I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. (Galatians 3:5 NLT) Does God give you the Holy Spirit AND work miracles among you? Yes, he does. How do we know this? We hear the message, we receive the messenger, and then we become the message and the messenger! The work of grace within us brings a new message into our lives and it results in a new message coming forth from our lives. Our behavior changes - the message becomes clearer. We are called to bring the message in word, but most importantly, in our actions! The message must be clear. We cannot dilute it because Christ did not dilute his grace when he poured it into our lives. We don't make grace more 'palatable' - it has a way of working just as it is. Those who haven't heard of his grace don't need to hear it in some 'namby-pamby' way or 'refined' to their t...
For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. (Galatians 2:19-21 NLT) When I tried to keep the law... Those words bespeak what a great many believe to be as the means by which they will 'get into heaven'. The law required US to do something, certain ways, at certain times, to get a certain result. Grace required Christ to do it all on our behalf because the 'something' we were or have been doing wasn't going to ever bring about the forgiveness of our sins. The law condemns. It never really sets anyone free. We may try to be good, ...