Grace: Invaluable or in Vain — Lewis Gregory

This is a wonderful day, our celebration of the Lord's Resurrection and I especially appreciate the theme, Interpretation. I almost thought for a moment the young lady was singing. Her lips were moving, it was pretty believable to me and then I realized, oh wait a minute, not her at all.

And yet in truth in our hearts we all can express the gratitude we have to our Lord. Maybe don't always do it, maybe don't always know how to do it, but it's there. And so today let's just allow that deep-seated love and adoration for Him to well up, let it come up, a spring up oh well within my soul, let it come forth in a way that flushes all the stuff out of your life and may the joy of the Lord be your strength.

May the joy of the Lord be your strength. A number of years ago now on a Easter morning our family gathered atop Stone Mountain. For those of you that may not know, they have an Easter sunrise service over there and have been doing so for many, many years.

Used to be a family tradition of ours before the kids grew up and moved away, but on this particular morning the news crew was there, the cameras were rolling and they approached our daughter and they said, young lady can you tell us why you're up here and what's going on.

She said, I sure can. She jumped up and being the outgoing girl she is and she said why this is the Christians greatest holiday. This is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it went out on the news that day, praise God.

And it is the Christians greatest holiday and it is the day we celebrate the resurrection. But you know every day can and should be Easter in your life. Easter in the sense of you experiencing the celebration not only toward him but the celebration that comes from him that you are able to celebrate life.

That you are able to rejoice each day and be glad because he is risen indeed and because he is the resurrection of the life. He raises you up out of every situation that someone tends to cram you down, push you down, knock you down into.

He's always there to pick us back up again and put us back together even when the situation was of our own making. The times when we've stumbled and failed and fallen but yet as the resurrection he's always raising us back up.

Always putting us back together again. I want us to examine some scriptures regarding this matter but perhaps in a slightly different approach. And I want to call your attention to the book of 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.

I want to touch on a portion of two verses and then pick up chapter 6 verse 1. Let's go there. 2nd Corinthians 5 and I want to look at verse 19. 2nd Corinthians 5 19 the Apostle Paul said God was in Christ reconciling the world into himself not imputing their trespasses unto them.

And down to verse 21 for God has made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And 6 1 that you receive not the grace of God in vain. You receive not the grace of God in vain.

I would invite you for a moment to close your eyes. I want to reread this for you and I want you to just listen. I mean really listen and let the Spirit speak to your heart. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.

Not imputing their trespasses unto them. God was in Christ reconciling you to himself. Not imputing your sins to you. Not holding them against you. And now God has made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for you.

That you might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Therefore do not receive the grace of God in vain. Lord grant us grace and mercy that we would not receive your grace in vain. In Jesus name, Amen.

Grace Received as Invaluable or in Vain

The grace of God. Invaluable or in vain? Invaluable or in vain? Which is it in your life? The grace of God. Is it invaluable or is it in vain? I want us to look at a short video and a song and I want you to think about what's taking place here and in it you're going to see the significance of the cross, of that empty tomb, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So let's reflect a moment on what we're about to watch and then we'll go from there. The cross. It makes all the difference. We've all been hurt like this young man. Different ways, of course. Unfortunately, life is hard.

People are harder. My wife sometimes says, I think somewhat facetiously, somewhat honestly, church would be great if it weren't for the people. We could say that about planet earth, as a matter of fact.

Who is it that trashes planet earth? Who is it that pollutes the earth? Who is it that pollutes our mind? Who is it that pollutes our bodies? We say and do things to one another in the moment of anguish, in the moment of our own pain.

We speak out of our pain, cruel, hateful, hurtful things. And we say and do those things and we are oblivious to it because we're in the midst of our own moment of agony. And just like this young man here, all he wanted was to be held and loved.

And we are starved for love. And we long for someone who will just take us as we are, without strings attached, unconditional, to say to you or to say to me, you know, I love you. I care about you. You're important to me.

Not because of something you've done. Not because of some great achievement, some magnificent accomplishment. Not because you're some superstar. But just because you're you. Oh, that would be so nice.

And yet this young man, in the depths of his pain as he grew older and realized how deeply he had been hurt by his father, and even at the time of his funeral there were no tears by the man. But the little boy cried.

Why? Because his heart was broken. You see, he had never known the love of a father until he looked up and saw the cross. Until he looked up and saw Jesus hanging there for him. And that's the point of what God wants us to come to grips with on this Easter morning.

Resurrection and Newness of Life

Is he arose for a reason. Romans 6, 4 tells us that Jesus Christ was raised in order that you and I might walk in newness of life. He was raised up from the dead in order that he might raise you up from your dead, dull, dry, dormant life.

And even in Christ, so many of us still walk around in the drab grave clothes of yesterday, instead of walking around in the royal garments of today. And Jesus comes afresh and anew to say, I am the resurrection and the life for you here and now.

He comes to say, I hear your cry. I feel your pain. But you don't have to go it alone. You don't have to bear it alone. And the young man in the song said, I suddenly realized I was never unloved or alone all my life.

But the realization must come. And until you realize that Calvary stands for God's love for you, until you realize that the empty tomb says your past can be removed from you and you can be liberated from the shackles of whatever shame and pain you've walked through, until you realize that Jesus Christ stands at the door of your heart to knock.

For some, he says, I want to come in for the first time. And for others, he says, I want to come out so that you can truly walk in new life. Because he is the one who will do the walking if you'll turn him loose in your life.

And that's the big if. Remember, we started with the question, the grace of God. Invaluable or in vain? We look again at 2 Corinthians 6, 1, and he says, I beseech you, I beg you, I plead with you, that you do not receive the grace of God in vain.

We receive the grace of God when we receive Christ. When he comes into our life, we are recipients of God's grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, and not out of yourselves. It is the gift of God.

We receive that grace of salvation when we receive the Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Now when he comes in, we are the recipients of God's grace. We are the beneficiaries of God's mercy. For all of sin that comes short of the glory of God is sure and certain, and we well know we've sinned.

We may call it by some other glorified name, but be assured, we know down deep, we have sinned. We have fallen short. We have failed miserably. We have messed up bad, and we're a mess. And we know that.

We're acutely aware of that, and it's sometimes so painful and so repulsive that, well, we just don't want to face up to it. But if we'd ever but face it for what it is, see it where God put it, on Christ, on the cross, we can be done with it once and for all.

But we find ways to try to make up for it, compensate for it, bury it, and it doesn't resolve a thing. And then the stuff comes out of us in one form or another as we dump on other people, and then wonder why.

Do not receive the grace of God in vain. Well, what does it mean to receive the grace of God in vain? What does it mean? Well, receiving is an act of faith. To receive anything requires faith, and so by grace you say through faith.

And so we've made that connection, and so we've received. But have we, in fact, received it in vain? You see, Christ came in, as I said, in order that he might come out. But if we've invited him in, and we've never really turned him loose, not fully, not freely, maybe occasionally, maybe periodically, but have we really released him to be himself in us?

Have you released him to be himself in you? Have you allowed him to fully and freely have his way in you? Are you still calling the shots? Are you still trying to decide when, where, and how you want to go with your life, and ultimately what you want to do with Christ in your life, and sort of, he's your backup plan.

Christ as Lord Rather Than a Backup Plan

You know, I had this friend, he said, I've always got my stash. See, he used to be into drugs. And I said, well, in case it doesn't work out, I've got a stash. Well, Jesus is not a stash, dear friends.

He's more than just some backup plan. He's surely not a spare tire. He came in to be Lord, life, and all. And yet so often we were oblivious to that, and so you know what? We're taking the grace of God in vain.

But don't take my word for it. Let's back up to that word vain, and go back to the book of Exodus, where God spelled out in ten simple terms what he meant by that. Exodus chapter 20, verse 7. God, in giving these ten commandments, said in verse 7, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

In vain. Do not take the name of the Lord your God falsely. Recently, down in Brazil, something came across on one of the emails when I had access to internet, and it seemed like there was some problem with our credit card.

So I was able to call my wife, Lou, at home, and I said, hey, have you seen this email, and what do you think that means? And she said, you know, I don't know what it means, but I'll look into it. And we discovered that one of these cards that we carry around our pocket, known as credit cards, I'm sure you've all got one of those, at least, if not more.

But someone had taken our name in vain. They had taken that card claiming to be me, and they went around just having a joyride with our card. Except they were stupid enough to do it in a way that the company checked back with us before they finalized the purchase.

And that was the clue that these people were not on the up-and-up. In fact, they were not really me. They were taking my name in vain, saying they were me, claiming to be me, but not really being me.

Now that's an extreme example of falsehood. But how many of us here have named the name of Christ? How many of us in here have said, I am a Christian, for I have received Christ. I have placed an allegiance to Him.

I have given an oath to Him. I have vowed a vow unto Him. I have called upon the name of the Lord. And yet, how do you walk today in your life? How have you been walking this past week, month, year? Are you taking His name in vain?

You see, well, that was the Old Testament, Old Covenant. Man, I'm not into that. Doesn't apply to me. Well, maybe so, maybe not. Let's look at a little letter Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. And in Philippians chapter 2, in verse 8, and we are talking this day about Resurrection Easter.

And so in verse 8, it says, and being found in a fashion as a man, reference to Christ, Jesus Christ humbled Himself, became obedient unto death. That's the cross. Even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also highly exalted Him, resurrection, exaltation, seated at the right hand of the Father, and has given Him, Christ, given Christ, what?

The Lordship of Jesus and the Call to Submission

A name, which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, that is, submit allegiance to, humble yourself before, and acknowledge Him as Supreme Lord and commander of your life.

Every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. So do you live your life on bended knee before the Lord of glory, submitting to Him in every situation, under every circumstance, regardless of what you think, feel, or what others say about it?

If you do, then you're honoring and glorifying the name of the Lord. If you don't, if you don't, you are taking the name of the Lord in vain. And you are receiving God's grace in vain. This is not a message of condemnation, dear friends.

This is a wake-up call to you to realize what you have missed out on. Okay, let's proceed further with what it means to take the name of the Lord in vain, what it means to receive the grace of God in vain.

Trampling Underfoot the Son of God

Hebrews chapter 10. The writer of Hebrews, talking about various sacrifices, and especially addressing our great high priest, Jesus Christ. But in Hebrews 10, verse 29, Hebrews 10, 29, he says, but of how much sore punishment do you suppose would come to the one who, shall you be thought worthy, who have trodden underfoot the Son of God?

How much sore punishment do you suppose shall He be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God? Trodden under foot the Son of God. Trampled Him, stomped Him, stomped Him down. On a number of occasions, I've heard about places where there was a fire in a building full of people.

And the mad dash to the door resulted in some being literally trampled to death, stomped upon, walked all over. Some people, husband or wife sometimes, maybe even kids to parents, they say, I don't want to be a doormat.

But how many of us have trampled underfoot the Son of God? Look what he says here. We have counted the blood of the covenant, the blood of Jesus, His sacrificial death, the death that brought about our freedom, our sin, our liberation, have counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith we have been sanctified, you and I, as an unholy thing.

We've disregarded the sanctity of the cross, of the Christ, and of His shed blood for us. And he says all of this, and we've done despite. We've done despite. We have, as it were, spit upon, or at least totally abused and disgraced, what?

The spirit of grace. The spirit of grace. God's grace. Unmerited favor, to be sure. Unworthy for us, yes. But the abundance of God's mercy poured out, as He did for you what you could not do for yourself, as He gave to you what you could not obtain in and of yourself, He gave Himself for you and to you.

This is what Easter is all about. It is about a recollection moment. It is about a time of reassessment. Wait a minute. If Easter is such a glorious day, why am I in such a miserable state? If Easter declares that He is risen, why am I walking around as if I am dead?

And yet Paul says, hey, I understand, oh wretched man that I am. He says, you don't get it. I've been there, and I've done that too, Paul says. Oh wretched man that I am, Paul cried out. Who shall deliver me from this body of death?

He says, I'm a walking dead man. I'm alive, I know that in Christ, and yet I walk around as if, well, He doesn't really exist. Because when you're taking God's grace in vain, you are oblivious to its availability for you, to you.

Maybe you say, as often we think, and certainly the lie of the devil would tell us, well, He does it for others, but He won't do it for me. Uh-uh. Not true. Not true. Christ is for all. The cross is the great equalizer.

No respecter of persons, that's God Almighty. That may be the way other people have treated you, but not Him. Not Him. Let's go back. Second Corinthians 5, verse 18, a portion of verse 18 that I did not read.

It says that God reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. That's beautiful. He reconciled us. Here we were, separated from God, apart from God, enemies of God, alienated from God, far from God, and yet God reconciled us to Himself through Christ.

So here it is. We're far away from God. As sinners, we're undone, unclean, unworthy. We cannot get to Him, but He came to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived that perfect life, died that perfect death, rose in perfect glory and grace as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and now imparts to us His perfect life.

And so He reconciled us. To reconcile means that two who have been separated and enemies, He now brings us together and He makes us one, and we're no longer enemies, we're now friends. And that's why He called you a friend of God in Christ.

You become His friend. Once an enemy, and now a friend. And there's a friend closer than a brother, the Word tells us, and that friend, of course, is Jesus, who Himself, looking at His disciples in John 15, said, you know, you once were servants, not anymore.

Oh, you may serve me, but you're not a servant. You're not a slave, you're a friend. And I lay down my life for my friends. See, He's given His all for you. He has poured out Himself for you. You know, He could have sat around one day and said, hey, living here on planet Earth's really pretty cool, really nice, good, I like it, you know.

Christ’s Sacrifice and Reconciliation

He said, I can do anything I want, and I want to do that which pleases my Father, but this business about going to the cross, I'm not so sure about that. And He could have just pulled up and He could have bailed.

He could have still lived a perfect life. He could have had a good life. He already had it, could have had it, and just said one day, hey, Dad, I'm ready to come home. He could have gone, and we'd still be stuck in the same old rut.

But He didn't do that, because He was willing to go the distance for us. And He's wanting to know how many of us are willing to go the distance for Him. Was Calvary hard? Yes, it was, every step of the way.

The agony of Calvary was far more than the beatings, the bruising, the cursings, the spittings, the rejection of His friends and family. He became sin for you. Look at that. Verse 21, He made Him to be sin.

Not only did Jesus die for your sins, and that was huge, and He did most definitely pay the price for them, and your sins have been covered by the blood of Jesus, and so you're clearly a candidate for God's forgiveness.

It's available to you. It stands ready for you. And as wonderful a gift as that is in itself, He became sin for you. He said, look, I see what you've walked through, and I see what you've lived, and I've experienced it, because He said, you know, I don't just see it from afar, because when Christ hung on that cross, He became you.

Wasn't just some sin upon His shoulders. He became you. The great miraculous conversion of the cross was Jesus becoming sin, becoming you. Living out in that moment of time, your horrible, hideous life, your wonderful life, every aspect of your life, good, bad, and indifferent, He lived it all on the cross, but He became you on the cross, and He absorbed into Himself every hideous thing done to you or by you.

He became on the cross. So that when He said it was finished, He meant, I have stripped that garbage off you once and for all, and it's not you anymore, and you don't have to live under the shackles of that lie anymore.

You don't have to experience the agony and the pain of that treacherous life that you have gone through, in whatever form it has been for you treacherous, whether by your doing or by someone else's doing, it doesn't matter.

He says, it's all for you. So why are you walking around as if you still live in that old, you know, that old heap? He says, I have made you a mansion. In my Father's house, I have made a dwelling place, and I go to prepare a place for you, and yeah, we think about heaven when we die, but you know what?

Where did He come back to? Your body became His temple. He took this old hunk of junk, and He turned my life around. He filled it with His glory and grace, and there's nothing about this anymore that is unworthy, because He made us worthy in Him, in Him, and what He has done, not by works of righteousness that you and I have done, but it's what He has done, and that's what grace is, is what He has done and what He has done for us and what He's given to us, and He's saying, don't take that in vain.

Don't let it go to waste. Don't miss out on what I provided. He's not mad at you. He's sad and grieved for you. It grieves His heart that all He is and all He has done and all He has made available, and it's right down inside of you.

Tapping Into the Resources of Grace

Years ago, maybe the second year I was in ministry, went on a long road trip with a businessman, a very fine Christian man, and we were driving down the road, and he saw a hitchhiker, and this was back before everybody was leery of hitchhikers, and he said, well, hey, let's pick the guy up.

Let's give him a ride. Who knows, might talk to him about the Lord. Well, sure enough, he did talk to him about the Lord. Turned out the young man had been a believer for three years, met Jesus maybe three years before, but as they talked along, he began to find out some of the guy's background and what he was doing, and he was just kind of loping along with his life and not really doing much with his life and just sort of bumming around, and then he was moaning and groaning and complaining about all the the hard times he had gone through, and my friend said, wait a minute.

He said, something's wrong with his picture. He said, I thought you told me you had Christ in your heart. He said, well, yeah, sure, I did. Three years ago, I asked Jesus in my heart. He said, son, you're sitting on a gold mine.

You're sitting on a gold mine. He said, and you tell me all these woes, and you tell me how you're just sort of bumping around with your life. He said, you've got the King of Glory resident in you. You've got the source of power, life, and all that you need right there inside of you.

It's an untapped resource, son. You need to get with the program. It's time to tap into the source. Now, some of us have taken the grace of God in vain way too long. We call upon him occasionally. We tap into him here and there, but he's saying, hey, I am for here and for now, for every moment of every day of your life.

If he's going to be your life, it means it's a moment by moment, day by day. It's a walk. Raised, look again, look over there at Romans 6 and 4. Now this is what the resurrection will do for you. Romans 6, 4.

What's he tell us there? What's he got in store for you? What does he say? Therefore, we are buried with Christ by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, and he was by the glory of the father.

In fact, God, the father raised him up. Even so, even so, this comes to you. Even so, you also should walk in newness of life. Should walk. Not a guarantee, but an opportunity. Not a certainty, but a privilege.

It's the very reason Christ came and lived and suffered and died and rose again. He didn't do it just to go through the motions. He didn't do it just to provide you a place in heaven someday when you die.

He came in to take over your life. He came in to turn your life around, and he came in to be that resurrection in you that would raise you up to be more than you can be in and of yourself. To raise you up to be all that you can be in him.

And yet so many of us have neglected that gold mine, that wealth of resource within us, and it's an untapped resource by and large for all too many of us as God's people. And for some of us, we've never tapped in.

Receiving Christ and Becoming a Christian

We talk about it. We talk about how we are Christian. We, mommy and dad were, I mean, they were Christians. They raised me right. I know the Bible. I've been to church. Sure, I believe there's a God. I believe in the Bible.

I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but that doesn't make you a Christian. It takes Christ to be a Christian, and until you receive him into your heart, you've not been converted. Because until Christ comes in, you're not a Christian.

You may have a Christian morality. You may go to a Christian church, but upon receiving Christ, you become a Christian, because a Christian is a Christ person. And that requires a conversion on the inside when Christ comes in.

And through his death on the cross, he's saying, I've provided forgiveness for your sins, and I have paved the way for you to have a right relationship with God the Father. And you can by receiving Christ be made new today.

You can, by receiving Christ, come alive in him. You can, through receiving Christ, have new life in him. And that's why it's called a new beginning. It's a fresh start, but seems how God's mercies are new every morning.

You could have a fresh start today, wherever you are in your walk with the Lord. You can rethink your life and you can reassess and you can realize, well, wait a minute, I'm beginning to see now that I've not really fully tapped in to that untapped resource.

I have not fully opened up and received his provision. I received his grace in the sense that I invited Christ in, but I haven't been receiving his grace in my day-to-day living. I've been looking to other ways, other people, other things to somehow meet my needs and solve my problems.

And occasionally I call out, Lord, help me, but really his hands are already tied because I'm busy trying to do it, you know. That's what he used to tell me. For 10 years I kept asking him to help me, and he said, well, I would if you let go.

I would if you give up, but I can't help you until you cease from your own works. And then you'll have my rest, and then you'll have my life, and then you'll know who I am and what I can do. See, I, after 10 years of struggling to try to make the Christian life work, after struggling to try to imitate Jesus and figure out what he would do if he were here, I finally got so tired.

And then one day the Lord said, well, if you'll give up, I'll come in, I'll fill you, I'll take over, and I'll show you who I am and what I can do. And you know what? It sounded like a very good offer to me because I was ready.

And I said, Lord, I do. I give up. Not just a little, not just my junk. You know, God told me, he said, hey, I'm not your garbage collector. Yes, I do take your sins when you confess them, and certainly I do forgive you of them.

But I'm here to do a lot more than just take your garbage out now and then. I'm here to take over your life so I can make you into that wonderful, beautiful person that I designed you to be. He is the master craftsman.

He is the master designer. He is the great physician. You've got a need. He is the supply. Nothing too hard for him. You've been circling Mount Sinai way too long. The Israelites kept going round and round.

You know, when I was a kid, we had physical education, P .E. we called it. I don't know if you have that anymore, but whatever you got anyway. And some of us wouldn't do too good and the coach wouldn't be too happy.

You know what the coach would do? He'd say, take another lap. And so he had to make us all run all the way around the outskirts of the field or around the racetrack or the school track or whatever. He'd just keep making us until we finally got tired enough that we'd just give up.

We'd say, coach, we can't go on anymore. And he said, all right, now finally, now listen. And we'd get serious and we'd pay attention to the coach. And some of us are like the Israelites. We just keep taking laps around this mountain.

And there's the promised land right across the river there. It's just waiting on us, prepared for us from day one. The very thing God promised and planned for us, the very thing he desires for us. And we just keep running around this old mountain, just wearing ourselves down, wearing ourselves down.

And then we're moaning and groaning like how tired and hard it is. And he said, well, when you're ready to give up, you can cross over. It's there for you. It's there for you. The promised land is just a resting place God prepared for his people.

And it's inside you. It's in your heart. It's in your life. All hell can be going on around you. This whole world is crumbling and falling apart in many different ways. And your personal private world may be also.

But down inside, there is a resting place in the Lord. And his grace is sufficient, is more than some nice religious phrase. It's in the word of God for a reason, because it's true. Grace being sufficient means it's more than enough for whatever you need.

And he's saying, I'm here for you today. Whether you're in or out of the kingdom, I'm here for you today. What are you doing with the grace of God? Have you ever received God's grace? That is to say, have you received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life?

What is it for you? Are you receiving God's grace today to walk through your fiery trials? Are you receiving God's grace today to deal with your life situations? Are you receiving God's grace today just to go out and do the job that the boss requires of you, which is often unreasonable and undesirable and unthankful?

Are you receiving God's grace today for whatever comes your way? It's there for you. It's available to you. And the time is now. Let's stand together. I'm going to take a moment of prayer. Some may have some personal needs.

Easter Invitation and Testimony of New Believers

You know, I shared these things with a young pastor in Uganda for the past three years. And finally, this last few weeks, he started believing what I was telling him. And he went out to a church and he just read some scripture and began to share the word of God.

And then when it came time to pray, he was just overwhelmed because suddenly what we're talking about registered with him. This is the truth. It's not just a nice story from history past that we remind ourselves of on Easter.

This is true about me now. And the sense of God's presence began to overwhelm him. And he said he was overcome and he began to weep and he didn't know why or what he just began to weep before the Lord.

And as he wept and he wept and he wept, he said the people in the congregation, some 200 people began to shout. And then suddenly it dawned on them. And the presence of God enveloped them and they began to weep.

And at the end, something like 17 people came and received Christ as Lord and Savior. And then he went home, told his home church what happened. And, and three more received Christ. And more than that, he said a lady there had had a back condition for three years.