The cross is pointless, grace is worthless and faith is empty if the gospel is dependent on you.
It is, and always will be our desire to dumb down the gospel of God. Grace is so foreign to our way of thinking that our natural desire is always to follow our own good works. We claim that our works are grounded in grace, but ultimately if we are honest, we all pursue our good works seasoned by grace.
This week on Sunday morning we will be studying John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.””To understand what it means to be saved, you must understand your condition outside of salvation. We are condemned, fallen, sinful people who worship ourselves while rejecting God. Jesus Christ did not come to condemn the world because our actions and nature have already accomplished it. Left alone we are men and women who have made a mess of things. The hope of the human condition is dead, killed by its own lustful desire for sin.
Grace means God works when we didn’t deserve it.
Grace means God sent his Son because he is love.
Grace is the work of God in spite of human idolatry.
