Don't Twist Law and Grace, Part 1

It seems that whenever I teach obedience to God's laws, following His commandments, closely paying attention and trying to be perfect in God's righteousness, some ask a very genuine question.

Is that working or buying or earning your own salvation? See, Paul says we're not under law, but we're under grace, assuming that grace means unmerited pardon or undeserved forgiveness.

Again, Paul says, for grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, thinking of Jesus's precious blood and how important that is. And when we think of the Passover service and reflect on the great sacrifice He gave for us, would we think that something of ourselves is accomplishing salvation?

Again, Paul says, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. So again, if we respect Christ's sacrifice, should we then not tone down the righteousness a little bit, or at least the self-righteousness, and put more credit then, or all the credit, total credit, in fact, for the process of salvation onto the sacrifice of Christ?

When we see these concepts, they bring something in our mind that maybe raises the question, has grace replaced Christ's directive to mankind that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, we will not enter the kingdom of God. Or if we are a lawless individual, the door will be shut and we will not be allowed into the kingdom of God. Or that we are not to be allowed to become perfect fully, like our Father in heaven is. Or that He said, I am coming quickly to give my reward to each one according to His work. Some of these things in our minds can begin to bump into each other, and we begin to wonder, should I be putting great effort into strictly observing God's law and becoming righteous, or should I be giving full credit to the blood of Jesus Christ, which has or is saving me? Now, understanding law and grace properly is a life or death situation for you. This is not a sermon to cover a nice topic or a sermon to get into some controversy, but rather so that you know that in your life, if you understand law and grace wrong and apply it wrong, you will not be in the kingdom of God. Or if you understand law and grace right and apply it right, you have a great chance and a great hope for being in the family of God.

That's what it really boils down to. A wrong understanding has torn the Church of Jesus Christ apart since the very start, right since the first century. It decimated the Church.

The Apostle Paul's writings were misunderstood by so many, and there was such an exodus that Peter, and John, and James, and Jude, and John in the Revelation, and Jesus Christ in Revelation, with his seven messages to the Church and coming back at the end, strongly countered the deception that was spread using law and grace. A vast amount of the Church went the wrong direction, as we'll see in the Bible.

Law and grace and the wrong understanding freeze freedom, you see, freeze so-called Christians to lie and cheat and commit adultery and steal and murder and go to war and pretty much do whatever they want and be involved in Babylon-ish practices that date to ancient times.

It enables that. It frees that. Now, let's bring it close. 20 years ago, right here, in this church, not this building, but this church, 20 years ago in this church, law and grace raged through the church and took with it 85% of the ministry and the members, who today are freed to serve Christmas, go to war, eat what they want, do what they want, live lifestyles as they want. This topic is very important. It's a life or death matter for you. Whether you realize it or not, it always has been, and it always will be.

So what does the Bible teach? Not humans or people or you or me or our opinion.

What does the Bible, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, through God the Father's inspiration, what does it teach about law and grace? What did Jesus Himself teach about grace when He was here on earth? What is grace's relationship to the law? Today, I want to focus on the biblical meaning of grace in a sermon, part one. Don't twist law and grace. Don't twist law and grace.

That comes from an injunction that Peter gave us, the title does. Don't twist law and grace.

Let's start with the question, how well do you and I understand grace?

You've heard grace a lot. You hear grace a lot. Sometimes it's an amazing type of grace.

Sometimes it's other types of grace. What about grace? What do you know about grace? Well, what you know about grace can be revealed to you in a quick test. I'll give you a quick test, and this will tell you a lot about what you know about grace. It's a single question.

Who was the first person in the New Testament to receive grace?

Simple question. Scan the New Testament real quick.

Who was the first person in the New Testament to receive grace? Got your answer? A guess in any way? Are we ready? Let's read it together. Luke 2 and verse 40.

Luke 2 and verse 40.

And the child grew, and this is Jesus, and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. How did you do with your answer?

Did you pick a sinner? Jesus was in the sinner. Jesus never sinned. He didn't need unmerited pardon or undeserved forgiveness.

No, he was perfect in every way. And yet, he received the grace of God, not only as a baby, but his entire life. Chances are, the answer we might give to that is more based on Protestant theology than on what Scripture would say, because our concept of grace, which I would put with a capital G in quotes, grace, is more of a Protestant concept than it is a biblical one. And we will see that as we go along. We want to be careful with that concept, don't we? We don't want to bring in and be affected by the world around us any more than we are. We're to be coming out of the world and away from the influences that it has. And believe me, they are strong. And our carnal minds are always looking for opportunity, aren't they? Looking for opportunity to cool it a bit, take it a little easier, slow down, not work so hard, no sweat. You know, it's hard to save the word grace without diminishing law, because the two are so intertwined. The more you talk about grace and build it up, the more you de-excentuate law. Or the more you accentuate law, someone says, hey, you're diminishing grace. What is the balance? What is the relationship? You say, well, I'm not under law, I'm under grace. Don't you put grace higher than law? If you say, I'm under grace, does that therefore mentally promote lawlessness in your mind? Well, if I'm under grace, I'm diminishing law, therefore I don't really have to sweat the law part so much.

See how this works? It's sort of like a teeter-totter. Up on one side or up on the other side? Which is it going to be? Law or grace?

Again, if you don't think that this can promote lawlessness in the minds of members, you're not listening. Because not only did it happen then, it's alive and well, probably in all of us to a degree today, depending on how much we allow it to grow. I'd like to give you a brief history of twisted law and grace. This is the JE version. I take responsibility for it. It goes pretty fast. It's the brief history of twisted law and grace. It begins in Romans 8, verse 7, which says, Because the carnal mind is enmity or hostile against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

So here we have the law of God, which Paul says is holy, just, and good. And we have our human carnal way of thinking, which is hostile to it and not subject to it and can't be.

That starts the history of law and grace. We see it roll out through Abeneath. They were told to do something, and they said, I don't really want to not eat of that fruit.

Cane, I don't really want my brother to succeed. I will kill him. Mankind, warring and fighting, dead in the flood. You know, God calls the nation of Israel, gives them the law himself from Mount Sinai. And what did they do? They said, we'll worship a golden calf and disobey everything in the law we just heard. And then, after working with them, he has to kill them in the desert, let them die in 40 years, brings them into the promised land, the whole world, the whole new group comes into the promised land, the walls of Jericho fall down. What do they do?

Disobey God. They disobey God so many times, we pick up the Israelites in the book of the Judges. What do we have? Israel, basically, in slavery, underneath the Philistines, and the Canaanites, and all the others in the land. And that goes on and on and on and on.

They're not keeping the law of God. Under Saul, they're not keeping the law of God.

David, off and on, and he's working towards doing it better. Israel split into two, but he gets them back temporarily. But he does not obey God enough, and it doesn't work out well. And after his son, Solomon, dies. It splits the northern kingdoms back off with a foreign God, worshiping foreign idols, and they take off with the Assyrians as slaves, not to be heard of again. Well, of course, we pick them up later. So much for the law of God being kept by humans. The Jews take off, or are taken off, to Babylon. Again, not obeying God.

If you look in the history, these disobedient ten tribes work their way back around to Europe. They go through a period where they pick up the Babylonian ways. Those idols and things get dressed and redressed, and down through the Roman Empire. They are so-called Christians, and they're using the name of Christ, but they have Babylon mystery religion.

And they are sold under that, but they're hating it because it was a horrible system.

It was terrible and so despicable that finally you have them revolting in protest for reform called the Protestant Reformation. And they no longer will accept the leadership of that church, but they want to keep the religion. The problem is, the leadership invented the religion, and there's no other source for it than the leadership. So they've got a problem.

They've come all the way from Israel, worked their way all around, and now they come all the way back. They cut themselves off from the head of the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and they've got nothing as their guide, so they print the Bible.

Remember Tyndale, King James? They print the Bible. And what are they left with? Once again, they're staring at the law. Full circle! And now they're back to the law.

What do we do with this? We don't like the law. My nature is hostile to the law. I'm not going to keep the law. What do I do with it?

Thankfully, Paul said, I'm not under law. I'm under grace. It's all about grace.

Now we'll have communion all the time, anytime, and we'll celebrate. Woo-hoo, grace! Woo-hoo, grace!

And I'll still do what I want. Now that's the short history of twisted law and grace.

United Church of God has a booklet called New Covenant, Law and Grace, or New Covenant, and in it has a section on law and grace. It says the word grace is regularly used by some religious people as if it replaces all need to obey God's law. That conclusion is not only inaccurate, it is also diabolical. Diabolical. Let me ask you a question. How many times in this Bible does Jesus Christ say the word grace? Can you think of how many?

Answer? Never. Not once. Not once in the Gospels. Not once in the seven lessons of the churches in Revelation. Not once at the end of Revelation. Doesn't use the word grace. He uses the word charis, but it was for some other context. Now that would beg investigation. So a good place to start would be to ask, what does the Greek word charis mean, from which grace appears in our Bible? Well, Strongs defines charis as graciousness, graciousness, a manner, I'm sorry, graciousness of manner or act, benefit, favor, gift, gracious, joy, liberality, pleasure, thanks.

Now those are a bunch of words, but did you hear in there forgiveness?

Did you hear in there pardon? Let me read them again. The meaning of the word charis is graciousness of manner or act, benefit, favor, gift, gracious, joy, liberality, pleasure, thanks.

So where do you draw this, oh, I'm saved by unmerited pardon, and that's all there is from the word charis, which means graciousness in its many forms, gracious in act and thought, indeed in favor and love and kindness and all kinds of things and thanks and liberality and pleasure and joy and benefits.

Charis is a gracious God offering you this.

Charis is a gracious God offering you, well, a creation first, all the way back for billions of years, the whole, you can't set yourself here without starting with that. This gracious God came up with a plan and a massive creation. That plan involves sonship of humans, the creation, him as lawgiver, him as life giver, him involved as a sustainer, a lord, a messiah, our Passover, our faith, our righteousness, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord, our Master, our Father, our Elder Brother, our inheritance, our hope, and our joy. When you see grace, that's what we're talking about. The graciousness of God that involves all of that.

Thayer's lexicon defines cherus as a feminine noun. That which affords joy, in fact, if you look at the fruits of God's spirit, love, agape, joy, is a root or a form of the word cherus. It's chara instead of charis.

Joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, grace of speech, graciousness.

This is what the word translated grace. You're saved by cherus. That's what it's talking about.

Goodwill, loving kindness, favor. Now, where in there do you get unmerited pardon?

Well, the answer is the last word, favor. Unmerited pardon or undeserved forgiveness has been extracted by those who use it for that from the word favor. It is not a prime meaning of cherus. It is not anywhere listed. But obviously, a God that has created all those things and gave his son—that's an integral part, and I would hate to pull it out and say it's not in there, not implied at least, as a part of his favor and mercy and liberality and put it where you want. But I'm just telling you, you can look in the booklet in other places and you'll find that's where unmerited pardon is extracted from or extrapolated from is from that word favor.

Now, we might say, well, wait a minute. I thought Paul said we weren't under law. We're under grace. What does that mean? Well, let's notice what Peter said about what Paul said.

In 2 Peter chapter 3, in verse 15, Peter says, Our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, nothing wrong with what Paul said. He's our buddy, let me tell you. According to the wisdom given him, the wisdom from above, he didn't get anything wrong. God just used Paul to give opportunity for those who don't like the law of God to find an out. Our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, verse 16, as in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction. Now, what things did Paul say that were hard to understand?

Two things. Law and grace. And people twist law and grace to their own destruction as they do the rest of the Scriptures. Verse 17, you, therefore, you, beloved, beloved of God, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked. Error of the wicked. See? There is an issue with what Paul said, and they were led away into wickedness, into sin, into breaking the law of God.

Verse 18, but grow in the graciousness, as we've seen, defined in both Strongs and Thayers, the definition of Cheris primarily is graciousness, but grow in the graciousness and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who's your Savior? Is it grace? We just read our Savior is Jesus Christ.

See, somehow the mind can switch over and have a back door Savior, a hip pocket Savior. If I don't do it the first one once, I can always be saved by grace with a capital G. You have to be careful with that. Here's my conclusion about Paul's law and grace. It's very simple. I think it's direct. It's easy to understand. Paul abbreviated the subjects in his scriptures.

Paul abbreviated the subjects in his sentences. He collapsed them. He abbreviated them. When Paul says law, you don't know what he's talking about. Paul pretty much always just says law.

You have to figure out, well, law? What does he mean in this sentence about law? Is he talking about the Old Covenant? Is he talking about the ceremonial law? Is he talking about the priestly duties? Is he talking about the sacrifice of animals? What law is he talking about? Is he talking about the the Pentateuch? The first five books of the Bible? Is he talking about all of Torah? Part of Torah? What's he referring to? Paul doesn't say. He pretty much never does.

A skilled person would be able to rightly divide the word of truth. What about grace?

Paul doesn't really explain what he means when he uses cherus. He just drops cherus in and moves on.

And so, I believe God inspired it that way because that's the way it's written.

And here's why. It's like Jesus gave parables. Jesus also inspired Paul to write the way he did. Jesus said in Mark chapter 4 and verse 11, remember, and he said to them, to you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. Remember those words. Only to you has been known or given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God.

It's a mystery that you know. But to those outside, all these things are given in parables so that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them.

Here comes the apostle Paul. And just like Jesus said, to you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. You shouldn't fall for what Paul called the mystery of lawlessness.

You should never fall for that. Let's go over and look at what Paul said in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 7. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 7, a mind led by God's Holy Spirit will not take you to the spirit of lawlessness or mystery of lawlessness. Sorry. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 7.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Now we've just read a one mystery. It's called the mystery of the kingdom of God. Some people don't understand that. Most don't because it's a mystery reserved for those who are called. But the outsiders, it seems, have a different one. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. How does God feel about breaking the law? Well, we see it right here. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, not saved by grace, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the law. That's what it says. God will send or allow to be sent to them.

That they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

What is unrighteousness? The breaking of God's law. So you see, it's very clear from the mind of Paul and from the lips of Paul and the mind of Christ and everyone else that there's no such thing as freedom to break God's law because of some thing that makes it okay, that makes it okay, or in any way diminishes the value of God's holy righteous law. Remember what this is. This, this in a sense, is in print the mind of God. Jesus collapsed the law and the prophets, and he collapsed them into love God with your heart, soul, and might, and love your neighbor as yourself. God is love. If you want to take the law and say it is no good, in a sense, we're having a problem with God, aren't we? That's what we as carnal human beings tend to have.

We don't like the law of God because we don't like the mind of God, and we're always looking for some excuse to wiggle out of it, do as little as we can, and yet pick up on the reward, be given the gift, and say, I don't have to do anything.

Well, if we look at the mystery of the kingdom regarding law and grace, the Bible will explain itself. We don't have to guess what Paul means when he says law and grace because, you see, God had an apostle who lived longer than Paul, and when Paul went to Rome and died, and all of his epistles were finished, this last apostle collected all of the Bible, and he is the one that saw it put together. And that was the apostle John on the island of Patmos, and he wrote his gospel of John and the three books of John and the book of Revelation after Paul was dead. Now, the gospel of John is somewhat questionable among commentaries, but among some of the strongest, they feel that Paul had already died when the gospel of John was written. And I tell you, I'm sure it was, because that is where the cipher key to unlocking Paul's meaning of law and grace is found. John wrote it. Let's go there. John chapter 1 in verse 17. He put it right up at the front. You know it was an issue. John chapter 1 in verse 17. He says, For the law was given through Moses. So what's he talking about here?

The law was given through Moses. The law was given by the Logos, but it was given through Moses. Sometimes it's called Moses' law. It's not Moses' law. It was given through Moses. So we know which law we're talking about, and that's the old covenant. It was a covenant that had physical blessings for obedience in one's own lifetime. There was no forgiveness. There was a setting aside of sin through the sacrifice of animals, but it did not take away and did not give forgiveness, did not give pardon in that sense. There was no eternal life as part of that covenant.

So you had that one in a person, no matter how well they lived it at the end of their life, that was all the law said applied to them. But going on, it says, But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Now here's that word, cherus, again, translated as grace. Now we know it's graciousness, not grace, but graciousness, as the lexicons would define it more accurately.

But graciousness and truth... now what are those? Oh, graciousness. This plan of God, where an individual is given faith, followed by repentance, followed by baptism, forgiveness of sin, the Holy Spirit, God now living and partnering in an individual to move them and grow them into a child of God, producing righteousness through faith, that not of their own, but God doing it in and through them. That came through Jesus Christ. Okay. John here just defines law and grace for us. Paul is talking about one thing that has very limited abilities and expectations, and something else that's fully expanded, fully God-involved, that drives to an end that is eternal. Notice that one covenant does not do away with the other covenant. In Matthew 9, verse 17, Jesus really tells us, if we're listening, it doesn't say it real direct, because human nature, you see, wants to get rid of God's law. Most of us in the back of our mind know, in quotes, that Jesus really did come to get rid of the law. Don't we say, well, no, he didn't, but we don't sacrifice anymore, got rid of that part. We don't go to the temple anymore. We don't have to do all the washings. We don't have to carry all these animals every time we do something. So he got rid of that, right? See, that takes you down a really bad path, because he said, he did not. He said, I came not to remove a fleck of Torah, not a shred of it. And don't forget that we at the Feast of Tabernacles get up every year and preach that it's Torah, the law, that will go forth from Zion during the millennium, not the gospel. You will not even hear of the gospel once Jesus Christ stands on the Mount of Olives. The gospel is preached in the Bible. Not that it won't be preached again. Just as far as the biblical record goes, the last time you hear the gospel is Revelation 14. Blowing of the seventh trump, the gospel is preached everywhere. The end happens just like Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24. The end comes, the end of Satan's rule.

Now, what do we do with this? Jesus says here in Matthew 9 and verse 17, nor do they put new wine into old wineskins. You know, you have the covenant, the holy covenant that God made with Israel. And it's limited. It's not like the new covenant. The old covenant is limited. Even the 10 commandments in the Old Testament are limited and do not fully explain or describe what Jesus said he came to do, which was to magnify the law. If it was magnified back then, then he couldn't have come and magnified it in the New Testament. That law in the New Testament and Matthew chapter 5 and chapter 6 begins to expand it, doesn't it? Don't kill your neighbor. Suddenly it's like, love your enemy. Pack him with blessings. Put quotes on him.

Wow, where did that come from? And don't commit adultery. Suddenly you better have your eyes in the right place and your mind in the right place and loving all people properly. This thing is growing. You know, just boom. And now it's fully defining and describing the mind and the love and the nature of God in a full way. Now he says here in Matthew chapter 9, you don't put new wine into old wineskins. The way I take that, you don't put the new covenant into the old covenant or else the wineskins break. The wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine in new wineskins and both are preserved. You see why Jesus didn't remove a fleck of the law?

He has two covenants. Both are preserved, fully intact. Not a flick is missing anywhere.

One does not replace the other. Both are preserved. So the law, the Torah, as Paul said, remains holy, just and good. And there are people to whom that law applies. And there are a few that have been called at this time to a new covenant. In the transition, some Jews who were of the former covenant got upgraded. Most didn't. Jesus said, I don't want too many of these people getting converted. Remember we read that. Most didn't, but some did. And for them, Paul writes the book of Hebrews to those who were baptized Jewish members of the church. Remember in chapter 6?

Or I shouldn't say that. The six doctrines of the church in Hebrews. Basic doctrines. He says, I want to lay again these doctrines of faith and repentance and baptism, laying on of hands the Holy Spirit, and resurrection. All things of a new covenant. He's talking to people who are baptized members of the church. And to them, he says, look, that which is old is ready to fade away.

For them, they were upgraded. He's saying, don't go back into what you were in. This is the law with better covenant. This is the one with better promises. Those sacrifices you've been doing under your covenant, which is holy just and good, those have been replaced now for you by Jesus Christ. This is great. You're in a bigger program, a better program. One doesn't go in and say, oh, that one's dead. Otherwise, we have a problem with Jesus Christ because he said, if you'll recall, until heaven and earth pass away, new heavens and new earth get here. There will not be one jot or one tittle removed from the law. Well, folks, new heavens and new earth aren't here yet.

And if we're going to believe Jesus Christ over modern theology, nothing has changed. Nothing has been removed.

Now, from the United Church of God booklet, New Covenant, section on grace and law, it says, grace encompasses more than just forgiveness of past sins. As we've already seen by the definition of grace, it is all of this graciousness of God. It also includes the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us obey God's laws. Isn't that amazing? Cheriss, the word translated grace, includes the gift of God's Holy Spirit to help us obey God's laws perfectly.

Indeed, the booklet says it refers to all the free and unmerited gifts of God. It includes his help in initially turning us away from sin and leading us to his truth, his way of life, his forgiveness of our past sins, and ultimately his granting us the greatest gift of all, eternal life in his kingdom. That's all in Cheriss. For somebody to just pick out one part that you have to extrapolate from one of the minor meanings and say, that's what Cheriss means, is missing the cruise ship and finding the lifesaver. Paul abbreviates his subjects. When he says grace, or uses the term Cheriss, he is really referring to the graciousness of a merciful God to repentant sinners.

But he just drops Cheriss and moves on. He abbreviates. He's talking about the graciousness, all the graciousness and involvement of a merciful God with repentant sinners as we're moving toward salvation. That's what that one little word means. Just as John defined it, as a covenant that involves Jesus Christ, and it is through him and the entire thing moving with him in us that this term Cheriss refers.

David defines it this way in Psalm 145 and verse 8, The Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.

That's quoted by two other individuals in the Bible. A very similar expression. One by Joel and one by one of the individuals that was talking to Job. When you think about God in that term, wow, our God is gracious. Gracious meaning all of those things, the plan, the calling, the bringing, first of all, faith, and then repentance, and then baptism, and forgiveness, and then Holy Spirit, and then moving in, and then partnering mentorship with us, and the success that we have as we grow. He is gracious, and in that path, he is full of compassion. He recognizes our physical state, and you know that we're sometimes two steps forward and three steps back, it seems like. Even Paul talked about that, that which I want to do, I don't do. He didn't make any cop-out for that. He says, I'm fighting this fight.

Well, he slowed anger, David said, and great in mercy. That's a wonderful God. That's a great partner along the way. But what that is not is grace with a capital G that sets aside any need for you and I to pursue perfect righteousness, to every day of our life, work hard and fight the fight, and have as our goal being like Christ and receiving a reward for that. Cheris, or grace in the Bible, is not some substitute Savior for those who do not want to obey God. And believe me, you and I don't want to obey God. Remember, Paul was up front, I don't want to obey God. That's our fight, isn't it? If you know that, if you fight that every day, you're in the battle, and you know that. Don't read in there, oh, guess what I found? I'm just going to have this one page. All I want to know is Christ and Him crucified.

That's where we were 20 years ago in this very church, that very scripture. That's all I want to know, is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Let's do another Last Supper, or whatever it's called, and praise the Lord. And I'll do what I want, because I've got backdoor salvation. Well, another way of saying it is, Jesus Christ is joy. Our Savior is one who is full of chara and charis. He is delightful, He's pleasurable, He's sweet, He's of goodwill, loving kindness, favor, merciful kindness, develops faith, motivates Christ-like virtue. I got these right out of a commentary that's explaining what grace means in the Bible, out of a Protestant commentary. Sometimes they have it both ways. But that's a pretty good definition by taking the Greek explanation and definitions of the word chara, throw them into a sentence, and then showing that in the Scripture we see that He is mercifully kind to people. He's also developing faith and working and developing faith and motivating Christ-like virtue in people. You cannot read the New Testament without coming to that conclusion. But that's the work that He does as a gracious God. He's not throwing all that out and just saying, oh, let's all sing the song. All you need is grace. Verse 2, all you need is grace. Grace is all you need. We would love that song, wouldn't we? Yeah, we could dance to that.

Lots of people do. Well, not that exact tune, but many like it.

The chair speaks of a righteous judge. You and I don't realize it, but Jesus Christ, someday I'll talk about this, Jesus Christ and God the Father are based on judgment. We kind of get this worldview that now the law's done away and there's no judgment. We're all under this grace and it's just pardon, pardon, pardon. Jesus was ashamed of having made that law. He came back, had to die for it, had it nailed to the cross, and he was so apologetic. He just says, you know, sorry.

Now you all just do what you want and use my name once in a while. I'll be really happy. Just praise me, son. We're kind of okay with that as humans. We forget, oh, wait a minute. He is a judge and he told us to learn about judgment and he said you are going to judge angels.

You're going to pass sentence on angels and I'm not so sure that those angels are going to not have a date with destiny. The Bible doesn't really say what's going to happen, but you know there are consequences and it's not that when Jesus died he took away all consequences. If so, why did he not say, when the Son of Man comes, everyone will give an account for every idle word they speak?

Oh, he said, oh no, no, they won't. He who takes the name of the Lord in vain, the Lord will not hold him guiltless. Oh, we can we can use euphemisms in his name. It's okay. He probably likes it, just hearing his name a lot as we yell it. You know, we do this as humans. We discount what he says.

We discount the fact that for every sin there is a penalty. There is a required penalty, and those penalties will be met out. Every one of them, right down to the idle word, the idle thought, the wrong thought, whatever it is. Scores are going to be settled in this sense that for every sin, God the Father and Jesus Christ require payment. We tend to get away from that and think, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that was kind of all that went foggy. We're not under rules and laws, and God's not like that. Oh, he is. He actually is. The only out we have is the fact that Jesus Christ died for those whose sins are covered by his blood, not for those that are not covered by that blood.

And you and I better take very seriously each opportunity we have to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, because it's not just an automatic thing that we're under grace.

See? No, we have to be repentant. We read back in 1 John chapter 1, for instance.

1 John chapter 1, very clear. Again, some things were not clear through the apostle Paul and were taken wrongly and misapplied, and so many left the church that John comes back and writes under inspiration. In verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have no sin, we're saying, really, there's no law. The law is not really important anymore, see? We're not under law. Therefore, we don't really have sin, because Paul said, without law, there is no sin. But, verse 9, if we confess our sins, and that's the key, are you forgiven before God the Father right now? Well, it depends.

Not everyone in the room is. Some are, some aren't. Why? Well, if we confess our sins, have you confessed your sins? Have you admitted them? Have you repented of them? Have you actually thought today, you know, I shouldn't have said that. Oops! The Holy Spirit motivated me to see. I just thought a wrong thought, said a wrong deed, got selfish. Have you confessed your sins to God? If so, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's the caveat. God takes sin very seriously, and there will be a requirement for every sin.

Be thankful that someone has taken our past sins that we've repented of already on Him, and we are not in the situation where they will be extracted from us, or the penalty will be extracted from us. The chair speaks of a righteous judge who is gracious to the repentant, and that is the key. He's gracious to the repentant. Another way of saying it, you are being transformed to sonship and salvation by a very gracious God. We should appreciate that so, so, so much.

Let's see how Paul describes that. We'll go through one of his minefields and see how Paul describes this so well. It's Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 through 10. Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 4 through 10. See, if you don't understand what he means with law and grace, one sense you're going along, and he's talking about law, and we need to obey the law, and the next breath he's saying, oh, it has nothing to do with obeying the law, it's all about grace. But you understand.

Look, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, this is our gracious God because of him, verse 5, even when you were dead in trespasses, dead. I mean, you had no life in you, you had no Holy Spirit in you, you had no calling, no understanding. You were not in a covenant that had life. You were dead in trespasses.

This gracious God made us alive together with Christ. How did he make us alive together with Christ? Well, he forgave us of our death sins and the death penalty. Then he put Christ in us with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light, and the life. He is life. So we are suddenly imbued with life. Notice in parentheses, the first landmine. By his graciousness you are being saved, it should say. By his graciousness you are being saved. What's he referring to? This God rich in mercy with all of this love. When you were dead, he has quickened you with his Holy Spirit. By his graciousness you are being saved. This is a flat wrong statement right here. By grace have you been saved? Guess who wrote that? Remember those people who don't like the law? Those people who want salvation now, an immortal soul, get God out of the way, I go to heaven when I die, no matter what. They say, you have been saved. No, you haven't been saved.

That would go against what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24, 13, he who endures to the end shall be saved. That would violate what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5 and verse 10, that we are being saved. There is no such thing about somebody having been saved. It's a wrong tense that is written into the scripture.

So by his graciousness you are being saved and is raising us up together and making us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus or to make us. That is where we're headed with this. This looks like it's all past tense. It's been done for you.

That in the ages to come, not now, the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his graciousness in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. This is the Father.

Very gracious family. Verse 8, land mine 2, land mine 3.

4. By his graciousness you are being saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. You are being saved by God's graciousness through faith and that whatever that refers to and there's commentators go back and forth. Is that being saved? Is that the graciousness of God or is that the faith? Well, I'm telling you, it's all from God.

All of those things, the graciousness, the faith, the salvation, all of these things are the gift of God, not of works lest any should boast. No, it's not about earning your salvation. It's not about doing something and therefore because I did this, I get that prize. No, it is a gracious God who starts this plan, rolls you into it, takes you along and is gracious all the way encouraging and partnering with you and that is all the gift of God.

Verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. Oh, that's what we're created for. Notice again, created, you were created in Christ Jesus for good works. You weren't created to receive grace. Capital G. You know, as a, oh, have, oh, you have grace.

You were created for good works in Jesus Christ, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. You were prepared for the graciousness of God to involve or get involved in your life and transport you into his family and he gets all the credit. But you got to keep up. You have to participate. You have to want to be involved. You have to create a clean, have God create a clean heart in you and a mind of his. Again, who is never quoted in the Bible as saying the word grace? Jesus Christ. You're familiar with all the passages in the Bible pertaining to being ready for his return, right? Ready for the second coming, ready for the judgment, as it were, that we're being judged now.

Can you think of one passage that mentions grace?

About any parables? Anything to the ten virgins? Anything?

Bride getting ready? Revelation 19 being made ready? Grace? No? Matthew 25, all the parables there?

About the kingdom of God? How about when Jesus says, when the Son of man comes in all his glory, he will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom of God prepared for you from the foundation of the world because you receive grace? Was that what he taught?

Jesus' example was God's graciousness upon graciousness was on him his whole life. John, back there in John chapter 1, probably verse 31 or 29 or something like that, talks about grace upon grace. No. Yeah. Grace upon grace, I guess it was. What it means is graciousness piled on top of graciousness. That's what one of the commentators said about that, that statement. Oh, it's from grace to grace. That's what John is quoted as saying. From grace to grace. What does that mean? From grace to grace? Well, that sort of bypasses law, doesn't it? But it turns out it's graciousness of God upon the graciousness of God has come upon us through the life of Jesus Christ and through the covenant that he has given us.

This is about God's graciousness. Jesus had God's graciousness upon him, piled on him, leading him as a child, growing up, inspiring him, motivating him, teaching him, assisting him to perfectly keep his Father's commandments, to never make one error when it came to breaking the law of God. And he set us a perfect example that we should follow. We're to walk just as he walked, John tells us. And so in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, it says, And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, not now walked, once walked according to the course of this world, according to the power of the air, the prince of the power of the area, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, once conducted ourselves. Don't do that now.

But you see, now we are being saved. Paul clearly states the necessity of repenting from sin and performing righteousness. The whole chapter of Romans chapter 6 is, when properly understood, it is a very strong indication that you and I, when we are planted with Christ in baptism, we are linked with His blood at baptism. Before then, we have no forgiveness in our life. It's at baptism that we are linked with Him. And we come out to walk a new life as a new man or a new woman. We come out to walk a new life. And that life is not to be bound under sin. Let's take a look at Romans chapter 6 and verse 13. He continues, and he says, and do not present, now that you've been baptized and you're going this direction with God's help, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. Is that clear? I know it's clear. You know it's clear. We're going to hit a landmine. Ready for it? I think you are. But present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead.

Why are we alive from the dead? We are alive because we have life, God the Father and Jesus Christ living in us through the Holy Spirit. And our works are those of life. They are the works of the living God that He is doing through us if we submit ourselves and we keep dying to that old way of life. Verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law.

What? He's just telling us to obey the law and keep all the commandments perfectly, and now He's telling us we're not under law. Oh, we're under grace. But what is He really saying? Remember how Paul abbreviates his topics? Verse 14, for sin, which is the transgression of the law, by the way, shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law without faith, without repentance, without baptism, without forgiveness, and without God leading you in righteousness. And so, you're not confined to death. It's a wonderful thing. But you are under a new covenant, full of the graciousness of God with the gracious gifts of faith and repentance and baptism and forgiveness and the Holy Spirit and a partnering mentorship going on with a God that is bigger than Satan. Christ said, I've defeated Him and don't you worry. Be of courage. You march on. I will never leave you or forsake you. That's good. So, you're not under some confinement to death, but you are partnered with the graciousness of God. Verse 15, what then shall we sin because we are not under the penalty of death without hope, but under the graciousness of God in the New Testament with the Holy Spirit and repentance and salvation is our destination? Certainly not. He says, that's stupid! Are you nuts? Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey?

You are that one's slaves to whom you obey? Whether of sin leading to death? Oh, I thought there was grace. I thought it was sin leading to grace.

Or of obedience leading to righteousness?

These things are very alive. I think what you've come to see today is grace with a capital G as some thing, some thing that transcends and suppresses God, obedience to God, his commands, and somehow is a backdoor automatic. You're in heaven or whatever concept the person has of an afterlife.

That indeed, it's quite the opposite. It's the law of God which defines the mind of God very well, that is the thing being aspired to, and those who aspire to that have God's gracious support and help and favor and mercy and forgiveness and encouragement all along the way.

You know, I think there's a very sad, huge problem with the concept of grace with a capital G.

And that is, it's only one part, a very important part when I say it, forgiveness, which they're assuming it is, this pardon, right, the washing of the precious blood of God. That is one part of salvation, a very important part, but only one part. Let's stop and consider that a minute. If you go back to the first Passover in Egypt, what was it?

The Israelites took the blood of the Lamb and they put them on the doorposts, right? And then God, not the death angel, but God Himself came over and killed all the firstborn of Egypt and Israel that didn't have doorposts painted with blood. It turns out that all the Israelites remembered to paint their doorposts with blood and none of them died. Okay? Now, that was amazing. Before they put the blood on the doorposts, they were slaves in Egypt. They lived in Egypt under Pharaoh.

And after they put the blood on the doorposts and God came by and killed everyone without blood on the doorposts, the next morning after they stayed in their houses all night, where were they? They were in Egypt, right there with Pharaoh as the king. You see, the blood over the doorpost was like the blood of Jesus Christ. It was very, very important. It gave them an opportunity, didn't it?

An opportunity that would not have been possible had they been dead the next morning. It gave them the opportunity to do something. But had it done it, did that do it for them? The next morning, were they, whoa, here we are in the land of Israel with milk and honey and houses and happiness.

No, they were in Egypt. They hadn't gone anywhere. It's like when you are baptized and your sins are forgiven and washed away. You stand there ready for opportunity, but you haven't moved a muscle. To say that grace, this undeserved pardon somehow takes one beyond what that forgiveness of Christ is for, the special thing that it's for, and does it all, is a very, very huge misunderstanding.

And yet it's one that Satan would want us to fall for and want humans to fall for. So they would not start the process of going for the goal of becoming a minded child of God, a godly-minded child, and would instead do what Jesus said the person did, take that opportunity, wrap it in an appcon and sit there and not pursue it. Which do you want? Do you want grace? Do you want unmerited pardon? Is that what you want in life? Do you want to say, I'm going to toss this out and all I want is unmerited pardon.

What does that net you? That by itself, what does it net you? I would compare that to asking which would you want of the following. Would you like a life jacket or would you like life saving? Do you want grace as far as forgiveness or would you want the graciousness of God and Jesus Christ? Because if you only take one, it would be like, if you only take the one part of the graciousness of God, it would be like taking a life preserver and putting around him buckling and dropping you out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

And there you are. Now this really is important. This life jacket is very, very important because without it, you'd be way down there, right? But this gives you opportunity. I have opportunity as the waves toss you around, as the cold water begins to bring hypothermia, as dark things begin to swim in the water underneath you.

You realize it brings certain opportunity. But how would you like life saving? Life saving would be a life jacket around you, as you are in a covered lifeboat with blankets and food and water and an e-perb automatic signaling satellites that are connecting to search and rescue around the world with flares, daytime flares, nighttime flares, with radios to talk to those pilots of airplanes going overhead.

And the entire Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, everybody is on their way, just keep transmitting. Which would you like? Life jacket for life saving? Do you want forgiveness of sin or do you want the whole package, including being brought into the family of God in eternal life?

Again, pardon is one key aspect, just as it's important to keep floating until they get there.

Paul says in Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, down to our last two scriptures here, Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, but God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's like Israel, spreading the blood on the doorposts, being spared, but not in the Promised Land. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.

Verse 9, much more, oh, much more than Christ dying for us? There's much more to it than that.

Much more than having now been justified by His blood. Oh, thought we were saved by His blood. No, just justified in the eyes of God. You can have a relationship with the Father. You have the opportunity now to start. You have the opportunity to begin. You have the opportunity for a relationship with a gracious God family. That's what the blood of Jesus Christ does.

It justifies us with the Father. Much more than having now been justified, much more than that going on, He says, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. We are saved through Jesus Christ, through the living Jesus Christ, through Christ living in us, through the life of Christ. Verse 10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, that's the part that the so-called grace will do. It will reconcile us to the Father through the death of the Son, that unmerited pardon. That's what it does. Having been reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more than having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life in us.

This notion of grace doesn't save you. Grace as unmerited pardon. That does not save you.

That, as we've just read several times, reconciles and justifies us and prepares us for opportunity with the family of God. We shall be saved by His life in us, converting us, transforming us into godly children with His righteousness flowing through us.

So, in conclusion, do I need to obey God's law if I hope to receive the reward of the Kingdom of God? Is obedience necessary? Well, let's ask Paul. In closing, let's finish with 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 and 10. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God?

That's pretty plain, isn't it? Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived by my words or anyone's words, including Paul's. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, or sodomites, or thieves, or cuttomists, covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Next time, in Don't Twist Law and Grace, part 2, we'll take a closer look at New Covenant and the Law.