Welcome back!
Let’s get right back into our study and turn back with me for a moment to Exodus 19. We are going to pursue possibly over the next couple of lessons the difference between Law and Grace. I found if ever there is an area of confusion amongst all people, it’s here. When people see it, they are so excited about it that they remind me to go and teach the difference between Law and Grace.
So I am going to take the time before we go any farther in Genesis. In Exodus we pick up the Nation of Israel as they’ve came out of the Land of Egypt; they’ve now been under bondage remember. By virtue of the miraculous power of God they’ve come out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea and they are gathered now around Mt. Sinai. In the very next chapter of course, Moses is going to go up into the Mountain and receive the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law.
Now when I say the rest of the Law, that may raise a few questions.
The Law is in three parts:
- Moral Law – Ten Commandments
- Worship – Ecclesiastic with Priest etc.
- Civil – Neighbor to neighbor, socially, transferring deeds and intrinsic problems of a society.
Now what you have to be careful if you’re going to be a good student of scripture, whenever you see the word law (whether Paul uses it in Romans, or whatever) always try to determine is the writer talking about the whole system of Law including the Ten Commandments, Worship, and Civil? Or is it simply talking about the Ten? The text will usually reveal it where you can pick it out right away.
Now in chapter 19, Israel has not received the Law as yet. But they have come out of Egypt.
Exodus 19:7-8
“7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.”
When they answered and said we will do, that is legalism. You cannot have legalism without the flesh doing something. So Israel says, Lord tell us what you want us to do and we will do it.
Another one I’d like you to turn to is in Deuteronomy, chapter 5 and head to verse 27. Deuteronomy is an analysis of what has gone on before. Now we find in verse 27, Israel says to Moses…
Deuteronomy 5:27
“27 Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.”
We will act on it.
I think the first thing we need to understand, again I need to use the scripture, I don’t want any to go by what I say, go back to Hebrews. For some of these things are so basic that we dare not skip over it. So let’s take the Bible’s definition of Faith as it is laid out in the chapter.
Hebrews 11:1
“11 Now faith is the substance (the meat or core) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
In other words, when we are dealing with the area of Faith, we are dealing with areas that you cannot put your hands on something. You cannot take it into a laboratory; put it in a test tube. Faith is that area of the invisible; the spirit world.
Verse 2-3
“2 For by it (Faith) the elders (those in the O.T.) obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
There is no way we can prove how the world was made other than if God said it, then we have to believe it. God expects us to believe it.
Now come down to Verse 6
“6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
I hope I am never accused of simply promoting an easy believism. In other words, believe in the Lord Jesus and you’re alright. I never teach that.
When I talk about believing or faith plus nothing, I’m talking about belief and a faith that is so rock-solid that you can honestly say that with all my heart and being I know that Christ died for me; I know that my sins have been forgiven because His blood has taken care of it; I know without a shadow of a doubt that He was risen from the dead; I have no doubt about it. And I know He did it for ME!
Now listen, when someone believes like that and it has become a power of God experience it’s going to change their life. Many of you know what I’m talking about. It will have an effect, and such an effect that you don’t have to have a list of rules and regulations to guide your behavior for it will come from that power that God put within.
But where does it have to start? FAITH! We have to believe it.
Now under the Law, that is why I wanted to take a few moments to talk about it. The Law, God gave the Ten Commandments in which they were set in stone. God didn’t see fit to place the commandments on a Teddy-Bear that someone could come along and cuddle up too. They were written on cold, old tables of stone. They were un-moveable. As I pointed out in our last study, what could the Law do but condemn. The Law had no power whatsoever to help a man keep from stealing. The Law had no power to keep somebody from committing adultery. All it could do is say, don’t do this, or you better do it.
Now even love, the very first commandment. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Now stop and thing for a minute; can you force anybody to love someone? Impossible. Where does love have to spring from but within? So it is with the whole gamete of the Ten Commandments they did nothing but stand there in stark reality and convict and condemn.
Now you see how foolish it is when someone says I’m doing the best I can by keeping the Ten Commandments? It’s impossible.
Now for the Jew under the Law as soon as he realized that knowing what God had said under the Law, that he had broken one of them, what did God give them as an alternative? They now had too dip down into the second part of the Law, Worship, and practice what God had set up for them to approach Him. This was all according to the letter of the law.
For example: Here is the Tabernacle (tent) and all around it was the 12 Tribes. You want to remember when they were encamped, at least at Sinai, when they recently came out of Egypt there were anywhere between 3-6 million people. That tells you that some of those that encamped beyond the 12 Tribes on the outer parameter were a long way from this alter within the Tabernacle. Now just put yourself in their shoes. Here someone way out in the outer parameter and has broken the law. He knows he has broken it. Maybe he stole from his neighbor. But he remembers what the Law said, thou shalt not steal. So he says, I’ve got to make things right, but man, it’s a long from where I am clear up to the priest in the Tabernacle. I’m simply going to admit to God that I’ve sinned and I don’t think I need to make that sacrifice. So that is what he tries to do. He says, God I’ve broke the command, I stole from my neighbor, but I don’t want to go clear up there with a lamb. Was that man accepted? No. Why? He did not do what God said to do. And that was they had to bring something to the priest. That was Works.
Now let’s turn it around. Let’s say this same fellow commits this same sin; he recognizes it and says, boy, my neighbor did the same thing and went to the priest. I guess I will do the same thing. Will he be accepted? No. Why? Because he didn’t do it by faith in how God instructed it to be done. See the difference? It can be either way. You can go through the motions and if he doesn’t do it explicitly according to God’s instructions, he won’t be accepted. He didn’t do it according to faith. On the other hand, he has faith but he does not carry out the work and go to the priest as God instructed. He’s not accepted. That was legalism! That was the Law.
Now let’s go back to our timeline last week, I said when God began to deal with the Nation of Israel through the man Abraham, and all the prophetic promises; their Messiah came and they crucified Him. Now, into the book of Act here again where a lot of people end up in confusion. I was even raised in that system of teaching. We thought somehow the Age of Grace began somewhere in Christ’s earthly ministry. I’m not sure where they thought it began. They certainly didn’t tell me this time was still under the Law, but certainly it was.
Always remember that everything that takes place within the Gospels, which was predominantly during Christ’s earthly ministry, is still under the Law. The Temple is still going full speed; they’re bringing their sacrifices by the thousands, and anytime someone approached Jesus, where would He tell them to go? To the Temple or to the Priest.
Remember the ten lepers that were healed? Where did Jesus tell the ten to go? Back and report to the Priests; show yourself to the Priests.
The young rich ruler, he came to the Lord and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What did Jesus tell him to do? Keep the Commandments which meant the whole Law, all three sections. If you break a commandment, then go by way of the Temple and Priest to gain acceptance, and of course, keeping the Civil Law as well. That was all Law. This is exactly what Jesus labored under for those whole three years.
But, now let’s go on into the book of Acts for a moment to chapter 10. According to the chronologist study, the men who have put the time element on all of these events, Peter goes into the house of Cornelius about 8 to 10 years after Pentecost. That is quite a long time. So, here Peter goes to the house of a Gentile but God knowing the heart and mind of Peter, which of course was absolutely correct, Peter wasn’t wrong, God knew it would take something special for Peter to go.
So the story goes the men are coming down from Caesarea to get Peter, but God gives Peter a vision to prepare him to go back. Otherwise he would have never gone. I’m sure there were heel prints from Joppa all the way to Caesarea for Peter would have never gone up to that Gentile home unless God had taken drastic measures. Peter didn’t want to go.
So come down to the vision of the sheep. He sees all manners of living things.
Acts 10:13-14
“13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
Remember the time element; we are about 8-10 after Pentecost into the book of Acts. Why does Peter say what he says? Because he is a law-keeping Jew; he was not going to eat anything that was not legally acceptable under the Law.
Now if that isn’t enough to convince you let’s go to verse 25. Peter has gone back with them up to Caesarea. They are now approaching the house of Cornelius.
Verse 25-27
“25 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. 26 But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together.”
I like to always put myself in other people’s shoes. Put yourself in Peter’s shoes. Here he is a law-keeping Jew, coming into a strange area and a house filled with Gentiles. Peter is certainly uncomfortable. Even though God has made sure this is what Peter is to do. Now look what he says as he walks across the threshold, I’m sure.
Verse 28
“28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
Peter says, I’m not supposed to be here. What I’m trying to show is that even at this late date this Jewish believers such as Peter, and the eleven, and all those that had come to believe during Christ’s earthly ministry, and even early in the book of Acts, they are all Jews as far as we can tell. But what kind of Jews? Law-keeping Jews.
This is hard for people to comprehend.
Everything is still within the prophetic program. Christ has been crucified, buried, and risen, he’s ascended. Act’s chapter 3, Peter is claiming Christ will still come and set up his Kingdom if Israel will only believe him. But they don’t.
Now then, here we are coming to a place of change. God is going to usher in now something totally different that has ever been on the human race before. It’s the Age of Grace.
Now let’s look at some of the basic doctrine for the Age of Grace.
To start let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Remember in our last week lesson we look at verses in Romans and Ephesians, where Paul refers to that mystery, that secret that had been hid in the mind of God. Well not it is revealed and here it is.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
“15 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, (here it is) how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:“
It is saying the gospel, not a gospel. It’s by this gospel that you are saved. Then in verse 3 it is revealed that Paul delivered it first to you; that which Paul also received. If you study Paul’s letters you will see that he constantly refers to the revelations that he got from the ascended Lord. How the Lord revealed these new truths to him. Truths that were never revealed anywhere else in scripture. Paul says according to the scriptures (Old Testament). Oh it was prophesied in the Old Testament, that Christ would come, that he would be sacrificed, but it was never revealed that it would be a salvation for Jew and Gentile alike.
Now let’s see what Paul says about this very premise of Christ concerning his death, burial, and resurrection. Turn back to chapter 1, of 1 Corinthians, drop down to verse 18.
1 Corinthians 1:18
“18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
Now we see foolishness all around us don’t we. How many people just can’t comprehend that what someone did two thousand years has any affect on us today. But to us that are saved, the preaching becomes the power of God. That is what I want you to understand. It’s the power of God.
Now, another way to show the difference between Law and Grace, is an example of a newly married couple. The husband places on the wall a whole list of do’s and don’ts. It’s what that wife is supposed to do or be in trouble. Now if she is human she will turn right around and put up her own list of do’s and don’ts for him to follow. Ok husband, if you expect me to do your list, then I expect you to do my list. This would be a marriage based on Law or Legalism. Thou shalts and thou shalt nots.
What is lacking? Love!
Now let’s take the same two people who love each other. What are they actually going to fulfill? The very same things that they would have written down, but it’s not going to be by commandment but out of a heart of love. This is exactly the difference between Law and Grace.
Everything that God said, thou shalt, does not now become permissive, it now becomes that which comes from within. In other words, the believer he is automatically going to adhere to the things given in the law. The believer is not going to steal. The believer is not going to commit adultery and on and on in the commandment. With the exception of one, there is only one that Paul doesn’t reiterate.
In Ephesians 5 he tells children to obey their parents. In Romans, Paul does not say, you’re free the break the commandments. Paul doesn’t say that the Ten Commandments are no earthly good. It’s just that we are not under their demand in worship and condemnation. Once we understand that we have broken the law but now in Christ we become everything that the law demands but from an inward working power.
Romans 13:8-14
“8 Owe no man any thing (don’t defraud anyone), but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”
Now all you have to do is read those following verses.
Until next week, Maranatha.
Permission given by Les Feldick Ministries.
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