Sermon – Grace

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,

Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Je-sus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

It’s MORNING a message the title grace one word. I don’t know if I had a sermon that only had one word title. And the years of preaching a might have probably have but just grace. You know there are so many single words that we could use to describe God destroyed his character. You know we can use the word love because the Bible says God is love. We could use the word kindness to describe our God we could use the word mercy to describe our God we could use the word patience absolutely destroyed our God because He is so patient with us. Is he not there are so many words but today it’s grace because our God is gracious. He is gracious he is so good. Our scripture comes from Romans Chapter five verses one through nineteen therefore having been justified by faith. How are we justified church. OK by faith by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God and not only that but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. The hope does not disappoint. Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It was given to us for when we were still without strength in due time. Christ died for the young godly first scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man. Some one would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us and that while we were still centers. Christ died for us. Amen. Can anybody say amen to that. Much more then having now been justified by his blood. We shall be saved from the RAF through from wrath through him for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son so much son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life and not only that but we also rejoicing God through our north Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned for until the last sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reign from Adam to Moses even over those who have not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam who is a type of Him who was to come but the free gift is not like the offense for if by one man’s offense many died. Much more the grace of God The gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many and the gift is not like that which came through the one who sin for the judgment would judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification for it by one man’s offense death reign through the one much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of the right gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men resulted in condemnation. Even so through one man’s rights act the free gift came to all men resulted in justification of life for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. So also by one man’s obedience. Many will be made writes its Amen May God at His blessings to the here and in the reading of His Holy Word through one man’s rights this act. That free gift that gift we call grace came to all men only by His grace. Are we justified. Only by His grace. Can we receive life. Life Eternal that free gift that we call grace and God’s grace he gives us what we don’t deserve. And in His mercy He doesn’t give us what we do deserve. You know I’m sure that all of the Apostles that walk with Jesus throughout his ministry here on Earth. Understood understood God’s grace. But I believe in my heart that want to possible had a deeper understanding probably than anybody than the other apostles and probably than many of us can understand he truly understood the fullness of God’s grace and you probably know I’m talking about Paul. Paul proclaim the grace of God as being free. Meaning that it is free. We cannot earn it. We can’t go out we can’t work enough. We can’t feed enough hungry children. We can’t do enough good deeds to earn that grace. It is free. It is a gift of God. Paul proclaimed it as full His grace is full. It is full measure. It’s not impart but it is full. It is for enough to forgive all of our Since it is sovereign there is no power on earth that can take it away from us. There is not a power upon this earth that can take your faith. And that and the grace of God away from you. And it is eternal because that grace is for eternity not just this life but will lead us to eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. You know the other possibles at times even referred to Paul’s understanding of grace in second. Peter chapter three verses fourteen and fifteen. It says therefore beloved looking forward to those sayings be did it be diligent to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless exist and consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation as also our beloved brother Paul. According to the wisdom given to him has written to you. As also in all his a pistol speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand. But Paul understood it and I think they knew that he understood it. Paul attributed his entire ministry to Grace. He features three eight says to me who am less than the least of all the saints. This grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ he understood that. Grace was the centerpiece of Paul’s ministry. The center P.C. understood that is only by grace we are say. Not do works of us any man should boast Paul got that and I believe that the reason Paul wonder stood that is because he was forgiven of so much himself he was literally a terror against the church. He was a terror against the church. He was feared by all the Christians because he is responsible for putting many of them to death and delivering them to to prison. And actually after nine versus thirteen through fifteen. It says then N.I.S. answered. Lord I have heard from many about this man he’s speaking of Saul who would become Paul. How much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call in your name but the Lord said to him go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles kings and the children of Israel. He was feared by so many men because he was a terror. I mean he was a cell is to destroy all the Christians. So my interpretation of this you know there are people out there today that will lead a pretty good life. You know they are there not a tear to society. No they don’t they’re not a murderer. They’re not a terrible thief. They’re not an adulterous they’re not a. You know just a very wicked person so I think we have a tendency to categorize sin. You know over on this side we might have the big sins. They’re murderers the abusers the adulterers the molesters the. Terrible thieves those that might come up with a Ponzi scheme and. Take people’s forts or you know there are all their life life savings but on this side we have the good people those it. You know they might take a few things from work because they think that’s a discipline privilege that they have you know a fringe benefit from work or we have those that might tell the little lies or might steal this a little bit you know. Might they want to still fifty dollars from their neighbor. So we categorize sin. Don’t we. But to steal is to steal. I don’t care if it’s a million dollars or for ten. Ours to steal was to steal to lives to live but we categorize it. And we look at the little sins and I think well it’s it would probably be easy to forgive this guy over here on this side that only stole the ten dollars but would be hard to think that that guy that was an adulterous or a abuser could be forgiven of his sin. So we do limit God’s grace. Paul was forgiven much. He was forgiven much but we should not limit God’s grace. You know we can look at the other attributes of God His nature such as his omniscience mean that he is all knowing we know that there is no limit to God’s knowledge we know that he knows all things he knows everything that happened in the past he knows everything that’s happening today. He knows all that’s going to happen in the future. He knows a number of the hairs of the on our heads. He knows our thoughts. He knows all things we have no problem acknowledging that yes God is all knowing his aam aadmi presents we know that he is not limited to one space we know that he can be present in our church today to be present in the church down the street present in the church and the other state or in the other end of the country. We know that he can be in all places we know that he is omnipotent all powerful he is the all powerful one. There is absolutely no limit to his power he can speak it and it will be it’s not hard to grasp these things is it but Graciousness is part of God’s nature to the Scriptures declare in Psalms one forty five eight that the Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and great in mercy. So whenever we think that well. It’s going to be hard to forgive that person over there on that really wicked side. We are limiting God’s grace. We are not to limit his grace His grace is sufficient for all of our Since there is no sin so great that his grace is not able to forgive it is sufficient to pardon the most evil of men if they but repent and ask for forgiveness and in his graciousness they will forgive if we do it with a sincere heart as that song said he knows the heart he knows the heart doesn’t it. Romans five twenty says where sin abounded grace abound and much more don’t limit God’s grace because it is a bounty. However many your sins. However handiest your sins may have been the moment you ask for forgiveness with that sincere heart and believe in the late Lord Jesus Christ. They are all blotted out by God’s grace they have overcome your sins rather they are big sins or small sins. It’s just a saying they’re all covered rather big or small when God’s grace covers them they are gone completely gone. Charles Spurgeon said that there is no sinner this side of hell that is sin too much for grace to say. Romans five nine is a key verse to being able to fully understand grace much more than having now been justified by his blood. We shall be saved from wrath through him. It is by His blood. There. A story told of a divine covenant between God Son and the Holy Spirit and it goes like this before the world was made God For knew that man would fall but he determined of his own infinite purpose and will that he would rise or raise out of this fall a multitude which no man could number the eternal father held a solemn council with the Son and Holy Spirt Thus spoke the father. I will that those whom I have chosen be saved. Thus said the son my father. I am ready to bleed and die that by Justice may not suffer and that by purpose may be executed. I will said the Holy Spirit that those whom the Son redeem with blood shall be called by grace shall be quickened shall be preserved shall be sanctified and perfected and brought safely home then was the covenant written signed and sealed and ratified between the sacred three. The Father gave His Son The Son gave himself and his spear promises all his influence all his presents to all the chosen one a sinner believes all in Jesus and receives God’s gift of grace. There is much joy as much joy in the heart of God as there is in the heart of the one receiving that gift. Luke fifteen ten says likewise a say to you. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents there’s joy. There’s joy in heaven. Again God’s grace is complete. Because when once we repent and believe it’s like our sins never happen. We can say what sin when the devil brings an accusation against you and reminds you of your past you can say what sin. They’re gone. They are gone. X. three nineteen says repent therefore and be converted. That your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. We will never have that refreshing that comes from the Lord unless we fully understand that our sins are blotted out that they’re gone. The meaning of blotted out is X. alley fail. It means to smear out to obliterate to re race or to pardon. Now there’s been a lot in the news a past week about the number of people that the president has commuted their sentences but there’s a difference between commuted and pardon to commute means that they may have had their sentences reduced. Some may have been sentenced to thirty years in prison for maybe doing. Maybe selling drugs but he reduced or sense and let them that then be released. Maybe in another year or two and not spend the whole thirty years in prison but not only that when they get out of prison they might still be under house arrest and are going to have to report the rib parole officer and all this. That’s what the commute means but whenever they pardon their sins. They’re out of jail work the record wiped clean. You go look at their record. Oh well you have got a funny thing he was never in jail he never did and they were wrong. That’s what it is when our sins are pardoned what record I see no criminal activity on your record. It’s been blotted out why plain what sin how and amen. What sin. We have been pardon. Since gone in Jesus Christ Roman six seven to eleven says for he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died he. To sin once and for all but the life that he lives he lives to God. Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead. Indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Are you alive to Christ Jesus our Lord. Are you alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Are you alive to him today. Amen. Yes. I hope you’re not in your head. Yes when we die. It is sin we do not go on sinning though doing. One of the greatest stories in the Bible that reveals God’s remarkable grace. It’s another little bit of a long scripture but it’s such a good one. I want to share. John eight verses three through eleven then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery and when they had set her in the midst. They said to him Teacher This woman was caught in adultery in the very act the most is in the law commanded us that sets should be stoned but what do you say this. They said Tessin him that they might have something of which to accuse him but Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear. So when they continued asking him he raised himself up and said to them. He who is without sin among you let him throw a stone at her first. And again he stooped down and rode on the ground and those who heard it being convicted by their conscience went out one by one beginning with the oldest events of the last. And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman he said to her Woman. Where are those accusers of yours has no one condemned you she said no one Lord and Jesus said to her. Neither do I condemn you go and sin no more the Bible was very clear this was. One was caught in the very act of adultery and this is important because whenever one would bring a charge against someone that day the the culture Annette day the law are required to testimony at least two witnesses who actually saw the couple together and I’m not talking about to solve a couple together walking down the street holding hands they saw them together in the very act in the same time in the same place. It couldn’t be that well I saw it one day and you saw it another day. They both had to see it the same day the same act there had to be two witnesses. And that law was put into effect to prevent suspicious husbands from accusing her wise. Without sufficient evidence. So there had to be two witnesses and she was guilty. She was guilty guilty as sin but what the Jesus do. How did he respond if anyone is among us without sin that him be the first to cast a stone after no one threw a stone. Why because no one was without sin for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God You know I’ve heard that passage preached on a number of times over the years of course bashers like to say I wonder what he wrote on the ground when he knelt down and was writing on the ground. You know your mind can just go in many different directions because it doesn’t tell us what he wrote on the ground. He could have knelt down there and started writing down there since he could have wrote their sins out and whenever they come up and look to see what he was writing. They probably. Oh my. He knows my sins and walked away. The next one come up. He knows my sins too well that may or may not be what he wrote on the ground but he does know our sins then again he might a road on the ground grace mercy love kindness compassion forgiveness. I don’t know what he wrote what I know whatever he wrote was significant. But most of all what he said was significant. He is without sin. Let him throw the stone at her first he same Be gracious. No we don’t. Be soft on sin because he told her go and sin no more go and sin no more Jesus rejected this judge mental condemning group and replaced it with grace. Jesus did not see her through the lens of her sin he saw her in a different way everyone but Jesus saw a woman caught in adultery. They saw a moral failure. They saw someone deserving of death but through grace. Jesus saw a precious child a God didn’t he saw one who struggles with the many mistakes that come in this life. We’ve all struggled with mistakes have a way we’ve all made our own mistakes. It might not be the same as hers but we have all made mistakes in our lives and if you haven’t made a stake made any mistakes. Praise God you’re wonderful. You’re perfect but I think most of us could probably raise your hand and say Yes I’ve made mistakes in my life but Jesus Saul someone who could pass those Mistry miss those mistakes and struggles he saw all someone who could grow. Once they receive that forgiveness of God. And be all that God intended her to be. God sees in you what he intends for you to be and through His grace who allow you to be that person. When everyone else was wanting to condemn he forgave. He extended that grace to her. We are to be imitators of him. We are to extend his grace to others. Let’s not be condemning but let’s be forgiving and go and sin no more I found a story. The legendary Spanish artist. Pablo Picasso was virtually unknown. Whenever he painted his famous portrait of American writer. Gertrude Stein in one thousand nine hundred six because so gave the portrait to mistimed since as the artists themselves recalled with a smile at that time in his career. The difference between a gift and a sale was negligible. Some years later the portrait attracted the interest of mega millionaire art collector star. Dr Albert Barnes I can’t talk to someone Albert Barnes who asked mistimed how much she paid Cosco for the poor it. Nothing she replied. Naturally he gave it to me. Dr Barnes was incredulous that such a priceless work of art. Could have been a gift. If you ever thought about the Gospel very long you can probably appreciate Dr Barnes incredulous to think of what has been given in Christ think of what the gift of God is forgiveness eternal life all the riches of heaven. All of a cost that we could never have paid. But that’s not all we have the privilege of sharing a stranger with others a cost that there’s no way we could pay for praise God that it’s a gift that it’s a gift. But let’s share that wonderful gift with others and let’s extend God’s grace towards others. Amen.