It's All About Grace

Introduction
Does God ever change your plans?  I had planned to preach something different today. But as I prepared, God gave me a different word.  I sensed Him saying: “Speak about grace.  It’s all about grace.”

Grace is something many Christians associate with Jesus and the New Testament.  But Jesus is God and the God of the New Testament is the same as in the Old Testament.  God is God.  And God is love.  And God is full of grace in both the Old and New Testaments.  And today the message is all about God’s grace.

In the Old Testament, it was God’s plan that the Israelites leave slavery in Egypt and travel to the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy, Moses gave his final instructions to the Israelites before he died.
Moses makes it clear that God is full of grace—even in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 9:1-6
¹ “Listen, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky! ² The people are strong and tall—descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakites?’ ³ But recognize today that the Lord your God is the one who will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the Lord has promised.

⁴ “After the Lord your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The Lord has given us this land because we are such good people!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way. ⁵ It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The Lord your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶ You must recognize that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not—you are a stubborn people.

God's Grace is in Both Testaments
God is full of grace in both the Old and New Testaments.  It was God’s grace that gave the Promised Land to the Israelites. He overcame giants for them.  It was not because they were such good people.  They were not good people.  They were stubborn and rebellious.  But God is full of grace and power. 

God came as Jesus in the New Testament.  Jesus came to deliver people from slavery to sin.  What God did in the Old Testament for Israel foreshadowed what Jesus does in the NT.  Jesus leads His people into the true Promised Land.  When we put our faith in Christ and follow Him as Lord, we have eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.  And it’s all about grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9
⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Grace is God’s undeserved kindness doing for us what cannot do for ourselves.  On the cross, Jesus atoned for our sin.  Those who trust and follow Jesus are no longer guilty of sin.  If you trust Jesus, turn from your sin and follow Him as Lord, you are no longer guilty of sin.  You are no longer slaves to sin.  You are set free.  You are part of the Kingdom of God.

God’s Glorious Standard
Grace is hard to fathom. Christians often struggle to comprehend the amazing grace of God.

We sense that God is Perfect and Holy.  We know it intuitively and from the Bible. 
God’s obviously has a high and glorious standard.  He is perfect and holy.

Romans 3:23 tells us, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
And Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  So everyone has sinned and the consequence is spiritual death.

Since we fall short, many try to add other things to make up for it.  We add rules trying to earn God’s love and favor.  So some will live rather austere lives thinking it will impress God.  They will not drink, or smoke tobacco.  They will go to church every Sunday (and maybe even more).  Some may even abstain from sex or marriage, pray 5 times a day or live as monks devoted to holy living.  If someone is  doing this to earn God's favor, we call it self-righteousness.  It's a righteousness that we try to manufacture ourselves. 

Others may go the opposite direction.  They may reject God altogether and just live however they please.  Their lives become selfishness, full of greed and indulgence.  A life that rejects God makes the self its own god and quickly degenerates into depravity.

The world is always full of people living on both ends of this spectrum between self-righteousness and rejecting God.  Even church people struggle with this.

God has a different plan.  John 3:17 says, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”  Jesus came as an ambassador of God’s grace.  His death on the cross saves us.  His blood is our atonement.  Our sin-debt is canceled.  Our ransom is paid.

God’s Grace Saves
It is God's grace that saves us.  We cannot save ourselves.  Self-righteousness cannot atone for our sins.  Rejecting God only compounds the problem.  The only answer is God's undeserved, unearned grace received through faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:9 reminds us, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”  It is God’s grace—not our own self-righteousness—that saves us.

Guess what that means.  You don’t have to feel guilty anymore.  You don’t have to be ashamed.
You don’t have to worry whether God loves you.  When God looks at you, He sees Jesus in you.  And God says, “This is my beloved son/daughter, in whom I am well pleased!”

You don’t have to fear death.  You don’t have to fear hell or punishment.  You are saved!  You are already a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven—both now and for eternity!  So now you can live without fear or shame or regrets.  Live as royalty, BC that’s what you are!

Unfortunately, sometimes even after a person starts following Jesus, they slip back into another form of self-righteousness where they try to justify their behavior.  They say, “Well, Jesus has already forgiven my sins, so I can live however I want…”  And so they go one sinning or they go back to sinning.  In doing so, they become slaves to sin.  God loves us and doesn’t want us to be slaves.  God wants His sons and daughters to be free.  And not just free in principle, but actually really free.  In other words, God wants you to be free from the power of sin.  Sin no longer has the power to keep you captive. 
Jesus’ death on the cross ripped the gates of our prison cells clear off the hinges!

So many people who decide to follow Jesus are actually still sitting inside a figurative jail cell.  They think they're still trapped and unable to leave the prison.  But the jail cell is wide open.  All they have to do is listen to the Holy Spirit, get up, and walk out of the cell.  But they never leave their sin and it still has power over them either because they don't want to give it up or they are afraid to.

That’s not what God wants for His children.  God’s Holy Spirit lives inside everyone who believes in Jesus.  The power that raised Jesus from the grave can raise you out of your sin.  But you have to trust and receive God's grace.  God gives us the power to break free from sin.  So get up and walk out of your prison!

Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for amazing grace.  We don't deserve it.  We can't earn it.  But You freely give it. Thank You!  Lord help us to trust Jesus.  Receiving His grace, assure us that we are saved and no longer need to be guilty or ashamed.  We are set free and we can live holy lives for You by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Thank You for setting us free!  Now help us to live free, all for Your glory. Amen.

Jesus Saves Us From Sin. Amen!

Introduction
The Bible is the Word of God and contains everything necessary and sufficient for our salvation. Today, want to talk about sin and salvation because the Bible says sin and salvation are two basic elements of the Christian faith.  The Bible teaches that Jesus saves us from sin.  

Ephesians 2:8-9
⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Explanation
The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Christians living in Ephesus—an important Greek settlement in what is now modern day Turkey.  Paul started out life as a Pharisee whose goal was to earn salvation by obeying the letter of God Law perfectly.  But Jesus appeared to Paul from heaven and Paul became a Christian.  As a Christian, Paul realized that there was no hope of salvation through living a strict, sinless life because no one can do it.  It is only by grace you are saved when you believe in Jesus.

And so Paul writes to the Ephesians: “God saved you by his grace when you believed.”
We see three words in that statement we must understand:  Saved.  Grace.  Believed.

First there is the word saved.  I think everyone understands the concept of being saved.  If you are trapped in a burning building and a firefighter rescues you, you might say, “You saved my life!”  In that instance, you might feel tremendous gratitude to the firefighter that risked their life to save yours.

But what does it mean when Paul says, “God saved you?” Do you feel like you need to be saved?  The Bible says we should.

Romans 1:20-23
In Romans 1:20-23 Paul wrote: “…ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God…  …but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused…  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.  So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.”

We chose to worship idols and false gods instead of God.  We may not bow down to a golden statue, but we are so prone to give our primary focus to other things when we should focus on God first.  Anytime we serve something or give our resources to something or seek fulfillment from something or try to find security in something when we out to seek these from God we are worshiping an idol or false god.  And we do it all the time.  It's is a sad reality of our fallen human nature.

And so, Romans says, "God abandoned [us] to do whatever shameful things [our] hearts desired."  And this is indeed what we see in our world.  Even animals understand sexual identity, but humans have abandoned the natural order of things.  What should be common sense has become ridiculous to us.  We think we can redefine male and female and God's design for human intimacy.  And people think they are heroic and wise when they follow these crazy ideas.  But who is really wise?  God or people?

Sin Infects All Humanity
Throughout history, there have been self-righteous people who believe everyone else but them is guilty.  Paul started out life that way.  He thought because his was a Jew who strictly follow the Law, he was safe.  But Jesus knocked him on his butt and made him realize he was a fool and a sinner as much as anyone else.  And God tells us this in the Bible.

Romans 3:10-18, 23
“No one is righteous—not even one.  ¹¹ No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.  ¹² All have turned away; all have become useless.  No one does good, not a single one.”  ¹³ “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.  Their tongues are filled with lies.”  “Snake venom drips from their lips.”  ¹⁴ “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”  ¹⁵ “They rush to commit murder.  ¹⁶ Destruction and misery always follow them.  ¹⁷ They don’t know where to find peace.”¹⁸ “They have no fear of God at all.” 

And Romans 3:23 sums it all up: “²³ For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Wow!  That's pretty harsh!  No one likes a preacher to tell them how sinful they are, but it's the only way to help people see how desperately we need Jesus to save us.  Unless you're facing some terrible crisis, you may not feel like you need to be saved.  Romans helps open our spiritual eyes to see that (figuratively) the walls are on fire around us and we're trapped and Jesus is our only hope!

The Truth of the Human condition according to The Word of God is pretty dark.  And when we are tempted to excuse ourselves, the news from around the world condemns us.  How many times have you heard the most awful stories of human depravity?  We hear the stories of the awful things people do—often people we thought were good, admirable people—and then we find out despicable things they've done when they thought no one was watching.

And if we try to say, “Well, I’m not like that!”  A small voice in our own conscious convicts us.  "Yes you are."  If we’re honest, we know there is darkness in us too. Even if we haven’t acted upon it, there is evil in our hearts.  And God’s standards are holiness and perfection.  He made us perfect.  But we are far from perfect now.  And so we know God’s Word is true in Romans 3:23.  “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

That's the bad news.  But grace is the good news we find in Romans 6:23.

Romans 6:23
²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is why we need to be saved.  We have all sinned.  We all deserve death.  And that’s where Grace comes in.  Grace is God’s free gift of divine help, even though we don’t deserve it.  We deserve death, but instead, God gives us the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.   

Eternal life is more than just living forever.  You see, if you live forever in a broken world where there is still evil and darkness and suffering, well that's no blessing; that's a curse.  The eternal life we have in Jesus is absolute fulfillment.   It’s what we’re made for.  In Genesis, eternal life is described as the Garden of Eden that's a paradise where everything was good to eat and where Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with each other and God.  They were completely naked but felt no shame or vulnerability.  They had nothing to hide and felt completely safe.

Isaiah 11:6 says: “In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.”  Revelation 21:4 says God will “wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Those who reject God’s free gift of grace will be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  But those who accept God’s gracious salvation through Jesus Christ will have eternal life.

And that’s where the third word comes in—Believe.

Romans 10:9
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Believe in Jesus Christ.
Believe that He is Lord and don’t hide it.  
Declare it openly.  Live out your belief.
Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
Believe it, not just as an idea, but as the Truth that guides your whole life—everything you do.

Declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.  And you will be saved.

Let me pray for you.
“Lord, I pray for everyone reading this today. 
Lord I pray You will guide them to search their hearts right now.
Lord I ask You to show everyone they desperately need to be saved.
We are all in danger of death—spiritual death, eternal death.
Help us to see how much You love us—unconditionally, completely, perfectly.
Help us all to see that You want to save us, and will save us if we believe.
Help everyone today to claim Jesus as our Lord—
to declare in everyway possible to the world that Jesus is our Lord.
Help us to truly believe in our hearts that You raised Jesus from the dead
and that You will raise us to eternal life because of our faith in Him.
Thank You, Lord, for saving us today. Amen.”