Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. And the wonderful news of the Christian gospel, of this message of grace, is this: that you don't have to clean up your life. Before you can receive God's grace, you don't have to go through some course, you don't have to have some behavior modification or therapy or education. No, God's grace. reaches us Unconditionally.
Welcome to The Verdict, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor John Monroe. Accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is the most life-changing decision you'll ever make. But once you take this step of faith, what comes next? Today we're beginning a new study that goes to the heart of your own spiritual journey. as we explore next steps in following Jesus.
Now let's join Pastor John Monroe for his message on grace. I'm sure you've sung amazing. Grace, but what is grace? Why is it so amazing? Today on the verdict, we're beginning a new series on next steps in following Jesus.
Many of you have begun to follow Jesus. But people often ask me, what's next? How can you continue to grow as a follower of Jesus? And for those who have been following Jesus for many years, do you sometimes feel as if you're in a spiritual rut? Or perhaps you're just learning.
and wondering how can you have a relationship with God Through Jesus Christ. Wherever you are in your journey, I pray... You will find this series very helpful. And after this first message on grace, you will begin to understand God's way of salvation.
Well, this morning we begin the new series, Next Steps in Following Jesus. You may be following Jesus and asking the question, well, What's next? That's a great question. Because one of the characteristics of an authentic follower of Jesus is that he or she. is teachable.
Uh we want to learn. Um I watched quite a bit of the Olympics, as I'm sure many of you did, and I was surprised to hear from so many of the athletes references to their coach. And then I thought of it, here are world athletes. Who have been training, their whole life has been centered on swimming or running or throwing a javelin or whatever it is. And yet they still have a coach.
I swim a little. I never had a coach. I run a little. I never had a coach. But these athletes These athletes in superb condition had a coach, and from time to time they would talk about their coach.
Their coach would speak to them and encourage them and give them some correction, no doubt, and help them. As you follow Jesus Christ, I want to be your coach. I want to be here to help you. In an authentic and growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Perhaps you've never begun that.
relationship. Perhaps you've never made step one. I'm so glad you're here. I want to explain to you today what step one is. And some of you are following Jesus, and I hope through this series And as we study the Word of God together, let all of us will become more authentic followers of Jesus Christ.
You know, we live in a culture. Where we're inundated with the personal life and achievements of celebrities, whether they're actors or athletes or singers or billionaires. And uh if we're not careful, we tend to think That if we're not a cel a celebrity, we lack significance, we lack meaning in life. And sometimes, if we're not a celebrity, we try and get some reflected glory from being with a celebrity or having a particular team or being close to a celebrity. And the people get great significance.
Through being with celebrities.
So I thought about that. I thought how wonderful it is. The marvel of the gospel. that we can know The most important person in the whole universe, namely God, through Jesus Christ. And not know God as someone who is remote, but have a living and a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ.
That's the marvel of the gospel. That's the marvel of the grace of God. And that's our subject. As we begin. This new series, Next Steps in Following Jesus.
I want to talk to you. About Grace. Let's stand and read the word of God as it's found in Ephesians chapter 1, and then we're going to read in chapter 2. Read this with me. Paul.
An apostle of Christ Jesus. By the will of God. to the saints who are in Ephesus. and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you.
And peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom. And then side.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. following the course of this world. following the Prince of the Power of the Air. the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh.
Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God being rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in our trespasses, Made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. and raised us up with him.
and seated us with him. in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus for good works. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Thank you, please. Be seated.
Grace. I want to Help you understand something of God's grace, particularly from the passages that we've read. First of all, God's grace is undeserved. Grace by definition is undeserved. If it were deserved, it's not grace.
And as we read these verses, first three verses from Ephesians chapter two. I wonder what you thought of them. Clearly, from a biblical perspective, not one of us deserves God's grace. None of us deserves God's grace, but all of us, without exception, need God's grace. And this biblical description, as Paul writes to ancient Ephesus, In chapter 2, verses 1, 2, and 3.
could be describing us as well. A description which is the very opposite Of what our culture presents as to who we are. But this is how God sees us. If you have your Bible, look at it with me in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1. Paul says, First of all, spiritually speaking, we are dead in trespasses and in sins.
Ephesians 2, verse 1. It's not that we are slightly flawed and need some improvement. It's not just that we're unfulfilled in life and need to realize our potential. It's not that we're just confused and needing some direction in life. It's not that we are just sad and need something.
To help us discover the secret of happiness, Paul explains, as far as God is concerned, as He looks down at us, we are dead, spiritually dead, in our trespasses and sins. But not only are we dead, verses two and three, we are slaves. That is, we follow the values and the culture all around us, often in ways we hardly realize. Our freedom, which we think we have, is in reality an illusion. We are self-deceived, Paul says, and we're slaves to our pride, to our ego, to our lusts.
At greed and to selfishness. Dead. Slaves. And then Towards the end of verse 3, Paul says, And were by nature Children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. A strong language, isn't it?
This is our condition apart from the grace of God. Spiritually speaking, We're dead. Spiritually speaking, we're slaves. Jesus said that the one who commits sin is a slave to sin. Spiritually speaking, we are in the condemned cell.
John Newton, the former slave trader who wrote Amazing Grace. Before his conversion to Jesus Christ, this is how he described himself: sinking. Under the weight of all of my sins, into the ocean and into the silence. of eternity. That's it.
Not one of us here deserves the grace of God. And the grace of God. will be meaningless to you. Unless you understand what you are in yourself apart From the supernatural intervention of God. This is God's description of us.
And it flies in the face. of what our culture tells us. about ourselves. God's grace. Is undeserved.
By definition, it is undeserved. Not one of us here, not the best person, not the kindest. Not the most generous. Another person who's done the most good deeds, not one of us here, deserves the grace of God. You do not deserve God's grace.
I certainly don't deserve God. to be gracious. to me and this grace is unconditional. When we read the first three verses of Ephesians chapter 2, it presents us with very sad news, a very gloomy picture Paul paints of the human condition. But to know that God's grace is unconditional is tremendously good news.
Having regard to who we are in God's eyes, spiritually dead, spiritually slaves, spiritually condemned, one might have thought that God would have nothing to do with us. After all, He made us perfect in His image. Placed us in a perfect world, but all of us have gone our own way. One would have thought that God would have said, This is all I've done for them. And I want nothing to do with them, but rather.
He acts. in grace. And this is the very point I want you to understand. God's grace. comes to you on conditionally.
That God's grace is offered to you, not because you're a wonderful person. Not because you do wonderful things. In fact, God's grace comes to you in spite of who you are and in spite of what you have done. And the wonderful news of the Christian gospel, of this message of grace, is this: that you don't have to clean up your life. Before you can receive God's grace.
You don't have to go through some course. You don't have to have some behavior modification or therapy or education. No, God's grace. reaches us Unconditionally. And it reaches us, and it reaches you at the very point of your need.
Spiritually speaking. Dead. A slave. condemned. And Paul says here In verse 4, but God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us.
You know, God's kindness to you. God's grace is without limit. God's grace cannot be measured. Look back at verse 7 of chapter 1 that we read together. He talks about at the end of the verse: according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us.
He says at the end of verse 7, he talks about the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Isn't that incredible? It's not that God just loves you a little bit. The Bible says that he so loved. the world that he gave his only son.
We've been singing about it. Why do we who follow Jesus get so excited about it? Because God's grace is overwhelming. It's overwhelming in its scope. It is grace upon grace.
God showers His grace upon us. It is the riches of His grace which He lavishes upon us. It is the immeasurable kindness of His grace toward us in Christ Jesus. Did you get that? This grace is incredible.
Particularly having regard to who we are. particularly having regard to the kind of lives we pursue. Whether it's in open defiance of God, or whether it's more respectable in a kind of false Christianity where our lives seem to be so good, but inwardly they're hollow. And we know that. And we know that we're not right.
with God and this is where God in his kindness In His grace, in His mercy, pours His love upon us. One of the other writers of the New Testament, the Apostle John, talks about this in his first letter, chapter 3, verse 1. He says, Behold, what manner of love, what kind of love the Father has given to us, the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God. John is trying to describe the manner of the love. The kind of the love, the depth of the love.
What kind of love is this that God has for us? John says it's a kind of love. That God makes you his own. children. He adopts you into his own family.
Now you might in an act of Generosity, take some pity. On a homeless person. They're poorly dressed. They're smelly. Perhaps they're drunk.
Perhaps they're under the influence of some drug. and they're on the street and they're in a wretched condition. Enjoyed of the generosity of your heart. You might give them some money so they could buy a meal. If you are feeling particularly gracious, you might even take them to a restaurant yourself and sit down with them to make sure that they have a good meal.
That's a wonderful thing to do. But how many of us here would ever take that kind of person into her own home. How many of us Would adopt that person into our own family forever. How many of us would put that person in our will so that when we died, that individual, that wretched individual, would participate in the riches that we had? You say, well, that's going a bit far, John.
But this is what God has done. And let me tell you. The Gulf between you and that homeless person. It's tiny. Compared with the great distance between a holy, pure God and us in our sin.
And God's grace, which is so overwhelming. God's grace, which is so amazing, it is not just that God forgives your sins. That's amazing grace, isn't it? He does more. He adopts, as John says, into his family.
that I'm part of the family of God. And there is God who is holy, this God who is the creator. This God who dwells in unapproachable light, this God is my Father. And he tells me he has blessed me with every spiritual blessing in Christ. In fact, because I'm his son, I'm an heir with Christ his son.
Not only an air, but a joint air. It's not that I just get 10% as it were. No. He lavishes his grace towards me. And Paul says in this wonderful verse, verse 7, that in eternity, in the ages to come, God will reveal more and more of his immeasurable riches of his grace toward us.
That's great, isn't it? Undeserved. Unconditional. But secondly, God's grace not only is undeserved, it's a gift. Ephesians 2 verse 8.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the Did you get it? It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Now this is so important. That forgiveness of our sins. Salvation of our soul. Eternal life. Is not something that God gives to us because of what we have done.
But it is entirely A gift. Entirely Of grace, we're saved. by grace. I speak to a lot of people. about spiritual things and Just about everyone I've spoken to has said that they would like to go to heaven when they die.
Well, my next question to them, my next question to you would be as well. How are you gonna get there? On what basis? Do you think you're going to get into heaven? And many people, when talking about their spiritual life, their Spiritual journey has said something like this to me.
John, I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I'm doing my best. I'm doing the best I can. I'm living my best life now.
But this is a fatal error. That is the path. Not of Christ. That's the path of religion. And different religions give different instructions.
But all of them, apart from authentic Christianity, all of them focus on what we should be doing. Try the path of enlightenment, we're told. The answer to life, the answer to freedom is found within you. You have the answer within you. You don't need me.
You fulfill your own potential. Enlightenment is within you, some say. Believe in yourself, we're told. Follow your heart. is a common mantra, isn't it?
Or Adhere to the five pillars of Islam. Or obey the Ten Commandments, help the poor, be kind, do good things.
Well, if I have to do good things, how good do I have to be? Because my mother used to tell me, John, sometimes you're a wicked little boy. Me? Yes, as a little boy, I wasn't always good.
So How good do you have to be all the time? That's a bit much. Does God really expect me to be good all of the time? Have I got to be kind and helpful? And think of others as more important than myself all of the time, or how much do I have to do to get into heaven?
It's the wrong way, isn't it? Look at our text. Not Verse nine. not a result of works.
So that no one may boast. Salvation. I want you to get this because people miss this over and over and over, particularly people who come to church. Salvation is not a reward given by God because you've done good things. The Bible is saying, no, that's not the way at all.
You've completely missed it. It's not that you work. It's not that you get your spiritual act together. It's not that you clean up your life, be good, and then at the end of the day, God may accept you. Grace, remember, is not deserved.
It is not a reward given to you because of something you do. That's why there is no place for boasting. Why is there no boasting in heaven? Why should there be no boasting in the church? Because it's all of God's grace.
How can you boast about receiving something that you don't deserve? Absolutely not. It is not a result of works so that no one may boast. No, it's totally free. I like that.
A free gift, not. A reward. Salvation. Salvation is by grace alone. This is the verdict featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity.
Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict.org. While you're there, consider making an investment in this Bible teaching ministry. Whether it's $5, $50, or more, your gift today helps cover the cost of sharing these gospel messages to listeners around the world. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Verdict Podcast, featuring John's weekly podcast exclusive called Avizandam. It's available wherever you get your podcasts, or simply go to our website.
Again, that's theverdict.org. The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte. We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ. We invite you to join us for our Sunday services.
For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Grace is the very opposite of trying to work our way to God. It's the very opposite of the mentality God helps those who help themselves. Salvation is all of grace. We can't work for it.
Our salvation is based not on our works, but on the person and perfect work of Jesus Christ. By grace are you saved through faith and not of yourself. It is the gift of God. So receive God's grace in Jesus Christ.
Next time we'll continue with understanding the grace of God. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
