Worship Service 03/07/2021

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Satan, Our Real Enemy

Texts:

• Ephesians 2:1-10
• Ephesians 4:20-
• 1 John 2:15-17

Notes:

• What does Paul mean by ‘dead in trespasses and sins’?
  • Entirely without the capacity to desire or please God
  • Entirely without comprehension of God
• How can people who are dead be made alive?
  • By the work of Christ
  • By the grace of God
• Jesus Christ overcame the world (v2), the flesh (v3), and the devil (v2)
  • Those who are joined to Him by faith may overcome as well
    • not by their own power, but by Christ’s
• We cannot even believe in God apart from God granting us the faith to do so (v8)
• Why has God deigned to show such mercy as such great cost?
  • God shows mercy in salvation not because of anything worthy in us,
    but because God delights to show mercy
  • If God has made us alive to salvation (v5), would He not make us alive to sanctification as well?
  • A life that displays no sanctification (empowered by Christ), are you truly saved by the same power of Christ?
  • If God has given the grace to save you, He will grant the grace to sanctify
• Can there be salvation without repentance?
  • Repentance is just as necessary as faith
    • Ephesians 4:20-32
  • Faith is not the same as mentally assenting to a fact
• Salvation necessitates:
  • A change of direction — “…turned to God from idols”, 1 Thessalonians 1:9
  • A change of desire
  • A change of decision
• God is so intent on sanctifying you that He will discipline you
  • God’s glory and our joy are not only not exclusive, but are entirely integrated
  • God’s child cannot find joy outside of God’s will
• Within historical Christianity, different groups have emphasized different temptations
  • Puritan / Reformed have generally emphasized the flesh
  • Pentecostal / Charismatics have generally emphasized the devil / demons
  • Fundamentalists have generally emphasized the world
    
  • More extreme examples:
    • Monasticism, Amish – apart from the world
    • Manicheism
• The World and Satan
  • Satan:
    • Satan is on God’s leash–there is nothing that Satan can do outside of God’s righteous rule
      • Example: the events in Job
      • The evil events were caused by Satan, but were ordained by God
  • The World: the spiritual system of this fallen world that is against God
    • 1 John 2: Just what is it about this world that we are not to love?
      • The real question: is who or what do we love?
      • Do we love Christ, or do we love something else?
      • Romans 12, “do not be conformed to the world”
      • Conform–to appear the same outwardly despite being different inside
      • We are often completely unaware of our culture’s values because it so pervasively surrounds us

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