The Grace of God
An inaccurate view of God.
I grew up with this mental image of God as an angry judge who searched my life and cast me when I made mistakes. It is because of this image of God being an angry righteous judge that I could never measure up to what I knew God would expect of me. I drove myself with an obsession to earn His favor and I focused religious works, good deeds and attempted in vain to adhere to a list of guidelines that I felt was expected of me. The problem was that I am not perfect and continued to slip into sin. I also felt burned out because I was driven to meet the expectations that I thought God demanded of me. Each time I sinned, I felt rejected by God and even felt like I had used up my chances to repent. I crumbled under the weight of 1 Peter 1:16 which commands us to, “Be holy for I am holy”.
I finally gave up trying and fell completely away from religion. Then, an event happened that changed my life forever. Even though I had given up, God never gave up on me. He continued to draw me and I recognized I could never be satisfied with my life without Christ. The problem was that I had tried all my life and failed. What could I do that was any different now? After three years of completely neglecting anything to do with faith or religion, I began to feel the need for change in my life. Religion didn’t satisfy me and I did not know what would. I found a passage that radically changed my view of God. Romans 4:4-5:
4 Now to him who works, the wages
are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
This was a new idea that I had never heard before. In fact, this was the opposite of how I was approaching God. My approach had always been to earn God’s favor by ‘measuring up’ yet this passage tells us that our works don’t measure up but go toward our debt. A debt we cannot pay. But to the person who does not work to earn God’s favor but believes in Jesus who died for the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Righteousness is inherited when we are born into the Kingdom of God’s family – not by earning our own way. In the very next chapter, Romans 5:6 tells us that while we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for us. There are two steps to receiving the grace of God. First we must be ungodly, second, we must believe on Jesus.
Jesus Justifies the Ungodly.
We all qualify because we are definitely ungodly. The hard part is
recognizing our ungodliness. If we cannot see our sins, we cannot see our need
for Christ. If you think you are not a sinner, you can’t receive the grace of
God. Isaiah 64:6 tells us, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our
righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away.” We are all unclean; we are all sinful. We
can’t measure up to the character of God and we can never become as holy as
God. Jesus warned us of the pretense of holiness. Jesus said beware of the
leaven of the Pharisee’s. Sin is like yeast in a lump of dough. You can’t
eliminate sin by adding good works to it. Instead of your good deeds
overwriting your sins, your sins corrupt your good works. You do not have the
power to cleanse your heart, only Jesus can cleanse you because when you are
born into Christ, you are transformed. You literally become a new creation in
Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The idea of inherent sin is hard for some people to accept, but if you look around it is clearly evident. Look at a child. When a child is born, you do not have to teach them to misbehave. I did not teach my kids to be stingy. I didn’t have to teach them to hit, throw fits, call names and any number of things that kids automatically act out. Instead, I had to spend my energy training my kids to do what is right. The law does the same thing. The law does not transform the heart, but it does keep us in check. God’s laws cannot cleanse you and keeping it does not justify you before God. Romans 3:19-20 explains the purpose of the law:
19 Now we know that whatever the
law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
This is followed up by Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
Sins of the heart.
There are two types of sinners – those who know they sin, and those who are
blinded to their sin. That is the danger of works oriented religion. Those who
keep the rules often feel righteous and have a hard time seeing their need for a
Savior. They are still under condemnation by sin, but they can’t see it. In
Matthew 19 Jesus encountered a rich man who kept the law to the letter. The
rich young ruler asked how to get eternal life and then boasted of his good
works and how he kept the law. As Jesus listed the commandments, the man
declared his ability to keep these from his youth up. The last commandment
Jesus listed was, “love your neighbor as yourself”. The rich man proclaimed his
ability to keep this as well. To show his failure, Jesus put him to the test.
If he loved his neighbor as himself, prove it. “Go and sell all you have and
give to the poor”. He could not part with his money and went away sorrowfully.
On the surface, he was blameless, but at the heart he was in need as we all are.
Jesus took the law and brought it to the heart. Jesus said that we have seen the commands “do not commit adultery”, but if we lust, we are guilty in our heart of committing adultery already. If we are angry at our brother, we are murderers in our hearts; if we are greedy and envious, we are thieves; the covetous are idolaters according to scripture. Jesus shattered the pretense of righteousness and showed the reality that God doesn’t look at the outward, but looks at the heart. We can gloss over the sin and make others think we are righteous, but God measures our hearts. The first step to righteousness is to be ungodly. If you cannot see the fact that you are ungodly, you cannot receive Christ and will never have access to the grace of God. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned, but verse 24 tells us, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. Justification is only through surrendering to Jesus Christ. Righteousness is not earned or achieved; it is imputed into us. Look at Philippians 3:
8 Yet indeed I also count all
things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I
may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law,
but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God
by faith;
All things we do to measure up are counted as a loss. It is not my own righteousness but ‘that which is through faith in Christ’. Righteousness is given to us through submitting to Christ by faith. The reasons Jesus came was to show us how to live and to die in our place to pay our debt to sin. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Isaiah 53:5-6 sums it up well:
5 But He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our
peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own
way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Forgiveness is Free.
Ephesians 2:
8 For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
God does not want any to perish but desires to have an intimate relationship with you. Jesus Christ paid the penalty of your sins and exchanged His life for yours. The gift of grace is offered to you in exchange for your sins. This is what takes us from the wrath of God to the loving kindness of God. No longer is God the righteous judge, but is a loving father. The Bible tells us that anyone who receives Christ, He gives them the power to become children of God. Until you receive Christ, you are under condemnation. The god of this age is Satan. The Bible says that he has authority over this world system until Christ returns. Because of your sin, he has claim over you but Jesus Christ died in your place to purchase a place for you in heaven by His own blood. Colossians 2:13-14 says,
13 And you, being dead in your
trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with
Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which
was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the
cross.
Not only did Jesus forgive you, but He wiped out the debt that held claim over you by nailing it to the Cross. One of the most powerful verses in the Bible is Matthew 27:46 when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” The most painful part of the cross was not the physical pain, but the sting of sin and the emotional feelings of separation that Jesus suffered in your place. This is the exchange for you. This is where Jesus bore your sin knowing that sin cannot abide in God’s presence and in exchange He offers His righteousness and justification to you so that you become as righteous and justified before God as Jesus Himself. Not because of anything you have done, but because of the sacrifice He made on the cross in your behalf. But it must be received. That is where faith comes in.
Responding to grace.
Believing on Jesus Christ is not head knowledge, but a commitment of the
heart. Faith is belief in action. Believing means little, but acting upon that
belief means everything. Look at James 2:20, and 22-24:
20 But do you want to know, O
foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
…
22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith
was made perfect?
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Faith without works is dead not because works save you, but because if you believe but do not respond you never receive the grace of God. It is possible to believe the gospel and still reject it. Faith is not believing alone, but believe to obedience. You must exchange your sinful lifestyle for His lordship. Faith in God is believing God and trusting Him to the point where I am willing to surrender my life and turn from my own ways. That is repentance. Without repentance, you cannot receive God’s gift of grace. Repentance is a 180-degree turn. You are walking your own ways and you repent by stopping and turning to God. You can’t receive a gift from God if your back is to Him. A gift is only an offer until you receive it. To receive Christ, you must humble yourself. That is recognizing that you are a sinner and are unable to save yourself. You must repent and you must receive.
If you overlook repentance you will remain in your same lifestyle and adopt a religion without a relationship with God. The Bible tells us that without holiness no one will see the Lord. Look at what the Bible says about the need for repentance:
Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit comes inside you and transforms your life at the point you surrender to Christ. If you have never experienced this transformation, it is critical that you insure that you have a part in God’s kingdom. Repentance is a complete lifestyle change with Jesus at the center. Look at 1 John 1:6-10
6 If we say that we have
fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in
us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in
us.
Everyone blows it from time to time. We have the promise that if we are walking in His will and making our lives center around fellowship with Him, we know that when we sin and confess that sin, Jesus will forgive us and cleanse us. When we sin, we immediately repent, restore fellowship with God and get back on the path of walking with Christ. Works and keeping commandments do not save us, but if we have surrendered to His lordship we will have a desire to keep God’s commands and our desire will be to walk with Him. If there is not a change, it is doubtful that we have had a real conversion(1 John 2:3-6). The words we confess mean little, it the act of the heart that means we belong to Him.
Look at 1 John 3:9, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” This does not mean that we will never sin, this means that we will not live a lifestyle of sin. God’s Spirit inside us will draw us into closer fellowship with Him. When Jesus comes in, we are now a child of God and we have the promise that all things work together for our good. God has a plan for your life that is better than anything you can experience outside of Him. Walking by faith is trusting God’s plan and believing His promises. It must begin with Christ.
Receiving Christ.
After repentance, you must receive Christ. John 1:12 says, “But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who
believe in His name”. No longer are we under condemnation, but we are a child
of God. John 3:36 says, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and
he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides
on him." Without Christ we are at odds with God. The Bible tells us that
through Jesus we are delivered from the wrath of God to come upon the children
of disobedience. It is only through Jesus Christ that we have salvation. All
roads do not lead to God. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the only one
in whom we have salvation. Look at these two passages:
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
To reject Christ is to reject the Bible. I have been asked many times, “would God send someone to hell just because they did not believe in Jesus?” There is no greater sin than to reject the sacrifice of love that your creator paid for you. Your Creator loved you so much that He took the form of a man, and sacrificed Himself in your place for the sole purpose of giving you salvation and paying for your debt to sin. There is no greater sin than to look at that sacrifice and say, “No, that isn’t good enough for me.”
You must repent and then receive. Look at Romans 10:9-10:
9 that if you confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
Jesus must come by invitation. Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus desires to have a two-way, intimate relationship with you. Jesus seeks your fellowship. He knocks but you must answer. You answer by humbling yourself, repenting, and receiving by submitting to Him as Lord and inviting Him into your heart. Confess with your mouth through prayer. If you have never made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, I want to invite you to do so now. As a guide, I have included this prayer. Keep in mind that how we confess is not what saves us, but faith in Christ and submitting to Him.
Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I ask you to forgive my sins. By faith, I give you my sins, failures and lifestyle. By faith I receive your righteousness into my life. I open the door of my heart and invite you in. I surrender my life to you and make you Lord of my life. I will live my life for you. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins, Amen.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
< Listen to sermons on MP3 by clicking here >
|
|