The Real Power of Grace
God has given His people the power to rebuke immorality with His law,
but we should place this charge in perspective. We should not force His
law
on anyone-nor should any government power. Our first cause is to convince
others of their personal need of Jesus, and in doing so, teach them the
judgment is coming quickly.
Some believe that our relation****p with God's law changed with Jesus.
But He came to cleanse us of our sins and give us the power to overcome
them-not give us a free pass to sin more. Grace has always been God's
powerful gift, from Adam to the end of time. We should not take it for
granted so easily, so cheaply.
What sense would it be for Jesus to come and explain the purpose of
the
law, to keep it, to die because humans broke them, only to say that the
laws
were no longer in effect after His death The equation is simple: If there
is
no law, there is no sin. If there is no sin, there is no judgment needed.
The final judgment, which all Christians believe in to some degree, makes
it
logically necessary to have a law! If Jesus did away with the law, at the
very least those living today would not be sinners. But the Bible says we
are sinners (Romans 3:23). We are all judged by a common standard; the
righteous and the lost will be weighed by it. The difference: the
righteous
are thus because Jesus made them that way by His empowering grace.
Sometimes I am told that I don't understand grace because I choose to
obey the Commandments as they are written. But my testimony is a life
utterly transformed by God's grace, which has in turn made me recognize
the
astounding beauty and necessity of God's moral law. How could the Holy
Spirit convict me of my desperate need to repent and accept God's grace
without His rules spelled out in detail It's not a long-gone artifact of
faith, but an eternal testament to God's righteousness!
Realizing that my sins had been washed away, my love for God
blossomed
(1 John 4:19). Yet the more I studied His Word, the more I saw that sin
devastated God's heart. It was an unavoidable conclusion. I didn't want to
hurt Him any longer, or treat His law so lackadaisically. Grace has not
only
made me clean before the Father, it has enabled me to honor His
Commandments
so long as I cling to Jesus and His promises.
When we show God our real desire to stop sinning, real change begins.
We experience true character-building-a real goal to reach for-a real
purpose for living; something that grace without real responsibility won't
give us. (If you give a jobless person a job and a living wage, you will
see
real passion! But what happens when all you do is give money and walk
away)
And that is why I am so passionate for God. His law, His government, has
given me purpose to live, to work, and to die for.
God loves us. God has mercy. I count on that love and have faith in
that mercy. I am aware of my sinful condition, but I have assurance that
He
is willing to forgive and that He will complete His work in me
(Philippians
1:6). But I also believe He has a big problem with those who willfully
defy
His Commandments and pick and choose the details they will acknowledge.
Can
God allow someone into heaven who continues to recklessly defy Him I think
God would never want us to conclude that we love Him so much that we won't
worry about keeping His Commandments.
"So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of
liberty" (James 2:12).
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