In spite of the differences in us, I know that we all have many things in common. One of these common denominators is that we're all on a journey called "life". And your being here today tells me that on this journey you want to become all that God created you to be.
This journey often isn't an easy one. We all hit speed bumps and potholes – there are breakdowns and roadblocks. Sometimes we get completely off course or end up on a path that leads to a dead end. It's times like that when we need a bridge.
A bridge can take us over all the pitfalls and get us back on course. A bridge can span the gap from where we are today and where we could be tomorrow. And a bridge can even lift us up and move us forward in ways that we don't see until after we've gone over the bridge.
It's been almost 10 years since our church changed its name. It used to be called Florida Bible Church. But after the closing of Florida Bible College in the late 90's and the closing of Florida Bible Christian School in 2013, the elders felt we needed a different branding – one that more accurately described who we are. With the help of an organization that specializes in this, the elders chose "The Bridge Church". Our church mission statement is: "To be God's Bridge to all people, a span across the gap of where you are now...to where God created you to be."
At The Bridge Church we want our church to be the place where people can experience all of that...and more.
Together, we can experience the healing power of God to lift us up and take us beyond the areas of our lives that are broken or weak. Together we can discover the truth of Jesus that connects to every area of our lives and simply makes life better.
Jesus is the living bridge (2 Corinthians 5:21) – reconnecting us with God through His sacrificial love and His unending grace.
Today I want to focus on God's unending grace. My prayer is that when we finish you will all have a better understanding and a deeper appreciation for what our God has done and what He wants to continue to do in our lives for us.
Let me begin with a few observations about some problems that people face.
You may have a problem understanding God’s grace if you:
*Live with a vague sense of His disapproval
*Feel foolish bringing your needs to Him when you’ve just failed Him in some way
*Feel you deserve an answer to prayer because of your hard work and sacrifice
*Assume that 1 John 1:9 no longer applies to you because you’ve sinned so many times you’ve used up all your credit
*Can’t honestly say you see yourself as “blameless” in His eyes
*Feel more confident before Him if you’ve been “faithful” with your Christian disciplines (prayer, quiet time, witnessing, etc.)
*Aren’t experiencing consistent peace and joy in your Christian life
*Don’t really believe He likes you
*Can think of someone you look down on
*Shy away from asking Him things because you think it annoys Him
*Think of the Christian life as “the cost of discipleship” rather than the chance to experience an unending supply of His goodness toward you
The Greek word for grace – charis – undeserved mercy or favor. It's used particularly to describe favors done without any expectation of return.
- Grace is God’s free and undeserved favor shown to guilty sinners who deserve only judgment:
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.” - Psalm 51:1-4
“Grace has meaning only when men are seen as fallen, unworthy of salvation, and liable to eternal wrath.
Grace does not contemplate sinners merely as undeserving, but as ill-deserving…it is not simply that we do not deserve grace; we do deserve hell.” - Sam Storms
Many of you know that after Moses died – Joshua – who had been one of the two original spies who pleaded with the Israelites to simply obey God and the Promised Land would be theirs – Joshua was chosen by God to lead Israel. As they got ready to conquer Jericho, he sent two spies to scout the city. Posing as travelers the men found a place to stay with a prostitute named Rahab.
“Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, ‘I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that is a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.
We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan whom you completely destroyed.”
“When we heard it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” - Joshua 2:8-11
But it wasn't long before they were discovered and the king of Jericho ordered them to be turned in. Ignoring the danger to herself, Rahab decided to hide the men instead. So she lied to the city officials and told them the men had left at dusk when it was time to close the city gates.
Rahab then returns to the men and explains why she had risked her life to save theirs.
Rahab affirmed her personal belief that the Israelites Jehovah God had given the land of Canaan to them. Apparently the promise God gave to Abraham 650 years earlier was common knowledge among the Canaanites and they had heard about the miracles of the Exodus and the military victories the Israelites had already achieved. Rahab described the feelings of her countrymen here in verse 11.
But in spite of the Canaanites acknowledgement of the power of the Israelites God – they still prepared for war. Rahab, however, chose to surrender and she asked for protection.
The two spies promised to spare Rahab's life and the lives of her family. After the posse had been gone for a time, the men climbed through a window and scaled down the city wall using a rope.
Before leaving they instructed Rahab to tie a scarlet cord in her window so the Israelite troops would know which apartment to spare during the battle. Anyone gathered in her quarters on the day of the battle would be saved.
Many of you know the account of the battle – how God commanded the troops to march around the city once for six days. Then on the seventh day they were to march around Jericho seven times with the priests blowing their trumpets. When they heard a long blast of the trumpets – all the people were to shout. Then God caused the city walls to collapse.
Now think about this situation. Why go to all this trouble? Why not just march up to the city gates – shout – then God would flatten the walls on the first day?
Well I believe there's a good chance that the Lord gave the people of Jericho six days to think about their decision to fight His people. I believe God would have honored ten thousand scarlet cords hanging from windows throughout the city. He would have been delighted if the city officials had thrown open the city gates – if they had chosen to abolish their disgusting degrading customs – if they had chosen to abandon their false gods – if they had chosen to acknowledge Jehovah God as the one true God.
During the six-day march any number of people could have found refuge in Rahab's apartment. The spies didn't limit their protection to her family alone – they guaranteed the safety of anyone within her home. But six days passed and no one other than Rahab and her family sought God's mercy. At the end of the battle that day – nothing remained of Jericho except Rahab, her family and their possessions.
“Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’S house.
But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.” - Joshua 6:24-25
The last line of verse 25 is incredibly significant. A Canaanite prostitute, who otherwise would have been stoned to death under the law – became an accepted member of the community – adopted into the family of God's covenant people.
But Rahab's story doesn't end there! Matthew's gospel tells us that despite her sin-stained past, a young man named Salmon saw Rahab as a beautiful woman of faith and asked for her hand in marriage.
Rahab later gave birth to a son they named Boaz – who perhaps being influenced by the courage and grace of his parents – married a dispossessed widow from Moab named Ruth. Boaz and Ruth later became the great-grandparents of a boy named David – who would become one of Israel's greatest kings – and a man prominent in the line of the Messiah – the King of kings – the Savior of the world!
Rahab's story illustrates the wonder and beauty of God's grace with an almost fairy-tale drama. But for all its special feel-good qualities – Rahab's story is not so very different from each of us. Before Israel showed up at Jericho, Rahab wore a label.
Her parents, her neighbors and her customers knew her as Rahab the prostitute.
The people of Jericho may not have attached the same significance to this label that most of us do – but I have no doubt she felt the stigma of her occupation. Regardless of their culture or religion, women typically do not become prostitutes unless they are forced to.
But when given the choice between dying with her pagan countrymen or accepting the grace of Jehovah God, she chose God's grace. As a result, she eventually received a new label – Rahab the mother of kings.
In some ways, Rahab's story is our story because we all have labels-even if it's one of our own choosing. You may have had your label concealed for most of your life and prefer that it remain a secret. Maybe you keep people from your past separated from those who know you now.
You avoid looking back because your memories and your labels cause you shame. In fact, your labels may cause you to shy away from approaching God or getting involved by serving or leading a ministry. Maybe your label is connected to one or more of the issues we showed on the first slide.
Isn't it interesting that when the spies offered to spare Rahab's life, they said nothing about her lifestyle? Abandoning her trade was not part of the deal. Changing her life wasn't discussed. She acknowledged Jehovah as the most powerful God and then hid His servants. That was it. Rahab's label was never an obstacle to God. And neither is yours!
This is the way of grace. And this is the way it has been from the beginning. Though change and growth is a critical factor in a believer's relation with Jesus – God never demands change as a condition to coming to him.
Again – grace is not about what we deserve – it's all about what God chooses to give us.
In reference to God we must understand it as the absolutely free expression of His loving-kindness to everyone! It's all about His unearned and unmerited favor — especially the kind of favor bestowed on sinners through Jesus Christ.
“Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured.” - Rick Warren
2. Grace is God reaching down to people who are actively rebelling against Him:
“Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: We have sinned and rebelled.” - Lamentations 3:39-42
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” - Ephesians 2:1-5
Many of you know the Parable of the Prodigal Son -- the younger of two sons who demanded his inheritance from his father -- and who then squandered that inheritance living on the wild side He then came crawling back to his father asking for a job as a servant. Meanwhile his brother had stayed home and worked hard in the family business.
Instead of rebuke – instead of rejection – his father ordered a celebration! His father then gave him exactly what he did not deserve – and both sons were confused by that.
The implication from the parable is that the father was equally confused by their reluctance to celebrate. These were two different stories about two different things. One was a story of boys trying to get what they deserved. The other was the story of a father whose son had finally come home.
Both boys thought the father's response should reflect what they deserved. They both thought he should take their behavior into account. They thought their past performance should be considered. But the father's story wasn't about behavior. There weren't any what-abouts in his story. What the boys had or had not done was irrelevant.
“My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” - Luke 15:31-32
That was it – end of parable. That was the answer of why Jesus welcomed sinners and fellowshipped with them without first requiring any changes – God celebrates – first and foremost – restored relationships!
While we often want to make it about rehabilitation – God is all about restoration. When a sinner accepts God's unconditional offer of forgiveness – the celebration starts right then and there. It was man's break with God in the Garden that broke God's heart – so why should we be surprised to see that He celebrates restoration?
Gospel
You see – if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior – understand this you were lost and have been found. You were dead and now you are alive. You were blind and now you see. You said yes to His offer of grace. That's the best news God will ever hear about you!
The trouble is many people continue to search for a reason that God should love them – but in your story you are going to continue finding reasons why He shouldn't. So here's my suggestion – give up your version of your story and embrace His.
In His story He doesn't love you because of what you've done.
In His story, He loves you no matter what you've done.
In His story He could not love you more and He will never love you less.
It's a far better story – it's a true story – a story of grace – the grace of God!
- God's grace is absolutely free and is offered to everyone!
“You will find all true theology summed up in these two short sentences. Salvation is all of the grace of God. Damnation is all of the will of man.” - Charles Spurgeon
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” - Titus 2:11
John's Gospel gives us a great picture of this truth about God's marvelous grace. The Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery – the law said to stone her – they wanted to know what Jesus would say.
After He wrote some things in the sand-the crowd dispersed and Jesus turned to this woman...
“Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.” - John 8:10-11
In other words Jesus told this woman – I'm not going to give you what you deserve. I'm giving you exactly what you don't deserve – grace! Jesus didn't try to balance grace and truth – He gave her a full dose of both. This is so important – if you don't get this you may very well fall into a diluted form of grace – which is no grace at all.
- Grace cannot be earned in any way by anyone
A man dies and gets to heaven and finds Peter waiting for him at the pearly gates. Peter says to him, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you get to 100 points, you get in."
"Okay" the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 53 years and never once cheated on her – not even in my mind."
"That's wonderful" Peter replies, "that's worth 3 points."
"Three points" the man answers, "Wow! Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service."
"Terrific" says Peter, "that's worth a point."
"One point? Golly...how about this – I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."
"Fantastic-that's good for two more points."
"TWO POINTS!" the man cries, "at this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!"
Peter replies, "You're right! Come on in!"
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:6-8
“Grace is receiving God’s absolute best when we deserve the absolute worst!” - Anonymous
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9
It's a humbling and yet vital thing to acknowledge – you and I simply don't have much in our relationship with God and our growth in grace for which we can take credit. The fact of the matter is that we give daily proof of our ongoing need for His grace (charis). Reality is that if we followed Jesus for a thousand years, we would need His grace as much for the next day as we did the first day that we believed.
He is the Son that gives us light. He is the refuge where we can hide. He is the water that nourishes us and the bread that feeds us. He is the solid rock on which we stand. He is the captain who defends us against the enemy. He is wisdom, blessing used with the insight of truth. He is the Lamb that bore the penalty for our sins. He is the High Priest who daily brings our case to the Father. He is the faithful friend who will not forsake us even in our worst moments. He is the Giver who blesses us with spiritual riches that we could never earn.
He is the One who makes us aware of our sin and brings conviction to our hearts and minds. He is the Shepherd who seeks us when we have wandered and are lost, and brings us back to the fold of His care. None of these actions are a luxury for us. They are all necessary ingredients of our spiritual lives, yet they are not things that we could ever provide for ourselves. We are like babies, unable to meet our own needs and completely dependent on the love of our Father for life, sustenance, and health.
Thoughts of independent righteousness are a grand delusion. Taking credit for what only grace can produce is the height of spiritual arrogance. Thinking that the grace we once needed is no longer essential is a recipe for disaster. Without the patience, forgiveness, rescue, provision, transformation and deliverance of His grace, we would have no spiritual hope whatsoever. We are not spiritually independent in any way (and I'm very OK with that). The opposite is true. Just as in the first moment we believed, we are always completely dependent on the grace of our Savior for every spiritual need. We can not go it on our own. We have not produced fruit by our own strength, goodness or righteousness. There really is no good thing that we have that we have not received from God's gracious hand.
So there is never a reason for us to be proud or to boast. There is nothing for which we can take credit. All praise, honor, worship and service belong to God and God alone. He sought us. He birthed us. He sustains us. He matures us. He protects us. And He will finally deliver us. To Him be all the glory.
