Perhaps the most destructive philosophy to ever be unleashed in our culture is that of human self-sufficiency. A philosophy that first becomes noticeable at very young age when we first say, “I can do it by myself.” The philosophy continues to grow as we become more educated, countless commencement addresses have had this philosophy as a theme. Our culture sings the praises of the “self-made” man. The cornerstone of the American work ethic is the reliance on our own efforts. Our favorite verse is, “God helps those who help themselves.” The only problem is that this verse is not found in Scripture, it is actually from “Poor Richard’s Almanac” written by Benjamin Franklin. Thinking such as this often keeps us from being able to understand the concept of grace, let alone accept it. We need to realize that we are not the invincible controllers of our destiny and souls. There is nothing that we can do to earn our salvation. Our salvation is a gift from God, and is not based upon works. We have no room to boast about how good we are, because we do not even remotely measure up to God’s standard. A question that has been asked many times is, “What exactly is grace?” Today, we are going to take some time to explore the answer to this question based on the information Paul gave to the church at Rome. Paul’s words should enable us to begin to grasp the concept of grace.
I. There is hope for all of us to be declared righteous before God.
A. God has provided a means for man to be declared righteous apart from the law.
1. Under law, salvation is based on perfect human righteousness. Herein lies the impotence of the law system; man’s righteousness indeed is “filthy rags” and futile for justification.
2. Under grace, salvation is based on the righteousness of God.
3. The Law itself reveals the righteousness of God, because the Law is “holy and just and good”.
4. Although the law represents God’s standard to measure righteousness, we have displayed our inability to live up to it.
5. Paul is convinced that the means of righteousness from God has now been revealed.
6. The Gospel is not a recent creation by God to respond to human failure, it has been a part of the plan all along, but now has been made known.
B. There is a way to be righteous before God, it is not by obeying the law, by being Jewish, but it has always been in the Law and the prophets because they pointed to it.
1. This means that a plan or program has been revealed by which God can righteously save unrighteous sinners, and that it is not by requiring men to keep the law.
2. Because God is holy, He cannot condone sin or overlook it or wink at it. He must punish it. And the punishment for sin is death.
3. God loves the sinner and wants to save him; there is the dilemma. God’s righteousness demands the sinner’s death, but His love desires the sinner’s eternal happiness.
4. The only way to acceptance by God is through faith in Jesus Christ.
5. Believing in Jesus Christ means putting our trust in Him to forgive our sins, to make us right with God and enabling us to live the way He taught us.
6. God’s solution to our sinful condition is available to everyone regardless of background or past behavior.
II. Understanding the reality of our condition before God.
A. Paul is showing that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the fact is that all have sinned.
1. If the law measures the distance between God and us, then human righteousness is our feeble attempt to bridge that distance.
2. None can be saved by law through works; all must be saved by grace through faith—because all have sinned, and grace through faith is the only possible way for sinners to be saved.
3. To the Jewish mind the glory of God was not simply a characteristic of God, it was something possessed by Adam and Eve before the fall.
4. The first century Jewish document “The Life of Adam and Eve,” writes having eaten the forbidden fruit she said to the serpent, “Why have you done this to me, that I have been estranged from my glory with which I was clothed?”
5. The same narrative continues with Adam’s statement to Eve, “You have estranged me from the glory of God.”
6. The fact is that due to sin all people all standing on level ground.
B. God declared all men guilty so that He might offer to all men His free gift of salvation.
1. The truth is that sin has an effect on the very essence of our creation.
2. Sin is deadly and there are no distinctions: we all have sinned, we all need a Savior; Jesus Christ is the Savior.
3. This single Greek verb is in the present tense, stressing continuing action. It can be translated “keep on falling short.”
4. The thing that should stick in our mind is that sin keeps us from reaching the very place that we were created to experience.
5. Sinning confirms our status as sinners, and sin cuts us off from our holy God.
6. The greatest tragedy we experience is that of being cut off from fellowship with God.
7. Sin can be forgiven through Jesus Christ; the consequences do not have to be fatal. There is hope for salvation.
III. The hope of justification through grace.
A. Just as there is no distinction in our fallenness, Paul writes, so there is no distinction in the source of our justification.
1. God in His mercy does not give us what we do deserve, and God in grace gives us what we do not deserve.
2. We are justified without a cause! There is no cause in us that would merit the salvation of God! It is all of grace!
3. Justification is a legal or judicial term; it has to do with one’s relationship to the law. It is best understood as the declaration made by a judge once his final decision as to guilt or innocence has been made.
4. When he justifies a defendant, the judge declares that he is in a right standing with the law.
B. God justifies us, declares us “not guilty” for our sins.
1. When a judge in a court of law declares a person not guilty and the charges are removed from that person’s record.
2. Legally, it is as if the person had never been accused, likewise when God forgives our sins, our record is wiped clean.
3. We do not have to anxiously work while hoping that in the end we have been good enough to meet God’s approval.
4. God takes those who believe in His son and forgives their sin and declares them righteous before Him.
5. Our righteousness before God depends entirely on Him and can only be accepted as a gift from Him.
C. God by His grace assures us of our acceptance and then He calls us to serve Him out of sheer love and gratitude.
1. All that we have was made possible through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.
2. The basic idea of redemption is to set something or someone free from some kind of bondage, slavery, captivity, or obligation.
3. God the Son paid the ultimate price, the equivalent of eternity in hell for the whole human race.
4. The Lord Jesus bought us back from the slave market of sin. His precious blood was the ransom price which was paid to satisfy the claims of a holy and righteous God.
5. As sinners we owe to God the debt of eternal punishment, and thus are captive to that obligation as surely as if we were in a kind of debtors’ prison. Hell is the ultimate debtor’s prison.
6. The death of Christ on the cross of Calvary was the price of payment for human sin which secured release from the bondage of Satan and sin for every person who trusts God’s promise of forgiveness and salvation.
There is a great article that illustrates the concept of grace written by Charles Stanley. “One of my more memorable seminary professors had a practical way of illustrating to his students the concept of grace. At the end of his evangelism course he would distribute the exam with the caution to read it all the way through before beginning to answer it. This caution was written on the exam as well. As we read the test, it became unquestionably clear to each of us that we had not studied nearly enough.
The further we read, the worse it became. About halfway through, audible groans could be heard through out the lecture hall. On the last page, however, was a note that read, "You have a choice. You can either complete the exam as given or sign your name at the bottom and in so doing receive an A for this assignment." Wow? We sat there stunned. "Was he serious? Just sign it and get an A?" Slowly, the point dawned on us, and one by one we turned in our tests and silently filed out of the room. When I talked with the professor about it afterward, he shared some of the reactions he had received through the years. Some students began to take the exam without reading it all the way through, and they would sweat it out for the entire two hours of class time before reaching the last page. Others read the first two pages, became angry, turned the test in blank, and stormed out of the room without signing it. They never realized what was available, and as a result, they lost out totally. One fellow, however, read the entire test, including the note at the end, but decided to take the exam anyway. He did not want any gifts; he wanted to earn his grade. And he did. He made a C+, but he could easily have had an A.
