Do you pretend to believe the Gospel?

Steve Brown:
Do you pretend to believe the Gospel? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Matt Heard is a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach, and the main guy behind ThriveFullyAlive. com

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. And hello, Matthew, or Matt.

Matt Heard:
Hello, Stephen, or Steve.

Steve Brown:
Hey, listen, so people will know, where can they find you on the internet?

Matt Heard:
Thrivefullyalive. com

Steve Brown:
Thrivefullyalive.com Matt has a, Matt Heard has an unbelievable ministry, and he speaks all over the world. He speaks to businesses and churches. And writes his book and what’s the name Life

Matt Heard:
with a Capital L

Steve Brown:
Life with a Capital L and you can Google that and find out where you can get it. And this week we’re talking about amazed by grace. And yesterday we talked about cheer up, you’re a lot worse off than you think you are. And we both got that phrase from a mentor for both of us, in the distance, Jack Miller. Jack said.

Cheer up, you’re a lot worse than you think you are. And cheer up, God’s grace is a lot bigger than you think it is.

And it is. So, we talked about desperation yesterday, and that was kind of a downer, but important.

Matt Heard:
Absolutely.

Steve Brown:
Now, give me the premise of what we’re going to talk about today, and we’ll get into it.

Matt Heard:
Well, it’s this, we’re going through Psalm 126, and just kind of basically verse by verse. But looking at the phrase we coined yesterday, and we were both very proud of coining the phrase, which took all the blessing out of it, but the math of grace, grace math. If I own my intervention or if I own my desperation, if I’m honest about it and combine that with owning God’s intervention, then I get amazed. But I can’t compromise on either one of those. I’ve got to be honest about my need, but I’ve also got to be honest about God’s intervention. And a lot of us in church circles, we know a lot about God’s intervention. We can kind of go through all that Jesus did on the cross, what the Incarnation meant, what all sorts of words like propitiation, haven’t heard that one in a while, but the substitutionary sacrifice, it’s precious. But sometimes it can just be textbook. And there’s a big, big difference between thinking God’s gracious intervention in our lives is religiously nice versus realizing it’s desperately necessary.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. So good. Listen, this is the verse from that Psalm, and we’re looking this week at Psalm 126. And this is the second verse.

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them.

That’s when God moves.

Matt Heard:
Amen. Yeah. Verse one says we were like people who dreamed, we were so honest about our desperation that the only way out was dreaming and pretending, thinking there’s no way. And then all of a sudden, God shows up, he intervenes, and he does something really, really great. And that’s the bottom line. That’s what the gospel is. That’s what Jack is talking about when he says, you know, cheer up, you’re a lot worse off than you think, but also you’re a lot more loved than you can imagine. And it’s that, both that desperation and that intervention. I think Jack got grace math.

Steve Brown:
I think he did too. You know, if you’re listening to us and you are thinking, I’m this wonderful Christian, I don’t need this, then turn off the radio. But if you are sometimes thinking, I’m not as good as those people, I’ve gone through so many things that I’ve blown up, I’ve experienced failure and loneliness and rejection, and my sin is besetting, that’s a good place to be because that’s the place where grace meets God’s people.

Matt Heard:
Oh, that’s so true. I mean, I don’t know if you were ever a Boy Scout. Were you ever a Boy Scout?

Steve Brown:
Yeah, but only a tender foot. I decided after a little bit, I ain’t doing any more of this. There are a lot of things more fun than tying knots. But I was a Boy Scout. You probably were an Eagle.

Matt Heard:
Well, whatever. Remember snake bite kits? You don’t hear that much about them anymore. But people still, they know first aid, know where it’s coming from. If I were to give you a snake bite kit right here in the office, you would be polite and say, well, thank you, Matt. And you’re thinking in the back of your mind, good gracious, I don’t know, I better leave this out next time. So, but if you’ve just been bitten by a rattlesnake somewhere out in the wilderness and you and I are on this hike or a walk and nobody’s nearby for miles. And I give you a snake bite kit in that moment, you’ll say thank you. Now, in both situations you’re probably saying thank you, but in the second one you’re saying thankfully a lot deeper. And so often I think we say thank you to God for his grace in church context, but we do it in the first sense of the word, more of a polite, religious thank you, instead of a deep resounding, oh God, I was like a man who dreamed. Thank you for intervening. This is exactly what I needed.

Steve Brown:
You know Larry Crabb, did you know him? I loved Larry, and one of the things he said is that God meets his people where it hurts. And he said, so if it hurts, instead of running from it, run to it and probe it. And at that point, Jesus will show. He was talking about grace. You know, if you don’t think you’re a great sinner, then you can’t be a Christian. You can’t experience the amazing grace. If you haven’t been to the dark place, you’ll never see the light. If you haven’t been broken, you’ll never be fixed. And so, when Jesus said, I came for the sick and not the well, that’s what he was talking about.

Matt Heard:
Absolutely.

Steve Brown:
When he said, I came to serve, not to be served. That’s what he’s talking about. The intervention of God’s grace, which is not only amazing, it’s surprising, isn’t it?

Matt Heard:
Absolutely. You know, Mary, when you were talking, I thought about her Magnificat, she quotes the Psalmist and she says.

The Lord has filled the hungry with good things, but he sends the rich away empty.

And she’s not, that Psalm isn’t saying that there are some people that are rich without God. It’s just some people think they are. And they say, you know what? I’ve got it. And God sends them away empty, but the hungry, those who own up to the fact that they are desperately hungry, God intervenes in a big way. You know, we were talking earlier, just in your office, right? When I got here to record. And Donald Grey Barnhouse came up. And when I think of him, I also think of a Martin Lloyd Jones and I know both of them. Remember him long ago? You were in his youth group, weren’t you?

Steve Brown:
That’s not funny, man. But I do have his book on depression, tremendous book.

Matt Heard:
And he talks a little bit about this owning, owning it. But he used to do a phrase, both Martin Lloyd Jones. In fact, I had, in fact, I probably still have it somewhere, a cassette tape. It’s an archaeological artifact of a recording of Martin Lloyd Jones, preaching about the buts of God. And Barnhouse one time did a similar sermon, but the premise of it is that we get in a situation where we think, there’s no hope anymore. I’m done. And then there’s the buts of God that come in and just doing a little search, you start coming up like Ephesians 2.

Like the rest we were by nature, objects of wrath, but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy. He made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions, it’s by grace you’ve been saved.

Genesis 7

The waters flooded the earth for 150 days, but God remembered Noah.

Psalm 73

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is a strength and my portion forever.

Titus 3: verse 3

At one time, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another,

I mean, he’s owning up to desperation there, but then he says.

but when the kindness and love of God, our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

And I remember Corrie Ten Boom’s, just saw it, Hiding Place is now making a comeback on Netflix and others. But I heard her not too long before she passed away, but that famous quote, and I heard her say it. I’d heard it before.

There is no pit so deep, that God is not deeper still.

There is no desperation that’s so desperate, that God can’t intervene.

Steve Brown:
And it’s true. That’s the gospel. So, when it’s dark, that’s not bad, that’s good. When you’re going through a tough time and you’ve really failed, that’s not bad, that’s good. When you own up to the pain and the loss, that’s not bad, that’s good because that’s where God’s grace intervenes.

Matt Heard:
Long ago, you and I did a program on Babette’s Feast and the general who was the one unbeliever around this table of religious people. He was the one that got the grace, not the religious people. It’s the guy that was not religious and he owned up to saying grace is infinite and so, so worthy of our pursuit.

Steve Brown:
So, if it’s hard, I know it’s hard and I’m not minimizing that, but be still and wait and watch for grace. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
And that was Steve Brown with Matt Heard, one of our voices of Key Life. All this week, they are talking about being amazed by grace. Remember that you can stream this episode and all of our episodes for free, 24 7, at keylife.org Steve and Matt will return tomorrow with more on this subject. Hope you’ll join us then. Well, if you’re a believer and or someone familiar with conservative thinking, You might know the name Voddie Baucham, and if you don’t, then I am so pleased to make the introduction. Voddie is an author, pastor, church planter, and college dean. He’s also a charismatic and outspoken voice for God’s truth. Well, we spoke with Voddie on Steve Brown Etc about culture, politics, and the gospel in a post Christian world, and it was fascinating. Get that conversation on CD for free by calling us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. If you’d like to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, ask for the CD featuring Voddie Baucham. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.