OPEN: The following is a list of police comments that reportedly were taken from actual police car videos where police arrested various law-breakers:
1. One officer told a man who was complaining about how tight the handcuffs were by saying: "Relax; the handcuffs are tight because they’re new. They’ll stretch out after you wear them awhile."
2. Another criminal looked like he was going to run: "If you run, you’ll only go to jail tired."
3. Another dangerous criminal was warned: "Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? In case you didn’t know, that is the average speed of a 9 mm bullet fired from my gun."
4. One traffic violator wanted to talk to the shift supervisor: "Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don’t think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I am the shift supervisor?"
5. A drunk was pulled over and asked a series of questions ending with this one: "Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?"
These last four were said to speeders:
6. "No, sir, we don’t have quotas anymore. We used to have quotas, but now we’re allowed to write as many tickets as we want."
7. "I’m glad to hear the Chief of Police is a good personal friend of yours. At least you know someone who can post your bail."
8. "You didn’t think we give pretty women tickets? You’re right, we don’t. Sign here."
9. "Warning? You want a warning? O.K., I’m warning you not to do that again or I’ll give you another ticket." (Alan Smith)
APPLY: The law can be a difficult thing for us. We don’t mind it when someone else (who deserves to be pulled over) is stopped by the police. But we’re really not all that happy when a they pull us over!
At times like that, it’s hard to remember – Mr. policeman is your friend.
But (most of the time) policemen really are our friends. They are there to defend and protect us against forces we couldn’t control on our own.
ILLUS: I once read the true story of a woman who called the police department and complained, "People are speeding on our street, endangering the lives of children walking to school."
The next morning, she herself was stopped for speeding. "But officer," she pleaded, "I’m the person who called yesterday to tell police about these speeders."
"Well then, ma’am," he replied, handing her a ticket, "you should be happy we caught one."
(Readers Digest 7/93 p.26)
The law is the law, and if we’re caught breaking it, we pay a penalty.
And that is the consistent message in the Bible
The Law of God is the Law of God, and if you break it there is a penalty
Romans 6:23 tells us of that penalty: “…the wages of sin is death…”
In the Old Testament Law, almost everything was punishable by death
· Idolatry
· Adultery
· Prostitution
· Homosexuality
· Breaking the Sabbath
· Attacking or Cursing your parents
· Blaspheming the name of God
And the list went on and on and on.
(PAUSE) And ultimately, every sin an Israelite might commit called for death.
Either of the perpetrator of the sin… or the death of a substitute - an animal brought as a sacrifice. The law of God repeatedly drove home that we were sinners. As Paul wrote: “through the law we become conscious of sin.” Romans 3:20
Now, how many of you have been given a ticket for speeding? (almost everyone raised their hand). Me too. Now, I don’t feel so bad. But do you remember thinking to yourself: “I really didn’t think I was speeding. I was just driving along at a what I thought was a safe speed!”?
And no one was more surprised than you were when those red and blue lights went off in your rearview mirror. You didn’t really think you broke the law. But you did.
And that’s what Paul is telling the Jewish Believers in Rome. Apparently some of them had the misunderstanding that all they had to do was obey the OT laws and they’d be OK with God. They didn’t think they ever really broke the law. They might have pushed the limit a little bit.
But break it? Nah.
So Paul spends a great deal of time in his letter explaining that God’s law was pulling them over to the side of the road. The law found them guilty of sin. And if they depended upon obeying the law to make them acceptable to God, they were in for a rude surprise:
Paul explained that NONE of them had ever kept the law perfectly and so “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
And besides, even in the Old Testament – the Law had never been meant to “justify” anyone.
The law’s purpose was to reveal the holiness of God and sinfulness of man
The law existed “So that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.” (Rom3:19)
ILLUS: That’s why there were so many sacrifices that needed to be offered at the Temple.
EVERYBODY had to offer sacrifices for sin. It didn’t matter who you were or who you knew. Rich and poor, peasant and prince – everyone brought their sacrifices for sin to God.
And individual sacrifices weren’t even enough. Once a year, the High Priest had offer additional sacrifices for the sins of the people.
And, as if that weren’t enough, there was even a sacrifice that had to be offered for sins the people didn’t even know they had committed.
Sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice revealed that even God’s people were sinners.
NO human being could possibly keep that standard perfectly.
Every Israelite who lived under the Old Covenant was a sinner.
(Pause) Just like us
The Law’s main focus was not to cleanse people… it was to point to our need of to be cleansed
ILLUS: J. Vernon McGee once said:
You have a mirror in your bathroom, which is a picture of the law and there is a basin underneath the mirror. You do not wash yourself with the mirror; it only reveals the dirt. Just so, the law is the mirror that reveals our sin. Beneath that mirror there is a wash basin where that dirt is removed from our lives.
So… what is that “washbasin” that I can use to remove the filth of my sin?
What is that can save me if obedience to the Law can’t?
· Can faith cleanse me of my sin?
· Repentance?
· Confessing Jesus as my Lord?
· Being Baptized into Christ?
Do those things take away my sins?
Well actually yes… and no.
If you were to do a study in Scripture and look for the passages that told how we were saved you would find that the bulk of them would tell us we were saved “By the grace of God”
Running a close 2nd would be faith in Christ.
There are about 7 or 8 passages that tell us baptism is involved in our salvation.
Two or 3 talk about repentance being necessary.
And still another 2 mention confessing Jesus as Lord.
All of these involve my RESPONDING to God. Accepting His gift of salvation… being cleansed of the filth of sin.
Indeed, God expects me to
1. believe in the Lord Jesus
2. repent of my sins
3. confess Jesus as Lord
4. and be buried in the waters of baptism and risen up to a new life.
All of these are part of my response to God’s offer.
But none of those things actually saved me!
If weren’t for the grace of God - if God hadn’t freely offered to save you and me –
· we could believe all day long
· we could repent til we were blue in the face
· we could lie prostrate before God for weeks
· and we could be baptized 100s of times
And it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.
WHY?
Because it was what God DID that saved us.
It was what God did on the cross that God did the work of our salvation
Everything else (faith/repentance,etc.) is just our way of signing up.
We can’t do anything to buy our salvation… because it’s a free gift.
ILLUS: Lee Strobel once wrote “As we say around here, other religions are spelled “D-O” because they teach that people have to DO a bunch of religious rituals to try to please God.
But Christianity is spelled “D-O-N-E” because Christ has done it all on the cross — and we just need to receive Him.
This distinction is starkly demonstrated by comparing a parable taught by Jesus with a similar story found in Buddhist literature. Both stories involve sons who became rebellious and left home, but who then saw the error of their ways and decided to come back and be reconciled with their families.
In the Buddhist story, the errant son is required to work off the penalty for his past misdeeds by spending years as a slave.
But you know how the Christian parable of the Prodigal Son ends — with the repentant son being warmly welcomed home by his loving father and being given UNDESERVED GRACE.
Grace? What’s this Grace?
Well, in Romans 3, Paul says: We are “… justified freely by his GRACE” (vs. 24)
In the book of Ephesians Paul tells us that “… because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by GRACE you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5
So, in other words: grace was when God loved us so much that He reached into our a corpse (we were dead in our transgressions) and He personally gave us new life.
A question: Can a corpse DO anything?
Of course not - they’re dead bodies.
Thus, our corpse of a sin riddled body couldn’t do anything to bring us hope and salvation.
And so Paul writes: “For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8
God did it for us because we COULDN’T DO IT ourselves.
So – how did God do it for us?
Look at Romans 3:24.
We “… are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Oh? When did Christ give us redemption?
He did that on the cross.
Our forgiveness was accomplished when Jesus became our substitute and took our place on the cross.
You see, the Old Testament Law had decreed that the wages of sin is death.
Every sin called for the death of something
Sometimes it called for the death of the person who committed the sin.
Sometimes it called for the death of something that that person substituted for themselves.
But sin called for the death of something/someone
But the Bible also tells us that those sacrifices only “pushed back” the penalty of sin. The sting and the fear of death still hung over the head of mankind. Until that penalty was paid… no one was going to go to heaven.
The Old Testament doesn’t speak of anyone going to heaven.
They are “gathered to their fathers” or they it is said they go to Sheol (Hebrew for grave).
No one was ever spoken of as going up to heaven.
Why? Because until that ultimate price was paid for mankind’s sins everyone was held captive by Satan. Death and the grave were his ultimate tools.
That’s part of what is meant by the statement in Heb 2:14-15
“Since the children have flesh and blood, (Jesus) too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death— that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
When Jesus died on the cross, he broke the power of death by rising from the grave.
And of course that’s the image God places in our minds when we’re baptized.
We die, we’re buried… but we don’t stay in that watery grave.
Ultimately we rise up to a new life… just like what will happen with our earthly grave.
But now, wait a minute.
God is God.
Why did He even need to offer a substitute for our sins?
Why couldn’t He just “overlook” our past?
Why couldn’t He just say “all is forgiven” without Jesus having to pay that price on the cross?
CLOSE: Years ago someone created a movie which told the story of Camelot.
It told the story of King Arthur and his fabled reign in England, based upon the rule of law rather than the force of arms. He was very proud that he based his law upon total impartiality. The law applied to everyone no matter who they were.
and his love for his wife Guenevere.
But Camelot also told the story of his love for Guenevere, his wife and his queen.
Tragically, Guenevere fell into an adulterous affair Arthur’s most trust knight, Sir Lancelot and their affair was discovered by King Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred. Mordred hated his father. And this discovery gave him the opportunity to destroy the very things Arthur held dear.
Lancelot escapes. Guenevere is not so fortunate. The just and impartial law that King Arthur created for his people, condemns his wife with death. So Guenevere is placed on trial, found guilty by a jury and is sentenced to die at the stake.
As the day of execution nears, people come from miles around with one question in their minds: “Would the king let her die?”
Mordred (who hated his father and wanted to destroy everything Arthur held dear) gleefully declares:
“Arthur! What a magnificent dilemma!
Let her die, your life is over;
Let her live, your life’s a fraud.
Which will it be, Arthur?
Do you kill the queen or kill the law?”
Arthur was Guenevere’s husband, and, at the same time, her king, and that created the dilemma.
If he carries out the sentence, he upholds the law and validates himself to be a just and impartial king. Yet, in doing so, he calls into question his love. Would the king burn Guenevere? His tender wife whom he affectionately called his Jenny? His heart tells him to set her free. And if he did, it would certainly remove any doubt of his love
But by bending justice and showing partiality, he would call into question his right to rule. It was destroy forever his ability to reign as a righteous and impartial King.
Tragically but resolutely, Arthur decides: “Treason has been committed! The jury has ruled! Let justice be done!”
High from the castle window he stands and watches as Guenevere enters the courtyard. She walks to the unlit stake, where the executioner stands with waiting torch. Arthur turns away, emotion brimming in his eyes.
A herald: “The Queen is at the stake, Your Majesty. Shall I signal the torch?”
Arthur is devastated. Again the herald calls, this time with greater urgency: “Your Majesty…! Your Majesty…!”
But the king cannot answer.
Arthur’s love for Jenny spills from his broken heart: “I can’t! I can’t! I can’t let her die!”
Seeing Arthur crumble, Mordred relishes the moment:
“Well, you’re human after all, aren’t you Arthur? Human and helpless.”
Tragically, Arthur realizes the truth of Mordred’s remark.
Being only human, (the embodiment of the ideal human righteous king) he is indeed helpless.
But where that story ends, the greatest story ever told just begins. (Discipleship Journal Ken Gire March/April 1999 p. 50)
Because God did what no mortal could ever hope to do.
God stepped down from heaven – took out place at the stake… and died in our place.
"He paid a debt He did not owe;
I owed a debt I could not pay.
I needed someone to wash my sins away.
And now I sing a brand new song; ’Amazing Grace!’
Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay."
