Episode 2345 - Lesson 13 - Tuesday March 25 - Law and Grace

As we have seen, law and grace are not opposed to one another. Instead, they serve different functions in accordance with the love and justice of God. A sharp contrast between law and grace would have puzzled ancient Israelites, who saw God’s giving of the law itself as a great display of God’s grace. While the “gods” of the surrounding nations were fickle and entirely unpredictable, leaving people without a way to know what the “gods” desired and what would please them, the God of the Bible very clearly instructs His people about what pleases Him. And what pleases Him is just what is for the ultimate good of all His people, individually and collectively.Yet, the law cannot save us from sin or change human hearts. Because of our innate sinfulness, we need a spiritual heart transplant.Read Jeremiah 31:31–34. What does this teach about God’s promises to give us a new heart? Compare this with Christ’s words to Nicodemus in John 3:1–21 about the new birth. (See also Heb. 8:10.)The Ten Commandments were inscribed by God Himself on the tablets of stone (Exod. 31:18), but the law was also to be written in the hearts of God’s people (Ps. 37:30, 31). Ideally, God’s law of love would not be external to us but internal to our very characters. God alone could inscribe His law on human hearts, and He promised to do so for His covenant people (see Heb. 8:10).We cannot save ourselves by law-keeping. Rather, it is by grace we are saved through faith, not of ourselves but as the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). We do not keep the law in order to be saved; we keep the law because we are already saved. We do not keep the law in order to be loved but because we are loved, and thus we desire to love God and others (see John 14:15).At the same time, the law shows us our sin (James 1:22–25, Rom. 3:20, Rom. 7:7), shows us our need of a Redeemer (Gal. 3:22–24), guides us in the best ways of life, and reveals God’s character of love.What is your hope in the judgment? Is it your diligent and faithful law-keeping or is it Christ’s righteousness, which covers you? What does your answer tell you about the function of God’s law regarding what it can or cannot do?