Sermon Series
All Have Sinned–But, There's Grace! – Part 3
"Healing Grace"
Pastor Jerry
Psalm 147:1-11 (NIV)
------------------------------------- Message Synopsis -------------------------------------
Nobody gets through life without having some problems. We all have problems. One of the deepest causes of those hurts is rejection. We all face it at different times in life.
We are in the third week of a new series of messages that I’m calling:
“All Have Sinned—But, There’s Grace!” Today, I want us to look at God's Healing Grace and how He heals the hidden wounds of our life. The Bible says in Psalm 147:3
"God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Maybe you’re here with a broken heart today. Maybe you need to be healed?
How does God heal broken hearts and wounds? The Bible tells us by changing the way we think:
by changing our minds. The Bible says in Romans 12
"Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." If you want to change your life, if you want to get over hurt, you've got to change the way you think.
The Bible says,
"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." It's very simple. The Bible says our beliefs determine our behaviors. The way we think determines the way that we act.
There's a big problem with that.
The problem is some of your beliefs are false, erroneous, mistaken. Have you ever looked at yourself in a warped mirror? If you look at a distorted mirror you get a distorted image of yourself. Growing up, the adults around your life acted like mirrors. Some of us today are acting on wrong images, on incorrect data.
I want us to look at how God changes our mind and helps us not only see Him in a new light but see ourselves in a new light. God always tells you the truth. Today I want us to look at five things that God says about you that are true
because of His Healing Grace.
This could be a life changing day for you today. God’s Healing Grace.
What truth does the Bible say about you and me? The Bible says...
- I AM ACCEPTABLE.
Most of us spend our entire lives trying to be accepted by others. We
do not realize that the drive to be accepted is behind many of the things you do in life. People will do the craziest things in order to be accepted.
Some of you think,
"If I could just be perfect, then everybody would love me. Then everybody would accept me." But that won't work either, even if you were perfect. The Bible says
Jesus was perfect, yet He was despised and rejected of men. The problem was not His perfection, the problem was with their hearts.
Jesus tells us that this issue is settled when we accept His Healing Grace. Romans 15:7
"Christ has accepted you." Notice there is no condition.
It's based on God's Healing Grace not your performance.
Some of you are not sure about what God thinks of you? Do you realize that
God has accepted you just as you are without any conditions on it because of His Healing Grace.
The second thing the Bible says about healing broken hearts is…
- God says I AM VALUABLE.
I am worth something. How much do you think you're worth?
The Bible says that a man's life does not consist of the abundance of things he possesses. You might say,
"I don't know. How do you judge the value of a person?" There are two things that determine value in life. One, who owns it, two, what is somebody willing to pay for it. Those two things create value.
1 John 4:4
"You belong to God." Imagine your value.
Everyone is created by God but everyone does not belong to God. If you belong to God. You're valuable.
That means you're priceless.
The other thing that determines value is what somebody's willing to pay for it.
How much was paid for you? 1 Corinthians 7
"You have been bought and paid for by Christ so you belong to Him." The greatest ransom ever paid was when Jesus Christ paid for your sins and you were bought with a price and God exchanged His own son to die for you. That's how valuable you are.
The third thing the Bible says about healing broken hearts is…
- The Bible tells us because of God's healing grace I AM LOVABLE.
When you've been rejected you don't feel too lovable. If you say,
“I'm not worth anything! I'm not loved by anybody." You're wrong. The Bible says
"`The mountains and hills may crumble but My love for you will never end,' so says the Lord who loves you." God's love will never end. God's love is unconditional and it’s not based on performance. That's healing grace.
The fourth thing the Bible says about healing broken hearts is…
- The Bible says because of His grace I AM FORGIVABLE.
We make mistakes. Yet, I am forgivable. The Bible says in Isaiah 43:25
"I am the God who forgives your sins and I do this because of who I am. It's not based on your deserving it. It's based on God is a Healing,
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Ephesians 1:4
"Through what Christ would do for us, God decided to make us holy in His eyes, without a single fault we stand before Him covered with His love." If you don't accept the grace of God, you're not covered with His love.
Before you were even born, God knew what you were going to do. And He still made you and He still loves you and He still cares about you. He knew it. He's a gracious God. The good news is, when I receive Christ into my life, all my sins are wiped out.
The fifth thing (last one today) the Bible says about healing broken hearts is…
- God says with Christ in my life I AM CAPABLE.
Philippians 4:13
"I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me. I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me, that is, I am self sufficient in Christ's sufficiency."
Any time anything besides God is number one in your life, you're going to be vulnerable to a broken heart.
For genuine security in life, you have to have something that's number one in your life that cannot be taken away from you. There's only one thing that fits that possibility.
A relationship to your creator God, to His Son, Jesus Christ. That can never be taken from you. Then if you lose everything else, including your health, you still have your security for eternal life.
Some of you have had a major hurt in your life, experienced a broken heart. I'm sorry for your pain.
You can be healed of a broken heart. If you will open your life to the Healing Grace of God and the power of Jesus Christ and accept what He says about you and begin a relationship with Him.
Then take the word of God and fill your mind with it.
To a large degree the way you see yourself and the way you feel about yourself is determined by what you think the most important person in your life thinks about you. If that's true,
I want to beg you to make Jesus Christ the most important person in your life. You have a choice. You can believe what other people say about you, which mostly is not true and imperfect and distorted, or, you can hold your life up to the light of God's Word and His truth and believe what He says about you from His Healing Grace.
