Grace is not mercy and mercy not grace. Grace has been defined as unmerited favor and mercy not getting our deserved punishments. We sometimes think grace means I get forgiveness for whatever I do. I can get away with almost anything and still have salvation. That is one view but it is not a very good view. It may earn you a ticket to heaven but certainly not one first class.

So what did Yeshua say about the law?
Matthew 5:18-19:: For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

What is the complete fulfillment? The gospels were written after Christ’s resurrection from the dead. If that be the fulfillment then Matthew really missed a prime opportunity here to say that which was just fulfilled. Yet we rather seeing him warning the early christians to not ignore any commandment and to not teach others to do likewise. He does not say people will not get into the kingdom but rather they are least in the kingdom. Maybe like being at the back at the great wedding feast.

So what about grace? Some consider it a license to sin but grace really means favor.

Ephesians 2:8-10:: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So grace is not a stand-alone item. We get favor but then are expected to do something with it (works!). There are works of the law and also the works that the Lord has for us. They can be the same or different. Yeshua worked on Shabbat healing and delivering.

Galatians 3:1-9:: O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[Gen. 15:6-God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of the sky] Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”[Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14] So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Notice the reference to Genesis is before Abraham offering his son up on Mount Moriah. It was before he and Sarah concocting this plan to have Hagar get pregnant and birth Ishmael. Ishmael was technically still Abram’s seed but it was not the plan God had in mind for him. Do you know sometimes we can second guess God’s plans for our lives and royally muck things up. But the good news is that God can still fix up our messes because Ishmael still fathered 12 great nations, the same number as the sons of Jacob. It is interesting that it took another generation for Jacob to father 12 tribes. Isaac fathered Jacob and Esau.

Romans 3:23-25:: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,

Redeam means to purchase back. We redeem coupons for a prize. Christ redeemed us so we can be brought back to right relationship with God. The propitiation is a sort of covering. By definition it is used of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, which was sprinkled with the blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement

Romans 4:1-8:: What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[Gen. 15:6]
Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”[Ps. 32:1-2]

Ps 32:1-2:: A Psalm of David. A Contemplation.[mascil] Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Let’s go back the covenant promise that God made with Abraham:
Gen. 17:10-11:: This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

This is the sign of the covenant. The faith we find back in Gen. 15:6 related to Abram believing God according the number of his descendants being as many as the stars of the sky. So before Abraham was instructed to circumcise he was already counted as righteous for his belief.

The passage in Romans above shows that faith (belief) is sufficient. The part of Genesis quoted in chapter 15 was after God promised Abram’s descendants to be as numerous as the stars of the sky but well before offering up Isaac as a sacrifice upon the Mountain. Abram faith, however, was not yet perfected because he and Sarah concocted the use of Ismael to create his descendants. Likewise, our faith does not have to be perfect because God is the faithful one thru Christ (Rev. 1:5, 3:14). Abram’s faith did get perfected (completed with testing).

Hebrews 11:17-19:: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”[Gen. 21:12] concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

Apostle Paul had to make a stand against the requirement to circumcise Gentile believers. The Judiasers wanted all gentiles circumcised and to follow all of the laws of Moses.

Acts 15:5:: some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

This led to an big debate about accepting uncircumcised Gentiles into the church. The outcome covered a few general rules for the gentiles but was far from requiring them to get circumcised and follow the whole law of Moses. Then there is the arqument that the law is not sin but it points out sin.

Romans 7:8-13:: sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin::
Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

Titus 3:4-5:: when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Regeneration shows we are a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17). It is not the flesh that is regenerated, it is our spirit for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). This is good because we don’t want to keep this fragile, sin, sickly body into enternity. Notice it is the washing of regeration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Regeneration washes us clean, both inside and outside. Renewing gives as a new mind and body. In the greek the regeneration and renewal are pretty much synonyms. Finally, I want to say tonight:

Romans 12:2:: do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Finally, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus … now Christ made Himself of no reputation, took the form of a bondservant, and came in the likeness and appearance of a man.. So let us humble ourselves and be obedient to the point of death, if necessary, and die to our fleshly natures. (Dave’s Paraphrase for use on Phil. 2:6-8).