Grace Is More Than A Blue Eyed Blond.  Romans 5:

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- April 24, 2005

Our text for today is found in Romans 5:15-21:
     

15And what a difference between our sin and God’s generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s bountiful gift. 16And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
      18Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness makes all people right in God’s sight and gives them life. 19Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God’s sight.
20God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant. 21So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jeffrey Zaslow in his book “Tell Me About It” tells the following story: Years ago, my father coached a team of eight-year-olds. He had a few excellent players, and some who just couldn't get the hang of the game. Dad's team didn't win once all season. But in the last inning of the last game, his team was only down by a run.
There was one boy who had never been able to hit the ball--or catch it. With two outs, it was his turn to bat. He surprised the world and got a single!
The next batter was the team slugger. Finally, Dad's players might win a game. The slugger connected, and as the boy who hit the single ran to second, he saw the ball coming toward him. Not so certain of baseball's rules, he caught it. Final out! Dad's team lost! Quickly, my father told his team to cheer. The boy beamed. It never occurred to him that he lost the game. All he knew was he had hit the ball and caught it--both for the first time. His parents later thanked my dad. Their child had never even gotten in a game before that season.
We never told the boy exactly what happened. We didn't want to ruin it for him. And till this day, I'm proud of what my father did that afternoon. 

 The King James Version of Romans 5:20 says: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” 

Donald Gray Barnhouse in his notes on Romans says that this verse could well be translated: “Where sin had reached the high-water mark, grace completely flooded the world.”

When we speak about grace we are talking about God’s favor that we do not deserve which is shown to us.

In His love and mercy, God forgives us and justifies us…that is He makes us as if we had never sinned. We receive new life that will be forever with Him in the place we call heaven.

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of the life of a man who has been the outstanding object of God’s abounding grace is John Newton. Newton was an Episcopal Clergyman who lived between 1725 and 1807. He is the one who wrote the words of the hymn we all know: 

“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.”

John Newton’s mother died when he was seven years old. She had taught him many verses of Scripture before she died. He was raised in the home of a near relative, and became an apprentice seaman.

Newton was wild and dissolute. He deserted from the British Navy and ran away to Africa in order, as he would later write, “that I might sin my fill.” To give you an idea of how sinful a life he was living, it is said that he could curse for two hours without repeating himself. In Africa he fell in with a Portuguese slave trader, and while the slave trader was away from his home, John Newton was treated like a dog by the chief black woman of the trader’s harem. For months he was forced to grovel in the dirt and pick up his food in his mouth from the ground, being lashed by a slave if he touched it with his hands.

He decided to escape. He reached a spot on the coast where he attracted the attention of a passing ship by lighting a signal fire. The captain of the ship thought he was a native wishing to sell ivory and stopped. He took Newton aboard and learned that Newton was a skilled navigator. In a short time he became the ship’s first mate. But one day when the captain was on shore, he broke into the ship’s rum and got himself and the entire crew drunk. When the captain returned, he struck Newton so hard that he knocked him overboard. He would have drowned had it not been for a sailor spearing him in the thigh with a boathook.

As the ship neared England, a great Storm arose. Off the coast of Scotland, the ship nearly foundered. Newton manned the pumps for days and finally cried out to God and was wonderfully saved.

Of that storm, William Cowper wrote these words:
“God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.”

We live in the age of grace and not under the law. A fact for which we all praise God!

Paul speaks in this passage to the issue of why the law was given to mankind. Before there was no law, sin existed and it resulted in spiritual separation from God and spiritual death. But individual sins were not counted against people because there was no standard of law that was violated by man’s rebellion against God.

God gave the law so that man might comprehend the multitude of his offenses and thereby comprehend the fact that he is spiritually dead before God. Only when man realizes his death in sin, can he be made alive in Christ Jesus. That is the great purpose of the law.

The law was given not to save men, but to drive men to Christ.

The law functions like a mirror. We look in to a mirror and determine that our face is dirty, but you do not rub the mirror on your face. The mirror can show you that your face is dirty, but it cannot wash your face. Anyone who attempts to base their salvation on the Ten Commandments is as foolish as the person who tries to wash with a mirror. It can’t be done.

All the law can do is demand absolute perfection.

I heard recently of a man who got a ticket for speeding. He thought it unfair that the police officer had singled him out to give him a ticket. Everyone was driving fast and he was ticketed for going 49 miles per hour in a 40 mile an hour zone. So he went to court, figuring the judge would understand his plea and dismiss the charges against him. After all, everyone knows that if the limit is 40 people always drive faster and the police will wink at your speed so long as you are not driving in a dangerous manner at that speed.

So in court he pled his case that it was unreasonable for the police officer to single him out and ticket him for going 49 miles per hour. The judge listened to him and then asked him how fast he thought he was going. He said he was going about 44 miles per hour. The judge said you can’t go 44 miles an hour either in a 40 mile an hour zone.

You are in violation of the law when you go faster than 40 in a 40 mile per hour zone. Pay the fine! Next!

God had demonstrated that he could deal with man without the law that was given to Moses. But the law was given, in order to make sin, which had always been evil in the sight of God, to be disobedience in the sight of both God and man. Sin, which was present both before and after the law was given, has now become rebellion which brings down all the wrath of God.

Have you noted the fact that people always have a desire to break the law? We all are made of the same stuff, and we are no different than anyone else in that regard. If we were left to ourselves we would be law breakers too!

Look in your Old Testament and follow the history of God’s people Israel and you will see that they were never able to keep the law.

The new life we receive when we trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is given to us in an act of God’s grace.

Grace, as we noted earlier, is God’s good will, His loving kindness and undeserved favor that he gives us. It is something that we do not deserve.

The source of the Love of God shown to us is the grace of God. This is what moved the Son of God to leave Heaven and come to earth to live among people like us and provide for our salvation by his death on the cross. Jesus did not have to come. But he did and when he did he lived a life of utter obedience to the will of God the Father.

All of this originated with God and not with man. It is a gift of God to men.  And God always bestows His grace in abundance. That is part of what Paul is saying in the 5th chapter of Romans. He says that it is given in abundance.

Abundance is from two Latin words ab and undare, which mean: “ to rise in waves”. Go to the seashore and watch the waves coming in. One wave is followed by another, and another and another. This is the idea that God is trying to convey here through the Apostle Paul. The unmerited favor that we enjoy comes as one wave follows another…in great abundance. That is the blessing of God…great abundance, this superabundance of favor bestowed upon us…when we deserve nothing but condemnation.

But of course Paul tells us that there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

In the end grace means that no one is too bad to be saved. God specializes in saving really bad people. Do you have some things in your background that you would be ashamed to talk about in public? Fear not. God knows all about it, and His grace is greater than your sin.

Grace also means that some people may be too good to be saved. That is, they may have such a high opinion of themselves that they think they don’t need God’s grace. God’s grace cannot help you until you are desperate enough to receive it.

God’s favor is a gift. Let me mention two truths that can radically transform your thinking and your way of living. Here they are:

There is nothing you can do to make God love you more.
 
There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.

Like a gift, the only thing we can do with grace…is to receive it.

--Dennis Gleason