A Journey of Grace: Saving Grace
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There was a sports reporter who once asked championship golfer, Jack Nicklaus: “What is the most common problem for amateur golfers?”
I think I could ask the same question of the church: “What is the most common problem for Christians today?”
Nicklaus said this, “Overconfidence.”
— Thinking they are better than they really are… or that they can do more than they can really do.
— I can hit that ball between those trees…
— I can drive it over that water…
That is overconfidence.
And people do it all the time… amen?
We do it in the church too…
We overrate our spiritual strengths and underrate our spiritual weaknesses.
This is a difficult topic, but it is where we have to start today… Because… it is the reason why we find ourselves so often falling into sin when we are tempted…
We have a tendency to think that we are stronger… that we are doing better than we are… that our spiritual walk is super strong… when really… IT’S NOT!!!
— I can handle that…
— If I participate a little it will help me to open a door to them…
— That won’t hurt me… I’ve got God!
We’re like that teenager that’s “ten feet tall and bulletproof!”
This tendency to overrate our spiritual strength is called “moralism.”
“Moralism is the self-righteous belief that all is well spiritually because [we] lead a decent moral life and [we have] improved [our] behavior.” — Dr. David Busic
Our culture — the world — is saturated with moralism…
A moralist is someone who believes they are saved by the good they do and the bad they avoid.
Have you ever heard someone say: “I’m not perfect, but I’m not bad either.” “I work hard… I pay my debts… I don’t cheat on my spouse… I don’t lie… I even give money to people in need…at least I’m not a murderer… or a politician!”
That’s a moralist.
Moralism follows the line of thinking that says — On the Day of Judgment the good I do will outweigh the bad… especially when compared to people like serial killers, rapists, drug dealers, pedophiles, adulterers…
Moralism is one of the foundational ideas of the thought that “All roads lead to Heaven.”
Moralism is rampant in the world today… and in the Church!
According to a Gallup poll done in 2004, 77% of the people who believe in Heaven ranked their chances of getting there as “good” or “excellent” — but here’s the interesting part — they believed that only 6 out of 10 of their friends were going…
Talk about hypocritical!
(Do you think it has changed between then and now?!?)
Do you want to know what the most interesting thing about this survey was?
89% of the people surveyed believed that there is a Heaven where people who “lead a good life” go to be eternally rewarded.
We tend to like to believe that’s true, right?
We find comfort in thinking that people we knew… people who were “good people”… are now in heaven…
But, is that true?
Can being good or doing good lead to salvation? Can it lead to heaven?
Scripture says “No!”
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.
Let me ask you: “Do you believe that Jesus led a ‘good life’?”
— Then why does He even say that He is not good?
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Jesus included His humanity in that thought!
But wait a minute… somebody ask me… “If Jesus wasn’t ‘good’, then how can He be the perfect, spotless Lamb? How could He be said to live a ‘sinless’ life?”
— Jesus wasn’t the perfect Lamb because of His divinity, He was the perfect Lamb because His imperfect humanity was completely submitted to His Divinity.
30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Jesus was 100% submitted to His Divinity.
There are a lot of people out there who believe that God grades on a curve… that all they have to do is keep piling up more and more things in the “good” column of the ledger, and that will overcome the “bad” column…
But God’s Word is clear!
We are not saved by our efforts!
We are not saved by our goodness!
We are not saved by our intentions!
We are saved by grace!
… and grace comes from outside of ourselves!
Saving Grace comes from God through Christ!
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Grace comes to us through the Cross!
But let me tell you… the Cross is scandalous!
That’s why so many people don’t want to look at it!
We look at the Cross, and we see Christ’s life, death, and resurrection… We find joy and comfort in it because of what we know it gave us… but…
Crucifixion was the most horrendous and torturous form of execution ever invented!
We wear crosses as jewelry… but to the first century people that would have been confusing and offensive!
— It would be like us wearing an icon of the electric chair as a necklace…
The Cross was a means of punishment and death…
— It was disgraceful and distasteful.
— It was the fate of hardened criminals and insurrectionists.
Crucifixion was so completely appalling that a word was actually created to explain it — “excruciating”…
“Excruciating” literally means “from the cross.”
Crucifixion was a slow, agonizing, public way to die…
Those being crucified were mocked and jeered… the crowd would throw stones and laugh at them… all while they hung there, fighting for breath… every single breath an action of agonizing pain… until finally they died of asphyxiation…
Sometimes that would take days… And afterwards, they weren’t even given a humane burial…
They were either left hanging their for the birds to pick at… or they were taken down and thrown in the city dump…
But why does knowing this matter?
Because that’s how Jesus died…
Jesus was crucified on a criminal’s cross.
Even that thief next to him knew He didn’t deserve it…
But … you see… that’s what the Gospel is… that is the “good news” for you and for me… He did it for us!
That is the “good news” that Christians declare!
1 Corinthians 15:3 (NIV)
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died …
But… how can that be “good news”?
1 Corinthians 15:3 (NIV)
… Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
The question is: Why did He have to?
Atonement.
Atonement was made for you and for me… through the Cross.
Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement — is the holiest day in ancient Judaism…
It is a day designated for repentance and forgiveness…
On the Day of Atonement, the high priest (as representative of the people) would bring in 2 goats…
1 goat was sacrificed as a sin offering to make atonement for the people in the holy of holies and on the altar of God…
Romans 6:23 (NIV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, …
and
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
The second goat was kept alive…
The High Priest would lay his hands on its head… confess over it all the sins of Israel… symbolically placing them on the goat’s head…
Then it was sent out into the wilderness to a solitary place… carrying the people’s sins far away where they could not be seen again…
That is what God did for us!
Jesus was our “scapegoat”… He took our sins into His own heart… and
“Cast them as far as the East is from the West”
All of the sacrifices… all of the Law… all of the people’s experience up to that point was meant for one thing — to lead them to Christ!
He was the perfect sacrifice… the perfect lamb… and the perfect scapegoat… permanently ending the need for blood sacrifices!
Why? How?
Because He took our sin into His own heart and freed us from its power…
But… If we are going to understand what He did completely, then we need to answer that age old question: “What is Sin?”
Why do we need atonement?
Dr. Busic three things that Sin is.
Sin is rebellion.
John Wesley — “a voluntary transgression of a known law of God.”
Now… Who can tell me what that means?!
It means that Sin is “known and willful.”
In other words, we know it is wrong… we know God says not to do it, but… we do it anyway.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
“Lawlessness is the attitude of rebellion behind law-breaking — a rebellious spirit.” — Dr. Busic
The heart of sin… the very root of it… is “self-sovereignty.”
It is refusing to accept our role as “creatures” of our Creator.
In other words, “self-sovereignty” is thinking that we are — in fact — better, smarter, and more capable than God…
Think about it....
Why don’t we trust God? Why do we not let go and do things His way? Why do we struggle against Him for control?
Interestingly… this attitude was not surprising to the Biblical writers:
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Sin is rebellion.
2. Sin is enslavement.
You probably haven’t thought about that… have you?
The Greek word translated sin is “hamartia.”
“Hamartia” means “to miss the mark.”
It’s like aiming at a target… then failing to hit it.
Biblically, Hamartia can be an act of commission… “I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I did it anyway.”
Paul addresses this in…
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
OR… It can mean an act of omission… “I knew what I was supposed to do, but I didn’t do it.”
17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Both the sins of commission and omission… miss the mark.
Here’s how it plays out in the world…
We are doing something that we kn ow is outside the will of God, but we ask Him to bless it anyway…
Guess what?
He won’t! Because that is an act of commission.
The same is true on the other side… We know what God has asked us to do, but we refuse to do it… we mistreat others… we use them for profit… that is omission.
Whether we are doing what we know we should not be doing, or not doing what we know we should be doing… God sees it the same!
Both are Sin!
Let me tell you…
Harmartia has a deeper mean as well…
As fallen people, we are not free to do as we wish… believe it or not…
We are captive to sin.
— Do you want proof? How do you answer this question: “Do you believe we (humans) can live a sin free life?”
— Most answer: “It is possible, but not probable.”
In that answer we leave ourselves an escape route from holiness… that “escape route” reveals the trap of sin.
That’s why Jesus said:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
We will serve someone or something…
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
We will either serve God with our entire being… our whole heart… or we will be enslaved to our own passions and sinful desires.
The Prodigal Son found this out… (explain)
Sin is a vicious cycle that leads to pain and destruction.
This is why Jesus said:
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
You see… there is a struggle within each of us, and… until our nature changes, we WILL love sin more than we love God.
No amount of good intentions or hard work, no amount of human moralism, no amount of personal justification… is going to liberate us completely!
Sin is enslavement!
And that’s the problem…
3. Sin is estrangement.
We don’t like to use that word much do we?
Estrangement indicates a break in the relationship.
Sin is not just “breaking a rule” or “violating a law”… it is damaging a relationship.
Sin separates people from God… and from each other.
Think about it… How often have you been separated in your relationships with people because of a sin you were trying to hide?
Sin destroys relationship.
Look at Adam and Eve… theirs is the first recorded sin…
They disobeyed God… they ate the ONLY forbidden fruit… and when they did their eyes were opened… they immediately became aware of the breach in their relationship with God AND with each other…
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Do you see what happened?
Immediately they realized they were naked… they felt shame… they felt vulnerable… weak… and exposed… so they hid from each other…
Then they heard God coming… so they hid from Him!
Up to that moment they had known and enjoyed the deep loving fellowship of God… they had known what it felt like to live in complete unity with their creator… but now, they were alienated… they were separated… from Him!
They felt estrangement.
At that moment, they felt the guilt and shame of their sin weigh down their souls… and so they tried to hide from God!
Have you ever done that?
Let me tell you: God knows!
God knew their fellowship had been broken....
And what happens next is one of the most loving and tender moments written in scripture…
9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Do you really think God didn’t know where they were?
God wanted them to know that He felt the separation too!
Let me tell you… God knows… God knows the shame… He knows the guilt… He knows what we are feeling… We don’t have to be afraid!
God calls to us: “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Do you realize that this is the first time that fear is mentioned in scripture?
Sin brings fear and guilt and shame…
It alienates us…
It condemns us…
It separates us…
Sin breaks fellowship.
That is our predicament…
Sin is rebellion… sin is enslavement… sin is estrangement.
So, what do we do? How do we get right again?
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
This is God’s supreme, self-giving love…
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And Paul reminds us…
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
That is Saving Grace.
That is the Grace that moves us from the rot and decay of sin to the life-giving Joy of a life unified with God!
That is the Grace that Martin Luther called “the great exchange.”
Our death for His life…
Our sin for His righteousness…
Our condemnation for His salvation…
Our failures for His success…
Our defeat for His victory!
God breaks down every barrier that has been erected between us!
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus was the perfect atoning sacrifice because His imperfect humanity was 100% submitted to His perfect Divinity.
We are made Holy, we receive salvation, not by our works, not by our efforts, but by submitting our imperfect humanity to His perfect divinity.
Because He has already done the work!
That is what Grace is!!!!
(I want you to see something)
22 The Lord God said, “Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”
Our Salvation… Our Atonement… was in the heart of God from the very beginning!
That is what Grace is!!!
Jesus takes our sins away… God remembers them no more!
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Jesus’s death on the cross has broken the power of sin in our lives… We are no longer subject to it.
We have been set free...
We have been reconciled with God…
The distance between us has been closed…
The veil is torn…
Jesus is our peace.
Our shame and guilt is invalid…
We no longer have to fear punishment…
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
That is Saving Grace!
Do you truly understand how much God loves you?!
God has forgiven you…
God has Redeemed you…
God has made you a new creation…
God has adopted you into His family…
That is why forgiveness is not a flippant matter!
Some would say, “God has to forgive, that’s who He is… it’s His job.”
Can I tell you this — Someone who says that has never understand the deep pain of carrying the sin of another…
Christ willingly laid down His life for us…
“The Sinless One for the Sinful ones. The Innocent One for the guilty ones. The spotless Lamb of God came to live the life we should have lived, and die the death we deserved to die.” — David Busic
Why? Why did He do it?
The answer is Love…
We are HIS handiwork.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
The Greek word for “handiwork” is “Poiema.”
You guessed it! It is where we get the word “poem.”
You are God’s unique poem!
In Christ you are seen as beautiful… as valuable… as a creation meant to be an expression of our Divine Maker…
But, we are marred… we are a work of art that has been marred by sin…
Dr. Busic tells a story of one time when he visited Rome…
He was eager to see the Pieta’ in St. Peter’s Basilica…
He knew that it had been carved by Michelangelo out of a single block of marble… He desired to study it first hand… to get close… and see its intricacies… However…
When he got there, he discovered that it was kept at a distance from the public… protected behind ropes and bulletproof glass…
You see… in 1972, on Pentecost Sunday… a mentally ill geologist claiming to be Jesus attacked the sculpture with a hammer… breaking pieces out if the marble…
Onlookers quickly snatched up pieces as they flew off the statue… some were later recovered, but not all of them, including Mary’s nose…
It was devastating…
Many worried that they would never be able to restore the statue to its former beauty…
They gathered skilled artisans from around the world… and guess what?
By the time they were through, you couldn’t even tell that the statue had been damaged!
That is what God does for us!
God saves us from condemnation, judgment, and hell.
God redeems us and reconciles us.
God justifies us and rebuilds what is wrong.
God remakes us and adopts us into His family.
We are not saved because we put our faith in doctrine…
We are not saved by believing God exists…
We are not saved by our works…
We are saved by Grace!
When we submit ourselves 100% to His will for our lives…
You are God’s poetry… You are His work of art…