Grace is found through the Cross

The Cross. You know, one of the things that I

observe every time we gathered together as church is we're

all different. We're all different. There's nobody who looks similar.

In fact, i'll tell you a story. I hope where

is he? I can see his heads down. First time

I met Joel, he had his hair free, and we

said hello, and yeah, I'm not good. I'm good with faces,

but I'm not good with names. And I think it's

the following Sunday or the sunday after that, Joel turned

up with his bandana on and I walked out to

him and said, Hi, my name's Dave, and he said,

we've met before. And I remember I meant to be

good with faces, so I wasn't surprised I didn't remember

his name, but I think and then I realized that

his hair was all in control. Now, we're all different,

we wear things different ways, we look differently. Sometimes sometimes

you'll change your hairstyle and people won't recognize you. But

you know what, just because we do things differently doesn't

mean they're right or wrong, just means they're different. There

are people in this room who like eating raw chilies.

There are people who think that hot is thirty five.

There are people who think that hot is twenty five

in terms of degrees. You know, I personally, if it's

over twenty five degrees, c I'm hot, I'm in a shirt.

There'll be other people in the room who say, ah,

wear a sweater when it's twenty five. And so all

I'm saying is we're all different. And for those people

are sting online, you're different too. But you know what,

as we come together, we need to celebrate our differences

and therefore work on our differences. I'll give you an example.

We had a couple in the church. They were grandparents

and I guess in their seventies at the time, and

their son and daughter got married. Son and daughter in

law got married and had kids, and then for some

reason they had to live with mom and dad had

to move back into the grandparents' house. And the children

were very creative. And what I mean by creative is

they drew on the wallpaper with crayons. Now, I don't

know what you think about if that was your house,

whether you go, Okay, that's fine, they're just being creative,

or whether you go no. But anyway, I got called

to a family meeting because Mum said, it's okay, they're

just being creative, and Grandma said, but this is my

house and I like my wallpaper to be neat and tidy.

It was a clash of cultures. I'm not saying what's

right or wrong. That's up to you. But I was

asked to come and have a conversation, to be part

of the family meeting, and all I could say was this.

It was pretty simple, whose house is this? It's grandma

and granddads. Whose house rules rule in this house? Grandma's

and granddads. I said, if you, as a family want

to stay, you observe the house rules. If you don't

want to observe the house rules, time to find somewhere

else to live. And I can say that's true for

us as a household. Julia and I have had young

people come and stay with us over many years, and

some of them thought it would be okay to come

in at one o'clock, two o'clock in the week. You're

in by midnight, And we locked the front door, didn't

We We locked the front door and said, if you're

not in by midnight, you know house rules. Now I

don't know what your house rules are. Some of you

who share house as students, probably you wish the rest

of the people in your house observed the same house

rules as you want. Some of you have sinks that

are full of dirty pans, and you get frustrated by that,

and other people you're always washing up after somebody. I'm

not criticizing. I'm just saying it's different. Grace needs to flow.

The Cross reveals the depth of God's grace. Ephesians two,

verse eight says this, for it is by grace you

have been saved through faith. And this is not from ourselves.

It is the gift of God. So God gives us

a gift of grace. What is grace? Grace is undeserved favor.

Undeserved favor. If you walk into a room and someone says,

oh please, it happened to me probably about five or

six years ago. I walked into a room and there

was a standing ovation. As I walked in the room,

I was a bit embarrassed to think, what's going on here?

And they said, sorry, sorry, we thought you were the

guest of the meeting, so please sit down. We'll do

that again. And the guest was literally about thirty seconds

behind me, and they kind of announced Okay, he's coming in.

Now give him a round of applause. I felt blessed,

I felt welcome. I wonder what people feel like when

they come to church on a Sunday morning. I'd love

to have more people on the door welcoming people saying

I'm so glad you're here. Welcome because we are God's

glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. Other people in

the room are glad you're here. I hope that you're glad,

that you're glad that you're here. Grace is undeserved favor.

We do not earn salvation. We could not improve ourselves

enough to receive it or achieve it or through religious effort.

The Cross, as I talked about last week, demonstrates that

salvation is purely God's initiative. At the at Calvary, Christ

took upon himself what we deserved so that we could

receive what we never deserved. I'd like you to imagine

you have a debt, maybe something you owe, some money,

and maybe something that's been paid. The Cross is the

example of a debt being paid in the debt of

sin being paid in full. Just imagine walking into a

bank and handing over some money, saying that's my payment

for this month, and then going there is no money

owing anymore. Your debt has been paid. The feeling that

would be in you, because when we live under debt,

it's a it's a challenge, especially if we're struggling to

pay our bills. The Cross demonstrates God's love for his creation,

for his humanity Romans five, verse eight. But God demonstrates

his own love for us in this Whilst we were

still sinners, Christ died for us. God wants relationship with

you and me, And you might say who me, Yes

he does. He wants relationship with you and me. The

Cross happened whilst humanity, whilst the world was broken, rebellious,

and lost. Christ didn't just come for the good people.

He came for all mankind. God hopes and believes of

all that all might be saved. I don't know whether

you've ever played with little children. I had the privilege

of having two little children, a two year old and

a four year old, stay all week this week. Julia

did a fantastic job. I did my bit, but nowhere

near as much as I should have done. Probably, But

do you know what when a child falls over and

you see that they've fallen over. Maybe you hear the thud.

You're already moving towards them. Going is everything okay, you're

not waiting for them to go. Ah myself, you're not

waiting for that. You're already moving towards them. And God

already moves towards us. God already has moved towards us.

The Cross provides forgiveness and freedom in Ephesians one, verse seven.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness

of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace,

not our riches, God's grace, God's riches. You know, you

and I can forgive one another. Somebody might say something,

do something and it hurts you or has leave some

kind of cost. You can say sorry, I'm really sorry,

to forgive me, and forgiveness can flow. But there are

many things that we do that we cannot pay a

price for. Through the cross, forgiveness becomes possible. Sin is

not ignored, it's dealt with through Christ's sacrifice. Grace does

not minimize sin, it overcomes it. There used to be

a young man, as he was at the time in

our church. He was a landscape gardener, and as a

young man, he'd run his business and he'd not paid

any tax. He became a Christian, started coming to church

and realized that he ought to do things right. So

he went to the taxman and said, when the tax

return was due, I want to report that not only

do I owe tax for last year, but I owe

tax for the previous years. How do I record that?

He went and had a meeting with a taxman. Taxman said,

we've never had anybody. Why are you telling us this?

We wouldn't know about this if you weren't telling us.

Remember this is a couple of decades ago story before

digital taxation. And the man said, well, I become a

Christian and I know that I've got to do things right.

And the taxman said, whoa wow. Let me go away

and find out. He came back to the next meeting

and the taxman said, you know what, We're just going

to draw a line and say start from here. You

own nothing. Grace had flowed, favor had been given. Sometimes

there is a price to be paid, but when that

price is paid, then we find just how much of

what God can do. The cross opens the way to

a relationship with God. Romans five, verse one says this. Therefore,

since we have been justified through faith, we have peace

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Before the cross,

there was a separation between man and God, between humanity

and our creator, and then Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Jesus the only son of God. There isn't a plan.

Being God's plan, he sent his one and only son.

As he says in John three point sixteen, he sent

us one and only son that whosoever believes in him

should not perish, but will have everlasting life. Grace restores relationship,

and I want to talk about this both in terms

of our relationship with God, but our relationship with one another.

If we allow grace to flow, then our differences don't

become friction they become friction less. I'll give you an example.

Some of our friends in church when they eat curry,

they don't use knives and forks like I do. And

I'm not saying the knives and forks are better or worse.

I'm just saying my habit was I was taught to

eat with a knife and fork. And so when I'm

looking at a plate which has got chapatties and duhl

curry on it, and I'm looking at how people pick

it all up, and if I did that, I'd make

a right mess. I'm not saying it's right or wrong.

I'm just saying it's different. Do you know what I

actually have said to a couple of my Asian friends.

Please teach me and African friends too the same. Please

teach me how to eat like it is because I

don't know how to do it. Julie and I when

we first met at university. In the block we were in,

there was a Chinese gentleman. He was doing a PhD.

And he'd left his wife and two children back in China,

and he had fifty pence a day to live on

to feed himself. Every lunch time he'd have some noodles

and two eggs cooked in a bowl, and every lunchtime

he would say, would you like me to share it

with you? I was blown away by his generosity. You know,

we can all be We don't have to have very

much to be generous, and sometimes we don't even ask.

And I just want to encourage you. Church, Let's allow

grace to flow. Luke chapter nine, verse twenty three, as

the Cross calls to us to live by grace. It

says this. Then he said to them all, whoever wants

to be my disciple, must deny themselves and take up

their cross and follow me. Grace not only saves us,

it transforms us in the way we live. Those of

us who receive grace are called to live differently, showing forgiveness,

showing humility, and loving others. The Cross is both salvation

and a pattern for living. When we forgive someone who's

hurt us, we are living out grace, the grace we

received through the cross. Grace received becomes grace extended. And

I want to encourage each one of us. I'm going

to pray as I kind of draw this to a close,

that God would fill us up with his grace. The

cross stands as the greatest expression of grace in all history,

in all history, the greatest expression of grace, because at

the cross we see these things. At the cross we

see the depth of God's grace. He didn't just give

us a gift. He sent his one and only son,

who died on the cross and rose again. At the

cross we see the the power of God's love because

we remember not only an empty cross, a body taken

down and put into a tomb, but we also remember

the empty tomb. He rose again, He conquered death. At

the Cross, we see the reality of forgiveness. Some of

us say, we forgive, but we keep on bringing it

up again. It's a bit like Kipper's for breakfast. We

keep on bringing it up again and again we say, yes,

I forgive you, but I'm never gonna smile at you

ever Again. Yes I forgive you, but I'm never going

to have breakfast with you. Whatever it is, the Cross

shows us the reality of forgiveness. The Cross shows us

the restoration of relationship. Why did God send his only

son because he wants fellowship with you and me. He

wants a relationship with you and me. That's why he

loves it when we pray. That's why he loves it

when we give time to him. I don't know when

you pray how much time you sit in silence, but

I'd like to encourage you. Please don't just sit down

and go through your prayer list. Here's my ten things

I'm praying about today. God, Thank you very much, goodbye,

Because sometimes we do that. Sometimes we literally rush into

a room, Thank you God, Amen, and we're done. We've

done our prayer, and God's sitting there like a loving

dad and going hello, Hello, I've got something to say

to you today, and we're already gone. I mean, I

still think it's a beautiful illustration that we've got two

ears in one mouth. We should probably listen twice as

much as we speak, and that includes with God Lexio Divina,

which is a Bible course that Pete Gregg encourage people

twenty four to seven prayer, and one of the things

he said, whenever you read the Bible before whatever you're

going to read, fine, it's going to be good. Good.

The Bible's good. Even begat bygat begat it is good.

There's lots of parts of the Bible that I don't

still don't understand, but I'm excited about when I will

understand them. But sit down, choose to give some time

to reading your Bible. Be still and say, Lord, I'm

going to read your word. Now, would you speak to

me through your word? Read the word and sometimes read

it out loud. Why not, even if you're sitting in

a room on your own, read out loud. There's something

about speaking out the word that's important. I know there

are people in this room who walk around our town

speaking out the word of God. And when prayer walking.

We've got people in this room who prayer walk around

our town. Maybe you prayer walk around college. Do you

do it all silently? Sometimes? I think it's good. Now

here's a little trick if you want a little trick

to not like you're looking crazy. You're walking around chur

you're walking around campus, and you're praying, and you're praying

out loud people, she's talking to herself. Just put your

earphones in from your phone. Then it's suddenly it's perfectly normal,

Just a little trick. At the cross we see the

call to a transformed life. We sing a song sometimes

and they'll know we are Christians by our love, by

our love, and they'll know we are Christians by our love.

I wonder whether anybody would notice in my life, let

me make it really personal that I'm a Christian. There

used to be a TV program called Through the Keyhole?

Was it Lloyd Grossman? I think it was. And they

used to go into a celebrity's house and they'd look

at the books on the shelf, and they'd look at

the artifacts on the tables. Whose house is this? I

wonder if I came to your house, and we went

with a camera around your house? Whose house is this?

And are they a believer? And he's got important to them?

And do they show the reality of the gospel. For

in Corinthians two Corinthians twelve, verse nine, it says this,

but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for

you from my power. It's made perfect in weakness. You know,

we live in a world where admitting that you've run

out of whatever it is, money, time, strength, energy is

seen as a negative. Okay, you haven't got enough. Now.

There are moments when I run out of patience. Do

you run out of patience sometimes and you want to go, oh,

I just want to punch you right now. Yeah, it's

one or two people smiling, so I'm obviously scratching. But

do you know that's the reality. And sometimes we just

need to run out of ourselves and run into him

and say, Lord, I don't have any more patience, Give

me some patience. It's the spirit. Or I don't have

any more love for this person. Give me your love

that I might love them. I don't have enough grace

to be able to deal with this situation. Give me

the grace that I need to be gracious to this person,

for grace begins and ends at the Cross. I don't

think we church, I don't think we talk about enough

about the Cross. I think it's seen as a place

of suffering, a place of pain, and that's true, it is,

but it's also a place of victory. It's also a

place of sacrifice. It's also a place of God's gift

to us. For grace is found through the Cross. So

let me pray kind of done, but I do just

want to give some space to God to stamp on

some of the things I've said. There'll be some things

that are ringing through your head, and there are other

bits that have gone already. That's fine, whatever God wants

to remind you about. But I want us to close

our eyes. Those who are listening at home please also

respond here if you want to. But I'm just going

to start with running out For some people. As I'm

talking right now, as we're headspowed and eyes closed, when

I talk about running out, you're immediately saying, yes, that's

me I'm running out of and you know what it is.

And I'm going to pray for you. So if that's

you at home here, would you stand you running out

of might be grace, might be love, might be patience.

None of these might be. They are very costly things.

But if you're running out, you're running on empty. You

know you're running on empty all the time. Would you stand,

because I'm going to pray that the God who sent

his only son to the cross to die for you

will fill you again with all that you need need

for it's when i'm weak you make me strong. It's

when i'm poor then I can say I'm rich. Running

out is okay, especially when we've given to others without

counting the cost. So if that's you, would you stand

because I'm going to pray right now, Father, we acknowledge

before you, whether we're in the room, whether the listening later,

whether standing in the room right now, Lord, we acknowledge

we've run out of what we need, Lord, And some

of that's Some of that's about our lifestyle. Some of

that's about the choices we've made. But Lord, forgive us.

We repent, We turn from those poor choices, and we

turn back to you and say, would you fill us again? Lord?

Would you fill us again with the patience that I need?

Would you fill us with the love that I need

for this person who I should be loving, but I'm not.

Would you give me the humility to put them first?

Would you give me a fresh bundle of mercy right

now then, instead of insisting on justice, I'm able to

show your love. And above all, Lord, I pray the

Lord you'd release things that are stuck. Lord. As as

we're standing before you and we've run out, Lord, I

pray that you'd release resources, Lord, in our lives, in

our families, in the church, and wider too. Lord, from

the storehouse of heaven. Lord, would you release what we

need or not because we need it, because we want

to bring the glory back to you. So, Father God,

we thank you, We thank you in Jesus' name. Ah Man,

if you just want to sit down and just want

to do one more thing and before I hand back

to the worship team,