Tune in to hear Pastor Leighton preach from Mark 11 this morning, the fruitless fig tree and the cleansing of the temple:
“The tree advertised life and fruit, but it had none. The temple advertised life and fruit to a dead and hopeless world, but it had none either. And I’ve done the same. You and I have done the same. In fact, the mainstay, the call sign, the common thread linking all lukewarm Christianity that I have ever seen (or perpetrated), practices this same crooked theology; saying I know what I’m doing is wrong but… I’m basically a good person. or…I know it’s a sin, but let me have this one vice. or: I know it’s wrong, but God will give me a pass, God’ll just forgive me later. We conveniently misunderstand the word grace to mean God will let it slide. And like Joab we hold onto the horns of the altar and falsely trust that because we say you can’t get me here, we think we are safe. It’s a lie as old as the devil in the garden. But grace isn’t a den for foxes. It’s not a refuge if it’s used as a shield against God. It’s not a sanctuary to hide our sins in. No, It’s a full force burning away of our sinful selves. The grace of Christ Jesus, bought at the cross, is the source and wellspring of our salvation and sanctification. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve - trading sin and death for new life and holiness.”