Recap
• Two weeks ago, we starting looking at our tendency towards self-justification & rationalization, which is the temptation that we face when we are accused of wrongdoing.
• Paul knows that when some people are confronted with this, even some Christians, that their inner defense attorney will come out & start the process of blame-shifting, pointing that finger at anyone but them (even God), & trying to make themselves look like either the victim or the righteous one. Either way, it is always someone else’s
• Remember, according to the book, “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me),” [Self-justification] allows people to convince themselves that what they did was the best thing they could have done. In fact, come to think of it, it was the right thing. “There was nothing else I could have done.” “Actually, it was a brilliant solution to the problem.”
• Two weeks ago, we talked about two of those effects: First, self-justification turns the blessing of God into curses. Secondly, self-justification distorts the gracious character of God.
Self-justification redefines sin as a way to achieve what is
(vv. 5-6)
• Romans 3:5-6 | 5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
• As strange as this may sound, remember one of the things we say about sin: sin makes you
• Judgment on wrong results in what is right being brought to the forefront, so in the wicked, sinful, twisted center of self-justification, my
Self-justification leads us to cheapen God’s
(vv. 7-8)
• Romans 3:7-8 | 7 “But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?” 8 “And why not do evil that good may come?”—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
• What is cheap grace? Don’t think that it means that you have to earn or pay for grace. God’s grace is
• Robbie Castleman >> Cheap grace sells us a comfortable Jesus to whom we sing affectionate valentines. Cheap grace substitutes the fear of the Lord for a fear of the world. Cheap grace hides our light under wonderfully pious lampshades, and cheap grace renders the salt of the earth as just so much tasteless landfill…Salvation is a free gift of God’s grace earned by the work of Jesus Christ alone. And this free gift will cost you everything’.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer (the first to coin the term) >> Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace … is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
• In this particular passage, according to the ESV Study Bible, it is the belief that God receives more
Conclusion
• Bonhoeffer >> Cheap Grace is the deadly enemy of our church. It is grace without price: grace without cost!… Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine … an intellectual assent … Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner … Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession … Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
• Those who play games with God breath the air of self-justification & trust in a