GRACE ALONE

During a conference quite a number of years ago now on comparative religions,

experts from around the world debated what belief, if any belief, was unique to the Christian faith.

And they began by eliminating a bunch of possibilities.

The incarnation.

They thought, no, actually other religions have different versions of their gods appearing in the world in human form to people.

So what about resurrection?

Again, other religions had accounts of people returning back from death.

And the debate went on for some time until the Oxford Don C.S. Lewis walked into the room

and in his classic C.S. Lewis style said, so what's all this rumpus about?

And when he heard that they were debating the unique contribution of Christianity and had for some time,

Lewis just responded, just jumped on it.

He said, well, that's easy.

It's grace.

Grace.

And after some discussion, the conference agreed.

The notion of God's love coming to humanity free of charge, no strings attached,

goes against every world religion and every instinct of humanity.

There's the Buddhist eightfold path.

There's the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, the Muslim code of law.

Each of these offers a way to earn approval or to stay in approval.

Only Christianity dares to declare God's love as unconditional.

You can't earn it.

It's not yours by right.

You don't deserve it.

You don't ever deserve it.

Now, grace is a word that's familiar to our ears.

Grace.

It can be a person's name.

It can be an attitude, a gracious attitude.

It can be a prayer that you say before dinner if you're not terribly hungry.

It's even a name of a hotel in Sydney.

Ironically, however, there are no free rooms.

The word grace in the Greek New Testament is the word charis.

And it's a holy Christian word.

It was a word.

The word charis was unknown in Greek or Roman ethics and theology before Christianity.

This doctrine of grace gave rise to a new word for grace.

Grace in Christianity is a personal activity of God.

God operates in unconditional love towards people.

Grace is generosity.

It's when something is given purely out of the goodness and the kindness of the giver,

despite the unworthiness of the recipient.

And salvation in Christianity is a work of God, not people.

It's a work of God from beginning to end,

and is given freely and undeservedly through Jesus Christ,

as we just sang in three songs to kick our service off.

And this was the rediscovery or one of the rediscoveries of the Protestant Reformation,

the 16th century, that has come down to us over these 500 years.

As we started this series off,

salvation is according to Scripture alone,

in Christ alone, by grace alone,

through faith alone, for the glory of God alone.

That is our heritage.

It's St. Paul's, and it's where we take our stand as a church today.

And in the past two weeks,

we've been reminded of two key foundations so far

to biblical Christianity that were rediscovered in the Reformation 500 years ago.

Scripture alone, that is,

it's not the Bible plus the traditions

and the authority of the church and reason and experience.

And it's Christ alone,

not Jesus plus human priests and the sacrifice of the mass.

And next week, we're going to explore faith alone.

It's not faith in Jesus plus good works for the basis of my salvation.

And to these, the reformers added grace alone.

And in a sense, grace alone summarizes and explains

the two that we've already done,

the one we're going to do next week.

The Bible, the Word of God,

comes to us from outside of us.

It stands as a gracious gift of God to humanity.

It's God communicating to us

because without it, we would not see or know God.

And Jesus Christ alone is the way to God.

And Jesus again comes from outside of us,

purely and only because of the kindness and love of God.

We don't earn him.

We don't contribute to his work

or help him finish off what he lacked.

Jesus does everything through the generosity of God.

Even the ability, this is what we're going to see next week,

even the ability to see and to trust in God,

as we just read in Ephesians 2,

is a gift of God itself.

Our response is nothing more than an open hand,

held out in trust,

that says thank you

to the wonderful promises of God.

The grace of God is love freely shown

towards guilty sinners,

contrary to their merit,

and in fact in defiance of their demerit.

You see, the context of the Reformers

rediscovering grace alone in the Bible

was a church that believed in grace.

That's the context.

It was a church that actually believed in grace.

You see, Roman Catholic teaching states

that God's grace is God's free favour

and generosity towards sinners.

grace is God's free.

But,

and in this case,

the word but says everything.

It is also,

grace is also a kind of power or assistance

in which God gives us

to help people to respond to him

and help people live through life.

And that's,

the word but,

is where it goes wrong.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church,

it reads,

we can merit for ourselves

and for others

the graces needed

for sanctification,

for the increase of grace

and for charity

and for the attainment

of eternal life.

What that means

is that salvation

in all its different forms

becomes a cooperation

between us and God.

This view of grace

is built on a particular view of humanity.

A view that says

that people are sinful.

Yeah, yeah,

we're all broken,

we're all sinful,

but we are still capable

as human beings

of reaching out to God

and communicating with God

and with his assistance

turning our life around.

But,

so,

for us to understand,

therefore,

what grace is,

we need to go back to the Bible

and embrace

and see

the need

of grace alone.

For us to be able to do that,

we need an accurate diagnosis

of the actual human condition.

And if we hold to

what I preached on two weeks ago

about Scripture alone

being authority

and not my experience of the world

or not my feelings about myself

or anything else,

that if that is our authority,

then we need to hear what it says.

And the right diagnosis

was just read out to us.

This is the human condition,

Ephesians 2 verse 1.

Ephesians 2:1

As for you,

you were dead

in your transgressions

and sins

in which you used to live

when you followed

the ways of this world

and of the ruler

of the kingdom of the air,

the spirit who is now at work

in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them

at one time,

gratifying and cravings

of our sinful nature

and following us desires

and thoughts

and like the rest,

we were by nature

objects of wrath.

Or we also see the diagnosis

in Romans 3 verses 10 to 12.

Romans 3:10–12

There is no one righteous,

not even one.

There is no one who understands.

There is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away.

They have altogether

become worthless.

There is no one

who does good,

not even one.

That's the authority

of Scripture's perspective

on the human condition.

No one righteous,

no one who seeks God,

worthless,

dead,

left to our own devices.

We are dead

in our sins.

And the core nature

of humanity

is not that we are

basically good,

it's that we're actually

fundamentally bad.

We are spiritually bankrupt.

We are spiritually dead.

dead.

And dead people

don't respond

to anything.

I've,

in my job,

I've done a lot of funerals

over the years

and a number of those funerals

have been open coffin funerals.

And it's an awkward thing

if you've ever had that experience

where the funeral director

tells you,

which I'm assuming you haven't,

the funeral director

tells you,

we're going to have

an open coffin

and your job

is to stand beside the coffin

and sort of be there

for people as they come.

And more often than not,

no one really wants

to get there early

for that occasion.

Most people come,

you know,

at the last minute.

So I'm standing there

beside Bill

or whoever it is,

coffin open

and it's me

and this person

and no one else,

no one else

for some time,

often three quarters of an hour.

and in my,

maybe it's me dealing

with the issue at the moment

and my black humour,

I often talk to the person

and they never,

ever speak back to me.

Ever.

Not that I'm expecting it,

but they never speak back to me.

I can practice my sermon,

I can sing songs,

they never join in,

they never participate

in any way

because dead people

don't respond.

They don't have life

to respond.

And that's the biblical picture.

It's not that we

are all as bad

as we could possibly be,

but that because of sin

we are totally marred

in every aspect

of our being

and we are spiritually dead.

We are corpses,

we're not drowning,

we're drowned,

we're dead.

Unfortunately,

as Sam mentioned last week,

some people understand

grace as God

making up the difference

between our good

and the amount of good

that God requires.

So,

I mean,

it's like,

depending on how you've lived your life,

you've got different amounts of good.

Nice middle class people

don't need as much

good as

topping up as,

for instance,

a criminal

sitting in Long Bay Jail.

But whatever it is,

God makes the requirements.

So you can imagine,

I want to buy a car

that costs $100,000,

which I

don't want to,

but I've only got

$50,000,

which I also

don't have.

And this view of grace

means that,

well,

I've got $50,000,

it's $100,000,

well,

God will just,

you know,

kindly top up

what I need.

It sounds nice,

but it's a grave

misunderstanding

both of grace

and of our lack

of righteousness.

We've got nothing to offer,

we've got nothing to contribute.

Not only do we

not have

any righteousness

into our account,

we've actually got debt

in our account.

And so we need

God's grace

not just to make up

for our deficiencies,

we need His grace

to provide a remedy

for our rebellion,

for our guilt,

for our pollution,

our sin,

our debt

against God,

which is incalculable.

We need His grace

to provide a satisfaction

for His justice

and to cancel

a debt

that we cannot pay.

And so it's absolutely

crucial that we

understand our plights

before God

if we're going

to understand

and be amazed

by grace

because those

who have been

forgiven little

in their minds

don't love much.

Don't appreciate

grace

much.

This is how

one person

has put it.

The first

and possibly

the most fundamental

characteristic

of divine grace

is that it presupposes

sin and guilt.

Grace has meaning

only.

It only has meaning

when people

are seen

as fallen,

unworthy

of salvation

and liable

to eternal

wrath.

Grace does not

contemplate sin

as merely

as undeserving

but as

ill-deserving.

It's not simply

that we do not

deserve grace

but that we do

deserve hell.

that's

that's the

bleak

pronouncement

of our

natural state

before God.

But in the very

next verses

in Ephesians

we have the hope

of grace.

Ephesians 2

Ephesians 2:4

verse 4

but

the word

but there

is a very

different word

but at this

point

you've got to

love the word

but in this

occasion

but

because of

his great

love for us

God who is

rich in mercy

made us alive

with Christ

even when we

were dead

in transgressions

it's by grace

that you've been

saved.

We're dead

in our

transgressions

and sins

but God

intervenes.

We're in

bondage to

sin

but God

intervenes.

We were

objects of

wrath

but God

intervened.

God who is

rich in mercy

intervened.

Our condition

was hopeless.

We are

corpses

floating in

a sea

of ocean.

We cannot

respond.

We're not

asking for

rescue

and God

gets the

fish hook

and pulls

us up

onto the

boat

and gives

us life.

The grace

of God

is love

is his

love

freely

shown

towards

guilty

sinners

contrary

to their

merit

and in

fact

in

defiance

of their

demerit.

And we

get a

glimpse

of the

way God

treats

us

in that

parable

in Matthew

20

that Sam

read out

to us.

So go to

Matthew

20

in your

Bibles.

There's some

stuff I want to

see, show

you around

it.

Matthew

20, parable

of the

workers in

the vineyard,

starting at

verse 1.

Let me say

straight up,

this is not a

story about

Jewish agribusiness.

Before I

became a

Christian, I

had grown up

in a

house that

was on a

farm and

had a

Bible.

And I

remember

reading this

parable a

number of

times as

a teenager

and stuff

going, it

makes no

sense, this

parable.

I don't

know a

single farmer

who would

operate like

this anywhere.

And that's

because I was

totally missing

the point,

because I was

dead in my

transgressions and

sins I

couldn't see.

The background

to Matthew

20 is

Matthew 19.

There we go.

19 becomes

before 20.

That's a big

moment there.

And there's

this story in

Matthew 19,

this encounter

that happens

between Jesus

and this guy,

the rich young

ruler.

And you

might remember

this man,

this young guy

comes running

up to Jesus

and asks a

really crucial

question.

He says,

what must I

do to inherit

eternal life?

It's a great

question, but

he's totally

coming at it

from the wrong

angle.

The word

I is the

problem there.

what must I

do to

inherit?

It's about

me.

It's about

my effort

to get

eternal life.

And as you

read the

encounter,

you get this

sense of this

guy's pretty

pressed with

himself.

I've done a

bunch of

stuff.

Jesus rattles

off a few

of the

commandments and

he's sitting

there in his

mental thing

and his

heart going

ticking off the

box.

Yeah, done

that one.

Yeah, done

that one.

Done that one.

Done that one.

And you go,

yeah, I've

done pretty

well.

Jesus says

to him, you

need to just

do one more

thing.

Sell up

everything you

have and

follow me.

It's a call

at that point

to stop

trusting in

yourself, but

in fact, and

the stuff that

you have and

trust in me

alone.

And

unfortunately,

he's not

willing to do

that and he

walks away.

And in the

background over

here as this

encounter's going

on between

this rich guy

and Jesus is

Peter, James

and John

and the boys,

the rest of

the disciples

are over here

and they're

hearing this

encounter go

on.

They see the

rich young man

walk away

and Peter,

as he has a

tendency to do,

speaks first

and he says,

well,

Jesus,

then who

can be

saved?

And Jesus

says,

with man,

this is

impossible.

With God,

all things are

possible.

So you get

the point?

Salvation is

not by what

you do.

Salvation is

what God

does.

And notice

the very next

question that

comes out of

Peter's mouth.

We've left

everything,

Jesus,

to follow you.

What will

there be for

us?

You get

it?

Jesus,

we're not

like him.

We didn't

walk away.

We've

followed you,

Jesus.

Have we

done enough

then?

Big,

strong

sniff of

merit-based

thinking.

So Jesus

tells his

story.

It's pretty

straightforward.

Farmer

hires men

at different

times during

the day.

We're told

that he

hired them

early in

the morning,

the third

hour,

the sixth

hour,

the ninth

hour,

and right

to the

very end

of the

day in

the eleventh

hour.

And those

began the

work at

the beginning

of the

day,

agreed to

a day's

pay for

their work

at denarius.

And the

denarius was

considered to

be what was

needed to

provide well

for a family.

Get a

denarius for a

day's pay,

you provided

well for your

family.

notice that

it wasn't

an expectation

the farmer

would actually

pay for

them a

denarii,

but the

farmer gives

them a

denarii to

provide well

for them.

All of

these who

got paid on

this particular

day got

what they

needed,

not what

they had

earned.

They were

paid according

to grace

of the

farmer,

not according

to the

work that

they did.

And the

twist comes

at the end

of the day

when the

owner pays

everyone the

same,

lines them

up,

pays them

everyone the

same.

It's like

they all

received an

A grade.

It's like

we're all

in the same

university

course and

I'm your

lecturer and

there are

some of us

here who are

diligent

studiers and

we haven't

slept for

days and

we've worked

hard and

we're

expecting

99.9%

if not

100% but

we're just

kind of

expecting that.

Those of us

down here

have been

watching movies

which is

kind of

what I

do.

And 51%

means I

work just

a little

bit too

hard.

And so

I put

all your

scores and

I've given

every single

one of you

an A

grade no

matter how

hard you've

worked.

You've all

got it.

And there

are some

of us

down here

who have

been

diligent

and

working

really

hard

expecting

high

score

and we

see the

Steve

Jeffries in

this world

getting the

exact same

score.

That's not

fair.

See the

natural human

tendency is not

like to

everyone to

get the

perfect score

regardless of

effort.

And that's

why we

struggle with

grace so

much.

Our

natural

moral

default

position is

to count

ourselves

up here

with the

12 hour

workers of

the day.

The 99.9%

score markers.

Our moral

position is to

put ourselves

in that area.

When it

comes to

morality we

can always

look down

to find

someone else

who's

worse than

I am.

And so we

regard ourselves

more highly.

I know

someone who

is currently

who's been

marked to

never be

released from

prison.

Many, many

years ago he

murdered a

mother and

her baby.

And he

was in

the same

section of

a jail,

of a high

security jail

in Sydney

with the

perpetrators

of the

Milpera

Bikie

Massacre

from many

decades ago

now where

two Bikie

gangs came

together,

had a

shootout in

a car park

and they

gunned down

a seven

year old

girl in

the process

of that

shootout,

got caught

in the

crossfire.

This man

who I know

was in the

same section

of the

jail of

those guys.

The

guys who

perpetrated

the Milpera

Bikie

Massacre

grabbed him

one day,

poured boiling

water all

over him

and beat

him up,

quite savagely,

to an inch

of death.

Do you

know why?

How dare

you kill

a baby?

You can

sit in

Long Bay

Jail,

you can

even sit

in Long Bay

Jail,

convicted of

murder,

of a

seven year

old kid

and you

could still

find someone

worse than

you.

Normal,

default,

human position

when it

comes to

the way

we think

of ourselves

and our

morality.

You see,

in a sense

here,

the workers

are right.

It's not

fair what

the boss

is doing,

but that

is the

point.

Grace

is not

about being

fair,

it's about

God giving

us what we

don't deserve

and saving

us from

what we do

deserve.

And the

Bible speaks

about the

incredible

extent of

God's grace

to us

in a

number of

ways.

Wonderful

image of

Psalm 103

Psalms 103:2

verse 2,

transgressions

against God

have been

removed as

far as the

east is

from the

west.

What an

incredible

picture.

That's

infinite

amount.

East,

for as far

as the

east is

from the

west,

is

infinity.

Isaiah

38,

17,

the

prophet

Isaiah

says

of

God,

you

have

put

all

of

my

sins

behind

your

back.

They

are

out

of

sight.

For a

Christian,

God no

longer sees

our deliberate

disobedience

or our

marred

performance.

An

emphasis on

the

completeness

of God's

forgiveness

is in

Micah 7

Micah 7:19

verse 19.

You

will tread

our sins

underfoot

and you'll

hurl our

iniquities

into the

depths of

the sea.

They

haven't

fallen

over

board.

Oh my

goodness,

where'd

they

go?

They

sort of

sunk

down

there

like a

phone

over the

side

of a

boat

or

something

like

that.

God

has

deliberately

removed

them

and

placed

them

in

the

depths

of

the

sea.

Isaiah

43,

23

emphasizes

the

completeness

of

God's

forgiveness

again.

I,

even

I,

am

he

who

blots

out

your

transgressions

for

my

own

sake

and

remembers

your

sins

no

more.

God

it's

not

that

he's

somehow

forgotten

them

like

we've

lost

my

keys

where

did

they

go?

He's

deliberately

chooses

not to

remember

the sins

that we've

committed

against

him.

He's

decided

never

to

bring

them

up

again.

You

see

blotting

out

our

sins

is a

legal

act.

It's

like an

official

pardon

from a

suffering

governor.

However

the

choosing

to

remember

them

no

more

is

a

relational

act.

It is

where

the

injured

party

God

in

this

case

actively

chooses

to

have

no

sense

of

being

wronged.

He

chooses

to do

that.

The

reformer

Martin

Luther

really

summarized

it

well

when

he

wrote

sin

is

not

cancelled

by

law

living

for

no

person

is

able

to

live

up

to

the

law.

The

law

reveals

guilt.

It

fills

the

conscience

with

terror

and

drives

people

to

despair

much

less

is

sin

taken

away

by

man

invented

endeavours.

The

fact is

the

more

a

person

seeks

credit

for

himself

by

his

own

efforts

the

deeper

he

goes

into

debt.

Nothing

can

take

away

sin

except

the

grace

of

God.

In

actual

living

however

it

is

not

so

easy

to

persuade

oneself

that

grace

alone

in

opposition

to

every

other

means

we

obtain

the

forgiveness

of

our

sins

and

peace

with

God.

You see

the

outcome

of God's

gracious

actions

towards

us

in

according to

Colossians

1

is

there's

no

accusations

anymore.

No

accusation

can be

brought

against

us

because

there

is

no

evidence

against

us.

Two

elderly

Roman

Catholic

men

were

having

a

conversation

about

the

son

of

one

of

those

one

of

their

men

who

this

son

had

converted

to

biblical

Christianity

he'd

embraced

salvation

according

to

faith

scripture

alone

in

Christ

alone

by

grace

alone

through

faith

alone

glory

of

God

alone

and

one

of

the

men

said

to

the

other

about

his

son

and

what

he

had

made

the

shift

away

from

Catholicism

into

Protestant

faith

and

he

said

do

you

know

why

they

don't

believe

in

purgatory

it's

because

they

believe

that

God

is

so

kind

that

he

will

take

his

people

straight

into

heaven

he

was

right

even

though

he

said

it

in

a

mocking

way

he

was

right

the

sheer

kindness

and

grace

of

God

expressed

in the

sufficient

work of

Christ

of the

cross

means

that

death

becomes

the doorway

into the

loving

presence

of

God

God

but

here's a

sober

but

notice

what

Luther

said

at the

end

of his

quote

it

is

hard

to

accept

and

live

by

grace

alone

if

grace

is so

amazing

why

is it

that we

struggle

to

embrace

it

as

freely

as

it

is

given

in

fact

one

of

the

most

significant

Christian

voices

of the

last

100

years

suggest

that

very

few

of

us

in

the

church

grasp

it

and

live

by

grace

alone

he's

talking

about

those

in

the

church

struggling

to

grasp

and

live

by

grace

alone

in

his

classic

book

knowing

God

Jim

Packer

writes

there

do

not

seem

to

be

many

in

our

churches

who

believe

in

grace

now

when

someone

of

Packer

standing

writes

something

like

that

you've

got

to

listen

what

he's

saying

there

is

we

are

in

danger

of

abandoning

the

very

thing

that

we

say

we

stand

on

and

he

gives

three

reasons

the

first

reason

he

gives

is

that

people

have

a

high

view

of

themselves

we

tend

to

treat

small

virtues

as

compensation

for

great

vices

we

tend

to

think

that

we

are

basically

good

we

tend

to

downplay

the

suggestion

that

we

are

fallen

from

God's

image

rebels

against

God's

rule

guilty

and

uncleaning

God's

sight

and fit

only

for

God's

condemnation

high

high

high

high

view

of

self

the

second

reason

he

suggests

is

that

we

don't

believe

grace

is

that

we

have

a

tendency

to

turn

a

blind

eye

to

all

wrongdoing

that

we

can

he

said

there's

a

willingness

to

tolerate

and

indulge

evil

up

to

a

point

he

said

the

ability

to

indulge

evil

up

to

a

point

is

seen

as

a

virtue

it's

seen

as a

virtue

of

tolerance

we

make

excuse

after

excuse

for

our

sin

we

even

justify

it

I

justify

myself

and

I've

heard

it

many

times

I

was

provoked

I've

had a

bad

life

I was

dropped

on my

head

as a

baby

it's

just

or

it's

just

the

way

that

person

is

we're

just

used

to

the

way

they

are

now

they

gossip

we're

just

used

to

that

that's

just

who

they

are

they're

angry

we're