The Grace that overcomes Sin

Reading              John 14:5–14

Sermon

Just to recap a little what we have been talking about recently.

Scripture tells us that in the beginning, God made everything, and He made it good. Creation was good. And God gave humans freewill, the ability to choose instead of just reacting because of instinct.

Then in Genesis 3 we have a story of what still happens in everyone’s lives, Adam and Eve took their eyes off of God, and focused their attention on being self-sufficient, they wanted more than God had provided. They put their trust in their own knowledge rather than in God.

Scripture says “like sheep we’ve all turned away, each one of us turning to our own way”.

So what impact does sin have on our lives?

In the Old Testament the price of sin was that something had to die. Animals died daily in the Temple to pay for the sins of individuals.

Paul wrote to the Romans that the wages of sin are death.

When I asked a confirmation class about salvation a few years ago, I was told “It is like an exam, and there is a pass mark.”                   SLIDE 1

So I asked “What is the pass mark” and was told with confidence “60%”.

                                                                                      SLIDE 2

Others of us seem to think there are a limited number of houses in heaven, and as long as you behaviour is above average, you are safe.

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None of us really expect to be as holy as Mother Teresa, but at the same time most of us probably expect to be better off than Robert Mugabe. So if it’s decided on a Law of Averages, we should be OK. We just have to stay in the top half of the class.

Just for fun, let’s look at the 10 Commandments as a multiple choice.

Let’s see if we can get that 60%.                                      SLIDE 4

The first Commandment, “Have you ever had a god above or before god?”

Have you ever made a decision where money or friends was more important than your being a child of God?

Has anything been more important than glorifying God?

Have you ever decided not to do something you knew God was telling you to do, because your family would be upset with you?

I know I have allowed things to creep into my life which were more important than God.                                                   SLIDE 5

Let’s look at the second commandment.                         

You shall not make an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

To worship an idol means to worship something God created asif it were god, the creator.

How many of us have read the Secret or watched the DVD?

Did you pray to the universe for money or health or a beautiful man like Sylvester Stallone who can talk proper English like Hugh Grant?

You see, that is idolatry, because you are praying to a created object as if it were God.

Lets skip ahead a little

                                                                                      SLIDE 6

This was my scorecard, which I suspect may be quite common

2 out of 10, That’s 20 %.

Of course I am ignoring the fact that Jesus said if I have hated someone I have committed murder in my heart, or if I have lusted I have committed adultery.

But we said we needed at least 60% when we started.

So if we go to the salvation gauge we set up, this is what mine would look like.                                                                                     Slide 7

Suddenly I feel like an axe murderer, or Jack the ripper.

If I am trying to save myself, this is a huge cause for despair.

But what if the purpose of the Law was to show me that I cannot save myself, I need a saviour.

If I need to be saved, then to be under the illusion tat I can save myself is actually the worst state of mind possible.

I know I need a saviour.

Jesus said those who are forgiven much, love much.

PAUSE

I wonder how many people try to work out on a scale like this whether they are going to heaven or not?

The real problem is that this way of answering the question has no foundation in Christianity.

The Bible says every one of us has sinned, and that the result of any sin, from one tiny sin to a million huge sins, is that any sin draws the appropriate wages, and that is death.

While we know God is gracious, sometimes we hide the fact that He is also just.

The goal is not 60% or even 80%. The goal is perfection.

When God became a man, Jesus, He was fully man. He was tempted, He got tired and angry. But He never sinned.

Jesus set the standard.                                                     SLIDE 8

If Jesus had sinned, God would have to say, “Well I guess it can’t be done”.

But Jesus lived a life without sin, which means that God is perfectly just when He says, “The wages of sin are death”.

So the one consequence of sin is death.

God judges us guilty, and because we are guilty we need a redeemer, a saviour. And God in His mercy sent Jesus to die in our place.

But this morning I also want to touch on a second consequence.

Because of my sin, my view of God is distorted.

Have you ever wondered, “What is God really like?”

Paul wrote to the Corinthians that 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Co 13:12)

I keep a pair of sunglasses in the car, but they rattle around by the handbrake and fall on the floor so they get finger prints all over the lenses. When I put them on, I see, but I see through all the distortions on the lenses.

When we see God, it is seldom in the clear light of day, but rather it is through the lenses of my sin cataracted eyes.

When I sin, I act like Adam and Eve did, I hide from God.

When I sin, something inside me tells me that my loving Father is going to beat me to within an inch of my life. I start to think God wants to punish me.

My image of God changes from loving father to vicious bully, not because God has changed at all, but because my vision has become impaired.

The sin within me has changed my image of God.

Sometimes when we get hurt, we look for God through our hurt and we want Him to be the God who makes the earth swallow up the unrighteous and rain down fireballs on my enemies.

But in all the craziness of life on earth, God sent His Son to show us what He is like.

Jesus said to Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”.

God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God is the same person in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

God doesn’t change, but our view of Him gets clearer or more distorted.

Maybe I can explain it like this.

Let’s say there is a narrow doorway in history which stands open, and on either side of the doorway are windows with that hammer toned glass in it that they use in bathrooms.

So the Old Testament is seeing God, but through the window.

Then for a brief moment of 3 years, we see God revealed in Jesus.

Then we move past the door and start to see again through the glass, clearer than in the Old Testament, but not as clear as when we looked at Jesus Himself.

When I read the Old Testament, I often see God as a war monger, causing wars. It seems on every third page Israel is going to war with someone.

But then I get to the doorway, and I see Jesus without the lens in the way. And Jesus says, “Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you”

It’s like these are drastically different pictures of God.

So from this vantage point, I look through Jesus into the Old Testament. Suddenly the picture changes

When the Israelites fled from Egypt, they didn’t fight a war against the Egyptians, they ran away.

When Joshua led the army against Jericho, it wasn’t with swords and spears, it was with music.

When Gideon formed an army, God told him to send most of the soldiers back home.

Do you remember the story when they surrounded the enemy with jars with torches in them, and they broke the jars and the enemy got all confused and killed themselves?

The Israelites lived in a world where war was the order of the day. But when we look through Jesus, we see God not as a war monger, but as the God who delivers Israel from battle, who limits the death and injury.

Through Jesus I understand what God was trying to show us through the Old Testament. God is not a God of war, He repeatedly helped Israel avoid war.

Jesus removes our sin, and Jesus reveals God to us as He really is.

We are like children who have been kidnapped by sin and lived away from our Father, and people have told us half truths about Him.

God sent Jesus so we can know the truth about Him, which means we need to leave the safety of what we think we know, and go in search of our Father.

I love Romans 12 which says, “Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.

Jesus died to wipe away your sins; and Jesus lived that we can know our Father.