Let’s explore the idea of Grace and the power that a life lived in grace brings to our lives of faith. “W*hat’s so Amazing about Grace*”.
The Younger Son- Grace
Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What we deserve and what we get. This is Grace!
Romans 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The Older Son- Some of him in
For the Jews of Jesus day, everything revolved around the law. Their identity (the way they were different from those around them), their holiness, their hope for the future- was all found in their following of the law.
We can have this view also. That our standing with God is based on our efforts.
Paul, as the apostle to the gentiles was constantly driving this point home
Romans 3:21-31 The Righteousness of God Through Faith
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 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. 26 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.
27 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. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
The proper use of the
V33 brings up an interesting challenge to us. If we are not under the law, does that mean that we can do anything we want?
The Christian has no business living under the law. “What is God’s law now? It is not above a Christian — it is under a Christian. Some men hold God’s law like a rod in terrorem, over Christians, and say, ‘If you sin you will be punished with it.’ It is not so. The law is under a Christian; it is for him to walk on, to be his guide, his rule, his pattern… Law is the road which guides us, not the rod which drives us, nor the spirit which actuates us.” (Spurgeon)
Under the law it is what you do for God that makes you right before Him. Under the grace of God, it is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ that makes us right before Him. Under the law the focus is on my performance. Under the grace of God, the focus is on who Jesus is and what He has done. Under the law we find fig leaves to cover our nakedness. Under the grace of God, we receive the covering won through sacrifice that God provides.