The Kingdoms of Sin and Grace: Illustration from WW2

Sin and grace are sovereigns over two very different kingdoms.  Sin established its reign over the human race in the Garden of Eden, when Adam betrayed God and tasted the forbidden fruit.  This was the Pearl Harbor moment of human history, when a sneak attack brought devastation for God’s people and victory for sin’s champion, Satan. 

Yet at that very moment, God announced the coming of the kingdom of grace in the promise of the seed and the provision of the animal skins.  God issued His proclamation of war and started reclaiming territory. 

The kingdom of grace continued to be announced throughout the Old Testament era, in law and poetry, prophetic proclamation and divinely orchestrated history.  On every page and in every line, God was announcing the coming of the kingdom of grace. 

That kingdom took center stage at the cross, where Christ’s act of righteousness undid Adam’s act of sin and provided saving grace for all who call upon God in the name of Jesus.  Sin’s reign was broken, and while the effects of its rule continue to be seen and felt throughout the world, the decisive victory has already been won.  D-Day has past and the beaches of Normandy have been stormed successfully.  Now, grace is engaged in a clean-up operation, rescuing lost people like you and me from the grip of sin’s death-camps.

And so grace has progressed this far in the world to this point, and we are given a great and glorious promise.  The final victory, V-Day, is coming, when we will celebrate the vanquishing of the last vestiges of sin as Jesus returns to consummate His kingdom and defeat the last enemies of God.

The question for you is this: how far has grace progressed in your life?  Are you still being held in the death-camps of sin?  Or have you embraced God’s grace as it is offered to you in Jesus Christ?  Oh, there may still be a lot of clean-up operation left to go.  There may be dark and dirty corners of your life where grace’s light has yet to shine and where sin still hides in the corner.  But have you embraced the freedom that comes from letting go of your own attempts at righteousness and embracing God’s triumphant power of grace, the only power that can fully and finally set us free? 

If you have, I encourage you to stand in that grace.  Don’t go back to the old way of trying to impress God with the rags of righteousness you carry in your back pocket.  Let Christ be your sufficiency.  If you haven’t yet embraced the grace of God, I urge you not to leave here this morning a slave to sin.  Find the freedom you need in God’s provision for you.