Grace for the Race

When we read the account of the horrific fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we may not give the proper attention to this exchange between God and Adam.

The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”  (Genesis 3:8-10)

We’re anxious to “get to the good part” about God’s plan to redeem man and restore him to fellowship with Him, so it’s easy to skim past one of the saddest moments ever recorded in sacred Scripture.  The one who was formed by God and made for God was now trying to hide from God.

Adam and Eve were created to walk with God and talk with God and rejoice in God.  They were created to find purpose in His presence; meaning in His majesty; significance in His sovereignty; identity in His immutability.  Now they crouch trembling in the brush . . . and in their hiding they are denying their humanity.  Made for intimate relationship with the Creator of the universe, they are now on the run from Him.

Before Adam and Eve committed their act of cosmic treason, their hearts filled with delight in the presence of God; after they sinned, their hearts filled with dread at the sound of God walking in the Garden.  They find themselves at the beginning of a drama that will be played out until Jesus returns, a story marked by “unholy hiding” from our holy God.

So . . . where in your life today do you find yourself hiding from God?  Where have you been hiding from those who love you most?

Life is not to be lived in the shadows; it is to be lived in the light, and that light shines brilliantly through the truths of the Gospel.  You see, God knows you.  He knows you fully; He has searched you and He knows you; He is familiar with all your ways; before a word is on your tongue He knows it fully (Psalm 139:1-4) . . . and yet He still loves you.

There is no hiding from the One who knows everything and sees everything.  And only a clear view of the Gospel can help us to come out from behind the bushes without fear of rejection or removal from the presence of God.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.  (Psalm 139:7-10)

The Gospel makes it clear that Jesus was the One who would take our place and pay the penalty for our sin.  The Gospel also makes it clear that Jesus was removed from the presence of His Father during the darkest time in the history of the world: the day when the Light of the world was spit upon, scourged, and nailed to a cruel cross.  And because Jesus took our place on that cross—rejected by God and removed from His presence—all those who are in Christ need never fear rejection or removal from the presence of God ever again.

God loves you!  He accepts you!  God is for you (Romans 8:31), so it doesn’t matter who is against you . . . which means you can stop any kind of “unholy hiding” from Him and from those who matter most in your life.

Think about the last time you went into hiding.  You could hear His voice, couldn’t you?  Of course you could!  God did not leave Adam and Even in their hiding and He will not leave you either.  God is in the business of pursuing rebels on the run—not to crush them but to restore them—and that includes you.

Always remember: God is not pleased with you because of your performance.  God delights in you because of the perfect performance of your Prince, who lived and died and was raised from the dead so that you could stop hiding in shadows and begin living in the warm sunlight of God’s unwavering love, which is expressed in the truths of the Gospel.

If you will pause for a moment and sit still long enough, you just might hear the sound of God walking in your garden, calling out to you, “Where are you?”  Come out from behind the bushes of unbelief and your unholy hiding.  Go to Him.  Run to Him!  And you will find that, while you are still a long way off, He will come running to you, His arms outstretched and nail-scarred hands held open, just waiting to take you into His loving, healing, eternal embrace.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The last time I performed a funeral, a thought came over me as I was walking through the cemetery.  The graves are obviously marked with the identification of the person who is buried there so that the loved ones can easily find them when they come to visit.  There was one headstone I came across that was so worn and weather-beaten that it was impossible to read or identify who was buried beneath it.

Then it struck me: this is the place where we are to bury our sin—all our sin—in an unmarked grave . . . never to be revisited or resurrected again.

The grace of the unmarked grave is the result of the truths of the Gospel.  When God forgives our sins because of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, He not only forgives our sins, but He forgets them too!

In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.  (Isaiah 38:17)

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.  (Psalm 103:12)

You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.  (Micah 7:19)

Scripture makes it clear that we are to bury our sins in an unmarked grave so we cannot revisit them over and over again.  Why?  Because God does not revisit them!  God has put all our sins behind His back, never to be in view.  He has removed our sins an infinite distance from us, because east and west never meet.  And God has hurled our sins into the deep.  He did not simply tip them over the side of the boat; God intentionally and forcefully hurled them all into the depths of the sea, never to be dredged up again.

In her book, Tramp for the Lord, Nazi death camp survivor Corrie Ten Boom wrote:

When I confessed [my sins] to the Father, Jesus Christ washed them in His blood. They are now cast into the deepest sea and a sign is put up that says,

NO FISHING ALLOWED.

That is the grace of the unmarked grave.  You see, what is important to God is not what we were, but rather what we are now.  We are His, having been fully forgiven and totally loved . . . from before the creation of the world.

Because God laid all of our sin on His precious Son, as He hung, nailed to cruel cross-beams, we can bury them all in an unmarked grave, never to be recalled or reviewed.  What a great grace we have been given by our God, who both forgives and refuses to remember our sins, now and forevermore!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

As a pastor and coach I often use the language of the athletic world to bring the truths of the Gospel to life.  So under the title of Team Truth we will briefly look at two important aspects of the Truth of being on God’s Team!

Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

(Ephesians 4:7)

1. You Are Endowed

Every member of Team Truth is gifted.  When God picks a player to be on His team, He equips that person with the ability to play in the game.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.  If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power forever and ever.  Amen.  (1 Peter 4:10-11)

You are endowed with the ability to do what God has called you to do in the service of others as a faithful steward of God’s grace to you.  Peter gave the reason for this service: “So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”  So . . . how is God being praised through the use of your gifts for the good of others and the glory of God?

2. You Are Equipped

To equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ.

(Ephesians 4:12)

When you are a part of Team Truth, you are endowed and equipped to play your part to further the cause of His kingdom.  Every member of God’s team is to go from being a spectator to a servant . . . to change from being a consumer to a contributor.

Over the years I have counseled far too many Christians who feel they have disqualified themselves for service in some way and that God can no longer use them.  I tell them this:

YOU CANNOT UNLOCK YOUR DESTINY

IF YOU STAY LOCKED UP IN YOUR HISTORY!

Just a cursory glance through sacred Scripture will show that most of those who did the most for God’s kingdom had checkered pasts.  Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife to save his own skin.  Moses was a murderer; so was David.  Jacob was a schemer.  And who can forget that the great apostle Paul held the coats of those who stoned Stephen, the first Christian martyr, to death.  Acts 8:1 records that Paul looked on with approval!

Here is a great little story that makes it clear that everyone is both valuable and needed on Team Truth.

One day the Carpenter’s tools held a conference.  Brother Hammer presided but several of the other tools suggested that he leave the meeting because he was too noisy.  Brother Hammer replied, “If I must go, so too Brother Screw.  You have to turn him around again and again to get him to accomplish anything.”

Brother Screw spoke up, “If you wish, but Sister Plane must go too…all her work is on the surface and has no depth to it at all.”  Sister Plane responded, “Sister Rule will also have to withdraw for she is always measuring folks as though she were the only one who is right.”

Sister Rule then complained against Brother Sandpaper, “You ought to leave too because you’re so rough and always rubbing people the wrong way.”  In the midst of this discussion, in walked the Carpenter of Nazareth ready to start His day’s work.

He went to His bench to make a pulpit from which to proclaim the Gospel.  He employed the hammer, screw, plane, rule, sandpaper, and all the other tools.  After the day’s work when the pulpit was finished, Brother Saw arose before all the other tools and remarked, “Brothers and sisters, I observe that all of us are workers together with the Lord.”

I have a very important question to ask you.  How many extra Christians did God make?  Silly question, isn’t it?  The answer, of course, is none; that means you are both endowed and equipped to do what God has called you to do as a vital and valuable member of Team Truth!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Too many people live with a truncated view of the Gospel; that is, they believe they are saved by grace but must keep working to maintain their salvation by the spiritual sweat of their own brow.  They never fully embrace the fact that their acceptance is assured.

How about you?  Do you know that your acceptance is assured, regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in today?

. . . To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.  (Ephesians 1:6)

All those who are saved by grace through faith are accepted in the Beloved.  Notice that the Scripture does not say your acceptance is based on anything you do—not on your merit; not on your good works; not on your righteous living.  No, your acceptance is based solely on Christ, who has accepted you “to the praise of the glory of His grace.”  And once you have been accepted, you cannot be unaccepted!  In spite of repeated foolishness, countless failures, and prayerless faithlessness, Jesus has totally accepted you.  In spite of self-rule, self-absorption, and self-protection, Jesus totally accepted you.  He has declared:

All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  (John 6:37)

Think about that for a moment! Jesus knows you fully and completely—every sin, spot, wrinkle, and blemish—and yet He has fully accepted you . . . forever!  And that’s because His acceptance is based solely on everything He did on your behalf.  He lived the perfect life.  He died the sacrificial death.  He paid the ultimate price for your eternal redemption with His own precious blood.  He didn’t wait for you to get your act together or clean yourself up.  He didn’t demand that you join a church or head out to the mission field.  He accepted you when you were smack dab in the middle of the denial of Peter, the doubting of Thomas, and the death-march of Saul.

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Only the truths of the Gospel can enlarge our view of the Almighty’s acceptance.  And that brings me to a second point I hope you’ll take away from this message.  If you have been eternally, unconditionally accepted in the Beloved, then you are to  ̶

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.  (Romans 15:7)

Because of the acceptance that we have received as a free gift (Romans 3:24), we should be accepting of others—all others—all the time.  Once again, we must rely on the truths of the Gospel.  God in Christ has accepted us, completely and fully, “while we were still sinners.”  Keeping this amazing truth in constant view will enable us to rise above the limitations of our perspective and prejudices.  It will empower us to move beyond our insecurities and our tendency to personalize everything and so that we can remember that we have been accepted in Christ . . . and therefore we are to accept one another!

To be sure, we accept without compromising the truths of Scripture.  Yes, we need to keep in mind what is essential to the Gospel and what is not essential to the Gospel.  We do not accept sinful behavior, because God does not condone sin.  But because God accepts the sinner, we too are called and commanded by God to accept the sinner.

Remember the fact that God is not finished with us yet, and that means He is not finished with others either!  Only a bigger view of the Gospel will give us a bigger view of our calling to accept others, just as we have been accepted by Jesus.

And as we continue to work through these ideas, let us remember that Romans 15:7 tell us this is to be done “in order to bring praise to God.”  Our acceptance assured must lead us to accepting others . . . not to bring praise to us but to give praise to the glory of God’s grace!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The world is full of people who are scrambling to fulfill a miniscule mission as they race through life toward the finish line.  A miniscule mission is a one where self is on the throne and you live within the narrow borders of your own little life.  It is that place where your heart beats for you and only you.  It is a life marked by self-satisfaction, self-survival, self-importance, and schedules filled with self-satisfying pursuits.

We expect this kind of tunnel vision from those who do not know Christ; tragically, many in the church who proclaim His name are also embarked on miniscule missions.  They are more concerned about advancing the cause of their own little kingdom than expanding God’s BIG kingdom.

So . . . how is it with you?  Are you on a miniscule mission?  Or are you pouring yourself out to advance the cause of the kingdom of Christ?

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  (Matthew 6:33)

Did you know that the Bible never tells us to simply seek the kingdom of God?  It tells us to seek it first!  We are not to pursue the advancement of God’s kingdom after we pursue the advancement of our own kingdom.  We are not to pursue it even at the same time.  We are to pursue God’s kingdom first!

The advancement of God’s kingdom is to take first place in our lives.  Of course we are to love our families, deepen our friendships, work hard at our jobs, save for the future, and serve in our communities.  But we are never to make these—or any other worldly pursuits—the ultimate priority in life.  When anyone or anything other than Jesus sits on the throne of our lives, we miss the One Thing that matters most.  When we make anything smaller than God our first priority in life, we embark on a miniscule mission that will eventually lead us to a place of dissatisfaction, disappointment, and ultimately despair.

When Adam and Eve exchanged their pursuit of the kingdom of God for the pursuit of their own little kingdom, desiring what looked good and felt good, their miniscule mission plunged all of the created order into ruin.  Our first parents literally denied their own humanity!  They were created for the pursuit of God and His kingdom, not their own.  We all know how that mission worked out for them: hiding in the brush, shivering with fear, blaming everyone but themselves for their catastrophic fall.

But thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!  He refused to leave Adam and Eve within the constricted borders of their sin-filled lives.  God pursued two rebels on the run and promised to send a Savior who would save them from their sins and the misery of pursuing a miniscule mission.  And God has done the same for every child born of grace.

God’s grace has broken the chains of our self-imposed imprisonment that pursues the advancement of our own personal kingdoms.  His grace has rescued us from living a miserable life of advancing our mediocre, miniscule mission; He has awakened us to live a life that truly matters.

Sure, His grace empowers us to love and serve at home, at work, and in our communities, but He empowers us to do so much more!  In His most gracious act after salvation, God gave us a desire to live for Him rather than for ourselves.  At this level of living, life becomes a journey of unimaginable joy, because we are living for what—or more accurately, Who—we were designed to live for in the first place: God!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Most Christians know the verse that assures us we are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37), but we forget that we first had to be conquered in order to be conquerors!  Before God could make us conquerors, He had to conquer the dominion of darkness that resided in our hearts—the dominion of sin, death, and the devil.  He had to remove these from the throne of our lives in order to take His rightful place . . . and He had to conquer us to do it.

What a beautiful picture the Gospel paints of both the conquered and the Conqueror in the life of the Christian!  We see the very first picture of God conquering the sinful heart in the Garden of Eden after the fall.  When Adam and Eve sinned, they knew it.  How do we know that they knew?  They ran and hid from the presence of the One they were created to love and live for because they felt naked and ashamed.  God tells of His commitment to conquer the dominion of darkness that resided in their hearts:

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all the livestock

and all the wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly

and you will eat dust

all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:6-15, emphasis added)

When God said to the devil “I will put enmity between you and the woman,” He was making it clear to Adam and Eve that He was going to conquer the newfound affections of their sinful hearts.  In order for Adam, Eve, and their offspring to return to their “First Love” the sinful affections of their hearts needed to be conquered.  God graciously conquered the hearts of the first two sinners in order to make them and their offspring more than conquerors.  This is truly a dust-to-glory story!

But after we have been given our dose of Gospel-conquering, which reorients and recalibrates the affections of our hearts, we are made to be “more than conquerors” for our new King.  And what is the most important thing we have been called to conquer?  It is our unbelief.  We simply find it hard to believe that God is not angry with us anymore!  We see God’s unconditional love and continual forgiveness as unbelievable.  We know Jesus saved us, but our unbelief causes us to live like it’s all up to us to stay saved.  We are adopted children of the King living like orphans on the street.

Church historian Richard Lovelace wrote:

Many Christians, below the surface of their lives, are guilt-ridden and insecure . . . and draw the assurance of their acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience.

Why?  In a word, they have not allowed the power of the Gospel to conquer their unbelief.  And that is why the Gospel is for sinners—both those who are saved and those who are lost and needing to be saved.

To be “more than conquerors” we need to marinate in the truths of the Gospel daily so that the cross begins to cast a longer and stronger shadow over our unbelief.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Forgetting seems to be a bit more regular in my life these days.  Sometimes I forget where I put the car keys.  Other times I forget to get the right things from the grocery store.  At times I even forget what I am saying right in the middle of saying it!

Can I get a witness?

But there is One who never forgets when it comes to His covenant promises.

I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  (Genesis 9:15)

Thank God that covenant promises are not dependent upon the forgetful minds of His covenant people.  It is totally dependent upon the infinite, immutable, and infallible mind of God.  Notice that God does not say He will never again send a flood if we remember His promise.  He says that when He looks upon the rainbow in the sky, He will remember the covenant He has made with us.  God makes the covenant promise and God keeps the covenant promise, wholly apart from anything we do.

What a great comfort this should be for us today and every day!  It is God who remembers His promises and keeps every one of them.  God remembered rebel Adam after his sin in the Garden of Eden and came running after him.  God remembered His covenant promise to Abraham in spite of Abraham forgetting it himself.  God remembered His people Israel as they groaned under the yoke of bondage in Egypt.  God remembered you when He was nailed to that dirty tree.

There is, however, a place in Scripture where God promises to forget:

I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.  (Jeremiah 31:34)

WOW!  Not only does God promise to remember His covenant promises, He promises to forget our sins.  You see, God placed all of our sins on His beloved Son Jesus and sent Him outside the camp as the Scapegoat for His people.  And because Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin, paid it in full, once-for-all, God will remember our sin no more.  He will not—He cannot, because His justice forbids it—collect a second payment on a debt that has been fully paid.

Because God looks on us through the lens of the perfections of His precious Son, it is impossible for Him to continue to be angry and remember our sins; God poured out all His fury for our sins onto Christ as He hung on the cross.  And because of that, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  Our sin debt has been paid in full; it is finished (John 19:30).

When we marinate awhile in the Gospel, we begin to enlarge our view of the vast blessing of God remembering and forgetting.  His covenant promises are never dependent upon our remembering, which is what makes them an everlasting covenant.  His promise to never leave us or forsake is everlasting.  His promise to free us from the bondage of the world, the flesh, and the devil is everlasting.  His promise to give us rest is everlasting.  His promise to remember our sins no more is everlasting.  And His promise to prepare a heavenly dwelling place for us is everlasting!

Our God truly is an AWESOME God!  And I think we would all agree that this is truly good news for those of us who remember stuff we would be better off forgetting, and forget stuff we would be better off remembering.  Glory be to God!  It all rests upon Him.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When was the last time you overlooked an offense?  You know, when someone said something that got under your skin . . . when someone did something that really ticked you off.  Perhaps it was the time someone changed their plans without telling you and that disrupted your plans.  Or when someone put together a special invitation list that included everyone and his uncle—except you!

We’ve all been offended.  And we have all offended others.  Today I want to tell you about the Gospel power that helps us overlook offenses, regardless of the cost.

Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.

(Proverbs 12:16)

A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

(Proverbs 19:11)

It is so much easier to go on the offensive when we are offended!  We build our case, review the record of wrongs, and plan our counterattack.  But Scripture tells us there is another way that will yield better fruit, fruit that will last: that fruit is overlooking offenses.

To be sure, there are some offenses that demand our attention and our appropriate response.  But I think we would all confess before the Lord that we are far too thin-skinned and ready to get back at those who have offended us, often in the most trifling matters.

Because it is not in our DNA to overlook offenses, we need to rest more securely in the truths of the Gospel.  The Gospel frees us to overlook when we are offended and slighted.  We can overlook the thoughtless mistake.  We can overlook the quick quip.  We can overlook the snide remark.  We can overlook the rude comment.  We can overlook the insidious insult.  The Gospel not only empowers us to overlook offenses, it empowers us to stop trying to vindicate ourselves to the offender or the onlookers.  In the eyes of the only One who truly matters, we are already vindicated by His blood poured out on Golgotha’s Hill.

Jesus endured every imaginable offense to make us His.  He endured the offense of unbelief.  He endured the offense of betrayal.  He endured the offense of false accusations.  He endured the offense of denial.  He endured the offense of ridicule, gossip, and slander.  He endured every offense, including cruel scourging, tearing thorns, and crushing nails.  And at the end, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  So the Gospel is ready to help us endure and overlook offenses, and it will do it by a Gospel-thickening of our skin.

One final point!  It is in our DNA to want to get back at those who have offended us.  “Vengeance is mine!” says the one who was offended.  But the glorious Gospel frees us from our incessant need to want to get even.  Here is where the grace of forgiveness kicks in and allows us to pay down the debt of an offense rather than demanding that the offender pay it.

Only the Gospel can help us steward our emotions, actions, and words to respond to an offense in a way that glorifies God and brings good to others.  Remember, overlooking offenses is a decision; and it is a decision we must make every time we are offended.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!  

The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

 — Psalm 104:16

Lebanon is a land of immense beauty and important history.  Located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Lebanon mountain range rises majestically from the sea to snow-capped mountain peaks that reach over 10,000 feet.  Deep in the mountains in the north are the famous Cedars of Lebanon which are often referred to in the Bible.  We read about the cedars of Lebanon in the books of Kings, Song of Songs, Isaiah, and in the Psalms. These trees, which can grow up to 130 feet tall with a trunk size of over 8 feet in diameter, are symbolic of every Christian for a two important reasons.

1. THEY ARE PLANTED BY GOD

As the cedars of Lebanon are planted by God, so too is the Christian.  It is not a work of man and machinery scattering seed that sprouts up into the cedars of Lebanon . . . any more than it is the work of man and machinery scattering seed that sprouts up into Christians.  It is only the hand of God that plants the seed in the right soil to produce the desired results, whether He is planting cedars of Lebanon or Christians of the Lord.

2. THEY ARE WATERED BY GOD

The second reason these majestic trees are symbolic of Christians is the fact that you will not find an irrigation system watering them.  In His providence, God not only plants these beautiful trees, but He also waters them and cares for them . . . just as He does for the Christian.  The grace that planted the Christian in the soil of salvation is the same grace that sanctifies him as he grows to maturity.  God does not plant the Christian and then expect him to grow on his own, by the spiritual sweat of his brow.  God graciously creates the perfect environment for growth and maturity.  For “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

What a comfort to know that our faith is rooted in the work of God and not our own!  Is there anyone reading this today who would take any comfort whatsoever in knowing that you were the one who was responsible for your salvation?  Have you not done many things that would cause you to doubt the reality of your faith if you were the one who was responsible for generating it in the first place?  I know I have, and it is only in knowing that I played absolutely no role in my salvation that I am secure in knowing it is real, even in the face of my many failures.

In the very same way, is it not also a comfort to know that our Christian growth is rooted in the work of God and not our own?  To be sure, God’s Word commands us to work and to practice the disciplines of grace: Bible study, prayer, communion with the saints, service, giving, fasting, etc.  But it is not in the practice of these and other disciplines that we grow.  If this were so, our growth would be dependent upon our effort.

Thank God it doesn’t work that way!  Who has the strength and stick-to-itiveness to continually stay on track?  The grace that made us Christians matures us as Christians.  What starts in grace continues in grace, and will one day be completed in grace.  God finishes everything He starts and that includes you!  (Philippians 1:6).

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

As a pastor, I often find myself in a counseling situation confronted with people who have only one goal: to “fix the problem.”  The problem with just “fixing problems” is the same things keep breaking again and again and again.  The solution is to move beyond fixing problems to finding perspective—and the only perspective that will truly fix problems is God’s!

Let me put it this way: we need to develop a biblical perspective (or “worldview,” if you prefer) about the life we are living.  Troubles in marriage simply will not be fixed by addressing the troubles in marriage.  Difficulties at the office simply will not be corrected by addressing difficulties at the office.  Challenges in raising our children simply will not be overcome by addressing the challenges in raising our children.  We need the appropriate perspective, and that perspective is found in the pages of Scripture.

Only the Bible makes sense out of the stuff of life.  Only the Bible identifies our universal problem—sin—and the universal solution to that problem: the Savior, whose name is Jesus Christ.  All the marriage books and professional counseling in the world will not “fix” a marriage . . . without the Savior; they only make them worse.  Business seminars on conflict resolution and communication will not fix difficulties at the office . . . without the Savior; they only make them worse.  Parenting workshops will not help us overcome the challenges we face in raising our children . . . without the Savior; they only make them worse.

You see, without a biblical perspective we cannot understand what is most important:

• The glory of God
• The sinfulness of man
• The fallen condition of everything (people, places, and things)
• The grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• The reality of the devil and hell
• The reality of heaven
• The certainty of eternity

Oh, sure, we can fix problems for a while.  Behavior can be modified and restrained with a little extra “want to” for enough personal gain.  Whether it is the desire to avoid pain or achieve pleasure, behavior can and often is modified and changed . . . for a while.  But only the truths of the Gospel can truly transform behavior, because only the truths of the Gospel can change the heart.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. (Matthew 15:19)

The human heart is far too corrupted by sin to be changed by behavior modification.  Only an all-out cleansing of the heart by the truths of the Gospel will move a person beyond behavior modification to heart transformation.  Only looking at our lives from the biblical perspective will cause our hearts to beat less for ourselves and more for our Savior.  And when our hearts are beating more for our Savior, God is glorified, and all those we come in contact with are benefited and blessed!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!