Romans 3:21-26 – 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
- We have been working with Amazing Grace during Lent. Today, on the fifth Sunday in Lent, we will look at the fifth verse of Amazing Grace – Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease, I shall process, within the veil, A life of joy and peace.
- The fifth stanza of “Amazing Grace” speaks that at the time of our death as a time of hope. Hope takes on the symbol of an anchor, a solid mooring that a ship would need, especially on rough waters. Newton, a sea captain, would certainly have had plenty of experience with the importance of an anchor. His own hope is anchored, or grounded is in Jesus.[1]
- Let us sing the first five verses of Amazing Grace on Page 378 of our hymnal.
- We have been working with the theme of Amazing Grace.
- So, we need to ask ourselves, What is so Amazing about Grace?
- Let’s hear what Billy Graham had to say about this experience that we have – that is called Grace, Amazing Grace.
- God’s grace, quite simply, is God’s mercy and goodness toward us. Some have called it “God’s unmerited or undeserved favor”–and that is what it is: God’s mercy and goodness to us, even though we don’t deserve it.
- And yet in spite of our sin and rebellion, God still loves us and sustains us by His grace. Don’t ever take His grace for granted! The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Have you received God’s gift of salvation by inviting Christ into your life? I pray you will do so today.[2]
- John Wesley – has broken grace down into three parts so that we have a better understanding of just how Grace works in our lives.
- Two weeks ago, we were working with Prevenient grace. Let me summarize it again so that we are all on the same page.
- Sometimes it’s called the grace that goes before.
- The Jewish idea is that, as humans we are inclined toward sinning, then we find that God continues to work in our lives – even when we do not know it or are aware of it.
- And that’s grace.
- It is anticipatory grace that surrounds us with God’s love,
- Convicts us when we act unlovingly,
- Prevenient Grace convinces us that there is so much more to life than that which we are living –
- Prevenient Grace convinces us that God has in mind for us more than who we are.
- Look at the hymn – the Spirit Song – pg. 347 in our hymnal – see prevenient grace in the upper left-hand corner of the book. Let’s sing it again.
- In his book, Being Christian in Wesleyan Tradition, John Gooch writes: Have you ever been aware that there was an emptiness in your life, like a hole in your heart? That there was a place that needed to be filled with love and assurance and peace?[3]
- That is prevenient Grace – God’s love calling us to return to God to find the relationship that will fill up the emptiness and plug the hole.
- Down through the ages of the church, theologians and mystics and scholars have written extensively about the “divine spark” that resides in the heart of every human. It is that spark that brings us to God and the spark occurs because of the love of us that went before we even realized it.
- John Wesley talked of grace as the house that God builds for us, and God said that prevenient grace was the front porch of that house and that all of us lingered there on the porch trying to decide whether to go in the house or not.
- Prevenient Grace urges us, pushes us, challenges us to move into the house but ultimately it is our choice whether to enter or not.
- But Prevenient Grace makes us aware that there is a choice for all of us to make in the first place.
- Now moving forward, we need to look at what Aha! means about Grace. Also look in the hymnal for justifying grace. UMH 370 – Victory in Jesus Which we have just sung.
- Which leads to the second type of grace that John Wesley identified – what Wesley called justifying grace or saving grace.
- Kenneth Carder, perhaps the foremost scholar today on United Methodist Theology and Doctrine today, writes: Justifying grace, which may come suddenly or gradually, is the assurance that we are forgiven daughters and sons of God.
- It is our alignment with God.
- Justification is being claimed as children of God – the infinitely, unconditionally loved children of God.
- Through God’s justifying grace God accepts us just as we are, forgives our sins and restores us to relationship with Him.
- It is because of justifying grace that we can repent of our sin and turn our life around.
- It is conversion. Being born again or being born anew. It is grace that changes us.
- In John’s Gospel we learned about Nicodemus. A Pharisee who was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Temple that sentenced Jesus to death and one night Nicodemus came to Jesus and asked Jesus what he needed to do to be saved.
- And Jesus said to Him, you’ve got to be “born again.”
- Justifying grace brings about a complete change.
- For some people it is an Aha! Moment — like a spark.
- For others it is a gradual deepening assurance.
- We are saved from the old life in which we denied the image of God within us and fell into sin, and so we are born again, recreated, redeemed, restored, saved, to live the life as we were created to live it.
- Here are a few things that help us to understand about this grace that justifies.
- First, it is God’s gift to us. Grace is transforming. It changes us. It brings new life. And all of that is God’s action toward us.
- What Wesley had encountered in the Church of England was the attitude that before you could be a part of God’s community, you had to have already been transformed.
- Note this: The Church of England’s thought was that –You would have to earn the grace to move from sinner to saint.
- You had to earned God’s grace and love. And for the first 35 years of his life and the first several years of his ministry, John Wesley labored under that understanding.
- But Wesley had no sense of personal salvation.
- No assurance of his place in God’s Kingdom.
- And then God intervened and offered him the gift of grace.
- The assurance that no matter what he had done, God still claimed Him.
- And so, Wesley came to understand that his worth and identity were shaped by who he was, a child of God, and not his accomplishments and achievements. REPEAT THIS
- That he, like the Apostle Paul, (that we just read in the Morning Scripture) was saved by the grace of God, and not by his works.
- And that Justifying grace was the beginning of the faith journey and not the ultimate destination. Being born again — is the beginning not the end of the Christian Journey.
- In his picture of the house of grace, if prevenient grace is the porch, justifying grace is the front door.
- Second, Grace does not discriminate.
- Grace originates in the heart of God and therefore becomes God’s gift to all whom God’s loves. All His children all people – not a select few – all people.
- Wesley believed that the church needed to open its doors to all of God’s creation.
- No matter their ethnicity.
- No matter what their chosen profession.
- No matter where they lived.
- No matter about their sexual inclination.
- No matter their socio-economic class.
- and perhaps the one that has been the hardest for the church to grasp since the beginning of time – no matter where we are in life.
- Because consciously or unconsciously, the church and congregations has often discriminated against persons based upon sinfulness of their lives.
- We have said by our actions and inaction, that some sin will be tolerated but others will not. But justifying grace makes no such distinctions.
- God offers his gift to all who will receive.
- Wesley believed that one of the outward signs of this inward grace was Baptism – because at Baptism, God claims us as His own, no matter what we have done in our life.
- So, the Methodists practiced open Baptism. Age, ethnicity, economic status, social class, or sexuality—anything that separates us from each other — didn’t matter because God claims all as His children.
- The Anglican church of Wesley’s time and some other churches today believed that Baptism was a sign of completion.
- And so they used Baptism as a way to exclude, rather than embrace. And there are many who bring that same understanding to Baptism today.
- Adam Hamilton, who is pastor of the largest Methodist Church in the United States, recently said that the Church of the Resurrection offered the opportunity for persons to be Baptized who had joined the church but never been Baptized. The baptisms lasted more than two hours – there were so many who came.
- And then thirdly, justifying grace opens the door for us to go back to the perfection of God’s creation.
- Last week we talked about God’s plan of Grace has been unfolding ever since Adam and Eve first chose sin over God. – prevenient grace.
- Well, grace is the key part of God’s plan to restore humanity to that which we were created to be. It is through Grace that we are redeemed and saved.
- My walk with God at my is not the same as my walk with God at age fourteen, because my walk with God is not a once and for all experience but a joyous journey of growth. Step by step we come we come into a better understanding of ourselves and a more complete knowledge of the claims Christ places on our lives.
- Christianity is a life style we live by faith on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis.
- We are justified when we are put right with God—this happens over and over—conversion moments until it becomes a way of life!”
- Justifying Grace has continued to operate in my life as the Holy Spirit has made me aware at times that my relationship with the Lord has faltered.
- Like the Prodigal Son I have often strayed into the “far country” thinking I could take charge of my life and handle my struggles in my own strength and wisdom apart from God.
- Like the Prodigal’s Father, the Lord has always been waiting with open arms to welcome me home. Many times, over the years I have slipped and sinned, but I praise God that His Justifying Grace has been there to pick me up one more time, for God has shown me that “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” [–I John 1:9]. Always when I confess, God forgives. God is a God of second chances.
- Shortly we will sing the Gaither hymn – Because He Lives. Let us sing this hymn with gusto and reverence as we look at the words again and let the Holy Spirit touch us,
- Thanks be to God!
- Dick
[1] Amazing Grace, Devotions for Lent, Michael Hoy
[2] What is grace, in your view? – The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada
[3] Being a Christian in the Wesleyan Tradition: Belonging/Believing/Living/Growing: John O. Gooch: 9780881775594: Amazon.com: Books