I AM A DEBTOR
Romans 1:14-17
Introduction: Have you ever been so deep in debt that you couldn’t sleep and your debt was so great that it was constantly on your mind? Your bills were so enormous that you didn’t know how you’d ever be in a position to pay them off. You may have even been behind on your payments. You may have been threatened with having your phone and utilities turned off. You feel like you are about to go under — just one step away from losing everything. Understand that you and I have incurred an overwhelming debt that is a million times greater than any financial debt that we ever have had or could acquire. It is a debt that none of us will ever be able to pay.
I. Grace paid a debt that we never could pay.
A. Czar Nicholas of Russia often used to wander about his military camps and barracks, clothed as an ordinary officer, in order that he might know, without being recognized, what was going on.
Late one night, when all lights were supposed to be extinguished, the Czar was making one of these tours of inspection. He noticed a light shining under the paymaster’s door, and, quietly opening it, he stepped inside, intending to have the offender punished. A young officer, son of an old friend of the Czar, was seated at a table, his head resting on his arms, sound asleep. The Czar stepped over to awaken him, but before doing so he noticed a loaded revolver, a small pile of money, and a sheet of paper with a pen that had fallen from the hand of the sleeping man. The light of the little candle let the Czar read what had just been written, and in a moment he understood the situation.
On the sheet of paper was a long list of debts, gambling and other evil debts. The total ran into many thousands of rubles. The officer had used army funds to pay these wicked, reckless debts, and now, having worked till late into the night trying to get his accounts straight, he had discovered for the first time how much he owed. It was hopeless; the pitifully small balance on hand left such a huge deficit to be made up! On the sheet of paper, below the terrible total, he had written this question: “Who can pay so great a debt?”
Unable to face the disgrace, the officer had intended to shoot himself, but completely worn out with sorrow and remorse, he had fallen asleep.
As the Czar realized what had happened, his first thought was to have the man immediately arrested and in due course brought before a court-martial. Justice must be done in the army, and such a crime could not be passed by. But as he remembered the long friendship with the young officer’s father, love overcame judgment, and in a moment he devised a plan whereby he could be just toward the army and yet justify the culprit. The Czar took up the pen that had dropped from the hand of the wearied, hopeless offender, and with his own hand answered the question with one word: “Nicholas.”
Yes, the Czar himself, Nicholas, could pay that debt and voluntarily undertook to do so. The young officer woke up soon after the Czar had gone, and he took up his revolver to blow out his brains, but as he did so, his eye caught the answer to his question. In bewildered astonishment he gazed on that one word, “Nicholas.” Surely such an answer was impossible! He had some papers in his possession which bore the genuine signature of the Czar, and quickly he compared the names, for it seemed too good to be true. To his intense joy, yet bitter humiliation, he realized that his Czar knew all about his sins, knew the utmost of his mighty debt, and yet, instead of inflicting the penalty he deserved, had assumed the debt himself and justified the debtor.
Joyfully and peacefully he lay down to rest, and early the next morning bags of money arrived from the Czar sufficient to pay the last ruble of “so great a debt.” – from Bible Truth Tract #2455
B. You and I have amassed a mountain of debt through our sinful natures. We have without exception violated and broken God’s law not once but repeatedly.
C. Romans 3:22-23 “...there is no difference (distinction): for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
D. Sin is any thought, word, or deed that falls short of God’s standard of holiness and perfection. Sin is not only doing what is wrong but the failure to do what one knows to be right. Sinning is always a valuing of something in the world more than God. Sin demeans and robs God of the glory due Him.
E. Our sins are debts to God, which can only be discharged by payment in full.
F. All of us are completely incapable of paying or erasing the debt that we have incurred and amassed.
G. In Queen Elizabeth’s time, the way in which they cleaned the hall of a castle, the floor of which might be covered with remnants of food and all manner of abominations, was to strew another layer of rushes over the top of the filth, and then they thought themselves quite neat and respectable. And that is what a great many of you do, cover the filth well up with a sweet smelling layer of conventional proprieties, and think yourselves clean, and the pinks of perfection.” _ Alexander McClaren
H. Jeremiah 2:22 (ESV) “Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord GOD.”
I. We may well ask, “Who can pay it?” Thank God, love has provided an answer, and like the answer given by Czar Alexander it is the one word—“Jesus”!
J. Romans 5:6-8 (HCSB) “For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, 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!”
K. Christ paid the debt created by my sin. In God's justice, Christ's sacrifice was sufficient to pay the penalty for my sin and reconcile me to Him. He paid my eternal sin debt, a debt I could never pay by any good works (Eph. 2:8-9). Because of Christ's sacrificial death for me, I am debt free! My account for all eternity is paid in full; I have no sin balance to be carried forward. – R Kris
L. Each one of us is completely lost outside of Christ. Either you are absolutely saved in Christ, or you are completely lost outside of Christ. All of us need the righteousness of Christ. There is no difference. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Nashville: Thomas Nelson)
II. We have an obligation or debt to live as one whose debt has been paid
A. During World War II, Winston Churchill paid a great tribute to the young men of the Royal Air Force, who mounted up with wings as eagles, and with their sheltering wings guarded the land they love. He said:
