Well, it is a joy to be here with you all today and to open up God's Word with you. If you would open up to Ephesians 2 with me, we'll be reading verses 1 through 3. This is Ephesians 2. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. I'll read the whole thing in English and then you go. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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. 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. Ephesians 2, verses 1 to 3. As for you, you were dead in your crimes and sins, in which you were in another time according to the current of this world and the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now acts in the children of disobedience. I want to try to answer one question from this passage today. Who gets the credit for our salvation? So in 1997, Fred Rogers, or better known as Mr. Rogers from his famous TV show, won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Emmys. And in his acceptance speech, he asked the crowd to take 10 seconds of silence. Y cuando se subió a dar las gracias, él le pidió al público que se estuviera sin hablar por unos momentos. In order to remember all of the people that helped them become who they were that day. Para que ellos pudieran recordar todas las personas que participaron ayudándolos a ellos a llegar a ese lugar donde estaban. Now why would he do that? Ahora, ¿por qué él haría esto? Because Fred Rogers was speaking to an audience that were in an exalted position. He was speaking to the most famous actors in the world, some of the richest people in the world. And he knew that when you are in an exalted position in life, you might be tempted to think that you got there yourself. And so Fred Rogers had them take 10 seconds of silence so that they would remember all of the people that helped them get to their exalted position. Well I think the Apostle Paul is doing something similar here in Ephesians 2. Because, believe it or not, Paul is speaking to a people that are even more exalted than that Emmy audience that night. Later in Ephesians 2, Paul is about to say that by grace you have been raised up with Christ into the heavenly places and seated with him. So lest they think that they got there on their own, Paul reminds the Ephesians where they came from, so that they might be humble and give credit where credit is due. So today I want to look at the seven aspects of our state of life without Christ. So if you look with me to verse one, the first aspect of our state apart from Christ La primera característica de nuestra vida apartada de Cristo is that they were dead in the trespasses and sins in which they once walked. Es que estaban muertos en sus delitos y pecados. Not injured. No lastimados. Not in time out. No en tiempo fuera. Not slowed down. No un poco lento. But dead in their sins. Pero muertos en sus pecados. And if you notice, they are dead yet walking. So this is a spiritual death, not a physical death. This is the same as Adam and Eve in the garden. When they were told, you shall surely die if you disobey God. They did not physically die, but they experienced a spiritual death and were separated from the presence of God. So that is the first point, dead in our trespasses and sins without Christ. The second thing we see is that in their sin they were following the course of this world. Meaning they were following the culture or the environment of the world which was not headed in a godly direction. Es decir, que ellos iban con la cultura y no en la manera que debían de caminar en los mandamientos de Dios. Third, they were following the prince of the power of the air. Tercero, ellos estaban siguiendo al príncipe de la potestad del aire. Which we know is Satan. So they were following Satan himself. Que conocemos que es Satanás, entonces estos estaban siguiendo detrás de Satanás mismo. Fourth, it keeps going. Cuatro y sigue. They had a bad spirit working in them. So to summarize so far, dead in trespasses and sins, following the course of this world, following Satan himself, and following a bad spirit within them. And fifthly, they weren't doing this alone. Look at verse 3. They were doing it in communion with the sons of disobedience. So in fellowship with the sons of disobedience. Sixth. Paul describes their very flesh as being fallen. So they lived in the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of their mind. So here we have the distinction, the world, the flesh, and the devil. All of us naturally, without Christ, are steered away from God by the world, our flesh, and the devil. And then the last point, the seventh point. They were, by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. You can also translate that, destined for wrath. They were headed for wrath. Therefore, if Jew and Gentile took 10 seconds to remember where they came from, It would give them a pretty low picture of who they were. There is no way of getting out of that pit on their own. The Ephesians and we are hopeless without Jesus Christ. Not only were they hopeless, but they were also wicked. Think about God for a moment. We can't fathom just how good and how majestic and how beautiful God is. In his presence there is fullness of joy, there is peace, there is happiness. And now think about Satan for a minute. His goal is to steer people away from that God. He doesn't want people to live in that eternal joy that God wants for us. Satan is wicked beyond measure. And the crazy part is, you and I, before Christ, followed Satan. We followed the epitome of evil. Our state without Jesus was not only hopeless, it was wicked. And this applies to not only those of you that might have had a radical coming to Jesus moment. It also applies to those of you called covenant children, who can't remember a day without knowing the Lord. All of us without Christ, hopeless and wicked. But praise be to God, this is not the end of the story. I was assigned these three verses in seminary a couple years ago. And in seminary they always teach, preach the gospel, preach the good news with every passage you're given. And I was like, what am I supposed to do with this passage? Where is the good news here? It's here. You just have to look for it. The good news is found in the verb tenses. You were dead. You were following the world. You were children of wrath. The natural implication is that they are no longer those things. So if I was dead, I must now be alive. If I was following the world and Satan, I must be following something or someone else. Si antes yo estaba siguiendo detrás de Satanás, ahora estoy siguiendo detrás de alguien diferente. If I'm no longer living among the sons of disobedience, I must now be living among the sons of obedience. Si yo antes vivía en el medio de los hijos de desobediencia, hoy yo vivo en el medio de los hijos de obediencia. So just from the verb tenses, you can tell that something drastic has happened. And all you have to do is read the first two words from verse 4. But God. Pero Dios, God did something that changed everything. Dios hizo algo que cambió todo. He saw us in our hopeless state and our wicked state and decided to do something about it. And what God did was send his son. The story of the cross La historia de la cruz is that Jesus went to a more hopeless place and had wickedness itself. placed on him so that sinners might be forgiven. God, in love, sent his son to give us hope. Dios, en su amor, envió a su hijo para darnos esperanza. And he conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil so that they might not have power over us anymore. Y conquistó al mundo, a la carne, y a Satanás para que estos tres no nos dominen ya. And he placed his spirit within us so that we might no longer be driven by a bad spirit within us. Y él puso su espíritu en nosotros para que nosotros no seamos guiado por un espíritu maligno. And he gave us the church so that we might walk with the sons of obedience. Y nos dio a su iglesia para nosotros poder caminar con los hijos de obediencia. And not only that, He raised us out of our pit and now has raised us to the heavenly places where we are seated with Him. And in Him we have every spiritual blessing. So he took on our wrath that we deserved, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life in him. So in our exalted position, when we take 10 seconds to remember how we got there, who gets the credit? God gets all of it. He has done more than we could ever imagine to save us. And so this passage should give us such a gratitude for who God is and what he's done. Christians should be the most humble and the most gracious people on the planet. If you ever feel tempted to feel high and mighty about yourself, or to look down upon other people, Read Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. We were without hope and we were hopelessly wicked before Jesus. But the good news of Christianity Is that God did something. And because of what he did in Christ, everything changed. So may we praise the God who descended to such depths so that we might have life. And may we seek to share this message of good news With anyone that we can. Let us pray. Father, we pray that we would know just how good you are. We pray that your love would be so manifest in our minds and our hearts. Father, would we be grateful for all of the blessings that you have given us in Jesus. And Father, we pray for humility. We pray that we wouldn't think more highly of ourselves than we ought, but rather Pero en vez de esto, we would seek to share the love that you have given us. Que nosotros queremos compartir el amor que hemos recibido. And live graciously. Y vivir de una manera que reflexiona tu gracia. And thankfully because of what you have done. Y con gratitud por lo que tu has hecho. Thank you for who you are Lord. Gracias por quien tu eres. In your name we pray. En tu nombre oramos. Amen.