Bible Study - The Law Versus Grace - April 26, 2026

 

Bible Study - The Law Versus Grace - April 26, 2026

The journey continues to the Promised Land. But as with any journey, what do we or, as in this case, what did the Israelites learn by experiencing the leadership of GOD???

All human’s alive upon planet earth are on a journey of potentially experiencing GOD, as we do life upon earth. I believe Earth is the proving ground for the human race and gives the opportunity for eternal life in Heaven with GOD, JESUS, and THE HOLY SPIRIT.

This physical journey upon earth is designed to get us to consider eternity. Life gives us a foretaste of experiencing GOD and HIS care as we journey through life. We have many options from which to choose.

GOD works in many ways to reveal truth to all people. HE gives us inquiring minds to explore and decide what is truth.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

Christian Standard Bible - The Comfort of Christ’s Coming

¹³ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,^[a] with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage^[b] one another with these words.

This is often referred to as the “great escape,” when the church and all Christians, who are alive, will be taken up with JESUS into Heaven.

As we approach the second coming, there will be challenges along a person’s Spiritual journey through faith in JESUS.

The Bible reveals to us in Matthew 24:24

For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

We, who have placed our faith in JESUS, know the truth of our salvation. We have been bought with the price of the shed blood of JESUS, as confirmed by HIS resurrection and the seal of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, through faith in JESUS, that we have been redeemed by the shed blood of the LAMB, JESUS. Never forget that as we continue our life’s journey during these days leading up to the second coming of JESUS, Satan will try to deceive the world.

Satan still battles those who are to receive salvation and continues after they receive salvation.

What is the good news? We read in 1 John 4:1-6:

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but evaluate the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

² This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not confess Jesus^[a] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

⁴ You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world. Therefore, what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

Early in the journey of the Israelites, GOD revealed to the Israelites that HE could and would provide for them -- water that was drinkable after HE changed bitter water to drinkable water, when HIS instructions were followed. GOD provided food from Heaven – Quail at night and Manner in the morning – again the Israelites had to follow GOD’S instructions. Obedience to the instructions from the ONE TRUE GOD of the Israelites is the foundation upon which our Judeo-Christian faith in JESUS is based. Obedience is true today as “Born Again” Christians live life upon earth.

But pause and look around, Satan is busy trying the landscape of the world and especially America.

What do Christians need to do? Pray for America and its leadership is vital. We must keep our eyes upon JESUS because the days are evil and it is only the beginning.

GOD promised in the Old Testament scriptures that HE would send HIS Messiah, HIS only SON, JESUS, to earth to be the final acceptable sacrifice for all sin and be the only way to eternal life for all who place their faith in JESUS and be “born again.”

Eternal life is only possible by a person being “born again.” All humans who are born upon earth are the result of the human sperm uniting with the human egg. Life is a gift from The ONE TRUE GOD, YHWH or “IAM WHO I AM.”

We are studying the foundation upon which the Judeo-Christian faith was and is established.

Back to the journey ---- The Israelites were on a journey from being slaves in Egypt to the Land GOD promised them.

A million Israelites were traveling to this Land of Promise, led by GOD. But along their journey, GOD was revealing HIMSELF and building trust to their leaders, Moses, and Aaron, and as well in the Israelites themselves.

The food GOD provided from Heaven came with specific instructions for gathering the food each day and storing it to be used on the Sabbath. They should rest and worship GOD on the Sabbath.

Some tested GOD and learned that when they went to harvest manner on the Sabbath, there was not any.

This was to train and build trust in the Israelites to be obedient to GOD’S instructions.

I believe this was GOD’S way of teaching the Israelites obedience, trust and building confidence is HIS care and building trust for HIS chosen people then and today.

All people are chosen and on life’s journey, but not all respond to GOD’S invitation to be “born-again” Spiritually through faith in JESUS.

There are special provisions for the stillborn, infirmed, mentally challenged -------

GOD’S physical care of the Israelites upon earth was a precursor to prepare for GOD’S ultimate redemptive plan of eternal salvation and eternal life through faith in GOD’S Only SON, JESUS.

GOD had revealed to the One Million Israelites, that HE delivered them from Egypt and demonstrated HIS care to provide them with much needed physical water and food to sustain their physical life and their journey ahead. Trust and Obey! That is GOD’S eternal message to all people today through faith in JESUS to sustain those who place their faith in JESUS, as their Savior through the miracle of a person being born-again Spiritually into GOD’S eternal family with citizenship in Heaven ---

Philippians 3:20

Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We who have been “born again” eagerly wait for the second coming of JESUS to establish HIS rule upon planet earth, when Satan is chained in the bottomless pit.

Revelation 20:1-3 Satan Bound

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

Back to the journey of the Israelites ------

GOD had revealed HIS sufficiency in proving to the Israelites of HIS physical deliverance to meet their physical needs; now it was time to build the foundation to meet their Spiritual deliverance and needs.

GOD introduced the Ten Commandments to the Israelites ----

First, these were not suggestions, but commandments designed to mold and draw the Israelites and others, who would embrace Judaism, into the revelation of GOD, HIS sufficiency and build the right relationship of trust with HIM.

The building blocks or the first foundation laid were the Ten Commandments, or The Law as given in Exodus 20:

The Ten Commandments

Exodus 20:1 Then God spoke all these words:

² I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

³ Do not have other gods besides me.

⁴ Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. ⁵ Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.

⁷ Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

⁸ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: ⁹ You are to labor six days and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. ¹¹ For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

¹² Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ Do not murder.

¹⁴ Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵ Do not steal.

¹⁶ Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Deuteronomy 8 Christian Standard Bible

Remember the Lord

8:1 “Carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to your ancestors. ² Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. ⁶ So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper. ¹⁰ When you eat and are full, you will bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

¹¹ “Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God by failing to keep his commands, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today. ¹² When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in, ¹³ and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases, ¹⁴ be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous^[a] snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint rock for you. ¹⁶ He fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your ancestors had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end he might cause you to prosper. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’ ¹⁸ but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant, he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. ¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. ²⁰ Like the nations the Lord is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the Lord your God.

WOW!!! That is powerful.

I think of the Ten Commandments as fences to guide the Israelites and proselytes, and others through life before GOD sent HIS only SON JESUS into the world to fulfill the Law and establish “GRACE.”

The Commandments are still vital today to show all people how they fall short of measuring up to GOD’S expectations and their need for eternal salvation through faith in JESUS.

Thank YOU JESUS for being willing to leave Heaven and come to earth to live a 100% human, subject to physical death and potential sin, yet YOU lived a sinless life. Thus, YOU became the perfect acceptable sacrifice to pay the price GOD demands for sin, by the shedding of YOUR blood to fulfill the Law and establishing “Grace.”  THE PRICE FOR SIN WAS PAID IN FULL for all who will place their faith in YOU, JESUS.

JESUS, YOU are THE PERFECT ACCEPTABLE SACIFICE TO GOD FOR ALL SIN.

When any person places his or her faith in YOU, JESUS, the miracle of Spiritual birth takes place quicker than the twinkle of the eye.

The Divine SPERM, THE HOLY SPIRIT unites with the human spirit, the spiritual egg. Spiritual birth takes place quicker than the twinkle of the eye and that person is “born again” or “Spirit Born” never to be unborn Spiritually. That person instantly becomes GOD’S Eternal SON or DAUGHTER.

Grace through faith in JESUS trumps the LAW!

Welcome home to all who have been led to pray to ask JESUS to forgive him or her for their sins and ask JESUS to come into his/her heart believing that JESUS gave HIS sinless life to atone for all their sins by the shedding of HIS sinless blood.

GOD proved to all the world that JESUS was and is HIS perfectly acceptable sacrifice by raising JESUS from the physically dead on the third day to live eternally with GOD and to intercede for all who seek salvation. NOW THAT IS GOOD NEWS!!!

Isaiah 1:18

Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.

Faith in JESUS and HIS passion, includes the physical birth and life of JESUS upon earth, HIS physical death, by the shedding of HIS blood and HIS bodily resurrection is salvation from the penalty for sin, which is eternal death and eternity in HELL.

If anyone reading this, who has not asked JESUS to come into his/her heart through faith in JESUS – NOW is your opportunity –

JESUS tells us in Revelation 3:20:

See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

JESUS has been knocking on your heart’s door, and you are the only one who can open it because the latch or lock on your heart’s door is on the inside of your heart and only you can open it.

Dear JESUS, I ask YOU to come into my life/heart now and save my soul from an eternity in Hell to an eternity in HEAVEN through the miracle of Spiritual birth into YOUR eternal family through faith in JESUS.

Salvation is not saying the right words, it is all about the attitude of your heart. I have heard of some people saying LORD I give up, please come into my hear and save my soul.

If you prayed such a prayer, welcome into the eternal family of JESUS with your citizenship in Heaven.

Dear Father and JESUS, be their strength and reveal the wonderful truths in YOUR WORD as they continue their journey to the eternal promised land of HEAVEN. YES!!!

Blessings!!!