How are you saved?

How are you saved? Is being a good person enough?

Most of us have some kind of spiritual scoresheet. We look at the good we've done, the mistakes we have made, how often we go to church, or how our lives compare with everyone else. Some look at the score and think, "I've done enough." Others look at it and wonder, "Could God ever want someone like me?"

But what if both are looking in the wrong direction?

In this sermon from Ephesians 2:4-10, Pastor Jason Barnett explores what the Bible says about salvation, God's grace, faith in Jesus, and good works. Paul's answer is surprisingly freeing: salvation isn't something we accomplish or earn. It is God's gift, and the good things we do come after God makes us alive in Christ, not as a way of convincing Him to save us.

Whether you're exploring Christianity, new to following Jesus, carrying regrets from your past, or have been in church your entire life, this message invites you to consider one important question: When you think about whether you are saved, are you looking at what Jesus has done or at what you have done?

Put down the scoresheet. You are not saved by what you have done, but by what Jesus has done for you.

Linkoln shares his story on why he started coming to Ravenna Church of the Nazarene and shares why you should consider doing the same.

Ravenna Church of the Nazarene
530 Main Street, Ravenna, KY 40472

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Pastor Jason 0:00

Being a good person will not save you. Going to church will not save you. You don't need a better score. You need Jesus. I'm Pastor Jason Marnett, and this is the Pastor of the Podcast. We spend a lot of our lives keeping score. We compare ourselves to other people and sometimes to even do that with God. We convince ourselves we've done enough. Or maybe we worry that we haven't done nearly enough. But what if both of those questions, both of those perspectives, what if they're looking in the wrong direction? And this message from Ephesians chapter 2, we're asking a simple but incredibly important question. How are you saved? So wherever you're listening from, pull up a chair and join us as we head into this message. Now, when I was a senior in high school, I had a friend, and uh let's just say we were very two different types of students, right? She was the type where she would she made mostly A's all the time. And if she made a B, not because her parents forced her, if she made a B, she was upset, right? Like she was that kind of driven student. She studied and she really cared about her grades. I was not that student, right? I was the student that I I figured out, okay, how many points do I need to pass this class? And how many points do I need to score so my mom doesn't ground me beyond that point? Like I did the math, I figured out. Because here's the thing, I I could score higher than that, but in order to score higher than that, I had to give up something important like fishing, right? Or playing video games or hang out with friends. So I didn't want to do that. So I want to do just enough uh to deal the things I want. But now at my at my high school uh in Martinsville, Indiana, every senior you had to pass government class. That was like the last class you had to pass before you could graduate. And uh so again, this this this friend, she thought she would, because she got all these grades, she she thought she was smarter than me, right? And so she liked to rub that in occasionally, and and we both were taking government class during the same trimester. Now, even though we were taking the same class with the same teacher, she was taking it at an earlier class period in the day, and I was taking it for the middle of the day. And when it came time for the final, again she was rubbing it in, you know, making me feel dumb. And so I said, you know what? I bet I could score higher than you on the final. Which, again, if you looked at the situation, compared student grades and student things, right? You looked at her grades with mostly A's, the fact that she studied and she studied for that test, you would think that you would pick her to get a higher grade, right? The teacher would pick her to get a higher grade. The classmates, our classmates would pick her to get a higher grade. Even Vegas would have picked her to get a higher grade than me. But I was confident, right? Because when she said you're not smart enough to get a higher grade, I was like, challenge acceptance. And so the day of the test comes. Well, let me let me put this right here. We made a deal, because Nazarenes don't gamble, right? We don't gamble like that. So we made a deal. The deal was whoever got the whoever got the highest score, the loser, had to buy them dinner. So that was the plan. So again, she had the government class before I did. So she went in, she took the test, and she she scored a 97. Not only did she score 97, she scored so high, like it was the highest score in our senior class up to that point. And she's so she was now the standard by which everyone else was gonna be judged. I'll be honest, I was sweating a little bit. I was like, man, I probably should have studied for this thing. Because I might lose this, and that's not good. I don't know if my pride can take it. But, you know, I'm uh I walk into that government class a couple periods later, and I decided, okay, I gotta take this, I've got to win. So I sit down, I take the test. But because of the way our schedule worked, um, I didn't get to find out my grade right away. I had to I had to go to the rest of this of my day and come back in the school. And so me and my friend, we go into the government teacher's classroom. As soon as I enter the door, he starts walking toward me and he says, Mr. Barnett. And usually when a teacher began a conversation that way, it was not a good conversation. But this time I knew it wasn't the case, so he had a big old grin on his face. He said, Mr. Barnett, you are the first student in six years that's got a 100% of my final. And then when my friend picked her jollop up the floor, I still went and bought her dinner anyway because I had already won. It didn't matter. The dinner didn't matter to me at that point. I had already achieved what I was after. Oh. But you know, I think about what happened in that story. Me and this friend, we were comparing each other, right? We had this scoreboard. Our scoreboard were these test scores, like based on whose score, I'm better than you, or you're better than me. And I think so much in life we spend time doing that, don't we? We spend a lot of our lives doing that, comparing ourselves with others, putting up scoreboards to determine whether we're worthy or not, whether we're good enough, whether we're smart enough or not. And the problem is a lot of times we do that with God too. We look at each other and we or we look at God, we think, you know, I'm a good person. I treat people right. I go to church. And it's like we say that to God like we're keeping score and we hope we have earned enough points to earn his race. Or maybe we think the opposite. Maybe we we know how broken and messed up we are, how many state mistakes we've made, and how many times we put ourselves in a bad situation situation or the wreck we've made of our life, we know those things, so we think there is no way I can ever score enough points to be good enough. One person looks at the scoreboard and thinks, well, I've done enough. And the other person thinks, I'm afraid I haven't done quite enough. But what if both people are asking their own question? What if salvation is not something it's not about scoring higher than someone else? What if salvation is something entirely different? And what if salvation isn't even isn't even about scoring higher than you scored yesterday? And I think that's the question Paul's gonna look at here in Ephesians 2. He's gonna give us the true answer to the right question, and it involves removing the store sheet from our hands. So we're gonna be looking in Ephesians chapter 2, we're gonna read verses 4 through 10. This is how it reads. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. And he did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God's grace, and God raised us up and seen us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. God did this to show us or to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus. You are saved by God's grace because of your faith. And this salvation is God's gift. It's not something you possess, it's not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God's accomplishment. Created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Alright, so where we start at in our passage today, we are kind of interrupting Paul's thought where we're jumping in at. And if you look at the verses right before this, Paul is talking about how broken and simple humanity is, how corrupt and unable to write itself it is. He's saying that humanity is spiritually dead in sin. And I don't know about you, I'm not, I'm I'm not getting, I told you what my love's like as a student. But I do know, you know, there's no bigger problem than dead. Now, Paul's gonna go on in the rest of this letter to tell the epicians how to live. But before he tells them how to live, he has to he spends chapters one through three telling them what God has done in Jesus. And that means the question Paul is answering as we're looking at this passage today is how are you saved? How are you saved? In our passage, Paul gives the answer. And so again, our passage picks up in if Paul were to take a modern English class, he would probably fail. Because he likes run-on sentences. And if you notice in my commenting English Bible here, uh, notice how four and five are grouped together in the slide? Some of your translates, other English translators might break four and five, but we might put them together. Why? Because this is one of Paul's famous run-on sentences. So rather than try and break the thought of, we're getting worshiped, they kind of blend four and five together to get the thought out there so we can read and understand it. Rather than try and break it into two smaller pieces just because, well, when they originally wrote these documents, they didn't put the verse numbers in there. We those were added years later, right? And so, in order, rather than try and force this verse into separate verse category because some numbers somebody stuck there, they kept all spot together. Or at least tried to. But anyway, it begins with your translation. C V says, however, God, but but in yours, it might say, but God. Right? Remember, Paul was just describing in the previous verses how sin rendered humanity dead spiritually. There was no life. And again, again, he's not just saying that humanity is just sick, right? It needs a little bit of help. He's not saying that that we're just we're struggling along. No, he's saying that humanity, we as individuals, are spiritually dead. And his thought begins here in these verses with them all caps, right? A capitalized word, but right? This is one of those words you're here sending a text message to Bobby about the barbecue, right? You're gonna say, Bobby, we're excited for your barbecue, but don't let Pastor Jason put it in the refrigerator, right? You make that you make that view and emphasize it, don't do that. That's what Paul is doing in these verses, this verse here. He was just talking about how broken humanity is, and I was saying, but but God acted in his great love and mercy. Humanity was dead, helpless, couldn't do anything, couldn't fix itself, but God acted in his mercy. God acted in his great life, and what did God do when he acted? He made us alive together with Christ. And he says, though though we were dead, we have been saved by God's grace. Then he continues on into verses six and seven. He writes, Paul writes, God raised us up and seated us in heaven with Christ Jesus. And God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace for the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus. So what Paul is saying here is it's not that Jesus died on the cross, made atonement for our sins, and rose again and set up on heaven, and then God came and breathed life into us. Now we're living on our own, right? Our life doesn't exist within ourselves. We are spiritually dead. The life that God gives us by faith is the very life of Jesus. The life that is the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life. That is the life that God gives us spiritually that brings us alive. It's that new life, that new life that comes from being born again, right? Born again from above, that life of the spirit. It's the life of Jesus. So our salvation is a display of the inexhaustible and unmeasurable richness of God's grace. I like about the language of Paul uses again, all the different translations word it differently. What they're trying to say is God's grace is so vast, so wonderful, so powerful, so mighty that we there's no way we could put a figure on it. We can't calculate it. It's beyond our comprehension, it's beyond our understanding. That's why when we experience the love of God, it overwhelms us, right? It often moves us to ears, it makes us raise our hands and shout. Why? Because God's grace is an overwhelming thing. I like when the modern songwriter puts it as uh your love is washing over you like a powerful waves in the storm that keeps battering the storm. That's what God's love is like in our life. That's what Paul's trying to scribe. Then he moves on into verse 8. He says, You are saved by God's grace because of your faith. You're saved by God's grace because of your faith. Now, when you read that, it makes it sound like, right? Like God, through grace, moves moves like this. He moves to you, like you're standing way over here, I'm standing, God's standing here, and God's gonna move only 99% of the way, and then by faith, you move the other 1% to meet God, right? That's what that verse makes it sound like. But that's not what Paul is saying. What Paul is saying right here in this verse is that that whole process of salvation only happens because of the grace of God. It's God's grace through Jesus upon the cross that purchased our salvation. And it's because of God's grace that you and I, who are broken and sinful, who are dead spiritually. When you're dead spiritually, you know, dead things don't see, good things don't move, good things don't react. They don't know to react because they can't. That's us spiritually. But Paul is saying, because of God's grace, God's grace works in our lives, it opens our eyes and makes us realize we need Him. And so what God's grace does is it brings us to a place where we are capable, where we have the freedom to make the decision to put our faith in Jesus. Yes, it's our decision whether we're gonna believe Jesus or not believe Jesus. But God's grace is what gets you to that point. Think about how you ended up in church at all in your life. I know what it was for me. My older brother said, Hey, do you want to go to church? And the church man showed up. I was like, okay. I don't even remember asking my mom. I just remember the guy offered me a candy board and I got in. I was like five. I didn't know enough, I didn't know enough yet. I just knew I was getting a stickers bark. But that's what grace does. That's not something we do, that's something God does. We choose faith not because our faith saves us. No, our faith is our response to God's gift that he's offering to us. That's what Paul is getting at you. You see, we come to God empty-handed. We have nothing, again, we're dead, we have nothing to offer. But God's like, here's my gift of grace. And then we come to him empty-handed, and we take him at his word about the riches of his grace. His salvation is a gift. And to the Ephesians, this was scandalous, right? And maybe you know people like this, but especially in this culture time period, the Ephesians were very big on if if if George were to give me a gift, I have to get George's gift back. Right? It's not just I I want to, I have to. That was their culture. But in this situation, Paul is saying, you came to God empty-handed. You had nothing to offer him, and he gave you this gift of salvation anyway. Not because you ordered it, because his grace and his mercy and his love says, I want you to have it. Now, again, you read this, you focus just on that verse, it makes it sound like Paul's eliminated the need for us to do something, right? He's like, Okay, I can put faith on Jesus and just sit there. I got saved against camp and Isaac, I'm good to go. I don't need to do anything else. But if you think that, you saw it before you got to verse 10. This is what Paul says in verse 10. He says, We are God's accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. And God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. Some translations say you are God's workmanship. A more literal translation is this is where we get the English word poem from, right? It's like you are God's epic poem that you're in, you're God's masterpiece. Paul is saying, you are the good word of God. But you are the good word to be used for good works. Remember, living faith leaves footprints. But the footprints don't make us alive. What makes you alive is the life of Jesus to the grace of God by faith. So the question is, how are you saved? Right? That's that was the question we were looking at in this passage, and Paul has answered the question. We have to think about it a little bit. I remember in history class from one year in high school that we got this student teacher, and there's all these always these critical thinking questions, and he would never make a stoop. He's like, I don't want you guys to hurt yourself. But sometimes when we read scripture, we gotta we have to think critically a little bit. Paul is answering that question in these verses. And his answer to that question of how are you saved? It's we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus. Not by what we have done, but because of what God has done for us. That is his answer. If you are taking these verses and you can dense it down into that sentence, that's what Paul is saying. We're going back to our opening illustration. We all have a score sheet, right, that works in those two directions. It's like, I've done enough, I've done enough to score more points than you. I've not scored enough points where I've done more good than fat, so I think I've earned spot here. I've done more good things than than David has, so I I should be good. I don't really think that, David. That'd be offended. But when we look at salvation that way, when we look at life that that way, when we look at our relationship with God that way, it produces one or two things, right? We look at our relationship with God based on it's our effort and what we do, it either one it leads to pride, right? We look at it, it's like I'm scoring up points. We look at our life, I've done enough good things, I have earned it, I've worked hard. That's pride. Because Paul tells us in the past, the verses just before this, that there's nothing that we could do to earn God's love, to earn God's grace. Why? Because we were spiritually dead. Now, if we look at it from the other side, sometimes you can look at it and think, I'm I I've not I've not scored enough points, I'm too broken, I'm too messed up, I I'm that's your viewpoint. That doesn't produce priority, that produces despair. Because you look at it and say, there's no hope for me. There's no chance I can get out. There's no purpose to it. There's there's no reason to keep going, no reason to keep trying. That's a lie of the enemy that he wants us to believe. That's not a God. But both of those, no matter how you look at it, whether you're you're coming from a place of despair or pride, the focus is on what you and I have done in those situations. We're looking at ourselves in the mirror saying, I am responsible. It's up to me. But Paul says, look at what God has done. Think about what God has done. And he says that because that is how you and I are saved. Not by looking at ourselves, but by looking to Jesus. Right? It goes back to that Old Testament passage, right, where the Israelites are complaining. I can't probably get some of the details wrong, but they start complaining as they're wandering through the wilderness, right? And and God sends these poisonous snakes out there, and the poisonous snakes start biting them, and when the poisonous snakes start biting them, they start dying as they're dying and suffering from these poisonous snakes, they cry out to God, God, have mercy on us. And Moses goes and prays half of the people, and God tells Moses, I want you to put a take take a pole and put this bronze serpent on it. And if anybody's bitten by that snake, all they have to do is look up and they will be saved. There is no special cream, no special lightment, no happy dance, no, no, don't call 15 people and come back, no fasting offering. If you're bit by a snake, all you have to do is look up. Paul is saying in these verses, it's the same for you and I. We may be dead in sin, but all you have to do is look up. That's how we're saved. See, if you really look hard at this passage, everything in it happens with Jesus and in Jesus. Right? It's it's by God's mercy through faith in Jesus that you're saved. It's it's through your life with Jesus that you are made alive and you can walk about. It's it's it's because you are because you have faith in Jesus, you're gonna be with Jesus, you're gonna be seated with him. At his table. Not some guest table, not some serving quarter off the side, you're seated at his table. You see, we we think geese didn't come to help dead people improve their score. Since we had our little team thing over at Tracy and Sarah's house back in June, Ben's been obsessed with Pac-Man. And he's like, I gotta beat my story. And he's been studying watching videos and studying, how do I beat my story? Like, he's intense about this. That's not why Jesus came. Jesus isn't just coming to try and help you change the story. Jesus came to make dead people alive. And then people he makes alive live differently after the fact. Again, not because good, you know, not we don't do good things because they receive something from God. We do good things because we have received something. I think back when I walked into that crash flash and found out I had a score to a hundred. But when I looked at that score, I knew exactly in that moment where I stood. I didn't have to ask any more questions. I already knew her score, I knew my score, I knew I had a hundred, I knew she had 97. There was no open debate. The score she told us you had won. And boy, we love keeping score when we're winning. And when we're losing, we wish that didn't get turned off. It's like my brother when we play Xbox games, you guys gets mad and turns it off. See, the problem is that we are doing the same thing with God. We look at our lives and we add up all the good we have done. Right? We talk about how I came to church for six months straight. I I gave him the offering break for the last year. I we go through the list of all the good things we've done. I'm gonna help now have the I want things for the what we go through the list of all the good things we can possibly do, and then we compare that to our bad things, and we hope and we pray that God maybe hopefully there's a difference, hopefully there's a positive difference. I've done enough to get in. Or we compare ourselves to others, right? We we judge where we stand best based on whether we are better or worse than them. But Paul, in these verses, he takes the score sheet out of your hands, says, You don't get a hold of that, that's not yours. He says, You are saved by grace through faith. And it's not, it's God's gift, not something you have accomplished, not something you have achieved. God through Jesus completed the work on the cross. God through Jesus completed the work through his death and resurrection. Whether you and I believe or not does not change the work that Jesus accomplished at the cross. When Jesus said it is finished, he meant it. The rule of sin and death and the enemy over our lives, it came to a sudden and abrupt halt because of what Jesus did for us. Again, our choosing to follow or not follow, to believe or not believe, doesn't impact God. But what who does it impact? Impacts me. Because Jesus offered me that gift saying, here it is. I know you don't, I know you didn't earn it, I know, I know you don't think you're worthy of it, but guess what? This is my gift. I can decide whether you get it or not. And he says, I am holding it out to you freely, and all you have to do is accept it by faith. So this morning, what you need to do is you need to put down the score sheet. Whatever score sheet you're sharing you're carrying today, put it down. Let go of it. Yeah, you're a good person. I'm not here saying you're not a good person. Yeah, you treat people right. That's awesome, that's wonderful. Yeah, you hope when you can, and yeah, you come to church, I'm grateful. There's nothing more encouraging to a pastor than when you show up. That brings joy to our hearts to see you. And as wonderful as that is, right? Again, I've told you before, my goal isn't to fill the seats in this sanctuary. I would love for that to happen. That's not my goal. My goal was to see people come to know Jesus. Hopefully that's here, but if it's I don't care if it's here or at some other church down in one of the other three churches in town, I'm gonna see people come to know Jesus. Again, you can do all those wonderful things, but none of those, none of those wonderful things will save you. That's why I'm not excited about I mean I'm excited that the accused are fooled, but that's not why that's my push, because that that doesn't save anybody. It doesn't change anybody. No, Jesus saves you. Jesus saves you. For Jesus to save you, all you have to do is repent. What was this repentant? You you realize that you were wrong about you and your sin. And then you turn away from it and you turn toward God. So you repent and then you believe in him, and that's enough. Maybe you know you've made mistakes, right? Maybe you're that person, maybe you know, man, I'm messed up. And you look around the church, right? And you you look at Beetle over and you think, man, there's no way I can be like Beetle. You look around and think, well, everybody else seems to have it figured out, right? They have this whole these things figure out they have their life figured out. Meanwhile, you don't even know where to begin looking for that piece of your life to start rebuilding it. I'm here to tell you today though, you do not need a better score. Right? There's no minimum score out there. You don't need that.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

That score sheet you're holding, you need to put down. You need to put that score sheet down and repent and believe in Jesus because he says that is enough.

Pastor Jason 33:40

But you have what has to happen is you have to believe the good news today, right? You have to believe what Paul wrote here. You have to believe that what he says, you have to take God as word. That way he says that he's that he when Paul says that God is rich in mercy and loves you with a great love. You have to believe that by faith. You you have to believe that Jesus has done what you could never do for yourself. You have to turn from your sin and receive God's gift of grace. And then let God make you alive. Now, maybe you've been following Jesus for a while. Sometimes old habits die hard, right? We pick up that score sheet again that we supposed to draw, but we start keeping the score again. We start we go back to measuring God's love for us by our performance. That's you today. Put down your score sheet too. Trust his grace. Trust who he is, trust his Holy Spirit working and breathing in you. Trust the life, the new life that he's formed in you that's connected to his presence. Trust his grace to get up and walk in the good works he's prepared for you. Not trying, you're not trying to earn his love, you're not trying to earn points, you're just doing it because he loved you and he's changed you. You're doing it, you're doing it, you're doing it out of the blood because you have the freedom of already having his love. You know, that changes things, right? When you know somebody cares about you. And you know it. And it's not gonna change based on what you say or what you do. Now Ben's downstairs, so I hope he doesn't get mad at me for saying this. I have a tip drive, I have a drive started for the therapy. But most of you know Ben had a rough school year last year. And he had to change from Estel County to go to Nicole's private school just so we could get things figured out. And there were some really intense moments where I was like, boy, I'm gonna ready to knock some sense into you. But also that's not what he needed. First thing we had to do was we had to get him to feel comfortable. And then there came a point where we had to talk about his grades and work on that a little bit. I remember there were a particularly really rough stretch where Ben wasn't doing what he was supposed to be, and I sat him down and said, Ben, I want you to know this, I'm your dad, and I love you no matter what. I don't care what that grade seat says, I don't care what happens to you at school. Just know I love you and I'm proud of you, no matter what. Then I had this conversation with you about it. Ben, I'm not asking you to get straight in. I'm not asking you to be somebody you're not. I'm not asking you that if you struggle with a subject, that you don't struggle with that subject. What I'm asking you to do is very simple. I want you to try. Do your best. Boy, didn't. Boy didn't. Again, if I were to show you the report card, you'd look at it like, you're proud of that? But if you knew the whole story behind it, for him to get to where he was at. Boy, I was so proud. Because he could have easily gone in the towel and given up and quit if he didn't. That's what God says to each and every one of us. He looks at you and says, I love you, I'm proud of you. You don't have to earn that, you don't have to question that. You don't have to wonder if I want you or don't want you. You don't have to wonder if if I'm gonna be there or not. I am I am I'm gonna love you, I'm gonna be there, I'm gonna love you, I'm gonna walk with you. And if you need me, call to me and I will answer you. But you have to believe it. So this morning, every one of us, we have to answer the question. How are you saved? Again, we can give the Sunday school answer. I guess gave you the answer to the test, right? You read this passage, you can quote it. But but I think the best way to know you're answering the question of how are you saved correctly is you're gonna have to ask yourself another question. When you look at that question of how you're saved, ask this one Am I focusing on what Jesus did for me? Or am I looking at what I did for me? Because if if you're asking, if you're looking at what you did for you, you're not focused on Jesus, right? You're focused on yourself, and it's not you don't save yourself. Again, it doesn't matter whether you you can look at yourself and say, I've got a hundred on this test. That's what the rich young ruler did, right? Jesus came to him and he goes to Jesus and he says, he says, what must I do but have eternal life? And Jesus tells you, follows the Kim Commandments, the rich round goes all over. It's like I've done all that. He's at 99 on the test, and then Jesus says, One thing you have, go sell all you have and come follow me. That wasn't about him selling everything. It wasn't about money, it was about okay, is this one thing that has a hold of your heart? Is it is it strong enough to pull you away from me? You love me enough to let go of that and trust me with it. Because it's not that money that's gonna save you, it's not all those rules keeping that's gonna save you, it's it's you putting your faith and trust in me. Again, it doesn't matter whether your score is at 100 or maybe your score is at one. Maybe you're in the negatives, it doesn't matter. Looking at your score means you're looking in the wrong direction. This morning, what I'm calling you to, what I'm asking you, what I'm pleading with you to do is look to Jesus. Put down the score sheet because you're not saved by what you have done, but you're saved by what Jesus has done for you. So this morning we're gonna close. I I don't have I don't have any music this morning. Before you finish this episode, uh, I gotta ask you one question. I want you to sit with this one. That question is what are you trusting to save you? Maybe you spent years building a pretty good scorchy. You try to be a good person. You care about people, and maybe you even go to church. Those are good things. But they cannot make you alive. Jesus can. Maybe your scorched is exactly what you've kept your distance or exactly why you've kept your distance from God. You know what you've done, you know the mistakes you've made, and maybe you believe you're you've gone too far, right? You failed too many times, and your life's just too much of a mess, too spread out and scattered. Um it's impossible for you to put it together to come before God. So you think God doesn't want anything to do with you. Well, here's the good news. Paul, and this is what Paul is talking about God is rich in mercy, and he loves you with a great love. So the Holy Spirit might be speaking to you right now. So wherever you're listening at, don't ignore him. You don't have to wait until you're inside a church building. You don't need an altar or a pastor standing beside you to respond to Jesus. Put down the score sheet. Turn from your sin. Stop trusting what you've done or haven't done to determine where you stand with God. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. Receive the grace God is already extending towards you. And if you follow Jeez for years but realize you've been trying to earn the love he's already given you, you can respond too. Open those empty hands again.

unknown 41:55

Right?

Pastor Jason 41:55

Those hands when you came to Jeeze when you had nothing to offer him. Trust his grace, and then get up and live the life he has created you to live. Let's pray together. God thank you that you are rich in mercy, and that your love for us is greater than anything we could earn. We confess that we have sinned. We have trusted ourselves, compared ourselves with others, and tried to determine our worth by what we have done. Forgive us. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that through his death and resurrection you have done for us what we could never do for ourselves. For the person responding to you right now, give them the courage to repent and believe. Have them receive your grace with empty hands and trust Jesus. Make them alive in Christ and begin your transforming work in them. For those of us who are already f who are already following Jesus, free us from trying to earn what you have already given. Teach us to live and do good. Not so that you will love us, but because in Christ you already do. By your spirit, help us walk in the life you have prepared for us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you responded to Jesus today, please don't try to walk this road alone. If you have a church and a pastor, talk to them and tell them what God is God is doing in your life. But if you don't have a church or a pastor, I'd love the opportunity to journey with you. You can connect with me on TikTok. I post daily well, almost daily devotionals on there. Uh it's the Dirtpath Pastor on TikTok if you can find me that way. Or you can send me an email. And you can email email me at dirtpathpastor at gmail.com. That's dirtpathpastor at gmailmail.com. All lowercase, all one word. Um and tell me you heard this episode and what God's doing in your life, and I'll be glad to pray with you and help you figure out your next step from there. Now before you go, uh I want you to share this episode with somebody. Somebody you know who needs to hear it. So that way they can put down their score key and make sure and then make sure you subscribe so you don't miss what's coming up next. I feel like you'd support this podcast. I don't want any money from going to me for this. I'm not interested in that. You have to support this podcast, goes to Nashville Compassionate Ministries. Uh specifically their emergency relief fund. And right now, that's the kind of ministry helping churches respond after an August 26th landslide in the Tibet Tibet-Nepal border, right? Where riverside communities were heavily damaged. So local churches and partners are beginning to provide food essential supplies and shelter to around 600 people directly affected. And that's what I love about natural compassionate ministries. Right, it's meeting people where they meet them where in their darkest moments, showing the love of Jesus by meeting their needs right where they're at. So when you support this podcast, you're helping us point people toward Jesus with words, while also helping the church demonstrate his compassion through actions. Now, just remember, your score is not your savior, Jesus is. Stop staring at everything you've done right or wrong. Look to Christ, receive his grace, and then walk in the new life he has given you. Until next time, grace and peace be in the name of Jesus. Thank you for listening to this episode of the past podcast.