Living in Grace

chapter 6, verses 1 and 2. We've been going through

2 Corinthians for the last few months on Wednesday

nights, a few verses at a time, and we are getting

to the halfway point here. 2 Corinthians chapter

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

6. We ended last week in the verses we talked

about being ambassadors for Jesus Christ, ambassadors

for the Lord, representatives. For the Lord.

Who are we representing in our life? Are we representing

the Lord? How are we representing the Lord? How

do we live? Do the people see Jesus in us? And

so that was what we looked at last week. And

Paul ended on a great verse in verse 21 saying

that he made the one who did not know sin to

be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness

of God in him. So all the focus... is on Jesus

Christ. That Jesus took everything that we deserve,

the punishment for our sins, and we received

only what Jesus deserved, and that was righteousness.

We are made righteous through Jesus. And so that's

where we left off last week. So let's pray, and

then we'll start in chapter 6. God, we thank

you for a good day. We thank you for the freedom

to come in here and to worship tonight. I pray

that your Holy Spirit would be with us. our worldly

distractions and our worries and just the temptations

of the world that fight for our attention right

now, that in these few minutes, dear Lord, that

we would experience your grace and live in your

grace, dear Lord, and not take it for granted,

but allow your grace to transform who we are.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Continuing on the same lines as what we just...

Read at the end of 2 Corinthians 5, we turn to

2 Corinthians 6, verse 1. Working together with

2 Corinthians 6:1

Him, we also appeal to you, don't receive God's

grace in vain. Therefore, Paul says, we're working

for the Lord. We are representatives of Jesus

Christ. We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ.

God has given His only Son. to take our punishment

so that we could be made righteous through him.

And so we are working with God. We are workers

for God. And what is his appeal to the Corinthian

audience? He says, don't receive God's grace

in vain. Don't receive God's grace in vain. When

we experience the grace of God, it needs to have

some effect on our life. There should be some

change in our life when we experience the grace

of God. Now, we could take this in a couple of

different ways. One is, he could be saying, look,

some of you are Christians and you've experienced,

you've received the Holy Spirit, you've received

God's grace. You know what it means to be forgiven

of your sins and you are in danger of falling

away. That's one way that we could look at this,

that possibly there are some who are committing

apostasy, and there are some Christians who would

view that verse with this interpretation. Another

way that we could interpret it, and there's Christians

that interpret it this way as well, is that the

people have heard of the grace of God, they've

listened to the Word, but they haven't really

accepted God's grace. That the kingdom of God

has come near, as Jesus would say, and they've

heard the good news, and they've heard the teachings

of God, Paul, and they know about Jesus Christ,

and even though they've heard of the grace of

Jesus Christ, they are not accepting it. So it's

come by, but they've missed the bus, so to speak.

But Paul says here, don't receive God's grace

in vain. So if we come and we read God's word,

and we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, that

is this, that Jesus Christ is the one and only

Son of God. That all things were created through

him, by him, for him, and nothing exists apart

from him. And we are sinners, and we are on this

world, and we are in our sin, and we are doomed

to death because of our sin. Separation from

God because of our sin. And God sent his only

son, Jesus Christ, to this wretched old earth.

And Jesus came freely to be a sacrifice for us.

That Jesus would give his life on a cross so

that we could be forgiven. So that he would suffer

the punishment that you and I deserve. So that

you and I can experience the righteousness that

only Jesus Christ deserves. This is the gospel.

This is the good news. That Jesus did that for

us. That Jesus died on that cross. He died completely

sinless. He was a man who did not sin. And so

therefore he can stand up for you. We're men

and women who do sin. We sin repeatedly, probably

repeatedly every day. But Jesus was perfect in

every way, and therefore he can be a perfect

sacrifice to cover our sins. And Jesus was raised

from the dead. Three days after he was placed

in the grave, God raised him from the dead. Jesus

is victorious over death. And so when we trust

in Jesus Christ, we too. are victorious over

death. This is the gospel. This is the good news.

This is the grace of God that as wretched as

we are, as rotten as we are, that there is nothing

that we can do to earn God's love. There's nothing

that we do to deserve God's love. But God says,

I love you anyway, and if you would just come

to me and seek me and live for me instead of

yourself and put faith in me and trust in my

son and allow his sacrifice to cover your sins,

I'll give you grace. I'll give you what you don't

deserve. I'll take you from the claws of death

and I will bring you into eternal life. That

is the grace of God that there is nothing that

we can do to earn it, but that God gives it to

us freely. But even though it's free for us,

it was not free. There's nothing that's free.

Everything costs someone something. And the freedom

that we have to receive the grace of God comes

through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So God's

grace came at a great cost, but he paid the price.

This is the good news. This is the gospel of

Jesus Christ. This is why we have hope today.

And what does Paul say? He says, don't receive

God's grace in vain. If you hear that message

tonight and you have not trusted in Jesus Christ,

then you need to know that there is hope and

that there is help in this world and it only

comes from the grace of God. That's the only

way that we can make it through our lives. Our

lives are so difficult, but God's grace is sufficient.

Power is perfected in weakness, as we'll see

in a few chapters. But God's grace is sufficient

for us. And all that we go through, no matter

what struggles we may have and what pains we

may have and what fears we may have and what

worries we may have, God's grace will get us

through it. He'll give us the strength. We cannot

get through this life apart from God's grace.

There are a lot of people that try, and man,

it's miserable. You're miserable trying to live

in this life apart from God's grace. But man,

it is so reassuring and so uplifting when we

can read the Word of God. We can come together

as brothers and sisters in Christ and encourage

one another and lift one another up to live in

the grace of God and be strengthened by the grace

of God. So Paul says, don't receive God's grace

in vain. If you hear the message of Jesus Christ,

you need to accept it. If you've accepted the

message of Jesus Christ, then you need to live

like you've accepted the message of Jesus Christ.

If you've experienced the grace of God, it should

change your life. When you look back at all the

things that you've done, you can think real quick,

you could fill up a page in a notebook, real

quick, with just the things probably you've done

in the last week. It would not take you long

to fill up a page of all your sins. And you start

going back through your lifetime, and you could

write from now until you died, and you wouldn't

be able to write down all of your sins, some

of which are horrible things that you don't even

want to think about, that you cringe thinking,

what if somebody in there finds out what I've

done? I'm talking about we've done some seriously

rotten and evil things. But if we've come to

Jesus Christ, and we've asked God to forgive

us, and we've placed our faith in Him, God has

forgiven our sins, praise the Lord. That's good

news. Now, if we've been forgiven of all of our

sins by the grace of God, if we've experienced

the love of God through Jesus Christ, then how

in the world can that not change us? How can

we see people in need and not have compassion

when we have received the compassion of Jesus

Christ? How can we see people who have sinned

and not strive to love them, knowing that we,

as great sinners, have been loved by God. How

can we accept grace but not give grace to others?

How can we ask God daily for His grace, but yet

when people do something to us, we refuse to

give them any mercy, we refuse to give them any

grace, and we are quick to pass judgment on them.

But is that what God has done to us? So if we

say we've received the grace of God, but our

life doesn't reflect the example of the way Jesus

lived, then maybe we haven't experienced the

grace of God. Maybe we say we have. Maybe we

think we have. But maybe we are guilty of receiving

God's grace in vain. Maybe you really have received

it. Maybe you haven't really understood. Maybe

you need to understand tonight that if you've

received the grace of God, it should change who

you are and how you act. And if you can go through

this world and not have compassion on people,

and not love people, and not give people grace,

then there's a really good chance that you have

not experienced the grace of God. So Paul says,

look. He says, we're working here alongside God.

We are working to serve God. We are working to

get out the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ.

And therefore, when you hear that message, don't

miss Jesus Christ. And when you receive that

grace, then let it transform your life and who

you are. Listen to what he says in verse 2. For

he says, I heard you in an acceptable time, and

I helped you in the day of salvation. Look, now

is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.

Now that's a quotation there from Isaiah 49,

Isaiah 49:6

verse 6. That's where that comes from. And you

can read that section of Isaiah. It talks about

the suffering servant. the Jewish people would

interpret those passages totally different because

they don't believe in Jesus. But it's very clear

to the Christian that when you read in Isaiah

Isaiah 49 · chapter mention

chapter 49 through about chapter 53 and maybe

a little further, I'm not sure, but those chapters

in that area talk about the suffering servant.

And it's pretty clear, as you continue to read

those chapters, that it's talking about Jesus.

Now, Isaiah was written at a time when God's

people were in captivity in Babylon, but God

was promising that He was going to deliver them

and was going to restore the nation of Israel.

And he did. They were in captivity for about

70 years, and God did exactly what he said he

was going to do through the prophets. We see

many of these prophecies in the Old Testament

that talk about Israel was going to be restored

to the land, and they were. After they got out

of the Babylonian captivity, they were restored

to the land, and they did return to Jerusalem,

and they did rebuild the temple. All the things

that were prophesied occurred when God brought

his people back from Babylon. But this... Passage

in Isaiah is pointing us forward to something

much bigger than God's people simply being returned

to the land after the Babylonian captivity. It's

pointing forward to a servant. The language doesn't

fit Israel there. It talks about Jesus Christ.

And we know it talks about Jesus Christ. One

reason, because Paul tells us that this passage

here, he's telling us that this salvation that's

being talked about in Isaiah 49 has come through

Jesus Christ. It's not something that will come

later. It's not something that will come through

Israel. It's something that comes through Jesus

Christ. God restored his people to the land,

but God says there's going to be something even

better coming down the road. And years and years

after Israel were restored, their land, the Messiah

came onto the scene. The Messiah was prophesied,

and there were some who were looking forward

to the Messiah, and there were others who were

not. There's still plenty of Jews today. The

vast majority of them are still looking for the

Messiah. If only they would read the Word of

God. If only they would read the words of Paul.

If only they would see passages like these that

tell us that Jesus Christ has come, the Messiah

has come, the Savior has come, and salvation

has come in Him. There are a lot of people in

this world looking for a Savior. They're looking

for salvation in some way. And they come up empty

all the time because they're looking for a Savior

in the wrong spot. They're looking for something

or someone else to be their Messiah. When the

Bible tells us that the Messiah is Jesus Christ,

and He has come, and He has conquered death,

and He has conquered sin, and He is seated at

the right hand of God. That's what the Scripture

tells us. And in verse 2, this quotation, I heard

you in an acceptable time. Okay, this is God

speaking here. He's speaking to his people. He

wants his people to know that, look, when you

call out to me, I'm going to hear you. When the

time is right, in an acceptable time, when you

seek me, I'm going to hear you and I'm going

to restore you. That was his promise to his people,

Israel. And he fulfilled that promise, but he

alludes to an even bigger promise that was coming

through Jesus Christ. I heard you in an acceptable

time and I helped you in the day of salvation.

All right, he's talking about a day of salvation.

Now certainly there was deliverance in the Old

Testament, but there was a bigger deliverance.

He's talking about a day of salvation. And what

does Paul say? He says, look, now is the acceptable

time. Now is the day of salvation. It's not a

salvation that's coming in the future. It's a

salvation that has come through Jesus Christ.

Today is the day of salvation. Brother Ernie,

I've heard him say that a hundred times in my

life. Y 'all have too. He used to quote this

all the time. He used to always say, today is

the day of salvation. And it's true. Every time

we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, every time

we hear of God's grace, every time the kingdom

of God comes near, today is the day of salvation.

Maybe for some of you in this church tonight.

Maybe for some of you listening online tonight.

Today is the day of salvation. You've seen the

grace of God. You've got close to the kingdom

of God. And maybe you've been taking the grace

of God in vain your whole life. But maybe for

you, today is the day of salvation. That if you

would just call out to the Lord today, that you

would be restored today. That your sins would

be forgiven today. If we would only confess our

sins to the Lord. He is faithful to forgive us

of our sins through the precious blood of Jesus

Christ. The grace of God has come through Jesus

Christ. Today is the day of salvation. If you

don't know Him, you can put your faith and trust

in Him right now. Let's pray. God, we come to

You. We thank You for Your good words. We thank

You for Your love. We thank You for Your grace

that comes through Jesus Christ. And God, I pray

that if there is one that does not know Jesus

Christ, that in this moment that they would ask

You now to forgive them. that they would just

simply confess their sins, dear Lord. They know

what they are, that they would confess them to

you, that they would repent, God, that right

now that they would turn from those sins, that

they would seek to follow your word and to follow

Jesus Christ, to let Jesus be the king of their

life, that they would stop trying to do it on

their own, but that they would trust Jesus, that

they would place their faith in him, dear Lord.

That they would allow Him to be their Savior

today. That today they would find salvation.

Today they would find joy. Today they would experience

grace. A grace that would transform their life.

God, I pray that if there's any that's prayed

that prayer and made that commitment, that they

would just grab me later, call me later, text

me later, dear Lord. Reach out online later and

let us know about that good news, dear Lord,

that we can rejoice with them. God, maybe there

are some in here today and they know your grace,

but they haven't been living it. They've experienced

it, but maybe they have not been gracious and

compassionate and loving to others. And I pray,

dear Lord, that you would forgive us when we

fall into that trap. I pray that your grace would

transform us. I pray that we would not hear your

grace and let it pass us by, that we would not

experience your grace and not let us... Transform

us, dear Lord. Don't let us be those who take

your grace in vain. But let us be those that

your grace transforms into the men and women

you want us to be that love you and that seek

you and that serve you. I pray, dear Lord, that

if there are any that are here that don't know

Jesus Christ, they would know that there is hope

and it's available today because today is the

day of salvation. God, we thank you for these

words, and I ask these things in Jesus Christ's

name. Amen.