God’s grace is a lot bigger than you think it is.

Steve Brown:
God’s grace is a lot bigger than you think it is. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’ve suffered too long under a do more, try harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free. Steve invited Jerry Parries to teach us this week. Jerry is an author and the pastor of Christian Family Worship Center, House of Grace.

Steve Brown:
If you’re just joining us, Jerry Parries is teaching us this week on his favorite subject. I have quoted Jerry everywhere I go. One of the most enlivening, exciting statements I ever heard was spoken by Jerry.

You’ll run out of sin before God runs out of grace.

Every time I think about that I go, you know, that’s the Christian faith.

Jerry Parries:
That is.

Steve Brown:
And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. You know, there may be some people who are listening who are not Christians, they’re flipping across the dial and they hear us talking and say well they sound reasonably intelligent, but man, they’re saying some crazy things. Or maybe you’re a person, a Christian, who needs assurance? You know, years ago, you came running to Jesus, and you’ve wondered if you’ve lost it. If maybe grace wasn’t enough, maybe you’ve got to do a little bit more, and work a little bit harder, and be better than you are. So, Jerry, I’m there sometimes, and I expect you to teach me during this broadcast.

Jerry Parries:
Well, man, let me tell you that all of us run into those moments where we feel like, Man, God, are you still with me through this? Are you still with me? And he is always there. And that’s what we’re going to talk about. It is through God’s grace that we are saved and forgiven. Grace is really enough. I like John, because sometimes I’m reminded in I John 1:8 it says.

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

All of us have sinned, we all fall short. But here’s the good news, Steve.

But if you confess your faults, he is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

He’s faithful and just to do it, every time that you mess up, you screw up, just simply say, Father, I’m confessing that I did it, I messed up, but I agree with your word that I am already forgiven. I’m already whole. I’m already clean. That’s the good news of the gospel of grace.

Steve Brown:
You know, it’s the basis of Key Life for which you’re one of the voices, that God really isn’t mad at his own. He never is, but we think he is. Because we judge him in terms of the experiences of our lives. Maybe a father we couldn’t please, or a teacher, or a friend who rejected us, or a club that wouldn’t make us a part of it. And we begin to think of God in those terms. And what you’re saying is don’t do that.

Jerry Parries:
No, not at all. Let me tell you something and I want you to hear me real good in the radio airwaves here. God is never disappointed in you. Let me tell you, let me say that again. God is never disappointed in you. You want to know why? Because disappointment comes with unmet expectations. If you think somebody’s going to do something and they don’t do it, then you’re disappointed. But in God, he already knows what you’re going to do before you do it. He knew what you’re going to do before you were created. He knows your beginning to your end. So, there’s nothing you could do to surprise God. So, he’s never disappointed in you because he never thought you were going to do it anyway.

Steve Brown:
God never says I had such high hopes for you, because he didn’t. He had a realistic view of exactly where we would be, what we would do, the things we would think.

Jerry Parries:
Yes, things we would say, places we would go. And he put himself on the cross to pay for all of those sins. Listen, let me read this, Steve. This is one of my favorite Scriptures. I absolutely shout on this every time I read it. Colossians first chapter: 19th verse all the way down to the 23rd, it says.

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled, through Christ God reconciled everything unto himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

Verse 21

this includes you

me, this excludes you and me, Steve.

who were far away from God. You were his enemies separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, but yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body.

And this is what happened when Jesus died and rose again.

As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and now you stand before him holy, blameless, without a single fault.

And then verse 23 says, and this is what you were talking about.

But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it.

Steve Brown:
That means lean on, that’s what Martin Luther meant when he said sin boldly. He wasn’t encouraging sin, he was saying lean boldly on God’s grace and the promises you’ve been given.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, listen, when you know that you stand before God, holy, blameless, without a single fault that God has forgiven you of your past, your present, and your future sins, it doesn’t make you sin more. That’s what people, people think that when we preach grace, that people just going to go out and go sin crazy. Well, we don’t need to preach grace for people to go sin crazy. They’re already doing sin crazy. Our job is to let them know that even though you can’t reach that mark, even though that you give up, or even though you throw in the towel, you don’t have to, God has already forgiven you. And when he looks at you, when Jesus looks at you, not when your husband or your pastors or your friends, and when they look at you, they see your faults. But when Jesus looks at you, he looks at the, when God looks at you, he looks at the blood of Jesus that has been placed over your life and you in his presence is holy, blameless, without a single fault.

Steve Brown:
You know, the theologians call that imputation. That the righteousness, the goodness, the purity of the Son of God has been given to us.

Jerry Parries:
Yes, imputed righteousness.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, it’s amazing.

Jerry Parries:
Romans talk about that. Romans in the fourth chapter, Paul says, David spoke about this in the Old Testament. He says.

What joy it is when sin will not be imputed to us.

Man, that’s good news. That’s great news. You wrote a book, a commentary on Romans, didn’t you? I did. Romans from first chapter all the way to chapter 16, we explain every verse in the Bible. It’s broken up like this chapter one, two, and three is the need for grace. Chapter four, five, six, seven, and eight is the application of grace. Nine, 10 and 11 is Israel rejection of grace. Twelve, 13, 14, 15, 16 is how you should live now that you’re walking in grace. Twelve

And once I beseech you, therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.

Because it’s reasonable after all he’s done for you in 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. It’s reasonable to live holy.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, I love that book. It’s still in print, isn’t it?

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, yeah. In fact, you can go to Key Life website and pick it up.

Steve Brown:
Okay, and what’s the name of the book?

Jerry Parries:
Grace: The Real Good News of the Gospel.

Steve Brown:
You look like you forgot the name of your own book there.

Jerry Parries:
I got so involved in the conversation.

Steve Brown:
It really is enough, isn’t it?

Jerry Parries:
It really is enough. In fact, it’s not a mistake. God, grace is not a mistake. Grace is, you know, most people think Adam got in the garden and screwed up and God had to come up with a second plan.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. Plan B.

Jerry Parries:
Plan B. No, grace was always God’s first plan. It always has been his plan. It’s been his plan because when you walk in the grace of God, you walk in the love of God. You will never be able to know his love until you know his grace.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. You won’t know it’s love until you know you’re unlovable.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah. Jesus.

Steve Brown:
Once that happens, it’s how I became a spiritual giant.

Jerry Parries:
Amen.

Steve Brown:
If you believe that you’ll believe anything, but I’m better.

Jerry Parries:
Well, Jesus said he that sins much and forgiven much.

Steve Brown:
That’s true. Loves much.

Jerry Parries:
Loves much. So, that means the less you sin, the less you love.

Steve Brown:
You’re not encouraging people to go out and sin.

Jerry Parries:
Absolutely not. Absolutely not. But when you screw up and mess up so badly and God still allows you to come home like the Prodigal Son, you realize that my daddy really does love me. It makes you love him more.

Steve Brown:
You know, I had a father like the one in the Prodigal Son story.

Jerry Parries:
I do too.

Steve Brown:
And, you know, that’s where we got it. You know, most days when I’m praying to my Father I thank him for my biological father.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Because in my dad, I saw the reality of somebody that loves you no matter where you go and no matter what you do.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, my dad was the same way, man. I, my dad never spanked me, never hollered at me, never punished me. He loved me. When I would do something wrong, he would look at me and say, why did you do that? And he’ll hug me. He hugged me. And it was the greatest, man, I loved my father. He would come home and just bring me candy and all that. He spoiled me rotten. I could do no wrong in front of him. And I realized when my mother, she was law, my dad was grace. And when my mother would spank me, my dad would stand in the middle of her and he would take the hits for me.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, that is, that’s God.

Jerry Parries:
Yes.

Steve Brown:
That was an example that Jerry was giving you of the way God is. He’s really not angry at you. He really does love you. And he knows every secret you have, every sin you committed, every place you’ve gone. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
You’ll run out of sin before God runs out of grace, such a powerful statement that we need to be reminded of. Thank you Steve and Jerry. We’re in a special series this week called God’s Grace is Enough, and we shall continue with the series tomorrow. You don’t want to miss that. Well, in John 18, Pilot famously asked Jesus, what is truth? Well, that’s a good question, and the answer is far from abstract or academic, because more and more, we brush up against a worldview that says, it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe something, and you’re sincere about it, and you’re tolerant of others who don’t believe what you believe. Well, Steve addressed this crisis in a timely message called A Matter of Truth, and if you’ll call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE, we’ll send you that message on CD for free. Again, that number is 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact for our mailing addresses. Just ask for your free copy of the CD called A Matter of Truth. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help us share that blessing through your financial support? Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Simply text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 and follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.