Living By Grace

January 25, 2004
Bob Murray

Justice: Getting exactly what we deserve.

Mercy: Getting less punishment than we deserve.

Grace: Getting what we don't deserve in blessings.

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."
2 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

The Bad News:

1. We are all natural born sinners.
   "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned."
   Romans 5:12 (NIV)
   
   "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."
   Psalms 51:5 (NIV)
   
   
2. We all live in the struggle.
   "As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;"
   Romans 3:10 (NIV)
   
   "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
   Romans 3:23 (NIV)
   
   "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. [16] And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. [17] As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. [24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
   Romans 7:15-17 & 24 (NIV)
   
   
3. We all die as sinners.
   "For the wages of sin is death,"
   Romans 6:23a (NIV)
   
   

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man,"
Romans 5:17a (NIV)

The Good News:

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV)

1. Grace comes through Christ.
   "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
   John 1:17 (NIV)
   
   "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
   Romans 5:8 (NIV)
   
   "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!"
   Romans 5:15 (NIV)
   
   "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
   Galatians 2:21 (NIV)
   
   
2. Grace breaks the power of sin.
   "Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
   
   Romans 5:11 (NIV) "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. [18] Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men."
   Romans 5:17-18 (NIV)
   
   "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
   Romans 6:11 (NIV)
   
   
3. Grace changes my destiny.
   "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
   Romans 6:23 (NIV)
   
   "So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
   Romans 5:21 (NIV)