Scripture: Romans 5 (NIV)
Introduction
- One of my coworkers made this statement at work the other day and I loved it
- I told her I would be making this into a sermon because it is such an important thought
- The quote comes from Voltaire (1694 – 1778) a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher
- Voltaire was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—especially of the Roman Catholic Church—and of slavery. Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
- In other words, Voltaire was a good Baptist.
- For someone who advocated “good enough”, he was quite prolific
- He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets.
- Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally.
- How many times have any of you sat in endless committee meetings at a church facing “analysis paralysis”? I know I have
- We spend so much time trying to get things “just right” that we don’t do anything
- When I think about what this group of people has accomplished, I see a focus on doing
- One of the biggest reasons churches don’t get things done is they wait until they can do it perfectly. Sometimes that is too late. Doing something is more important than perfection
- God doesn’t want perfection and He certainly doesn’t expect perfection. Here the two things Paul is telling us today:
- Christ died to save us even in our most imperfect state
- God’s grace is sufficient
1. Christ died to save us even in our most imperfect state
- We are all sinners and fall short of the grace of God, but He still sent His Son to save u
- Paul wrote to the new Christian church at Rome: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly”
- Did God wait for anyone to reach a state of perfection? NO, or even to get a little better?
- Paul makes a good point that “very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person”
- Most people wouldn’t be too quick to give up their life for even a righteous person
- He is, of course, referring to Christ who did give up His life
- Maybe even for a good person, Paul says, “someone might possibly give their life”
- So, the point is that even the best people might not be worthy of someone dying for them
- If we had to pass some test of worthiness, we literally all would fail
- God knows us and understands that we are flawed and that He did not make us perfect
- “But,” says Paul, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
- God does not expect perfection from us, nor does he need it – He just needs our devotion
- This is how much God cares about us; even when we turn away from Him in sin,
- I think many people feel like they just aren’t ready for Christ because they have so many problems
- Maybe they are dealing with addiction or are trapped in an abusive relationship
- Maybe they are just so depressed and down on themselves
- Maybe they just feel unworthy to be loved by God,
- Maybe they are letting perfect be the enemy of good
- This is why Paul is telling the Roman church to basically “come as you are”
- Don’t strive for perfection; strive for Jesus – He will meet you where you are
2. God’s grace is sufficient
- God has every right to be angry with us because we continuously turn away from Him
- We continuously sin against Him in thought, word, and deed
- Paul says, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
- God is willing to accept US if we will only just accept the gift of HIS SON.
- In spite of our behavior; as we have acted as God’s enemies; Jesus saves us
- “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
- It was through the disobedience of the one man, Adam, in the garden of Eden that man first sinned, nevertheless it was the beginning of the sinful nature of mankind
- But God’s grace is sufficient in that He sent one man to correct the mistake of Adam
- It is in the obedience of Christ to God’s will that the trend of sin and death are reversed
- There is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace – He gives it freely of His own accord
- For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
- There is only one thing that we must do to claim this gift: accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
- If we believe that Jesus is truly the Son of God and, if we confess that we are sinners and need a Savior, than Jesus will do the rest.
- Paul told the Romans two things:
- Just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
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- For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
- We tend to make this very simple message so much more complicated sometimes
- So many “religions” have come into this world in the name of Christ
- These religions wrap traditions and conditions around the message that cloud the truth
- People get caught up in the judgement and condemnation that comes from religions
- And in all the confusion and rhetoric and doctrine and policy the message gets lost
- People are getting lost and marginalized and the world is chewing them up and spitting them out as they are longing for a truth to grab hold of.
- We watch endless dramas about evil forces in our fantasy worlds of movies and TV
- We just want to be entertained and escape from the harsh reality of this world
- The fact is: there really are evil forces at work in this world – deliberate evil forces
- God allows the enemy to have domain and work his evil schemes because it provides us with a choice – an alternative to Him.
- We can choose to love God and obediently serve Him or we can choose to ignore Him
- And He will allow it because, without free will to choose Him, would we really love Him
- God is pure love – pure love energy.
- All He desires is for us to return a portion of that love back to Him – it’s all He wants
- He knows from thousands of years of working with the creatures he created, that we are incapable of showing Him our love through obedience.
- He tried giving the law through Moses through His chosen people, but it didn’t work
- He made it super simple: He sacrificed His Son to fulfill the law and to connect with u
- As Paul said:
For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
- God’s overwhelming grace is sufficient
- We don’t have to be perfect to receive it – He loves us even in our imperfection