Grace is what sets Christ’s message apart

English preacher Charles Spurgeon got a letter from a man who wrote to say he’d been examining Christianity -- he’d been going to church for some time, but he'd been repeatedly disappointed by what he’d experienced there. He wrote to say he was ready to abandon his experiment with Christianity and walk away. But, before he did, he wondered if Spurgeon might have something to say to his situation.

Spurgeon responded with a story. There was a man who had a wonderful apple tree; it bore the most beautiful and sweetest red apples imaginable. But there was a problem. Everyone knew how good his apples were, so everyone who came by helped themselves to his apples. To stop the thefts, the man decided he’d plant lots of other apple trees all around the good tree. Except the others all produced only sour apples.

Spurgeon said, "you need to know that out on the fringes of Christianity and churches, there are lots of sour, bad apples. You’ll find anger, dishonesty, hypocrisy. But, he told the man: if you will press on, if you will press inward, toward the center, you will discover that the heart, the trunk, of Christianity is sweet and delectable beyond your wildest imaginations. When you reach the trunk, I guarantee, you’ll never be dissatisfied."

The heart and trunk and center of Christianity is God’s grace revealed in and through His Son Jesus. As the NT unpacks grace, it is the heart of our faith. Grace is what sets Christ’s message apart from every religion on earth. You will discover that most religions have some concept of justice. Justice means, people will get what they deserve.

In some religions you even discover some thought of mercy. Mercy says that you may not get the punishment you deserve. Only Christianity introduces you to grace. Grace says God gives you as a gift, what you do not deserve. No religion offers grace! But, the sick truth is, in Christianity, it also is often missing. Grace is a theory we believe or a concept we sing about, not a Truth we celebrate and enjoy and live. But if we’ll get hold of what the NT says, we’ll realize grace is a truth we should feast on, one we need to hear again and again.