Grace: Only Sinners Need Apply

There is in the Old Testament reading for today a simple truth. It is a truth that is so straightforward, so easily understood that everyone from the smallest child to the most elderly adult can grasp it: Sinners need grace.
Isn’t that just so true? Sinners need God’s grace to restore them, to bring them back from the way of sin and death into the path of righteousness and life. That is the basic message you can hear in nearly any Christian church on nearly any Sunday, it’s that common.
But because it is so common, I think we can often lose sight of how great that truth is! We’re so used to hearing stuff like that, that when we read the words from Isaiah they barely make an impact any more. “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” I can read that—just skim over it—and say, “Yep . . . that’s true. Now moving on . . .” and totally miss the huge, colossal importance of those words.
So you know what? I think it’s time to take a few steps back into Christianity 101. It’s time to review the basics of the faith. Let’s have a little review; let’s talk about grace.
Grace: It’s that magical word in the Bible, the one that talks about God’s love for us. You cannot read one single page in all of the Scriptures without seeing some act of God’s grace. But what does it mean? What is this thing called “grace”?
In today’s reading the prophet Isaiah describes grace in at least three different ways. If you’d like, you could open up your Bibles to Isaiah, chapter fifty-five.
The first item up for review is that grace is free. Isaiah says in verse seven of the wicked man, “Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” God’s grace is free, it doesn’t cost a thing. God Himself says the same thing, using some wonderful picture language in verses one and two. Isaiah 55:1-2 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” You’ve heard of the saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”? Well, there it is . . . a free lunch right in Scripture. There’s no hidden costs or unexpected fees . . . it’s all good.
Now, if you received something for free . . . how long would you expect it to last? _________________ Our first digital camera was a little 640x480 job that we got “free” when we signed up with a particular internet provider. It lasted about a year . . . and I thought we were pretty lucky to have it that long. That’s kind of our understanding of “free” though, isn’t it? “Free gift”, when combined with “special offer” usually means “cheap hunk of plastic that I expect to last about one week.” Right?
But that’s not God’s way. His gift of grace is free . . . but it’s also built for the long haul. In verse three God says, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.” God has made a promise to and through King David—the promise that was fulfilled for you and me in Jesus Christ—and He says that promise is an everlasting covenant. A contract, if you will, by which God binds Himself for all eternity. Simply put, God’s free grace will last forever.
God’s grace is free, God’s grace is everlasting . . . but it’s the third item on our list that really needs to be looked at. God’s grace is for . . . sinners. Think about that for a moment or two . . . God’s grace is for sinners. Verse seven of Isaiah chapter fifty-five says, “7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” Who gets pardoned? The wicked person . . . the evil man . . . the sinner.
You understand what this means, don’t you? God’s not on the lookout for the goody-goodies, He’s not out searching for the righteous ones, the perfect people. He’s asking the wicked, the evil to turn to Him, He’s offering sinners grace.
Grace—that free, everlasting gift of love from God—is that something you want? Does it sound good? I’m sure it does. But there is a catch . . . you have to be a sinner in order to get it. Perfect people don’t get grace, only sinners. But you’re in luck! I’m willing to teach you something today: I’m willing to teach you how to be a sinner!
I know, I know . . . you’re thinking “Now what does Vicar Troy know about sinning? How can he teach us how to be sinners?” But let me assure you, I’ve got years of experience in sinning. You’ve got the best in the business right here today, so let’s get down to work.
Now first, if you’re going to be a sinner, I’d recommend that you get to know just who the sinners are. You want to find out what a sinner looks like. If you’re married, the job is pretty easy . . . your spouse can tell you exactly what a sinner looks like. But whether you’re married or not, I’ve got a sure-fire way for you to tell what a sinner looks like. Tomorrow morning, the very first thing when you get up in the morning . . . head on down to the bathroom . . . turn on the light . . . and look in the mirror. It’s that easy; you’ve just spotted your first sinner of the day! Now, I hear that there are probably a few other sinners around that you might be able to see throughout the day, but the person we’re going to follow around for a good example of how to be a sinner is the person in the mirror.
So, now that you know what a sinner looks like, what does a sinner do? Well, that can be a bit tricky to spot sometimes. Sometimes it’s hard to spot the difference between a fictitious sinner and a real sinner.
What does it mean to be a sinner? A true sinner, a real sinner? I’m often ready to admit to my fictitious sins. But what is a fictitious sin?
Mike McNamara can attest to the fact that I like a good beer every now and then—I think since I’ve been here he’s made two different trips to St. Louis and brought me back approximately 48 of my favorite beers . . . of which I still have about 40 in my fridge. And I’ve always been that way—buy a six pack and keep it for a week, 2 weeks . . . a month. And yes, I’ll also admit that I’ll have a cigar every now and then, like maybe once a year or so. Keep this in mind—it will be important in a minute.
It was several years ago when we were still living in Nebraska. It was well known in the church that I was preparing to head off to seminary, and on Sundays I’d either be working with the little kids in Sunday School or singing with the choir or playing in the praise band or praying with the prayer team. You don’t get much more churchy than that. Now, it was the children’s pastor’s custom at that time to allow the kids to pray, out loud, into a microphone during the Sunday School hour. Whatever was on their heart, they could pray. And on one Sunday it so happened that I had, in the previous week, enjoyed the luxury of both my annual cigar and sipped a beer as well. And so my son . . . the son of the future seminarian . . . the son of the guy in the praise band and on the choir . . . the son of the “churchy” guy . . . my son steps up to the mic, takes a deep breath, and says right in front of the children’s pastor and the whole Sunday School, “Dear Lord . . . please help my Dad stop smoking and drinking so much!”
Now THERE’S a fictitious sin! I hadn’t done anything wrong, I hadn’t consumed to excess, I wasn’t staggering around drunk . . . and I still get prayed for by the whole Sunday School!
Oh, it’s the fictitious sins that are easy to admit to. And if it gets real bad, we can even admit to those little sins like a little gossip, a little white lie, a little here, a little there . . . but God doesn’t give grace for fictitious sins.
No, a true sinner actually sins. The sinner has actually done something in his or her own life that is really, really ugly. Wrong. Hurtful. The true sinner can’t look at those things and just laugh them off. You can’t take back a real sin, you can’t pretend it never happened. The true sinner looks at that person in the mirror and says, “I hate the things you’ve done.” There is no joy in the sin, it is a wicked, evil act that separates the sinner from family, that separates the sinner from God.
That’s the kind of sin you need to have in order to get grace. No more fictitious sins . . . only the real ones. Any sinners like that here? __________________
That’s good . . . because grace is for sinners. Only sinners need apply. But to take care of sin, it is only grace that needs to be applied.
In one of my favorite scenes from the movie Luther, Martin is preaching on this very subject. And in that, he presents the scenario in which the Devil would come and accuse the believers. “You deserve nothing but death and Hell” . . . says Satan. And Martin says the next time he comes around, tell Satan, “I admit I deserve death and Hell . . . what of it? For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, where He is there I shall be also!”

There is nothing else to say! Our sins do cause us to deserve death and Hell . . . and yet God chooses to give us poor sinners His gift of free, everlasting grace. Does it make sense? Does that seem like a good deal for God? Would we do the same if it were us? NO! But at the end of our reading in Isaiah God says, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
His ways are NOT our ways! Our ways say that one good turn deserves another, that if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours . . . but God’s ways say that only the wicked, the evil, the sinners get grace. And in this we can rejoice, because we are sinners. And so we do turn away from our wicked and evil ways, we repent of the harsh things that we’ve done or spoken, but we do so in a way that acknowledges that we are still true sinners in need of God’s grace.

If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly[by which Luther means to recognize that you are a sinner], but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. . . . Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small? Pray boldly—you too are a mighty sinner.

Martin Luther