Day 26 - PRINCIPLES OF EMPOWERMENT - Great Grace! Part 2
Great Grace began with redemption through Jesus and separation from self righteousness. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were confounded, confused, and out of touch with the grace of God. The Old Covenant was based on the strength of man. The New Covenant is based on the strength of God.
OLD order: Self-righteous could not produce a righteous lifestyle. NEW order: The gift of righteousness produces a righteous lifestyle.
Under the grace of God everything we need is created and imparted to us through Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:30, But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
The Hebrews writer clearly describes the difference between old and new covenants. Notice how the New Covenant is based on God’s grace at work in the heart. This made the law obsolete, which depended upon the willingness and strength of people to keep it.
Hebrews 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Reflection Question: How is grace different and better than the Law?
Key insight I gained today:
Today’s action item based on insight:
