Sermon
Lanier Christian Church
David Simpson - May 1, 2016
Four Words that Make all the Difference
Romans 3:23,24
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Preachers, no matter the church affiliation all share something in common. We are all guilty. Sin, you may say. Yes, that too. What I'm talking about is more subtle. We preachers are often guilty of something in our conversation, teaching and preaching that takes away from the impact of what we are trying to say. And what is that you may ask? Well...We use big theological sounding words that even "WE" don't completely understand!
These words refer to great foundational truths in the Bible. Words that sound good. Words that are obviously important words. Words that are often used only in the church. Words that, for those who have grown up in the church, we have heard all our lives. And yet, they are words that few understand.
But, we're all guilty. Most of us do it all the time. We talk in ways that we don't always understand: Here are some expressions people use - maybe some are Southern in heritage...others are not.
Have you ever said: "He's in high cotton."
Here's one: "He's the cat's pajamas, man."
What about: "She's in a pickle."
Or: "He's like a pig in a poke."
Maybe: "He's over a barrel now."
Or: "That was close, but no cigar."
Suppose you say: "I'm standing between the devil and the deep blue sea."
You might even say: "They kicked the bucket."
Or.."My neighbor is living high off the hog."
One my dad said to me all the time was: "Now you're cooking with gas."
So go ahead...explain these phrases to your children or grandchildren! What do they mean?
We even eat things we don't understand.
Ever had escargo? What about calamari? And of course there are the southern delicacies of tripe or chitterlings? We ate at the Gainesville Country Cooking Restaurant with the grandkids the other night and I put something on my plate I didn't recognize at first. I soon realized it was gizzards. So my grandkids wanted to know what a gizzard was...so I told them to ask anybody at church on Sunday and they would tell them!
I believe we must have a better understanding of Bible words and phrases. We must not be confusing or confounding when it comes to the deep truths of the Bible. Instead, we should be able to comprehend these powerful truths and be impacted forever by their meaning.
Let's explore four words today that make a difference in our lives. They are found in a well known passage in Galatians 3:23,24.
1. SIN
How do you define sin? Many a person today will define sin as: "when you mess up." It's the phrase someone uses to describe what happens when you have failed, when you have not measured up. Occasionally someone will confess to me that they have sinned, but they never use the word "sin." Instead, 90% of the time someone will say: "I messed up." It is such a prominent synonym of the word sin that perhaps we should translate Romans 3:23 - "For all have messed up and fallen short of the glory of God."
Indeed all of us HAVE sinned, but what does that really mean? Does "messed up" describe it? The word "sin" is from a greek word, harmatia, which means: "to miss the mark; to fall short." Picture an archer with a bow and arrow and they are shooting at the bullseye of a target. If they do not hit the center of the target they have missed the mark. If the arrow doesn't reach the target at all, it has fallen short.
That's what happens when we sin. We fall short. God's perfect will is before us, and if we are not precise in doing it exactly the way God desires, then we have fallen short.
Billy Graham once said: A sin is any thought or action that falls short of God’s will. God is perfect, and anything we do that falls short of His perfection is sin. (From billygraham.org)
Any behavior that is not pleasing to God is sin. But, not only that, any thought that is not pleasing to God is sin. Have you ever said?..."I thought it, but I didn't say it...or do it." That thought missed the mark just as much as a wrong deed misses the mark.
The sad commentary about God's creation is that ALL have sinned. We're all in the same boat here. All of us have sinned. We like to categorize sin and say such things as: "Well at least I didn't do THAT..." Yet, God looks at us and sees every one of us as falling short of His perfect plan. We have all missed the mark.
Let's look at another word that is used in this great passage in Romans:
2. JUSTIFIED
The most common use of this word is when we describe ourselves as "justified" in doing something. It would be like someone saying: "I was justified in knocking him down because he knocked me down first." It's like saying: "I was right in doing something, even though it appeared wrong."
But, that's not exactly what it means in the Bible. The real meaning is from the Greek word dikaiosis, which means to declare someone just or righteous. It means that God pardons or forgives each person and sees them as obedient to his perfect law, NOT by what they have done, but because of what Christ has done.
We have done nothing to be considered justified by God. Our excuses do not work with the Almighty. He declares me justified only because I have submitted my life, my pride, my efforts, my very soul to the one who died to make all things right. No matter who you are today, we have all missed the mark when it comes to pleasing God. Yet, because of Jesus and his sacrifice for our sins, God now looks at those who are His children as justified.
Justified is a legal term. It means God is the judge and we stand guilty. There is no justification for our sins, but when we choose Jesus as Lord, HE stands in our place. He stands condemned on our behalf, so that we are found innocent, justified, before God the Father. A very simplistic way to understand justified is to break it down this way: "Just as if" I had never sinned. As God stands in judgment over me, He looks at the Christian and hands down His sentence: "I look upon you just as if You had never sinned. All I see is Christ, who paid the price already for the guilt of your sin. The sentence has been paid." I think the Bible verse that says it best is found in 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.
We are justified freely, at no cost to us. We are treated just as if we had not sinned for one reason and one reason only....
3. GRACE
The word "Grace" is from a Greek word, charis, which means "a gift that brings joy." Indeed, grace is a gift. And it is a gift that produces great joy. Our usual Sunday-school definition of grace is “unmerited favor.” In other words, grace is something that we receive that we did not deserve. But as Dr. Jack Cottrell of Cincinnati Bible Seminary says: God’s gift of salvation to a sinner is not just unmerited or undeserved; it is the opposite of what the sinner deserves! As one of my early seminary students put it, grace is “favor bestowed when wrath is owed.” (jackcottrell.com)
Our sins deserve punishment, but He has held back His wrath. Our sins deserve death, but He has given us life. Our sins deserve condemnation, but He has shown forgiveness. Our sins deserve Hell, but He has given us Heaven. That's grace!
Banks have a grace period during which we are given extra time to pay our debts. But because our debts are so great, due to sin, eternity itself would not be enough time to repay all that we owe. Sin has put us in debt. And it is a debt we cannot possibly pay. As the old gospel song says: "He paid a debt He did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay."
God's grace is His love and forgiveness shown to me, even though I owe Him a debt that I can never pay.
Sin is like an unpayable debt. Yet God has chosen to justify us by showing us His grace - this undeserved love and forgiveness - but how? That's our last word for today...
4. Redemption.
Growing up, whenever I heard the word redeem or redemption I thought of only one thing: S&H Green Stamps. My mother would receive green stamps after every visit to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and after collecting so many books of stamps she would load us kids in the car and head to Macon to redeem her stamps at the S&H Redemption center. I don't remember all the things she got in exchange for her stamps, but I do remember a chair for our patio that we brought back home.
I can assure you today that the word redemption has nothing to do with stamps or grocery stores. But it has everything to do with a gift - the gift of our salvation through Jesus. Our redemption has come through Jesus. But what does that mean exactly?
The Bible word, redeem, means to set free by paying a price. Jesus paid a price for a debt that we owed. Sin has put us in debt to God, but Jesus redeems us by paying this debt for us. And the price was the blood he shed on the cross for you and me.
Ephesians 1:7 says:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
So now put all of these great Bible words together as we look once again at Romans 3:23,24....
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
The next time you have this feeling that you deserve to be saved by Jesus....that somehow God owes you...that you have been good enough to earn his favor, think about the cross. Because that is what you deserve. ALL have sinned. That includes you and me. Yet God's wonderful and amazing grace was shown at the cross. For, it was at the cross that Jesus redeemed us. It was at the cross where he showed us his grace. It was at the cross where we were justified. It was at the cross where our sins were forgiven.
Isaac Watts, the great hymnwriter of 300 years ago wrote these words:
Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
God's grace is almost beyond comprehension. Yet we see it in Jesus. His love knows no bounds. Won't you yield your life to him today? Find in Him the grace that sets you free. Come to him and be baptized into Him to find new life awaiting.
By David Simpson
