The Case for Grace

The Judgment

^{Matthew 25:32}And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.

Did you ever wonder how good is “good enough?” How will he figure out which are sheep and which are goats?

^{Matthew 12:35}A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

It is logical that good people do bad things and bad people do good things, but that logic considers things from our point of view. This verse is from God’s point of view. From his point of view everything is all good or all evil. Since God is the judge, it is his viewpoint that matters. But how can it be that we are either all good or all bad?

Under the Law

^{Romans 6:14}For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace.

A person is either under the law or under grace. In Romans 6 Paul is talking to people who are not under the law but under grace; the point being that there are two categories one might find themselves in: under the law or under grace.

We are all familiar with what it means to be under the law. When we get caught breaking the law, the violation goes on our police record. When we do something good, it does not get added. When we are under the law, our record only contains violations of the law.

The account we will give to God on that day is our record. It is a log (from the Greek word, logon) of things we have done.

^{Romans 6:20}For when you were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Servants of sin are the ones who are under the law. Their accounts are free from righteousness. Just like your police record, you would not expect to find good deeds there. So it is with your account. If you are under the law, only violations are recorded. This account is the one you will be handing to God on judgment day and what is in that account will be the basis for his determination affecting your eternity.

I have bad news and good news. I am giving you the bad news first. Don’t leave until you have heard the good news.

One Bad Apple

^{James 2:10} For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

This sounds like if we were to break the law just once, God would consider us guilty? That seems harsh, but when you break the law, you have to answer to the charge. It does not work to make the argument that all the good things I have done should outweigh the one bad thing I got caught doing.

Remember, Adam only ate one apple, and that was enough to put them both out of the garden.

But it is worse than that.

Capital Punishment

^{Romans 6:23} For the wages of sin is death.

God calls our violations sin. There are two types of sin: transgressions are when we do something we are told not to do and disobedience is when we do not do something we are told to do. And for sin there is only one sentence: death.

The Heart of Stone

^{Jerimiah 17:1} The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; ¹⁰ I the LORD search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to the fruit of his doings.

Once Adam sinned, we were all placed under the curse of the law of sin and death. We were all born with hearts of stone. Our sins are written on the table of our heart with a pen of iron having the point of a diamond. Written in stone – our sins are on our permanent record.

But the worst thing of all? Hell is a bad place and eternity is a very long time. This is not a bad dream that you will wake up from, or a hopeless situation that you can suicide your way out of. Abandon hope, all ye that enter here.

You cannot really appreciate how good the good news is until you understand how bad the bad news is. Now that you have heard the bad news, you should be ready to hear some good news.

The Heart of Flesh

^{Ezekiel 36:26} A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

This sounds hopeful, but why is this good news? 

When I surrender my heart to Jesus, along with my heart he takes possession of my account, the one that has all that bad stuff on it. I no longer have it. Jesus has it. I get a heart of flesh and a clean account. Everything that I have done, no matter how bad it was, is gone. There is no need to first clean myself up to make myself presentable. How could that help? Anything that I would do that I consider good would not be recorded anyway. When you are under the law, only sins are logged. 

^{Romans 3:25}Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Notice that Jesus’ righteousness is sufficient for the remission of sins that are past. This is no better than the sacrifices in the Old Testament, made every year on the day of atonement. Those sacrifices were sufficient to forgive the sins committed in the past, but did not cover the sins committed afterward. If Jesus death was sufficient only for sins of the past, the ones that were on our account when we gave it to him, how is Jesus’ sacrifice any better?

^{John 1:16}For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

That is where grace comes in.

Not Under the Law

^{Romans 5:13} For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed [ellogeo] when there is no law.

Imputed sounds like a complicated theological term, but it is not. Impute is the verb form of account. It means to make an entry in your account. When you are not under the law, your violations are not recorded. Your account is now protected against being contaminated with sin. But how do I get out from under the law?

^{Romans 7:1} the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.

In short, I will be under the law until I die. That doesn’t sound reassuring. What am I missing?

^{Romans 6:3} Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

When we are baptized into Jesus’ death, we are no longer under the dominion of the law. Baptism counts as death, but also includes resurrection. Interestingly, death also counts as baptism. Water baptism is not the only kind of baptism available.

^{Matthew 20:22}But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink, and to be baptized that I am baptized with? They said unto him, We are able.

Jesus referred to his death and resurrection as baptism. It is commonly understood that baptism is not necessary for salvation. The rationale is that, when the thief on the cross expressed his faith in Christ, Jesus promised him, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Although the thief apparently did not have an opportunity to be “baptized”, he was, alongside Jesus, baptized with the same baptism of Christ. Water baptism is not necessary for salvation, but death is necessary to get out from under the law. Water baptism is the least unpleasant alternative.

^{Jeremiah 31:34}And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Redemption is a two-step process: forgiveness of iniquity and remember their sin no more. When I give my account to Jesus, he takes upon himself all the sins logged in my account. My sins are forgiven. When I die in Christ, I am no longer under the law. My sins are remembered no more. When I am resurrected in Christ, I am under grace living in newness of life. This is what makes Jesus sacrifice once and for all, eliminating any need for further sacrifices.

^{Romans 4:25}Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised for our justification.

Again, his death paid for our offenses. His resurrection was for our justification.

^{Galatians 2:20} I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Under Grace

Instead of being under the law, we are now under grace. And what does it mean to be under grace?

^{Romans 4:9}For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness..

When we are not under the law, sins are not recorded. When we are under grace, faith is counted for righteousness. Since our account is a log of deeds performed, and faith is reckoned for righteousness, then faith must include more than belief. Faith must include action.

^{Hebrews 11:1}Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

Action is what substantiates the things hoped for. Obedience is the evidence of things unseen. God told Abraham to circumcise his household. Abraham obeyed. His obedience was the evidence of the things unseen – God’s command.

^{James 2:17}Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Faith without works is dead because there is nothing to record in the log. The log only contains deeds. Belief without action accounts for nothing.

^{Romans 6:18}Being then made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.

Servants of righteousness are the ones who are under grace. Servants of sin have sins added to their account. Servants of righteousness have righteousness added to their account. In the same way, when we obey God by faith, it is counted as righteousness. Under grace what we do is only counted for us, not against us.

But is better than that.

^{Ephesians 2:8} For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast.

It seems there is a conflict: it says it’s not about works, but what is logged in our account is works. It would seem that it is all about works. In “That not of yourselves,” what does the “that” refer to? A clue is the Greek word for gift, dōron. That word refers to a gift with strings attached, a conditional gift. The only item that is conditional is grace. Grace is the gift which results in salvation when faith is added. That grace is the law written on your heart. When faith is added, the Spirit works in you to fulfill that law, resulting in salvation. If this is confusing, please refer to A Christian Model.

^{Ephesians 2:10} For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The point in question is not whether works are important. If they weren’t important then why is our account so vital? The real question is: whose works will be found in our account? 

^{Philippians 2:13} For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

As God does his work in us, his works are logged into our account. This is the righteousness of God that is imputed to our account.

Can it get any better than that?

Treasures in Heaven

^{Matthew 6:20} But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

They say you can’t take it with you, but they would be mistaken. There is one thing we will be taking with us: our account. We know this because we will be giving our account to God on judgment day.

We are allowed one carry-on bag. While you are here, you get to stuff the bag with as much treasure as you can. You are preparing for the trip of a lifetime. Make sure you put enough in your account to last. Eternity is a very long time. Pack well.

And the best thing of all? 

^{1 Corinthians 2:9} But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 

The Case for Grace

^{2 Corinthians 5:10} For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 

It says God will judge between good or bad, not good and bad. Good people do bad things. Bad people do good things. But God, when He looks on the heart, sees what is written on our account and it’s either all good or all bad, all sin or all righteousness, and that’s completely dependent on whether we are under the law or under grace.

^{Matthew 12:35}A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringers forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringers forth evil things. ³⁶But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account <logon> thereof in the day of judgment. ³⁷For by thy words <logōn> thou shalt be justified, and by thy words <logōn> thou shalt be condemned.

The account, logon, is on the tables of your heart. The treasure consists of the deeds listed in your account, sins if you are under the law, righteousness if you are under grace. By the contents of your account, logōn, will you be justified of condemned on the day of judgment. (Note: in there Greek alphabet, there are two o’s: a big one and a little one, a mega and a micro. Omega and omicron. Omega is shown as ō.)

Believe and be baptized without delay so that you can begin to accrue good treasure. It’s like saving for retirement – if you neglect it until the last minute it is not something you can recover from. Standing before God on judgment day and presenting to him an empty account would be something you would eternally regret.

Are you wondering what God is telling you to do? Read The Divine Pattern.

If you are thinking that there are no consequences for sin, read A Case for Mercy.

The most amazing thing about grace is that God thinks it is amazing.

Amazing Grace

You know the tune:

When we shall stand before the throne
When our account is told
We’ll boast His works, and not our own
Not wood, nor hay, but gold.