You want a free car?
You want a brand new car?
You want a Porsche, a Lamborghini Diablo, a Lexus?
You want a MasterCard with unlimited spending and no bills to pay … ever?
Folks, at the very heart of scripture (and that’s where we find ourselves today) is this amazing, overwhelming, unparalleled, unmatchable gift from God … to you.
"Fall short" … That means you could never get there, alone.
"Justified" … That means your sin debt paid, totally.
"Gift" … That means without charge, free.
"Grace" … That means undeserved, completely.
"Redemption" … That means bought with a price, His blood.
Last week a fine college athlete came to my office to talk about God. He was lost … so very, very lost. He had caused two abortions and drank alcohol like a fish in a pond. In his search for meaning in life, he scoffed the idea of personal, loving God, and paid a dear price for his wrong doings. His first wife (a stripper) left him (a bartender) for other men. His daily agony was incomprehensible.
As we began to talk, he pitched many unanswerable, stereotypical questions about God, "How could a good God allow suffering and evil?" "How will the tribesmen who never have a chance to hear, get to Heaven?" It was all a smoke screen from a heart that was elusively longing for a real relationship with his Creator.
As if I had planned it, at that moment I began to explain to him from scripture, the indescribable love of a good Father for His son, my daughter and my darling 12-day-old grandson dressed in a tiny cammo hat and tiny cammo pjs came ts see me. She placed the tender 8 pound package in my arms and spoke for her baby, "Grand dad, I want to go hunting with you."
I was overcome with a deep sense of a dad’s love that I can’t express on paper. The college athlete saw the picture of God’s redemption unfold before his eyes. He had no more questions. That night he gave his life to Christ. He has dedicated his life to purity so that others might see the truth of this wonderful passage of scripture.
