Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. 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. Welcome to the Verdict with Pastor John Monroe. This daily program is a media ministry of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Whether you're new to the Christian faith or whether you've been following Jesus Christ for many years, Understanding grace is essential to salvation and walking by faith.
Today, we're continuing our new study and next steps in following Jesus and focusing on the grace of God. Here's Pastor Jillen Monroe. We're just beginning this new series on next steps in following Jesus. Where are you on your spiritual journey? Are you a new follower of Jesus Christ or have you followed Jesus for several years?
One of the wonderful things about following Jesus is that while the good news of the gospel is beautifully simple, there is always more to learn. And whoever you are, You will benefit from a deeper understanding of one of the key words of the Christian gospel. Grace. I'm praying. that you will receive God's grace.
grace by definition is undeserved. It's not something we receive as a reward. It's entirely a gift of God.
So, join me. As we continue to look at this important step in following Jesus, 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 going to get there? I want 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 I'm living my best life now.
But this is a fatal error. 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. And I was about 10, 11, 12.
In Scotland in the summers we went raspberry picking. Taken to a farm, and there's these rows and rows and rows and rows of raspberry bushes, which raspberries grow very well in Scotland. They need a lot of moisture, and we get a lot of moisture in Scotland.
So, there we are. And the farmer would give us a little can that we would strap round our waist. And then he would give us a big pill, a big bucket. And so there we were, set to work at the beginning of the row. with the supervisor watching that we didn't leave behind berries.
And we'd put these raspberries into this little can. Once it was f filled, we would then pour it into the big bucket, the big pail. And when it was full, or when we felt like it, we would go to the farmer who had a big weighing machine. We often wondered. If these were accurate scales, but none of us dare ask them.
And he would weigh it. And the thing I liked about it was the more you picked, the more money you got. And as a little boy, I worked hard. I had a brother a year and a half older, and a brother a year and a half younger.
So there was some. Rivalry between us as to who would pick the most berries. And at the end of the day, it all depended on how much you had worked. The more you worked. the more money you got.
And I like that. If you were lazy, you got very little. If you worked hard, you would leave with your pockets full. That's how a lot of people think. Of the spiritual life, isn't it?
I've got to work hard at it. Do all these things. Accumulate these things over my life. And at the end of the day, God's going to weigh me, God's going to put me in the balances. 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. At the end of the day, if I picked more raspberries than my brothers, I boasted about it. And believe me, if they did more, which didn't happen very often, but if they picked more, They would boast. 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. See, this grace is the very opposite of the popular God helps those who help themselves.
No. Salvation. Is not only by grace, salvation is by grace alone. Alone. God gives us what we do not deserve.
This is why it is truly amazing. This is why, as followers of Jesus, we get so excited about this thought of God's grace. And if you think you can work your way into heaven, you don't need grace. But you can't buy salvation. You can't work your way into heaven.
It is given us, offered us freely. 100% as a gift. by a God of grace And you say, why would God love me? I can't answer that. other than saying the very heart of God is a God of love.
I don't understand it, that God would love me. I don't understand that he would offer me his grace, but this is what he has done: he's offered us grace. He offers you grace. Salvation is not a debt that we work off. God is never, ever in debt to us.
The grace of God. It's free. It's sad that the English love salvation. because they can talk about it. And the Welsh love salvation because they can sing about it.
And the Irish love grace and salvation because they can fight about it. But in Scotland we love it because it's free. It's free. It's for you. I like it, it's free.
Saved by grace. Alone. You say, but what does God do about all this mess in my life? He's described us as dead in our trespasses and sins. Look at verse 7.
Of chapter 1, Ephesians 1, verse 7. Listen to this. Here's the gospel. In him that is in Jesus Christ. We have redemption through his blood.
The forgiveness of our trespasses. The same word. As chapter 2 verse 1. This is how God deals with our trespasses. This is how God redeems us.
It's through the work of Jesus Christ. It's through His atoning sacrifice on the cross. It's through His blood that we can have this forgiveness of our sins and trespasses. And it's according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us. This is how your sins can be forgiven.
Not by you atoning for them. Not by you going through some uh ritual in a church That symbolizes what's happened. That's important. But that's the sign of reality, is this? That my Lord Jesus Christ has come to me.
And he's taken my sin, all of my sin. On the cross. Died for my sins. Parade risen from the dead. This is it.
This is love that God sent His Son into the world. This is the grace of God in action. God didn't send his son into the world to judge the world, to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved. And God asks you, To let him deal with your sin. And he deals with your sin and mine.
Not by asking us to pay it off. What a terrible thought. Not by some personal atonement, not by going through some ritual or refinement of trying to burn off all of my sin. No, Christ comes. The pure Christ, the sinless Christ, the innocent Christ, and takes all of our sin.
in his body. This is amazing. Grace. It is according. to the riches of his grace which he lavishes.
upon us.
So this grace is undeserved. God's grace is a gift. Thirdly, And very, very importantly. God's grace. is to be personally received by you.
through faith. Isn't that what our text says? Let me read that again, Ephesians 2 verse 8. This is a verse you need to know. This is a verse you need to underline.
This is a verse you need to apply. Ephesians 2, verse 8: For by grace you have been saved. Through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. You see, this grace, this amazing grace, this grace doesn't automatically come to you.
No, Paul says That the basis on which we are saved is grace. For by grace you are saved. How do I receive it? Through grace. Faith.
Faith doesn't save me. No, I receive this salvation through faith. Faith is the instrument by which. The riches of this grace come to my heart and my soul, saving me and transforming me.
Now this is not faith in yourself. That's what this culture teaches you. Believe in yourself, you can do it. Fulfill your own dream, believe in yourself. Have faith in faith.
Have faith in yourself. No. That's not the gospel. The gospel is. of faith in Christ.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll be saved. And so this this means that I must admit before God that I can't save myself. That by myself I can't get rid of my sins. I may join the church, I may sing in a choir, I may feed the homeless, I may give half of my money to missions, but I cannot.
Get rid. of my own sins. You cannot remake yourself, you cannot reset yourself. No, you've got to admit humbly. I realize this takes great humility, which is why it's hard.
You must admit Yeah.
Well, you acknowledge that you failed. You send. And only the grace of God can change you. You say, what do you have to do? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you'll be saved. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. That he was buried on the third day as the Son of God. He rose. Believe that.
Trust in Christ. This is not just believing about God. This is not just agreeing with the facts of the gospel. This is a living, personal commitment to the person of Jesus Christ. This is why we talk about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
I realize it can be a bit of a cliche. I realize, as followers of Jesus, we trot it out sometimes very glibly, but it is a very important issue. That when the Bible says we're to believe, it's not believing in a doctrinal statement. And I believe in doctrinal statements, but that will never save you. It's not believing in the church.
It's not believing about Christ. It's trusting in the person of Jesus Christ. You see, He's alive. He conquered death. He's alive.
I realize you can't see him. This is why it's sometimes difficult for us. This is why it takes faith. But we must call upon him. And the Bible says if we call upon him, he'll hear us and he'll come and save us and forgive us.
See true saving faith. reaches out to rest upon an object. I am to totally rely on Jesus. to do what I cannot possibly do myself. A week past yesterday I was in in Germany and And visited Worms where Martin Luther, a German, In 1521, took his stand.
on the authority and the supremacy of Scripture. And Myself and the friend that took me there, we were right there on the spot and saw the plaque where Luther says that he takes. His stand. And one of the very insightful things that Martin Luther taught, because it's from the scripture, is this. Luther said that the gospel lies outside of you.
You say, what on earth did he mean? It means this. That you cannot save yourself. Here you are in the condemned cell. We saw that.
We're under the judgment of God, we've sinned, we've messed up. And here we are, spiritually speaking. Condemned.
Now try as we might, we cannot escape the condemned cell.
However good However rich, however intellectual we are, However resourceful, we cannot free ourselves from these trespasses and sins. We're slaves, remember, we're dead. We're slaves, we're condemned.
So, when Luther says that the gospel lies outside of you, he says something very, very important. That Jesus comes. from heaven to earth as The Savior. Before I can enter into God's world, as it were, heaven. Christ comes into my world.
My sinful, dark, condemned cell. See, this is amazing, isn't it? And he comes to be with us. He becomes a man. He becomes a servant.
He becomes obedient unto death, even death on a cross. And he's there not as my judge, not to condemn me, although I deserve it. But remember, he comes in grace, he comes in forgiveness, he comes in mercy, and he comes to me and says, Now, I offer you, John, salvation. I can free you, I can redeem you. I can give you eternal life.
I can get you out of the condemned cell.
Now why would you refuse that? Why would you think, oh, I'm okay. I've been a Christian all my life. I've always believed this stuff. I don't need this.
No, you do. He is the only way of salvation. This is what he said. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father apart from me, he comes to us in grace where we are.
And he says to me, come. And I'll give you rest. And so We leave for sin. And we confess our failure. And we embrace Christ, we receive Christ, we trust Christ in this personal living.
And growing relationship that now I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? Have you trusted the Saviour? Have you placed your Trust in him. People say, I wish I had your faith.
I don't know about this trust. I don't know about this faith. You know what it is to trust someone. Three weeks ago, I go to my doctor for my annual Check up. I never look forward to these things, do you?
That little thing they put on you. I mean, it must be built for a midget, you know.
So there you are, very vulnerable, but never mind, that's another story. But I'm sitting there. And the doctor comes in. I've known him for 10 years since I've been in Charlotte. He's very skilled.
He's compassionate. And uh You know, he looks at the things and the figures. And he said to me, You've been on Crestor for a while. I said, Yeah, you tell me my cholesterol is a little high. I mean, I don't know, there's all these numbers.
I don't check them out. That's his job, right? And he said, I'm going to take you off Christter. I said, that's great. I don't want to take medication.
And I said, but you know, you put me on it. Please, I'm going to take you off. I'm going to test you down the road a bit and see how you're doing.
Now, I don't know much about chrester, but I understand, or cholesterol, but I don't think cholesterol is too good for you. And so I stopped taking.
So for the last three weeks or so I've not been taking Crestor. You say, why would you do that? Yeah. This could be bad for your heart, this could be bad for your health. Perhaps you could even die of a heart attack or a stroke.
No. Possibly, but I trust my doctor. Why wouldn't I trust them? He's killed? He's compassionate.
He's got my best interests at heart. He's very concerned with my physical well-being. I'm not saying he's amazed by my physical condition. That might be putting it a little too high. But he's concerned about it.
And so I trust him. I trust him. I have faith in him. And that faith leads to action. I stop taking the medication.
Faith in action. The obedience of faith the Bible talks about.
So don't tell me you don't know what it is to trust someone. You trust someone, you trust your doctor. Will you trust Christ? In that personal Intimate relationship. Everything is done for your sins to be forgiven.
Everything has been done for you to receive Jesus Christ.
Now you must accept Him. I can't understand why you wouldn't. Unless you think you can get into heaven by yourself, unless you're too proud to acknowledge your sin. No, I'm asking you today. I'm asking you now.
To do what some of you have never yet done. You may have come to church for 10 years or longer. Or perhaps you're here for the first time. I'm asking you. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you'll be saved. Not doing, but believing. Trusting completely on what Jesus Christ has done for you. Working involves doing, believing is receiving. This is why boasting is totally inappropriate.
You may believe facts about Christ, but have never placed your personal faith in Christ. You may have believed with your head, but it is never touched. Your heart. You may have come to church as you have today, but you've never come to Christ. You've professed salvation, but in your heart you know you don't possess.
Eternal life. You believe that, but you have never believed in. You may have a religion of Christ, but do not have a personal relationship with Christ. Why would you not now trust? The savior.
And know the wonder. of this amazing crease. This grace, which is so powerful, will Forgive your sins, it will transform you, it gives you a power each day to live as you follow Jesus because His grace is always sufficient. Are you hesitating because you think you? First, have to clean up your life?
No, this morning. Come to the great physician. Our Lord Jesus Christ. And he'll forgive you. And he'll give you eternal life.
This is the step. and being a follower of Jesus. Grace. Will you stand with me? I'm going to ask you if you've never done that.
In your own heart, just where you are. I'm not trying to embarrass you or anything. But I want you this moment, and I'm going to ask people not to leave. I know some of you are going to leave. Please don't leave.
There's nothing so important as this. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. Will you pray to receive Christ now? Father. I thank you for your grace.
I thank you for your love. I confess I've really messed up. I've failed. And I teach her. I realize only you can save me.
That Jesus is the Son of God who died for my sins, was buried and rose again. and is alive. I know. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I receive him.
As my savior. I turn from my sin. I know I don't deserve this, Father, but come. Come, Lord Jesus. And save me.
Thank you for dying. on the cross for my sins and Rising again. Help me to live for you. Each day. In Christ's name, amen.
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 he 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? Have you received God's grace? Stop trying to work for your salvation. Stop trying to complete a checklist in order to please God and earn your way to heaven. Your salvation is not found in yourself, it's not found in your church, it's not found in giving mental assent to certain doctrines, it's found in Jesus Christ.
and is personally received by you through faith. all of God's marvellous. Wonderful. Grace. Join me next time on the verdict as we take the next step in following Jesus.
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.
