What is Grace?
01/15/24 • 32 min
There is no formula to start a relationship with God. Did you know there’s not just one way to teach someone the gospel message? When you read the New Testament, you’re constantly reading different prescriptions for salvation. In one place it says believe and you’ll be saved. In another place, it says to believe and be baptized. Another place says repent and believe. Another verse says we’re saved by faith. Jesus told one guy he needed to sell everything he had and give it to the poor to be saved. When the apostles told Gentiles about Jesus they talked about the resurrection, but when they talked to the Jews, they focused on Jesus being the Messiah.
There’s no formula. It’s not a script we memorize. It’s a relationship, and there are many ways to start a relationship. Maybe you met your wife on a dating app, in a bar, or in school, but the ultimate goal was the relationship.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
God created us. Then we sinned. So to fix the problem, God has offered to recreate us. Why? So we can do what He created us to do.
There are two ways people try to get to Heaven. Most people think that you get there by being good enough, but God tells us that's not going to work. The right way to get to Heaven is by faith. We have to trust Him, not our good behavior.
The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body, God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
What does the world say when we go about it the right way? "Oh, that's too easy...You're just saying that's the way to be saved because you want to keep sinning and still go to Heaven." So they CHOOSE to do it the hard way because it makes them feel more righteous.
That's what the Pharisees did. They got mad at Jesus because he didn't follow or obey their laws. Can you imagine! The Pharisees called JESUS a sinner, and that's what people will do to you if you live by grace rather than by laws.
Do you know what will happen if you try to get saved the wrong way, by obeying rules? You'll get a lot of smoke and heat...and that's not Heaven. It's so hard for me to see all these Jews, Muslims, and all these other religions trying so hard to do the right thing. They're doing very hard things to try to get to Heaven, and their belief in good behavior is actually taking them to Hell.
When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.
So I'm going to put the full-court press on today. I don't want anyone to leave here today without being absolutely positive that they are going to the promised land, that they will spend eternity in Heaven with God. So here's what I'm going to ask you to do.
I want to ask everyone who is reading this to fill out this out. If today you are ready to stop trying to be good enough to get into Heaven and to put your faith in Jesus instead, would you check that top box and put your contact info in so we can send you some information?
I want to invite you to pray too. Have a conversation with God. You can do it silently, in your mind. God knows what you're thinking. Talk to Him and thank Him for His grace. If you want to talk to someone about the decision you're making today reach out to us, we would love to talk with you.
There is no formula to start a relationship with God. Did you know there’s not just one way to teach someone the gospel message? When you read the New Testament, you’re constantly reading different prescriptions for salvation. In one place it says believe and you’ll be saved. In another place, it says to believe and be baptized. Another place says repent and believe. Another verse says we’re saved by faith. Jesus told one guy he needed to sell everything he had and give it to the poor to be saved. When the apostles told Gentiles about Jesus they talked about the resurrection, but when they talked to the Jews, they focused on Jesus being the Messiah.
There’s no formula. It’s not a script we memorize. It’s a relationship, and there are many ways to start a relationship. Maybe you met your wife on a dating app, in a bar, or in school, but the ultimate goal was the relationship.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
God created us. Then we sinned. So to fix the problem, God has offered to recreate us. Why? So we can do what He created us to do.
There are two ways people try to get to Heaven. Most people think that you get there by being good enough, but God tells us that's not going to work. The right way to get to Heaven is by faith. We have to trust Him, not our good behavior.
The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body, God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
What does the world say when we go about it the right way? "Oh, that's too easy...You're just saying that's the way to be saved because you want to keep sinning and still go to Heaven." So they CHOOSE to do it the hard way because it makes them feel more righteous.
That's what the Pharisees did. They got mad at Jesus because he didn't follow or obey their laws. Can you imagine! The Pharisees called JESUS a sinner, and that's what people will do to you if you live by grace rather than by laws.
Do you know what will happen if you try to get saved the wrong way, by obeying rules? You'll get a lot of smoke and heat...and that's not Heaven. It's so hard for me to see all these Jews, Muslims, and all these other religions trying so hard to do the right thing. They're doing very hard things to try to get to Heaven, and their belief in good behavior is actually taking them to Hell.
When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.
So I'm going to put the full-court press on today. I don't want anyone to leave here today without being absolutely positive that they are going to the promised land, that they will spend eternity in Heaven with God. So here's what I'm going to ask you to do.
I want to ask everyone who is reading this to fill out this out. If today you are ready to stop trying to be good enough to get into Heaven and to put your faith in Jesus instead, would you check that top box and put your contact info in so we can send you some information?
I want to invite you to pray too. Have a conversation with God. You can do it silently, in your mind. God knows what you're thinking. Talk to Him and thank Him for His grace. If you want to talk to someone about the decision you're making today reach out to us, we would love to talk with you.
Previous Episode
Buckets Leak
All of us are like a bucket with holes. When we give our lives to God, we're filled with passion and excitement about our relationship with God, but faster than we want it to Passion fades.
When we're in a relationship the honeymoon faze is the best..."it's so cute how she holds her coffee with 2 hands and sips it...then we're married 2 years, and ..."could you PLEASE STOP slurping your coffee!" This happens in our relationships with God.
So, what do we do? We have to go back for more. In order to keep the bucket full we have to pour water into the bucket by coming to church and singing, listening to a sermon, reading a book, and praying. But the cool thing is that Grace doesn't only forgive us. It seals us.
The longer we're in relationship with God, the more holes are sealed. We learn Biblical truth and gain confidence. We remove a habit, and it distracts us less. We pray and get peace, but the truth is
We all still have holes.
So we keep filling. We want grace to plug every hole, but that doesn't happen fast. BUT the cool thing is we fill enough holes, that we can start helping other people fill their buckets when they leak. The Apostle Paul said,
2 Corinthians 4:14-18
We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. 16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
Next Episode
The Good Stuff
Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
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