Can Grace Reach Me?

The Bible is a very precise book and God always does things in a very precise way. If you will read the Bible from cover to cover you will find that there is not a lot of wiggle room to be found in its pages. There aren’t many gray areas that you will discover. You will not be able to say, “Yes I know that this particular thing is wrong to do BUT just maybe I could get by with it. You will not be able to say, “That thing is wrong on some occasions BUT on others it’s okay.” You will not find many plans of salvation for today but only one plan of salvation. Jesus said, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. There are not many ways to come to the Lord in salvation but just one way. There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. There is one God and father of all who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Knowing that the Bible is very meticulous and exact in nature causes me some trouble when I read certain scriptures because there isn’t very much room to wiggle out of some of the predicaments that I get myself into and perhaps you get yourself into as well.

For instance the Bible tells us that sin separates us from God and makes it so he can’t hear us:

Psalm 66:18

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

That scripture causes me great concern because I know that as good a person as I might be from time to time sin gets into my heart.

Proverbs 15:29

29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

That doesn’t make me feel too good when it says that God is far from the wicked.

John 9:31

31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

If I have sin in my heart God doesn’t hear me.

Isaiah 59:2

2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

Those scriptures are very precise and exact. There is no tolerance found there for sin at all. There is no wiggle room for sin in a person’s life whatsoever.

This leads me to another dilemma for the Bible further tells us that we are all sinners and we have sin in our life. We all start out the same way as far as God is concerned.

Psalm 51:5

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Romans 3:23

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

1 John 1:8

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

So here we have this gap because we are all sinners and sin separates us from God. We read the scriptures together how that sin separates us and sin will not allow God to hear us and how sin will cause God to hide his face from us. The scriptures are very precise and exact on this subject.

The scriptures give us an image of a great gap or a large space between a holy God and a sinful fallen mankind.

(Illustrate the gap)

I wonder today how can this gap be bridged? I wonder how can I make it across this gulf between me and God if sin is still there.

Before I answer that question I would like to point out something else from the scripture that causes my heart to have great joy.

In the Bible, from cover to cover, I see God pursuing after fallen mankind. In the very first book of the Bible after God creates Adam and Eve we read how they both fell into sin. Before their sin God came down in the cool of the day to have fellowship with Adam and Eve. According to the scriptures that we have already read that daily process should have been over because sin separates us from God. But I read and I see God pursuing after Adam and Eve the very next day. Adam, where are you? Eve, where are you?

In the scriptures we see it over and over again and I’m glad we do see it, God pursuing fallen mankind.

∑ Abraham

∑ Jacob

∑ David

∑ Peter

∑ Saul - Paul

What gives God the right to violate his word that says sin separates us from him? I’ll tell you what give him the right – It’s called GRACE!

Titus 2:11-12