SOME GOOD NEWS!

Grace - the free and unmerited favor of God.

As I was listening to the third of three lectures on the Law and Grace, I had an amazing realization...this is not only the path to understanding the Gospel, it is the Gospel. I am studying in order to present Law and Grace during my mission trip, and it really just hit me - I am in the awesome place of getting to study for, to gain knowledge in, to soak up the Gospel. What a wonderful deal for me!

It has been my desire for a while to present the gospel as simply as possible. It seems as though we are always adding to it, and frankly making it difficult to understand. We are trying to make our gospel more like our own made up law, kinda like house rules, ya never know which rule book you have to follow. Well that isn't the gospel, I guess it could be called the gospel + , as stated in this course I am listening to, and that is not the Gospel at all.

God's intent for the one who obeyed the Law was to demonstrate love for God and for his neighbor, Christ says that Himself in Matthew 22:37-39

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.


It was not about the letter of the law, but the heart behind it. Christ says that in Matthew 9:13

13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. ’

And the Law was meant for only a certain amount of time and for the nation of Israel, and that amount of time was until the Messiah came. That is why Christ says in Matthew 5:17

17   “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

So, here is what I have gleaned in my studies.

From the beginning, people have received Grace through faith alone. This is Grace, not grace plus works.
The old testament is full of examples of God's Grace, and many of the examples can be found in Hebrews chapter 11.
The Law has been fulfilled by Christ.
and when we believe with our hearts, and confess with our mouths that He is Lord, we experience the grace He has provided for us by faith alone. There is nothing in addition to this simple fact. You have forgiveness for your sins, past, present and future. To put it another way, God sees the righteousness of Christ when He looks upon those who have put their faith in His Son, and that is why we now have an eternal relationship with Him, and why we can be in His presence.

Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.


Simply, gracefully, amazing! That is why it is called Good News, and that is the Gospel!