"See, again, how the Lord uses the law in the case of the woman taken in adultery (John 8). The scribes and Pharisees bring her before Him in a most wicked way, hoping to entrap Him. If He said, Stone her, He was no more a Saviour than the law; if He said, Do not stone her, He was breaking the law. The Lord does not weaken the authority of the law, but He applies light to them all, telling them, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her." They found they were in the presence of God, and they went out, one by one, owning practically that they had all sinned, and were under the condemnation of the law. They felt the detecting power of God - the veil was taken away, and they could not bear it."I find that most interesting...For us living in the NT....when we are in Gods presence, or at least aware of Him, we become heightened to the the fact that we are in need of His grace, because we NEED it (our righteousness is as filthy rags we remember, our works count for nothing when it comes to His favour)...BUT...the further we are away from Him (His presence), even in our minds, we become unaware of our NEED for His grace and so "Law" preaching does not "bother" us...if we are experiencing a mixture of law and grace we don't see it because we are so unaware of Him, we feel condemnation and guilt but we think we are supposed to be feeling that.............
SO when we preach grace, we bring believers back into an awareness of Jesus' fininshed work, it brings us into a deeper understanding of who we are and "seats" us (in our minds at least) once again where we are supposed to be, in heavenly places, in the presence of God....we become aware of our need for a saviour on an ongoing basis and so embrace GRACE even more..
Make sense ??
4 comments:
I think it's good to have ourselves established in the fact that the reality of our lives in Christ is that we've been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus, and we are always in His presence, and we are always seated in the heavenlies with Him. I think you hit on a key thing... being "aware" of it, or knowing it "in our minds."
What the preaching of grace does for me is that it reminds my mind of the truth of the reality of all of this. As you say, it brings me, in my mind, into an awareness of Jesus' finished work.
I think you're right... people who are under teachings that mix law and grace are double-minded, but they think that's how it's supposed to be! "I need to live more righteously, but I'm not doing that so I feel guilty and condemned, but yet God's grace can help me to get there..."
Pure grace, however, reminds us all the time that our entire lives are based upon nothing but the grace of God. Under pure grace teaching (as long as we accept it as truth) we grow more and more into a love relationship with our Father, rather than a works-based relationship in which we'll never measure up! We become more and more aware that in reality, spiritually speaking, we're sitting with God in the heavenly places. We then live from that place, rather than trying to attain it somehow!
Joel, you said it perfectly bro "Pure grace, however, reminds us all the time that our entire lives are based upon nothing but the grace of God"...
The more we hear "pure" grace (of the gospel), the more we realise we NEED it, so we want to hear MORE pure grace and it becomes THE topic every Sunday (everyday really).....drawing us closer to His presence.
The less we hear it, the less we believe we need it, so hearing the message of grace becomes 1 more topic for another Sunday...we start becoming works based which draws us further from Jesus...
the answer...stay IN HIM (in thinking) by contiually listening and meditating on the finished work of the One we call Grace...
Yeah Craig, you made sense. And the two comments that followed made sense also, and were pretty much as dynamic as the post! For instance Joel said, “…we've been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus, and we are always in His presence, and we are always seated in the heavenlies with Him. I think you hit on a key thing... being "aware" of it, or knowing it "in our minds." And Craig you said, “the answer...stay IN HIM (in thinking) by continually listening and meditating on the finished work of the One we call Grace…”
And I say, AMEN!!! What an incredible privilege to be hearing these kinds of words. And what an incredible privilege to rest in Him where He is! Abiding above! Ceasing from our own labor. And at the same time He abides in us “down here” by the Spirit. And by the ministry of the indwelling Spirit of Christ,these priceless positional realities are made progressively experiential in our lives. He says, "Abide in me, and I in you." And, as a result, there is this reciprocal union, the ultimate in relationship! Thank-you Jesus.
You guys are great; thanks! :)
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