Corruption is Cured by Christ and the Cross - VBS Commencement 2024

I don't know if you realize it, but that's a tough act to follow. That is a really tough act to follow. You'd rather see them, I know. It's always good to have them sing like they do. We want you to see and to hear what we've been teaching them all week. That's just a fraction, okay? That is just a fraction. And I said what we have been teaching, it's really not been me as much as it has been an army of people here at Grace Life Church, and I'm very thankful for all of the people who have worked hard to make Vacation Bible School possible. If I were to start naming names to thank people, I would never cover everybody. I'd leave people out.

So it's just a big blanket thank you for everybody who's done all that they've done. But I want to introduce myself. Some of you, I know some of you I don't know. My name's Chris Sheppard, I'm the pastor here, and if I haven't met you, we're going to all go and fellowship hall a little later and eat and fellowship, and hopefully I can get around to shake your hand and introduce yourself to you personally. But I really want to thank three groups of people. First of all, I want to thank Grace Life parents for allowing us to love on your children, for allowing us to minister to your children this week.

And then next, I want to thank you parents who are members of other local churches in the area. Thank you for allowing us to love on your sons and your daughters. Many of you come back year after year. Many of you come for different things that we have. Of course, we never want to pull you away from your church. Your children are always welcome here. You're always welcome here. I have said this before in many contexts. We really have an open door policy. That means that others are welcome to come and worship with us and partake in the ministries that we have going on here. And of course, Vacation Bible School is one of those things.

But last, I want to thank you parents who are not active or not members in a local church. Thank you for allowing us to minister to your children. And if you don't have a church home, if you don't have a church home, I want to invite you to come visit us here at Grace Life Brookhaven. We meet on Sunday mornings. We meet on Sunday nights. Usually we have small groups or Sunday school on Sunday nights. We have worship service on Sunday morning. We have a worship service on Wednesday nights. Then we divide up in some other classes. You can find all of that kind of information on our church website and Facebook page.

There's cards on the tables when you leave, information cards. My personal card's there. If you need me, you can grab that. Keith's card is there because if you're going to visit, you need to know those kinds of things. We'll be glad to help you there. Now this year, our Vacation Bible School theme was obviously infused with a jungle theme. You see a little bit of that here in the decorations, but yet when you go down the halls later, you're going to see all kinds of decorations that tell you it's a jungle theme. But our spiritual theme was infused with the jungle theme.

So our Vacation Bible School was called The Great Jungle Journey, an epic cruise from Genesis to Revelation. And our spiritual theme was all about teaching our children the seven C's found from Genesis to Revelation. Our Vacation Bible School was all about creation. That's the first C, the fact that God created the world. And then everything was about corruption. That's the next C, the fact that sin entered the world and sin came into the human race through Adam and Eve. And then catastrophe and confusion was a result of the corruption of sin. But we didn't stop there.

We moved to the fifth C, the most important C, and that is Christ, the fact that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and the fact that Christ went to the cross willingly to die in the place of sinners and then the consummation of his kingdom. That's what all believers are waiting on, the fact that he will return. Now tonight I want to close out Vacation Bible School briefly by talking about three of the seven C's. And children, I'm going to need your help a couple of times along the way. But first, that first C, corruption. That first C, corruption. This is where I want us to look at one of our Bible verses from the week.

Remember we would ask Isaac to bring up that Bible verse. Isaac, can you give me Psalm 14 verse 3? Every time we met for group assembly, we would go through Bible verses together. So children, help me just like we did before. Let's read this together. I'm going to count to three. You can all see it. Let's read it together. 1, 2, 3. They have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is none who will to die in one. So long for worth leading through. Y'all did good. Y'all did real good.

Now, I want us to see that this one verse, this one verse tells us what all of God's word tells us, the fact that corruption, the corruption of sin has corrupted the entire world and that includes all people. We see this expressed a little more extensively in Romans 3 verses 10 to 18. Listen to what those verses say. None is righteous, no not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruined in misery. In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now notice what all of these verses tell us. These verses tell us why our world seems to be falling apart. These verses tell us why the world and mankind is getting worse and worse and worse. Not better, not better, not better. More specifically these verses tell us why there is war, the violence of war and the threats of war in the Ukraine and in the Middle East. More personally these verses tell us why there is so much hate and violence and murder in our cities.

These verses tell us why we still have racism in our nation, in our state and in our city. These verses tell us why we have domestic violence in homes that we know. These verses tell us why we have drugs that are killing people that we know and love. These verses tell us why we have divorce that destroys families. I could go on. My mom's and dad's parents. There are a lot of opinions about why the world is bad and why it's getting worse. But there is one thing we would all agree upon, the fact that the world is getting worse. It's not getting better. But I'm here to tell you why. I'm here to tell you why.

God's word tells us that the world and all of mankind is suffering from the corruption of sin, sin and sinfulness is why the world is getting worse and worse. And my question for all of us tonight is this. Will we believe what God's word tells us is wrong with the world? Or will we believe what the experts tell us when the experts are suffering from the corruption of sin too? Look, letting another sin-filled corrupt person tell us why the world is the way that it is and how this can all be fixed, that's like letting an inmate tell the other inmates how to run and fix a prison. So what's the answer?

We see what the answer is by looking to God and into God's word. So corruption, corruption, all of the world, all of mankind, no matter who they are, is corrupted by sin and sinfulness. But this leads me to the fifth and the sixth seed. So second, Christ and the cross. Christ and the cross. This is where I want us to look at another one of our Bible verses. We were just singing it. Isaac, will you pull up John 1.12? John 1.12. Can we read this one together, children? I'm going to count to three again, all right? One, two, three. But to all, oh, that was real good. Now I want you to notice something here.

Notice how John 1.12 sounds much different than the other verses, a lot different. John 14, verse 3, we read that earlier, Romans 3.10-18, I read those earlier. Those verses tell us that all mankind has become corrupt from sin and that there is no one who does good, not even one. But John 1.12 says, "All who receive him and believe in him become the children of God." But how does a corrupt person who has turned away from God and who does no good, how does that person become a child of God? Well God's Word tells us. Romans 5.8 tells us that God loves the corrupt. God loves the corrupt.

That verse tells us, "But God shows his love for us that while we were sinners, Christ died for us." Well what does it mean that Christ died for us? That one verse tells us the heart of the story of the entire Bible and the heart of the story of the Bible is the gospel or the good news. The gospel, the good news. And the gospel is the message of salvation that has been accomplished for sinful people through the life and the death, the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus, the Son of God.

You see, the Bible, all of the Bible tells us that Jesus, who was and is the eternal Son of God, Jesus willingly left heaven, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin. He was born the God-man Jesus. And as a man, Jesus walked on this earth in perfect obedience to the law of God. And at the right time, as God determined all of these things, sinful men rejected Jesus and crucified Jesus. And on the cross, Jesus actually bore man's sin. He suffered God's wrath for that sin and he died in man's place. But on the third day, God raised this Jesus from the dead.

This resurrection was and is the declaration that God the Father has accepted His Son's death as the sacrifice for sin. Jesus literally paid the penalty for man's sin and disobedience. His death satisfied the demands of justice. His death appeased the wrath of God. And after His death in burial, Jesus was resurrected from the dead. He ascended to heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God and was given glory and honor and dominion over all. And that's where He is right now.

And all, any and all who will acknowledge their sinfulness and their helpless condition and who throw themselves upon Christ and the work of Christ on the cross, God will fully pardon them. He will declare them as righteous and He will bring them to Himself. So those who have turned aside from God and turned to sin, those who have become corrupted by sin and sinfulness, those who acknowledge their sinfulness and their helpless condition and throw themselves upon Christ and the finished work of Christ on the cross, they are the ones who receive Christ.

They are the ones who believe in Christ and God gives them the right to become children of God. So parents and children, we must see the answer for the corruption of sin and the corruption of sinfulness. The answer comes not from men and man, but from God. It comes from God. It comes from the gospel of God. It comes from the gospel, working in a man so that a man can become a child of God. And look, it's real simple. The murderer who throws themselves on Christ and believes they quit murdering. The thief, if they will throw themselves on Christ and believe they'll quit stealing the racist.

If they will throw themselves on Christ, they'll quit being a racist. The liar, if they'll throw themselves on Christ, they'll quit lying. If the alcoholic and the drug addict will throw themselves on Christ and believe they'll quit doing all of these things. You know what? We have people in this room who have thrown themselves on Christ and they would say, "Pastor, that's what I was, but Christ saved me. I become a child of God." Travis Crotwell could stand up and tell you right now how God did that work in his life. Anthony Bataglia, he could stand up right now and tell you how God did that in his life.

Brother Keith could stand up right now and tell you how God did that in his life. If we had the time, I could tell you how God did that for me years ago. So the corruption of sin and sinfulness that we all see everywhere and it grieves us. The only way it is cured is God's way and that is by going to Christ and his death on the cross. So moms and dads, the theme of Vacation Bible School this year has been about the great jungle journey and epic cruise from Genesis to Revelation. Our spiritual theme was all about teaching our children, your children.

The seven C's found in the entirety of God's Word, creation, God created it all, but the corruption of sin came into the world. Sin came into the world through Adam and Eve and catastrophe and confusion was and is the result. But I'm thankful that we don't have to stop there and God didn't stop there. The next C, Christ and the fact that Christ came into the world to go to the cross to die for lost sinners and then ultimately this is not our home. There's the consummation of this kingdom soon to come.

So moms and dads, your children have many needs, good needs, but your child's greatest need is to come to the place where their sins are forgiven and they are made right with God. Moms, dads, parents and adults, our greatest need is to come to the place where our sins are forgiven and we are right with God. And we here at Grace Life Church, we are here in Brookhaven for you. We're here to point you to Christ if you've not already come to faith in Christ. And if you're a believer in Christ, a child of God, we're here to help assist you as you walk with the Lord. Now let me tell you a little more of what our church is all about.

If you come on a Sunday morning, you're going to hear the Word of God taught. The Word of God will be taught. If you come on a Sunday night, you're going to come into a small group where we divide men with men and women with women and we share our needs. We live life with one another and we study God's Word together. We come on a Wednesday night, we study God's Word and we send our children and teenagers to classes specifically for them to study God's Word. That's what we do here is study God's Word. But I'll tell you something else you'll find if you come here. We're not a perfect people. I'm not a perfect pastor.

But we are a loving fellowship of believers who love the Lord Jesus, we're humbled by the fact that He saved us and we love one another, we love people. And I'll tell you if you come here, you'll be loved on. Ladies if you come in here, you'll be loved on. Men if you come here, you'll be loved on. And you might say, "Pastor, I've got problems. I've got issues. I'm not perfect. I feel ashamed." It doesn't matter because we all have issues. We all have things we're ashamed of because the best that we are here is redeemed sinners.

But coming back to Vacation Bible School and our children here at Grace Life Church, we're all about loving little boys and girls. We want to teach them God's Word and we want to take them to Jesus and be blessed. So parents, thank you for allowing us to minister to your children this week. Thank you Grace Life Church Vacation Bible School workers. Thank you for everybody that worked so hard to make all of this possible. And thank you for allowing me to pastor you during all this week. It's been a joy. Now a couple of things I want to mention and then we'll close. When we have our commencement service like this every year, we do what we do.

We let our kids sing and share with you what they've been learning. We kind of close it out just like this. But we go into fellowship hall and we eat. We fellowship. We've got plenty of food. We want you to stay. Don't feel like you're intruding. If you're a guest, come be our guest. Let us serve you. Let us bless you with a good meal and let us get to know you. I'm going to pray and dismiss us and bless the food. Grace Life folks, let our visitors kind of go that way and we'll enjoy our time together.