Galatians 2:11-14 Grace Is Better This is the first recorded conflict between the Old Testament emphasis on law and the New Testament emphasis on grace. Whether you are a young convert or a seasoned veteran; you either have, do, or likely will have some concerns about how the Old Testament and the New Testament blend together. They fit; and they fit together very well, but there has always been some difficulty in getting them to do so as illustrated here by two of Christianitys finest human servants, Peter and Paul. To understand the message, you need some background. 1. The Old Testament emphasized worship by the law. The New Testament emphasized worship by grace. 2. In the Old Testament, worship was primarily for the Jews. In the New Testament, especially after Acts 10, worship was for everyone, Jew or Gentile. 3. In Acts 10, God used Peter to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and when the people believed that Jesus was the Savior, the Holy Ghost fell on them and filled them. The Jews then realized that God wanted the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles, for them to be saved, and for them to serve God just like the Jews. 4. But the old ways died hard. a. In this passage, Peter had gone to a Gentile city, Antioch, to preach the gospel and teach Gentiles. b. \\#12\\ He did an excellent job until some Jewish Christians showed up and then Peter pulled away from the Gentiles. He put his ethnicity ahead of his calling. In todays vernacular, he showed that he still had some bigoted, biased, racist views. c. \\#13\\ That caused other Jews to pull away from the Gentiles. d. \\#14\\ When Paul saw what was going on, he publically rebuked Peter. Notice what Paul told Peter. From that time to this, there has been debate about how much of the law Christians are required or should keep. The two sides often referred to as the law or legalism verses grace. I cannot answer all of the questions you might have in one sermon, butfrom this backgroundI want to give you three truths this morning. I. Grace Is Better than the Law. A. Notice what Paul said in two verses here: Gal 2:16 even we (the Jews) have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. Gal 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. B. In those verses, Paul said that even the Jews have come to understand that justification and righteousness comenot by the law, but by grace. 1. Justification and righteousness are two different terms that describe what happens when a person is saved. 2. Just to keep things simple for right now, I will say that Paul was saying SALVATION can only come by grace. 3. Friend, if the only way you can be saved is by grace, then grace is definitely better than the law! C. The Bible makes it clear that grace is better than the law not only in these passages, but throughout the New Testament. D. Why? Because the Law was mans working under, God but grace is God working inside of man. 1. Thats not just a fancy phrase. 2. With the Law the best man working the hardest he could was still just the best man doing his best. 3. But grace takes us to whole new level. 4. Grace is God putting His Holy Ghost inside of us to give us direction, understanding, desire, ability, and freedom that is not of this world. E. Understand that grace only works because of two things: 1. Because you have been saved. a. God does not work with or live in a lost person. b. Well, that is not exactly correct. He will work with a lost person to bring them to salvation; and He may work with him in some other areas; but not because he has too. It will because He is a merciful God. c. However, God will not the unsaved direction, under- standing, ability, and power that He gives to a saved person. d. To be led by Gods grace, you must be adopted into Gods family. e. You can be saved today. (1) Repent of sin. (2) Believe what the Bible says about Jesus. 2. Because you are listening to the Holy Ghost of God. a. Some people incorrectly think that Christians are not born-again WITH the Holy Ghost of God being inside them. They believe you must seek the indwelling of the Spirit of God. b. The Bible says differently. Romans 8:9 Now if any man have not the Spirit Of Christ, he is none of his. c. If you are a Christian, the question is not do you have the Holy Ghost. The question is, "Are you listening to Him?" d. Old Testament saints did not have the indwelling Holy Ghost of God to direct them, to help them to understand, to give them godly desire, ability, and freedom. e. They just had a book with a lot of laws in it. F. Grace is better than the law. II. Grace Does Better than the Law. A. Grace not only IS better. Grace does a better job. At what? At everything. Why? Because the Holy Ghost of God is inside of us to give us direction, understanding, desire, ability. and freedom. B. Lets just consider two of those: 1. Grace gives ability or power. a. I know that the law was given by God, but the law came up short. b. What are some of the areas in which the law came up short. (1) The law wasnt complete. (a) You could not write a book that can list all of the wrongs man can imagine to do. (b) Ravi Zacharias is given credit for saying, "The reason we have 17,000 pages in our law books is because we cannot follow 10 lines on a tablet made of stone." (2) The law wasnt compassionate. (a) According to the law, if you sin once, you die. (b) That is pretty tough. Ezekiel 18:4 and 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. (3) The law wasnt capable. (a) The law could not do for mankind what mankind needed most. (b) The law could not save man from sin. Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. (c) Only Jesuss death could remove our sin. Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; c. In Jesus Christ, we have all of those things and more! (1) Both we and our salvation is complete. God makes us new creatures with new lives, new abilities, and a new eternity. (2) Jesus is compassionate (3) Jesus is most certainly capable. d. "Why did God give us something that wouldnt work?" (1) The short answer was to show us that no matter how hard we tried, it wouldnt work. (2) Paul put it this way: Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (3) The law teaches us that no matter how good we are, we are not good enough. (a) We need a Savior. (b) We need grace. 2. Grace gives freedom. a. Sadly, most Christians today misunderstand the freedom that grace gives to us. (1) They think the Bible teaches that grace gives Christians the freedom to BREAK the Old Testament laws. (2) Anyone who walks away from the Bible thinking that being free from the law means they are free to sin has read into the Bible and not read from the Bible. b. These Christians believe and quote Bible verses that they think teaches that Christians are free to break the law, their problem is they never read the whole passage! (1) Romans 6:14 Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. (2) Romans 7:6 Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law. Romans 7:7 I had not known sin, but by the law. Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. (3) And Gal 3:13 Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. c. So you ask, "Are we free from the law?" (1) Yes, but not to break it. We are free to go beyond it! (a) Instead of bringing an animal sacrifice to the altar, you can lay yourself on the altar. (b) Instead of worshipping God through a priest, you can worship God directly. (c) Instead of worshipping God in the temple in Jerusalem, you can worship Him anywhere. (d) Instead of stoning the sinner that does wrong, we can teach them about Gods forgiveness and mercy. (e) Instead of living in a ritualistic religion, we can live in a relationship with the Son of God! (2) The mentality that grace gives us the freedom TO sin is the heathenistic mindset of the LOST. (3) The freedom that we have is not freedom to break the law but freedom from sin itself. John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. III. Grace Requires Better than the Law. (Turn to Matthew 5.) Matt 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. A. Grace does not free us free to break the law, but to go beyond the law. 1. Jesus told His disciples that they would have to be more right with God (under grace) than the religious leaders of Israel were by the law. 2. Then He went on to illustrate it. a. \\#21-22\\ The law said dont be angry without a cause. Grace says dont even call people names. b. \\#27-28\\ The law said dont commit adultery. Grace says dont even lust in your heart. c. \\#31-32\\ The law said you could get a divorce. Grace says you could only get it for fornication and then if you remarry, it is adultery. d. \\#33-34\\ The law said perform your vows. Grace says dont even make vows. e. \\#38-39\\ The law said be just in your actions. Grace says give and forgive. f. \\#43-44\\ The law said to love your neighbors. Grace says to love your enemies too. B. Friend, no matter how you slice it, grace requires a better walk with God, better dealings with people, and a more righteous, less sinful life. I close with a thought. What sinful action or behavior have you condoned because of grace? God gave grace because the law did not do enough. Grace does it all. Grace saves. Grace gives you time and mercy to be saved. Have you been abusing Gods grace instead of accepting Jesus as your Savior? Stop. Trust Jesus today. Grace cleanse and forgives, but not to sin. Grace cleanse and forgives when we stumble into sin. No Christian should ever walk with their eyes wide open into sin. Dont abuse grace. Get things right with God today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Galatians 2:11-14 Grace Is Better This is the first recorded conflict between the Old Testament emphasis on law and the New Testament emphasis on grace. Whether you are a young convert or a seasoned veteran; you either have, do, or likely will have some concerns about how the Old Testament and the New Testament blend … Continue reading “Galatians 2:11-14 – Grace Is Better – Bible study”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}