BY GOD’S GRACE JESUS DIED TO SOLVE LIFE’S SUPREME PROBLEM
Well, here we are. We did not ask to be born into this world but we were. At some point in our childhood we might have asked where we came from and were given some kind of evasive answer like, “We found you under the doorstep.”
If we were fortunate enough to grow up in a place where God was honored and the Bible was taught, we soon learned that we got here because of One Great Creator . . . As we grew and developed, quite naturally we wanted to know “why”, and eventually we discovered that we were created for One Great Purpose . . .
However, one of the first lessons we learned in life was that people tend to behave in ways that even as little children we understood to be “no, no’s” . . .
At first we thought that “no, no’s” applied only to me, myself and I - but later on we realized that “no, no’s” apply to everybody inasmuch as we all are in the same boat: We all have One Great Problem:
We all are part of the human race - created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever but, genetically connected to the first humans, we were infected by sinful pride; and it spread and contaminated God’s Creation about which God had said, “It is very good”.
Thus sin entered the world . . . tainted that which was created and said to be “very good” . . . turned it into that which was subsequently looked upon by God our Creator as “ungodly” and therefore unworthy of our Lord’s favor.
Choices have consequences. Deliberate, defiant choices made by the first humans on earth served as precursors to choices that would be made by sinners of future generations, all of whom would be judged by the same criteria: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” “There is none righteous, no, not even one.”
Whereas we all are judged by the same criteria - sinning vs. righteousness, “sinning” of whatever kind or to whatever degree is essentially “sin against God”, all have sinned, we all are unrighteous, unrighteousness can never inherit eternal life with God . . . there could be only one just consequence - separation from God or “spiritual death”. In view of this, we have only one plea: We need help!
“Is there someone who can and will help us . . . who is willing to rescue the perishing . . . who will care for the dying?” “Yes, there is” - Romans 5:6-11 . . .
Seriously, have you ever thought of yourself as “ungodly”? Do you think of yourself now (at your age, at your stage in life) as “sinners”? Let me just say:
You are among the godliest people I know. I cannot imagine any of you deliberately sinning as a pattern of living, although our maturity makes us aware of, and alert to, the possibilities that are always around us.
So, to use one of Paul’s favorite expressions, “What shall we say to these things?”
Well, before we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, we were in fact among the “ungodly” due to all of humanity’s separation from God and therefore we too were in need of help . . . reconciliation.
Sinners we were then - in need of being saved from “the wrath” to come - and sinners we are now - except for that one dramatic act of God – an act of love that made a way for sinners to be restored to a right relationship with God.
Doctrinally we call that one act of God justification: We needed to stand before God forgiven . . . justified – “just as if we had never sinned” . . . righteous.
Based on our faith in Christ who died on the Cross to atone for mankind’s sin of rebellion, God declares all those who have been saved to be righteous . . . in a right relationship with God. Why? His Son’s atoning sacrifice on the Cross - on on our behalf, in our stead.
If we have received Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are no longer separated from God. God is with us. We shall be with Him forever.
Personal application of the doctrine of justification to one’s own life is what I think of as reconciliation – and I’m pretty sure that this is what Paul had in mind. Think about it: If you have ever been at odds with a friend - and then made up - you understand what Paul is talking about here.
We were “at odds with” God. We were separated from God due to the state of ungodliness we found ourselves in. For a lot of folks, such estrangement adds up to “irreconcilable differences” (the legal ground most often employed as a basis for divorce) but we were convinced to turn away from our sinful state, to follow Jesus. God proved to us by His love that our differences were reconcilable.
We were convinced to turn away from a life of sin, to turn to a life devoted to God for this reason stated by the Apostle John: “Behold, what manner of LOVE the Father has bestowed upon us!” And what manner of love was that? Love that laid down His life for all sinners!
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life!”
God’s act of love provided the Way. Our act of turning away from a life bent toward sinning, turning to God’s Way of grace - believing that Jesus is the Son of God and accepting Jesus as Lord as well as Savior - put us back in harmony with God, and with one another. God took the initiative. We took Him up on it.
Paul made three points about God’s grace that we don’t want to miss: WE STAND IN GRACE. We have come into favor with God because of God’s grace, and we now live a quality Christian life because of God’s grace.
Living in grace, or as Paul puts it, standing in grace, changes our thinking and changes the way we interpret things that happen in life: for example, sufferings – Romans 5:1-5 . . .
And hope does not disappoint us! The Holy Spirit within us guides us . . . encourages us . . . guarantees the outcome Jesus promised when He declared: “Because I live, ye shall live!”
The end result of our salvation is guaranteed because of the Resurrection! Paul said: “We shall be saved by His life” – by the fact that Christ Jesus lives! We stand amazed in His Presence!
WE ARE AMAZED BY GRACE. God didn’t wait for us to clean up our lives . . . straighten ourselves out . . . invite Him into our hearts. He sent His Son anyway – Jesus died for our sins anyway - “while we were yet sinners”- before we repented or sought to make things right. Such love was unheard of!
There are instances when we might think about giving our lives for another, we might volunteer to put our lives on the line, as do police officers and people in the military – those who serve as protectors of peace and defenders of freedom.
For loved ones, and perhaps a dear friend, who does so much for everyone else, we might seriously consider it.
BUT for all people in the whole wide world, most of whom were and still are “hell bent” on sinning? John Newton got it right, did he not? “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see!”
WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE BECAUSE OF GRACE. “For by grace have you been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
We can respond in one of two ways to God’s gift. We can take it or leave it. Gladly I took God up on His offer. So did you. So may all for whom Christ died . . . to whom we witness . . . for whom we pray. Amen.
