Our sermon series this term speaks about how we can be a church that is committed to ‘bringing glory to God by calling all to delight in Him as their ultimate treasure’. While there are infinite things we can delight in God for (e.g. holiness, power, glory, forgiveness, courage, gentleness, wisdom, faithfulness, love, etc), the thing that is most delightful is that he uses them FOR US. God’s GRACE makes people delight in him. So how do we preach grace each week in a way that helps us delight in God?

To simply exegete (explain) and apply the passage, risks three problem responses: (i) pride – thinking we already fulfil the application, (ii) works – resolving to work harder at the application, or (iii) despair – knowing we’ll never fulfil the application well enough. All three responses are the opposite of grace; resting in God’s work. So what is the way ahead?

First we tackle pride, by showing why the human heart (Christian or non-Christian) struggles to follow the application. Yet focussing on the sin behind the sin risks despair, as the listener realises they actually fail God continually in the application.

To tackle despair, we remind ourselves how Jesus has fulfilled the application on our behalf, by swapping places with us on the cross. All our sin was imputed onto Jesus, while all his righteousness was imputed onto us. So when God looks at his people now, he sees Jesus. If understood correctly, this tiny fact leaves the Christian with ZERO GUILT; as there is now no condemnation for those in Christ.

The degree to which this sinks in, is the degree to which we will then actually WANT to get out there and follow the application; turning the application from a duty (work) to delight (grace).

Brendan McLaughlin