S. GRACE ABOUNDING

GRACE ABOUNDING Dr. W. A. Criswell Rom 5:20 09-19-54

…the services of the First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas, Texas. And this is the pastor bringing the morning message entitled Grace Abounding. In our preaching through the Word we have come to Rom 5:1-21. This is, I suppose, the fourth sermon. The other three have been in the previous verses. This sermon is in Rom 5:20-21.

We begin reading at Rom 5:18, “Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men through condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of man shall many be made righteous.

“Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,

“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord.” And the text, “But where sin abounded, grace-God’s grace-grace did much more abound.” The grace that is greater than all our sin. But where sin abounded, as men multiplied in the earth, sin and violence and wickedness multiplied in the earth. As men grew in numbers, so did sin grow in violence and in exceeding sinfulness. Iniquity and wickedness covered the earth.

Sin abounded in the days of Cain and of Abel. And sin abounded in the days of the Tower of Babel. And sin abounded in the days of the Flood. And sin abounded in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sin abounded in the days of the captivity. Sin abounded in the days of the cross. And sin abounded in the days of the martyrs. And sin has abounded in our present evil and sorrowful day: the ruthless, merciless, cruelty of modern totalitarian states, enslaving whole nations, driving men by the millions into utmost and to utter despair. Sin abounded in the earth as men multiplied in the world. And the inevitable concomitant follows thereafter, as sin abounded, misery and woe and death were multiplied-physical death, spiritual death, eternal death. And there followed after that first offense mountains and mountains and immeasurable mountains of grief. The story of humanity since the day of the Fall is a story of age, of iniquity, of sin, of disaster, and finally, of death. To write the story of humanity one must lift his pen in tears, in heartache, in grief and in blood-the abounding of sin. From the ramparts of glory, our heavenly Father looked down upon this scene. And His heart was filled with pity for the man that He made and for the children of Adam. Woe and tears, sorrow and distress, and inevitable age and death-the lot, the universal lot for all mankind. And the Lord, as He looked upon the race of the millions of men, the Lord was moved to pity as He looked upon our despairing and sorrowful lot. A father in Virginia with two boys, one a full-letter man in college, the other 13 years of age with every promise to be like his big brother. Somehow, the 13-year-old boy, not being careful as his father had admonished, on his bicycle was tangled up with a truck. In the hospital the lad fought for his life. The doctor made the announcement to the father, “By the amputation of his right arm at the shoulder and his left leg at the hip, I think we can save his life.” When that sorrowful announcement was made to the father, the father said, “I looked down into the face of my 13-year-old boy and as I looked into his face for the first time, I came to know what God’s Word meant, “As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

“For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” So the Lord in glory looked down in pity upon the children of men. And where sin abounded, grace and pity and mercy and salvation and forgiveness did much more abound. And out of the pitying heart of God there came the great story of the everlasting goodness and grace and mercy of God our father in Christ our Savior. And the story of that grace abounding-did I say at first-in parabolic, in allegoric form.

Picture if we could, if we will, a vast cemetery, illimitable graveyard. And around that graveyard is a high and a lofty wall. And it has only one entrance therein. And that entrance is barred and locked by a massive iron gate. On the inside of that barred and massive gate, on the inside of that tall and lofty wall, are all of the millions of the human race. And they bow and they bend to the grave. The grave yawns and reaches up its arms to engulf all of mankind. On the inside of that vast cemetery, that illimitable graveyard, on the inside are the tears and the ages and the sorrow and the woe and the heartache and the cry and the agony of all mankind. “The wages of sin is death.”

That’s everywhere, for the young, for the old, for the aged, for the wise, for the unwise, for the yesterday, for the today, for the tomorrow. Death, death, reigning triumphant! Death, death everywhere! On the outside of that wall, looking up on the agonizing despair of those who are imprisoned therein, there stands Mercy weeping. She looks through the iron gate of the bar, of the massive gate, and as she weeps she cries, “Oh, that I might enter in! I would bring solace for their sorrow. I would bring relief to their distress. I would bring life for their death. Oh, that I might get in!” And as Mercy weeps outside the iron gate, and as all humanity cries in agony and in death on the inside, behold, there passeth by an embassy of the heavenly host on some celestial mission in the course of glory to some other far-distant world. And as they pass by, the angelic hosts stop and looked upon Mercy as she weeps at the iron gate. And one of the angels said to Mercy, “Mercy, can you not look upon that scene without pity? Can you pity and not help?” And Mercy replies in her tears, “I can see and I can pity, but I cannot enter. I cannot relieve, I cannot help.” And the angel replies, “Mercy, canst thou not enter to relieve and to help?” And Mercy replies, “Because Justice has barred the way and I, I cannot undo the lock.”

Just then as if to guard the gate Justice appears, and the angelic host says to Justice, “Justice, why will thou not open the gate and allow Mercy to enter in?” And Justice firmly replies, “Because they have broken my law, and I must administer the penalty of the law. Either they die or justice must.” And as the angel host looked upon a dying humanity, and as Mercy cried at the gate, and as Justice stood there to bar the way, behold, there stepped forth from the heavenly host, One Whose form was like unto the Son of God. And He came to Justice and He said, “Justice, what are thy terms that Mercy might enter in and save the lost and the dying?” And Justice replied, “My terms are as that. My terms are as the dead. My terms are exactly this: I must have death for their life. ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.’” And the Son of God replies, “Justice, I’ll accept thy terms. Upon Me be their guilt and their sin. Upon Me be their death, that the gate might be opened and that Mercy might enter in.” And Justice replied, “What bond, what covenant, what contract, what testament doth Thou make that Thou will keep my conditions?” And the Son of God replied, “My word and My oath.” And Justice answered, “And when will Thou fulfill Thy bond and Thy covenant?” And the Son of Man replied, “In the fullness of time on a hill called Calvary outside of the wall of the city of Jerusalem.”

Justice was satisfied. The bond was made. The gate was opened wide. And Mercy entered in and preached the gospel of everlasting hope and salvation to the lost and the dying of all humanity in the promise of a Lamb of God Who should come and take away the sin of the world. The bond was sealed and made in the presence of the angelic host. The bond was committed, first to patriarchs and the prophets. And they instituted a long series of rites and ceremonies and rituals, lest men and heaven forget the execution of that sacred and solemn vow. And in the fullness of time, at the conclusion of Daniel’s sixty-ninth week, according to the prophecy of the man of God, there appeared on a hill called Golgotha, outside of the north gate of the city of Jerusalem, there appeared Justice and Mercy. And Justice said to Mercy, “And now, where is the Son of God for the execution and the cancellation of this bond?” And Mercy said, “Behold, there He comes at the foot of the hill.” And Justice looked down, and there at the foot of the hill came the Son of God bearing His own cross and behind Him following, His weeping church. Mercy fled and turned away. And the Son of God staggered to the hill of the cross and met Justice face to face. Justice finally looked into the eyes and countenance of the Son of God and had in his hand the ordinance and the bond and the covenant of death written large against us. And Justice said, “The day has come for this bond to be redeemed and to be canceled.” And the Son of God received it, took it out of the hands of Justice, tore it up and threw it to the wind? No! He seized it and took it and nailed it to the cross, crying, “It is finished, it is finished!” As He was nailed to the cross, Justice called to Death to consume the sacrifice. And Death came and took and consumed His humanity. But when he touched His deity, Death received a mortal wound. And to sum it up: And the earth was dark and the earth shook the mountains, that out of that death, out of that covenant, out of that suffering and sacrifice, out of that burial and out of that tomb, there arose the life of the knowledge of the glory and grace of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And to the earth, to the blessed in the land, to every language and every people and nation, to the everlasting evangelist, preaching the gospel of hope and the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ our Lord. “Where sin abounded, grace-God’s grace-did much more abound.”

“So by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.”

“Not as the offense, so is the free gift. For if through offense of one, many be dead, we all were dead, much more the grace of God and the gift of grace which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many.” Where sin did abound, where death did abound, where the curse did abound, where judgment did abound, where sin did abound, grace, God’s grace did much more abound. As men multiplied, the sin did abound, the whole earth covered by the violence and the wickedness and the villainy and the evil and the grief and the hurt and the death of man. Where sin did abound, the whole earth filled with the violence of unrighteousness.

Every heart, every life, every home, every deed, every man, every soul, as we multiplied in the earth, so sin was multiplied. Where sin did abound. And the water of the deluge covered the earth, could not suffice to wash its stain away. And the fire fell from heaven, but could not burn out the accursed plague. And the earth opened her mouth, but could not swallow the monstrous sin. And the law thundered from the big darkness of Sinai, but could not restrain the children of disobedience. And like a scourge, like a conquering foe, sin abounded in the earth. Sin waxed bold. It stuck its cap on the hill of Calvary. Sin abounded and it seized the Son of God and nailed Him to the cross. And in that soul, sin met its master. And death met its victor. The victim is the victor. In the death of Jesus Christ, in His death, He slew death and He opened the gate of the prison house and called to resurrection and to immortality those who had been slain therein.

“Where sin abounded, grace-God’s grace-did much more abound.” Where sin abounded, took to condemn, grace did much more abound to justify. Where sin abounded to corrupt, grace did much more abound to purify. Where sin abounded to harden, grace did much more abound to soften and to subdue and to yield. Where sin abounded to imprison and to enslave, grace did much more abound to preach the gospel of liberty to the captives. Where sin abounded to break the law, grace did much more abound to heal the breach and to effect the same. Where sin abounded to consume as with an unquenchable fire, grace, God’s grace, did much more abound to extinguish the flame and to heal the wound and the hurt. Where sin did abound to slay and to kill and to destroy, grace, God’s grace, did much more abound to give life everlasting and eternal life. Where sin abounded to lay in the grave, grace did much more abound to call resurrection and to immortality.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God-the grace of God-is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,

“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Savior.”

Even so, does grace reign, God’s grace? Grace hath placed on her head the crown of glory, of righteousness, of immortality, the diadem of heaven. She has received the eternal scepter to reign forever. And the gates of the final prison house, the dim, dark, dismal dungeon of death, the gates are thrown wide open. There’s a sign, there’s a hoof beat of a new life in the cemetery. And [immortality] is walking among the tombs. The Son of God has come forth victorious and triumphant. And He speaks forgiveness and life everlasting to those who look in faith and in trust to Him.

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Marvelous grace of the loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Sin and despair like the sea waves cold, Threaten the soul with infinite loss;

Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, Points to the refuge, the saving cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide, What can avail to wash it away?

Look! there is a crimson tide;

Whiter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, Freely bestowed on all who believe;

You who are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive? And the chorus of that old song:

Grace, grace, God’s grace.

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin. Where sin did abound, grace, God’s grace, did super abound, more exciting, abundantly abound than sin [that] hath reigned over death. Even so grave gives [in] to eternal life of the resurrection and immortality and ultimate victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. The gospel of the grace of the Son of God! If you listen on television, if you listen on radio, where you are today, would you open your heart to receive the goodness and the forgiveness and the mercy and the pardon of the Son of God? Would you? Would you today? Kneeling there by your radio, your television in the bedroom, in the living room where you are, anywhere you are.

Driving along in a car, would you stop the car, bow your head over the wheel, “Lord God, today, I open my heart to the fullness of the pardon, the forgiveness, the salvation, the overflowing grace of God my Savior, in Jesus Christ our Redeemer.” Would you do it now? Would you make it today? And in this vast throng, the crowd, in the vast balcony around, to the farthest row in that topmost balcony and from side to side, somebody you, somebody you, a family you, all, somebody you, would you come into this aisle down here by my side?

“Pastor, today, today, we make it all for God.”

Looking to Jesus to be saved in Him. Somebody new in the fellowship of the church by baptism or letter or promise of letter or statement?

However God shall say the word and lead the way, while we make appeal today, would you come? Would you come into the aisle, in that balcony, down that stairwell, down to the front, and by my side?

While we sing this song prayerfully, today would you come? Would you make it now? Give me your hand and your heart to God. While we stand and while we sing.