The response to grace
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· 1 viewthe first sunday in Lent
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
if you have your bibles please turn to
2 Timothy 1:8–10 (NKJV)
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Today marks the first Sunday in Lent. Many people look at the practice of lent as a mostly Catholic tradition , however it’s roots go all the way back to the first Christians.
The first Christians only had event on their calendars every year. That one thing was Easter. The resecurretion was the only thing they celebrated every year because the resecuration is what validates our faith. It is the miracle that God performed that defeated death, defeated the devil and defeated all unbelief in Jesus being the Son of God. The resecuretion is the singular greatest event in the history of this world until the second coming happens. It is the one event that validates everything that is said in the Bible. Thus that is all that mattered to the early Christians in terms of celebrations. It is out of this that we get lent. The early Christians would only baptize people once a year. So lent was born out of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert. People that wanted to be baptized would be instructed over the course of 40 days in order to bring the closer to the Lord.
We are in that time period now, those 40 days before Easter Sunday. I would implore you take these 40 days as a serious time to get closer to God. Many people give up something, whatever it is that you day, take these 40 days just like the early Christians did and really dedicate your daily lives to the Lord, increase your prayer time, increase your Bible reading. Find ways to share the Lord with someone during these 40 days. Take up a serious effort to decrease so that He can increase in your life. It is is with that in mind that we look at these scriptures from the apostle Paul
2 Timothy 1:8 (NKJV)
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,
This is the first step!
Now I am by no means adovcating we convert people whether they like it or not. For one thing , that is cruel, but more importantly if that is how God wanted it to happen. It would happen that way. We have no means of power to convert people to the Gospel, that is above all of our pay grades.
Brothers and sisters we need to start taking this bit of scripture a lot more seriously. We have got to stop keeping our beliefs to ourselves, we have got to stop not talking about all of the great things that God has done in our lives, that God has done in this congregation.
In society people have said we shouldn’t push our beliefs on people. That what we believe is our business, however I find it interesting that mostly this means that people do not want to hear what the Bible has to say about things. We should be quiet on those matters but everything else is fair game to push on each other.
There is a big issue when we have swung the penedlum so far the other way that we say nothing at all. That we keep what we believe to ourselves. Even in our churches which are supposed to preach the Gospel, which are supposed to shepherd the flock , that are supposed to show people the way towards God. They have simply given up. They took their ball and went home. They traded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the everlasting truth of the world. The traded it in for cafes and social media clout. I say all of this because over the next 40 days, we need to pray not just for our churches but all churches to stop with the watering down of the Gospel. To get back to Biblical instruction. We need to pray for the American church to step up again. I can tell you with full confidence that this church will continue to preach the Gospel and stand upon Biblical truths.
But there is consenquences for this. That’s why the american church gave up. It is tough to say something. It is tough not truly live out the way that Jesus laid in front of us. Jesus suffered for the Gospel, and Paul tell us to join him in suffering. Paul suffered a lot for the Gospel and countless others after Paul have done the same thing. Many of you have had tough moments in your life because of your belief in Jesus. I implore to keep going though because you are in good company when it comes to that suffering.
Why should we not be ashamed?
2 Timothy 1:9–10 (NKJV)
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
We do because God saved us. We do it because Jesus went to the cross. We do it because God has a purpose for each person here. We all have a purpose here on and now. You are in this period of time because God put you here. What is it that God has in mind for you? He called you to a holy calling, to a holy life , to a life of daily devtion and worship to Him. It is time we got serious about that calling. I can tell you this of myself, I try as hard as I can for what the Lord has asked me to do, not for my own benefit but because one day I will see God. One day there will be an accounting. We must live out our purpose because one day God will say well done. One day there will be an enternity.
The issues of this world will pass away, did we spend the time that God gave us doing something that truly mattered? I don’t mean being president or something like that. I mean did we spend our time living out the Gospel? We did spend our time making a small difference in someone’s life? We spend our time teaching people about God, even if it was just one person?
Because here is the ultimate truth, everthing in the Bible was revealed by the appearing of Jesus. He brought us true life, He brought us light that no darkness can overcome, and it is done through the Gospel. Through the good news of Jesus Christ.
You know sometimes God puts us in difficult positions. It could be dealing with friends, even family. But in those difficult positions we need to decide who we are going to be, people of God or quiet. Jesus wasn’t quiet about who He was.
John 14:6 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 18:37 (NKJV)
Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
The truth is right there. Jesus took our shame for us when he went to that cross. The shame He took but the truth He left that behind for us.
“If we are ever ashamed of loving Christ, we have good reason to be ashamed of such shameful shame!”
Charles Spurgeon
As we close, I would challenge you to take a serious look at these next 40 days just as those that came before us did as they got ready for the waters of baptism. How can you live out the purpose God has for you? Have you given your life to God? Do you need to recommit your life to God? We are here for you, Pastor Rick and myself. Our deacons and flock leaders are here for you. I can tell you this with a good deal of confidence that this is not a church that will be quiet about the Gospel. We want to help you in anyway we can to bring you closer to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us pray
As we sing our closing hymn , if anyone would like to commit themselves to the Lord, or needs pray, we will be at the front.