1. Our predicament outside of Christ
Ephesians 2:1-3

2. Outside of Christ, we are:
Dead in sin

3. Dead in sin
Ephesians 2:1
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Isaiah 59:1-2, Romans 6:23, Ezekiel 18:4, 1 Timothy 5:6, John 11:26
Ezekiel 18:4
“Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.
1 Timothy 5:6
But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.
John 11:26
And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

4. Outside of Christ, we are:
Dead in sin.
Children of the devil.

5. children of the devil Ephesians 2:2
in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42; John 8:44; Acts 13:10; 1 John 3:10

6. Outside of Christ, we are:
Dead in sin.
Children of the devil.
Under God’s wrath.

7. Under God’s wrath Ephesians 2:3
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Romans 1:18, Colossians 3:5-6, Revelation 14:9-11, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9
Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

8. By nature children of wrath
Strong’s G5449 – physis
nature
the nature of things, the force, laws, order of nature
as opposed to what is monstrous, abnormal, perverse
as opposed what has been produced by the art of man: the natural branches, i.e. branches by the operation of nature
birth, physical origin
a mode of feeling and acting which by long habit has become nature
the sum of innate properties and powers by which one person differs from others, distinctive native peculiarities, natural characteristics: the natural strength, ferocity, and intractability of beasts
Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon on physis in Ephesians 2:3 -
“A mode of feeling and acting which by long habit has become nature.”

9. Children of Wrath Calvinist total hereditary depravity
How did God make us? Genesis 1:26-27, 31
What happened? Genesis 3:1-4

10. Children of Wrath If Calvinism is true:
The devil’s lies are more powerful than God’s truth.
God is very confused. Ezekiel 18:19-32
Total hereditary righteousness overcome by the devil’s lies, but God’s truth can’t overcome “total hereditary depravity”

11. God has not left us in a hopeless condition.
Ephesians 2:4-10
In Christ we are alive, Ephesians 2:1, 2:5, 1:3, 1:7
In Christ we are children of God, Galatians 3:26-27, Ephesians 1:3-5
In Christ we are recipients of Salvation, Ephesians 1:3, 2:8