The Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 18, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
March 18, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
Numbers 21:4-9 Ephesians
2:1-10 John 3:14-21
Grace, mercy and peace to
you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. Our text today comes from the Epistle lesson
just read, especially these words, “it is by grace you have been saved.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ. We have all heard of the phrase, “Dead man
walking.” It’s a phrase reserved for
those who live on death row, awaiting their turn to be punished for their
crimes of murder and rape. They are dead
men walking, because though they are still alive, in fact they are as good as
dead, and will never see the outside of a prison again.
Dear friends, St. Paul says
the same thing about you in our text today.
You were once dead in your trespasses.
You were once a “dead man walking.”
You once were judged, found guilty and deserving of death. Only your judgment was even worse than that
of a man on death row. For your
punishment, your judgment of death wasn’t just the ending of your earthly life,
but eternal death, death beyond this world, death that means the fires of hell,
with weeping and gnashing of teeth, and where the worm does not die.
That was your verdict. That was your judgment. So the question arises, what was your
crime? Why did you deserve such a
sentence? For the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the prince
of this world, Satan. Your sin was
great, your trespasses were enormous, and you did commit it, by your fault,
your own fault, your own most grievous fault.
As our text today says, you “lived in the passions of your flesh,
carrying out the desires of your body and the mind”. That means you gave in to all those lusts of
your body. You wanted more drinks than
your body could handle and became drunk in a stupor. You wanted more money and things that you
could use. And when you got something,
it was yours, you didn’t want to share it with fellow members of the body of
Christ, but selfishly took it for yourself.
You wanted porn, sex, and excitement because of the way it made you feel
for a few minutes, even as it damaged you for your whole life.
Oh and there is more. You have hated someone who was your
neighbor. You spoke poorly of them to
your friends, and laughed at their faux pas, making sure that everyone knew
about them. You have held a grudge, you
have acted with rage and malice, you have failed to forgive and love as God
would have you do. And when the table’s
were turned, you have complained and whined, you have grumbled against them,
vowing to get your “just revenge”.
Oh by the way, this is just
the tip of the ice berg. For you know
that if God could read your thoughts and follow you around all day, that He
would not like what He sees. He would be
ashamed of some of those things that you have done. He would know about you hurting yourself in
the quiet of your own room, and your drowning your sorrows in a glass. And so you are judged. You are guilty. Guilty as charged, and the punishment is
death forever in the fires of hell. And
you are nothing more than a “Dead man walking” awaiting the fulfillment of your
punishment.
But God so loved the world,
that he gave his only son so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish,
but have eternal life. But God,
being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when
we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by
grace you have been saved!
And this is not your own
doing. It’s grace! Grace means freely given to you. Grace means you didn’t earn it. Grace means you didn’t do anything to appeal
your verdict. But rather you were
forgiven without any merit or worthiness on your part. But it was given to you – a great big
Christmas present that you didn’t deserve – all to set you free from the
punishment you deserve.
Yes, a Christmas present,
for unto you a child is born, unto you a Son was given. All for your forgiveness. All for making you alive. All to set you free from you prison. For this Christmas present was the gift that
keeps on giving. Even today, as we stare
woefully at the cross, at Golgotha. Even
today as we examine the old rugged cross, cleft for our own sin and punishment,
we see that gift hanging upon it. For
Christ has come to save you by Grace.
Christ has come to go to your death.
To go to your cross, to shed his blood in your place. He saves you, not by works that you have
done, but by the ultimate work, the death of God for you.
So all those sins are
forgiven. All those crimes which you
committed are gone. The verdict of death
is thrown out, and instead a promise of life is given. As the text says, “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, 7 so
that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” You are not a criminal in God’s eyes, but a
citizen of heaven receiving grace and richness.
Dear friends in Christ, you
are no longer a dead man walking. You
are alive in Christ. Sanctified by his
blood. You are saved by Grace, and now receive
all he has to offer. Amen.
