Unconditional grace and mercy of God by Pastor Ed Young

Oh, really? Are you into thrift store grace? Cheap grace? The cheap gospel? “It’s about the forgiveness of sin. Man, that’s all it is.”?

You know, I’ll say it again. If Jesus is not Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all. It’s not just about forgiveness of sin. Yes, technically, we get into heaven because of the unconditional grace and mercy of God. But there’s going to be transformation—psychologically, emotionally, financially, relationally, and all the other “ationallies” you can think of. There’s going to be change.

Remember Zacchaeus, the guy who worked for the IRS? He had a poor vertical jump. The Bible says he tried to see who Jesus was and couldn’t see him because, you know, he was short in stature. He scaled the tree. Jesus stopped and said, “Today I’m coming to your house for lunch.” It’s the first power lunch ever recorded. Obviously, Jesus forgave Zacchaeus’s sin, although Scripture does not tell us he did. But we know he did because he’s the Savior. But what it points out is this: it points out the transformation that occurred in Zacchaeus life, the economic transformation. He’s given back all the money he’s stolen. He is saying, “Yeah, God!”

So once we clothe ourselves in Christ, in his righteousness and his love, things will happen. Change will take place.

Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.”

Where are you? Are you hiding from God? If you’re hiding from God, you’re hiding from yourself. You hide from yourself, you’re hiding God from others. And also, the enemy could be hiding the way you’re really dressing before others. Are you hiding from God? Deep stuff.

But on the cross that exchange can take place. We can take our ripped up garment, our garment stained with sin and rebellion and exchange it for this perfect garment. We can be clothed in Christ. We can be clothed in the love of Jesus. And we sometimes have a hard time with the love of God, with understanding the love of God. God throughout Scripture talks about the fact that he loves us so we can glorify him.