The Gravity Of Sin And The Greater Grace Of God

Sunday February 2, 2020

“The Gravity of Sin and God’s Greater Grace.”

Text: Romans 3:9-31

Quote: “Preaching that is true to the gospel of Jesus Christ “does away with two contemporary fictions, that God has quit judging sin; and that men and women find peace by learning how to feel good about themselves.”

Richard Lischer

... we want to say, "I didn't sin. I didn't rebel. I just made a mistake." The dictionary calls a mistake an "error in action," or "poor reasoning." So when it happens, we can say, "Aw, my bad, my mistake." But there's a big difference between a sin and a mistake. If everything is dumbed-down to a mistake, then that makes me a "mistaker." If you're just a mistaker, you just have to do better.

If I'm a sinner, that isn't going to be enough. I know that what I did was intentional—it wasn't a mistake. It was a choice.

So if we're going to look sin in the face— AND look ourselves in the face and see our sin—we need to see that we're not just mistakers; we're sinners.

Romans 3: 9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. (key term) 10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;16 ruin and misery mark their ways,

17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

(Judaism’s Solution – Observe The Law)// “RELIGION”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 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. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

27 (Implication) Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Our Modern SITUATION:

The category of sin has been displaced in our time by other categories such as disease mal-adjustment, neurosis, deficiency, addiction. ... the culture has shifted further and faster toward self regard and self-affirmation. It is very difficult to talk about sin today without losing one’s audience...

There is no way of taking the Bible seriously unless we are willing to hear it's position on the problem of sin.

The Knowledge Of Sin As Joyful Good News...

Sin, biblically speaking means something very much more consequential than wrongdoing; it means being catastrophically separated from the eternal love of God.” P. 174

Sin is not so much as collection of individual misdeeds as it is an active and malacious agency bent upon destruction, imprisonment and death – the utter undoing of God’s purposes.

“Misdeeds” are signs of that agency at work; they are not the thing itself. It is the thing itself that is our cosmic enemy.” P. 175