The Benefit of Grace | April 27, 2022

Who is someone you would consider a saint? Usually it is the most godly or impactful person you know. In the catholic faith, someone becomes a saint after they die if their life is evaluated and they are found to live virtuously, as a servant of God, and have performed at least one miracle or if someone prays to them after their death and a miracle occurs.

* Conversation with a catholic and how excited he was to talk about saints and popes *

Where the real excitement is…because the real miracle is…is that you and I are considered saints. We are called saints, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of everything He’s done. Paul calls the church in Corinth saints.

1 Corinthians 1:1-4

Tonight, we’re going to look at one of the great many benefits of being a Christian—the one that allows a sinful church like Corinth to be called saints—grace.

Now, before we get started in this, what are benefits? Really, when we think about it, it is something we get when we deserve or have earned something (Gym membership benefits…Health benefits with job…Membership to retail chains…Kroger discount off groceries and gas…Discount card…$20 gets you discounts off all kinds of restaurants around town). In all of these, we get benefits because we put something in, we’ve earned it, we deserve it.

But, the benefits of being a Christian are completely different. One of the greatest benefits of being a Christian is grace (charisa). It is undeserved, not-able-to-be-paid-back kindness. It is undeserved, unearned forgiveness. This word refers to some time in the past at a very point in time, a moment of time, that you were given grace. And that grace continues on into eternity.

When you were saved, you became a saint…you became a Christian…you were given grace in that very moment…you were forgiven and free…you were a saint from that moment forward…you were given grace. So, if you’re in Christ and you are a saint and you have grace…let’s see what you can no longer have. That’s part of the benefit. There are some negative things that cannot coexist with grace.

1) You cannot have guilt with grace. Guilt cannot coexist with grace. Grace and guilt cannot go together.

Romans 8:1

Grace is not grace if God says I will be gracious to you if you do not sin. That’s not grace. If grace is withheld from the sinner in the least degree because of their sin, then it isn’t grace. Grace is undeserved, unearned favor.

This is what brought Paul to say what he did in Romans 5:6-8, 18-20.

But that doesn’t mean we go on sinning (Romans 6:1-2)

So, how much of a sinner’s sins are forgiven? All of them! No wonder Paul thanks God for grace. Are you thankful for that kind of grace? Are you thankful for the grace that’s forgiven you of all your sin and holds you absolutely guiltless before God for the rest of your eternity? You say that’s awesome! And if you’re hearing this and you’re not a Christian (you’ve never surrendered your heart and life to Jesus), isn’t this somewhat inviting for God to say to you, “I will cleanse all your sin before my eyes, I will forgive all of it, I will set aside all your guilt, I will hold you blameless and holy forever.” Isn’t that a nice offer? That leads us to our next point…

2) You cannot pay grace back. Grace cannot exist with human obligation. Grace is not something you have to pay back.

You can’t say, “Well God was gracious to me and He saved me and now I’ve got to pay Him back. I owe Him!” You can’t do that.Can you pay back a gift? No, it’s no longer a gift then.Even if you wanted to and sought to, grace is not something you CAN pay back.For what can you pay someone who has everything?

Paul gets into this in Romans 4, talking about Abraham being justified through his faith, and not by the law (not earned) and how that trickles all the way to us.

Romans 4:13-16, 20-25; 5:1-2

Our very faith is by the grace of God. Our faith doesn’t save us…it’s th