STAY HOOKED TO GRACE

GALATIANS 2:21 NKJ 
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” 

In keeping with the theme of the book of Galatians, this verse is a contrast between law and grace.   

Law is referring to the Jewish laws found in the Old Testament.  Jewish law was a detailed group of do's and don'ts that the people were to live by.  These laws in themselves were good, but they revealed man's inability to keep them.  Thus, our need for grace. 

Grace is God's power and ability on our behalf that we did not earn or deserve.  Grace is received by faith.  So, when Paul talks about righteousness, he is speaking of being right in God's sight.  This being right was bought for us by Christ's death and resurrection, not by anything we have done on our own.   Paul's plea to the churches of Galatia is, don't try to get right by your own efforts.  Because if you could, Jesus died in vain, or His death was not necessary.  Don't abandon the grace of God.  Stay hooked to grace.   

APPLICATION 

The message of stay hooked to grace still applies to us today.  I have seen over the years, that people coming from very legalistic rules-based Christianity have a difficult time at The Ark.  They want me to tell them exactly what they must do in life.  But we are big on grace.  We are big on what Jesus has done for us, not what we can do on our own to be right with God.  And since we've been made righteous by God's grace, we are so thankful and so willing to live out this new life that Jesus bought for us.  Grace is not the freedom to sin but the freedom to live right and walk in the light. 

By grace we are saved through faith, and by grace we live out this amazing new life.  Stay hooked. 

PRAYER 

Dear Father, thank You for loving me enough to send Jesus.  Thank You for His death and resurrection.  Thank You that we are made right in Your sight through Christ.  Thank You for Your grace.