BE STRONG! Part IV: What has God’s grace done to me?

What is grace?

Grace is God giving to me what He requires from me.

Holiness, righteousness, perfection - God requires these from us. We don’t have any of these! So in His love, He gives them to us in Jesus Christ!

The Gospel is truly about God’s grace. Jesus died for our sins. That was what we discussed in the last blog. Jesus’ death for our sins is only half of the Gospel. The other half has to do with Jesus’ resurrection!

Volumes can be said on the subject, but here are a few morsels for you to meditate on…

WHAT GOD’S GRACE HAS DONE TO ME

1. Dead to alive (Ephesians 2:5) - Jesus doesn’t turn bad people into good people, He turns dead people into alive people. The Bible makes it clear that by nature we may look alive, but spiritually we are separated from God, dead in our sins. Jesus died and rose again so we may die and raise again in Him! (Romans 6:10-11)
    
2. Adopted (John 1:12) - Imagine you have a teen aged son who goes to a party, gets into a fight, and is murdered by another teenage boy. If you track that boy down and murder him, that is called vengeance. If the boy is arrested, and you help get him prosecuted and incarcerated through the legal system, that is called justice. If you manage to get to the trial and ask the judge to let the boy go free, that is mercy. But if you ask the boy to be let free, and you take him into your home, adopting and raising him as your own son, that is called grace. This is what God has done to us through Christ - adoption!
    
3. Freed (John 8:36) - Here is an assignment for you: every time you come across the phrase “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt…” in the Old Testament, put some kind of special mark beside it in your Bible. I have been doing that and have been stunned at how often that comes up! So why does the Lord constantly remind Israel of this fact? It isn’t that they forgot their national history - the issue is they had a tendency to forget God and what He did! He is saying, “You were slaves in Egypt, and by my power, I delivered you.” In other words, they were hopeless in bondage until God stepped in and brought freedom. The same can be said to Christians today. We were in bondage to sin, and by God’s power in Christ, we were delivered!
    
4. Heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) - To say we are fellow heirs with Christ may not strike you, until you realize what you inherit with Christ. And what is that? The answer is: everything. Everything! You will inherit with Christ everything that belongs to Christ, which is, again, everything. Colossians 1:16 says everything was created through Him and for Him!
    
5. Heaven bound (John 14:1-3) - If this life is all there is, we are in sad shape because we can exit this life at any moment. Often, when people greet me, I hear the often repeated, “How are you doing?” My answer is always, “Not as good as I am going to be.” This response many times is met with a surprised reaction, “What do you mean by that?” Then I explain for the Christian, the promise is, no matter how rough things seem right now, God promises that someday everything is going to be perfect - when we realize the consummation of our salvation in heaven.

So grace did more than just eliminate my sin and the penalty of that sin - it comes with it promises beyond compare!

Let’s live as forgiven, but let’s also live as alive, adopted, freed, co-heirs of Christ heading for heaven!

p.s. - not doing as good as he’s going to be

BE STRONG! Part III: What has God done to my sin?

Have you given your life to Christ, but sometimes feel overburdened by the weight of sin? As in, "I know I am a born again believer, but someday I have a lot to answer for when I stand before God."

Why is it that many Christians still seem to feel condemned? Satan is called the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10). Who is Satan accusing? God’s people! And sadly, too many of God’s people listen to the accusations of who Satan says we are, and do not listen to the declaration of who God says we are.

That’s why Christians say things like, “I am just a sinner.” Wrong! You are a pronounced-holy-by-the-blood-of-Christ child of the living God! But when we dwell on the bondage of our sin, we aren’t dwelling on the freedom of our imputed righteousness. This holds us back from serving God with confidence!

The first way the grace of God strengthens you is by releasing you from your sin. This isn’t the end of the story, it is really only the first half. But before we look at the rest of it, let’s make sure we have this part down: Your forgiveness from sin in Christ is thorough.

WHAT GOD’S GRACE HAS DONE TO MY SIN

1. My sin is cleansed (Isaiah 1:18) - Do you know a shirt can get “permanent stink”? Gross, Pastor Jeff, right? Well, I just recently had to throw a shirt away that I used to love to work out in, but even after several washings, Tide couldn’t even do the job. After some mourning, the shirt and I parted. My wife rejoiced. We are “dirty” in sin before we receive Christ, but the washing He gives doesn’t just fade a stain, it removes it. Whiter than snow. Not even “as white as snow” - but whiter! Cleaner than new. That’s what God says about your sin being cleansed.
    
2. My sin is removed (Psalm 103:12) - Here is another way God describes our sin. Removed. Far removed. Infinitely far removed. As far as East is from West. How far is that? Infinite. Grab a globe. You do have a globe laying around, I hope. Notice God doesn’t say “as far as North is from the South”, because if you go South far enough, eventually you are heading North. Trace it with your finger. But if you go East, you will never head West. Catch that? Your sin is gone. That’s what God says about your sin being removed.
    
3. My sin is lost (Micah 7:19) - Imagine I am on a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I am leaning on the rail, overlooking the water, and I am foolishly tossing my wedding ring up and down, catching it until… whoops, I dropped it! And it fell into the ocean! What are my chances of ever seeing that ring again? Zero. Even if I got back to shore and hired the best divers in the world, they are never going to find that ring. And if some sneaky fish grabs it, takes it to the ocean floor and it… it is loster than lost. That’s where God has put my sin - lost forever. No chance of it coming back. Cleansed and removed and lost. That’s what God says about your sin being lost.
    
4. My sin is forgotten (Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12) - Since He says it again in Hebrews 10:17, God must really want to make a point here. A friend of mine once told me he believes when he dies, God will show him a movie of his life and point out all the times he, my friend, blew it. This doesn’t line up with what God already pronounced. He is willing to forget. Forget. As in, “God, don’t you remember the time I really let you down? The time I really dishonored you?” And God’s reply, “No, I don’t remember that at all.” That’s what God says about your sin being forgotten.
    
5. My sin is pardoned (Romans 8:1) - This is courtroom language. We are guilty of sin. When we receive Christ, we are pronounced not guilty. Is someone going to run into the courtroom and try to overturn the Judge’s decision? Not this Judge. He has all knowledge, all power, and all grace. And He says, “Not condemned” and slams the gavel down. Case over. That’s what God says about your sin being pardoned.

Christians, go forward with God in confidence. Your sin is cleansed, removed, lost, forgotten, and pardoned. If it isn’t an issue with God, why is it an issue with you? God’s grace makes us strong. Be strong.

p.s. - amazed at the depths of grace!

BE STRONG!

I've always wanted to be strong. My heros growing up always were! He-Man, Hulk Hogan, Spider-Man... strong guys, for sure. Now that I am a lot older and a little more mature, I still want to be strong, but a different kind of strong. I want to be strong in the Lord. 

How about you? If I asked you how you want your Christian walk, how would you answer? Probably not something like, “I really don’t want to experience too much of the Holy Spirit at work in me. Just want to struggle with anxiety, temptation, and doubt the rest of my days here on the earth…” Of course not! You and I would say we want to be strong!

But then what if I asked, how is your walk? Are you walking strong? If you are, thank the Lord! If you are not, thank the Lord, because He has what you need!

There is a monumental task ahead of us at Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh. As the church is referred to as a body, each of us must be doing what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do. Our goal is not to squeak by, barely get the job done. We want to hit our launch strong. Each of us strong in the Lord, all of us strong in the Lord together. But how do I get strong?

God’s word has the answer! 2 Timothy 2:1 says, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus…”

This was written by the apostle Paul to young pastor Timothy. Timothy was to "be strong". The Greek verb endunamo[ma]o, which is stated as a present passive imperative, could be translated "keep on being empowered." Timothy was not to be strong in his own strength but in God's. He was to receive God's power and allow it to flow through him.

Feeling like you need strength? You can’t muster it up on your own, God is the source of strength! Jesus stated the same in John 15:5 when He said, “apart from me you can do nothing.”

It's the grace of God that empowers believers. What is grace? Grace is God giving to us what He requires from us. Let that sink in. God requires holiness from us. We don’t have it. So in His grace, through the finished work of Jesus Christ, He gives it to us! He requires righteousness, obedience, perfection… we don’t have it, so God gives it to us! And strength is the same. We are all weak, but the Lord wants us to be strong. So in His grace, He gives us strength.

It's God's grace that enables us to serve God. God's will is accomplished "'not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4:6). That's the kind of grace Paul spoke of here in 2 Timothy 2:1.

But Paul doesn’t leave it undefined. He illustrates what strength in the believer looks like using 4 pictures: the teacher, the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer (verses 2--6).

We are going to be looking at these 4 pictures over our next several Core Group meetings, and we would love to have you join us! We will be giving an update as to when and where these will be held in July, so be watching this site! You can also e-mail me at jmiller@harvestpittsburghnorth.org for more info. I would love to talk with you about the exciting things ahead.

Need strength? God has it all, and He gives it out! Join us! 

p.s. - by himself = not strong