chapter 6, verses 1 and 2. We've been going through
2 Corinthians for the last few months on Wednesday
nights, a few verses at a time, and we are getting
to the halfway point here. 2 Corinthians chapter
6. We ended last week in the verses we talked
about being ambassadors for Jesus Christ, ambassadors
for the Lord, representatives. For the Lord.
Who are we representing in our life? Are we representing
the Lord? How are we representing the Lord? How
do we live? Do the people see Jesus in us? And
so that was what we looked at last week. And
Paul ended on a great verse in verse 21 saying
that he made the one who did not know sin to
be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness
of God in him. So all the focus... is on Jesus
Christ. That Jesus took everything that we deserve,
the punishment for our sins, and we received
only what Jesus deserved, and that was righteousness.
We are made righteous through Jesus. And so that's
where we left off last week. So let's pray, and
then we'll start in chapter 6. God, we thank
you for a good day. We thank you for the freedom
to come in here and to worship tonight. I pray
that your Holy Spirit would be with us. our worldly
distractions and our worries and just the temptations
of the world that fight for our attention right
now, that in these few minutes, dear Lord, that
we would experience your grace and live in your
grace, dear Lord, and not take it for granted,
but allow your grace to transform who we are.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Continuing on the same lines as what we just...
Read at the end of 2 Corinthians 5, we turn to
2 Corinthians 6, verse 1. Working together with
Him, we also appeal to you, don't receive God's
grace in vain. Therefore, Paul says, we're working
for the Lord. We are representatives of Jesus
Christ. We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ.
God has given His only Son. to take our punishment
so that we could be made righteous through him.
And so we are working with God. We are workers
for God. And what is his appeal to the Corinthian
audience? He says, don't receive God's grace
in vain. Don't receive God's grace in vain. When
we experience the grace of God, it needs to have
some effect on our life. There should be some
change in our life when we experience the grace
of God. Now, we could take this in a couple of
different ways. One is, he could be saying, look,
some of you are Christians and you've experienced,
you've received the Holy Spirit, you've received
God's grace. You know what it means to be forgiven
of your sins and you are in danger of falling
away. That's one way that we could look at this,
that possibly there are some who are committing
apostasy, and there are some Christians who would
view that verse with this interpretation. Another
way that we could interpret it, and there's Christians
that interpret it this way as well, is that the
people have heard of the grace of God, they've
listened to the Word, but they haven't really
accepted God's grace. That the kingdom of God
has come near, as Jesus would say, and they've
heard the good news, and they've heard the teachings
of God, Paul, and they know about Jesus Christ,
and even though they've heard of the grace of
Jesus Christ, they are not accepting it. So it's
come by, but they've missed the bus, so to speak.
But Paul says here, don't receive God's grace
in vain. So if we come and we read God's word,
and we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, that
is this, that Jesus Christ is the one and only
Son of God. That all things were created through
him, by him, for him, and nothing exists apart
from him. And we are sinners, and we are on this
world, and we are in our sin, and we are doomed
to death because of our sin. Separation from
God because of our sin. And God sent his only
son, Jesus Christ, to this wretched old earth.
And Jesus came freely to be a sacrifice for us.
That Jesus would give his life on a cross so
that we could be forgiven. So that he would suffer
the punishment that you and I deserve. So that
you and I can experience the righteousness that
only Jesus Christ deserves. This is the gospel.
This is the good news. That Jesus did that for
us. That Jesus died on that cross. He died completely
sinless. He was a man who did not sin. And so
therefore he can stand up for you. We're men
and women who do sin. We sin repeatedly, probably
repeatedly every day. But Jesus was perfect in
every way, and therefore he can be a perfect
sacrifice to cover our sins. And Jesus was raised
from the dead. Three days after he was placed
in the grave, God raised him from the dead. Jesus
is victorious over death. And so when we trust
in Jesus Christ, we too. are victorious over
death. This is the gospel. This is the good news.
This is the grace of God that as wretched as
we are, as rotten as we are, that there is nothing
that we can do to earn God's love. There's nothing
that we do to deserve God's love. But God says,
I love you anyway, and if you would just come
to me and seek me and live for me instead of
yourself and put faith in me and trust in my
son and allow his sacrifice to cover your sins,
I'll give you grace. I'll give you what you don't
deserve. I'll take you from the claws of death
and I will bring you into eternal life. That
is the grace of God that there is nothing that
we can do to earn it, but that God gives it to
us freely. But even though it's free for us,
it was not free. There's nothing that's free.
Everything costs someone something. And the freedom
that we have to receive the grace of God comes
through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So God's
grace came at a great cost, but he paid the price.
This is the good news. This is the gospel of
Jesus Christ. This is why we have hope today.
And what does Paul say? He says, don't receive
God's grace in vain. If you hear that message
tonight and you have not trusted in Jesus Christ,
then you need to know that there is hope and
that there is help in this world and it only
comes from the grace of God. That's the only
way that we can make it through our lives. Our
lives are so difficult, but God's grace is sufficient.
Power is perfected in weakness, as we'll see
in a few chapters. But God's grace is sufficient
for us. And all that we go through, no matter
what struggles we may have and what pains we
may have and what fears we may have and what
worries we may have, God's grace will get us
through it. He'll give us the strength. We cannot
get through this life apart from God's grace.
There are a lot of people that try, and man,
it's miserable. You're miserable trying to live
in this life apart from God's grace. But man,
it is so reassuring and so uplifting when we
can read the Word of God. We can come together
as brothers and sisters in Christ and encourage
one another and lift one another up to live in
the grace of God and be strengthened by the grace
of God. So Paul says, don't receive God's grace
in vain. If you hear the message of Jesus Christ,
you need to accept it. If you've accepted the
message of Jesus Christ, then you need to live
like you've accepted the message of Jesus Christ.
If you've experienced the grace of God, it should
change your life. When you look back at all the
things that you've done, you can think real quick,
you could fill up a page in a notebook, real
quick, with just the things probably you've done
in the last week. It would not take you long
to fill up a page of all your sins. And you start
going back through your lifetime, and you could
write from now until you died, and you wouldn't
be able to write down all of your sins, some
of which are horrible things that you don't even
want to think about, that you cringe thinking,
what if somebody in there finds out what I've
done? I'm talking about we've done some seriously
rotten and evil things. But if we've come to
Jesus Christ, and we've asked God to forgive
us, and we've placed our faith in Him, God has
forgiven our sins, praise the Lord. That's good
news. Now, if we've been forgiven of all of our
sins by the grace of God, if we've experienced
the love of God through Jesus Christ, then how
in the world can that not change us? How can
we see people in need and not have compassion
when we have received the compassion of Jesus
Christ? How can we see people who have sinned
and not strive to love them, knowing that we,
as great sinners, have been loved by God. How
can we accept grace but not give grace to others?
How can we ask God daily for His grace, but yet
when people do something to us, we refuse to
give them any mercy, we refuse to give them any
grace, and we are quick to pass judgment on them.
But is that what God has done to us? So if we
say we've received the grace of God, but our
life doesn't reflect the example of the way Jesus
lived, then maybe we haven't experienced the
grace of God. Maybe we say we have. Maybe we
think we have. But maybe we are guilty of receiving
God's grace in vain. Maybe you really have received
it. Maybe you haven't really understood. Maybe
you need to understand tonight that if you've
received the grace of God, it should change who
you are and how you act. And if you can go through
this world and not have compassion on people,
and not love people, and not give people grace,
then there's a really good chance that you have
not experienced the grace of God. So Paul says,
look. He says, we're working here alongside God.
We are working to serve God. We are working to
get out the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ.
And therefore, when you hear that message, don't
miss Jesus Christ. And when you receive that
grace, then let it transform your life and who
you are. Listen to what he says in verse 2. For
he says, I heard you in an acceptable time, and
I helped you in the day of salvation. Look, now
is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
Now that's a quotation there from Isaiah 49,
verse 6. That's where that comes from. And you
can read that section of Isaiah. It talks about
the suffering servant. the Jewish people would
interpret those passages totally different because
they don't believe in Jesus. But it's very clear
to the Christian that when you read in Isaiah
chapter 49 through about chapter 53 and maybe
a little further, I'm not sure, but those chapters
in that area talk about the suffering servant.
And it's pretty clear, as you continue to read
those chapters, that it's talking about Jesus.
Now, Isaiah was written at a time when God's
people were in captivity in Babylon, but God
was promising that He was going to deliver them
and was going to restore the nation of Israel.
And he did. They were in captivity for about
70 years, and God did exactly what he said he
was going to do through the prophets. We see
many of these prophecies in the Old Testament
that talk about Israel was going to be restored
to the land, and they were. After they got out
of the Babylonian captivity, they were restored
to the land, and they did return to Jerusalem,
and they did rebuild the temple. All the things
that were prophesied occurred when God brought
his people back from Babylon. But this... Passage
in Isaiah is pointing us forward to something
much bigger than God's people simply being returned
to the land after the Babylonian captivity. It's
pointing forward to a servant. The language doesn't
fit Israel there. It talks about Jesus Christ.
And we know it talks about Jesus Christ. One
reason, because Paul tells us that this passage
here, he's telling us that this salvation that's
being talked about in Isaiah 49 has come through
Jesus Christ. It's not something that will come
later. It's not something that will come through
Israel. It's something that comes through Jesus
Christ. God restored his people to the land,
but God says there's going to be something even
better coming down the road. And years and years
after Israel were restored, their land, the Messiah
came onto the scene. The Messiah was prophesied,
and there were some who were looking forward
to the Messiah, and there were others who were
not. There's still plenty of Jews today. The
vast majority of them are still looking for the
Messiah. If only they would read the Word of
God. If only they would read the words of Paul.
If only they would see passages like these that
tell us that Jesus Christ has come, the Messiah
has come, the Savior has come, and salvation
has come in Him. There are a lot of people in
this world looking for a Savior. They're looking
for salvation in some way. And they come up empty
all the time because they're looking for a Savior
in the wrong spot. They're looking for something
or someone else to be their Messiah. When the
Bible tells us that the Messiah is Jesus Christ,
and He has come, and He has conquered death,
and He has conquered sin, and He is seated at
the right hand of God. That's what the Scripture
tells us. And in verse 2, this quotation, I heard
you in an acceptable time. Okay, this is God
speaking here. He's speaking to his people. He
wants his people to know that, look, when you
call out to me, I'm going to hear you. When the
time is right, in an acceptable time, when you
seek me, I'm going to hear you and I'm going
to restore you. That was his promise to his people,
Israel. And he fulfilled that promise, but he
alludes to an even bigger promise that was coming
through Jesus Christ. I heard you in an acceptable
time and I helped you in the day of salvation.
All right, he's talking about a day of salvation.
Now certainly there was deliverance in the Old
Testament, but there was a bigger deliverance.
He's talking about a day of salvation. And what
does Paul say? He says, look, now is the acceptable
time. Now is the day of salvation. It's not a
salvation that's coming in the future. It's a
salvation that has come through Jesus Christ.
Today is the day of salvation. Brother Ernie,
I've heard him say that a hundred times in my
life. Y 'all have too. He used to quote this
all the time. He used to always say, today is
the day of salvation. And it's true. Every time
we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, every time
we hear of God's grace, every time the kingdom
of God comes near, today is the day of salvation.
Maybe for some of you in this church tonight.
Maybe for some of you listening online tonight.
Today is the day of salvation. You've seen the
grace of God. You've got close to the kingdom
of God. And maybe you've been taking the grace
of God in vain your whole life. But maybe for
you, today is the day of salvation. That if you
would just call out to the Lord today, that you
would be restored today. That your sins would
be forgiven today. If we would only confess our
sins to the Lord. He is faithful to forgive us
of our sins through the precious blood of Jesus
Christ. The grace of God has come through Jesus
Christ. Today is the day of salvation. If you
don't know Him, you can put your faith and trust
in Him right now. Let's pray. God, we come to
You. We thank You for Your good words. We thank
You for Your love. We thank You for Your grace
that comes through Jesus Christ. And God, I pray
that if there is one that does not know Jesus
Christ, that in this moment that they would ask
You now to forgive them. that they would just
simply confess their sins, dear Lord. They know
what they are, that they would confess them to
you, that they would repent, God, that right
now that they would turn from those sins, that
they would seek to follow your word and to follow
Jesus Christ, to let Jesus be the king of their
life, that they would stop trying to do it on
their own, but that they would trust Jesus, that
they would place their faith in him, dear Lord.
That they would allow Him to be their Savior
today. That today they would find salvation.
Today they would find joy. Today they would experience
grace. A grace that would transform their life.
God, I pray that if there's any that's prayed
that prayer and made that commitment, that they
would just grab me later, call me later, text
me later, dear Lord. Reach out online later and
let us know about that good news, dear Lord,
that we can rejoice with them. God, maybe there
are some in here today and they know your grace,
but they haven't been living it. They've experienced
it, but maybe they have not been gracious and
compassionate and loving to others. And I pray,
dear Lord, that you would forgive us when we
fall into that trap. I pray that your grace would
transform us. I pray that we would not hear your
grace and let it pass us by, that we would not
experience your grace and not let us... Transform
us, dear Lord. Don't let us be those who take
your grace in vain. But let us be those that
your grace transforms into the men and women
you want us to be that love you and that seek
you and that serve you. I pray, dear Lord, that
if there are any that are here that don't know
Jesus Christ, they would know that there is hope
and it's available today because today is the
day of salvation. God, we thank you for these
words, and I ask these things in Jesus Christ's
name. Amen.