so I'm I'm gonna deduct that because I'm deducting some of my mercy.

No, he loves to show mercy, he loves it.

So if you think that you have gone so far and you're sinned, you're so stuck.

No, he loves to show mercy.

That's who he is in his character.

We can go to him for mercy.

Continue on, verse four, because of God, he's so rich in his mercy.

Here it is.

Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved.

Oh man.

So we are incapable of any movement to our God.

We're dead.

We are dead.

Like God saved us with no help of our own, right?

You're like, there's not like God does his part and I do my part.

Well, yeah, okay, God does all the saving and I do all the sinning.

That's my part.

And his mercy is grace, and we put our faith in Jesus, but God turned the whole situation around.

And we're gonna talk more about grace next week, but it says by grace you have been saved.

And I know you've heard a ton of illustrations and stories about grace, but I want to hit you with this one I've told you before.

Here's my idea of grace.

You and I did the worst we possibly could do to Christ.

And in turn, he did the best he could possibly do to you.

He took on him all your sin and gave you all his righteousness.

It's the great exchange.

And in that, we have salvation.

In him, we have salvation.

And you would not know that or understand that without the word of God telling you that.

And this next part you would not know unless the Bible told you.

Look at verse 6.

You would not know this reality.

It says, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

That is reality.

You would not know this.

This is true of all believers.

Oh, God, help us to see it.

That Christ has been physically resurrected, and we have been spiritually resurrected, and he is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and we, spiritually speaking, are in him.

That means that all those that are in Jesus Christ are loved and are not losers.

You're not a loser.

You're in Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father.

In Jesus, that is significant.

That is reality.

And then verse 7.

Why did he set it up this way?

God could have saved us, I guess, in different ways, but why did he do it this way?

So that in the ages to come he might show the boundless riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Why did he save us?

Why did he raise us up?

It's almost in a sense that we are trophies of God's grace.

He shows us off now of his kindness and riches.

And in the ages to come and the future, we're going to be walking demonstrations of God's grace.

And when we are with him 10,000 years, we've just begun to continue to praise him for his grace.

The riches of his grace, which I don't know about you, but that makes me significantly happy now.

But guess get this.

It makes God happy too.

He loves that he saved you.

He rejoices that he saved you.

He has so much riches of grace and mercy.

He rejoices at your salvation as you rejoice at your salvation.

It's like this one big, never-ending party of joy in each other.

This past week, my 19-year-old son Roman called me and I watched Saul Baptist, and he was just so happy, and I'm thinking, I don't know why he's so happy.

And he wanted to tell me the story.

So get this.

His girlfriend had been meeting with this woman over the last couple of years in a nursing facility, care facility.

And the reason why his girlfriend got matched with this particular lady is because no one visits her.

No one.

Years old, had never had a birthday party.

So she got the idea, let's throw her a birthday party.

So my son Roman gets to go along with his girlfriend to celebrate this woman, 73 years old, her first birthday party ever.

And Roman said, she had so much joy.

And my son Roman said, That's the best thing ever for me, too.

Because he had so much joy, she had so much joy, and that's the picture right there in your salvation.

There is so much joy at the mercy of God, and he has so much joy, he rejoices in saving you, a sinner.

That is good news.

That he didn't just come to make good people better, but to make dead people alive.

And so if you are here this morning and you're thinking, okay, I don't know Jesus, am I just gonna sit here and wait here until he makes me alive and then I'll believe?

I want to tell you this.

If you are here this morning and you have a sense and you understand that you sense inside of you that yes, God's wrath is really on you, a sinner, not someone who messes up, who has some accidents, who has some, but a sinner, if you feel that God's wrath is on you and yet his mercy is extended to you, you can believe right now.

You can get in on this right now.

You can rejoice right now by faith in Jesus Christ.

Yeah, the one you've done the worst to has done the best for you.

And as I've been studying this week, I've been thinking to myself, you know what, this has got to be the best news ever.

It's gotta be.

It's gotta be the best news ever for me and for everyone else in this village and around the world.

And so I'm I made myself this list.

I said, you know what?

If this is true, which I think it is, and I believe it is, I made a top 10 list of this reality on how it should change my life today.

And I'm gonna share this top 10 list with you.

It's gonna be really quick, and I want to encourage you to make a top 10 list too.

If it is true that you really believe that you were dead, God made you alive, how does that impact your reality now?

And so I'm gonna share my top 10 list with you.

You can make up your own later.

All right, so here we go.

Top 10, real-time living.

Here's the reality.

Number one, I should never complain about anything.

I was dead.

And now I'm alive.

I think gratitude should replace grumbling every day.

Any grumblers with me?

Yeah.

Number two.

This I like this.

Today I want to pray and read my Bible and sing to God because now I get it.

I get it now.

I understand now.

I'm not dead anymore.

My eyes have been opened.

You can see now too.

So might as well.

Let's see what God has to say every day.

Number three, I don't want to waste my time.

I do spend way too much time doom scrolling on my phone.

For 19 years I was dead in my sin.

God save me.

I don't want to waste my time now.

Number four.

I want to talk to dead people.

We need to talk to people who don't know Jesus.

Time is short.

Time is running out.

Don't think that God put you in the village just for you to play pickleball.

Don't think he put you in the village just to play golf.

He put you here to talk to dead people.

To tell them about the good news of Jesus.

Number five, I want to be happy in Jesus.

And no matter what else is going on today, you know what?

I want to be happy in Jesus today.

I want to find joy in Jesus.

Number six, I'm going to take risks for God.

If I was already dead and now I'm alive, what is the worst thing that can happen to me?

I can physically die.

So what?

I'm going to live forever.

I want to take risks for God.

Number seven, I want to initiate difficult conversations with my brothers and sisters in Christ when we are distracted by the world, when we're distracted by the flesh, when we're deceived by Satan.

I want to have those difficult conversations and I want you to have them with me too.

Number eight, this is a hard one.

I'm going to love people.

Even when love's not given back to me.

Even when other people are being difficult, I'm going to love them because I know of someone that God loves who is very difficult.

That would be me.

Number nine.

I want to remind myself that God loves me and He even likes me in Christ.

He's not tolerating me.

He's not putting up with me.

He died for me.

And number 10, I want to wake up every morning, every single morning, and thank God that I'm alive and not dead.

And I want to add a 10 and a half here.

I want to live a life of repentance in Jesus and find fresh forgiveness at the cross every single day.

Because you know what?

I'm alive in Christ.

I'm alive in Christ.

We are not dead.

I'm alive in Christ.