Not Ashamed of Grace

Jun 15, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When "Ungodly" Becomes Your Address

The world insists we earn our worth, but Scripture names our true condition: helpless rebels. Christ doesn’t wait for self-improvement campaigns. He enters the mess of ungodliness, not to applaud efforts but to rewrite identities. Grace thrives where performance fails, rewriting stories written in the ink of human striving. [03:40]

"For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6, CSB)

Reflection: When has your desire to “fix yourself” kept you from receiving Christ’s finished work? How might embracing your helplessness deepen your dependence on His grace?

Day 2: Broken Promises at the Foot of Sinai

Mountain-top vows crumble in the valley. Israel’s “we will do all” (Exodus 19:8) becomes a golden calf before Moses descends. Human resolve, however sincere, cannot sustain covenant. Sinai’s thunder reveals our need for Calvary’s quiet “it is finished.” [07:47]

“When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods for us who will go before us…’” (Exodus 32:1,6, CSB)

Reflection: Where have your bold spiritual promises unraveled? How does Christ’s completed work free you from the cycle of vow-making and failure?

Day 3: The Doctor Enters the Plague-Stricken Village

A physician doesn’t wait for patients to self-diagnose. Christ plunges into humanity’s terminal ward, bearing the cure before symptoms become respectable. His compassion moves toward contamination, not away from it. Healing begins when we stop hiding our fevers. [12:40]

“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, CSB)

Reflection: What “symptoms” of sin do you try to hide before approaching Christ? How does His proactive grace reshape how you see others still battling their diagnosis?

Day 4: Twenty-Five Years of Grace, Not Perfection

Marriages survive on mended cracks, not flawless resumes. Christ’s covenant with His bride thrives not on her performance but His persevering love. The Church’s story isn’t “two perfect people” but a perfect Groom cleansing stains with His own blood. [18:27]

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.” (Ephesians 5:25-26, CSB)

Reflection: Where do you demand perfection in yourself or others? How might embracing “mended cracks” cultivate deeper gratitude for Christ’s covenant-keeping love?

Day 5: Two Men, Two Trees, Two Destinies

Adam’s outstretched hand took; Christ’s outstretched hands gave. One tree brought condemnation’s avalanche, the other grace’s tidal wave. The gift doesn’t balance scales—it drowns them in a deluge of mercy. Your story now flows from Christ’s tree, not Eden’s. [24:35]

“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.” (Romans 5:15, CSB)

Reflection: Where do you still live as if Eden’s failure defines you? How can Christ’s “overflow” reshape your interactions with those still trapped in Adam’s shadow?

Sermon Summary

Life in this world runs on “you get what you deserve,” but Paul refuses that scoreboard. Romans 5 says the timing and logic of salvation belong to God, not to human effort. The sentence that rewrites the system lands bluntly: “while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” The text will not let “trying,” “obedient,” or “worthy” fill those blanks. It insists on helpless and ungodly. That diagnosis humbles the heart and reorients how the church looks at those outside the kingdom.

Exodus 19 backs up the point. The Exodus has been one long story of God acting and Israel receiving: plagues sent, sea split, manna given, water from the rock. Then at Sinai, after God carries them “on eagles’ wings,” Israel answers, “We will do all the Lord has spoken.” It sounds sincere, but the golden calf exposes the problem. The covenant is good; the human heart is not. The law can describe righteousness. It cannot produce it. As Luther put it, the law says do this and it is never done; grace says believe this and everything is already done.

So the contrast sharpens: Sinai is “we will do,” Calvary is “It is finished.” Paul presses it again: few would die for a just person; maybe for a good one. Christ goes further. He dies for enemies. He does not stand at a distance until sinners get their act together. Like a physician who walks into a plague-ridden village with the cure, he moves toward the sick, bears the disease, and breaks its power.

The Small Catechism names the real condition: a lost and condemned person, redeemed not with gold or silver but with holy precious blood. That is why the gospel is not advice but rescue. Matthew’s picture says the same thing another way. Jesus looks at crowds “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” and his gut churns. That gut-level compassion moves him to action. The Good Shepherd goes to the sheep and carries what they cannot carry.

Grace also looks like a marriage that endures not because two people never fail, but because forgiveness keeps getting given. Christ, the perfect Groom, loves his bride when she is stained and stuck and unable to help herself. His love does not ride on her performance; it rests on his cross.

Back in Romans 5, the gift is not like the trespass. In Adam come sin, death, and condemnation. In Christ come justification, forgiveness, and life, and they do not just even the score. They overflow. Until the day everything gleams and sparkles, life in Christ is “not health, but getting well.” So the baptized are not shocked by knuckleheaded moves or returning to Absolution and the Table. That is life under mercy. Sent out, the church meets the harassed and helpless with the same verse that found them: at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Key Takeaways

1. Grace meets the helpless and ungodly Christ’s cross does not reward moral momentum; it rescues those with none. Paul will not let sincerity or effort stand in the blanks where helpless and ungodly belong. That diagnosis is not an insult; it is the doorway through which real hope walks. The cure only comes to those who need it. [03:55]
2. Sinai vows fail, Calvary finishes Israel’s “All that the Lord has spoken we will do” collapses under the golden calf, and so do modern promises to try harder. The law is good, but it cannot save and it will never say “done.” Jesus does what the law can only describe, and he stamps the verdict on his work: “It is finished.” [10:36]
3. Jesus’ gut-level compassion moves toward need When Jesus sees the harassed and helpless, his stomach turns and his feet move. Compassion is not soft sentiment; it is holy resolve that closes the gap. The Shepherd shoulders what the sheep cannot carry and refuses to be disgusted by their mess. [16:46]
4. The gift outmatches the trespass Adam’s trespass spreads death. Christ’s gift overflows life. Grace does not merely rewind the curse; it overwhelms it, pouring forgiveness and righteousness where sin once reigned. The surplus is the point. [20:16]
5. Christian life is becoming by grace Until the last day, believers live in the middle: not being, but becoming. Confession, absolution, the Table, and baptismal identity keep setting the pace of a life that is getting well. God is not surprised by sinners he already calls beloved. [21:27]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:37] - You get what you deserve?
[02:46] - Romans 5: Helpless and ungodly
[05:12] - Exodus 19: God carries Israel
[07:47] - “We will do all” and failure
[09:47] - Law condemns; grace delivers
[10:36] - Sinai vows vs Calvary finished
[11:39] - Love for enemies, not the good
[12:40] - Doctor brings the cure
[13:54] - Lost and condemned, redeemed
[15:16] - Harassed and helpless, seen
[16:46] - Gut-level compassion to action
[19:46] - The gift outmatches the trespass
[21:06] - Becoming by grace, sent in hope

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Romans 5:6-8 (CSB)
"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Observation Questions

What two words does Paul use in Romans 5:6 to describe humanity’s condition before Christ’s sacrifice?
In Exodus 19:3-8, how did Israel respond to God’s covenant after He delivered them from Egypt? What happened later that exposed their failure (see Exodus 32)?
How does Matthew 9:36 describe Jesus’ emotional reaction to the crowds, and what metaphor does he use to depict their state?
According to Luther’s quote in the sermon, what is the difference between “health” and “getting well” in the Christian life? [21:06]

Interpretation Questions

Why do you think Paul intentionally uses the words “helpless” and “ungodly” in Romans 5:6 instead of terms like “trying” or “sincere”? How does this shape our understanding of grace?
Israel’s promise in Exodus 19:8 (“We will do all the Lord has spoken”) ended in failure. What does this reveal about human promises versus God’s actions?
Jesus’ compassion in Matthew 9:36 is described as “gut-level.” How does this kind of compassion differ from pity or sympathy? What does it motivate Him to do?
Romans 5:15 says the gift of grace “overflows” compared to Adam’s trespass. Why is this “overflow” essential to the gospel’s message?

Application Questions

When have you tried to “fill in the blanks” of your worthiness with effort or moral improvement instead of admitting helplessness? What would it look like to rest in Christ’s finished work instead? [03:55]
The sermon compares Sinai (“we will do”) to Calvary (“it is finished”). Where are you tempted to rely on your own promises to God rather than His promises to you? How can you shift that mindset?
Jesus’ compassion moved Him to act for the harassed and helpless. Who in your life feels “like sheep without a shepherd,” and how could you reflect His gut-level care toward them? [16:46]
Luther described the Christian life as “not health, but getting well.” What areas of your life still feel “in process,” and how does grace free you from shame in that journey? [21:27]
The sermon says grace “overwhelms” sin’s curse. How might believing this truth change how you respond to personal failure or others’ brokenness?
The phrase “while we were still helpless” (Romans 5:6) is the gospel’s starting point. How could you share this hope with someone convinced they’re “too far gone” for God’s love? [24:15]

Sermon Clips

46s

#HopeInChrist

“We live under the shadow of two men, Adam and Christ. One stretched his hand toward forbidden fruit and brought death into the world. The other stretched out his hands on the cross and brought life to the world. So let's live in that life because the gift is not like the trespass. The gift is greater, it is stronger, it is sufficient, it is yours. And that is why we are not ashamed because our hope is not in ourselves. Our hope is in Christ. What Christ has done for us while we were still helpless, ungodly, and sinners. And that's the hope the world needs to.”

45s

#DiedForEnemies

“Now, the world understands sacrifice for good people. A soldier may die for her country. A parent may sacrifice for a child. A firefighter may run into a burning building to to rescue someone helpless and hopeless to rescue themselves. A friend may risk his life for another friend, but Christ does Christ does something altogether different. He dies for enemies. He dies for rebels. He dies for for sinners. While we were still sinners, while we were still enemies of Christ, he died for us. That's incredible.”

45s

#DiedForTheUngodly

“Those incorrect answers that would say things like, for while we were still while we were still trying, while we were still obedient, while we were still so faithful or worthy or sincere or doing our best, while we were seeking God at the right time, Christ died for the for the righteous, for the faithful, for the good people, the obedient, the moral, the worthy. We can fill those in with a lot of wrong words. And it is shocking to realize what Paul actually wrote. For while we were still helpless, helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.”

49s

#GospelForTheHelpless

“People who are carrying a weight of guilt and shame, people carrying a weight of grief, people who believe they don't belong because of what they've done or because of what they haven't done, People who believe that they are ungodly, who believe they are helpless. And if only we had a verse that could help us for people who thought that they were ungodly and helpless. Oh, wait, we do. For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Christ sends his church into the world with the same gospel that rescued us.”

38s

#WhileWeWereSinners

“And friends, that's what Christ does, enters into our broken world, taking the disease of sin upon himself, carrying it to a cross, rising victorious over death. Paul says Christ died for us while we were still sinners, not after we cleaned ourselves up, not after we figured life out, not after if we proved ourselves to be worthy. No. While we were still sinners. This is the great news, the beautiful news, the incomprehensible news of the gospel.”

51s

#LivingInGrace

“In other words, don't be shocked when you make knuckleheaded moves in this world. When you find yourself going to God again and saying, I'm a poor miserable sinner, And your savior saying, I know. I'm not surprised. Come. Hear my word of absolution. Come to my table and take and receive my body and blood. Come be reminded of what I have declared to you. You are my beloved son, my chosen daughters in the waters of holy baptism. The Christian life isn't about climbing our way to God's favor. It's living in the favor that Christ has already won for us with his mercy and his forgiveness.”

51s

#ProneToWander

“Those same people who promise perfect obedience will fail over and over again during this forty year journey through the wilderness. The problem wasn't God's covenant. The problem was the human heart. A human heart that is prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love. And it's the same problem that exists today. We make we make promises too. Lord Lord, I'll do better next time. Lord, I'm going to try harder. Lord, this time it's going to be different, and before long, we discover what Israel discovers. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot obey ourselves into relationship with our savior, with our God.”

47s

#GraceFilledMarriage

“But the thing in in this bride and this groom and this marriage of the church and Christ Jesus, there is actually one who is perfect in that marriage. And that perfect one is that groom who loved his bride even before his bride knew he needed to be loved, who loved his bride even though he was she was a sinner and stained with brokenness and helpless and hopeless. He chose to love his bride, not based on her performance, but based on his love anchored in the cross. Twenty five years of marriage reminds me that love endures because of grace, but the gospel reminds us that God's grace endures forever.”

55s

#GutWrenchingCompassion

“Too often we think are are tempted to think rather that when Jesus looks upon our brokenness and especially upon our sin, The things we've done and the things we haven't done that he looks on us with with disgust or irritation or even condemnation. But Matthew tells us when the savior of the world sees you helpless and unable to save yourself, he's he's moved with something else compassion. Compassion. The Greek word there is not that you care about that, but what that gets at is kind of a saying that we have on our culture. But we would say that that that that that kind of translate it maybe another way. When Jesus saw the crowds, he had gut wrenching compassion on them.”

33s

#GraceUponGrace

“You see, through one man, Adam came sin. Through one man came death. Through one man came condemnation. But now through another man, Christ Jesus comes the gift of life, comes the gift of forgiveness, comes the gift of of justification. And notice what Paul says, it doesn't just it doesn't just repair what Adam did. No. It overwhelms it. It abundantly saves us. He doesn't just reverse the curse, he pours out grace upon grace.”

41s

#OwnOurBrokenness

“And we definitely don't like that other word, that that ungodly word. We don't think of ourselves as ungodly. We we might think of ourselves as not being perfect, but we sure know some people who are a lot less perfect than we are, people who were bigger sinners than than we are, people that we might even label ungodly because they are enemies, but taking that identity upon our ourselves, that's where we're at. Helpless, ungodly. And if we can see ourselves in those places, it changes not just how we look at ourselves and what Christ has done for us,”

49s

#PromisedObedience

“And so Moses summons all the people together, tells them what God has done, the covenant that he desires to make with him, and what do the people say? Read it with me. We will do all the Lord has spoken. Yeah. Right. All that the Lord has spoken. Sounds wonderful. Sounds sincere. Sounds faithful, but it's also doomed. Because before long, these same people who said we're gonna do everything that the Lord has spoken, even though they haven't gotten all the written 10 commandments and all those other commands that Moses is about ready to go back up on the mountain and to receive,”

47s

#MarriageByGrace

“And one of the things twenty five years of marriage teaches us is that your marriage, that it survives not on our perfection. Our marriage has moments of misunderstanding, moments of selfishness, moments where confession and forgiveness is needed, and a strong marriage isn't built because two people never fail. It's built because grace continues to be given again and again and again, and some of us need a lot of that grace. But it's not surprising though that that same image of a bride and a groom is what the New Testament uses to describe the church that's you and me as the bride and Jesus as the groom.”

40s

#SentWithMercy

“The Christian life isn't about climbing our way to God's favor. It's living in the favor that Christ has already won for us with his mercy and his forgiveness. He then sends us out with that same mercy and forgiveness not to show others how great we are, how good we are, but how great our God is and how good our savior is. Because we're just the helpless and the ungodly, but we're sent into the places God has perfectly positioned us.”

47s

#NotWhatWeDeserve

“But in a world that constantly says you get what you deserve or you get what's coming to you, it's easy for ideas to creep even into our faith walk. That if we just try enough, if we just improve enough, if we just do enough religious things that that God's gotta actually, you know, give us what we deserve for our good effort, that he'll bless us, and it will be somehow more pleasing to him. But then comes along Romans chapter five verse six. And Paul completely overturns everything we assume about how God works based on our experience in this world.”

34s

#EnemyToRedeemed

“That we're not just, you know, people who need a little bit more help or or people who are getting our lives organized pretty good, and we just need a little push to get better. No. We're we're separated from God apart from Christ. Makes us enemies, not just neutral, but enemies of God. But Christ jumps in with a cure to be that one who carries upon himself the sins of his people.”

41s

#HumanHeartFails

40s

#GoldenCalfMoment

“Because before long, these same people who said we're gonna do everything that the Lord has spoken, even though they haven't gotten all the written 10 commandments and all those other commands that Moses is about ready to go back up on the mountain and to receive, they say we're gonna do it. But yet while Moses is delayed getting those commandments from God on the mountain, they're back down in the camp, gathering up gold, melting it down, and making a golden calf that they will then worship. We will do all the Lord has spoken. Doesn't last very long, that promise.”

46s

#JesusMovesToAction

“He had his stomach churned. You know, when you've seen something or when you've seen something that's overwhelming, something that's wrong, something that makes you just just just cringe because it's so wrong that your your body actually reacts to what you are seeing and experiencing, and that's that's what Matthew tells us Jesus does. When he sees the harassed and the helpless, when he sees the people who are in pain, because that that gut wrenching movement, it moves him it moves him to action, to see that which is wrong and to take action to fix the situation. The heart of Jesus breaks for his people. It gets his gut.”

37s

#GoodShepherdRescues

“Romans said that while we were still helpless, Matthew says, while we were harassed and helpless, we got the same diagnosis and the same savior with the cure. The good shepherd sees the sheep that cannot save themselves, so he comes he comes for them. He rescues them. He delivers them. He gives them grace and forgiveness and abundance. I was thinking about that this week because in a couple of days, my wife and I, Christine, we're going to celebrate twenty five years of marriage.”

93s

“And I love this quote of Luther, it's on the screen as well. Let me read it for you. He says it this way, This life, therefore, is not godliness, but the process of becoming godly. Not health, but getting well. Not being, but becoming. Not rest, but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal, but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed. In other words, don't be shocked when you make knuckleheaded moves in this world. When you find yourself going to God again and saying, I'm a poor miserable sinner, And your savior saying, I know. I'm not surprised. Come. Hear my word of absolution. Come to my table and take and receive my body and blood. Come be reminded of what I have declared to you. You are my beloved son, my chosen daughters in the waters of holy baptism. The Christian life isn't about climbing our way to God's favor. It's living in the favor that Christ has already won for us with his mercy and his forgiveness.”

Ask a question about this sermon

St. Paul Lutheran Church Harlingen, Texas This sermon · AI assistant

What does helplessness reveal about human spiritual need?

How does Christ's death address our ungodliness?

In what way is grace greater than the trespass?

Not Ashamed of Grace

Devotional

Day 1: When "Ungodly" Becomes Your Address

Day 2: Broken Promises at the Foot of Sinai

Day 3: The Doctor Enters the Plague-Stricken Village

Day 4: Twenty-Five Years of Grace, Not Perfection

Day 5: Two Men, Two Trees, Two Destinies

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Not Ashamed of Grace

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