Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
May 11, 2014 - W1419

What would you rather prefer, law or grace? The reality is we need both. If there's no law, if the laws of God were not immutable and a standard and a foundational basis, if the laws of God were not there, if they were flexible, if they were changeable, then we would have anarchy because we'd have no law.  On the other hand, if we had no grace, we are all condemned. 

How many of you have driven over the speed limit ever in your life, even a mile an hour or two? Sinners! So you are guilty to be penalized.  All of you should be penalized because we've all broken the law, every single one of us.  On the other hand, we have to see that there's grace necessary, but you need the law.  But we're not all in jail, though we've all sinned, because of grace. 

There's a balance between law and grace.  The law of God must be immutable, but the way you respond to the law is very critical because the law will reveal you as a sinner.  We've all sinned, and that's what the scripture says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The law as we find in the book of Galatians and in Romans says the law has shut up all man under sin.  We all blew it.  So what do we need?  God's grace. 

However, your response to the law will determine the issuing of grace. God's forgiveness is only released when we ask for it and admit that we messed up, but if you feel you didn't mess up, you will not ask for forgiveness. 

The greatest sin of America is trying to take God's laws, dilute them and make our own to exchange His laws for man's laws so that we can say we have not sinned because it's no longer a sin. But the basis of law should be God's laws, not man's laws. If we change the laws and say now you no longer sin, then you don't need God's forgiveness; right? 

So God's forgiveness is withheld from America because we feel we don't need it; that we haven't sinned.  And the Devil has deceived us wholesale.

The greatest deception in America is we don't think we need God's grace because we haven't messed up. 1 John 1:10 says, “If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him [God] out to be a liar and His word is not in us.”  

So when we change man's laws to allow immorality, what do we say?  We call God a liar.  That's exactly what Satan wants us to do, and he's got us.  And we then think that man's law is going to save us when actually we are all subject to a higher law.  That's why we must do everything we can to know God's law, for this is my Bible, the word of God, and I boldly declare that this is the highest law in the land.  I am what it says I am.  I have what it says I have.  I do what it says I do.  For I am a citizen of heaven.

But your response to the law of God will determine God's response and grace to your sin. 

God said you can eat of any fruit except that one fruit hanging on the tree in Eden.  Why did he do that? Why did He not simply leave that fruit out of Eden?  Because He wanted you to have a choice whether or not you will obey.  And Satan slithered in and said to Eve, “Take it, eat.”  And Eve said, “No, God said I could eat of any other fruit in this whole garden except that one. If I ate it, I would die because the wages of sin is death.” Lucifer said, “You will surely not die.  God knows the day that you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you'll become like God.  And you'll be able to see the difference between good and evil.” 

Interesting, the very same deception that Lucifer used in Genesis chapter 3, he uses on us today.  The Devil argues that you don't need God's laws to tell you right from wrong.  Make your own.  And that's exactly what's happening.  But, 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

If we do not confess sin, then God cannot release forgiveness to mankind. And that's why repentance is the greatest gift of all.  Not only is it a great gift to mankind, but repentance is also the greatest weapon against the enemy.  When you repent, he's devastated because God's forgiveness is released.  God's grace is released, all because of our response to that grace.

A LESSON in LAW & GRACE

THE LAW REVEALS OUR SIN.

GOD’S GRACE RESCUES US FROM SIN.

Remember, God's law is the basis for determining right and wrong.  Now, if you can't distinguish between right and wrong, we're in trouble, and that's what's happening with America.  It's just getting muddied.  But if you understand God's law, then you ask for forgiveness. It requires a change of heart, and that's why God's law is immutable and unchangeable.  And when you see that you've fallen short of the law of God, you ask for forgiveness, and God gives His grace. 

Jesus was invited to dine at the house of Simon the Pharisee, who was an expert in Jewish law and not a follower of Jesus. Simon simply wanted to interrogate Jesus. At the same time, a prostitute visited Jesus. She was just so overcome with the violation of her life against God's laws that she'd had a heart of repentance. 

As the Bible says, “When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.  A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.  As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” Now, she must have been crying a bunch to wet his feet that much. 

“When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, He would know who is touching Him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.’” (Luke 7:39)

In other words, Simon's saying that if Jesus were a prophet and He knew this woman was a sinner, he had the right to condemn her. So let's see if Jesus knew the law well enough to deal with this.

Instead, Christ asked Simon, “Who would love the forgiver more, someone who was forgiven $120,000 in debt or someone who was forgiven only $7000?” Simon answered that it would be the one who was forgiven more. Jesus said, “You have judged correctly.”

^“Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’” (Luke 7:44-48)

Now, those who were there at the table with them began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who forgives sin?”  And He turned to the woman and said, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Basically here's what the Pharisee was saying: I know the law is necessary and there's grace, but what are you going to emphasize with this woman?  Because if you knew who this was, what are you going to do?  You can condemn her.  And Jesus basically was saying to Simon the Pharisee, “You know what's more important is what are you going to emphasize, law or grace?” 

Someone does you wrong, a child does you wrong, do you have the right to look down upon them because they were wrong?  Yes, they broke the law.  Or can you give grace?  Question is:  In your life, what will people see that you emphasize more, law or grace?  Law or grace? Which will you be known for as emphasizing, law or grace?  And we're all going to have that opportunity.

• THE MOST IMPORTANT WILL BE WHICH ONE

WILL YOU EMPHASIZE?

… LAW?

….. Or GRACE?

I remember when my daughter Abby was searching for herself and her life. She made some mistakes, dropped out of college, went off to do some things that were wrong. It broke our hearts because we knew it violated God's heart. But the neat thing was my wife Anna decided to emphasize grace. Had we emphasized the law?  Absolutely. After all that we had given her and all that we helped her, and yet she turned. We could have said you're done, but my wife decided to emphasize ?? no, not compromise the law, just emphasize grace.  And it was about a year and a half or so, two years, maybe, of grace.  No, not saying what you're doing is fine so you don't have to worry about it, but the grace of God continued to be emphasized.  And it was one day that because of grace, she returned home, and her life is changed.  God brought forgiveness because her heart turned towards repentance.  God issued grace.  God issued forgiveness.  In fact, just last night Anna and I were up celebrating her second son Samuel's second birthday.  She loves God, and her three kids are beautiful.  Her husband loves God.  And we think, you know, God moved in through grace and changed her future. 

You see, there's only one who can forgive sins, and that's God alone.  And here's how it is.  When you sin and you ask God for forgiveness, you know what he does?  That sin has a spiritual consequence to it that actually will manifest itself in a physical way.  The wages of sin is death.  If you mess up, then your home is going to have physical consequences.  It's going to have relational consequences.  But there's only one that can reach into your future and erase those consequences that are sure to be manifested.  There's only one.  The Bible says only God can forgive. 

Without law, you would not know you're a sinner, so grace would not have to be released, as far as I know. But when I see God's law and my heart changes and it repents, then God releases a forgiveness and a grace that actually reaches into your future and erases the consequences of sin.

And I looked at Abby, and I thought, I'm so glad my wife emphasized grace.  Here's the question:  In your life, do you emphasize grace or law? 

Some time ago there was a youth pastor in one of our churches who would not let go of a situation in which a church member did serious wrong. The church member was dealt with by the pastor but not to the satisfaction of the youth pastor. So the youth pastor continued to agitate. Today that youth pastor is not only out of the ministry, but his marriage went to pot and he got a divorce. When you emphasize the law, you can't sustain that weight.  There's only one law giver and one judge.  And when you emphasize the law, it destroys you.  That's why the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12:  Let no one fall short of the grace of God for by it, a root of bitterness will string up, and by it many will be defiled because it will cause trouble. 

My wonderful friend Darwin worked with the group Youth with a Mission. He came to Hawaii and led some of the prostitutes to Christ.  It was just a wonderful thing.  He set up some Bible studies and things. After about a year, he had to return to the mainland, so he said to those ladies to find a church. However, the prostitutes asked him to start a church. He said that he could not. So a prostitute asked him what church would accept prostitutes? He did not know. So she asked why should she accept Christ when a church would not accept her and give her grace?

And when I thought about that, I thought, dear God, we understand the law, but like this woman that was caught in sin, Jesus gave her grace, and everything changed.  Remember, the Bible says, “Now may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10)

For God's grace to be issued to us, we have to be willing to repent. When we change the law, we think we don't have to repent because we think we don't sin. One of the most insidious deceptions is when we falsely believe that we're fine.  And you have all kinds of movements going on now that says God loves us anyway and we're fine.  The danger of that is on one hand, it is true, God still loves, but the untruth is to tell you that you don't have to repent because you're not doing anything wrong because God loves you anyway.  So that forgiveness and grace of God is never issued, and when you remove forgiveness and grace, we are among all men the most hopeless.  And when we say we have not sinned, we make God to be a liar. 

And so we want to be a people of grace, hence, we must be a people of repentance.  Is there the law?  Absolutely.  Have we violated the law?  Absolutely.  So now what?  We repent and we need God's grace.  Be a people of grace.  We understand God's law, but we will trump the law with God's grace because we understand the ways of God.  Amen?  Amen. 

Study Suggestions

What do you emphasize, law or grace?

How can you reconcile law and grace?

Why do we need the Law?

Why do we need Grace?