Grace to Face the Future
Ezekiel 36:26, Jeremiah 31:31, 33
Series: Grace that Amazes
April 21, 2013
Morning Service
When I was a kid playing backyard baseball, we would hit the ball into trees and it would block the ball. Unfortunately, I did this often. We had a simple rule for these times of mistakes. We would simply call redo and start over.
Have you ever wanted to have a redo? Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could just call redo and start over? Life doesn’t work that way and we have to live with all of those mistakes that we’ve made. We have to live with all of the problems we have caused. We have to go through the day by day issues of those mistakes.
Let me let you in on a fact of life, Jesus died to give us to the right for a redo. Grace is the ultimate redo. The whole purpose is to erase those wrongs that cling to your past. We serve a God of redo. We live for a Savior who is the master of the redo. We call it a new life.
New life comes with the promise of redemption
I will make a new covenant…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. Jeremiah 31. 31, 33
God made agreements with His people throughout the pages of scripture. These agreements were called covenants. A covenant is simply an agreement made between two or more parties. The agreement was binging much like a legal contract today.
Examples of Covenants in Scripture
Noah – God promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood.
Abraham – God made the agreement to give Abraham the Promised Land and to give him descendants
Israel – God made the agreement to be the God of Israel and gave the Ten Commandments
David – God made the agreement to send the Messiah through David’s family line
The old law was powerless to change lives. The Law could not deal with the nature of sin. The process of sacrifice and forgiveness became a series of ups and downs that makes the worst roller coaster seem like a kiddie ride. The Law could only convict people of their sin and not convert them to a new life. The Law convicted sin but could never enable those convicted to overcome sin. God understood the depth of our human need and saw the plight of our problem with sin. We were in need of something we could not acquire on our own, we were in need of grace. Our need was radical in nature and God devised a radical solution. God stepped into history, across the tides of time, to provide the answer. God gave a new covenant, a new promise to those who could not live by the Law.
Our problem was simple, no one could live by the Law God had given. There was no person able to live above the corruption of sin. We needed a radical change, we needed something only God could provide. We needed Jesus.
Our future is found in a new life. God understood that we could never live up to the Covenant. God understood that we needed more than just the Law. The Law would never be able to save anyone, it only shackled us to the shame and the stains of the past. Instead of giving the Law again, God places it within the hearts of His people. God intersects with our lives and gives us a new perspective on Him.
New life comes with the provision of renewal
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11:19
The heart refers to the physical organ that pumps blood through the body but it also refers to the inner most being of a person. The heart was the center of someone’s life. The heart represented the inner self and contained the character. The heart was the source of personal behavior.
The heart was the source of understanding and reason
The heart was the source of emotional being
The heart was the source of spiritual being
When God is in control of the heart, He has leadership over every major area of life. God leads our understanding, our emotions and our spirit. The problem that many people have is that they are like Israel – they have a heart of stone. They refuse to give their heart over to God and surrender their life to His control. They choose to continue life with a heart of stone.
What is a heart of stone?
1. Lifeless
The heart of stone is without genuine life. The person may breathe and their heart may beat but they just exist. Living means that the person lives with their heart in tune with God. A heart of stone cannot care for anyone or anything. It is void of compassion and concern.
2. Immobile
The heart of stone cannot be moved by the Spirit of God. The heart of stone is not open to the working of God because it has become hardened and calloused. The hardened heart is one that will not allow God to have His way in their life.
3. Impenetrable
The stone heart does not allow God to penetrate their life. The stone puts up walls against the leadership of God. The heart does not allow for the conviction of the Holy Spirit to move and work. The stone heart not only ignores God but has stopped listening.
God removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. God performs a spiritual heart transplant and gives us what we need. God removes the heart that is hardened against Him and replaces it with a heart that can beat with His heart. The heart of flesh is the offer to give a new life. God removes the heart of stone which was bent on sin and gives us a heart of flesh that gives new life.
God gives a new heart as a symbol of the renewed relationship that has occurred. God gives the new heart as a way of bringing us back to the relationship we were created to have with Him. God renews us and an renews our relationship with Him.
New life comes with the presence of the Holy Spirit
God does not just give us a new heart but also places within us a new spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to bring the presence and the power of God into our lives. The Spirit moves within us to guide and direct us in our walk with God.
Jesus promised the disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. What kind of power is Jesus talking about? What does the Holy Spirit do for us?
The Holy Spirit gives power to overcome sin
God did not give us a new heart and a new life only to let us continue to wallow in our sin. The Holy Spirit gives the ability to overcome sin but it doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen without our effort. We have to want the new life and be willing to follow the leadership of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gives power to live a holy life
Holiness is simply becoming more and more like Jesus. Our future holds a life that will never end. Our future holds the reality that we will finally be restored to the image of God. We will finally be made like Him. God sends the spirit to help us live like that on a daily basis.
The Holy Spirit gives the power to love others
John Wesley spoke of Christian Perfection. We are given a perfect love for God. It is only when we truly and fully love God that we can love others.
New life comes with the power of a fresh start
Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come. This truth helps us to face the future in the power God’s grace. The moment that you came to Christ everything of the old life passed away.
You enter the new life through the forgiveness of Christ
You remain in the new life through the power of forgiveness
Forgiven – Sanctus real
Well the past has been playing with my head Failure knocks me down again
I’m reminded of the wrong I’ve said and done That devil just won’t let me forget
In this life I know what I’ve been, but here in your arms I know what I am
I’m forgiven, Oh I’m forgiven And I don’t have to carry the weight of who I’ve been
I’m Forgiven
My mistakes are running through my mind I relive my days in the middle of the night
I struggle with my pain, wrestle with my pride Sometimes I feel alone and I cry
In this life I know what I’ve been, but here in your arms I know what I am
I’m forgiven, Oh I’m forgiven And I don’t have to carry the weight of who I’ve been
I’m Forgiven
When I don’t fit in and don’t feel like I belong anywhere When I don’t measure up to much in this life Oh I’m a treasure in the arms of Christ
A car has a small rearview mirror to see what’s behind you. It also has a huge windshield to see what is ahead of you. The car gives us a good glimpse of Christian living, it’s far more important to focus on what is ahead than looking at what is behind.
The only time we really put our full focus on the rearview mirror is when we are going in reverse. To go forward for God, you need to shift gears out of reverse. Now is the time to put your focus on going forward for Christ. Get your heart set on the things above.
Grace moves in our lives as a process. God helps us to move forward into the future He has waiting. He chooses to move us in His direction one step at a time. Our movement into the future is not always dramatic but rather it happens as we follow Christ daily, step by step.
Some of you today need to take the first step into grace by faith. You need to give your heart of stone over to God and let Him give you a heart of flesh. Today is the day to enter new life. Stop holding back and let go.
Some of you need to take the next step of surrender. You need to give up those things that are holding you back. Let God take them and empty yourself of yourself. The only way we can have more room for Christ in our lives is to start emptying ourselves of the garbage of the past. What are you holding on to that you need to let go of? Today is the day of surrender the areas of your life over to God. Stop holding back and let go.
Today some of you need a reminder that we are to live our lives like a new beginning each day. Every morning God’s mercies are made new. Are you allowing Christ to have control of your life or are you holding back? Jesus died so we could have a life and live it to the fullest. What is stopping you from living to the fullest?
God made the promise of a new life, Isn’t time to start living it? God’s calling for a redo – what’s holding you back?
Nothing great happens when you hold back – Home Run
