Following on from Phil's talk on grace last week, Neal looked at Grace again and answered the question that because of grace should we just carry on sinning? We need to move from an intellectual understanding of grace to a heart understanding and response.
In a supermarket, the till was ringing up the values of the goods bought and then at the end they were zeroed because their son works for Tesco - at that moment God said - "That is what my grace is like!" A great moment and was followed up by the post from Frances Chan - Salvation- Jesus paid it all. The price for our sin was fully paid by Jesus and we cannot pay again.
Quote from Jerry Bridges from his book The Discipline of Grace
"God's grace in Christ is greater than our sin - even on our worst days!" - True!
We also sang about this during worship - What a beautiful name by Hillsong - there is a line in there which says
"My sin was great - Your love was greater" - Also true!
We all need God's grace in our lives all the time - Why? Romans 3 vs 23 Because we are all sinners and have fallen short of the required standard and need of a saviour
Mark 2 vs 17 – This is us!
God is 100% holy and we are not- we can never attain holiness by our own efforts - so what happens is we compare ourselves against other people. I'm 40% but I’m not as bad as others who I know who are 20% or 10%? We are comparing degrees of failure and taking pride in our failure! Jesus spoke against this
Luke 18 vs 10-14 - The Pharisee may have followed the law but his heart was full of pride. The Tax Collector knew he was a sinner and in need of a saviour - This is where we need to be!
Titus 3 vs 5
Ephesians 2 - It is only By God's grace that you have been saved. God knows that if there was even 1% of our own effort we are so full of pride that we would take glory in that 1%. We need to be careful that we dont devalue was Jesus did on the cross - he paid the price fully and died that we might live! If we are constantly trying to work for our salvation then what Jesus did becomes less amazing!
Jerry Bridges quote
"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace and your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need for God's grace"
So can we carrying on sinning because of God's grace? Paul answers this emphatically in Romans 6 vs 15-19 - "Of course not!"
Paul show us a picture of slavery - once we were slaves to sin - sin called and we moved - but Jesus has paid the price to release us from slavery and now we have a new master - we are now slaves to righteousness - We are no longer under sins power!
Picture of marriage - We are in a relationship with Jesus and we want that relationship to be healthy and good - sin breaks that relationship and so we need to deal with sin quickly to receive God's grace and make that relationship right again - Its all about our heart - Do you love me Jesus asks? Whats our answer?
Jesus takes our cold hard hearts and starts to turn them into hearts of flesh - he works from the inside changing us by the power of the Holy Spirit and we no longer do things because we have to - we now do them because we want to -
Galatians 5 vs 22
"When grace becomes a person rather than a doctrine, grace is no longer a licence to sin, but the reason you run from it"
Its all about our relationship with Jesus.
Questions for this week
Why do you think we have tendency to go back to the law rather than relying on grace? Does the till receipt picture help in our understanding?
We need to be careful of comparing ourselves to each other - even if we are comparing failure! Why do we do this? How do we stop?
Does the picture of marriage help in our understanding of how our relationship with Jesus should be? Perhaps you can discuss this and expand on it in your group