Live No Lies – You Are Not What You’ve Done

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Well, yesterday morning we gathered here at 10 o’clock and we had what we labeled as the “All-In Rally” and the people who are living All-In. We have little over 400 people who what we would consider living the All-In life. And what we mean by that, is that they may not think that they’re living the All-In life, but we as an organization would say that they’re living an All-In life. They’re attending worship, they’re involved in Life group, they’re serving and they’ve stepped into generosity. And if you’re doing those four things, then we go, “Well, you’re all-in around here.” Revival broke out yesterday and the All-In Rally. Amen? For you that was here… Yep! The three of you? Yep. So that was great. I thought it was revival. I thought it was great. I just want you to know that God’s doing something in the midst of our congregation and I’m just excited to have a front row seat to what God is doing.

And I dunno if you’ve heard or not, but last Sunday evening, we had 249 students here on Sunday night. Yeah. And 35 of ’em raised their hand to receive Christ as a Lord and Savior, God’s doing something.

Well, if you’re new around here, my name is Virgil Grant and we’re finishing up a sermon series that we have just called “Live No Lies.” And in this sermon series, as Drew talked about, the premise of the sermon series is that Satan doesn’t want us just to tell lies. He wants us to actually live lies. Now for many of you, you may say, well, I don’t think that there is an enemy, but we believe as a church there is an enemy. His name is Satan. He goes by the name Devil, Lucifer, Accuser. He goes by a lot of different names. Some people will go, well, the devil doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing as an enemy. And I think that’s his greatest lie. He’s got so many people to live and to buy into, but he is real. Jesus says that he’s the Father of all lies and that’s his native tongue.

And in this sermon series, what we’ve been saying is that Satan wants to hack into your soul and into my soul. And he wants to steal our identity. And the way that he does that is that he gets us to believe some big time lies. And here’s some of the big time lies that we’ve looked at so far that “I Am What I Feel.” In other words, if I just follow my heart, if I follow my feelings, then that will lead to the right destination. And we know that that does not lead to anywhere but devastation.

And then “I Am What People Say About Me.” It’s what a coach said about me on the field. It’s about what a girlfriend or boyfriend said to me. It’s about what the bathroom scales says about me.It’s what I say about myself when I look in the mirror in the bathroom. We have all of these messages, but we looked at what God said about us, that we’re accepted, we’re secured, we are significant.

And then last weekend we looked at the sermon, “I Am What I Do” and how well do I do it? And we said that our worth has nothing to do based upon what we do. It has everything to do what Jesus Christ did on the blood-stained cross. And that is what makes us significant.

And so today I want to finish out the sermon series and ask you, do you know what this is? This is a new iPhone 16 coming out this fall. But no, it is an Etch-a-sketch. Right? And I received one of these probably when I was nine or 10 years of age. And I’ve seen some people do some incredible things on the Etch-a-sketch.

Unfortunately, the best that I can do, and I think that many of you are with me, the best that I can do is draw stairs. That’s about the best that I can do. But here’s the thing, if I don’t do stairs, then I do a lot of squiggly lines on there. But the greatest thing about this is what is that? If you don’t like what you draw, all that you have to do is what? Is. Turn it over or just shake it a little bit and you have a clean slate. And I believe that the Etch-a-sketch is a reminder that the God of Unfailing Love does not want you and I to be defined by our failures. That’s what the Etch-a-sketch represents is we’re not defined by our failures. And one of the most paralyzing lies of all is the lie that “I Am What I Have Done.” In other words, my past is what defines me.

And I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a lot of failures in my life. I’ve had a lot of mistakes in my life. In other words, according to the Etch-a-sketch, I’ve had a lot of squigglies in my life. Anybody else? Maybe yours was a DUI. Maybe yours was an affair, a failed marriage. Maybe it was a financial collapse. For some of you it was maybe you got caught cheating on an exam. Maybe you got fired from a job. Maybe somehow or another, the thing that still haunts you is that abortion that you had maybe as a teenager. Maybe it was that you flunked out of school. Maybe it’s all the different sexual experiences that you’ve had maybe was the victim of abuse growing up. But the reality is that you perpetuate that abuse with your own family. For some of you, you were maybe inmate number 875321. Maybe for many of you, the way that you did it is that for years you’ve introduced yourself as, “Hello, my name is… and I am an alcoholic.” Maybe that is how you’ve described yourself. Maybe for some of you it’s gambling, drugs or pornography.

But what happened back then still defines who you are. Face it! You’ll never be anything else in your life. And what I want to do today from God’s word, I want to show you with a story about a half naked woman, a couple men and a man named Jesus. How that is a lie straight out of hell my friends, I just want you to understand that. And before we jump into the story, I want you to know that we as a staff, we as a congregation, we’ve been praying and dreaming about this service for the last month.

We’ve been praying that God will set you free from the lie that you are what you’ve done. We’ve been praying that you have come here today dry and that you’ll leave dripping wet in the name of Jesus and having your sins forgiven. We’ve been praying that as you had your bagel and coffee this morning, that you would be somehow or another suckered punched by Jesus today. You would have your sins forgiven and then you’ll be baptized. We’re been praying that today will be the beginning of a new day for you because you have released the lie, the paralyzing lie, “I Am What I Have Done and I Cannot Get Past My Past.” And today, Jesus has brought you here to show you that you can get past your past and you can have a new identity in him.

And so we’re going to look at a story from John chapter eight. Many of you are maybe familiar with this story. Many of you may have never even heard of the story. This story is often labeled as the woman caught in adultery. Now, as I thought about that, I don’t know, that just doesn’t sound very relational. The woman caught in adultery. I don’t know if the author was trying to protect the identity of the woman. I don’t know why it’s referenced as the woman caught in adultery, but I believe that the woman had a name. And I believe that names are significant and I believe that nicknames are significant. In my family. I don’t know about your family, but in our family, everybody has a nickname. And that was one of the gifts that my dad gave to every one of us, is that he gave us all a nickname and we live by those names even today.

And so this woman who’s caught in adultery, I’m going to give her a nickname and you’ll understand why I’ve given her the nickname when the story is over. And the name I’m going to give this woman is the name, “Grace.” Come on now. That’s good. If you engage, it would be… I mean, y’all look so serious all the time. You’re set free from sin. Your name is written in the book of heaven. You should be shouting and rejoicing or something. I don’t know. But here we go, John, don’t patronize me. Now after I’ve asked for it, geez louise. I mean I’m shallow, but not that shallow. Come on!

John, chapter eight. We’re going to be begin in verse one. Verse will be on the screen, the verse will be on the screen.

“Jesus went to the Mount of Olives at Don. He appeared to give in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him and he sat down to teach them…” (John 8:1-2)

So it’s early in the morning, people has come out, they’re gathered around him. Jesus is teaching not like the religious leaders of his day and age. I mean he is using everyday parables, everyday images to communicate. And then the teachers of the law and the Pharisees notice what they do. They enter up Jesus’s teaching. They rush into his presence. And when they come into his presence, what do they have in tow? They have a woman caught in adultery.

“They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, now teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery and the law. Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” (John 8:6)

Now, Grace is brought before Jesus. Then make no mistake about it, Grace is guilty of her sin. She was caught in adultery. No question about it. But you have to understand that Grace is embarrassed. Grace is humiliated. What was the best kept secret of the night? It’s now all over social media. It’s on TMZ. It’s tabloid worthy. I mean the word is out and it’s obvious from the text that all of this is a set up to trap Jesus. They’re trying to somehow or another corner Jesus and trying to get Jesus to contradict himself. And I don’t know about you, but if the woman is caught in adultery, where’s the man? Come now. Right? Women, where’s the man, right? I mean, and so me with the man not being in the picture tells me that the man was part of the scheme to somehow or another to trap Jesus. I mean, the man was part of the premeditated, well-rehearsed plan.

And here’s what I think I know about adultery, even though I’ve never partake at all. I just want you to know is that I don’t think that you walk down the street and you see people committing adultery. I think adultery takes place in secrecy. You know what I’m saying? I mean, it’s like you check in probably underneath another name in a hotel in another city, not in your hometown, right? I mean, I think that you close the curtains, the blinds. I think you do all of those things in secrecy. And I just don’t think you walk down the street and go, Hey, there’s a woman and a man committing adultery. Let’s pull ’em out in front of the crowd and in front of Jesus. No, I mean I think you take great care in hiding your sin that you’re committing.

But these peeping Pharisees, they hung around outside the window to catch this woman named Grace in the act of adultery. And she was just a prop. She was just a nobody who was caught up in a scheme to get trapped for the Pharisees to trap Jesus. And she’s only a means to the end. They set Grace up, they grabbed her, they pulled her out of the room, left the man behind. And as they was pulling her, I think she just kind of grabbed a bedsheet because she was naked and she’s trying to cover her shame and her guilt with the bedsheet. And there she is thrown in the middle of the street with all of these Pharisees around them and Jesus himself.

And so Jesus all of a sudden finds himself in a dilemma. And you see the dilemma because they’ve asked Jesus the question. Jesus, the Law of Moses says that she should be stoned. And if Jesus says yes to that, then all of the people who’ve been listening to Jesus teach is going to say, well, you’re no different than the Pharisees. We thought you were love. We thought you were grace. We thought you were kindness. But you’re no different than the Pharisees. But if Jesus says let her go, then he would be violating the law of Moses. They think that they’ve got him trapped. But I want to tell you something, and you’ve heard it first right here from your preacher. I’m going to give you the coolest verse in the entire Bible. And yes, I said the coolest verse in all the Bible. Say it with me, the coolest verse in all the Bible, and it says four little words. And I want you to understand these four little words. Look what it says in verse six. They were using this question as a trap. So we know this. Notice what else it says in order to have a basis for accusing him. So this is how we know everything was staged, everything was a prop. Everything was a means to an end. But I want you to look at the coolest verse in the Bible, but what does it say?

“But Jesus bent down…” (John 8:6a)

Isn’t that the coolest verse ever is that Jesus bent down? Why did Jesus bend down? It’s because that’s where the woman was. Jesus always meets you and I, wherever we are. And for the most of the time, you and I, we are in the dirt. We are in the struggle. We’re in the pains of life. We’re in the throes of life and Jesus meets us. Everybody else is towering over her in shame, pointing their fingers. They’re ready. They have their rocks ready to stone her, and she is there in the dirt, in her shame, in her guilt, in her embarrassment and humiliation. And Jesus comes along. And what does Jesus do? Jesus meets the woman exactly where she is and he does not cast any judgment, shame, guilt or anything. He just gets in the dirt with her.

And some of you are here today and you believe that the God of the universe, all that he does is tower over you and he has the hammer of justice ready to drop on you at any moment. But the Jesus and the God that I know, if you’ll just take a look, he’s in the dirt. He’s bent down and he’s right next to you at this very moment. And then look at the last part.

“And then Jesus started to write on the ground with his finger.” (John 8:6b)

Now we’ve said before that no one knows what Jesus was writing. I like what some commentary says. One commentary said that he was probably writing the 10th Commandments because this is the only place in scripture where Jesus writes at all. It’s the only recorded writings that we have of Jesus. And you remember that God himself chiseled the 10 commandments with his finger and gave it to Moses back on Mount Sinai. Remember that back in the Exodus? So some people thinks that Jesus was writing out the 10 commandments with his finger and he was looking up and saying, which one have you broken? Which one have you broken? Another scholar, and I love this one, is that Jesus was writing down all the names of the Pharisees girlfriends. I love that Jesus was writing down their names of all their girlfriends and they realized what was going on so they got headed right. But I think that somehow or another that maybe as the woman was looking down, maybe Jesus was writing just a message to her. Maybe he was writing shame and then he wiped it away. Then maybe it was the word guilty and then wiped it away. Maybe it was humiliated, wiped away, maybe unworthy, and he wiped it away. Maybe they wrote the word unloved or dirty or whatever he was. Somehow or another, he just sweeps it all the way because you what the father of lies wants us to believe that that is our identity, that we’re unworthy, that we’re dirty, that we’re filth, we’re trash, we’re nobody. But Jesus says that I am not what I have done and I may be.

The last thing that Jesus wrote at this moment is that God loves you. But I want you to look at the next verse. I want you to look at verse seven.

“And when they kept on questioning Jesus, he stood up, he straightened up and he said to them, let any of you who’s without sin be the first to throw the stone.” (John 8:7)

And in their stomach, they knew that Jesus had caught them in the act, knew that they were all guilty. And then in verse eight, look what happens. And Jesus stooped down again and he began to write on the ground. And maybe what Jesus wrote at that moment is the word forgiven. Isn’t that good? Look at verse nine,

“At this those who heard began to go away one at a time. The older ones first until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there.” (John 8:9)

And it is my prayer that each and every one of you will find yourself alone with Jesus. So he can speak to your heart. He can change your heart, change your mind, and with the woman still standing there. And so Jesus asked the woman, where is everyone? And she says, everyone’s gone. And all the rocks started to fall as they walked away one by one. There’s a rock festival that never happened. Come on now! That was good. You didn’t see that one coming! You did not see that one coming! That was a good one! That was good. Pat myself on the back. Okay, keep on going.

So finally, there are just two people. Jesus and Grace, you’ll use that. I promise you, I know you will. But there’s just Jesus and Grace. Jesus didn’t slam her, didn’t condemn her. He stooped back down to be with her, to meet her where she’s at. Maybe at this point she’s crying and the tears from her eyes is now dripped into the dirt. And now there’s dark spots in the ground where her tears has met the dirt and the sand that’s on the ground.

Look with me at verse 10 and 11,

“Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ And she says, ‘no one sir.’ And then Jesus says, ‘neither do I condemn you. ‘And Jesus declared, go now. and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:10-11)

Go now. Go. You’ve been forgiven. Go now and change your lifestyle. You don’t have to search for love in all the wrong places because you’re standing right in front of an unfailing love. You are accepted, you’re significant, you’re priceless. You are so worth it that the God of the universe stooped down to be with you. Now go and sin no more. And this woman, Grace leaves that day experiencing amazing grace.

See folks, the crowd wanted to condemn her, but they couldn’t. The only one who was qualified to condemn her didn’t. And maybe you’re wondering, what did Jesus do with her sin? Because the law of Moses required that something be done with her sin. You know what Jesus did with her sin is Jesus died on the cross for her sin. He took the hit. He paid the price not only for Grace’s sin, but he took the hit for your sin and my sin. And you are not your past. The Bible is crystal clear. The father of lies wants you to believe that the abortion that you had, the DUI that you had, the affair that you had, whatever it is in your past is what defines you. But Jesus says none of that defines you. “What defines you is the relationship with me.”

And some of you’re here today and you believe that God can forgive everyone else. And I encounter this all the time. You believe that God can forgive everyone else, but you don’t believe that God can ever forgive you. You think that your sins, your mistakes, your past, your guilt, your shame is way too far advance for than everyone else. And you’ll just say, “Pastor, you know what? I’ve done some bad things.” Lemme just show you something. If you’ve done some bad things, just raise your hand. Yeah, we all have, right? So you’re in good company. “Pastor. I’ve done some really bad things.” Well, you know what? I’ve done some really bad things. Some of you have done some really bad things. And here is the reality is that Jesus is here this morning. He’s ready to wipe away all of your sins, all of your past mistakes, all of your shame, all of your guilt give you a brand new fresh start. He’s ready to give you a clean slate. He’s ready to write your name in the book of heaven. He’s ready to make you a son or a daughter of the most high King. But some of you have the belief that God cannot forgive you.

Listen to me, my friends, here’s what it says in Acts chapter two. It says this, everyone who’s everyone, it includes you, my friend, it includes you. Everyone who does what calls on the name of the Lord will be what will be saved.

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2:21)

You’ll be cleansed, you’ll be forgiven, you’ll be given a clean slate. And some of you’re going, well, how do you do that? What John chapter three, verse three tells us is that no one can see the kingdom of God without what being born again.

“No one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.” (John 3:3)

I’m going to explain to you what born again is. And here’s the question, have you been born again?

And that’s the greatest question that you have to answer. And if you’ve never answered the question, then today is your opportunity to answer it. Now, a lot of people gets born again confused with different things when it comes to a relationship with God. I want to give you six things that born again is not.

Number one, Born again is not a psychological experience. It’s just not a psychological experience. A lot of people think that’s just some type of experience that you have.

Number two, it’s not being religious. Nicodemus. In John chapter three where we get John 3:3 from. Nicodemus is the most religious person in the nation at that particular time. And Jesus tells Nicodemus that religion cannot save you. You have to be born again.

The third one is this one. It’s not head knowledge. We all know that over in the book of James, I believe it is. The Bible says is that Satan and his demons believes that there’s a God, but you won’t find them in heaven. You can have all the head knowledge, you can quote all the scripture, you can quote all the verses. But can I tell you something? Friends, most people are going to miss heaven by 18 inches. And that is a distance from your head to your heart and head knowledge will not save you.

Number four, it’s not mere external reformation. It’s just not the outward appearance. Look at this next verse that comes up. 2nd Timothy 3:5 these people with external reformation.

“They will go to church and will act as if they serve God but will not have his power. Stay away from those people.” (2 Timothy 3:5)

“They will go to church…” And many of you, you’re here today and you come to church and you’re just going through the routine, you’re going through the motion. But I want to know, where’s the power of God in your life? Where does the Holy Spirit reside? Where’s the Holy Spirit moving? It says they’ll go to church and they will act as if they serve God. They will act if they know God, they will act if they have a relationship with God, but they will not have his power. And a Christian who’s saved, sealed and delivered, they have the Holy Ghost living in them and they’re a change individual. And if you see someone who’s just going through the motion play in church, stay away from those people. Amen. Amen.

Number five, being born again, it’s not self effort or good works. There’s no amount of good works could ever make your way into heaven. Here’s the reason why is that how much good works? And who determines how much good works gets there? Do I get to determine how many good works you have to do in order to get to heaven? Do you get to determine your base? That’s the reason. It’s not about good works.

And the sixth thing is this. It’s not rituals and ceremonies such as baptism, confirmation or church membership. Those things are important, but they’re not equated to being born again. Look what it says over here in Titus chapter three, verse five. It’s in the easy translation. I’m being easy on you this morning.

“God did not save us because of any good things that we have done. He saved us because he chose to forgive us. God has washed us so that we are clean inside. We have been born again, so the we live a new life. God’s Holy Spirit has done this for us.” (Titus 3:5)

“God did not save us because of any good things that we ourselves have done. He saved us because he chose to forgive us. God has washed us so that we are clean inside. We’ve been born again so that we live a new life. God’s holy Spirit has done this for us.” Is it folks? It’s not baptism that saves you. It is Jesus. It’s not church membership, it’s not church attendance. And we say around here that you can be born again right now at this very moment.

It is as simple as A, B and C. And the letter A stands for “Admit.” Is it friends? I admit that I’m a sinner. I admit right now this is true. There’s something broken inside of me. There’s something broken inside of you. You’re a sinner. I’m a sinner. What’s broken inside of us? No one can fix. There’s not a priest. There’s not a pastor. There’s not a pill. There’s not a prescription. There’s not a program. There’s not a promise. There’s not a set of parents that can help you or fix what is broken inside of you. And can I just say something to you parents? Some of you, you’re trying to help your adult child to get fixed, but I’m just telling you, the only person that can fix them is God himself.

But the letter B is that we “Believe” that Jesus is the answer. We believe that Jesus went to the cross. He took the hit for my sin and for your sin. He said He laid down his life willingly to take on my sin so I didn’t have to go to the cross.

And the letter C is where it goes from a ritual and religion to relationship. I “Confess” my sins to Jesus and I confess him as my Lord and my Savior. And this morning I believe that there’s many of you that are here right now that you need to be born again.

And what I mean by born again is that you’re admitting that you’re a sinner. You believe that Jesus is the answer to your sin, and you confess your sin and you confess Jesus as the Lord and Savior. I’m just going to ask you to bow your head. You don’t have to close your eyes, don’t want to make it weird, but you can just bow your head. And this morning, I believe there’s people here who… Is ready to be born again today. Your destiny for being here at church is to receive cross into your heart and to be born again.

And in a second, I’m going to ask you to do me a favor. I’m just going to ask you to raise your hand. Not right now. Just in a second, I’m going to ask you to raise your hand. And when you raise your hand, I just want you to keep it up. And I’m just going to count the number of hands. That’s how we knew that 35 students last Sunday night accepted Jesus. And so here’s what I want to ask you to do. If you’re ready to be born again, you’re ready to have your sins forgiven, you’re ready to have a brand new start, clean slate. If you’re ready for a fresh start, tired of being defined by your past, I just want you to lift your hands up, hold ’em up in the air. Please go ahead, do that.

1, 2… 3.

Anyone in the riser?

I see three, four. I see it, four people. And here’s what I’m going to ask everyone in the room to do, especially those four. I want you to look to the screen and this is the Born Again prayer. And what we do is that we pray the prayer with you, but this is kind of how you seal the deal with Jesus is praying this born again prayer. This is how you kind of confirm the relationship, and we always just say it with you because it’s a good reminder for all of us who’s already Christians.

“Dear Lord Jesus, I believe you’re the son of God. I believe that on the cross, you took my sin, my shame, my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn’t have to go there. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your Father. Today, Lord Jesus, I’m turning for my sin to be born again. God is my Father. Come on now. The Holy Spirit is my helper. Jesus is my Savior and my Lord and heaven is now my home. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Yeah. Welcome these four people. Yeah, welcome!