"My Grace is Sufficient for Thee"
Text:
Romans 5: 1- 11
Intro:
While Hebrews Chapter 11 is
the "Hall of Faith", Romans 5
has to be the Hall of Grace.
In this chapter, one could sucessfully
preach for a lifetime, and never run out of subjects
to preach on.
The main theme of this chapter can be found in verse
one in the
word "peace".
From that word, Paul sets the stage of the theater
of the grace of God.
On this stage, the Holy Trinity of God acts
out and performs all the wonderful attributes of
grace.
Paul also
sets the stage for the doctrine of salvation by
grace, in that he
represents grace as a past action, a present action,
and a future
action.
According to this doctrine, we have been saved in
the
past from the penalty of sin, we are being saved in
the present
from the power of sin, and we will be saved in the
future from the
presence of sin.
In this blessed Hall of Grace, there are hallelujahs
that ring forth from the past, there are hallelujahs
realized in the
present, and there are hallelujahs resting in the
future.
No matter
which direction we look in the realm of grace, we
are brought to
to place of shouting, "His grace is sufficient for
me".
We will
look, in this message, at the three areas of grace
as applied to
the life of the child of God.
They are:
I.
GOLDEN GRACE SUFFICIENT FOR OUR PAST CONDITION
Man has a problem.
That problem is sin.
Man's heart is the heart of the
problem of sin.
When Adam fell into sin in the garden of Eden, he
declared
war against God.
This is true in the fact that the Bible says that
man, in his
natural ungenerated state is in "enmity against God".
This condition was
and still remains a hopeless and helpless condition, in
which man is power-
less to do anything about it.
Since man would not and could not take any
action to correct this problem,. God did.
What God did is so wonderfully
stated in the old song:
Oh, the love that drew salvation' plan
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary
When Jesus Christ died on Calvary as the sin sacrifice for
man's salvation,
there were several acts of the grace of God that occured.
They are:
A)
We were given acceptance in the family (vs 1)
This is the act of God's grace that opens the door of God's family and
includes every sinner, who will accept Jesus Christ
as their Savior. The
law of God could only bring a sinner to the door,
and point to the door,
but the law did not contain any power to open the
door of acceptance.
As children of God, we are now "the sons of God",
and we have been
accepted and included by the "spirit of adoption.
Our names have been
written in the "Lamb's book of Life", and recorded
in Emanuel's land.
The penalty of sin, which is death, has been paid
for, our sins have been
erased, and we now stand before God justified.
God's grace is sufficient
to
remove us from the deadness, despondency, despression and
despair of sin, and place us in the royal family of
God, not as bystanders
and onlookers, but as priests and sons forever.
B)
We were granted access to the Father
(vs 2)
Acceptance is one thing, but access is altogether
another thing.
To
further define this glorious gift of grace, we will
look at God's chosen
people, Israel.
They were definitely accepted as God's family, but
that
acceptance did not grant them access into the
presence of God.
Even
though God dealt with them on a personal basis, He
always did so
in and through a priest, prophet or king.
Once again, the law allowed
them to look upon the tabernacle in the wilderness,
buy their personal
access into the presence of God was denied.
When Jesus Christ died
on Calvary there was a tearing and a breaking.
One benefited the
Jews, and the other benefited the Gentiles.
In Old Testament days,
there was a veil that prevented all but the High
Priest from entering
into the presence of God in the temple.
There was also a wall, which
contained a sign that warned Gentiles not to go past
the wall, or they
would be smitten by God.
Our Lord rent or tore the veil of the temple,
thereby allowing all Jews who would believe in the
Lord Jesus as their
Savior, to access the presence of God,.
Our Lord also broke down
the middle wall of partition which allowed for the
first time, the Gentile
dogs access into the presence of God.
As sons of God, we now can
enter into His presence with boldness, and without
the aid of any human
priest.
Jesus has become our high priest forever.
The Word of God
clearly eliminates and destroys the doctrine
practiced by the Roman
Catholic church.
Our past salvation has been wonderfully wrought by
the golden grace of God.
Truly, His grace is sufficient for us.
II.
GRADUAL GRACE SUFFICIENT FOR OUR PRESENT
CONTINUATION
Some would say that
the theme and nature of Paul's writings change
drastically from verses 1 and 2 to verse 3.
But that would be a travesty
of interpretation for us to assume that.
The truth of this matter, is that Paul
simply comes from the our past experience of grace
to our present action
of grace.
Most Christians are reluctant to accept and agree
with the words
brought before us in verse 3 through 5, but no truer
words have ever dis-
cribed our grace works in our present lives.
As we glean from these verses,
we need to notice the progression of each subject
into the next realm of
applied grace.
A)
God's School of Hard Knocks
(vs 3)
One of the biggest misgivings of most Christians is
their attitude toward
trials and tribulations.
Paul uses the word "glory" in reflecting his
attitude
toward the many trials and tribulations that he
experienced.
This word
"glory" means "to look beyond to the reward or
hope".
Understanding
this will give us the true alignment of our
attitudes in experiencing trials
and tribulations.
The classroom of tribulation is not enjoyable unless
we
look ahead to the reward and hope that will be
gained from our present
situations.
We also must apply the word "worketh", because most
Christians want to bypass the classroom, which is
not enjoyable and
jump right into the reward and hope.
However, as Paul so amply states,
it is tribulation that worketh patience, etc.
God's order of events are in
perfect harmony with His will, and when we attempt
to bypass any of
His divine steps, we will forfeit the glory that is
to be our reward.
B)
God's Scene of Hallelujahs
(vs 5)
When we successfully graduate from God's
school of hardknocks, then
and only then, can the shouts be heard in the halls
of hallelujah.
Notice
that Paul's progression finally ends in hope and
hope renders us not
ashamed of our calling.
A person with godly hope will be a person
with glorious hallelujahs.
It is no wonder that our churches are quiet.
So many have no hope, because they skipped school
when the in-
structions were being handed out.
Paul is telling us not to lay out of
the class of tribulation and not to skip the course
of trials.
Graduation
day will come, and we will be able to throw our caps
into the air, and
and shout these words, "I have hope, and I am not
ashamed of my
God".
III.
GLORIOUS GRACE SUFFICIENT FOR OUR PROJECTED CORONATION
The focus of Paul's
writings now switches to the theme of love and the
picture of the Trinity of God in applying the grace
of God to our future lives.
Again, there is a spiritual progression of events
which begin in verse 5 and
continues with escalation to verse 11.
Paul does not miss a note in this
divine song and includes all three persons of the
Godhead, and their part
in this wonderful life of grace that we are
privileged to experience.
Notice
in these verses:
A)
God's Love illuminates our soul (vs 5)
The words "shed abroad" means "that the light of the
love of God
reaches all the chambers and corners of our soul.
His love completely
sheds light in all directions and at the same time
directs our soul
toward our heavenly Father.
Man cannot see God or God's salvation
without light, and that light from God is
broadcasted in it's fullness
within the regions and chambers of our soul.
Just as a lighthouse
beacons a light to a lost ship at sea, God's love
lights the way for
hell bound sinners to come to him.
B)
God's Love indoctrinates our soul (vs 6-8)
God's love as demonstrated by His Son, Jesus Christ is best
described in the realm of what and where we were,
and how God
still loved us in our condition.
Notice:
1)
We were unusable (vs 6)
Paul's words "without strength" are defined as
meaning that we
had no useful purpose to offer God, and we had not
useful abilities
to offer God.
We were without anything to offer God for His love
and salvation.
2)
We were unrighteous (vs 7)
Man was born in total depravity.
His nature is depraved by sin.
We are not hell bound because of our sins(deeds) but
because
of our sin nature (depravity).
We have all "fell short of the glory of
God".
Our very existence is in war against God, and our
very
existence is a stinch in the nostrils of God.
3)
We were unlovable (vs 8)
The simple fact is that remains no reason why God,
who hates
sin, would ever sacrifice His only begotten
Son to die for those
who are lost in sin.
Never will be the day in this mortal body when
we will understand why "God commendeth His love
toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us".
This is the
love that blows all the fuses in our finite minds,
and blows every
gasket in our mortal intelligence.
C)
God's Love innoculates our soul (vs 9-11)
Paul's use of the
word "wrath" needs to be applied in three different
areas.
Just as in this life, we received shots to prevent
us from
having certain diseases or illnesses, God has
applied the shot of
future grace to our souls.
We have been spiritually innoculated
from ever experiencing certain things. They are:
1)
Destruction
("saved from wrath")
If we apply this to the coming tribulation period,
we can rest in
the fact that we have been innoculated from having
to endure
God's judgment upon this earth and it's inhabitants.
2)
Death ("we
shall be saved by His life")
On
resurection morning, our Lord was victorious over death.
Death was defeated forever for all those who are "in
Christ.
Because He lives, I live also.
We will pass through death,
but we will not set up housekeeping in death's
house.
3)
Desperation
("by whom we have now received the atonement")
This word "atonement" properly means "at one ment".
We are
now at one with God, and peace like a river floods
our souls.