LAW AND GRACE

LAW AND GRACE

For many years I struggled with the fact that there is a glaring difference in the way God dealt with disobedience during the tenure of the Law of Moses, compared with His manifest response to the very same types of disobedience and sin today.


Just this last Sunday I was studying Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Joh 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Joh 1:16 And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Joh 1:17 FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, BUT GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST.

In the Old Testament, God was dealing in LAW AND (swift) PUNISHMENT. It was meted out by JEHOVAH ( the Rock, the immoveable one, the STERN ONE)

Heb 1:1 God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

But, when GRACE (Divine Enablement) AND TRUTH (Reality of relationship with God) came on the scene through Jesus Christ, the Management of the World took on a different form.

Jesus was the "Word made Flesh" (1:14), and because of that fact His method of dealing with Humans was to be different. He would furnish "Divine enablement" to those who would seek for it, and He would provide for a genuine living relationship with Himself for those who would avail themselves of it.

Heb 2:14 FORASMUCH THEN AS THE CHILDREN ARE PARTAKERS OF FLESH AND BLOOD, HE ALSO HIMSELF LIKEWISE TOOK PART OF THE SAME; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Joh 2:25 AND NEEDED NOT THAT ANY SHOULD TESTIFY OF MAN: FOR HE KNEW WHAT WAS IN MAN.

Joh 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
JOH 5:26 FOR AS THE FATHER HATH LIFE IN HIMSELF; SO HATH HE GIVEN TO THE SON TO HAVE LIFE IN HIMSELF;
Joh 5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, BECAUSE HE IS THE SON OF MAN.
Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Joh 5:30 I CAN OF MINE OWN SELF DO NOTHING: AS I HEAR, I JUDGE: AND MY JUDGMENT IS JUST; BECAUSE I SEEK NOT MINE OWN WILL, BUT THE WILL OF THE FATHER WHICH HATH SENT ME.

Jesus said: Joh 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: THE WORD THAT I HAVE SPOKEN, THE SAME SHALL JUDGE HIM IN THE LAST DAY.

Humans are NOT GETTING AWAY with disobedience and sinful practices because of judgment not being meted out immediately. The Lord is hoping for them to turn to Him in repentance.


But, IF THEY DO NOT REPENT----