Grace > Law
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading and Prayer: Matthew 5:17-20 (Mike Melvin)
Song: How Deep the Father’s Love for Us
Introduction
Introduction
It was his senior year in high school. Kurt woke up and went through his normal routine of getting ready for school and left the house not knowing that he was going to learn a costly lesson that morning. As he approached the high school. There was a bus letting students off on the left hand side of the road. Since no students were crossing the right side, Kurt thought that he could drive on by the school bus, not knowing that it is against the law to drive by a school bus with its stop sign out (which happens when letting students off the bus). As soon as he drove past the bus, he saw a police officer pull behind him with his lights on. Long story short, Kurt had to pay hundreds of dollars and his license suspended for 3 months for violating a law that he was unaware of at the time.
Here we see a law broken and a hefty price having to be paid in order for him to drive legally again. This concept of law breaking and a price having to be paid isn’t something new. We see this same concept throughout the bible.
In the Pentateuch (or the first 5 books of the Old Testament) there are 613 laws or commandments. The Old Testament Law was God’s perfect law given to Israel to follow in order to remain Holy. If any law was broken then there was a price to be paid, usually in the form of an animal sacrifice.
Who in here thinks that is really strict and hard to follow?
Who thinks it would be harder to follow the OT law rather than the laws found in the United States? I know this is a little off topic but do you know that there are over 30,000 statutes or laws that have passed through Congress since 1789. That is just on the national level, forget counting all the different laws on the state level.
It can feel a little overwhelming trying to live life without breaking any laws and avoiding the penalties that can occur.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone pay the penalty for breaking laws for you. Because if someone has already paid the penalty for breaking the law, then that means when you break the law, you wouldn’t have to pay anything. You could live a life of true freedom.
When we talk about God’s law and the commandments found in the Old Testament, that’s exactly what happened when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He paid our penalty, the price, for breaking God’s perfect law.
We read about this in John 1:14-18
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ”) 16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, 17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.
Transition statement: From this passage we see two phrases that we will focus on in this session. Grace and Law. At first glance we might think that these words oppose one another. But if view the phrases correctly we will see how grace and law work together. Because in the passage that was read at the beginning of our session, Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law but He came to fulfill it. But that raises a question is does the law still serve a purpose then? Let’s continue to find our answer.
Grace vs. Law
Grace vs. Law
When talking about the Law, which is the Mosiac Law found in the Pentateuch (the first 5 books in the old testament), we need to realize that the Mosiac Law is divided into three different categories.
Three Categories of the Law
1. Ceremonial
2. Civil
3. Moral
Each category was fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ fulfilled the ceremonial laws by being the ultimate sacrifice for our sin hence ceasing the need for animal sacrifices. Jesus fulfilled the civil law by opening salvation to everyone, not just the Jews. Jesus fulfilled the moral laws by living a sinless life and becoming the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
But again I ask myself again, does the law still serve a purpose?
The answer that we see throughout the bible is yes. The purpose is to expose our sinfulness. This is found specifically in the moral category of the law. We see this in Romans 7:7
What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.
So we see that the law sets a standard of morality that is perfect and holy. It is the law that reveals sin in our lives. That is the purpose of law.
Where does Grace fit into all of this?
Where does Grace fit into all of this?
If the law reveals our sin, our weakness, our inability to be holy. Then the law by itself would just condemn us. It would reveal every sin we have ever committed and leave us hopeless. We need a savior, someone to pay our penalty for our sin. We needed Jesus, God in flesh, to live a perfect life and be the sacrifice that would pay the penalty for our sin. When someone believes in Jesus and trusts in him for salvation, God no longer views that person as an unrighteous sinner, but as someone who is righteous. This is because of Jesus’ sacrifice covering that person’s sin. That concept of being treated as righteous and not a condemned sinner, is God showing his favor on you or otherwise known as grace. We don’t deserve it, but because of His love for us, through Jesus, God gives it to us.
We see this in Romans 5:19-21
For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I know that this is a lot of information and be kinda of confusing. To help us better understand Grace vs. Law here is a short video from Got Questions
Show Video
I hope that helps with understanding the discussion of grace vs law.
I think we have enough head knowledge on this topic but how do we address our heart?
In other words we need to ask the question of so what? What is so important about know this information of grace vs law?
So What?
So What?
This is vital to know for obtaining salvation.
For those who don’t have a relationship with God, we are saved by grace not by works. We talked about that this morning.
If you think you can find God’s favor with your good works or how well you can follow His law, it will never work because your efforts will never be perfect. God demands perfection which is only found in Jesus.
This knowledge is vital for assuring you of your salvation.
For those who confess Jesus as their savior and have a right relationship with God, the temptation is sometimes we feel like we need to follow God’s law in order to stay saved or stay in a right relationship with God. Sometimes we can play the flower game with God.(He loves me, he loves me not). Tell story about sinning and thinking that I have to do something good to somehow get back into God’s favor.
The reality is that we are saved by grace and we are kept in God’s love by grace.
I don’t want to steal too much thunder from Tim as I’m sure he will address this more tomorrow morning in his next lesson so I ‘ll close with this thought.
Sometimes the law gets a bad rap. We say the word “law” and sometimes we automatically think negatively about it. But if we talk the Old Testament Law combined with the teachings of Jesus about the law, we then can see a better picture of God’s design for humanity. God’s design for how we are to glorify Him in our relationships with each other and our relationship with Him. We exist for one purpose and only purpose only. That is to glorify our creator. God’s law helps show us how to do that.
In the end I hope you see that God’s grace and God’s law both have roles in a Christians life.
Pray
Song: Something Greater