The Story of Grace

1 John 2:1-2 – “I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus.
When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good - not only ours, but the whole world's.”

The unconditional, all-encompassing grace of God is not an excuse for us to sin. The reality is that sin carries a price tag. Not with God – He does not condemn us or punish us for our sins. Jesus carried that judgment and punishment in full. But sin does have consequences, and they are often painful.

However, the reality is that we all sin and fail. The Bible says that if anyone says he has no sin, he is a liar and he deceives himself. Now the devil has twisted the truth, and people confuse the consequences of sin with the punishment of God. Settle this issue for once and for all – God does NOT punish sin. Since the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, sin does not separate us from God.

But I still meet people all the time who are living in deep condemnation because of past failures. These people feel unworthy to ask God to help them dealing with the consequences of their failures, because they feel they have disappointed God too deeply and too often. Perhaps you are at a place where you’re about to quit on God. You feel that somehow you’re worse than other people, and your sins are greater and more regular than anyone else.

You need to good dose of the love and grace of God. Perhaps you will find it in this beautiful story;

Fiorella LaGuardia was the mayor of New York during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of World War II. He was adored by the citizens of New York – a colorful character who used to ride the New York fire trucks, carried out raids with the police department, and would take entire orphanages to baseball games.

One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Within a few moments, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. “It’s a bad neighborhood, you Honor,” the man told the mayor. “She’s got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson.”

LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said, “I’ve got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions – ten dollars or ten days in jail.” But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it on the bench saying: “Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.”

So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.

What an extraordinary demonstration of grace. You know what – we, with all of heaven can stand and give the greatest author of grace a standing ovation – for solving our sin problem for once and for all.

Here’s the issue: Your sins and failures are no longer a barrier between you and God. People who say that God is judging the world, or judging people, have absolutely no concept of the real story of the Bible. It’s the story of grace! And it’s your story. It is my story. Have you been running away from your Father, instead of running to Him, afraid of His judgment? Fear no more! Turn around, and run home today. He's waiting - waiting for you!