Amazing Grace Romans 5:20-21

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1 Amazing Grace Romans 5:20-21 Homeowners in Centennial, Colorado, woke up last Sunday morning (February 22, 2015), to discover that a group of teenagers had been moving through their neighborhood before sunrise, doing something that no one would have ever expected. When they were finished, the neighborhood looked a bit different than it did the night before. Darcy Peterson said that her daughter woke her up and said, Come, look outside. Darcy said, I can t believe it. I cannot believe it. Here s what happened. Six teenage boys from the same church youth group shoveled the snow from all 53 driveways and sidewalks in the same neighborhood. They left a piece of paper on each of the homes, with a drawing of three crosses and the words, You ve been served. When they were discovered, the boys would not accept any money. They did, however, accept hot chocolate. This was a pretty good example of what the Bible calls grace. The snow shoveling was a gift given to those homeowners without regard as to who they were, how well their houses were maintained or what kind of cars sat in the driveways. It was a service provided without expectation of repayment. It was not particularly deserved by the homeowners. It was an undeserved, unmerited gift provided by the grace of those teenage boys. Few of us understand what grace really is. In ancient Greek the word for grace meant favor or goodwill, especially when granted by someone of greater power or social status. Sometimes we use it as a verb in a sarcastic sense, when we say that someone graced us with her presence. We can imagine a college professor saying that to a student who stumbles in late to class: Thank you, Mr. Jennings, for gracing us with your presence today. We mean that we common folk do not deserve to be in the presence of someone so grand and wonderful. We think we know what grace is, and yet without it, we find ourselves in a self-made prison of trying to be perfect, of doing our very best to please God and others only to discover that the task is far above anything we could ever hope to accomplish. We have all kinds of rules, imaginary or real, by which life must be lived, and when we fail to live up to them, we end up in a heap of frustration and defeat. Thankfully, in the Bible, grace takes on a redemptive sense, where God grants His favor to sinners who do not deserve it. It has been defined as God s unmerited favor and mercy. Many times we could say after one of our worship services that God graced us with His Presence today. Grace is God giving His very best to those who deserve it least. It is Almighty God stooping down to come to provide help and salvation for dreadful sinners such as ourselves. It is / 2015 S. M. Henriques Page 1

2 Jesus dying on the cross to make salvation possible for all who would accept it, even though we were dead in our sins. There s an acrostic using the letters of the word grace which I m sure you ve heard which very adequately defines what grace is: God s Riches At Christ s Expense. That just about says it all. It means that there is absolutely nothing any of us can do to earn our salvation, that God has done it all for us, and has given it to us as a gift. Once we pass the book of Acts, we can scarcely turn a page in the New Testament without seeing reference to it in some form. Paul wrote 14 letters, and every one of them closes with a prayer for grace. Our hymnbooks are populated with it, providing some of the most endearing, time-honored hymns of our faith. Wonderful Grace of Jesus, He Giveth More Grace, Grace Greater Than Our Sin are just a few of those, but the one which stands out most to us is the one written by a former slave-trader by the name of John Newton: Amazing Grace. It is fitting that Newton should have called the grace of God amazing, because that is really the best word that could be used to describe it! Our English word amazing comes from a 13 th century word meaning to stupefy. If something is amazing it causes great surprise or sudden wonder. When we fully understand what grace is, and what God has done for us because of His grace, we are stupefied with wonder. Grace has been called one of the most thrilling terms in Scripture, but it is best understood against a backdrop of how dark the world is because of sin. If you are shopping for a diamond, that jewel will be presented to you on a background of black velvet in order to emphasize the dazzle of that gem. They do that because the sparkle of a diamond can best be seen against the black background. It is the same with God s grace: we can understand it best, appreciate it most, when we see it against the background of our sin. That is what Paul is doing for us in Romans 5. In verse 6, we re told that Christ died for the ungodly. Verse eight tells us that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Verse 10 reminds us that at one time we were the enemies of God because of our sin. Then in verses twelve through twenty-one, Paul mentions sin an additional ten times. He is showing us our need for God s solution, setting the stage for what he is going to show us. So he lays the black background of sin out with a convincing argument that sin entered the world through one man, Adam, in the garden of Eden. Ever since, every human being has sinned against God. Look at verse 12: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned So there is the black background, all spread out and waiting. Onto the utter hopelessness and darkness of that background, in verses Paul tenderly places the jewel of grace: The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the / 2015 S. M. Henriques Page 2

3 more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let s bend over and look at the jewel of grace lying before us. What makes this grace of God so amazing? 1God s grace is greater than all our sin, v. 20 On the surface, the words in the latter half of verse 20 are hopeful: But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. But when we peel back the layers and look closer, it gets even more exciting. Focus on the word increased. Almost all the translations use the word increased, except for the King James Version, which uses the word abound. In our English Bibles we don t really get the impact of the words unless we dive a little deeper. In English, the word increase appears twice in this sentence, but they are two different words in Greek. It is in that difference that we can really begin to understand what this Scripture says. The first time we see the word increase ( But where sin increased ) the original word means to superabound. That sounds to me like a real good word to describe our sin. It just seems that the older I get, the better I get at sinning. Sin just keeps growing and piling up and multiplying in my heart until there s a great big heap of it in my heart. It has not only abounded, but it has superabounded. It has not only increased; it has superincreased. That doesn t sound like good news, not if I want to please God and live with Him forever. The presence of one little sin in my life means that I won t live forever, but when you consider that I have a superabundance of sin the situation becomes hopeless. And you re the same. Every one of us has a mountain of sin that just keeps getting bigger and bigger unless it is dealt with. But keep looking at the verse: But where sin increased [superabounded], grace increased all the more. Pay attention to this: sin is huge in our lives, but grace is even bigger! The phrase increased all the more at the end of verse 20 is one word in the original language, and it means to superabound beyond all measure. However big the pile of sin is in your heart, the grace of God is bigger than that. However deep the wound sin has carved out in your life, the grace of God is deeper still. However corrupt your heart and life have become because of your own pride, lies, jealousy, lust and hatred, the grace of God is more pure and authentic and healing. The mountain of your sin looks like a dirt clod compared to the surpassing greatness of the grace of God. The New Living Translation helps us to understand this a little more: God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful grace became more abundant. Now we see it clearly! No matter how much we sin, / 2015 S. M. Henriques Page 3

4 or how deep it goes, or how far it reaches, God s grace is more! It exceeds our sin and our guilt. So this grace of God is amazing because no matter how much I sin against God, God s grace is bigger still. My transgressions can be the most horrible and atrocious the world has ever seen, but God s grace is still sufficient to cover and conquer all of it. It is amazing to think that any of us could ever come close to being in the Presence of the Almighty, given the seriousness and quantity of our sin. But the grace of God never runs out, never runs dry, and is never exhausted. 2God s grace enables us to walk with God in righteousness, v. 21 In verse 21 we learn that because this grace of God superabounds beyond all measure, it enables us to live a different kind of life. We are no longer tied to our old lives of sin. We can have freedom from the things which bind us and hold us back. Look at what it says here: just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness. We know what a reign is. It is the rule of a king. It means that there is power to control and make decisions without regard or permission of anyone else. When you see these words in verse 21, we see that sin had complete control over us, and the end result was death. That s what we read in the next chapter here in Romans: For the wages of sin is death (6:23). Before grace, the only hope any of us had was to keep the Law of God, by following the rules and regulations laid out and given to Moses. But from the very beginning it was understood that mere humans could not live up to all that was expected of them. That was why the sacrificial system was built into the Law at the start. You re going to sin, and when you do, here are the sacrifices you offer to get back into a good relationship with God. Their goodness was not good enough, was never good enough, could never be good enough, so God made it possible for them to have forgiveness through the blood of the animal sacrifices. But there was a problem with that system. The priests were always working, always sacrificing animals, because the people were always sinning. They could never achieve the righteousness which God requires. Romans 3:10-12 spells it out for us: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. We have no righteousness of our own. Sin reigned over us, just as it does any human being without the grace of God. That s what Romans 3:23 means when it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, we cannot measure up. So God introduced a new system, or covenant, when Jesus died on the cross. This new covenant made it possible for us to have permanent forgiveness of sins, because Jesus was the perfect / 2015 S. M. Henriques Page 4

5 sacrifice, the one without sin or blemish. He could pay the ultimate penalty for our sins, so we could be freed from that reign, or control, of sin over our lives. When the grace of God came into the picture, it changed everything. These two verses at the end of Romans 5 tell us that the grace of God superabounded beyond all measure so that grace might reign through righteousness. What that is saying is very important; let it sink in. This is not our righteousness; this is the righteousness that is given to us through Christ. We cannot do this ourselves. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Grace begins to control us, to reign over us, the way that sin had previously. There is a transfer of ownership; the control of our lives is handed over from sin to grace. Sin used to reign over us; grace now has complete control. Grace is amazing because it enables me, a sinner of the worst sort, to escape the control and reign of sin over my life, and walk with God in a righteousness which has been given to me. It helps me to be victorious in my daily life, so that I don t have to be tripped up by the things that used to cause me so much trouble before. I don t deserve it and cannot earn it that makes it grace. It is given to me in superabundance beyond measure that makes it amazing. 3Grace gives us eternal life, v. 21 The end of verse 21 tells us that grace reigns over us through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not only does the grace of God put us in right standing with God, but it is a permanent fix; this life in Christ goes on for all eternity. That is why it is called eternal life. This righteousness we just mentioned is not for a limited time only; the grace of God enables us to live with Him forever! As a young Christian, I struggled with the idea of something we Baptists have called the eternal security of the believer, more popularly known as once saved, always saved. When I look back at my doubts during that time, I realize that I questioned it mainly because I was unfamiliar with what the Bible really teaches. My pastor pointed me in the right direction when he showed me several Scriptures, and I began to dig up some more. I realized that if my being saved depended on something I did, then it would be entirely possible for me to lose my salvation. One day I would be good, and be saved, and the next I would do something sinful, and be lost again. I saw my life as a set of scales. On one side were all the bad things I did, and on the other were all the good things. At the end of my life, if the good things outweighed the bad, then I would go to Heaven. Is that any way to live? How could you go from day to day worrying about whether or not you were going to make it into Heaven? / 2015 S. M. Henriques Page 5

6 But when I studied what the Bible says about the subject, I realized that my being saved had nothing to do with my goodness or behavior. I read these words from John 10: My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father s hand (10:27-29). And the truth struck me: if no one can snatch them out of God s hand, no one included me as well! There was nothing I could do to earn my salvation; there was nothing I could do which would take it away from me, either. If I am truly born again, then I cannot become unborn. Besides, if my being saved depended on my worth and goodness, then Jesus did not have to die on the cross! There are so many other verses which point to this truth, but the real clincher for me was when I began to understand the term eternal life. In that passage from John 10, Jesus said, I give them eternal life. Jesus said in John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. There are so many others where eternal life is promised to those who follow Christ. And it hit me: if it s eternal, then it doesn t have an end, in either direction. Eternal life doesn t just begin when I die; it begins when I believe! So if I received eternal life when I believed, and if eternal life never ends, then it wouldn t end when I sinned. I could never have this salvation taken from me. None of this means that I can live however I please and sin as much as I want, and think that God is just going to wink at my sinfulness, pat me on the head and say Come on in. If I am truly saved, then my heart s desire is to please God and surrender myself to the workings of the Holy Spirit in my life, so that I become more and more like Jesus. I wasn t saved by my behavior, but being saved changed my behavior. I was a new person on the inside, and that changed how I lived. How is this accomplished? By the grace of God. Read Romans 5:21 again: just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness [pay attention right here] to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. All of our best deeds and highest achievements won t qualify us to get in. Only acceptance by faith of the grace of God will do it. Ephesians 2:8-9 say it about as clearly as it could be said: 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. / 2015 S. M. Henriques Page 6

7 We could not have eternal life through our own efforts. It is only through the grace of God given to us through Christ that we can live forever. There s a wonderful story which beautifully illustrates this, and if you re still struggling with the idea of thinking that you must do something to earn your salvation, listen carefully. A man died and went to heaven where he met Peter at the Pearly Gates. Before he could enter Peter gave him a few questions to answer, telling him that he had to accumulate 100 points before he could go in. So, how often did you go to church? Peter asked. I went every Sunday and Wednesday, replied the man. That's one point, answered Peter. One point? Wow! I figured it would be worth more than that. And did you give any offerings? asked Peter. Yes, I gave 10% of all my income every week, answered the man. Well, let s see, answered Peter, that s worth 3 points. Did you do anything else? Well, right off hand, I can t think of a whole lot. I did mostly what I thought I was supposed to do. Well, we ll give you 5 points for good behavior, but can t you come up with something else? By this time, the man was completely flustered. He finally cried, Well, I can't come up with anything else. It seems no one can enter heaven except by the grace of God! To which Peter replied, 100 points! Come on in! How many points do you have? The point of that little story is that all of our best efforts combined could never amount to enough to qualify us to get into Heaven. Only by the grace of God will any of us see the glories of Heaven. This grace is bigger than any and all of our sins. This grace changes the way we live, and enables us to walk with God in righteousness. This grace gives us eternal life. And that is what makes it so stupefyingly amazing. / 2015 S. M. Henriques Page 7