Merritt Opening Hymn: 109 Marvelous Grace Title: Law and Grace
Scripture: Romans 5:20, Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
At a serious accident, police make a safety zone to control traffic. They look at position of cars, skid marks, ask witnesses to find out who broke the law. Who is at fault? Then there’s paramedics who could care less who’s to blame! There are people bleeding in the street! They check heart monitor, put bandages on wounded, get the stretcher, load the ambulance. They're not thinking what law got broken. Law and grace are 2 types of ministry. Attitude of policeman sees tragedies, broken lives, and get out a code book. They read you the law! Anything you say may be used against you. They're on the scene in a legal way to find out who's at fault, who's to blame, and focus on law. There’s ministers who are paramedics, not concerned who broke the law, but how can we help? How can we minister to your broken spirit, your broken life? How can we bring you to find God’s healing? They read you God’s grace.
Grace is needed daily. Man can no more take in supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough today to last six months, or take enough air in his lungs NOW to breathe for a week. Freddy and the Lord watched a baseball game. Lord's team was playing against Satan's team. Lord's team was up to bat; score tied zero to zero, bottom of ninth with two outs. A batter stepped up to plate named Love. He swung at first pitch and hit a single, because "Love never fails." Next batter was Faith, who also got a single because Faith works with Love. Next batter up was Wisdom. Satan wound up and threw the first pitch. Wisdom looked it over and let it pass. Ball one. Three more pitches and Wisdom walked because he never swings at what Satan throws!
Bases were now loaded. The Lord pointed to His star player. Up to the plate stepped Grace. Freddy said, "He sure doesn't look like much!" Satan's whole team relaxed when they saw Grace. Thinking he had won the game, Satan wound up and fired his first pitch. To everyone’s shock, Grace hit the ball harder than anyone else! But Satan wasn’t worried; his center fielder could get everything. Fielder reached to catch the ball, but it went right through his glove with such force, it sent him down to the ground. Roaring crowd went wild as the ball went over the fence for a home run!
SONG: GRACE ALONE
Lord then asked Freddy if he knew why Love, Faith and Wisdom could get on base but couldn't win the game. Freddy said he didn't know why. Lord said, "If your love, faith and wisdom won the game, you would think YOU do it. Love, Faith and Wisdom will get you on base but only My Grace can get you home." For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, NOT by works, so that no one can boast, Ephesians 2:8-9.
Two workmen were busy repairing roof of a factory by a large chimney. All of a sudden their scaffolding shifted and they plunged fifteen feet through the black, sooty chimney down below. Both men scrambled to their feet, unhurt! But in process of falling, one man’s face became smeared with soot. The other man threw his arm over his face as he fell, so his face was clean. Before they returned to work, the man with the CLEAN face went and washed, but the man with the sooty face went back to work without washing.
You realize these men looked at each other. The man with the clean face looked at the SOOTY face of the other and assumed his was sooty too. The man with the blackened face saw the clean face of his fellow worker and thought his face was clean. Both men were looking at each other, judging by the other. Law was given so people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned, God's grace did over-abound. Law can show which face is actually dirty but only God’s grace can wash clean.
A man played in snow with his kids. After sledding, they headed home. They had to walk through high snow. Daughter and son fell in step behind him. Dad took small steps and told the kids to walk in his footsteps. After a minute he turned and saw his son's little feet taking giant steps in order to walk in what Dad thought were little steps. So Dad took baby steps. God does the same with us. We couldn't make giant leaps to follow HIS big footsteps. How gracious He is to His children!
SONG: PLEASURE OF MY KING
A school had a class of students that no teacher could handle. Three teachers left in one year from unruly students. A young teacher applied for the job. Principal said, “It’s a terrible class." After silent prayer, the young man said, "Just give me a trial." Next morning, teacher said to the class, "I came here to teach school. But I realize I can't do it by myself. I need your help." One husky boy called Big Tom whispered, "I won't need any help. I can beat that little bird all by myself." Young teacher said school has rules to go by, but he would let students make up the rules. Students were shocked. One said, "NO stealing." Another shouted, "BE ON TIME for class." Soon they had 10 rules.
Teacher asked what to do if someone broke their rules. Class said they should get 10 hits with a rod across their back with their coat off. Teacher thought this was pretty harsh, but class insisted. All went well for three days. Then Big Tom came in very upset. His lunch was stolen. A girl had seen little Timmy with Big Tom's lunch! Teacher called little Timmy to the front. Timmy admitted he took Big Tom's lunch. Little fellow had come with a great big coat on. Little Timmy said to teacher, "I’ll take my punishment, but don’t take off my coat.”
Teacher said he must remove his coat and take it like a man. Under the old coat, Teacher saw Tim didn’t have a shirt on. Teacher asked why he had no shirt. Timmy replied, "Dad died and mother is very poor. I don't have but one shirt; mother’s washing it today. I wore my father’s coat." That teacher looked at Tim’s body with ribs sticking out. He wondered how he could lay a rod on that frail back without even a shirt on. He knew he must enforce rules or children would not obey. So he drew back to strike Timmy.
Just then Big Tom came down the aisle, took his own coat off, stooped over little Timmy and said, “Hit me!” Sadly, teacher lay the rod on Big Tom’s back. But for some strange reason after only five hits, that rod just broke in half. Teacher couldn’t see through tears. He heard a commotion. Little Timmy turned and grabbed Big Tom around the neck apologizing for stealing. He told Big Tom he would love him till the day he died for taking his whipping. Grace is only possible because Jesus took our punishment.
SONG: THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT GRACE
You want to get where you're going faster. So you sleep in the garage, haul a sleeping bag out there and sleep beside the car. "Why don't you sleep inside the house?" your son asks. You reply, "I'm trying to become a car." You can't become a car by sleeping in the garage. People attend church thinking that makes them Christians. Many people are religious, have high moral values, serve the less fortunate, but being a good person does not make us a Christian. Hindus pray all the time. Muslims pray five times a day. When Karl Marx was 17, he wrote a true thesis on John's Gospel but Karl Marx was an atheist, communist, anything but Christian. Nikita Khrushchev read the Bible then wanted to bury church of Soviet Union. Reading the Bible won't make you Christian.
We are a Christian or not; we cannot be just partly a Christian, or part of the time, or just in certain ways. Christianity is not something people catch, a spiritual fever, without realizing it. Can a person be a Christian without knowing he made this choice somewhere along the way? Without knowing when or how? It is not something you inherit from parents, or an environment which changes you.
Is a doctor a doctor because he TRIES to do good surgery or because he tries to make good diagnoses and implement good therapy? Practicing the profession does not MAKE a doctor; they practice such because they ARE a doctor. What you do does not make you a Christian but being a Christian will affect what you do.
If a man convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison is granted full pardon and released, what makes him a free man? Is it good actions? The merciful judge granting pardon is what makes him free. The judge’s ruling and valid authority alone has power. If man chooses to stay in prison of his own free will, his leaving jail does not make him any more free; he is free because of what the judge did. If I try to keep 10 Commandments, surely THAT makes me a Christian?
We are not saved by our good works, to obtain forgiveness of sins and sinless perfection, righteousness, holiness. We’re saved by believing Jesus paid full penalty for our sins and God's righteousness was freely GIVEN without us trying to EARN it. Not saved by good works, but saved to do good works. We must not be deceived about this spiritual truth.
Salvation is NOT obtained by faith and grace plus keeping the law, ten commandments, observing Jewish feasts, or anything else we observe. Only by believing Jesus Christ paid full penalty for my sins freely as a gift. Salvation is free in Jesus. Apostle Paul could not achieve righteousness pleasing enough to God to be saved and stay saved by obeying law. And be found in HIM not having righteousness of my own which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, Philippians 3: 9. Paul did legal observance, kept the law, but anything that could pretend to bring merit, Paul counted as loss. Putting on Jesus’ robe is to renounce my own righteousness, my own robe.
Law as my righteousness strengthens sin- the desire to be independent of God. Grace does opposite- total dependence on Jesus every day. Law shows sin, so we go to Christ Jesus the lamb. Walter Martin said, “Now, we don't begin our day saying, I am going to make effort to keep 10 Commandments. We begin our day saying, Lord Jesus, give me grace to walk with YOU.” Law commands the old man from outside; God’s grace writes law inside heart of the new man.
We cannot get saved by DOING good works or keeping law which is legal bondage; we are saved by Jesus to good works which is Christian freedom. Jesus changes us, our thinking, so we are born anew. We prefer Jesus better than all the world. None can benefit from Jesus who trust to themselves. The DOOR to eternal life is not the pope, not Peter, not Mary, not Paul, Mother Nature, Lady Luck, not 10 commandments, but only JESUS CHRIST, Son of God!
A true Christian is a person who has put faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ, His death as payment for sins and His resurrection for new life in Him. Christianity is not about WHAT but about WHO: Jesus Christ. Law is the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. How do we know the Sabbath but through law? It is not grace opposed to obedience. It is grace followed by obedience. If I walk with Jesus, I'll obey the will of God. So under grace are we without law? Absolutely not, we love the law of Christ. Holy Spirit instructs in the word and in our personal walk, in what is right and what is not.
Why does Islam hate the cross? Is it because they do not believe in sacrifices? No. Because they do not believe that we can have such grace from God that it would exclude doing intense religious duties. To Jews a suffering Messiah was repulsive; as Son of Joseph He was weak. They wanted a ruling King, Son of King David or nothing at all.
Jude states that the grace of God has appeared to all men. Why do people look to their own works instead of accepting God’s grace? It’s easier to look at self obedience to gauge how we are doing spiritually than to rest in Jesus’ work for us. Christ died in vain if we could reform ourselves by law or works. We must stop trying to live it in our own strength and let Christ live it through us by power of the Holy Spirit. Law is outside me, something I can point to and say, "That's what to do." Grace is inside me and changes me in such a way I love God‘s will. Grace never works by our natural abilities. When we think we've got it made, we’ve arrived, we do it ourselves, we are no longer in grace.
Law is just a map, but grace is having Holy Spirit as our personal Guide. Only when we renounce legalism and self-righteousness can we enter into joy. Does living under grace make you more eager to obey God or less? More. And why? Because we love our Savior. Before God created any being, He had to have a plan in place, in case anyone chose not to love God. Grace: God’s riches at Christ’s expense had to be in place before creation of ANY world. So Grace existed before first created being. In all eternity, we will sing wonders of God’s grace.
SONG: SINNER SAVED BY GRACE