All right, so a couple weeks
ago I was tithing our bathroom. I'm still tithing our bathroom.
I'm learning how to tile our bathroom. I should say, it's
the first time I've ever tiled. Learning from YouTube. As I'm
going through it, I listen to music. I was listening to a song.
This happens to be like the third time I've had a sermon now that
is inspired by a Lauren Daigle song. I don't really know anything
about Lauren Daigle, personally. Even the song that kind of hit
me, I'm not a huge fan of the song. But the chorus. The chorus is simply, see, simply, what have I done to deserve
love like this? Already struggling. So it got me thinking about what
is deserved? This is not something, for those
of you that have been in this church for a long time or have
been familiar with the truth for a long time, it's something
that you're going to be surprised to hear. But it can be confusing,
so I'm going to go through it. What is deserved? This means
different things to a lot of different people. Really, it means different things
to two groups of people. First of all, when you think
about the world, man, this world that we live in, this cursed
place, how do they look at things as far as what they deserve when
it comes to their relationship with God? The truth is the world doesn't
know anything about what it truly deserves. And it's not their
fault. They haven't been shown. what
they truly deserve. So they're in a place where if
they truly knew what they deserve, they would no longer be the world. They would be God's people. That's
the first thing that happens. You're shown who you are. So
this world that we live in constantly fights against that, that idea
of them not deserving anything good. They very much believe that they
do. Understanding your position with
God isn't just important, it's absolutely necessary. It's essential. It's part of being given spiritual
life, is to be shown that you need it. That your current position is
spiritual death. But until you've shown that,
you don't really know. In order for someone to receive
salvation, they first need to be shown that they actually need
salvation. Why would anyone turn to Christ
if they truly didn't believe they need him? This is the state of the world.
This is the world we live in. And it's not the current state.
This has been the state of the world since Adam took a bite
of the fruit. That is where we are. The world
hates God. And that's not an overstatement.
The world hates Christ. Because what God and Christ do
is they shine a light on who they are. And they don't like
that. The truth shines a light on what
they really are and what they really deserve. So they fight
it. They talk about what they think
they deserve. I mean, think about how many
times in life you've heard this. I mean, if you really think about
it, you hear it all the time. Anytime you question what God
is doing, you're questioning what you deserve. Natural disasters. Well, why would God do that to
people? It's the exact same thing as saying those people didn't
deserve that. Personally, if you're going through
something difficult, physical pain, emotional pain, heart,
just anything difficult in life. Why am I going through this? Why is God doing this to me?
That is the exact same thing as saying, I don't deserve this.
I deserve better. We say it, and we know better,
but we still say it. It's, we are, I don't want to
get off on a tangent, but we are a being of two pieces. We have a soul that God has,
for his people, has loved since the beginning of creation, that
part of you. That part has never changed and
never will, and eventually will be set free from the other part
of you, the part that you see, the part that you feel. the flesh. All of that someday will be set
free, and that original soul, who you really truly are, the
part that God sees, will be set free. I got off on a tangent. But again, to question God is
to say you deserve something other than what He has done.
They look to themselves, the world, and they see hope in who
they are. Well, if you look at what the
Bible says about what we deserve, it's pretty clear. You can turn
with me, if you'd like, to Romans. Well, actually, we'll just go
right back to 323 that I read already. Romans 3.23, it's very simple.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So that's pretty black and white.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That doesn't
go hand in hand with what the world is saying, with what our
fleshly part is saying. Why is this happening? Why do
I have to deal with this? Why did that innocent individual
have to deal with whatever tragedy I'm talking about? That doesn't
fit my narrative. That person didn't deserve that.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It
sounds harsh, but the truth is harsh. It's not meant to appeal. to everyone, obviously. So, if all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, what does it say that sin deserves? Well, if you turn just a few
pages to Romans 6.23, it says, for the wages of sin is death. So if all have sinned, all deserve
death. That's where we are without a
Savior. That's where the world is. So if that's what the world feels
about what they deserve, and that's what the Bible says about
what we actually deserve, what about the believer? It really flips on its ear here.
It does for me anyway. And I can't imagine I'm alone.
But to be given spiritual life, it begins with the fall, just
like the gospel begins with the fall. You have to see who you
are, be shown who you are, before you will ever cry out to Christ
and say, I need a Savior. You have to look to yourself
and see no hope to turn to the only hope, If you look to yourself and you
still see some hope in yourself, why would you ever turn anywhere
else? So quite the opposite of how
the world sees things, we look at ourselves and see sin and
shortcomings and failure. and us getting wrapped up in
this world, and saying the things that I just got done talking
about. Like, wow, I don't deserve that. And we know better. So
we see this, and we see it as a failure. I know better than
this. Yet I keep falling and keep falling
and keep falling. So while the world looks at themselves
and sees a place of hope and sees a person that deserves better,
we look at ourselves many times and see the opposite. How can
I be saved? Both are wrong. Both are wrong. The world looking at themselves
and seeing hope in themselves is wrong. A believer looking
at themselves and seeing no hope is wrong, because they have hope. What's wrong about it is both
of them are looking at themselves. Nothing good. Nothing good comes
from looking inward We have nothing to offer ourselves
We have nothing to offer God What does looking at ourselves
do for us Besides put us in a bad place Either on this side where
you lift yourself up a little bit or on this side where you
beat yourself down. I So, that's where we feel we deserve. How does God approach the topic
of what is deserved? If God says sin deserves death
and everyone sins, what does God do about that? In the Old
Testament, before Christ, the law was a very black and white
thing. You get what you deserve. The
law is a very good thing. Upholding the law is actually
a wonderful thing. The problem is none of us can
do it. So did God see this problem and
just say, you know what, I think I'm going to get rid of this
law thing. It seems to be a problem if I
want to save anybody. Not at all. That's not just. That's not true. God said the
wages of sin are death. He's not going to change that.
He doesn't go back on His word. Justice for sin must always be
accomplished. So did God send Christ to this
world to save His people by forfeiting the law? by showing up and saying,
I think we're just gonna get rid of that. No, you go to Matthew 5, 17,
it says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the
prophets. I have come not to abolish them,
but to fulfill them. We cannot fulfill the law. So Christ came to do exactly
that. Christ did not come to change
what is required for us to be spared of death. The law says
do all this or die. Christ came, did all of this,
and died. Both as our substitute. Both doing it all and dying. John 1, verse 17, for the law
was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized
through Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians 5.21. You
don't have to turn, I'm just gonna read it. God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us. so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God. So what did Christ deserve? If we're gonna talk about what
is deserved. Christ lived perfectly. That is something we cannot understand.
I'm sinning right now. I don't know how, but I'm sure
I am. I'm not boasting in that. I'm
just saying we can't get away from it. The minute Adam sinned,
we were bathed in sin forever. If we never sinned a day in our
lives, it wouldn't matter. We were cursed then. Now, we
do a really good job of adding to it. But that's where we are. Christ lived perfectly. He upheld
the law perfectly. He was completely without sin.
What did he deserve? He deserved every good thing. He deserved glory and praise. And he was given death and hell. He had everything taken away from
him to save those who deserved it. who deserved death and hell and
to have everything taken away from them. It makes no sense to my brain. Do we really want to talk about
what we deserve? That's where this question came
into my head when I'm tiling in my bathroom. What have you
done to deserve a love like that? What have you contributed to
deserve the reward of what Christ has done? What Christ has done has earned
a reward for you. What have you done to deserve
that? God forsook his own son. God punished his own son, his
perfect son who he loved. He turned away from him, unleashed
hell, wrath, and judgment on his own perfect son, anguish
that I cannot describe. Why did he do this? Why did he
put this unimaginable burden on the only one who didn't deserve
it? To save the ones who did. He came. as a conqueror, but not in the
way we look at it. He didn't come to fight and battle
and defeat our enemies. He came to let our enemies defeat
Him. To take what we deserve. What could you possibly do to
deserve a love like that? Nothing we can do can equal what
he has done. Nothing we can do, the greatest thing I could ever
imagine doing, can't even get close to what Christ has done.
What can I do to deserve that? All you've done your entire life
is give him more reasons to be punished. Think about that. That's a sobering thought. You've only added to the debt
that He was forced to pay. Do we really want to talk about
what we deserve? If God ran this world according
to what we deserved, Christ would never have been on the cross
and everyone would be in hell. But thank you so much. That is
not the way things are. God made him who had no sin to
be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God. He was perfect in every way and
was punished as the most vile sinner to have ever lived. We are the most vile. There's nothing good in us. There is no one righteous, not
even one, says that in Romans. And yet, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God. We go from a place that can't
get worse. Instantly to a place that can't
get better All thanks to Christ 100% We had no hope we now have the
one hope that cannot fail I We can't see through the sins
and shortcomings of our lives, so we look to Christ on the cross
and see that that is enough for me. It's a heavy burden on us
sometimes to deal with how we feel and all this crud that we
pile on ourselves throughout our lives. Look to the cross. See that picture. That is enough for me. No matter how high our mountain
of sin, no matter how deep our pit, we can look to Christ on
the cross and cry, that is greater. That is higher. That is more
than enough. We no longer ever have to be
bothered with what we deserve. Ever again. Because we have grace. The unending, immeasurable grace
of God. So much greater than our sin.
Grace is such a beautiful word because it can't be deserved.
We talk about what we deserve. The definition of grace is unmerited
favor. It literally means favor that
is not deserved. We never again need to be concerned
with what we deserve. Not for one second of the rest
of our lives. If you really want to think about
what is deserved, think about the good things that Christ deserves in the eyes of His Father who
loves Him. Unending blessings that Christ
deserves. God would withhold no good thing
for Him and now realize That is now what we deserve. Because we're in Him. He's earned
that for us. He's paid for that for us. We
go from deserving no good thing to deserving all good things. He took what we deserve and gave
us what He deserves. He took our sin and gave us His
righteousness. Romans 5.20, the law was brought
in so that trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace
increased all the more. Earlier I referenced what the
Bible says about what is deserved. I referenced a couple scriptures. I'm gonna go back to them really
quickly, and then I'm gonna close up here. Romans 3.23, I mentioned,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That
is what God says about what is deserved. Let me read the rest
of that line. For all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God. and all are justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. We're not the brightest. I'm
not the brightest. So he makes it very clear. For
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are
justified freely by the grace through the redemption that came
through Christ Jesus. Same sentence, not even a period in between. Also, I read, for the wages of
sin are death. I read that earlier. The rest
of that verse, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Stop looking at yourself for
goodness. Stop looking at yourself for negative reasons, you won't
find anything good. Stop looking at yourself and
your sin. It doesn't do you any good. Just stop looking at yourself. To put it simply, what Christ has done is so much greater than whatever
you have done. And that goes both positive and
negative. That's the beauty of this. We
can't change it. We didn't make it happen. If
we did nothing to deserve the love that was shown to us on
the cross, if we did nothing to earn that, we had nothing
to do with it, then nothing we can do can undo it. It was put in place by Christ. We can't change that. That is a wonderful truth. So again, you look at yourself,
you see hope, or you see absolute lack of, knock it off. Either
one. Christ is greater. What Christ
has done is greater than anything you can do, good or bad.