GRACE IS LIFE IN JESUS

Without grace Christianity is just another religion in which people spend their lives wondering if they measure up and fearful that they don't.
Attempting to follow Jesus without first being rooted and grounded in grace is sure to produce more failure than success.
~Gary Marchinke

Quotation: When religion and church fail, there is grace
When relationships and careers fail, there is grace
When all human effort fails, there is grace.
In a world full of failure there exists a God full of grace. ~ Gary Marchinke

1. The Power of Grace

WE ARE ALWAYS UNDER GRACE

"For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.“ - (Romans 6:14)

What is Paul saying here:

   Believers cannot be joined to Christ as long as they are “under the law” bound to a legal system.    Paul says, to be under the law is to be under sin’s dominion. (Rom. 6:14-15)   If we are under the law we will fail under the law and under sin bondage.  (Galatians 3:10-12)  The law will hold us captive to sin – but we have died to sin and therefore cannot be held by the law to it any more. (Rom. 6:11)

 The “old way of the written letter” under the law was characterized by “the flesh”, “sinful passions,” “law” and “death”.  The “new way of the Spirit”  is made possible by “dying to that which bound us” and being “released from the law”  The Greek “katargeo” for “released” means “To make ineffective, powerless, idle.”

2. The Purpose of the Law

Galatians 3:21-24   - New International Version (NIV)

²¹ Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not!  For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.  ²² But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

²³ Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

The law was not perfect and cannot saved a person. The law is like a mirror and it cannot wash your face. But Christ came to end or replace the law.

1. Christ is the End of the Law  Romans 10:3-5  

“For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.  

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.   For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.…”

3. Living in the Spirit

Romans 8:3-5 - "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. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit."

                                            The Comparison

UNDER THE LAW                                                           UNDER GRACE

(Husband-Wife)                                                            (Husband-Wife)

Adam’s sin – sinner                                       Christ – Believers righteousness

Flesh – becoming servants of sin                  Spirit – servants of righteousness

“We were”                                                                  “But now”

Married to sin                                                             Married to righteousness

Bound by law                                                              Released from the law

Wife to Adam (fallen)                                                Wife to Christ (Risen)

Bringing forth fruit that resulted                       Bringing forth fruit that resulted

In death.                                                                holiness, power, grace,

                                                                              liberty &  eternal life.

4. Receive the Abundance of Grace

New Living Translation  Romans 5:17
For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

English Standard Version – Romans 5:17
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

I found one interesting phrase that worth mentioning it. It is the phrase "much more". In Roman 5:15, 17 and 20 it speaks of the words "much more" grace of God. Grace is much more than love, blessings, wisdom, knowledge, power, peace, joy - you can name and make a list of it. God grace is able to do exceedingly abundantly and above all what we ask or think!

As I said before, grace is like an ocean and we have just gone for a swim here and there only. God's thought are higher than our thoughts. We could never exhaust or deplete God's grace. There are much, much more than we imagine. I like the different translations below.

The New English Bible says, "Where sin was thus multiplied, grace immeasurably exceeded it." J.B. Phillips paraphrases it, "Through sin is shown to be wide and deep, thank God his grace is wider and deeper still." Donald Grey Barnhouse quoted, "Where sin reached a high-water mark, grace completely flooded the world." D. Martin Lloyd Jones used the word "engulfed" for "flooded" here. God will not withhold gracious grace because of sin. This gift of grace is unspeakable and indescribable.

(To be continued)