INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Last week we opened up our Amazing Grace series by looking at the Genesis of Grace. We learned that God had a plan to offer redemption to mankind when the fall happened.
• This week we will focus on why we need grace.
• In order to be able to able to understand WHY we need grace, we need to backtrack a little to talk about what sin does to one’s life.
• It is good to understand that through Jesus our sins are forgiven, BUT if we do not understand the nature and consequences of sin in our life, we will not truly appreciate grace and forgiveness.
• Without understanding the magnitude of sin and its affects in my life, I will have a tendency to cheapen the gift of grace.
• On one level, we kind of understand what sin does; for instance, someone cheats on their spouse, or robs a bank, we know what happens when one gets caught.
• I believe on a deeper level we tend to write off what sin really does to us.
• We excuse sin in our lives, but magnify it in the lives of others.
• We treat sin like high blood sugar, or smoking, or things that contribute to heart disease.
• We think we are the only one who nothing bad will happen to us if we do not watch our blood sugar, or our weight, or stop smoking. We think we really do not need to heed the warnings or the warning signs.
• Diabetes, a heart attack, lung cancer happens to other people, not to me.
• So today, as we examine the reason we need grace, we are going to examine the nature and consequences of sin, we will see what it does to us.
• By the way, sin does what we will discuss to everyone; whereas, everyone who smokes will not die of lung cancer, everyone who ingests boat loads of sugar will not become a diabetic.
• EVERYONE is a sinner according to Romans 3:10 and Romans 3:23 as well as a commonsense look at the world.
• We will be examining a few passages out of the Book of Romans, but we will begin with a rather nasty verse from the book of Romans to get us started.
• SLIDE #2
• Romans 1:18 (CSB) For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Sin makes one guilty.
• This is the first universal truth concerning what sin does to us. It makes us guilty before God.
• Dr. Jack Cottrell in his book Thirteen Lessons on Grace states, “Sin must be acknowledged before salvation will be accepted.”
• When we dumb down or make light of the effects of sin in our life, we will never full appreciate the salvation we can have through Jesus.
• One of the primary effects of sin in our life is that it makes us guilty.
• We must realize that guilt is not an inward condition, it doesn’t involve our nature or our being.
• It is a matter of relationships.
• To be guilty means to be in a wrong relationship with God and His Law. (Cottrell, Thirteen Lessons on God’s Grace, p.40)
• When you get a speeding ticket, you are on the wrong side of the relationship between you and the speed limit sign.
• Being guilty of speeding to do with your heart, your car, the price of eggs in China, you were guilty of speeding, no matter why you did it, you are technically guilty.
• Even if you are rushing an injured person to the hospital, you have broken the law and if caught, you are guilty until either the office declines to write the ticket, or the court exonerates you of your guilt.
• So, the issue of guilt is first of all, a legal issue.
• As long as we perfectly obey God’s laws all the days of our life, we would not be guilty and we would be in perfect fellowship with God.
• When we break one of God’s laws, we are guilty of breaking the whole law.
• SLIDE #4
• James 2:10 (CSB) For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.
• But your Honor, I only robbed one bank, or I only embezzled from one company, or I only killed one person.
• If you do those things, you lose your entire freedom.
• In the case of 1 sin, the price is much higher.
• SIDE #5
• Romans 6:23 (CSB) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Notice the contrast between wages and gift.
• The thing we earn from sin is death.
• The word translated WAGES is a word used of what is purchased to be eaten with bread, such as fish, meat, vegetables, etc..; the pay of a Romans Soldier. It was the custom for the people of that day to pay them in such manner.
• It means that which a man earns, a man deserves. That which is a proper reward for the labor.
• For sin, the proper reward is death. Death here is not only our spiritual death, separation from God, but it also includes the “second death,” the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 20:14 and Revelation 21:8
• A gift, the gift of eternal life is found in Jesus and it cannot be earned, purchased, or bartered for in any way.
• The legal issue that sins brings us UNIVERSAL, there are no exceptions because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. ROMANS 3:23.
• For some that is no big deal, until the face the judge.
• The other thing that sin does is it invokes the wrath of God upon us.
• This is one the things you do not hear a lot about in the modern Church in the United States, because it is not very uplifting to hear.
• There are many passages that speak of this.
• The WRATH of God occurs some 30 times in the New Testament. That shoots down the theory that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament.
• Our opening passage is one of the passages that speaks of the wrath of God.
• SLIDE #6
• Romans 1:18 (CSB) For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,
• Man’s wrath is usually revenge based or self-interest based, and therefore sinful; whereas, God’s wrath is His settled displeasure against sin and it grows out of His very nature (which is holiness.) (Reese, Romans Commentary, p21).
• One of Satan’s deceptions he effectively uses is that God is a loving God, so He would not allow His wrath to be upon people.
• Jesus told us who we should fear.
• SLIDE #7
• Matthew 10:28 (CSB) Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
• Our sin puts us in a wrong relationship with God. It makes us guilty and puts us in line for His wrath.
• The next thing that sin does is it…
• SLIDE #8
II. Sin makes one sick.
• The sickness in not physical, although sin can make you physically sick, like when one decides to over-indulge in adult beverages.
• What happens when we sin is our soul becomes sick and corrupted.
• What happens when one gets sick, they become weak. When our souls and spirits are sick, they too become weak.
• SLIDE #9
• Romans 5:6 (CSB) For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
• WE are helpless because sin makes us weak, and it opens us up to more damage!
• When we practice sin, it becomes what we are and who we are.
• Some think we are not sinful and the Calvinist thinks we are totally depraved, or totally corrupt.
• We are not sinful because of birth, we are sinful because of sin.
• SLIDE #10
• Ephesians 2:1 (CSB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
• Because of Adam’s sin, we die physically, but I die spiritually because of MY OWN sin!
• Jesus spoke on the issue of our own sin being our problem when He said…
• SLIDE #11
• Matthew 7:17 (CSB) In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.
• Our condition is so bad that we are told we are spiritually dead!
• SLIDE #12
• Colossians 2:13 (CSB) And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.
• Sin is a disease that permeates the soul.
• Dr. Cottrell states:
• Visible, discernable sins are no more than symptoms of a dreadful inner disease. Like red spots or a fever or a hacking cough, they signal the presence of something worse within.
• So, if a person lies, cheats, steals, lusts, what are they to do? Can they simply quit doing those things and live a new life?
• The answer is no, it will not solve the problem, it will mask the deeper issues.
• Stopping sinful practices apart from salvation through Jesus is like suppressing the symptoms, but allowing the disease to ravage the body without being stopped.
• It is like going to the cancer doctor and they say they will only treat the symptoms of the cancer and not the cancer.
• To be healed, one must rid themselves of the cancer not just the symptoms.
• To be spiritually healed, we need to rid ourselves of the disease of sin offered by God’s grace through the blood of Jesus!
• Next let’s conclude with this thought.
• SLIDE #13
III. Sin puts one in a downward spiral.
• This will be short and sweet.
• When get into a death spiral when we allow sin to reign in our life.
• First, we are guilty and condemned by God’s law, then we go further into the spiral because we are spiritually corrupted and thus more likely to sin.
• Each time we do it gets easier and easier and our heart gets harder and harder and our soul get sicker and sicker.
• We have legal and health problems because of sin. We are guilty and we stay guilty because we are too weak to overcome the sin that has taken over our souls.
CONCLUSION
• When we understand what sin does to us and realize there is nothing we can do about it on our own, it should make us appreciate the salvation we can have through the grace of God through Jesus.
• Before we will even consider accepting the grace that God offers through Jesus, we have to first admit we have the need.
• Many are blinded by the sin that ensnares them to the point that they do not see the need.
• Even those who have come to Jesus, sometimes treat the grace that God has given to them as something cheap, something that is not that important.
• I came to Jesus because I knew I was sick and I needed His grace to save me!
• What about you, is grace amazing to you or is it something you do not think you need?
• If you want to experience the Amazing Grace of God, come to Him today!
