8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV
We are blessed today to celebrate another year of independence. I will tell you one year ago when I preached last year’s 4th of July message I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams we would be facing the changes and unrest we are experiencing today.
Regardless of what we are facing today, what we face in the days to come nothing can diminish or take away from what Jesus did at the cross for us. The work at the cross was the perfect sin offering and was complete.
There is absolutely nothing that can be added to what Jesus has already done for us.
It saddens me and I am sure you also that so many people run aimlessly fighting for a right that was already given to them. People want to exercise their rights and it appears to me that every attempt and effort to fight for their right to freedom the farther they run from the freedom that was already given to them.
Sure we have some tough issues to work out in making sure that people in this country are able to experience inalienable rights afforded them by the constitution of the United States. The issues are not what this is about this morning.
Our founding fathers fought and won our independence from Great Britain.
During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain in 1776 actually occurred on July 2, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia declaring the United States independent from Great Britain’s rule. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, finally approving it two days later on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:
The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore. Wikipedia
Our forefathers established what they believed would be good for all men, women, and children in the United States. The inalienable rights established cannot be bought, sold, transferred from one person to another. These are the inalienable rights of life and liberty guaranteed by the constitution.
This was done so as John Adams puts it “by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty”. What these men did 244 years ago was done by their faith in what Jesus Christ did for them and all mankind at the cross.
I believe our forefathers would be deeply saddened if they were here today to see the kind of stuff going on around us today. I don’t believe for one minute they thought about any exclusion of any man when they drafted these documents. I believe they were thinking of one thing…FREEDOM FOR ALL!
By the goodness of God and His favor on mankind, and more specifically each man, woman, and child, He saved us and has set us free from death and sin.
When Jesus went to the cross and died for our sin and to pay the sin debt that no man could pay for himself, Jesus extended inalienable freedom. This freedom is perfect, meant for every race, every color, without prejudice, it was and is freely extended to us.
This freedom and grace are non-transferable. It cannot be harvested and stored up. The freedom given to us by the grace of God is not for sale. There is nothing you or I can do to add to it. It is complete and perfect.
You’ve heard people say, and perhaps you’ve said it yourself. “I don’t pray enough.” “I am not good enough.” “I don’t read my bible enough.” “I don’t _____________ enough.” You fill in the blank. I think you get what I mean here.
We can all feel undeserving of God’s favor and grace. And the truth is that we are not deserving of anything but eternal punishment and separation from God. There is nothing we can bring to the cross but ourselves just the way we are.
Sure we can pray more, read our bibles more, spend more time doing things that honor God, but none of these things brings any more value to what Jesus did on the cross to set us free.
We can’t earn this freedom from sin and death. Because of what Jesus did on the cross and by being raised from the dead He alone completed the work that makes it possible for each one of us to be called children of God and experience eternal life.
What Jesus did was a gift from God. Jesus is the gift to begin celebrating by the birth and is completed in the resurrection from the dead. The cross is the emblem of our faith in the complete work of Christ.
It breaks my heart when I hear someone boast about how much they do for God. Really? Think about it. We can’t do enough to repay God for what was complete through Jesus. It was and is a gift and we need to accept it and be thankful.
We don’t have to fight, because Jesus won the war and gave us the grace to continue to the good fight. No matter how hard someone tries to take away what Jesus did on the cross, they can’t. It is irrevocable, it is eternal, the victory was won on Calvary for us.
As children of God, we have no right or room to boast in anything but Jesus Christ. With that being said, you are worthy and deserving of the gift of grace, salvation, and the inalienable freedom that is offered through the cross.
Say that to yourself. “I am worthy and deserving of salvation and freedom because Jesus died for me and was a gift from my Heavenly Father.” Sounds and may feel sort of weird, but you are worthy and deserving of God’s grace.
This has no explanation other than God’s love is something that cannot always be understood. We are inseparable from the love of God.
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39
It is because of the love of God that He sent His son to live and die for us. It is because of the love of God He desired to set us free from the bondage of sin and death and give us His Holy Spirit to give us the strength to live the victorious lives we are called to.
Verse 10 says “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”
The only thing we can do is surrender to Jesus. One way is to have complete faith in what He did on Calvary. To believe that He alone can work in us and create us in His image. It is impossible to do that apart from Jesus and His workmanship.
Once we accept in complete faith that Jesus died on the cross in our place, was placed in a grave for three days, and on the third day was victoriously raised from the dead then we can begin to experience the workmanship and freedom given to us.
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. Romans 8:8-10
Our faith goes beyond just believing, we have to confess with our mouth to others, meaning share the gospel from our heart.
We should confess and celebrate our freedom and belief in our Savior, in the same manner, John Adams said we should commemorate the 4th of July.
”It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.”
There is power in the name of Jesus. The phrase “pray in the name of Jesus” is often used by Christians, and it refers to the practice of praying to God and asking for His help, guidance, or protection.
Two things about the death of Christ. The first was that since one person died for and in place of everyone else, everyone had died. What is this death at the end? Either the death they deserved because of their sin.
It’s odd how we often acknowledge that we take on too much, and try to accomplish things in our own strength, and need to rely more on Jesus. And yet we continue to do the same thing over and over.
The conscience is a divinely given moral compass that can be swayed by many factors, such as our background, experiences, and thoughts. What is important is the truth that one has to inform their conscience.
Life is rough for most people today. Just when we have hope of a life returning to normal, we are seeing things none of us have ever seen in our lifetime.
To grasp the magnitude of our deliverance, we must first comprehend where we came from. We are not exempt from the repercussions of our actions because we are descendants of Adam.
