Day 5: We Can’t Fix Sin—Grace in Light of the Cross

We wrap up week one of In Light of the Cross by looking at sin as a problem we can’t fix ourselves and why we need God’s grace. After praying, we read Ephesians 2:1–10 and focus on Paul’s point that we were dead in sin and saved by grace through faith, not by works. We use a story from Master and Commander to show why “trying harder” can’t solve sin, and we connect this to Genesis 3:21 where God clothes Adam and Eve with skins, pointing ahead to sacrifice and ultimately Jesus. We talk about confession as a practice that deepens fellowship with God, not a work that earns salvation, and we end by thanking God for grace and praying the Lord’s Prayer.

00:00 Week Recap and Focus

00:58 Prayer and Scripture Reading

03:05 Grace Not Self Repair

05:08 Genesis Covering and Sacrifice

07:26 Why Works Cannot Pay

08:43 Confession and Ongoing Grace

11:08 Application Gratitude Practice 1

1:59 The Lord's Prayer Closing

welcome back to another episode of In Light of the Cross.

2

It is week one, day five, and

this week we've been exploring

3

sin in light of the cross.

4

So we began day one with talking about

how sin is breaking the command of God and

5

it's betraying our relationship with God.

6

And then we explored how sin is.

7

And not just that, but it's

actually siding with the enemy.

8

It's siding with Satan.

9

And then yesterday we talked about how

sin is forfeiting the life that God

10

intended for us, the good life, and how

we feel this in various ways through

11

brokenness, with our relationship,

with God, with others, with ourselves,

12

and even with all of creation.

13

as we wrap up this week, we want to

explore how we can't save ourselves.

14

We've got this huge problem.

15

In fact, we've got the biggest problem

and how we need God's grace for it.

16

So let's just begin here with a minute,

as we've done to send ourselves,

17

begin with the word of prayer.

18

Invite the spirit into our time

And prepare ourselves to receive

19

what God has for us this morning.

20

wherever you're at, we want

to invite you to pray now.

21

As we move into our time of reflection,

I'm going to begin by reading Ephesians

22

chapter two verses one through 10.

23

This is Paul writing here,

speaking to the Church of Ephesus.

24

He says, as for you.

25

You were dead in your transgressions

and sins in which you used to live when

26

you followed the ways of this world

and of the ruler of the kingdom of

27

the air, the spirit who is now at work

and those who are disobedient, all of

28

us also lived among them at one time,

gratifying the cravings of our flesh

29

and following its desires and thoughts.

30

Like the rest.

31

We were by nature deserving of wrath.

32

But because of his great love for

us, God who is rich in mercy, made

33

us alive with Christ even when

we were dead in transgressions.

34

It is by grace.

35

You have been saved and God raised us

up with Christ and seeded us with him

36

in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

37

In order that in the coming age, he might

show the incomparable riches of his grace.

38

Expressed in his kindness

to us in Christ Jesus.

39

For it is by grace.

40

You have been saved through faith,

and this is not from yourselves.

41

It is the gift of God, not by

works so that no one can boast.

42

For we are God's handiwork created in

Christ Jesus to do good works, which God

43

has prepared in advance for us to do.

44

Amen.

45

Daniel Jepsen: Amen.

46

That's a great passage.

47

Thanks for reading that.

48

and that's gonna introduce our main theme

here for this podcast episode is that

49

sin is a problem not only because of all

the things it brings, the alienation,

50

the death, the disruption, uh, all

of that, but because we can't fix it.

51

Nathan Beasley: Yeah,

52

Daniel Jepsen: we can't fix it.

53

We need grace.

54

We need God to fix it for us.

55

one of my favorite movies is

called Master and Commander.

56

Have you ever seen that movie?

57

Nathan Beasley: I don't know if I have.

58

Daniel Jepsen: Okay.

59

Well, it's set around 1812.

60

So it's during the Great Wars, during

the Napoleonic era between France

61

and England and an English, ship.

62

Is out on the Pacific and

they're very much isolated.

63

So there aren't any ports around,

there aren't any other ships around.

64

And there are two main

characters on the ship.

65

One is the captain and

the other is the doctor.

66

And so it explores their friendship and

the tension between them and what happens.

67

And in one of the great scenes in this,

the doctor is accidentally shot by

68

someone who's trying to shoot or bird,

um, but the doctor gets shot on accident.

69

but there's no one else in

the crew that can perform the

70

surgery to remove the bullet.

71

And so what they do is they go ashore

on this deserted island and they set up

72

a, a tent, and then he instructs someone

to hold the mirror in a certain way.

73

Someone else to hand him tools and he

actually performed surgery on himself.

74

And that's something sometimes

what we think we can do.

75

Well, yeah, we sin, we

know it's a problem.

76

We make mistakes, but we're gonna fix

it by trying harder, by doing better.

77

The problem is, according to the

passage you just read, Ephesians

78

chapter two, we are not injured people.

79

We are corpses.

80

A corpse can't do surgery on itself.

81

We are dead in our trespasses and sin.

82

And so that's why Paul emphasizes

we were by nature objects of wrath.

83

We were dead in our trespasses and

our sins, but God, because of his

84

great love for us, saved us by grace.

85

And you even see that right there

in the Genesis story, don't you?

86

So you talked to last time, after

Adam and Eve sinned, they felt shame.

87

They felt guilt before God.

88

They hid before God and then they hid

their bodies from each other by clothing.

89

They sewed fig leaves together

some sort of leaves together.

90

And what does God do after God says

this is what their sin will bring.

91

God does something.

92

Nathan Beasley: Yeah, the

Lord God made garments.

93

Of skin for Adam and his

wife, Eve and clothed them.

94

Chapter 3 21 says

95

Daniel Jepsen: right now,

why garments of skin?

96

Why weren't their efforts to

create their own coverings enough?

97

Well, we're not told exactly here,

but if you read the rest of the

98

scripture, it becomes pretty obvious

that this is gonna point toward the

99

animal sacrifice that God would use

as a substitute to cover their sins.

100

That was in place during the Old Testament

Mosaic law, which also, which pointed by

101

itself to Jesus the ultimate sacrifice.

102

An innocent creature had its bloodshed

to cover their guilt and their sin

103

that they could not do themselves.

104

That's grace, and we don't have to

know all the ways that the cross works.

105

But the main thing you see right

here at the very beginning in Genesis

106

chapter three, is that God is the one

who has to deal with the sin problem.

107

God is the one.

108

It can't be us.

109

'cause we're dead.

110

We're the ones stuck in

the pit with no way out.

111

We need someone from above to send down

a rope or some other way to save us.

112

Nathan Beasley: it's amazing

that in Genesis chapter three,

113

God just covers their bodies.

114

But then the way this points to Jesus,

it's more of just the physical covering.

115

Daniel Jepsen: Yeah,

116

Nathan Beasley: it's a full, full

spiritual covering, so to speak.

117

Daniel Jepsen: Mm-hmm.

118

Nathan Beasley: It blots out.

119

It covers us at the blood of

Jesus covers us in all of our sin.

120

Daniel Jepsen: Yeah.

121

Right there.

122

At the very beginning, God's

telling us, look, you have a big

123

sin problem, but the way that that's

gonna be handled has to be from me.

124

So it's not us trying to work harder,

trying to do better, trying to balance

125

out our bad things with our good things.

126

That's never gonna work.

127

If I commit a serious crime, and

I go before the judge, he says,

128

you are found guilty of this.

129

You have to pay the penalty.

130

Here's what the law says of the penalty.

131

I can't say yeah, but think of all the

other good things I've done in my life.

132

Or, yeah, but I'm gonna try to work really

hard to do more good things in my future.

133

That's irrelevant to the case.

134

There is something that has to be paid.

135

the point being that we can't balance

it out simply by our own efforts.

136

Sin is a problem that only God

can deal with, and he does.

137

Nathan Beasley: Hmm.

138

Daniel Jepsen: So as we look at sin

in light of the cross, one of the

139

things that we see is a huge problem.

140

It is.

141

It is such a big deal that it

required nothing less than the

142

death of God's perfect son to fix.

143

And it's something we can't do ourselves,

and that's why God had to do it.

144

Send his son to die in our place.

145

He saves us by grace, not by works.

146

Nathan Beasley: So as we move to a time

of application, confession is not a work.

147

Daniel Jepsen: No.

148

Nathan Beasley: It's not something

that if we do this, then God will

149

give us grace and forgiveness.

150

Daniel Jepsen: Right.

151

Nathan Beasley: rather it's a practice of

recognizing the ways that we are still.

152

In this broken, sinful state.

153

We've got one foot in

each camp, so to speak.

154

Daniel Jepsen: Yeah.

155

Nathan Beasley: We've been saved

just as the Israelites were brought

156

out of Egypt and the Exodus, but we

know that even though they had been

157

removed from a place physically.

158

They still had habits that were

more in alignment with being people

159

enslaved to Egypt than habits of

the people in the kingdom of God.

160

Daniel Jepsen: Right, exactly.

161

Nathan Beasley: Just a few chapters

in, they start sacrificing to

162

this golden calf that they made

with the gold from the Egyptians.

163

Daniel Jepsen: They still

got Egypt in their heart.

164

Nathan Beasley: They still

got Egypt in their heart.

165

Confession is just a practice of.

166

Reorienting ourselves to remind

ourselves that hey, we have fallen

167

short, but our allegiance is with God.

168

And so as we confess our

sins, our sins are forgiven.

169

We remember that God has absolved us

of sins in in the death of Christ.

170

He has covered us by the blood of Jesus.

171

But he offers us this gift of

regular confession to bring before.

172

The sins that we still commit, and

to once again, say, God, we are sorry

173

because we know that it's because of

our sin that Jesus hung on the cross.

174

Daniel Jepsen: Right?

175

Yeah.

176

no analogy is perfect, but

think of a husband and wife.

177

When they get married, they establish

this permanent covenant, and when they

178

fail each other, They don't dissolve

that covenant and say if he says

179

something harsh to her or she says

something untrue about him, they don't

180

break the covenant because of that.

181

But rather they say, you know what?

182

I blew it.

183

Will you forgive me?

184

And the goal there is simply to maintain

and deepen the fellowship within that.

185

So when we confess to

God after we're saved.

186

We're not getting saved again, rather,

is simply a way for us to be clean before

187

him and to deepen our fellowship with him.

188

Nathan Beasley: Hmm.

189

It's the grace that God

continues to pour on us.

190

Daniel Jepsen: Yes.

191

Nathan Beasley: To bring us

back into reconciliation,

192

Daniel Jepsen: and we never

outgrow our need for that grace.

193

Nathan Beasley: Amen.

194

Daniel Jepsen: So our time of

application today is simply this.

195

Spend some time thanking

God for his grace.

196

Picture in your mind what your life

would be like if Christ had never come.

197

Picture in your mind what your future.

198

Would be like facing God's wrath and

God's judgment as Ephesians chapter

199

two talks about, and then just spend

time thanking God because you're

200

seen hopefully in a deeper way what

you have been saved from by grace.

201

We're gonna conclude as we often

do by reciting together the Lord's

202

Prayer, the prayer that Jesus gave us.

203

Nathan Beasley: Use this prayer to

once again yield your life to God.

204

When asked how to pray, Jesus said

this then is how you should pray.

205

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

206

Your kingdom come, your will be

done on earth as it is in heaven.

207

Give us today our daily bread

and forgive us our debts as we

208

also have forgiven our debtors.

209

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

210

Amen.

211

Daniel Jepsen: Amen.