GRACE
Series: Amazed by grace
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 8th December 2012
Passage: Matthew 20:1-16
00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 Morning everyone. If you'd like to grab your Bibles, have them ready. We're going to be
00:00:05 --> 00:00:11 jumping all over the place this morning. So if you get a chance, stick your finger in Ephesians,
00:00:11 --> 00:00:15 we'll be there in a little while. Matthew and a bunch of other passages as well.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:24 Let's pray. Father God, I pray that you would again amaze us by your grace, a truth that
00:00:24 --> 00:00:35 potentially we have taken for granted, maybe do not live by. Father, we just pray that you would
00:00:35 --> 00:00:43 delve into the depths of our hearts to see ourselves and to see our deep need for you and again
00:00:43 --> 00:00:49 astound us by your movement towards us in the Lord Jesus, a movement of love.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 And we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.
00:00:54 --> 00:01:04 Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We sing it. We've sung grace this
00:01:04 --> 00:01:09 morning. We preach grace. We talk about grace. We pray about grace. We suggest that some people need
00:01:09 --> 00:01:16 to grow in grace. We encourage others to be gracious. Grace is often not far from our lips
00:01:16 --> 00:01:23 in the Christian church. And that is because that the message of Christianity is that we are saved by
00:01:23 --> 00:01:30 grace. Of all the religions in the world, it is only Christianity that dares to speak of God's love
00:01:30 --> 00:01:38 being unconditional. We don't earn it. It's not ours by right. We don't deserve it. Grace is a personal
00:01:38 --> 00:01:44 activity. It is God operating in love towards people. The word for grace in the Greek New Testament,
00:01:44 --> 00:01:52 charis, is holy Christian word. That is, it was unknown before Christianity in Greek or Roman ethics and
00:01:52 --> 00:01:58 theology. And the stable diet of Sunday school classes is that grace means God's riches at Christ's
00:01:58 --> 00:02:05 expense. And so why do I need to spend three weeks looking at the foundational truth of God's grace?
00:02:06 --> 00:02:15 Well, because I need it. We all need it. And why? Why do it? Again, in the lead up to Christmas?
00:02:15 --> 00:02:23 Because as Jim Packer says in his classic book, Knowing God, there do not seem to be many in our
00:02:23 --> 00:02:33 churches who believe in grace. Now, that's a pretty bold statement. In fact, I think he even suggested
00:02:33 --> 00:02:39 that many might not appreciate the statement coming from him. But when one of the most respected
00:02:39 --> 00:02:46 theologians of the past 100 years says it, I think we do well to listen to it. And he gives four reasons,
00:02:46 --> 00:02:52 and I'll go through them very quickly, four reasons why so many in our churches do not believe in grace.
00:02:53 --> 00:03:00 The first reason is he gives is what he calls the moral ill desert of man. That is, people have a high
00:03:00 --> 00:03:07 view of themselves. We tend to treat small virtues as compensation for great vices.
00:03:08 --> 00:03:14 We tend to think that we are basically good. We tend to play down the suggestion that we are fallen
00:03:14 --> 00:03:21 from God's image, rebels against God's rule, guilty and unclean in God's sight, and fit only for God's
00:03:21 --> 00:03:26 condemnation. You only need to receive a bit of criticism from someone, and you automatically think,
00:03:26 --> 00:03:35 no, I'm not, I'm not like that. That's because we have a high view of ourselves. The second reason
00:03:35 --> 00:03:41 he suggests is we don't believe grace is what he calls the retributive justice of God. We have a
00:03:41 --> 00:03:48 tendency to turn a blind eye to all wrongdoing that we can. Willingness to tolerate and indulge evil up
00:03:48 --> 00:03:56 to a point is in fact seen as a virtue. And so we make excuses after excuse for our sin. We even justify
00:03:56 --> 00:04:03 it. Well, I was provoked, you see. Or have you seen how evil they are? They have had a bad life. It's just
00:04:03 --> 00:04:11 the way they are. We just got used to that sort of behavior around here. We even conclude that God
00:04:11 --> 00:04:21 is the same towards us. And that God's grace, in fact, becomes a doctrine of leniency.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:29 Divine retribution against all level of sin is not taken seriously. We tend to have a hierarchy of
00:04:29 --> 00:04:35 the really serious ones, and the rest, which we all will just tolerate amongst us.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:43 The third reason why we struggle to believe grace is what he calls the spiritual impotence of people.
00:04:43 --> 00:04:49 That is the belief that we are actually in a position to be able to repair our own relationship
00:04:49 --> 00:04:54 with God. And while we might conclude that we are not perfect, we all do that,
00:04:55 --> 00:05:00 we still have no doubt that our respectability will account for something.
00:05:02 --> 00:05:09 The fourth reason he gives is the ancient notion that God, in fact, needs us. He actually needs my
00:05:09 --> 00:05:17 worship. That is, he's relying upon our worship for his good. And so God is gracious to us in order
00:05:17 --> 00:05:26 to buy that worship. I think of everything that I've read recently about grace, it is just so
00:05:26 --> 00:05:34 against every way that we think and we operate. And so therefore, it is a truth that we need to keep
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 coming back to. So let's do an exercise. Everyone stand.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:49 This is a university class. I'm your lecturer. You can call me professor if you like.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:59 The university class is the short life expectancy of feral pigs. And we are about to have an exam.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:04 And in fact, we've just had the exam. I want you to grade yourself now, depending on what sort of a
00:06:04 --> 00:06:09 student you are. You're either a conscientious student or you're not a conscientious student.
00:06:10 --> 00:06:14 So if you are a conscientious student, I want you to stand over this side of the building.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:19 If you are not a conscientious student, I want you to stand on this side of the building.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:23 So if you're not sure about, I don't care about life expectancy of feral pigs,
00:06:23 --> 00:06:29 think about your own student life. Okay? So over here, you are shooting for 100%.
00:06:29 --> 00:06:36 You are gunning for it. I'm studying for it. I'm working hard to get the best result in this course.
00:06:36 --> 00:06:41 Over here, it's like, well, this course is really a dead end. It's for credits, really.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:46 And so 50%, if I get 51%, in fact, I've worked just a little bit too hard.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:51 And so I've got a life to live. There's parties to be had. There's people to fellowship with,
00:06:51 --> 00:06:55 all that sort of stuff. So away you go. I'll give you two minutes to place yourself in the building.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 Conscientious, not conscientious.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:38 Okay. So there's a lot of people in the middle.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:45 It's because we don't want to be down there and we don't want to be down here with these sinful people either.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:56 Let me tell you, my general principle is that pass is a pass. And so I'm certainly down this end of the area.
00:07:56 --> 00:08:00 So, okay. So here we go. I'm the lecturer. You've just done your exam.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 And I've just posted the results up here on the wall for your auto lookout.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 And I've given everyone in the room an A+.
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 How do you feel, Candida?
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 Yeah. Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 How do you feel over this end?
00:08:15 --> 00:08:16 Not fair.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 Not fair. Not fair. How dare you do that to us?
00:08:23 --> 00:08:27 You've learned as much as you can. Okay. All right.
00:08:27 --> 00:08:27 Feral pigs.
00:08:28 --> 00:08:28 Sorry?
00:08:29 --> 00:08:30 It's only feral pigs.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 Okay. It's only feral pigs. Exactly.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:38 I knew I was going to get it anyway. I didn't have to work hard. Anyway. Okay. So back to your seats.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:38 Oh, no.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:46 I'll come back to that in a minute.
00:08:46 --> 00:08:46 Okay.
00:08:46 --> 00:09:12 So let's begin on unpacking some of Packer's reasons why we so miss grace.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:21 If you go to a doctor, you want an accurate diagnosis so you can embark on the right treatment
00:09:21 --> 00:09:22 for the illness.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:30 When I, 2003, I think it was, when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and diabetes,
00:09:31 --> 00:09:35 I wanted the doctor to give me a correct diagnosis.
00:09:35 --> 00:09:42 Of course, for 18 months up to that point, I hadn't had a correct diagnosis and it was antibiotics,
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 Panadol, take a rest, go on a holiday.
00:09:47 --> 00:09:48 And the problems are still there.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 You need an accurate diagnosis if you're going to get the right treatment.
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 And that is the same as we approach this doctor to grace.
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 So let's deal with the negative, the right diagnosis.
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 First of all, Ephesians chapter 2, if you'd like to turn to there.
00:10:04 --> 00:10:05 This is the human condition.
00:10:05 --> 00:10:11 You don't need to look anywhere further than yourself.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 So don't think, ah, yes, I know who this is referring to.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:23 As for you, you, me, speaking to me, first person here, you were dead in your transgressions
00:10:23 --> 00:10:28 and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the
00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:40 All of us, all of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 And like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 That is God's anger.
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 And we also see the diagnosis in Romans chapter 3, verse 10 to 12.
00:10:52 --> 00:10:56 There is no one righteous, not even one.
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
00:10:59 --> 00:11:00 All have turned away.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 They have together become worthless.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 There is no one who does good, not even one.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 No one righteous, no one who seeks God.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:10 Worthless, dead.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:11 And left to our own devices.
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 That is the human condition.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 We are dead in our sins.
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 We are spiritually dead.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:25 So the core of our nature is not that we are basically good.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 It is fundamentally bad.
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 We are spiritually bankrupt.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:40 Even in our morally lapsed society, the aura of bankruptcy which is attached to a person
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 is still a very negative aura.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:48 And here we are saying we are spiritually bankrupt.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 We are spiritually dead.
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 We cannot buy our way out of this scenario.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 We cannot trade our way out of it.
00:11:55 --> 00:11:56 In fact, we are dead.
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 And dead people don't do anything.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:02 They don't have any power.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 No capability.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:13 Now this is not that we are all as bad as that we can be, but that sin has totally marred
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 every aspect of our being.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:21 And the only reason we are not as bad as we are, can be, is because God has still got
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 his gracious hand on us, restraining evil.
00:12:24 --> 00:12:33 Unfortunately, however, some people understand grace as God making up the difference between
00:12:33 --> 00:12:37 our good and the amount of good that he requires.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:42 It's like, you know, we've all got different amounts of good.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:47 A nice middle class person living in Chatswood does a little bit more than a convicted criminal.
00:12:47 --> 00:12:55 And then what God does is he makes up the differences of our good, of what he requires.
00:12:55 --> 00:12:59 So imagine I buy a car that costs $100, but I've only got $50.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:05 And so this view of grace is that what God does is he chips in the extra 50 to make up the
00:13:05 --> 00:13:05 100.
00:13:08 --> 00:13:14 And so the difference between people is the amount of moral credit that we have in our
00:13:14 --> 00:13:15 accounts.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 And God has to chip in more for some than he does for others.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:32 It sounds nice, but it is a grave misunderstanding, both of grace and of our righteousness.
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 We've got nothing to offer, nothing to contribute.
00:13:39 --> 00:13:45 Not only do we not have righteousness in our account, we've actually got debt.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:49 And so we need God's grace not to make up for our deficiencies.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:55 We need his grace to provide a remedy for our guilt and our rebellion, our pollution and
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 our sin and our offenses against God.
00:13:57 --> 00:14:05 We need his grace to provide a satisfaction of his justice to cancel a debt that we cannot
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 pay.
00:14:06 --> 00:14:13 It is absolutely crucial that we understand our plight before God if we are going to understand
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 grace, let alone be amazed by grace.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:25 Because those who have been forgiven little, that is forgiven little in their minds, actually
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 don't love God or love others much.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 This is how one person has put it.
00:14:30 --> 00:14:39 The first and possibly most fundamental characteristic of divine grace is that it presupposes sin and
00:14:39 --> 00:14:39 guilt.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:48 Grace has meaning only when people are seen as fallen, unworthy of salvation and liable to
00:14:48 --> 00:14:49 eternal wrath.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:56 Grace does not contemplate sinners merely as undeserving, but as ill-deserving.
00:14:57 --> 00:15:03 It is not simply that we do not deserve grace, but that we actually do deserve hell.
00:15:06 --> 00:15:10 And that is the bleak pronouncement of our natural state before God.
00:15:10 --> 00:15:16 But it's the very next verse in Ephesians where we have the hope of grace in verses 4 and 5 of
00:15:16 --> 00:15:17 Ephesians 2.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:24 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 even when we were dead in transgressions.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 It is by grace that you have been saved.
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 We were dead in transgressions, but God intervened.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 We were in bondage to sin, but God intervened.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 We were objects of wrath, but God intervened.
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 God, who is rich in mercy, intervened.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:45 And our condition was hopeless, but he intervenes in grace.
00:15:45 --> 00:15:55 And the grace of God is love freely shown towards guilty sinners contrary to their merit and,
00:15:55 --> 00:15:59 in fact, in defiance of their demerit.
00:16:00 --> 00:16:01 Let me say that again.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:07 The grace of God is love freely shown towards guilty sinners contrary to their merit and,
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 in fact, in defiance of their demerit.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:20 So, we get a wonderful glimpse of the way God treats us in that parable that Adam read out to us in Matthew chapter 20 of the workers in the vineyard.
00:16:20 --> 00:16:21 Let's have a look there.
00:16:21 --> 00:16:22 Matthew chapter 20.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 This is not a story about Jewish agribusiness.
00:16:27 --> 00:16:31 Having a farming background and having read my Bible for many years before I became a Christian,
00:16:31 --> 00:16:32 I thought, this is nuts.
00:16:33 --> 00:16:34 Who'd run a farm like that?
00:16:35 --> 00:16:36 You'd go broke in no time.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 Of course, it wasn't about farming.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:39 I didn't know it at the time.
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 It's about God's grace.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:53 The background to Matthew 20 is Jesus telling the story about his encounter with the rich young ruler in Matthew 19.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 You might remember this man comes up to Jesus with a very important question.
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 What must I do to inherit eternal life?
00:17:00 --> 00:17:04 It's a good question, but as we know, he's coming at it from the wrong angle.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:08 Notice the word consistently in that encounter, the word I, I, I.
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 What must I do to inherit eternal life?
00:17:10 --> 00:17:14 It's all about him, his effort to get eternal life.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:18 And as you read the encounter, it seems that he thinks that maybe he's done enough already.
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 Jesus rattles off a few commandments and he's ticking the box in his mind thinking,
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 yeah, I don't stack up too badly.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:25 Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 Jesus says to him, but he needs to do just one more thing.
00:17:28 --> 00:17:28 That's all.
00:17:28 --> 00:17:29 Sell up and follow me.
00:17:30 --> 00:17:34 It's a call to trust Jesus, to stop being reliant upon himself and to put his trust in Jesus.
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 Unfortunately, he's unwilling to sell everything and follow Jesus.
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 And so he walks away sad.
00:17:40 --> 00:17:45 And as that encounter's happening, Peter, James, John and the boys are standing there around.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:45 They're watching it.
00:17:46 --> 00:17:47 They're listening to it.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:53 And Peter chimes in, as he often does, and says, who then can be saved?
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 And Jesus says, with man, this is impossible.
00:17:57 --> 00:18:00 But with God, all things are possible.
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 You get the point?
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 That man is incapable of saving himself.
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 Salvation comes from God.
00:18:10 --> 00:18:14 But notice the very next question that Peter asked.
00:18:14 --> 00:18:30 Do you notice the very sort of strong whiff of merit-based thinking in that question?
00:18:30 --> 00:18:36 He's pointing out to Jesus that we're not like that guy, Jesus, who's just walked away.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 He did not leave everything and follow you.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 But we've done that.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 We left our fishing nets and our family.
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 We've come and followed you, just like you told.
00:18:45 --> 00:18:51 And so, do we get it?
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53 Eternal life, that is.
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 Have we done enough to be saved?
00:19:00 --> 00:19:04 Jesus offers a very gentle response and he follows it up with this parable.
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 That's the context of this parable.
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08 It's pretty straightforward.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 A farmer hires men at different times during the day.
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 We're told he hired them early in the morning, the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour,
00:19:14 --> 00:19:15 and right at the eleventh hour.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:22 Those who began work early in the morning agreed to do a day's work for denarius.
00:19:23 --> 00:19:29 And a denarius was considered what was needed to provide well for a family.
00:19:30 --> 00:19:30 Notice that.
00:19:30 --> 00:19:41 They all received not what they had earned, but what they needed to provide for their family.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:48 That is, they were paid according to grace, not according to debt.
00:19:50 --> 00:19:55 The twist comes at the end of the day when the owner lines them all up and pays them all the same.
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 He gives them all an A+.
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 So to speak.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:07 And the ones who had worked the longest and the hardest, who had been the most diligent,
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 started to grumble.
00:20:10 --> 00:20:11 This isn't fair.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:16 They're the ones who want to talk about what is fair and what isn't fair.
00:20:17 --> 00:20:19 I deserve more because I've done more.
00:20:19 --> 00:20:31 You see, the natural human tendency is not to like everyone getting an A grade regardless of effort.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 Unless, of course, you place yourself right down the end of that line.
00:20:35 --> 00:20:43 And that is why we struggle so much with grace.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 And this is the point that Jim Packer's making.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:58 Our natural moral default position is to count ourselves amongst the 12-hour workers.
00:20:58 --> 00:21:06 We all have a higher view of ourselves morally than what God does.
00:21:07 --> 00:21:11 And so we always place ourselves at that end of the line.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:23 And we always can look down the line and find someone who is more wicked, less moral, less diligent than I am.
00:21:23 --> 00:21:31 And it doesn't matter where you are in society, that will be the case.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:39 I know a guy who was serving two consecutive life sentences in Long Bay Jail for the murder of a mother and her baby.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:51 In the early days of his imprisonment, he was put in the wing, the same wing as the Milpera Bikie Massacre guys.
00:21:51 --> 00:21:53 They beat him up.
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 They poured boiling water all over him.
00:21:55 --> 00:21:56 Why?
00:21:56 --> 00:21:59 Because he was so wicked to kill a baby.
00:22:01 --> 00:22:07 Of course, the ones themselves convicted of killing a seven-year-old, but you killed a baby.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 And that's worse than what we've done.
00:22:11 --> 00:22:18 It doesn't matter where you are in society, you can always find someone less than you.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:24 And so, in a sense, in fact, in reality, this parable is about God's grace.
00:22:25 --> 00:22:26 He's exceeding generosity.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 Every worker got what he needed to provide well for his family.
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 And in a sense, they were right.
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 It's not fair about what this boss is doing.
00:22:37 --> 00:22:39 But that is the point.
00:22:40 --> 00:22:43 Grace isn't about being fair.
00:22:43 --> 00:22:49 It's about God giving us what we don't deserve and saving us from what we do deserve.
00:22:50 --> 00:22:55 The Bible speaks about the amazing extent of God's grace in a number of ways.
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 There's wonderful images right throughout the Bible.
00:22:58 --> 00:23:05 Psalm 103.12 says that our transgressions against God have been removed as far as the east is from the west.
00:23:05 --> 00:23:06 That is a glorious picture.
00:23:06 --> 00:23:13 You see, if you were to start here right now and you headed north, you would eventually reach the North Pole.
00:23:15 --> 00:23:16 Sometime, you'd reach the North Pole.
00:23:17 --> 00:23:22 And at every point from there, you would then start moving in a place called south.
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23 You'd be heading south.
00:23:24 --> 00:23:31 But if we get in a plane and we headed west, we would always head west and we would never meet east.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 That is the point of this parable.
00:23:33 --> 00:23:39 God has removed our sins an infinite distance, an immeasurable distance from us.
00:23:40 --> 00:23:44 Isaiah 38.17, the prophet Isaiah says of God,
00:23:44 --> 00:23:48 You have put all my sins behind your back.
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 They are out of sight for the Christian.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:56 God no longer sees our deliberate disobedience or our marred performance.
00:23:56 --> 00:24:00 An emphasis on the completeness of God's forgiveness occurs in Micah 7.19.
00:24:00 --> 00:24:09 Micah says of God, You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
00:24:10 --> 00:24:12 They haven't been lost overboard.
00:24:12 --> 00:24:19 They have been thrown into the depths of the sea where little submarines can't go.
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 They are gone, forgotten.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:22 They cannot be dredged up.
00:24:22 --> 00:24:25 You cannot get a rope down there and pull them back up again.
00:24:25 --> 00:24:29 Again, Isaiah 43.25 emphasizes the completeness of God's forgiveness.
00:24:30 --> 00:24:37 I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more.
00:24:37 --> 00:24:42 God not only blots out our sins, he remembers them no more.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:48 It's not that God has somehow forgotten them like we might have forgotten where I put my car keys.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:54 He actively chooses not to remember the sins that we have sinned against him.
00:24:55 --> 00:25:00 That is, he has decided never again to bring up those offenses in the future.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:04 And so the blotting them out is in fact a legal act.
00:25:04 --> 00:25:08 It is an official pardon from the Supreme Governor.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:12 And the remembering no more of the sins is a relational act.
00:25:12 --> 00:25:27 It is where the injured party, God, in this case, it is where the injured party has no sense of wanting to bring up being wronged again.
00:25:31 --> 00:25:33 It is both a legal and a relational act.
00:25:33 --> 00:25:41 And so the outcome of God's gracious action towards us is in Colossians chapter 1, where it says that we are free from accusation.
00:25:41 --> 00:25:45 The evil one and other people want to put you in the dock and persecute you.
00:25:48 --> 00:25:55 And when the prosecution comes out, brings out the files, opens the filing cabinet, there is no evidence.
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 It cannot be found.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01 It's as far as the east is from the west.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 It's in the depths of the sea.
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04 And God goes, I don't remember.
00:26:09 --> 00:26:14 God's astounding grace is not just the truth that applies when you become a Christian.
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18 Christianity is not just about getting saved.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:21 It's the very foundation of how Jesus deals with us day by day.
00:26:23 --> 00:26:28 God wants us to renounce all confidence in our moral or religious efforts.
00:26:28 --> 00:26:34 He wants us not only to be saved by grace, but to live day by day in grace as well.
00:26:35 --> 00:26:42 Earlier I mentioned an inadequate, I would suggest, even fatal view of grace.
00:26:42 --> 00:26:46 It is where God makes up the deficiency of our efforts.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:50 And I suspect that many of us would have said, well, I don't believe that.
00:26:51 --> 00:26:52 I know that's wrong.
00:26:52 --> 00:26:54 That's not grace.
00:26:55 --> 00:26:58 And yet, I want to push a little further.
00:27:00 --> 00:27:04 It is how many Christians actually live the Christian life.
00:27:05 --> 00:27:11 We act as if God's grace only makes up what our good works lack.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:25 We at least have a subconscious belief that God's blessings are at least partially earned by our obedience and spiritual disciplines.
00:27:29 --> 00:27:35 Take, for instance, the good works of reformed evangelicalism, Bible reading and prayer.
00:27:35 --> 00:27:50 When you don't do your Bible reading and prayer and something bad happens, do you go, oh, my devotional life's been rubbish lately.
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 Maybe that's it.
00:27:54 --> 00:28:24 Maybe that's it.
00:28:24 --> 00:28:25 Maybe that's it.
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26 I don't.
00:28:26 --> 00:28:28 We all need the same grace.
00:28:29 --> 00:28:36 The sinner doesn't need more grace than the saint, nor does the immature and undisciplined believer need more than the godly, zealous missionary.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:44 We all need the same amount of grace because the currency of our good works is worthless before God.
00:28:44 --> 00:28:50 Neither our merits nor our demerits determine how much grace we need
00:28:50 --> 00:28:55 because grace does not supplement merits or make up for demerits.
00:28:56 --> 00:29:01 Grace doesn't take into account merits or demerits at all.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:05 Grace considers all people totally undeserving
00:29:05 --> 00:29:08 and unable to do anything to earn the blessing of God.
00:29:08 --> 00:29:10 As one author has written,
00:29:10 --> 00:29:14 grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to bestow it
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 in the presence of human merit.
00:29:16 --> 00:29:20 Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to withdraw it
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22 in the presence of human demerit.
00:29:23 --> 00:29:28 Grace is treating the person without the slightest reference to desert whatsoever,
00:29:28 --> 00:29:31 but solely according to the infinite goodness
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 and the sovereign purposes of God.
00:29:35 --> 00:29:39 If you sometimes feel that you deserve an answer to a prayer
00:29:39 --> 00:29:42 or a blessing from God because of your diligence,
00:29:42 --> 00:29:44 hard work or longevity as a Christian,
00:29:45 --> 00:29:48 then you are living by works and not by grace.
00:29:50 --> 00:29:56 But it is just as true that if you sometimes despair of experiencing God's blessing
00:29:56 --> 00:29:58 because of your demerits,
00:29:59 --> 00:30:02 you are also casting aside the grace of God.
00:30:02 --> 00:30:09 John Newton, the low-life slave trader,
00:30:10 --> 00:30:16 wrote the hymn Amazing Grace after his conversion.
00:30:17 --> 00:30:20 And having read a book on Newton recently,
00:30:20 --> 00:30:26 it struck me that he never tired of contemplating with awe and amazement
00:30:26 --> 00:30:31 the wonder of grace that would extend even to him.
00:30:32 --> 00:30:36 And what is astounding is that how much that grace
00:30:36 --> 00:30:42 and appreciation of that grace transformed his relationships with people.
00:30:42 --> 00:30:49 Not everyone, but certainly transformed his relationships with people.
00:30:50 --> 00:30:53 It was the sign that he'd actually understood grace
00:30:53 --> 00:30:57 because grace was worked out in his relationships with others.
00:30:57 --> 00:31:03 But the person who grew up in a godly Christian family,
00:31:03 --> 00:31:05 who trusted Christ at a very early age,
00:31:05 --> 00:31:09 and who has never indulged in the so-called big bad sins,
00:31:10 --> 00:31:13 needs grace just as much as John Newton,
00:31:13 --> 00:31:16 the absolute debauched low-life needed.
00:31:16 --> 00:31:25 And should be just as amazed that God and grace extends to even them.
00:31:28 --> 00:31:31 To the extent that we are clinging to any self-righteousness
00:31:31 --> 00:31:35 or are putting any confidence in our own spiritual attainments,
00:31:35 --> 00:31:40 to that degree, we are not living by grace.
00:31:40 --> 00:31:47 And so, friends, may we believe and live what we sing.
00:31:48 --> 00:31:51 Guilty, vile, and helpless we.
00:31:53 --> 00:31:55 Spotless Lamb of God was he.
00:31:56 --> 00:31:57 Full atonement.
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 Can it be?
00:32:00 --> 00:32:01 Hallelujah. What a saviour.
00:32:02 --> 00:32:04 Or nothing in my hand I bring.
00:32:05 --> 00:32:07 Only to the cross I cling.
00:32:07 --> 00:32:13 Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
00:32:13 --> 00:32:16 We deserve nothing, we were owed nothing,
00:32:17 --> 00:32:20 and yet we have it all through Christ.
00:32:20 --> 00:32:21 Let's stand and sing.