Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Welcome to Awakened to Grace. I'm Chad Roberts, and I'm so glad you're joining us today. I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. Today, you're going to hear a powerful sermon. But before we get to the sermon, I want to encourage you to check out my new book. It's called Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness. It's published by our partners at Lifeway.

And the reason I wrote this book is because I am 100% blind. And as I've walked this path of blindness, this path of suffering, well, I want to teach you how Christians can suffer well. I say that today my job as a blind pastor is to help people trust a God they cannot see. You can order the book right now anywhere that books are sold in any format. Even if you're not much of a book reader, you can even get it in audio where you can listen to it.

Well, I hope you'll go right now to the official website, which is blindfaith.live. Again, that's blindfaith.live. And I hope you'll not only get a copy for you, I hope you'll pick one up for someone who needs encouragement in their faith today.

I have to keep myself in the love of God. And let me tell you how that looks very practically for me. There are some days, just to be quite frank, I would rather not get out of bed. There are some days—let me tell you what is the craziest thing for me—is to dream very, very vividly. I'm talking like to be able to see everything in extremely vibrant and vivid colors. Like, I can see everything. And then wake up and it's pitch black and have no ability to see whatsoever.

There are some days that I would just rather lay in bed. But see, I've learned something out of this verse. It is vital to my spiritual growth, to my spiritual health, that I get myself out of bed and I keep myself in the love of God. And let me tell you what that looks like for me. Number one: coffee. I'm joking. I'm kidding. I do have a cup of coffee every morning. I think Sadie thinks our marriage is better when I have coffee. So anyways, I do drink coffee about every morning.

But do you know what I do when I'm sipping my coffee? I'm not sitting there thinking about blindness. I'm not sitting there—why is this happening in my life? I'm not sitting there, woe is me. You know what I'm doing as I'm sipping my coffee? I've got things right at my fingertips. There are certain scriptures that I'll listen to that it uplifts me. Certain—listen, I'll put on Psalm 34 and it just lifts me up out of despair.

There are certain songs that I listen to, that I'll sit there and sip my coffee, and I'll sing and I'll listen to those songs, and I'll worship the Lord. There are certain preachers I listen to, that when I listen to them, it feeds my soul. And you know what I'm doing when I have all of those weapons at my fingertips? There are certain devotions I listen to, certain books I listen to, certain preaching I listen to, certain worship I listen to, certain chapters of the Bible that I go to.

And I have all of these weapons in my arsenal, right at my fingertips. And when depression tries to grip me, when discouragement comes on me—no, I keep myself centered in the love of God. And it lifts me out of that despair. Amen. And you have the same ability. Keep yourself. Take on the responsibility and feed yourself the Word of God. Listen to the right music. Listen to the right things. Put the right things around you.

And it will give you the right perspective. And see, now I'm beginning to understand. See, when I get to heaven, when you get to heaven, you realize there are no more sufferings. We'll never suffer again. And the Bible teaches that we glorify God in our sufferings. You know what that tells me? I have one opportunity to glorify God in this suffering. I'm not going to waste it.

Because one day, I'll never suffer again. And the only opportunity I have to glorify Christ in hardship is right here on this earth. I'm not going to waste it. Keep yourself in the love of God. See, the problem is—and let me say this carefully, but let me say it pastorally—some of you are keeping yourself in depression. You're keeping yourself in bitterness. You're keeping yourself in unforgiveness. You're keeping yourself in lust. You're keeping yourself in anger. And you're keeping yourself in all these things because you won't let go of it.

Replace it. Keep yourself and replace it with the love of God and the things of God. And it will—you know, before we put in—isn't our carpet so pretty? But before we put in this brand new carpet, it was stained and ugly and messy. Let me tell you, I personally—I went to Dalton, Georgia. You know what's in Dalton, Georgia, don't you? Carpet. And I bought the cheapest carpet you could find when we first moved into this building.

We didn't know if we were staying. And it's so many thousand square feet, thousands of dollars. And I'm telling you, I mean, they'd show me carpet and I'd say, "It's not cheap enough. What else you got?" And we bought such cheap carpet, I mean, if somebody spilled coffee, you couldn't even—the stain wouldn't even come out because it was so cheap. It was awful.

But one day, thank God, we were able to rip out that nasty, ugly, worn, stained carpet. But see, here's the thing, church: we didn't just rip it out and leave it out. We replaced it. Amen. And do you know what the Bible means in 2 Corinthians 4 and in Colossians chapter 3? Do you know what the Bible means when it says that God is renewing us day by day? That word "renew" is where we get our English word "renovate."

God wants to renovate your life. He wants to rip out that nasty, that ugly, that stain. He wants to rip out that anger. He wants to rip out that lust. He wants to rip out that unforgiveness and bitterness and addiction. He wants to rip those things out. But let me tell you, God doesn't just leave you empty. He replaces what He takes out. Amen. Let God renovate you.

But you've got to maintain. You've got to keep things clean. You've got to keep yourself in the love of God. And as you do that, guess what? Your perspective begins to change. You don't see life the same anymore. You know why I'm able to be joyful in the midst of blindness? You know why I'm able to be—crying out loud—productive in the midst of blindness? Because I don't see life the same like I did.

My perspective has changed. And as our perspective changes, do you know the biblical concept of how it changes? It points toward eternal life. And the things of this world, the things, the cares of this life—they just don't seem to matter like they used to. Amen. Let God change your perspective. Number two: here's the interesting thing that happens. As your perspective changes, well, guess what? Your priorities begin to change.

Notice where Jude goes. When I take on the spiritual responsibility—I'm going to keep myself in church. I'm going to keep my family in church. Men, I'm going to keep my children in church. I'm going to keep us around the things of God. I'm going to keep worship music in my life. I'm going to keep scripture in my life. I'm going to keep sermons in my life. I'm going to keep prayer in my life. I'm going to keep fellowship in my life. And I'm going to surround my life with the things of God.

And all around me, I've centered myself into the love of God and the things of God. Well, as I do that, I begin to get an eternal perspective. I begin to look toward eternity. Well, then, guess what happens? Look where Jude goes. It goes from "me keeping myself in the love of God, having an eternal perspective," that then I begin to look at others around me.

Verse 22: "Have mercy on those who doubt." Those who genuinely struggle. Those who really have questions. Jude said, "Have mercy on those." On others, save them by snatching them out of the fire. You know, there are some people you've got to be very compassionate with. You've got to be patient with. You have to be tender with. And then there are some people—you've just got to get in their face and speak truth. Snatch them out of the fire.

People have different personalities. People have different experiences. People have different backgrounds. People have different childhoods. Everything's different for everyone. And we are to be skilled in how we present the gospel. So then, he goes on, and look what he says next. For some, snatching them out of the fire. And well, let me point this out before I move forward. You ever hear the expression, "we should hate the sin but love the sinner"?

This is where this comes from. Look at verse 23. He says, "hating the garment stained by sin." Do you know what he's saying? We don't—we never—listen, the church should never hate anyone. Amen. I don't care—listen, racism has zero place in the church. Now let me tell you, I don't—I do not mind to say, to tell people, "We're not the church for you. You need to go somewhere else."

My goal is not to fill every single chair in here. You realize that? And someone who wants to be racist—we're not the church for them. You need to move right on along. We're not for you. Racism has no place in the church. Hatred has no place in the church. And are the fires of hatred not burning in our country right now? Let me tell you, no matter who you disagree with, no matter what arguments arise on social media or on politics or in the news or whatever, let me tell you, my friends: don't entangle yourself in things of hatred.

No, keep yourself in the love of God. Amen. Don't entangle yourself in all of this hatred. No. We hate the garment stained with sin, but we don't hate the sinner. This is where that expression comes from. So we see first the perspective of the believer: that we are to look toward eternity. We're to keep ourselves. That's our responsibility: keep ourselves in the love of God.

We see second the priority of the believer: we are to love sinners. You know, everything—even though I can't see, I remember what everything looks like. I don't know what I'll do when everything changes, but I remember what everything looks like. I remember our carpet. I remember my pulpit—although a round pulpit doesn't serve a blind pastor real well. I need to get a squared pulpit. It would be more helpful, wouldn't it?

I love this platform. I love our stage. I love our chairs. I love our lighting. I think we have one of the prettiest auditoriums. Amen. But do you realize there isn't a thing in this auditorium that we'll ever take to heaven, except for the souls that we've preached the gospel to? That's it. We'll never take anything in this building to heaven with us. Only the souls that we've preached to.

That's why, if we're going to have the eternal perspective, Jude immediately shifts toward people. And how can a church preach the gospel to people if we're filled with hatred and division? It can't happen. Amen. And what's that mean? So be it. Two weeks ago, anyway. Now look what he says, verse 24. He says, "Now unto him who is able."

Now watch the shift. Watch where Jude is going. He masterfully instructs us on a personal level: keep yourself in the love of God. He then masterfully instructs us toward people and what our attitude ought to be, what our perspective ought to be. Isn't that beautiful? And now he's masterfully going to put our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. He goes from us, to people, to the Lord.

What instruction! That's why I love the New Testament so much. The Old Testament teaches us character. It teaches us out of people's lives: Abraham, Moses, Daniel, David, Ezekiel, Jeremiah. It teaches us all these great lives. But the New Testament teaches us all these great principles. And so now look what he's going to say. "Now unto him"—here's the doxology—"now unto him who is able to keep you from stumbling, to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great (or exceeding) joy." Hallelujah! Amen.

And then look what he's going to say. "Now to God our Savior." Isn't that just a beautiful phrase right there? God our Deliverer, our Rescuer, our Savior through Jesus Christ. To him be glory, majesty, honor, authority, before time, now, and forevermore. Amen. Isn't that a beautiful scripture? Friends, that's a doxology. And there are many of those in the scriptures. It's a praise. It's an expression to the Lord.

So while we see the perspective of the believer, while we see the priority of the believer, now the whole focus is going to shift. And now what we see is the salvation of God. The sufficient salvation of God. God is our Savior. He's able. He's able to preserve us. He's able to keep us. He's able to watch over us. He's able to keep us from stumbling. He's able to present us blameless before His glory with great joy.

God is able to rescue today. I don't know where you are in your life today. I don't know the sincere doubts you have. I don't know where you're struggling, but I will tell you this today: God saves to the uttermost. And God has the ability. God is—what's the word? Able. God is able! God has the ability to reach right into your life today, no matter where you struggle, no matter what you face, no matter what you've done, no matter what your background is, no matter what your past has been, God is able!

And he's able to rescue you today. He's able to save today. And then look what he says: "God, all glory, all majesty, all honor, all dominion, all authority, power, all of it belongs to the Lord." You know what we see there? That He's supremely sovereign. All power is God's. Let me tell you, my friends: it doesn't matter what happens on November 3rd or the weeks afterward, God is still going to be sovereign.

Whoever occupies the White House does not sit on the throne of God. Nor does it change His sovereign will or decrees. Amen. God's sovereign. And just like no matter who sits in the Oval Office does not change the sovereignty of God, well guess what? Your mistakes and your sins and your failures and your past does not change His sovereignty, nor His ability to step right into your life and rescue you today.

See, Satan would tell you, "You've gone too far." But who did we say he is? He's the father of lies. Satan would tell you, "You're too dirty. You're too unclean." But guess who he is? He's the master deceiver. And do you know what the truth tells you? That God is able to rescue you today. That's what God says. So no matter who you are today, no matter what your past is, do you need the Lord?

Let's bow our heads today. Maybe you're someone that you've been fretting. You're so nervous. This awful pandemic, this unpredictable election. Perhaps your job is doing layoffs right now. Maybe your company's going under and you don't know what you're going to do. Maybe you're awaiting serious test results today that you don't know what the outcome is going to be.

Friends, I want to invite you to take your eyes off of you, to take your eyes off of your circumstance, to lift your eyes today and look to God. Look to His supreme sovereignty. Look to Him. Look to Him. Look to the Lord today. Those of you that you're not saved, you're not born again—I'm not asking, are you religious? I'm not asking what you did as a kid or any of that.

But today, if you died, if this was your last day on this earth, you would not go to heaven. I'm telling you today: look to Christ and live. Look to Christ and live! Stop looking within yourself. Stop looking at other religions. Stop looking at spirituality. Stop looking at Wicca and other things that will send you to hell because it's false, because it's fake, because it's error.

Look to Christ and live. I don't know who you are today. I don't know where you are. But God knows exactly who you are, and God knows exactly where you are. And God has come to you today. But this last step is yours. If there's a thousand steps between us and God, He'll take every step but that last one's yours. Will you step to God? Will you say yes to the Lord today?

Right there in your seat, whoever I'm talking to, those watching, those listening online, wherever you are right now, bow your head. And pray this prayer of salvation. Right now, from your heart, in your heart, say: "Jesus Christ, rescue me from sin. I confess all sin in my life. Rescue me. Save me. Deliver me. And I make You my Lord and Savior. I accept Your forgiveness. Cleanse me by Your blood and make me new today. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen."

Take Awakened to Grace with you on the go! When you download Awakened to Grace on your device, you will have access to hundreds of resources we create, all for free. Sermons, music, articles, and more. Download Awakened to Grace wherever you get your favorite apps. Have you signed up for my weekly devotional email?

Every Tuesday, I send out a devotion that will help you grow in your faith. Go to my website, awakenedtograce.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, and when you sign up and submit your email, you'll get a direct message from me every Tuesday. Sign up today at awakenedtograce.com.