From Death to Life: Baptism and New Beginnings

That's the grace of God. You were dead but God. But God by his grace and his mercy has saved the one who believes. Paul makes this very clear. It's not by anything that the 30 plus people getting baptized before you has done. It's not like they've done enough good works or community service or given enough money to charity that they are saved. It is simply because Christ by his grace has saved them. [00:38:12] (31 seconds)  #SavedByGrace

A person who is declared dead needs somebody outside of them to breathe life into them if at all possible. They need somebody outside of them to try to bring them back to life. They're absolutely helpless to do anything about their dead situation. And everybody getting baptized today was spiritually dead and powerless to save themselves, every single one of them. But God. [00:36:52] (30 seconds)  #BreathedToLife

Grace is this power outside of us. When we totally are unable, totally incompetent to do anything about our situation, grace outside of us saves us. Goes on in verse eight and nine. It says, for by grace, you've been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, not your good works, so that no one can boast. [00:37:44] (28 seconds)  #GraceIsAGift

And so it's not just the bad we commit, but it's also the good we fail to commit. In the book of James chapter four verse 17, it says, if anyone then knows the good that they ought to do and doesn't do it, for them it is sin. And so all of us have either trespassed or fallen short, and we all end up sinning. All of it is considered sin, and the sin that we commit brings about death. [00:31:32] (32 seconds)  #MissingTheGood

Jesus says it takes one step to cross over from death to life. One step of repentance. That literal mean means to change your mind and change direction. One step of faith to newness, to forgiveness, to mercy, to eternity in heaven. It takes one step. I love that in life. And I don't know who this applies to. But you could have made a thousand mistakes. Could have made a 100 bad decisions. [00:40:55] (34 seconds)  #StepOfRepentance

This is the good news. But God. It says in Ephesians two, we go on in verse four and five. It says, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Grace is this power outside of us. When we totally are unable, [00:37:22] (28 seconds)  #MercyMadeUsAlive

Right? Enter the river. You will follow the current of the water. Enter this world. You will follow the course of this world. And you may not realize it right away, but if you do nothing about that, if you do nothing at all, you will naturally be headed for spiritual death and spiritual destruction. If no one jumps in and you're in this river and you're flowing down, if no one grabs you, if you have nothing to hold on, if no one saves naturally drift into destruction. [00:28:56] (30 seconds)  #FollowTheCurrent

Like, my flesh just wants to jump in and be satisfied and gratified by that cool refreshing water. But the reality is if I was to jump in, if any of you were to jump in, you are moving. Like, you're not gonna stay where you are. You are going to naturally go with the current of the river. You will go with the water. That's the reality of streams and rivers. You jump in, you will move. [00:27:45] (26 seconds)  #CurrentCarriesYou

But now they're moving this way, away from destruction and they're heading into eternity in righteousness with Christ forever. By God's grace, they've changed direction. You know, in Uganda, if you go to Uganda, there's there's a line right there at zero degree latitude, and it's the Equator Line. And on one side of that line is the Southern Hemisphere, on the other side of the line is the Northern Hemisphere. [00:39:08] (29 seconds)  #HeadingToEternity

You you could be addicted to fentanyl or gangbanging and be spiritually dead, or you could be going to church, being a church attender, growing up in the faith that your family is a part of and still be spiritually dead. And here's the thing about people who are are dead. This is just the reality is that when you are dead, nobody who is dead can bring themselves back to life. [00:36:11] (29 seconds)  #SpiritualDeathIsReal

And here's the thing about people who are are dead. This is just the reality is that when you are dead, nobody who is dead can bring themselves back to life. That's just the truth. A dead person can't resuscitate himself or herself. A dead person can't perform CPR on themselves. A dead person can't breathe life back into oneself. A person who is declared dead needs somebody outside of them [00:36:29] (28 seconds)  #DeadCantSelfSave

So to to sin in essence is to cross the line, to trespass into areas you shouldn't. And then there's another aspect of sin. Because a lot of us will say, well, I'm not that bad of a person. Like, I'm not a terrible person. I'm mostly good. Well, another word that's used here is the word for sin, And that is defined as falling short or missing the target. [00:30:24] (26 seconds)  #MissingTheMark

And so if this is everything bad and this is everything good, is falling short or missing the target of God's moral standard. Right? There's a perfect heavenly standard and sometimes we fall short of the good we ought to do. So that means when you don't help the less fortunate that you ought to help, and you fall short of that line. [00:30:50] (24 seconds)  #FallingShortOfGood

And that's exactly what Ephesians chapter two is saying. You are born into this world. And when you come into this world, you enter this world like you would into a river. So let me read it to you again. Ephesians two says this, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world. [00:28:32] (23 seconds)  #BornIntoTheCurrent

And if if you go and visit, there there's a a basin on each side of that line. And on one side, they'll show you, you pour water into it and it'll flow counterclockwise. It goes counterclockwise. But they say when you step over the line, you pour water into a basin, and it changes direction. It starts flowing clockwise. Why? Well, they're trying to show you the Coriolis effect where when you change hemispheres, the direction changes. [00:39:37] (31 seconds)  #HemispheresIllustration

You will move. If no one throws you a line, if if no one jumps in to rescue you, if you have nothing to grab onto, you will move and you will eventually go over the falls. It will lead to your death and your destruction. Do nothing about it and you're pretty much dead. And that's exactly what Ephesians chapter two is saying. You are born [00:28:11] (26 seconds)  #RescueOrDestruction

Let me try to paint a picture for you what I'm talking about. So years ago, a a group from my church, we decided to hike up the tallest waterfall in The United States, and that's Yosemite Falls. And so we hiked up. It it's about a five hour hike to the top. It was in the middle of the summer. It's July. It's dry, hot heat, and we're hiking up for hours up to the top. [00:26:57] (24 seconds)  #HikeToTheFalls

And when we got to the top, you know, we're tired. We're thirsty. We're we're sweaty. And you get to the top and there's this the stream or this river that leads right into the falls. And because we're so hot and we're so tired, everything in me wants to just jump in to that river to cool down and to to just be refreshed. [00:27:21] (24 seconds)  #TemptedToJumpIn