“All that the Law says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as you love yourself.” Gal 5:14 CEV

Why Extend Grace to Other Sinners?

In the question is the answer.

Why extend grace to other sinners, because sinners need grace. Sinners cannot mend themselves. Sinners cannot meet the demands of the law. Sinners are lawbreakers, that is what a sinner is. Sinners are not people who do right all the time. Sinners include those who do wrong all the time as well as those who do right most of the time and have failures from time to time. Sinners include those who think of themselves as righteous because most of the time no flagrant sins are committed. (Did you notice we are talking about sinners as “them”? Pretty hard to say “us” when talking about being sinners!

The fact is a sinner is one who has sinned. A sinner is one with a sinful heart. A sinner is one who is born in sin with a sinful nature and needs a Saviour—Jesus to save from sin. In short sinners need grace. What Jesus does for us is all Grace. There is no self-righteousness in it. Salvation for each of us is in Jesus and Jesus only. It is all about Jesus and zero about the sinner. The one thing a sinner can do is to confess sin and cry out to Jesus for His forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

The crying out part will only happen when the sinner realizes how utterly evil sin is. The crying out part will only happen when the sinner accepts the fact that they are lost in sin that the righteous God of the entire universe abhors the sinfulness found in them. There is no place for sin in God’s universe. God does not tolerate sin, ever—not ever. Sin is the enemy of every creature—every creature. Sin has made life hard for every animal as well as every human, as well as for every angel. Sin has hurt all. Sin continues to hurt all. Sin crucified Jesus. Sin is evil. Sin is ugly. Sin is damaging. Sin is the enemy, and there is no place at all for sin in God’s kingdom. Sin tears the family apart. Sin leaves scars in our hearts. What words can be found to say how bad awful sin is? God hates sin and with good reason. Sin has torn His creation apart. Sin has ripped His family from Him. Sin has cost God everything. Sin has cost God His only begotten one of a kind Son—Jesus Christ our Lord. There is nothing good about sin—NOTHING.

If sin ever appears to look good to us it is because we are looking through eyes that have been damaged by the poison dust the evil one has put in the air we breath, in the images of the world. Sinful, poisonous inoculations are offered everywhere we turn. It is the purpose of the evil imposter physician to inoculate each of us so sin no longer looks sinful.

The really bad part of it is that his evil concoction is most effective. We are weak and vulnerable when it comes to protecting ourselves from this all pervasive sin bacteria made to look sparkling bright on the outside, yet inside it is so dark it zaps all light it encounters.

We are far too fallen to be able to defend ourselves. We are like sitting ducks just waiting to be shot. We are easy targets. The fact that most of the time the bullets miss us or at least we think they do, we are inclined to think we are safe. We whisper among ourselves when we see a fellow duck with a bullet in a wing, damaged and unable to fly. “They should have been more careful.” “I never would have done what they did.” “They should have known they would take a bullet when they were right in the line of sight of the evil hunter.” Well maybe they should have but they didn’t and the fact that they didn’t is no assurance that we won’t be next. All that needs to happen is that we take our eyes off Jesus for just a moment and the next bullet could be ours.

Therein is the other reason we need to extend grace to sinners. What is that reason? Why should we extend grace to other sinners? BECAUSE WE ARE SINNERS TOO, that is why we all need to extend grace to other sinners. Let’s not be too dull here.

Who builds hospitals? Well people build hospitals. Why do well people build hospitals? Well people build hospitals because they know they will one day need hospitals themselves. Sure they know others will need them too but the fact is we just may find ourselves in need of health care ourselves in spite of living healthy lives. Why is this true? It is true because we are all human and humans are prone to get sick and die.

We can deny that we will ever need a hospital. We can deny that we will ever need an undertaker. We can deny that we will ever sin and by that we mean really sin, and by that we mean get caught in a sinful act that is really, really looked down on (by other sinners.)

The fact is that all of us are sinners already. Already we all need grace. There is not one who can claim the right to the tree of life and

the home of God based on their own record of righteous living. THERE IS NONE.

“If the bodies professedly laid upon the altar of God should pass that scrutiny that was given the Jewish sacrifice, how few would stand the test and be pronounced perfect before God, preserved unto holiness, free from the taints of sin or pollution.” TSB 99.4

Is this a theme we should consider from time to time? No it is not. We should not consider this theme from time to time. This is THE theme we must consider repeatedly--frequently.

“There is not a point that needs to be dwelt upon more earnestly, repeated more frequently, or established more firmly in the minds of all than the impossibility of fallen man meriting anything by his own best good works. Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone.” Faith and Works, PP 18-19

This statement places all sinners in the same condition. WE ALL need JESUS!

Sin is an awful thing. We are all born sinful. We have all added to our sinfulness by cultivating sin in some form in our own lives. There are none of us fit to withhold grace from other sinners. None of us has the right to withhold grace from any other sinner who is repentant. Until we are able to extend grace to repentant sinners does it not show that we at least to some degree have not internalized the fact that we personally are totally saved by the Grace of God? Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone and that is for all who are saved. There is no other way.

What is this grace and why is it needed?

“The law demands righteousness, and this the sinner owes to the law; but he is incapable of rendering it. The only way in which he can attain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner’s account. Christ’s righteousness is accepted in place of man’s failure, and God receives, pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul, treats him as though he were righteous, and loves him as He loves His Son.” 1 SM p. 367

That is GRACE. WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW.

There are twenty WOWs there and more are needed to finish expressing the song of the heart that grasps what is there.

The law demands righteousness The sinner owes righteousness to the law The sinner is incapable of rendering it The only way the sinner can attain to righteousness is through

faith By faith the sinner can bring to God the merits of Christ. The Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner’s

account. Christ righteousness is accepted in place of man’s failure God receives the repentant believing soul God pardons the repentant believing soul God justifies the repentant believing soul God treats the repentant believing soul as if the repentant

believing soul were righteous God loves him as he loves His Son.

This is why sinners must extend grace to other sinners! God extends grace to REPENTANT BELIEVING SINNERS and then treats them AS IF THEY WERE RIGHTEOUS.

This is a tough concept for us to wrap our minds around. Some how in there somewhere there just must be something of our goodness, so our minds reason. Thus the elder son reasoned in the prodigal son story, but he was wrong—dead wrong! All sons who live with the Father do so because the Father is the righteous One.

In His sermon on the mount as He was coming to the conclusion Jesus tells of those who are standing there claiming right to enter into the kingdom. Mat 7:22-23 KJV: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? (23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

What is the evil they are guilty of? Is Jesus saying that prophesying or casting out devils or doing wonderful works in the name of Jesus is evil? Not at all. Then what is the problem? The problem is they are claiming the right to enter the kingdom based on what they have done! This is a problem for the “righteous” among us. Remember all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rages. Is. 64:6.

The fact is any sinner who enters God’s kingdom will do so as sinners saved by grace.

If at this moment we are thinking but I am different. I have been very good. I have never done any of those really evil things… If those thoughts are lingering in our heads then we must drop to our knees right now, without delay before we drop suddenly dead. We must drop to our knees and confess to the Father, “I am a sinner saved by the Grace You have given to me through Jesus Christ my Lord. Thank You so much!”

How can we treat other sinners without grace? How can we look down our noses at other sinners when we are sinners as well? How? We can’t and we know it too.

When Jesus taught His followers to pray He said: Mat 6:12, 14, 15 KJV: “ And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors… For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

In the same sermon Jesus said: Mat 7:1-5 KJV: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. (2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. (3) And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (4) Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? (5) Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”

If we harbor any thoughts that we should not extend grace to other sinners we are walking into quick sand and we are condemning ourselves!

Sinners need to extend grace to other sinners because in so doing sinners realize that this is exactly how Jesus treats repentant believing sinners, and if we are repentant believing sinners then we can lay claim to His saving Grace!

When the Father extends grace to the repentant believing sinners He then treats him/her as if he/she was righteous and loves him/her as He loves His own Son Jesus! Can we ask for anything more?

If we are inclined to think we need to demand some pain from the sinner, is it possible that we feel this way because we are more concerned about what we consider to be our loss than we are for the eternal well being of the repentant believing sinner?

How do we treat a fallen child? In the same way we must treat a fallen brother or sister in the faith. Think about it.

The child falls and scrapes his knee. We give him some tender loving care, some clean up, some disinfectant, and a bandage if the wound is bad enough, repeated treatment of the wound until the wound is “all better” and the scab is gone.

The child falls, breaks his leg. We give him some tender loving care, support the broken leg, a trip to the emergency room or doctors office, the leg is set and put in a cast, crutches, pillows, blankets, assistants in various ways, time allowed to heal while good nutrition is administered, discussions about safety to prevent future falls, cast removed, x-rays to be sure the bone is properly healed, rehab learning to walk again, muscle strengthening to restore the ability of the fallen one to walk well again.

Once all of this is past and the fallen one is walking well and running once again, while we remember they had a fall and a broken leg, we no longer let that shape how we treat them. We now expect them to get up out of their chair and take part in the duties of the home/school/church simply because they are well again. We expect them to work beside us because we need them and they have something to contribute to our mutual goal. They are part of the body of Christ and happen to have a healed formerly broken leg.

We don’t hold it against them that they have a broken leg. We feel for them. They are embarrassed. They are hurting. They are limited in what they can do and they need all of us to help. Perhaps we should take food to them. Perhaps we should mow their law for them. Perhaps we should invite them to our beach house to rest a while and get their strength back. Perhaps there are a lot of things we should and would do just because we want to do these things for them because we care about them.

When we are not sitting in the seat of the judge we don’t worry about how things look. We worry about how the fallen one feels and what their needs are. We think about how we would want to be treated if we were the one who had fallen and broken our leg. And that is the point. We treat others the way we want to be treated. That is the very thought Jesus shared in the midst of the same Sermon on the Mount. Mat 7:12 KJV: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

So we want to uphold the law? Then we must treat others, as we want to be treated.

Sad but true, if we intend to shoot everyone with a broken leg there is no need to build hospitals or doctors offices. If we plan to restore one who has fallen and broken a leg then we need to have a plan to care for the fallen with the stated purpose of full restoration!

Gal 6:1-2 KJV, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (2) Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

How easy it is to be so very sure that we would never do such a thing as the other sinner. Don’t be so very sure. Just because we are confidant does not mean it won’t happen. Remember how very sure Peter was that he would stand by Jesus no matter what? And what did Jesus say? Mat 26:34 KJV, “Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.”

Once again we ask ourselves the question: “Why extend grace to other sinners?” The answer is simple. Other sinners need grace as much as we do, and we are sinners like it or not. Furthermore if the only ones who are invited to enter into ministry are those who have never sinned then there are none who qualify, unless of course we excuse our own sins as not being so very sinful that we need grace!

We need to—we must extend grace to every repentant, believing sinner if we expect forgiveness and grace to be extended to us. Those are the rules of the game as Jesus presented them. Jesus doesn’t deviate from the rules either. Winners of the game of life/salvation win by extending grace to, and receiving grace from, other believing, repentant sinners, because the God of Grace and Mercy and Forgiveness has shown us The Way, and He treats us as righteous and He loves us as He loves His Son!

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Well you get the picture.

Exodus 34:6, “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”

Exodus 34:7, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…”

Consider exactly how you would be feeling when you realize that your fellow believers have just learned that you have had a moral fall. How ashamed you would feel! As you repent and reaffirm your belief in the power of the Lord to save you from sin and again turn your back on sin what kind of care would you most cherish from your church family, your pastor, your conference leadership, and others? Would you have confidence that they will love you and will care for you and encourage you as you work through the damage from your fall? Or do you think the concern will be for their reputation if they don’t take actions to “deal with” you? Do you think they will be more concerned for the reputation of the church?

It was Jesus who said in John 13:34-35 KJV, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. (35) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

Was this really a new commandment? No not at all, but the believers were so focused on the law and establishing that they were keepers of the law that the foundational element of love was badly missing. Catching a sinner in sin, in the very act was more important to them than to even consider the needs of the sinner and show concern for the fallen one.

Whenever it is the law, the law, the law we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa. When it is the law, the law, the law, there is a reaction against the law that does not serve the Lord of the law Who is also the Lord of Mercy. The result is a turning towards a careless life to establish “we” are not a part of the hardhearted law thumpers, and then we all wonder why there is such carelessness in the body of believers.

Treating repentant believing sinners with coldness and casting them aside offends the moral sensibilities of loving believers. However, as in the case of the blind man who Jesus healed and the religious leaders asked his parents about it they backed away fearful lest they too be viewed as a liberal, lest they be cast out of the church.

We must find a way to love sinners, hate sin, and make it easier for sinner to repent and work at restoration than to give up and turn away into a life of sin.

Mat 22:36-40 KJV, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? (37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with

all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

When Jesus spoke these words, who was he talking about? Who is this neighbour we are to love? Is He speaking of our family only? Is He speaking of those good folks around us who have not had what we would normally think of as major falls? Or is Jesus thinking of anyone who is our neighbour—anyone who is near us?

When Jesus speaks of loving our neighbour as ourselves did He really include those who have made what we might think of as major blunders? If He is then He is speaking of a Heaven born type of love because there is no selfishness in this type of love at all. It is all of mercy and grace. It is all about saving, restoring, and reclaiming our brother/sister. It is not blindly extended to others who choose the way of sin. It is for repentant believing sinners.

Is it possible we expect those who most need our love and support and care are by standard and practice required to go it alone when they most need level heads and loving arms of support?

“The story is often told about Jackie Robinson the first African American to play major league baseball. Breaking baseball’s color barrier, with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he faced jeering crowds in every stadium. While playing one day in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error. The fans began to ridicule him. During a delay in the game Robinson stood at second base, humiliated, his head down and began to sob. The fans jeered and threw objects at him. But about that time, Brooklyn’s shortstop Pee Wee Reese, a white man came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd and as they stood there the fans grew quiet. Robinson later said, ‘That arm around my shoulder saved my career.’” www.Sermoncentral.com

Sinners do need to extend grace to other repentant, believing sinners! It makes such a difference.