INTRODUCTION
Maybe one of the most well-known sermons that is not in the Bible was written by Jonathan Edwards and preached in 1741. This sermon is believed to have started the great awakening in America, but at the very heart of this sermon is fear and anger.
Tell me if this is familiar to you that grew up in the church: you would hear a message on salvation and you would question whether or not you were truly saved and so you would repent your 6, 7, 8 year old self of whatever sin that you may have committed such as stealing a juice box or lying to your parents and you would time and time again get down and repent because you may have just forgotten a particular sin and you didn't want to end up in hell.
I know that was me growing up and it didn't even have to be in church. One of my favorite depictions of the Easter story when I was growing up was done with puppets and songs. And I would watch this VHS tape, and I don't know how many times at the end of it I repented all over again and gave my heart to Jesus all over again. Mostly because I was coming from a place of fear. And I feel for so long that the Christian Church has taken the gospel message and mixed it with fear in order to get conversions, but I don't think that is the heart of the gospel message.
In fact, it was fear that drove the religious leaders to arresting Jesus. It was anger at his teachings that led them to demand his death. It was fear on behalf of pilot that led pilot to sign off on the crucifixion of Jesus. It was fear of their commanders and what would happen to them that led the soldiers to nail him to the cross. It was fear that led the disciples to flee when he was arrested. It was fear that kept them huddled with the doors locked after he was resurrected. Fear lead to his death.
But he did not come to bring fear. The well-known passage in John chapter 3 tells quite the opposite Because it was in fear that Nicodemus sought out Jesus at night:
John 3:1-21
Jesus came as a response to the father's love of the world. He did not come as a response to the father's anger. We're not sinners caught in the hands of an angry God waiting to punish us, but we are loved by the father.
1 John 4:9-18
? When we come to God for salvation it should not be coming from a place of fear of punishment but from a place of wanting to live in his love.
Last week, we looked at the fall of man and how God made a perfect place a paradise in Eden for Adam and Eve to live, but it was through man's fear of inadequacy and listening to the lies of Satan that all of that was given up through disobedience.
We also talked last week how all of us are guilty of sin and all of us are born with a sin nature and so that by ourselves we can do nothing, we are utterly helpless to save ourselves. Like we read earlier in John 3 we were lost in darkness, and we didn't know how to turn on the light because we didn't know the light of the world.
Illustration
Yesterday I took the kids on the Cooper lake trail in the Wrangel St. Elias National Park. The trail was quite muddy as it's a subsistence trail in the wintertime and is often ridden through with ATVs. And as we walked there were parts of the mud that was just so sticky and if you weren't careful and stopped and stood in that mud it would just slowly start to sink into it, and it soon would envelope your shoe and if you stayed there it would continue to just kind of eat you. In fact while I was walking in the middle of the path out of the path of the tires from previous vehicles that had gone through there the five year olds decided to walk straight down the tire paths as you know have more water because they're lower stickier and swampier and before I knew it at one point both 5 year olds have gotten their shoes stuck in the mud and I think they needed rescued. It didn't take them but a moment to recognize that their situation had gotten out of control and they couldn't rescue them or their shoes without falling and becoming completely covered in mud.
Now they weren't in any danger of dying but I think back to the pictures of the dinosaurs or other extinct creatures stuck in tar pits that would have needed somebody's help to rescue them because otherwise they were going to die.
Church sin is just like that it's sticky and when we step into it traps us and gets us to the point where we can't move forward our only option is either to cry out for help or fall down and get covered the nastiness.
We need a savior our situation is out of control, and we shouldn’t come to Jesus from a place of fear but from a place of honesty about ourselves and the world around us. When we recognize that we are in a place that we need rescued we finally turn and call out for the help that we need.
Romans 6:23 says, “for the wages of sin is death…” and we know that that death is eternal death separation from God and a place in hell but we get to the point of fear of the punishment rather than the very next part of the sentence because there's a comma there and the sentence continues…”, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I mentioned it last week that right in genesis chapter 3 as God is informing us of the consequences of our sin he makes a plan to free us that comes through his love of us. And it was by his love that he sent his only son that he sent Jesus to come to be our deliverer from our own destructive way he came to be our savior.
Acts 4:12
Jesus came so that we could have life again so that we could have more than just life but of relationship with Jesus. Turn with me over to Romans chapter 10.
Romans 10:9-13
WE BELIEVE the only means of being cleansed from sin is through the precious blood of Christ. We receive access to that by having faith in Jesus, repentance, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit for personal salvation (Luke 24:47; John 14:6; Romans 8:16; Titus 3:5).1
MESSAGE
We all deserve death, but it's because of the gift of Jesus because he died to take our place that we receive grace--we don't get what we deserve. I feel this is a really hard concept for people sometimes because there have been so many voices that tell us that how worthless we are how small we are that we don't deserve love that we don't deserve kindness that we are just despicable human beings and all we deserve is the junk of life but church that's not what God says about you.
While the actions of us and others in the world definitely show our failures and shortcomings we're not saved by what we have done although what we have done after the fact shows evidence of our change it is not what we do that saves us.
Ephesians 2:4-10
So stop listening to your feelings or the negative t thought patterns that pull you down as we said last week and what it says in 2 Corinthians 10:5: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
So when those thoughts come into that you're not good enough and that you don't deserve it first go yeah I don't deserve it but I get to have it anyway! Because I'm a son or I'm a daughter of God and I am God's masterpiece and guess what he isn't done with me yet he's just getting started!
1. Salvation is not a feeling
Martin Luther said there were times when he didn’t feel saved. But he knew he was.
There are some living in false confidence, believing they are saved, but they are not. There are others who fear they are lost, but they are saved indeed. Full assurance can be found in knowing one has obeyed the Scriptures’ direction for obtaining salvation.
? There is one way to receive salvation: through Jesus Christ.
The tolerant position is pluralistic: “All paths lead ultimately to God.”
ILLUSTRATION (Rope Illusion)
A true Christian has virtually no common ground with people holding this view, and will almost always be seen as narrow-minded and inflexible. And you know what? We are. Jesus said, “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” (Matthew 7:14). On an issue as big as eternal life, we dare not bend.
John 14:6 defines the way to salvation: Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” . A Christian should never apologize for being “narrow-minded.” Apologize only if you keep the truth to yourself.
2. The plan of salvation (the gospel) is simple.
The gospel is simple we make it difficult. It's not about complex arguments or intricate solutions but about humility, grace, love, and faith.
Romans 10:9
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord that simply talking about him but then also believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead in other words that he died on the cross that he was dead took the punishment for our sin and then God raised him from the dead you will be saved. That's it!
Verse 11 and anyone who trusts in Jesus we'll never be disgraced.
Verse 13 everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved!
3. There is nothing you can do to earn salvation
Jesus did it all when he died on the cross for our sins and rose again victorious over sin death and the grave.
In the words of George Whitfield: “Works? Works? A man can get to heaven by works? I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand!”
You don't start to become a Christian by changing who you are. You start by surrendering who you are and letting God start the change inside of you.
We are surrounded with selfish ambition, and we come to God with our own selfishness and sin and let him do the changing. Repentance means turning away from sin and turning to God. It means being sorry for your sin and being willing to let God turn your life around.
TESTAMONIE VIDEOS
? When Jesus has become your Lord and Savior, you have a whole new way to deal with sin.
Christ breaks sin’s grip; you are no longer in bondage to it. However, since Christians are not made perfect, they still find the need to ask Christ for forgiveness when they sin. 1 John 1:9 has been called “the Christian’s bar of soap”: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness..”
The person who has received salvation can look forward to a life of victory and an eternity in God’s presence.
If you are here and you either need to start over and come back to the love of the Father…Today is your day
If you are have never before surrendered your life to the Love of God, today is the day…All it takes is to come in a humble heart, repent of your sin and believe in Jesus’s love, forgiveness and resurrection. Make today a new day.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
26 May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’
