The year was 1992 I was playing baseball at Campbell (the fighting camels). I was playing shortstop a position I had played for about 13 years. I was fielding balls keeping my bottom down and I have to admit I thought I was a pretty good fielder. Yet all my life I had struggled with my batting. It wasn’t that I could not make contact with the ball. Rather it was that I just did not have a lot of power. I was not strong enough. In my whole career as a ball player I hit 5 homeruns and 3 of them were inside the park homeruns because I had speed with my feet but not power with my arms. So one day as we were finishing up practice the coach came up to me and said “your just not good enough.” Your decent but that’s all. You better start thinking of another career. I don’t remember anything else the coach said except for the words “your not good enough” How do those words feel when they are directed to you? Are you excited saying Hey thanks I’m glad you told me that I was really worried that I was good enough. Hey thanks for the lift. I was really down today, but man now I am ready to go.
No, that’s not how we react. We react the same way as those on American Idol who are told that they just are not good enough. We might go into a rant, we might cry, we might question, we might just stand their shocked. Those words can cut deeply. They hurt. But sometimes it’s the truth. I was not good enough to play professional baseball. This morning as we continue our journey in GRACE, I want to share with you that you and I without Grace are not good enough. We are not good enough to get into heaven on our own. It takes a real personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
You say, Chris why are we talking about being saved in a room full of Christians. We’ve been baptized, we have made that walk down the aisle. Well maybe you have, but just because we are in church does not mean that we are here today with a room full of Christians. Baptism is not what get’s a person into heaven. We are not saved by the act of baptism, but the act demonstrates that we are saved. It shares with the whole world a beginning of a new relationship that should be continued for the rest of our lives. You see the reason I say this is because there are troubling statistics that are out their. I was reading the other day an article in a journal the other day from Billy Graham. What he said caused me to stop and think. Have you ever seen Billy Graham’s crusades on tv or been to one. Well there is this large crowd of people that come down to accept Christ as their lord and Savior. What troubled me with this is that Billy Graham said that 30% of the people that accept Christ at his crusades are on a church roll somewhere and claim that they have been baptized.
What causes this? I think that it is because this society honestly believes that just good works will get you into heaven. Or just a walk down the aisle into the pool and out the door will be good enough. Yet, that is not what Christianity is all about and that is not what Grace is all about.
And that is why we need grace. In the passage before this Romans 3:10-18 Paul tells us that we are simply not good enough to get into heaven alone. We need grace. Paul says an astounding 5 times that there is no one, no not one that is righteous without God. Paul says he doesn’t care if we are clean cut, have a crime free record, work like Mother Teresa, have passion like Paul. There is no one in this world that is perfect and good enough to get into heaven on their own. Rather it requires us to admit that we are not good enough and to humble accept God’s gift of grace.
Think about the song Amazing Grace by John Newton. The opening words of the song say Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a WRETCH like me. Some people have made the mistake that this word is the same word as RETCH but they are totally different. Whereas RETCH is something that happens when you have bad Chinese, the word WRETCh means someone who is miserable and in a self imposed exile. Yet think of how we sing that song:
Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound that Saved a WRETCH like ME. We sing it like being a wretch is not a big deal or some happy giddy feeling. But for some people it has become such a strong word they have asked to take it out of the hymn and replaced with something less offensive. But it’s in their because John Newton thought of himself a WRETCH. After all he was a slave trader before he became a preacher and he abused people and he felt miserable in life and basically felt and was a wretch. Someone viewed with contempt and annoyance.
So in order to understand our passage today, we must start at this point. You say WOW what a great Message introduction. The preacher saying that I am not good enough and that I am a wretch a miserable person. Boy I can’t wait to hear the rest. Well, before you think that hang on because I want to share with us a reminder how we have been changed from wretch to redeemed and it’s not because we are good enough rather it’s because God is more than good enough.
You see, Romans 3:21-26 present to us the beauty of God’s grace. Paul could have stopped at verse 20 and said you know what you guys are hopeless. There is no chance for any of us. We are sunk. We wretched sinners and just deal with it. But paul does not stop there. Rather he paints for us a picture that shows God saying go ahead you can try to do it yourself and not be successful or you can follow the words of these verses and undersand that with me and Grace there is life. Now the best way to understand these passage does not have to occur through the indepth study of them. Rather all you have to do is what biblical scholar Donald Grey Barnhouse did with these verses. What he did is he took his pen and he drew a great big heart across these verses in the bible. He said that these verses along speak of the heart of romans, the heart of new testament, the heart of the word of God itself, and the heart of God’s love for us. And he shares that it is through these verses in which we discover that God’s grace is all we need.
As we look at this passage we observe 3 things. First:
I. HIS RIGHTOUSNESS (Romans 3:21-22a)
I love the way that Paul writes. In the first part of this chapter he is painting a picture of how poor and wretched we are. Yet the cool thing is that Paul does not leave us hanging but instead offers once again 2 powerful words. In verse 21 he says BUT NOW which marks a major transition in our lives because of Christ’s death on the cross. When God’s Richness through Christ’s expense (GRACE) was given to us through the cross it changed the course of history. And it started because of the words “But now a righteousness from God has been made known.
What does this righteousness from God mean? It’s way of God saying Look, you are just not good enough on your own. Tyring to do it on your own will get you nowhere but failure. Paul understood this because he had lived both lives. He had tried to do things on his own, he had tried to uphold the law on his own. He was the perfect Jew yet it all came to be not good enough. It’s not by our works but only by the grace of God. This righteousness of God refers to God’s consistent character, he never changes, he always is faithful to his word and his promise. And this is evident throughout scripture. 2 Timothy 1:9 tells us that:
God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given in Christ Jesus before time began.
God loves us so much that while we still sinners he gave us his rightousness. I’m always nervous whenever me and the kids will go into this store with you know how do I put it nice stuff. The stuff that breaks if it happens to fall. I guess I’m worried because Allans truly is the bull in a china shop. All over the places there are signs that say Please Do not Touch. And evertime I look Allana’s touching it. Now if it breaks Allana is not going to pay for it because she does not have money. The store owner is probably not going to say Oh don’t worry about it. No, it will require me her father to step in an pay.
Well friends, that is how it is with Christ. You and I have broken more than just those pretty items in stores. We’ve broken commandments, promises and yes worst of all we’ve broken God’s heart. But there is understanding in God and through His righteousness he steps over the shattered commandments on the floor and offers a to pay for our transgressions. WE could not do it on our own, so God took it in his hands. In effect it says, I was dying but now because of God’s GRACE I am alive, I was blind…but now because of God’s righteousness I can see. I was lost but now because of God’s righteousness I am found.
We see His Righteousness but we also see His availability:
II. HIS AVAILABILITY (Romans 3:22b-26)
Just as in verses 21 and 22 the powerful words were BUT NOW as we turn to the end of verse 23 there is another single powerful word. For God makes it clear that He is available for ALL. In that single word ALL God shares how deep and wide his love and grace is for all people.
Do you remember going to the circus. My favorite part of the circus was watching the acrobats. How they flew twisting and turning into the air. It is an amazing sight of beauty. Yet if you notice below the high wire act there is a net. It is not their for looks but is their for protection. That net is large enough to capture all that are up above doing their tricks. Now take that same net and apply it Jesus love and grace. It is not just wide enough for those acrobats but it is wide enough for all that are willing to fall into that net of safety. Paul says well some people might not know what I mean by all so let me break it down. Who can accept Christ? There is nobody that cannot receive Christ’s grace. You con’t have to be born in a particular family, country, sex, race. There is no distinction because we are all the same. And His availability is their for you and me to freely accept. It does not matter if you were born with 2 parents that were Christians or if you were born into a family with no Christians. Christ loves us all the same with no difference and wants all of us to experience his grace.
But while we have all sinned and and fallen short of the glory of God, we according to verse 24 have been justified freely by His grace. Being justified is one of those words that is not used that often. However it is on every computer that you have. If you go to the place where you can center your text or move it to the left or right you will find another button that says Justify which puts the text completely in the center.
While justification puts us in the center of God’s will it does much more than that. It means that any record of the wrong that we have committed when confessed to God it is erased. Wiped off the board. Completely forgotten.
Here is the difference between forgiveness and justification. Let’s say that my wife does something wrong towards me (not that she has ever has or ever will, but let’s just pretend.) Okay, now that I have that disclaimer out of the way. Now when she comes to me and says Honey, sweety pie, sparky I’m truly sorry for what I did to you. Will you forgive me? I have two options. I can offer up Forgiveness which will say Okay you made a mistake and I forgive you. I’ll let it go. But odds are I’ll let it go for a short time and find a way to bring it back up. But if I use Justification it goes like this “Okay tell you what from now on, I am going to remove what you did from my memory I will never think of it again. It’s as if it never occurred.” It is in essence the true meaning of forgining and forgetting.
God offers us Justification even though we don’t deserve it. I like the definition of Justification which says that Justification means Just as if I never sinned. We can’t earn it, buy it, achieve it or produce it from our own efforts. It’s a free gift offered by grace. And it is available by us being willing to go to him and humbly accept it. Verse 24 says it is done freely. The only thing that we have to do is to show up and accept this gift of redemption that comes from Christ. He has paid the ultimate price which has made His Righteousness and Grace available to all regardless of the condition. Which leads us to the final point which I want to make today.
Understanding His Rigeousness and His availability leads us to ask what is OUR RESPONSE:
III. Our Response
So, I said that we are not good enough and we can’t do it on our own. We have to have God’s grace. Sure we can talk a good talk, walk the good walk, we can give money here and their we can do this and do that, The bible clearly states and all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. We are still doing it today. For every commandment we keep there is another commandment we have broken. We try to justify ourselves by saying it’s just a little sin I haven’t murdered anyone. But Paul reminds us that sin is sin and we without the grace of God are full of sin. So if we can’t earn this free gift of grace then how can we accept it. What is to be our response.
The movie Saving Private Ryan was on a couple weeks ago and is a powerful movie that takes place during WW II with the Army Rangers on a mission to save Private Ryan and to bring him safely home. They finally find Private Ryan yet Ryan refuses to leave his post and so the Army Rangers say they will stay and fight with Ryan. Well people are losing their lives as fast as they can and as one of the rangers lays dying he whispers to Private Ryan “earn this.”
Several people have complained about the ending of the movie. Most of these complaints have come from Army Rangers themselves who say that the phrase “earn this” is not representative of the Army Rangers. And they are right. If you served in the Army Rangers or know of someone who did or does, if you ask them what their motto is they will tell you that it is “Sua Sponte” which means I chose this. One of the army rangers upset with the movie said that a true army ranger will never say Earn this but would rather say , "I chose this. You don’t have to earn it. This is free. I gave my life for you because that’s my job."
Friends, I want to tell you something. You will never hear God tell you that you have to earn salvation. Rather Jesus was willing to fight and die for us, not because he had to but because he chose to. But what about us. Are we willing to chose to accept this free gift
You see this is not just for those who have never accepted Christ or for those who are not sure they have accepted Christ. For it moves to the Christian as well. It means that we are to continue to be willing to experience God’s grace in everything that we do. By being bold in our trust in God, by being strongly rooted in God’s control, and not being comfortable in spiritual walk. But allowing God to challenge us, to change us, and to convert us to becoming disciples, followers and leaders through Him.
You know I want to be honest with you. I love this community, I love the people in our community, and I love the direction that God is moving this church. And that is why I hope that we will continue to be good stewards with our tithing and that we will sacrificially give to our building program because there is a spiritual need that is present in this community and God is wanting no strike that God is demanding that you and I step up and realize show our love for the Grace of God by our response. And here is the issue. In just a few moments we are leaving this church and going to go into a community that is filled with people that are on a crash course to eternal destruction if we don’t share this message about God’s wonderful grace.
You know after I got back to my dorm room after hearing my coach tell me I just was not good enough, I chose to accept it and pursue other dreams. When someone is not chosen for American Idol they might not immediately but eventually they choose to accept those judge’s advice. And just as I stand here today, I can honestly accept that I am not good enough to enter heaven on my own. I don’t deserve to. But today I challenge myself and you to be willing to say Sua Sponte. I Choose to Accept His Righteousness. Sua Sponte I choose to accept His Availabilty and Sua Sponte. My Response is I Choose to Accept Christ. If you’ve never do it will today be the day. If your not acting like it will you choose to start today. Sua Sponte I choose Christ. How about you? Let’s Pray
