Why Grace?

Why Grace?

 Have you ever wondered why God chose Grace as the only way we can get into heaven? I am going to try to convey the reasons but first I am going to tell you a little joke. I know I put a joke like this in the messenger but I think you will see why I decided to retell it once I get into the message

   A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the pearly gates. St. Peter says, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."
      
      "Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."
      
      "That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points!"
      
      "Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service."
      
      "Terrific!" says St. Peter, "that's certainly worth a point."
      
      "One point? Golly. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."
      
      "Fantastic, that's good for two more points," he says.
      
      "TWO POINTS!!" the man cries, "At this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!"
      
   Peter opens the gate and joyfully says,” Come on in!"

Our reading will be from Ephesians 1:4-10.  4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

 As I read this text I couldn’t help but think, what if God decided that he would only let us into heaven on the merits of us being good. The thought that repeatedly came to me was how good would I have to be?  The next question am I a good person?  I like to think I am but after watching a video I found out I am not as good as I thought I was.  The video was the Atheist Delusion and in one part of the video the pastor was doing street evangelism and asked a simple question are you good person?  I wonder how many here would answer like I did, yes.  Then he asked four more questions please keep your answers to yourself this is just for you to think about.

1) Have you ever lied? If so you are a liar, even little “white lies” are included

2) Have you ever stolen?  If so you are a thief and if you answered no, let me ask you a couple other questions first Have you ever received money by mistake and thought about keeping it? if you did rather you kept it or not, you are guilty of theft. Or have you ever taken anything even by mistake? like a pen or a pencil. I know it happens and yes it was an accident but the question I have is did you return it? If you did then it was a mistake if not, it was theft.

3) Have you ever used the Lord’s name in vain? If so that is blasphemy. Even if you thought it you are guilty of it.

4) Have you ever lusted after a woman if you are a man or a man if you a woman.  If you have then you are guilty of adultery. If you think not let’s look at Matthew 5:27-28. This is in the Lord’s own words.

 I am not trying to condemn anyone here I am just trying to show you the importance of grace and why it is the only way we would ever be able to reach heaven. God knew when he put the laws into effect that we would never be able to keep them. You may ask, “Why would God place laws into effect that he knew we would never keep?”   To show us just how much we need His grace there has been only one human that has ever measured up to God’s standard and kept all of His laws, Jesus Christ and even He was tempted. Unsuccessfully but He was tempted doubt me when you get a chance read Matthew 4:1-11.

4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”   5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and  “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”   7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”  11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him

 Next, we will talk about works please open your bibles to Romans 3:20-28.     20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

 Our old friend Paul once again is our teacher. He is showing us that no matter what work we do it could never be enough to earn our salvation. Let’s think about it what would be a fair amount of works to justify eternal life with God? How would you quantify what is the value of each work is attending church every week worth two points or three? How many points would dying for your faith be worth? How about just being a believer?  If you did somehow manage to earn your way to heaven you would be puffed up with false pride and want to brag which would cause conflict of who is most worthy.   If works was the bases to get to heaven then heaven would be sparsely populated because only God, Jesus and the Angels would be there because the only human that ever earned His place in heaven was Jesus.

 In the last line of the Joke the man exclaimed “The only way I will get to heaven is with the grace of God.” He was right for the only possible way for God to remain a just God and still allow us into heaven and that is only by grace. His grace but before he could extend that grace there was a cost and the cost was Calvary. Jesus had to make the payment for our sins in His blood so that God’s decree could be fulfilled and then He could extend us grace for our sins past present and future.

Please join me in Romans1:1-5.  1:1 Paul, a servant  of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David  according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

 In Paul’s greeting to people of the Roman church he reminds of the sacrifice that Jesus made to procure our saving grace. Jesus became the bridge to the Father and the only toll for the use of the bridge is for us to accept His grace. Lastly we must remember  what Jesus said in John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 I thank you for your patience as I tried to relate what God has guided me to say this day. I can only hope that my message today has done His words some small justice.  May God, bless you all!.