GRACE IS REALLY GOOD NEWS

Romans 5:1 - 20

The Grand Canyon is one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the world.  The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, a mile deep and it is very wide.  At its narrowest, it is 600 yards wide (about the length of six football fields).  At its widest, it is 18 miles wide (that is farther than from here to Olney).  And the average is 10 miles wide (that is further than from here to Wal-Mart in Flora).

Can you imagine being told you have to jump across the Grand Canyon?  I wonder how far you can jump.  I need three volunteers to jump and we will measure to see how far they can jump.

Wow!  Some of you can jump really far.  But you can’t jump far enough to jump across the Grand Canyon, can you?

The farthest anyone has ever jumped in a long jump competition is 29 feet 4½ inches.  That is a really long jump but it isn’t nearly long enough to get from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other…not even at the narrowest point.  And if you were to jump and not get all the way across, you would fall one mile to the bottom of the canyon and you would die.

It is impossible for anyone to jump across the Grand Canyon. 

The Bible says that when we sin, it creates a gulf (or a canyon) between God and us.  That canyon is so wide that we cannot leap across it no matter how hard we try.  It is impossible to leap across the canyon between God and man.

Some people think that if they are good enough, they can get to God by themselves.  But the fact is that no one is good enough to get to God by himself.  Even if you are ten times better than anyone else in the world, you still aren’t good enough to get to God by yourself because you are not perfect.  In fact, the Bible says we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  And when we fall short, it is just like trying to jump across the Grand Canyon and falling short: we die.

So does that mean we can never get to God?  Well, it would except for one thing: Jesus Christ, God’s son, died to make a way for us to get back to God.  In 1^st Timothy 2:4 & 6, the apostle Paul wrote:

For He longs for all to be saved and to understand this truth; that God is on one side and all the people on the other side, and Christ Jesus, himself man, is between them to bring them together by giving his life for all mankind.

It is as impossible for anyone to come to God on his own as it is for anyone to jump the Grand Canyon on his own.  The good news of the gospel is that you don’t have to try to come to God on your own.  Jesus Christ is the bridge who gives you access to God.  You can get to God by Jesus.  In fact, that is the only way to get to God.

Now, since we cannot go to heaven when we die without coming to God while we are alive, it is very good news that Jesus made a way.  That is the message of Romans chapter 5: God made a way for us to come to Him and the way is Jesus Christ.

INVITATION:                        #349 – “Precious Lord Take My Hand”

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