Resurrected: Soaking In Grace

We're in a series right now called Resurrected.

We're talking about Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10.

Ephesians 2:1–10

We love to study the Bible.

It is not boring.

It is life-changing.

It is awesome.

And so we like to open up God's word and say, hey, show us something.

There are certain things that we can observe as people, but there are things that only God can reveal.

And we believe that through his word, he reveals things about life, about us, about him, that we can never observe on our own.

And we've been going through this section of Ephesians.

Ephesians is a letter that this guy named Paul wrote to an early church, and uh and he's talking through this resurrection story.

But it's not the resurrection of Jesus.

Like you hear resurrection in church, you think, yeah, Jesus.

It's connected to that, but he's actually telling the story of our resurrection.

Which is kind of interesting because you might be here this morning thinking, I am very certain that I have always been alive.

But actually, not according to the scripture, which is which is weird.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1, Paul begins by saying, Once you were dead, because of your disobedience and your many sins.

Ephesians 2:1

Once you were dead.

Now he's not talking about physical death, he's talking about spiritual death.

And the reality is that to Jesus, the spiritual matters far more than the physical.

The spiritual and the physical, they're all one.

We have a way in our culture of separating spiritual and physical and sometimes elevating the physical over the spiritual.

Jesus never ever did that.

That's why in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus said, What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but you lose your soul?

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Is anything more valuable than your soul?

And the answer is obviously implied right there.

Jesus always elevated the spirit over the flesh.

And so when Paul says, once you were dead, he's talking about your spirit, and that's not like, ooh, thank goodness, it's just my spirit.

You know, it's not my body.

Like that's more serious in Paul's mind than if your body was dead, because your spirit is who you are.

You live in a body, but you're not a body.

Your spirit, you you have a life that is greater than just your pulse.

So he says, you used to be spiritually dead, and we've been using this illustration to make that practical for us to think about.

When your phone is out of power, you probably say that it's dead.

And you don't mean it's physically broken, you mean it has no power.

It has no life within it, it cannot function the way that it's meant to function.

So it needs to come to life, it needs to have some spirit in it.

And that's what Paul is saying.

We used to be dead.

Apart from Jesus, we cannot live the way that we're meant to.

We just don't have that life in us.

We need it, we need it to be given to us.

We need to connect to Him.

And so for the last few weeks, we've been talking about this whole idea of spiritual deadness, because that's where Paul goes with it.

Today we get to the fun part.

He says, Once you were dead because of your sins, because of your disobedience, but then he goes in in verse 4 and he says, But God.

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

It is only by God's grace that you have been saved.

For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and he seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and his kindness towards us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

God saved you by his grace when you believed.

And you cannot take credit for this.

It is a gift from God.

Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Three times in that in that section, in that amazing section that begins with, but God.

You used to be dead, but God, he rescued you, he brought you to life, and it was all through grace.

Three times he mentions grace.

Now, a couple months ago, we we did a whole message on grace.

We took a deep dive into it.

I don't just want to repeat that.

I know not all of us would have been here for that, but if you want to get a real deep dive on what grace really is, there's a message called Drenched in Grace.

It was part of a series we did called The Essentials just a few months ago.

Listen to that on the podcast or the app.

But to sum it up, grace is undeserved love.

It is it is unearned forgiveness, it is unmerited favor.

And the idea is that God loves you, He has forgiven you, and He favors you, and you did nothing to deserve it.

God loves you because He loves you, He has forgiven you out of the richness of His grace, and He favors you.

He actually desires to bless you, but it's not because you get a gold star, it's not because you've been performing at such a high level that God's like, I'm gonna reward that one.

He favors you through grace.

Mercy means you don't get what you actually deserve.

Grace means you get what you don't deserve.

And Paul makes a big deal about that.

He says, Look, you didn't do anything to earn this, you can't brag about it, you can't boast about it.

You didn't earn this.

Salvation is not a reward for the good things that we have done.

It's it's through grace.

Now, think about your life and some of the experiences you've had in life.

Have you ever had an experience where something bad happened to you and you totally deserved it?

Right?

Like something came your way, it wasn't good, and if you're honest, you're like, I had that coming.

I had that coming.

When I was in the eighth grade, you may not believe this, I was a bit mouthy.

I was a mouthy guy.

I'm not a big guy, the stage is deceptive.

I'm five foot nine, and I wasn't even five foot nine yet in eighth grade.

I was a late bloomer.

So imagine this is this is the aftermath of the bloom, like the pre-bloom.

Tiny little dude.

But I was mouthy, and so there was this day in eighth grade where the eighth grade basketball team played the ninth grade basketball team at the school that I was at.

I went to a middle school that was seventh, eighth, and ninth, it was different.

And uh, and and our team was really good, and I was the point guard, I was a little guy, and and and so we beat the ninth graders.

And a a wise five foot six, ninety-eight-pound eighth grader would just be like, we won.

That was awesome, and shut up.

But this guy decided, hey, let's let's rub it in a little bit.

And so I mouthed off to the biggest guy on the ninth grade team, and he responded by punching me repeatedly in the face in front of my girlfriend.

It was wonderful.

It was, we didn't, that relationship did not last very long after that.

You know, I just I think I seemed very pathetic, but whatever.

Truth of the matter is I deserved it.

Yes, he punched me several times.

Uh, it's not a bad thing, by the way, for a man to know what it feels like to be punched in the face.

There have been many men I have known that really need to be punched in the face, so I'm glad that I've had that experience.

Um but I I had it coming, I deserved it.

I did, and I should have kept my mouth shut.

I should have been humble, but I wasn't, and so that happened.

Have you ever had an experience where something really good happened to you and you did not deserve it at all?

Like something amazing.

Have you ever had a real life example of grace?

I've had several.

And I want to tell you this story.

This is one of the big ones in my life, and here's the deal if you've been at his hands for a long time, I'm just gonna let you know you've heard this story.

I'm sorry.

I I made a deal with myself.

You can do that, by the way, you can make deals with yourself.

I made a deal with myself that I would only tell the story approximately once every 18 months.

Because if I didn't, I would tell it every week, because it's like the coolest thing that ever happened to me.

One of the coolest things, like obviously we're getting married and having children, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But like, it's like it's you know, it's it's third on that list.

Oh yeah, and Jesus, so it's like fourth.

So, like, but but no, in my like heart of hearts, in in terms of who I am as a guy, this it's like this ranks really high on that list.

This is one of the coolest things I've ever experienced, and is a it's a total picture of grace.

Okay, so let me kind of set this up for you.

If you know me well or even at all, you know that I am a huge, huge Duke basketball fan.

And I realize that in saying that, some of you like me less, and I do not care at all.

Um, I've been a Duke fan since I was in the eighth grade.

About the same time I was punched in the face.

It's like they went hand in hand.

Right about then I became a Duke fan.

I love basketball, I love Duke basketball.

Um, any Duke basketball fans in the room?

Okay, a couple of you guys, a couple of you guys, hold your hands high proudly, people.

Okay, those of you know, keep your hands up.

I need to see my friends.

Um, how many of you keep your hands up if you can spell Shoshevsky?

All right, me and you, me and you, Jeff.

K-R-Z-Y-Z-W-S-K-I.

That's how you spell Shoshevsky.

He's the coach, he's like the all-time greatest coach in all of college sports, regardless of sport.

He has more wins than any other Division I college basketball coach.

He's been in more Final Fours, he's just the best.

So I love Duke, if you can't tell.

The very first time I got to go to Cameron Indoor Stadium, I went with my little brother.

That's the historic stadium Duke plays in.

Um, this is how I dressed when I went to Cameron Indoor the very first time years ago.

I was in my mid-20s.

Um I'm the one with his shirt on because my confidence level drops big time when the shirt comes off.

My little brother was more confident.

So we went to Duke.

That's just that's the level of fandom that I'm I'm talking about here, okay?

You guys can, you know, there you go.

So I'm this huge Duke basketball fan.

November 2008, I find out that the ACC tournament is gonna be played in Atlanta, which is a really rare thing.

The ACC, that's the conference that that Duke plays in.

It's like the basketball conference.

The SEC, those of you who are, you know, UGA fans, Alabama fans, whatnot, you guys are the football people, right?

The ACC, we're the basketball people.

Every once in a while, the football people get all cocky, like this year, we're gonna be the basketball people too.

No, you're not.

You're not.

You have Kentucky, and that's it.

That's it, that's all you got.

So, like, the ACC is where basketball is at.

And I found out that the ACC tournament, which is this weekend long tournament where all the ACC teams compete for the championship, and it's a big deal.

They all get together one place, it was gonna be in Atlanta, and I was stoked.

And then I saw the price of the tickets, and I was like, not happening.

Because those of you who are overmarried, you know that there's a dollar amount you can go to your spouse with, and you can say, hey, what do you think about me spending this much money on myself?

And your spouse is like, Yeah, absolutely, you deserve it.

You're a great husband, you go, you do that.

You know, that's that's fine.

But then there's another dollar amount where no, no, like not at all.

And it was that it was that amount.

Those those conference tournaments, they're expensive.

And you spend that money, and the more money you spend, the better game you get to go to.

And so if you want to go to the championship game, it's a lot, and you're not even sure if your team's gonna make it to the championship.

So you could spend hundreds of dollars hoping your team gets there, but it's a single elimination tournament, they may not get there.

And so I was like, dang it, it's not gonna happen.

And I'm in the office one day here at the church.

I was working with a youth back then, and I just mentioned it.

I just sort of like off the cuff, said, like, ah man, I found out how much it cost.

And Susan, who is one of our founding pastors, those of you who are here back in those days, Susan was just this amazing person.

Susan, she hears me and she just tells me to pray about it.

And Susan had this funny way of doing things where she would tell you to do something, and then you might want to rebut that, and she didn't give you a chance.

She just laughed and like backed away.

So I she's like, You should pray about it.

And I was like, Well, I don't really and walked away.

Pray about it.

And uh that was Susan.

And so I was like, fine, I know God loves me, I know he's my dad, I know I can pray for anything.

He's gonna give me stuff.

I get that.

Like, I that's fine.

But I still feel weird about praying for tickets to a game.

There's bigger things going on in the world, there's bigger things going on in my life.

But I did because I knew Susan would ask me, like, she would ask me.

So I prayed once, November of 2008.

God, you hook me up to the ACC tournament, give me some tickets.

That'd be great.

That was it.

Forgot about it, like, okay.

Fast forward to January 2009, the the basketball season's in full swing, and one day I'm at home on my day off.

I didn't have children yet, so I had days off and I had free time, and I pull up my computer and I read this article on this website I've never heard about.

It was linked to by some other website I was on.

I was just checking out sports stuff.

And it was this article about Duke, and it was horrible, terribly written, just stupid opinion.

That whoever wrote it, I was like, what moron was given the ability to write this article.

I was really mad about it, passionate.

And I'm like, what website is this?

I've never heard of it before.

It was a website called Bleacher Report, which is now, if you're a sports fan, like a pretty big deal, but it just gotten started.

And in those days, anyone can write an article, anyone at all.

It was like Facebook.

Anyone can say anything, but that doesn't mean what they have to say is worth anything at all, but anyone can say anything they want.

So I look into this and I'm like, you mean anyone can write an article?

Well, fine, I'll write an article.

And so I'm like writing this article in response to this other guy.

I remember my wife got home because she didn't have the same day off as me.

She's like, What'd you do with your day off?

I was like, I'll tell you what I did.

I wrote this killer article to prove this idiot wrong.

Like, this guy didn't know anything.

Check out the article I wrote in response to that.

And she's like, You're a grown man.

And you spent your whole day writing a rebuttal to a person you will never meet.

And I was like, Yes, I did, and I enjoyed it.

So I write this article and it kind of like became an addiction.

You know, I have some free time, I'll write another article.

And it became something I really enjoyed doing, and I live like with my head, anyone who works at his hands is so tired of me using basketball analogies to explain everything in the world.

I'm like, you know, it's kind of like in basketball.

They just they get so annoyed with that.

Um, it's just sort of where my brain is at.

So it's very easy for me to write these articles, it's just something that comes out of me.

So I'm writing articles, and one day I get this email from the guy who is in charge of the basketball section at Bleacher Report.

He's like, Justin, CBS Sports just picked up your article and they put it on their front page.

And so I go to CBSports.com and there's my article is the lead story.

And I'm like, am I gonna get am I gonna get paid?

You know?

And he's like, no, no, no, no.

We have a partnership with CBS and you're not, but isn't that cool?

And I was like, Yeah, no, it is cool.

It is cool, but I'd be great to get paid, but still it was really cool.

And so I'm you know sharing about that, I'm super excited about that, and that only fuels the obsession.

And so it gets to the point where I'm pretty much writing three articles a week.

I'm just anytime I have free time, I'm I'm putting work into it.

I probably put you know 20 hours into it over the course of several weeks.

Well, then I get a phone call from the same guy that emailed me, he had my number, and he calls me up like early, early March, and he says, Justin.

This is this is Justin from Bleach Report.

We were both named Justin.

It was a cool thing.

And uh and he says, CBS wants to use our writers to cover the the conference tournaments, um mainly because they don't they don't pay them.

So that's like the best way to do it, right?

But that's not the the selling point he used.

He's like, they want to use our writers, and you you're like the ACC guy, and so we want you to cover the ACC tournament for CBS.

And here's the thing, he has no idea where I live.

He goes, the only problem is that it's in Atlanta, and you know we can't pay for it, and we can't we can't pay travel.

You'd have to come up with your own travel expenses and all that.

Do you think you can make this happen?

And I was like, Yes.

I can do this.

You have your man.

And then I called Steve, who was my boss, and I was like, Steve, I swear to God, if you don't let me do this, I'm gonna quit the church and I'm gonna leave, and like it's never gonna happen again.

No, no, I I was like, Steve, please, please, please, please.

Susan told me to pray, right?

You better.

So I say yes.

And I I'll never forget, I drive to the Georgia dome, and I have no idea what I'm doing.

You know, you've probably found yourself in a situation as an adult, like you're doing something that you've never done before, and you just you could either A figure out how to do it, ask questions, be humble and say, hey, I've never done this before.

Could you give me the lay of the land?

But no, no, no, you're just like, I'll just walk around and act like I know what I'm doing and imitate other people.

You know what I mean?

Like the first time I bought a house, I'm signing these documents.

I'm like, yeah, that sounds like a great mortgage rate.

I think that sounds good.

Yeah, absolutely.

Uh that kind of thing.

So I show up at the Georgia Dome.

I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm just walking around, I'm dressed up like I think a journalist would dress, and and I see some people walking down a hallway, so I walk down that hallway, wrong hallway.

Um, but I'm like, oh, I'm looking for the press area.

And the guy's like, uh, go over there, get your credentials.

I go up to the credential stand.

I'm telling this story richly with much detail because it's important to me.

Um, and I I go up and I see this person and I say my name like it's a question, like I don't even really know my name because I'm so nervous that this is all a dream.

And I just go, Just Justin McTear?

Like, maybe?

And she looks down, there's my name.

She goes, Here's your credentials.

I put on this badge, CBS Sports, and I'm like, Whoa, this is real.

This is real.

So I make my way to where the actual court is, and and I sit down at my assigned seat.

Here, here was my seat.

I took a picture of it.

This was my seat.

I'm right there.

I'm pressed row.

Guys, I'm CBS.

Like, that's who I am.

I am CBS Sports.

I'm not some little local newspaper.

Those guys are like three rows back.

I was looking at them like little people, you know.

I'm here.

I could reach out and trip the players if I want to, and it's a four-day tournament.

So that's not my seat for one game.

That's my seat for four days for like 12-something game.

It's crazy, right?

I'm there and it's it's amazing.

It's awesome.

I walk around and I'm around all these other sports guys that I watch on TV.

There's a buffet.

The press people get a free buffet.

In between every game, I'm just like popping shrimp.

It's amazing.

I'm seeing guys that I watch on TV that I kind of idolize.

Some of you guys might have have people you idolize you think are awesome.

I have weird idols like Dick Vital.

All right?

You guys know Dick Vital?

Raise your hand if you've ever seen Dick Vital on TV, right?

If you haven't, he's the most attractive man in sports.

He is a great dude.

He's famous for his cadence and his passion.

He always says things like, It's awesome, baby.

You know, like that's how he talks.

I'm on the phone with my little brother, and right in front of me is Dick Vital, because you know, I'm CBS, he's the SPN, we're practically brothers.

And uh and I walk up to him and I do this super unprofessional thing, but I just can't help myself.

I'm on the phone with my brother and I say, Hey dude, hold on.

And I go, Mr.

Mr.

Videl, um, would you mind telling my brother he's awesome?

And Dick, that's what I call him.

He uh he's he's cool with it.

And so he just takes the phone and he goes, You're awesome, baby, with a capital A, and he hands me the phone back.

And my brother, my brother, who by the way, another huge Duke fan, my brother goes, Was that Dick Vitel?

And I said, It was.

And then there was a pause and he said, I hate you.

That's how that went.

So it was just amazing.

Day number two is when Duke played their first game because the better teams usually have a bye the first round, and so day two, I'm there, I'm court side.

Duke wins the game.

After the game, I get to go and talk to the coaches because I get to go into the I'm CBS, remember?

So I get to go to the press conference room, and and you you ever you ever see like a sports interview where they ask these people very dumb questions?

Like, how did you feel when you won?

And like, what are they supposed to say?

I got to be the guy that asked the dumb questions.

It was so cool.

And and I got to interview, like legit interview, Mike Sheshewski, the second most attractive man in sports.

Go ahead and put up Coach K's picture, guys.

Look at that.

Look at that.

Look at that fine example of man.

He's joyous, happy.

He's really known, he's really known for being like a super laid-back dude.

Okay, if you don't know anything about Coach K, other than his greatness, here's a few things.

Anyone know who Bobby Knight is?

All right?

Bobby Knight, known for being just a real laid-back dude, you know, nope, throwing chairs, that kind of stuff.

Coach K played for Bobby Knight at West Point.

So he is a West Point graduate, and I'll tell you this people who graduate from West Point, they carried themselves a little bit differently.

I've never looked into the eyes of another man and wanted to pee my pants, but I did that day.

I did.

I held it in, I held it together, but I interviewed Coach K.

Like, I talked to him, he responded.

I walked next to him, I asked him questions, and I tried my best not to hug him, and it was just amazing, you know?

And he smelled nice, it was great.

So, like, I got to talk to Coach K.

But then after the coach interview, because I'm CBS, I get to go into the locker room and interview players.

So I'm like, I'm hanging out with the players, and I'm talking to them and I'm asking them questions, but I'm just like, this is amazing.

Like, I'm a Duke fan.

This is amazing.

Well, fast forward to the last day.

Championship round, Sunday, and it's Duke versus Florida State in basketball.

So really no even like not a reason to play the game.

Like it's basically like why it was football, it'd be like, yeah, okay, but it's basketball in Florida State.

Like, come on.

Um, so Duke wins, obviously.

And uh, and here's the crazy thing I am in the locker room of my favorite team.

I'm in the locker room with them as they are celebrating winning this whole tournament.

I mean, there's like a confetti and they're putting on hats and they're jumping around, and I am in the locker room with them.

And I'm talking to them.

And like, the crazy thing about it is that I'm I'm with all these other journalists too.

There's lots of other guys there.

Now, these guys went to school for this, right?

They went to journalism school and they took classes and they worked really, really hard, and then they got a job at some nowhere newspaper and they worked their way up.

Because you don't start covering college basketball in the ACC.

That's not your starting gig, right?

These guys, they have they have worked their way up.

They're all like 10, 12 years older than me.

That they've all slaved away, they've all put in hours and hours and hours of time and sacrifice doing really menial things just to have this opportunity.

I'm in the same place they are.

If I would have asked any of them, hey man, isn't this awesome?

They're like, this is cool.

So tell me what you had to do to get here.

Oh my goodness, man, I have like, I've worked for years.

I've spent 10 years at this newspaper.

I covered, you know, no offense, I covered like girls lacrosse for three years.

And and you know, and by the way, I I have a daughter, and my wife is an incredible athlete.

You guys may not know this, but Megan had a thousand rebounds in high school basketball and was a three-time All-State volleyball player, so girls' sports is great.

It's just that girls lacrosse, not a huge market.

So, like, this guy, he basically I had to do this, and then I had to work here, and then I got a transfer and a job, and I had to bust it, and I finally made my way here.

How'd you get here?

Um, I I prayed for some tickets back in November.

You know?

Just one time.

One prayer.

Like, if that guy would have looked at me and he said, Are you telling me you haven't done any work to be here right now?

I'm like, oh no, dude.

I've you know, I've I've put in at least 20 hours of time being here right now.

See, here's the thing.

The other guys, they deserve to be there.

They worked for it, they earned it.

I did not deserve to be there.

I did not earn it.

I did not work for it, it was given to me.

I was in a place I did not belong.

That's great.

Here's the thing when you have something so good, and you know you don't deserve it, and you know you didn't earn it, what do you do with it?

You marvel at it.

Right?

You you bask in it, you soak it in.

So I can tell you this that that day, the last day when they won, I was the last reporter to leave the locker room.

I was interviewing assistant coaches that no one's ever heard of.

I was I interviewed the team manager, I interviewed the walk-on players that they're they didn't even know what to do.

No one's ever asked them a question, no one's ever acknowledged that Coach K doesn't even talk to them.

And like, I'm walking up, like, hey, let's talk.

And they're like, ah, blah, blah, blah, I've never done this before.

I I was like, they had to like make me leave.

All right, it's time to go.

Like, one, I got one more.

Who's that guy?

He works here.

He's the okay, fine.

The janitor, I'll talk to him.

Like, hey.

So I soaked it in because I knew, I knew that this was a gift.

I knew that this is nothing that I could have done, nothing that I could have accomplished.

But I'm gonna enjoy it.

And when it comes to the undeserved, unmerited, unearned love, forgiveness, and favor of God, look, I'm gonna be honest, we don't deserve it.

No one in this room does, even the best of us in this room, and there's some really great people in this room, but you don't deserve that.

And what we've got to do is Jesus followers.

It's not so much understand it, because I don't think you can.

Some things are so good you just can't understand them.

It's not that we need to understand it, it's that we need to soak in it.

We need to look at it from ten different angles and go, wow, this is crazy.

This is so good.

That's how good, that's how good the grace of God is.

So that's actually what I'd like us to do this morning.

Like I said, you know, we we talked about grace a couple months ago.

Listen to that message, Drenching Grace on the podcast on the mobile app if you want to catch up.

But right now, I don't want us to so much just study God's grace.

I want us to experience it.

I want us to marvel at it.

I want us to soak it in.

I want us to look at it from all these different vantage points and just go, wow, this is mine.

This is mine.

So here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna we're gonna pray.

I'm gonna ask the worship team to come on out, and I'm just gonna read some scripture.

I'm just gonna read some scripture and we'll reflect on it very briefly.

But this is a worshipful experience.

And I'm gonna ask that God gives you, each of you, some angle on grace you've never had before.

That you maybe see it as something you've never understood it to be, because you might understand God's grace as yeah, I'm forgiven.

It's so much more than that.

It is so much more than that.

I'm gonna pray that we all see it in a way we've never seen it before, and that we walk out of this place in awe of the grace that God has given us.

That we soak in it.

And if you're here this morning and and you, this is like new to you, the church thing's new to you, and all that, then I pray that every single thing that we say and share that you would realize what awaits you if you give your life to Jesus.

Because there is nothing like this in the world.

I've also asked a few people to pray and ask God to give them something to share about grace, and so they'll come up as we sing a little bit and share.

But but if you wouldn't mind praying with me real quick, Lord Jesus, thank you so much for putting us in a place that we do not belong.

We do not belong in your presence.

Not in and of ourselves.

We're not holy enough, we're not good enough, we're not righteous enough.

We don't belong based on our own effort, our own merit.

We don't belong based on our own accomplishments, Lord.

There's none of us that can accomplish enough to be deserving of your love.

But you have taken us and you have placed us where we could never have gotten ourselves.

You've given us grace and we want to we want to soak in it right now, Lord.

We want to experience it, we want to bask in it.

So, God, we're saying that our hearts are open right now, our hearts are open to the grace that I believe you want to pour into us.

We love you.

Guys, if you wouldn't mind just bringing the lights down a little bit, let's just let's soak in God's grace.

Romans 6 14 says, Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law.

Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace.

You are free.

You are free because of the grace of God.

You are free from your mistakes, you are free from your failures, you no longer live under the requirements of the law.

What that means is that your performance is not what dictates the way God sees you.

Not anymore.

You are free to live your life, unencumbered by shame, unencumbered by guilt, unencumbered by regret.

You are free from all of that because God's grace has freed you.

It's over you.

It says that we live under grace.

So God's grace is a covering over your life.

You're covered.

And there is nothing in this world, there's no mistake that you can make strong enough to puncture a hole in the grace of God.

His grace covers you everywhere you go.

You are covered.

You are covered, you have shelter in the grace of God.

As you walk out of here this week, everywhere you go, realize that you are covered, that you are under grace.

It is over you.

Romans 3, 23 through 24 says, For everyone has sinned.

We all fall short of God's glorious standard, yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight.

He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins.

God's grace is free.

It is freely given.

It's free.

You ever notice how good free things are?

Little Caesar's Pizza, if you have to pay for it, it's like, eh.

If it's free, you're like, this is really good.

You know?

Free things, it just tastes better.

Here's the interesting thing about something being free.

It might be free to the one who receives it, but it is not free to the one who gives it.

Someone always pays.

And so the grace of God, this unmerited love, this unearned favor, this unasked for, in many cases, forgiveness.

It was given to you freely through Jesus on the cross, but He paid, He paid a mighty price.

He gave up heaven, He laid the divine privileges that he had as the Son of God, He laid those aside, and He came to this earth and he lived a difficult life, and he was persecuted and he was accused, and he was misunderstood and misrepresented, and he was beaten, and he was shamed and he was mocked and he was humiliated.

That was the price that he paid.

It was his life.

And he looked at you and he saw that as a worthwhile price.

So this grace that you have it is free, but it is also costly.

Free for you, not for Jesus.

The grace of God is freely given.

Titus 2.11, for the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.

God's grace has saved you.

You're saved.

You're saved from the penalty of sin.

You're saved from your own iniquity.

You're saved from your mistakes.

You're saved.

We are suburban Americans, most of us in this room.

Which means that even on our bad days, we have a version of life circumstantially that is greater than the life that most people in the history of humanity have ever lived.

What we have on a day-to-day basis is more than people a few thousand years ago could have ever even dreamed of.

And yes, we have hard times, but in comparison to what most people in the world go through, not really.

We're so blessed.

We have so much.

And yet, yet, even though we have all this stuff, and for the most part, we're not worried about when we're gonna eat our next meal.

Most of us right now are thinking about where we're gonna eat when we leave here, not if we are.

We still know what it feels like to be anxious, we still know what it feels like to be depressed, we still feel we know what it feels like to be lost, we know what it feels like to have no hope.

We know what it feels like to have no answers, we know what it feels like to be stuck, we know what it feels like to be drowning in our own fear and regret and shame and guilt and confusion.

Even though we are so circumstantially blessed, we are drowning.

But Jesus has jumped into the water and he has rescued you, he has saved you.

Grace has saved you.

You are saved.

You've been saved by grace, and it's vital and it's complete.

Acts 20, verse 32.

Acts 20:32

And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he set apart for himself.

That phrase, build up, that's a really interesting phrase.

In the original word that the author used in the Greek language, that word means to finish a structure that's foundation has already been laid.

And so what that means is that grace is not done.

Yes, grace is complete.

Yes, you have been saved, but grace is not finished with you yet.

You are still being built up by God.

Now, how crazy would it be to walk up to a house that is currently being built and criticize the builders for things that they haven't done yet?

Like if you walked up to a house where the foundation has been laid and they're framing it out, and you came up to them and you said, Hey guys, there's no roof.

Hey, where's the drywall?

Like they would look at you and say, What's wrong with you?

Can't you see that we're still building this?

Can't you tell that we're not done yet?

And yet we criticize ourselves and those around us because they're not finished yet.

And God looks at us and he says, My grace is not done with you.

And my grace is not done with them.

His grace is working.

And so if you're here this morning and you're you're frustrated because you feel like, yeah, you started some relationship with God, and yes, you have faith, but you are not where you thought you would be.

You don't feel like you're there yet.

God is still working on you because grace is building you up, grace is active in you.

And as you trust God day by day, he's making you into the person he created you to be.

And make no mistake, he will finish what he starts.

Hebrews chapter 12 says, Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

Some translations say that he finishes our faith, he is the master carpenter, he is the builder.

It is not our job to build ourselves, it is not our job to be the architect who designs the plans.

It is our job to let the master do his work, to let the grace of God build us.

And so let grace build you today.

Be encouraged, let grace build you up.

God's not done with you yet.

Praise God.

Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

We read these verses just a moment ago.

God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

It is only by God's grace you've been saved, for he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and he seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

And here's the amazing thing about grace.

And there, by the way, are more verses that we could go into and get into, and we don't have time.

Not right now, but you do.

Search grace, study grace in God's word.

It's it's amazing.

It says that because of the grace of God, we've been seated in the heavenly realms.

We've been seated in the heavenly places.

Now, I'm not gonna stand here and pretend to be an expert on how the heavenly realms work.

And what does it mean for us to be seated in heaven?

Best way I can explain it is if you've ever gone to see a movie and you're going with a group and you can't make it in time to guarantee that you get a good seat, but you got someone that's there ahead of you.

And they say, Don't worry, I'm saving you a seat.

And you'll even think in your mind, even though you're not there, you're like, Well, I have a seat.

I'm there.

You might as well be.

Physically, you're not there yet, but for all intents and purposes, when it when it really matters most, you're there.

You're already there.

And you have assuredness, you have confidence, you have security because you know that your seat is saved, that it is secure.

Jesus said, I go before he ascended to heaven, he said, I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am you may also be.

Jesus has gone ahead of us, and he is seated at the right hand of God, and he has saved your place in the heavenly realms, he has secured your spot in eternity, which means that when life gets really hard right now, be thankful that this is just your temporary residence.

When life is not going the way that you want it to go, be grateful that you have a permanent home in heaven.

You have a permanent home that Jesus has saved it for you.

It's saved, it's secure, it's safe.

Look, if you go to the movies and you tell a friend to save you a seat, the only chance that that might fall through is that if someone who works there, maybe the person who's the manager walks up and says, Hey, I'm sorry, you can't save seats for people.

Look, there's no one in heaven that's gonna tell Jesus what to do.

He runs the place.

So if he says your seat is secured, your seat is secured.

You are in heaven right now for all intents and purposes.

You're there.

And that is through grace.

His grace is final, his grace is complete.

Scripture says his grace is sufficient, his grace is abundant.

Scripture says that when sin abounds, grace abounds more.

God's grace is amazing.

And there is no way for us to fathom it, there is no way for us to understand it, because there's nothing in this world like it, but we can soak it in, we can marvel at it, we can sit here today and go, are you serious?

This is mine, this belongs to me.

I don't deserve this, I don't deserve to be here.

But God has brought me here through grace, and it's yours.

Anyone grateful for the grace of God this morning?

Come on.

Come on.

Let's sing about it.

Jesus, thank you so much for your grace.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of the grace that you have poured on us.

We will not pretend like we've earned it, we will not forget that we don't deserve it.

We will not, for a moment, for a second, for any minuscule amount of time, take it for granted.

Thank you, Lord, for your grace.

Thank you, Lord, for your love.

It is truly special, it is amazing, and it is worth celebrating, Lord.

We love you, Jesus.

In your name we pray.

Amen.