DEAD

Ephesians 2:1-3 (KJV)

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Graphic I created….

The pinnacle, highlight of the text - “you hath He quickened”

Consider what you were before quickened:

• • You were Dead in trespasses and sins
• • You walked according to the course of this world
• • You walked according to the prince of the power of the air
• • (he is) the spirit that now worth in the children of disobedience
• • Your conversation (lifestyle) was in the lusts of your flesh
• • You fulfilled the desires of your flesh and of your mind
• • You were by nature the children of wrath
• • You were just like the others

It was you that he quickened. Praise the Lord

I want to focus on the phrase “dead in trespasses and sins.”

I. THREE TYPES OF DEATH IN THE BIBLE

The word death simply means separation. 

The Bible never speaks of death as 

• • non-existence, 
• • unconsciousness, or 
• • annihilation 

It is always represented as the separation of two things:

Revelation 20:5

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

A. Physical death

Whenever we think of death what we picture is physical death 

22 times in the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament you will find the phrase, "And he died"

Dozens and perhaps hundreds of other times the Bible details the deaths of people:

• • Abraham and Sarah
• • Isaac and Rebecca 
• • Jacob and Rachel
• • Moses, Aaron Miriam
• • David
• • The kings of Israel and Judah
• • Elisha
• • Other prophets 

The Bible says "And as it is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgment. "

• • Physical death separates a person from this present world and
• • Physical death separates a person’s spirit and soul from his body 

But it does not end their existence. 

Physical death is probably the most feared thing on this planet but it should not be. 

• • The sting of death has been removed by Christ.
• • The purpose of death is meant to limit and eventually end the destruction of sin

B. The second death

Revelation 20:14

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

A person does not have to fear physical death but he ought to fear the second death. 

Those who die physically without having their sins forgiven go into hell and, in the end, death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. 

The Bible calls this the second death. 

Revelation 21:8

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Revelation 2:11

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Revelation 20:6

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

C. Spiritual death

The Biblical term is "dead in trespasses and sins"

Other verses teach this same idea

1 Timothy 5:6

But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

Ephesians 5:14

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

We are talking about people who are alive but dead. 

This death happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the fruit God told them they could not eat. 

You remember that don't you?

Genesis 2:16-17

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

If we strictly apply our own definition of death to the passage we have a problem don't we?

They ate the fruit but they did not die - at least right away. 

Though Adam was not the first man to die, he is the first one that the Bible says,

Genesis 5:5

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

Adam did not die physically the day he ate the fruit. 

But something did happen that very day

Genesis 3:22-24

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The day they ate that fruit there was a separation between them and God (there was also a separation between Adam and Eve)

To be dead in trespasses and sins means to be separated from God. 

Isaiah 59:2

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

II. WHAT “DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS" DOES NOT MEAN?

Dead in trespasses and sins does not mean you cannot know you are dead or that you cannot want to have fellowship with God. 

Just as we can misunderstand what God meant in the Garden some have misunderstood what it means to be spiritually dead. 

Some would say that dead means so: 

• • Dead we can never know we are dead
• • Dead means so dead we cannot want to be alive
• • Dead means so dead we can never ask God to save us

Oftentimes they will use the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead as a type. 

• • Lazarus didn't ask Jesus to raise him he couldn't 
• • Lazarus didn't roll away the stone
• • Lazarus didn't even walk out of the tomb he was bound in grave clothes. 

Jesus did all of that without Lazarus' input at all. 

They would say that is a picture of salvation. That Jesus comes to us that Jesus calls to us that Jesus makes the way for us and that Jesus does it all without us knowing or even caring. (We only care after we are alive)

Here is the thing; nowhere does the Bible say that the raising of Lazarus is a picture of salvation. The resurrection of Lazarus was intended to bring glory to Christ so that we might believe on Him 

There is a gospel account that speaks of someone that was lost being found. 

Luke 15:24

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry

• • The father accounted that his son was dead but when he came back he was alive again
• • He was lost, but when he came back he was found

The prodigal son is a perfect picture what the unsaved person does with the gifts God gives him

• • The father never gives up on him
• • The father never stops loving him
• • The father never stops looking for him to come home 

The father was anxious to welcome him home once the son

Humbled himself and asked his father to receive him.

• • Christ died so that all could be saved
• • God desires that all would be saved
• • And so Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved

One last thing and I will be done

III. IT’S BETTER TO BE,

Dead but alive than it is to be alive but dead

To be dead in trespasses and sins is to be alive but dead. 

But when you get saved the Bible says that we should 

Romans 6:11

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul wrote

Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

I wonder, are you alive but dead in trespasses and sins?

Or are you dead to sin but alive unto God. 

There is no question whom God saves. 

James 4:6

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

The grace to be saved is given to the humble. 

HAPPY CHASTENING

I want to begin this morning with the story of young Bible character.

We know very little about him personally. What we are aware of is that

·   He came from promising stock – one of the sons of King David.

·   He would have grown up with prestige, comfort and every advantage for the future.

But the Bible does give one shortcoming this young man experienced,

1 Kings 1:6 (KJV)

And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom.

Adonijah’s one downfall in life was that his father had never disciplined him or told him no.

Now David is old and near his death.

David had many sons and one of them was certainly going to be king.

·   Without conferring with his father

·   Without considering the will of God

·   Without acknowledging that some other plan had already been in play

Adonijah, who had never heard “No” from his father, assumed the role of king for himself.

But Adonijah was not the son God had in line for the next king and David knew it.

Solomon was crowned, and – before everything was said and done, Adonijah was ordered executed by his own brother.

I want to ask you, did the lack of discipline, of chastening, of correction from his father make Adonijah happy or not?

Open your Bible’s to Psalms 94:12 (KJV)

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

(PRAYER)

I want to speak on an unusual subject this morning but one that is biblical – happiness through chastening.

I will begin by simply saying that this is

I. BIBLICAL TEACHING

Psalms 94:12 (KJV)

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

I don’t imagine I would get many raised eyebrows to this verse this morning.

Most of us would acknowledge that there is blessedness that comes from discipline or chastening.

But, as I have said repeatedly this year, the word blessed means happy.

I think there is good reason the Bible says blessed instead of happy.

We would probably forget the spiritual component to happiness if that is the word the Bible used all the time.

We want to be happy so badly that we will do about anything to be happy.

But we can be less willing to be blessed.

In this case, the Bible itself gives me adequate demonstration that the word blessed and happy are related.

We have Psalms 94:12 (KJV)

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

And we have a parallel, almost word for word passage found in Job 5:17 (KJV)

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

I don’t remember the first time I heard it, but I heard it again last Sunday when Pastor Pettipiece said, “God said, that settles it.”

What you hear most of the time is a version that goes instead, “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.”

Truth is, it doesn’t matter if I believe it or not or agree with it or not. What God says is true – period.

Now, what I want you to notice right away in our text is that there is a Bible truth here but necessarily a reason for it.

It’s just, “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;”

I want to tell you that this should be all we ever really need.

We, who are the children of the Lord ought to just trust God because God says something.

·   We ought not need an explanation

·   We ought not have to have a reason

God is God.

The entire reason people need explanations and reasons is because, in the corrupt nature, we view ourselves

·   as authorities,

·   as judges of good and evil,

·   as god

Just believe and trust God.

You will be happier for it.

On the other hand, the God who allowed Eve and Adam to be tempted in the Garden, often seems to honor our thirst for answers.

So the Bible takes us beyond just accepting that the happiest people are those disciplined people and give us secondly some,

II. BIBLICAL EXHORTATIONS

Proverbs 3:11 (KJV)

My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

We saw this same exhortation in Job 5:17 (KJV)

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

·   The first thing I ought to do with this Biblical teaching that the blessed man is one whom God chastens.

·   The second thing I ought to do then is to “despise not” that same chastening.

I hear arguments like this fairly often:

“I know that the Bible says this. I know that it is what would be best, but it is not what I want.”

·   “I know I should wait for the mate God has for me, but I love this guy right now”

·   “I know I should get the kind of job that honors God, but this one pays very well”

·   “I know I should only live where there is a good church to attend, but I have this opportunity to be promoted there”

·   “I know I should obey my parents, but they don’t understand me”

In this case it would sound like, “I know that I will be happier if I submit to the chastening of the Lord, but it’s not pleasant so I am going to run from it.”

Hebrews 12:5-11 (KJV)

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

From this New Testament expansion of Proverbs 3:11 we learn that,

A. Chastening is an act of God’s love

The very fact that God chastens us is an indication both of His care for us and His relationship to us.

When my kids were growing up, Anita and I were quick to

·   correct,

·   discipline and even

·   punish

them when they got out of line.

It was frequent enough and often enough that there were people who challenged us to back off –

·   It was unpleasant for them

·   It was they thought unfair to our kids and

·   It was convicting to them because they didn’t discipline their kids like that

We took our training of our boys seriously.

·   We didn’t back down

·   We didn’t let them off the hook

·   We didn’t take our eyes off of them

They were our kids, our responsibility and we loved them.

On the other hand, we never disciplined other people’s kids, at least not anything like we did our own.

In effect, the way Bohannan and Caleb could tell I was their dad is because I freely took them into another room for a good licking!

If you aren’t saved, you aren’t a child of God and He doesn’t chasten you.

If you are saved, you are His child. He loves you and you can be thankful that He chastens you.

B.  Chastening doesn’t last forever

The happiest people in the world are those whom God chastens.

But that doesn’t mean that we are happy about the chastening.

It’s not pleasant at the moment it happens.

Thankfully it generally only happens for a moment.

The chastening has an end.

C. Chastening has a positive purpose

…“afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness…”

The reason blessed people are those people who are chastened by the Lord is because the chastening produces “the fruit of righteousness.”

Psalm 119 gives us two fruits of chastening

III. BIBLICAL RESULTS

A. Psalms 119:67 (KJV)

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Can you agree with me that the affliction the Psalmist speaks of is a type of chastening?

Before the affliction, before the chastening he said he went astray.

·   He couldn't stay on focus

·   He couldn’t keep from backsliding into sin and flitting around from this sin to that

But he said that after he was afflicted, he kept God’s Word.

I see a ton of people who claim to believe God’s Word and from time to time will walk a little bit with God. But they are like a kid who can’t keep in his seat, pretty soon, they jump around like they have had too much sugar.

Sooner or later, if they are God’s children, God brings some sort of affliction into their lives – that chastening helps still their mind and discipline them to get serious about the things of God.

B. Psalms 119:71 (KJV)

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

The words correction, chastening and discipline are related to one another and the relationship all has to do with learning.

In education

·   Mathematics is a discipline

·   Philosophy is a discipline

·   Grammar is a discipline

It is a course of study.

One of the keys to understanding the Word of God is discipline.

Before we can ever really

·   walk with God and

·   trust God, we have to

·   submit to God

Conclusion

I began this message with the Bible story of a son who was not disciplined enough.

Allow me to end the message with another Bible story. The Bible says of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God,

Hebrews 5:8 (KJV)

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Jesus was not chastened in the sense of being corrected from wrongs He had done, but He was chastened in the sense of suffering affliction and learning obedience through it.

Would you agree that Jesus was a blessed and eternally joyful Person?

In fact Jesus said,

John 15:11 (KJV)

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Jesus was so filled with joy, that His desire is that His disciples would have His joy.

You will never be happier than you are when you have:

·   submitted yourself to God

·   committed your soul’s salvation the Lord and

·   learned God’s statutes through His discipline in your life.