Grace & Christianity’s Uniqueness
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called Starting Point: Reasons for Faith, Not Skepticism, and so far we’ve discussed reasons for faith in the existence of God, reasons for faith in trusting the bible’s true, and we’ve also given you 2 parts of a 4 part overview of the bible’s story. In part 1 we talked about the creation and fall of humanity, in part 2 we talked about God’s laws and the reason for hell, and today we’re talking about part 3 which is Grace. We’re talking about what makes Christianity so unique compared to all other religions in the world, and it’s this topic of grace. Some people believe all religions point to the same God, and there’s many different ways to get to heaven, but there’s a major difference when it comes to this topic of grace. So let’s turn to Romans 5:12-17 and get into it. You’ll find Romans in the last quarter of your bible. We’ll be in Romans 5:12-17, and the title of today’s message is The Story Part 3: Grace and Christianity’s Uniqueness. The big idea is Jesus died in our place, to offer us grace...Jesus died in our place, to offer us grace.
Context:
Here’s your context. In Part 1 of our biblical overview we learned Adam and Eve sinned against God, and things go from being very good to being very bad. God restores them from their sin, but sin and suffering was now a part of our world. In Part 2 we studied Exodus 20 and learned the earth was now largely populated, and human sin and corruption continued. So God rescues the Jews from Egyptian slavery, gives them the 10 commandments, and uses them as a unique nation to help bring restoration to our world. But what continues to happen throughout human history is we can’t follow the rules, we can’t keep our hands out of the cookie jar. No matter how hard we try we can’t seem to follow God’s laws perfect enough to deserve heaven. So something has to happen, God has to save us from our disobedience, or else humanity will end up in hell. In today’s text we’ll see God does do something about it, and I’ve broken the text down into two sections. Vs 12-14 is The Human Predicament, and vs. 15-17 is The Solution. It’s the Human Predicament, and The Solution to the human predicament. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Romans 5:12-17 states, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...” There’s The Human Predicament, it’s that we’ve “all sinned.” We’ve all sinned and continue to sin. The text says sin came into the world through one man, through Adam, and as a result we experience physical and spiritual death. Adam represented the human race and his decision to rebel against God infected us with a sin nature. Now we can blame Adam for messing things up all we want, but we’re just making a prideful assumption that we would’ve done a better job. Besides, God gives us chances all the time and we fail to resist temptation, we fail to perfectly follow God just like Adam and Eve did. We’ve all cracked under the pressure of temptation, we’ve all sinned like the text states.
There’s a well known secular child psychologist named Burton White, he’s known for his research on child development. In a book he wrote called “The New First Three Years of Life,” White states, “From 15-16 months on, as a child’s self-awareness becomes more substantial, something in their nature that we don’t fully understand, will lead them to deliberately try each of these forbidden activities. It’s specifically to see what will be allowed and what won’t. In other words, he will begin systematically to challenge the authority of the adults he lives with. Resistance to simple requests becomes very common at this time, and if there is more than one child around, this can be a low point in the parenting experience.” I love how he tries to soften things saying it’s a “low point” in the parenting experience. It’s more than a low point, it’s a cage fight! It’s the season of parenting where I told my wife “God help the person who gets out of the car on me in traffic. They’ll experience all my pent up daddy anger!” I mean there’s a reason they call it the Terrible Twos, Hellacious Threes, and Ferocious Fours. It’s because it’s a cage fight! But White’s point is there’s something in us, something in our human nature, that leads us to rebel. He’s saying what the bible’s been saying for years, which is that eventually everybody rebels. The human predicament is that eventually everybody sins. It isn’t a matter of would we have sinned, it’s a matter of we’ve already sinned and continue to sin, just like Adam and Eve.
Again vs 12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned, 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.” The implication is Adam represents one type of humanity, which is sinful humanity, but Jesus is the one who’s to come and set things right. Jesus is the one who’s to come and create a new spiritual humanity that pursues God instead of sinful rebellion against God. He’s the solution to the human predicament of sin and death, which it states next.
Vs. 15, “But the free gift...” Pay attention to that phrase free gift, because it’s important. You’ll hear it mentioned 5 times in this text, and it’s the solution to the human predicament.
Again vs. 15, “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” In other words if everything went wrong through Adam, everything can be made right through Jesus. Adam was rebellious, he selfishly ate from a forbidden tree, and brought a sin curse to humanity. But Jesus was righteous, he sacrificially died on a tree, and imputed his righteousness to anyone who believes. Adam was created on the 6th day of the week and is the father of sinful humanity. But Jesus died on the 6th day of the week to reverse the curse of sinful humanity, and 3 days later he rose on the 1st day of the week to start a new humanity. The life of Adam leads to sin and death, the life of Jesus leads to forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Jesus is the greater Adam who came to make things right.
So even though we choose to sin like Adam, we can choose to be saved through faith in Jesus. The text says 5 times it’s a free gift God’s given to humanity, which is exactly what the definition of grace is, it’s the free unmerited favor of God. It’s where God doesn’t save us from the human predicament because of our good works, good intentions, sincerity, or ability to keep God’s laws. Instead He saves us out of free unmerited favor through faith in the work Jesus did on the cross. It’s a free gift, which means you can’t earn it. When somebody gives you a gift you don’t say “I’ll pay you back for it.” If you say that and the person accepts payment, then it’s no longer a gift you receive, it’s a product you purchase. The only way for a gift to be truly free, is if you don’t have to pay for it. Instead you simply receive it or reject it, just like people do with God’s free gift of grace. Some people receive it, some reject it, but either way God’s grace isn’t achieved it’s received through faith in Jesus. It’s what makes Christianity so unique compared to all other religions in the world. It’s Jesus and his free gift of grace. I know some people think all religions point to the same God and there’s multiple ways to get to heaven. But I’ll give you 3 reasons why that can’t be true, especially when it comes to Jesus and his free gift of grace.
#1 Logic = It’s logically impossible for all religions to point to the same God, because that would mean even Satanists point to the same God as Christianity. But Satan and Jesus are polar opposites of each other, so it’s logically impossible for both faiths to point to the same God. This is true for other faiths too, especially when it comes to who Jesus deity, which is #2.
#2 Jesus claimed to be God = Jesus claimed to be God incarnate, fully human and fully divine. If you read the gospels you’ll see Jesus claimed to have authority to judge the world, to forgive sins, to give people eternal life, even the right to be worshiped as God. In the bible if somebody bowed to worship an angel or messenger of God they were told not to. But every time somebody bowed to worship Jesus he never stopped them, because he claimed to be God. His claims to deity make it impossible for all religions to point to the same God, since other religions don’t believe he’s God. Jews claim he’s a rabbi. Muslims claim he’s a prophet. Buddhists claim he’s an enlightened man. Hindus claim he’s a wise teacher. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim he’s a perfect man, but not God. They’re all saying very different things about who Jesus is. Jesus claimed to be more than a rabbi, a prophet, a good, wise, moral teacher, he claimed to be God! Other religions claim he isn’t, Christianity claims he is, both can’t be true at the same time.
#3 Jesus taught he’s the only way for salvation = In John 14:6 he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” meaning he isn’t one of many ways to get to heaven, he’s the only way to get to heaven. Now this is where Christianity really stand out, because like Romans 5 says God’s grace is a free gift, which is a uniquely different teaching than every other religion in the world. Every other religion teaches a different way for salvation, a different way to get to heaven. They teach some form of having to earn God’s grace, having to earn your way to heaven. Judaism says you need to follow the Torah. Islam you need to follow the 5 Pillars Of Truth. Buddhism you need to follow the 8th fold path. Hinduism you need to gain all the wisdom you can so you can make more good decisions, and break the cycle of reincarnation. Secular people believe if you’re a good person and do good things you’ll go to heaven, which is really prideful if you think about it, because people who say that always think they’re the ones good enough to get to heaven. But my point is every one of these teachings are about you earning God’s grace, you earning your way to heaven. Christianity’s the only faith that teaches God’s grace is a free gift and that you can’t earn your way to heaven, which is why Jesus came to save you and take you to heaven.
But remember the human predicament is we’ve all sinned and continue to sin, so how are these other ways a solution? If we can’t even follow the rules now, how’s adding more religious rules supposed to help us? They can’t which is why we don’t need more religious rules to follow, we need a savior to save us. Christianity teaches Jesus is that savior who came to save us. He came to die for our sins on the cross and give us the free gift of his grace. He came to save us and take us to heaven. He died in our place, to offer us grace. He isn’t one of many ways, he said he’s the only way to get to heaven. Some say Christianity’s exclusive for believing that, but the truth is every religious belief is exclusive! I mean if you say all religions point to the same God and there’s multiple ways to get to heaven, then you’re saying Christians are wrong for believing Jesus is the only way, and you’re doing exactly what you accuse Christians of doing. You’re being exclusive towards Christians and every other religion that doesn’t believe in religious plurality. So everybody’s faith is the same when it comes to exclusivity, but it isn’t the same when it comes to grace. Only Christianity offers us the free gift of God’s grace...But what can God’s grace do for you life? I’ll give you 6, 6 things God’s grace can do for your life.
#1 God’s grace can forgive your sins = The human predicament is we’ve all sinned and deserve God’s punishment, but the solution is Jesus went to the cross to take the punishment we deserve on himself. “But couldn’t God have just forgiven us?” No, because that’d make God unjust. For God to be just He has to deal with sinful injustices, and God’s justice is displayed either in hell or on the cross. So either we pay for our sins, or Jesus does. But God’s love and grace is displayed by giving us complete and total forgiveness of our sins, through faith in Jesus.
#2 God’s grace can give you acceptance = God’s grace not only forgives us of sins, it also accepts us into a relationship with God. We become adopted sons and daughters of God, we become God’s children, which allows us to come to Him with our needs, concerns, fears, and failures. We can come to Him about anything, including our sins, because His acceptance allows us to rest in the eternal security of His love. He didn’t die for our sins, only to abandon us if we stumble in sin. God’s acceptance also means we don’t have to live for the acceptance of others, the approval of others, people pleasing, let other people’s comments degrade us, or our physical appearance kill our self-wroth, because nobody’s acceptance of you is greater than God’s.
#3 God’s grace can transform you = God’s grace will meet you where you are, but it won’t leave you where you are. It’ll meet you in your sinful human predicament, but it won’t leave you there. One of the ways God’s grace transforms us is by making us no longer slaves to sin. Are some sins harder to resist than others? Yes, but God’s grace always gives us a way out of sin. We need to exercise our freedom by taking that way out. My point is God isn’t content with simply forgiving us and accepting us. He wants to transform us into being more like Jesus, so we can love as he loves. When we love as Jesus loves, it’ll affect every relationship we have.
#4 God’s grace can change your motivation for obedience = Instead of being motivated to obey God out of fear of losing His grace, we’re motivated to obey out of joy from already receiving His grace. Some people think there’s no motivation for obedience if God always forgives us, but there is motivation! It’s called gratitude! In response to the very grace Jesus has given us, we want to please him as an expression of our gratitude. We also want to obey because we know His ways are better than our ways. It’s because we know Jesus IS the way!
#5 God’s grace can change how you handle suffering = If you believe you need to do good things to receive God’s grace, then when something bad happens it’ll cause you to become bitter towards God, towards life, or towards yourself. If you’re doing good things and you suffer, you’ll blame God and blame others. If you’re doing bad things and you suffer, you’ll blame yourself. It all leads to bitterness. But God’s grace can liberate us from that bitterness because we know that karmic belief isn’t true. We know Jesus was the most righteous person who ever lived, yet he still suffered. So we aren’t shocked by suffering, instead we have hope and rely on God’s grace in suffering. God didn’t abandon us in our sin, and He won’t abandon us in our suffering.
#6 God’s grace can assure you of victory = When Jesus rose from the dead it proved not even death will have victory over his work. So no matter how difficult life gets, you can trust his grace will finish the work he’s already began in you. In the end his grace will ensure your victory over sin, suffering, and death. His grace will ensure you’re fully restored into who you were truly meant to be, allowing you to enjoy Him and His blessings, as it was always meant to be.
Jesus and his free gift of grace will affect every aspect of your life. His grace is the
solution to the human predicament, and it’s exactly what all of us need. Paul Tripp states, “In a fallen world populated by selfish, lost, fearful, and rebellious people, grace is the one thing that everyone needs...It reaches you where you are, and takes you where God wants you to be. It has the power to do something that nothing else can do, which is transform you at the core of who you are as a human being - your heart.”…Look if God has a solution to our human predicament, wouldn’t it’d be unique compared to all other religions?...If God has a way for salvation, a way to get to heaven, wouldn’t it’d be unique compared to all the other ways in the world?...This is exactly what we have in Jesus. No other faith offers a solution and salvation like Christianity. It all comes down to Jesus and his free gift of grace. He died in our place, to offer us grace. He died in your place, to offer you grace. So rest in his grace for your salvation, rely on his grace for your transformation, and enjoy the new mercies and grace he offers you, every morning.