HoHum:
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.
WBTU:
The last several weeks we have been focusing on the law system of salvation.
Rules of the law system: Keep the commandments; escape the penalty; Break the Commandments; Suffer the penalty.
One problem, it’s not going to work. Why? Romans 3:22-23: There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
This is the main point of Romans 1:18-3:20, no one will get to heaven by means of the law system, since all have sinned. Once we sin, we can never be perfect again; and being perfect is the only way we can get into heaven through the law gate. The law gate is shut to sinners.
The good news is that God has provided another way to get to heaven, one that will actually work for sinners. This other way of getting to heaven is the system of grace. Grace as a way of salvation is God’s alternative to law.
Most of what we talk about now is aimed at explaining the way of grace. This is the main point of Romans 3:21 to Romans 5:21.
Thesis: Let’s give an overview of the way of grace.
For instances:
The rules of the grace system: Keep the commandments, but suffer the penalty; break the commandments, but escape the penalty.
Break the commandments, but escape the penalty. What do we deserve? We deserve the shame and agony of hell. But what do we get? We receive the free gift of eternal life; we receive the glories of heaven.
B. Keep the commandments, but suffer the penalty
Is it possible that there is someone to whom this applies, someone who has “kept the commandments” by living a life of sinless perfection? Yes! Jesus Christ. This line applies to Jesus, and was never intended to apply to anyone else. He not only kept all the commandments; He also suffered the penalty for sins, taking the penalty of eternal hell that we deserve by submitting to the death of the cross.
What did Jesus, the Son of God, actually deserve? He deserved to be treated like the glorious and holy King that He is. But what did he get? He got the cross.
Read Luke 23:39-43: Emphasize vs. 41- We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
This first line, as it applies to Jesus, is the basis for the second line. The two go together.
Jesus has actually traded places with us sinners. God treats Jesus as we deserve to be treated, so that He can treat us the way Jesus deserves to be treated.
We can think of it like this: Jesus not only traded places with us: He also traded faces with us. When the Father looked at Jesus on the cross, He saw our face, and poured out upon Jesus the wrath we deserve. The result is that now, when God looks upon those of us who are standing in the grace line of heaven, He actually sees the face of Jesus. He is giving us now, and certainly on Judgment Day, what Jesus deserves!
This sounds wrong somehow; it sounds so unfair! The fairness mentality
Break the commandments but escape the penalty? That’s not fair!
Keep the commandments but suffer the penalty? That’s not fair!
On the bulletin this morning under the sermon outline section, have an experiment, in the form of a matching quiz.
On the left have two names: Jesus and below his put your name.
On the right have two spaces and can put one of two words in each place. These words are sin and righteousness. Write in the space after each name, the word we think most appropriately goes with that name.
I must confess when I first took this quiz, I failed. Across from Jesus I put righteousness, because Jesus is righteous. Across from my name I put sin, because I am a sinner.
2 Corinthians 5:21: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Under the grace system sin goes with Jesus, and righteousness goes with us. Is this fair? No! But this is the point: grace was never meant to be fair! By its nature it is the opposite of fair!
On the cross God the Father treated Jesus the way we deserve to be treated, and he treated Jesus the opposite of the way He deserved to be treated.
Jesus took what we deserve, and we get what He deserves. Each case is the opposite of fair.
I. We have been taught and conditioned to respect and seek fairness. In fact, a sense of justice is probably part of the law that is written upon our hearts as talked about in Romans 2:14-15.
J. We are pretty good at spotting situations that are not fair. From a young age, children has a sense of fairness. When I was growing up, I would often say, “But Dad, that not fair!” Finally Dad got disgusted and said to me when I was older, “Davon, life is not fair!”
K. No wonder so many try to apply this “fairness mentality” to salvation itself. Look up and read Luke 18:9-14. Notice the Fair- I- See.
L. The fact is this: the fairness approach to the salvation of sinners is futile. James 2:10: For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
N. Do we want God to be fair with us in the final judgment?
The Grace Mentality
As children we are taught to be fair and play fair. We expect and desire our courts of law to apply justice and fairness. This is the way it should be- in matters of this world.
Here is the bottom line: when it comes to salvation, we must stop thinking in terms of fairness, in terms of what we deserve.
Our thinking must be like that of the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14. What did he pray- “God, be fair with me, the sinner!” No, he prayed, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!”
The only balance scale judgment that really works is this: all our sins go on one side of the scale, and Christ’s atoning death goes on the other side. Christ’s side is heaviest
How we perceive our relationship with God determines our overall attitude or state of mind. Those under law will be dominated by one kind of mental state; those under grace will be dominated by an entirely different mental state. What are those two:
Those who think in terms of law are filled with dread and terror whenever they think of death and judgment. In their hearts they know they are not good enough to be saved, and they know what they deserve: hell! At the least they will never be sure of their eternal destiny.
Those who understand that they are under grace are filled with joy and hope and peace and assurance. This comes from understanding grace and knowing that we are under it.
Christians are under grace, but many still think and act as if they were under law. Still have the mentality of someone who is under law. Mentality has not caught up with the reality.
The transition from the law mentality to the grace mentality is the greatest imaginable transition in thinking. It is a Copernican revolution. Nicolaus Copernicus came up with idea that the sun is the center of the solar system. It made sense but for many, especially those in the church, it was difficult to accept. “We are not the center of the solar system.”
This means shifting our focus from our personal righteousness to the gift of God’s righteousness. It means thinking of eternal life not in terms of something we earn but in terms of something God gives us as a gift. It means ceasing to trust our own works to make us good enough for heaven, and beginning to trust the cross of Christ as our sole means of entering heaven. It means taking our eyes off of ourselves and placing them on Jesus Christ. It means ceasing to be dominated by hopelessness and fear and drudgery, and beginning to be filled with hope and joy and assurance.
In a “Peanuts” comic strip Charlie Brown was mourning the fact that his baseball team had never won a game. Someone tried to console him by saying: “Don’t worry, Charlie Brown. Winning isn’t everything!” To which Charlie Brown replied, “True, but losing isn’t anything.” The thing about the Christian life is that we are not on the losing side; we are on the winning side. It is like changing from playing a game we cannot possible win to playing one where we know we are not going to lose.
Think about going to the doctor for a nagging problem. The doctor tells us that we have an incurable and fatal disease. Imagine the mental state this would cause in us. After this, we go to another doctor for a second opinion, and he shows us that the first doctor was mistaken; our problem is something that can be easily cured. How are mental state would change.
For peace and assurance, for mental health, we must think in terms of grace.
Galatians 3:23-25: Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Saved by grace through faith at baptism. Galatians 3:26-27: You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
God to us- Why should I let you into heaven? Just as I am, Without one plea, but that thy...
