The Law v Grace (unmerited favour)
“you have not come to the mountain [Sinai] that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest…But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels”. (Hebrews 12:18, 22)
“The Lord Blesses you out of Zion” Psalm 128: 5
“For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power” 1 Cor 15:56
The 1st verse above speaks of the law and of the Holy Spirit. Mount Sinai is where the law was given to Moses through the (ten commandments) and mount Zion is were the Spirit of God came.
The 2nd verse tells us that God blesses us from mount Zion and the third that the law leads to death.”
Which mountain are you on? Sinai or Zion. I don’t know about you but I want to be living on a mountain that gives life and not death. When we live in Grace (unmerited favour) we become alive but when we live by a set of rules, we are dead in our walk with God.
God has taught me that….
- His Grace is freely given
- I can do nothing to make him love me more or less
- He doesn’t stop loving me because of my behaviour
- He wants to bless me beyond my wildest dreams
- Christianity is not, and should never be about a set of Rules
“Beloved, by grace you have been saved through faith.” (Ephesians 2:8)
God loves me, not because of anything we have done but because his son has paid it all already, we don’t need to keep saying sorry for the sin and mistakes we make everyday, why, because he remembers our sin no longer!! We are saved by grace, unmerited favour. Whenever we feel like we are criticising ourselves we need to declare that God has made us righteous (worthy), and declare that sin has no longer got a hold on us.
We need to stop focusing on how much we can love God, and start focusing on how much our heavenly father loves us. We need to stop focusing on how much we can do and start focusing on how much God can do. etc etc
When we do this, we will effortlessly fulfil the law because our focus has changed from keeping a set of rules, to our faith in Jesus!!
I cannot put it any better than Joseph Prince:
“God does not want your heart full of worries and fears, tossed and turned by every challenge that comes your way. He wants your heart at rest and established by His grace toward you.
But when you think that the breakthroughs to your challenges depend on your ability to obey God, then your heart will not be at rest. It will be full of worries and anxieties. Why? Because you can never obey God perfectly.
But when you depend on God’s grace, that is, His undeserved, unmerited favour, the opposite happens—your heart becomes established. When you know that the only thing that qualifies you to receive God’s blessings is faith in the finished work of Christ, your heart becomes established. Then, you will walk without the fear of your troubles swallowing you up. You will walk with full assurance that His blessings will be manifested in your life.
My friend, God wants your heart established, knowing that His righteousness, healing, protection and provision are yours—all paid for by Jesus’ finished work at the cross. God’s blessings are sure in your life because they are not dependent on your ability to keep His laws, but Jesus’ perfect obedience.
You see, under the old covenant, you receive God’s blessings only if you keep all His laws. (Deuteronomy 28:1–2) If you sin and fail to keep even one law, you will be disqualified from receiving His blessings. But today, under the new covenant, your sins no longer disqualify you because God Himself has said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
So let your heart be established by God’s grace. Because of His grace, you have full access to His blessings. You no longer have to worry about whether you are good enough. You can stand firm on the promises made in His Word and enjoy His blessings today because Jesus has paid the price. Your part is only to believe and receive!”
I hope this message of Grace blesses you as much as it blessed me.
Vikki