Note: If you love the Word, you will love today’s message. Als, please say a prayer for those dealing with the fires in California and those dealing with freezing cold all over the USA.
Today we continue our series entitled “Living the Grace Life,” where we will learn to embrace and walk in God’s unmerited, unearned, and often undeserved favor throughout 2025.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Corinthians? ?9?:?8? ?TPT??
“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything —every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”
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??Galatians? ?5?:?4? ?TPT??
“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace!”
Romans? ?6?:?14? ?ERV??
“Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.”
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1 Corinthians? ?15?:?10? ?CEV??
“But God treated me with undeserved grace! He made me what I am, and his grace wasn’t wasted. I worked much harder than any of the other apostles, although it was really God’s grace at work and not me.”
Scriptures for today:
1 Corinthians 15:56 NIV
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”
2 Corinthians 3:7 NIV
“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory…”
Galatians 3:19 NLT
“Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins.”
Setting the stage:
Many believers struggle with understanding why God gave The Law in the first place. If God knew we couldn’t keep it perfectly, then why give it? It’s important to note that for over two millennia – from Adam’s fall (and him and Even being kicked out of the Garden of Eden) to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments – humanity lived without The Law. During this period, people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. Then God introduced The Law through Moses, beginning with the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai and expanding to a total of 613 commandments in the Torah (including the original ten). These 613 laws included 365 “thou shalt not” commands and 248 “thou shalt” commands. But why so many laws? The answer lies in understanding God’s purpose. The Law wasn’t given to make us righteous – it was given to prove we needed righteousness we couldn’t achieve on our own. We needed a Savior.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. The Law Was Given to Expose Our Need.
God gave The Law to show us that we could never live up to His perfect standard in our own strength. Like a mirror showing us our flaws, The Law exposes our sinful nature and proves our desperate need for a Savior. Without this divine mirror to show us our true condition, we would have never realized our need for Jesus. Without The Law, if you were to tell a person that he/she is wrong and that they need a Savior, they could say, “Wrong for what? I have not broken any rules?“
How this applies to you:
— God gave The Law to show us we needed help.
— Without The Law, we wouldn’t know how far we fall short. Before The Law, people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. The Law provided God’s perfect standard, making it clear that even our best efforts fall woefully short of His glory. Paul explained this in Romans 3:20. He said, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
— The Law proves we can’t save ourselves. No matter how hard you try, you cannot keep The Law perfectly. If you break one commandment, you’re guilty of breaking them all (James 2:10). This revelation drives us to seek salvation outside of ourselves.
— The Law drives us to our knees in recognition of our need for grace. When you truly understand The Law’s demands, you realize that self-effort will never be enough. This humbling realization prepares your heart to receive God’s grace through Jesus.
— The Law was designed to get us to the end of ourselves. Until you come to the end of your self-effort and self-righteousness, you won’t be ready to receive God’s grace. The Law accelerates this process by showing you repeatedly that your best is not good enough.
— When you realize you can’t, you’re ready to embrace the truth that Jesus can and He did FOR YOU!
2. The Law Actually Gives Power to Sin.
In a weird paradox, The Law exposes sin and empowers it. This truth helps us understand why simply trying harder to be good never works – The Law itself strengthens the very thing it exposes.
How this applies to you:
— The Law doesn’t stop sin; it actually points it out.
— Rules can’t make you right. They can only show you when you are wrong.
— The Law even draws attention to sin. Have you ever noticed how telling someone (especially a child) not to do something makes them want to do it more? Paul experienced this himself. He said, “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” (Romans 7:7 NIV).
— The Law tells you what to do but provides no power to do it. This creates a frustrating cycle where you know what’s right, but you lack the ability to perform it. This frustration often leads to either rebellion or religious pride – both of which are destructive.
— Trying to live by rules only highlights your inability to keep them. The harder you try to keep The Law in your own strength, the more you realize you can’t do it.
— The Law reveals the sin problem but provides no solution. It’s like a mirror showing you that your face is dirty but having no ability to clean it. The Law is perfect at exposing our imperfections, but it cannot make us perfect.
— Under grace, sin loses its power because you’re no longer under Law. When you’re living under grace, sin’s power is broken because The Law no longer has jurisdiction over you.
— Grace provides both the desire and the power to live right. Unlike The Law, which could only demand righteousness, grace produces it. Under grace, God writes His laws on your heart and gives you both the want to and the power to live a godly life (see (Hebrews 8:10; Ezekiel 36:26-27; Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:3-4)
3. The Law is Called the Ministry of Death.
Paul makes a startling statement when he calls The Law the “ministry of death,” but this harsh description reveals a profound truth about why we desperately needed a new and better covenant through Jesus Christ.
How this applies to you:
— The Law demands but cannot deliver. This is why Paul called it the “ministry of death” in 2 Corinthians 3:7. We just had snow here in Virginia. What if I commanded my sons to shovel the snow, but I did not give them a shovel? That’s a crude example, but the point is that The Law set a perfect standard but offered no power to reach it. This setup was intentional – God wanted us to see our need for divine empowerment.
— Perfect standards without perfect ability lead to death. The Law requires 100% perfection, 100% of the time. James 2:10 tells us that if we break one part of The Law, we’re guilty of breaking all of it. It’s like a chain – break one link, and the whole chain is broken. This impossible standard was designed to drive us to Jesus.
— The Law can only condemn; it cannot save. Every time you try to measure up to The Law’s standards, you fall short.
— The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. This isn’t just a cute saying; it’s a profound truth from 2 Corinthians 3:6. The Law (the letter) kills by constantly highlighting your failures, while the Spirit gives life by empowering you to live above sin’s power.
— The Law leads to frustration and condemnation. Living under The Law is like being in a relationship where nothing you do is ever good enough. No matter how hard you try, you can’t measure up. This constant failure leads to spiritual death – separation from the life of God. This is why (under the Old Covenant), they had to provide annual offerings for sin (on the Day of Atonement) and death (on PASSOVER). These annual offerings were an acknowledgment that they had not power over sin or the fear of death.
— Under grace, Jesus delivered us from sin and death, so there is no need to kill any more animals. He was the perfect sacrifice.
4. The Law Was Temporary By Design.
The Law Was Temporary By Design. From the very beginning, God never intended The Law to be His permanent solution for humanity’s sin problem. The Law served as both a jailer and a guardian – holding us in custody until faith was revealed and guarding us until Christ came. Like scaffolding used during construction, The Law was always meant to be temporary until the permanent structure – Jesus Christ – was revealed, making the old covenant obsolete and outdated. Don’t take it from me. Read this:
Galatians 3:23-25 NIV
“Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”
The Passion Translation of this passage reads:
“So until the revelation of faith for salvation was released, the law was a jailer, holding us as prisoners under lock and key until the “faith,” which was destined to be revealed, would set us free. The law was our guardian until Christ came so that we would be saved by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the guardian of the law.”
Hebrews 8:13 NIV
“By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”
How this applies to you:
— The Law had an expiration date: Jesus. When Jesus came, He ushered in a new and better covenant based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6).
— Once Jesus came, The Law fulfilled its purpose. This means that attempting to live under the law today is like trying to comply with an outdated company handbook. Everyone else is like, “Hey, we are on a new version.”
— We graduate from Law to grace through Jesus. Think of The Law like elementary school – it taught us our ABCs of righteousness, showing us what God requires. But through Jesus, we’ve graduated to a higher level of living, where His Spirit writes His laws on our hearts and empowers us to live them out naturally.
— Living under grace means living in freedom. This freedom isn’t a license to sin; it’s the power not to sin. Under The Law, you were fighting a losing battle against sin. Under grace, you’re living from a position of victory that Jesus already won.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for helping me understand why You gave The Law.
I declare that in Christ, I am free from The Law’s impossible demands and empowered to live in Your grace.
Your Spirit writes Your laws on my heart, giving me both the desire and power to live righteously.
I embrace the truth that Jesus fulfilled all The Law’s requirements, and His perfection is now mine through faith.
I walk in freedom, knowing I am accepted based on His performance, not mine.
Your grace has delivered me from the ministry of death into Your ministry of life.
I am dead to The Law and alive to grace, experiencing Your supernatural empowerment daily.
I rest in the finished work of Jesus, knowing He did what I could never do.
GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and prosper!
