Law Vs. Grace

Colossians 2

Law Jokes Stories

Paul was concerned with the law.

I can identify with Paul

People can not understand Grace Vs Law. They know what Grace is but for one reason or another they just cannot let go of the Law

In part because of Jesus Teaching

At one point in the Gospel Jesus tells us that he upholds the law

And at another point Jesus says that he is the abolition, the end of the Law

And so Christians look at this and see a contradiction what Jesus Said

What we fail to see is that there is another solution to the seeming problem

The end result is that we hang on to the Law as a security blanket while trying to Grasp God’s Grace in Jesus and we partly understand, because we will not let go of the law

we only see a little bit of God’s Grace. That’s what Paul understood about people.

The Grace of God is probably the most difficult thing to understand.

Read Col 2

I. The first thing he says is

Keep believing in Jesus

just because you can not figure out this understanding of Law and Grace, that does not devoid Christ of his authority or power. it Just means that you have a little bit more to grow before you understand what God has done

Then He says do not be mislead

Probably because he knows That the most vulnerable time for the Christian to fall away, is when they are unsure of certain things that Jesus wanted to be the cornerstone of our faith.

II. in order to make sure that the people did not get mislead he erasures them of who Christ is.

He says that Christ is God Which means two things

A. He has taken your sins

B. He brought you into a new covenant

And he reminds them of their baptism. How serious of an occasion that was

because they were buried with the Law.

III. Whenever I am talking to people about Christ This issue of law and Grace seems to Come up.

And they usually phrase it like this

"How can God Give us law in the old Testament and Grace in the New Testament?"

The question arises because people want to make sure that God is not contradicting himself. and the real question they are asking is

Which one an I to live By.

If Christianity is about grace, Why do I have to follow the Law.

At one point Jesus says that he came to uphold the Law

in another place He says that he came to complete it

So which one are we under Law or grace

To answer that we have to look at the Character of God

1. God is eternal. God is and always was

2. Unchanging, This does not mean that he cannot change his mind it just means that his nature is unchangeable and incorruptible

3. Holy, Perfect, Pure, Not a flaw in Him

4. Love, Jonah said you are abounding in Love, merciful

5. Just, Because of His Holiness he hates sin, being the authority that he is it is his responsibility to be the Judge, He is called the lawgiver and the Just Judge.

He sets the standard for what sin is.

Here’s the thing, he gave us a Choice to not be able to sin.

What do you mean?

Picture this

God has just finished his Creation. He has created Adam then His wife Eve. And He put them in a beautiful Garden, And they could enjoy long life. and every day God would take a walk in the Garden. and He would talk to Adam and Eve. They were best friends.

Because at this point Man was sinless, Can you see it? The law does not exist because man does not know Good from Evil’

So there is no law. But there is one rule, one thing that they are not supposed to do.

In the middle of the garden there are two trees. One of those trees is the tree of Life. You could eat from that tree and it would give you life. Think of that, A person could eat from that tree and live eternally.

But another tree was in the middle of the Garden, a tree of Knowledge. Knowledge of Good and evil. and Man was not supposed to eat from that tree. The only one you cannot touch or eat from.

I find it to be an interesting choice. will you eat from the tree of Life or the tree of death.

So it was not possible to break the law because it had not yet been formed

and Adam and eve were innocent

But then something happened, Someone talked them into eating.

doing the one thing that was a sin