Law vs. Grace (2)

Why the law?

We did not always have the law. From Adam to Moses there was no Mosaic law. Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham or Joseph were under the law.

The law had a specific beginning. God gave us the law after had sent Moses to bring them out of Egypt. The law also had a specific ending. It ended at the Cross with Jesus the Christ.

John 1:16–17 “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

As John reminded us, the law came through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus.

-If your religion is based on the law. Your focus will be on performance and conduct. Always working to achieve. Every aspect of your life is under the weight of the law. The law requires us to constantly judge our words and deeds, even our thoughts. Not only does it cause us to judge ourselves, but it leads us to judge others as well. The funny part is that the law will often lead us to scrutinize others more than we judge ourselves.

Matthew 7:3 “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

This also spills into our church views on discipleship and growth. The modern approach is basically keeping rules. which usually leads to keeping up appearances!

With grace, we live life a different way. We best way to understand the two differences is to understand the need for Jesus.

Why Jesus Christ?

Everyone is a sinner

The law would have been great IF everyone could have kept it! Jesus is the only one to have kept the law.

With all the time Israel spent sacrificing animals for the sins of the people. You would think that they would have recognized their sinfulness. Think about this. The very system of sacrifice proves that all of Israel should be condemned and deserving of of the wrath of God because “there was none righteous.”

Psalm 14:1–3 “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”

Romans 3:10–12 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””

So, If none are righteous what is the consequence?

Consequences of the law

We should remember that the law brought blessings but it also brought curses on those that disobeyed.

Deuteronomy 27:26 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

Deuteronomy 28:15 ““But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”

So, we see, they all broke the law. Therefore Israel was under the curse of the law.

What is the consequence of breaking the law? wrath

Romans 4:15 “For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.”

Simple, all sinners deserve wrath. But why don't sinners understand this?

What has happened because of chronic disobedience is that sinners ignore or fail to recognize that wrath that is a consequence of the curse.

Paul recognized the importance of revealing the wrath of God as part of the gospel message.

Romans 1:16–18 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

The gospel reveals that God’s wrath and judgement is coming.

Acts 17:30–31 “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.””

Wrath has to be revealed because it is not apparent. As a matter of fact if you look at the world today it often appears that much of the wickedness in this world goes unchecked.

Sometimes it feels like the wicked are the blessed ones and good people suffer.

Psalm 73:3–5 “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.”

Psalm 73:12–14 “Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.”

The truth is that God is not letting anything go. He is merely delaying judgement until the appointed day. On that day God will judge and people will face the consequences of their sinfulness.

Romans 2:5–8 “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”

Imagine everything you have ever done kept on record. Then one day all of it is examined.

Revelation 20:12 “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”

Matthew 12:36 “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,”

(Now, imagine that the person being examined has earned eternal life by good works. Then they would be rewarded with eternal life. This would require not only hearing the law but also obeying .

Romans 2:13 “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”

God is just, so if a person could obey the law in thought, speech and action the would be repaid in eternal life. The reality is that “all haved sinned" we have broken the law over and over again.

Romans 3:20–23 “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

It sounds like a hopeless situation for the sinner.

This is where Jesus Christ comes in.

God sent Jesus to die for your sins and to pay your penalty.

Acts 13:38–39 “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”

Instead of being condemned by our works, we can be forgiven and justified through Jesus Christ. The cross reveals God’s righteousness. He could not be described as righteous if he ignored or disregarded all the wickedness in the world. Sin can not be ignored it had to be addressed, God did that through the cross. The level of punishment Jesus suffered in our place shows us the seriousness of our sin.

Romans 3:25–28 “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Why does Paul make the point that there is "no boasting"?

As we have already seen. Everyone, Everyone deserves condemnation. Everyone has failed the test. All deserve wrath of condemnation by God.

Jesus tells us. John 3:18b “whoever does not believe is condemned already"

if you do not believe you have your verdict for the Last Judgement. BUT GOD in His mercy, saves from wrath through faith apart from works.

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

The Last Judgement is yet to happen, but everyone gets there verdict ahead of time. The options are either eternal life or wrath.

If you believe in the Son, you have eternal life. If you reject Him, you have wrath.

Romans 2:5 “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

Romans 5:8–11 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

God has already done the most difficult thing. Salvation by grace. It is easy for Him to save at the last those that have believed. We should have confidence that we are saved now and will be saved later. The Father gave Jesus the authority to judge and He has already promised not to judge believers.

John 5:22–24 “For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

-Know that Jesus is the judge with the authority to give the verdict. He has decided that salvation depends on believing in Him.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”