Many of us are used to the rule of law but today we will be looking at the rule of grace. And as we go on, we will be looking at the difference between the rule of law and the rule of grace and why the rule of grace is important and what it means to us as sons of the kingdom and citizens of the kingdom of God and I pray as we journey with the Holy Spirit, our lives will not remain the same in Jesus name.
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One of the things I will love us to understand when we talk about ‘the rule’, ‘the rule of something’, what does it mean? It implies that, ‘that thing’, when you say ‘the rule of’, you are saying that whatever is that ‘of’, so if its law for example, you are saying that everyone is subjected to the authority of that thing. For example, if we look at the rule of law that we are familiar with, it means that every citizen of that country is subjected to the authority and the influence of that law.
For example, in Nigeria we have the 1999 constitution which embodies the law of the land. We have other bye laws but that’s like the major document that chronicles the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Now, in that law lies the authority and the influence that every citizen of Nigeria is subjected to. For example you have things like, the right of association, freedom of speech. All those things are subs under the law, they are part of the law. So every citizen has his or her rights, privileges, cautions and corrections embedded in that law. So we say the rule of law implies that every citizen is subject to the law.
So we are looking at the rule of grace, why is the rule of law different from the rule of grace? The rule of law, we are going to look at the context of the Bible. In the context of the Bible, there was a dispensation called the dispensation of the law. When man sinned against God, and that sin of rebellion brought man to a place where man could no longer relate with God. So God now said, how do we regulate the actions of man? Then God introduced the law. The Bible makes us to understand that because we were not yet matured, we were put under the tutelage of the law. So, we were put under the authority and the influence of the law until we become matured. So, the rule of law in kingdom terms, are for babes and immature children. Once you graduate, once you move on to become a son in the kingdom. You are not under the rule of law.
Now I want us to see a Scripture in Romans chapter 6, that helps us to understand this, because that’s not where we are actually going but it’s a good place to branch a bit so that we can gain understanding of what we will be discussing.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
Romans chapter 6:14-15
The Bible makes us to understand that, What then? look at this verse carefully, From verse 14, so that we have a better perspective, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. So we note in that verse 14, there are 2 distinct rules in operation, there’s a rule of law and there’s a rule of grace. And he said in verse 14 of Romans chapter 6, it said for sin shall not have dominion over you, why? Because you are not under law. You are not under the rule of law but under the rule of grace.
Now see verse 15, he said What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? He said Certainly not! Sin shall no longer have dominion over us, because we are no longer babies, because we are no longer infants, because we no longer need anyone to teach us to know the Lord, because we have known the Lord. What transits us from being under the rule of law to switch to being under the rule of grace is that we now know the Lord. So, we are no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. We are no longer children that do not know our left from our right. We are now sons, we are now matured. So spiritual maturity, growing up into the fullness of the stature of Christ, coming to the person of Jesus Christ moves us automatically out of the rule of law and puts us under the rule of grace.
That’s why in verse 15, he says what then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, should we continue to ‘poo’ into our diapers because we are no longer under the law? Should we continue to eat sand because we are no longer under the law? Should we continue to waste resources? You know what children do-imagine the state of a child, the state of ignorance it’s a child that you will see that will open a tap and will see the water rushing and feel no concern. To that child, it’s fun “wow, see a lot of water!” He can even put his leg and be marching it and playing. That child, you now say ‘stop it, don’t do that again’. That child needs that because he is not matured. He does not understand. He does not possess the knowledge that tells him that what you are doing is waste. So that child is under tutelage, under instructors. That child is under the rule of law but at the time that child matures, becomes a son. That child no longer operates under the rule of law but under the rule of grace. But because the child is under grace does it mean that the child will now have the liberty of opening the tap and wasting the water? No! You expect that that child by reason of maturity now knows what to do.
So, when we moved from the rule of law to the rule of grace, it is because there is something that has taken place in us, there is a transition that has taken place in us by the reason of our knowledge of Christ Jesus that transitioned us from the rule of law to the rule of grace. So, for everyone that is under the rule of grace, that person is a kingdom citizen. That person is not a slave but a son. If you look at it in practical sense, slaves are given instructors, slaves are under tutelage and slaves are handed down instructions. ‘When you wake up in the morning, this is what you are supposed to do, sweep the house, clean the compound, make sure you do this, make sure you do that’. Instructions are handed down to slaves and they are followed through by a supervisor.
How many of us put supervisors over matured children that we have? And say see, I am employing as a supervisor of my son, he is 18 years old, but when he wakes up in the morning, I want you to tell him to have his bath, when he is done, I want you to tell him to go and brush his teeth, when he is done, I want you to tell him to go to the table and have his breakfast. How many of us will do that? No! We won’t do that because by reason of maturity, we expect that 18 years old child of ours to know what to do. So, God will not put us under tutelage and instructors anymore. He has now called us sons so we are under the rule of grace.
But under the rule of grace, there are expectations, God is expecting that you have matured. You now know what to do. In fact, you are the one telling people about who God is and how to relate with him. You are now teachers, you are no longer babes that need teachers. You, yourself have grown up to become teachers. That’s why you are under the rule of grace. And that’s why in that Romans chapter 6 that we read, he said in verse 15, shall we continue? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace. He said, certainly not! Because this is where in the church, there have been some teachings of grace that has bastardized the true meaning grace.
Grace is not a platform for sin. The rule of grace is not the rule that allows for anything, where anything goes. You are put under grace because you have matured and every true kingdom citizens is put under grace, that’s the dispensation we operate in as kingdom citizens. We are under the authority and influence and what does this mean to us?
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Titus 2:11-13
‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men’, it is available. And he said ‘teaching us.’ What is teaching us? Is it now the law or grace? Grace! The law instructs. The law instructs you ‘don’t do this’. Under the rule of law, you are handed down the instruction of what to do and what not to do but the Bible makes us to understand that under the rule of grace, you are taught. He said that grace, ‘teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly’. So, under the rule of grace, we are being taught on how to live. The law tells you, do not have any other god aside from me, do not steal, do not kill, do not covet. The law does not teach us how to live but grace teaches us so under the rule of grace, we are being taught, we are no longer handed down instructions of what to do and what not to do, we are being taught.
Now when I see a word that has ‘ing,’ its present continuous tense, it’s always interesting for me because the Bible could have recorded that for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men that taught them or teaches them but it says, teaching so under grace, you are a perpetual student. You are not a one off so there is no feeling of I have attained under grace, that’s why the Bible says humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, it’s a posture you must continue to take under grace. That’s the posture of grace. You must humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. That’s the posture of grace because if the grace of God will flow to you, it must be in a posture that receives that grace and the posture that receives grace from God is a posture that humbles him or herself under the mighty hand of God. The Bible says, God gives grace to the humble but he resists the proud.
God gives grace, he makes grace available, he allows grace to flow in the direction and to those that postured themselves in humility but he resists the proud so that’s the posture and in that posture, what happens is that you are being a taught, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So grace teaches us. So, under the rule of grace, what are you learning? Grace teaches us how to live.
So, as a kingdom citizen, you are being taught on a daily basis under the rule of grace, how to live soberly, righteously, and godly. There is never any feeling of I have attained under grace, we are all in the race of grace and as we posture ourselves sunder the mighty hand of God, grace flows in our direction. Another thing that is so important about grace is that, there is a personality of grace. 1st peter 5 verse 10, I want us to read this so that we understand the personality of grace.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
1 Peter 5:10
‘But may the God’ did you see it? ‘Of all grace’, so there’s no grace that is outside God, all grace or graces are in God. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. The God of all grace! So the King of our kingdom is the God of all grace. All grace is resident in him. All grace! And the Bible record is John chapter 1 verse 14 about Jesus Christ,
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
The Bible says he is the express image of the invisible God so it says the same thing about him in that Scripture, it said and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So, of his fullness, we receive grace. ‘Of his fullness!’ So he is full of grace and truth because our Father is the God of all grace and he is the express image of the invisible God. He is full of grace and truth. Of the fullness of Christ, we receive grace so the rule of grace is the rule of Christ.
But one important thing we must understand, because there is no argument to the fact that we are truly under the rule of grace as children of God but we must not take that grace for granted because taking the grace for granted is taking the personality of grace for granted. It is taking God for granted, its taking Jesus for granted. That grace teaches us so we are being taught. No wonder the Bible says we must all come into the fullness of the stature of Christ because if we come into the fullness of the stature of Christ, we come into the fullness of grace. And that’s the desire of God for us. I want us to see 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 8 -9
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
2 Timothy 1:8-9
So we are called to grace, we are called to his purpose and his grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus. So that grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began so the grace has been available so that’s’ why understanding God as the God of all grace, makes sense right? Because before time began, God is. So, grace has been available but we only transitioned from the law to grace by reason of maturity. We only transitioned from the rule of law to the rule of grace via maturity. That’s why any child of God that refuses to grow is going back to be ruled by the law.
When grace is teaching you and your refuse to be a student, you are going back to be the student of the law. You are going back. And that’s why you see in the world many things that the rule of the law stands for, the law is ruling. Many people are under that dispensation of the law. What gives us that privilege to be under the rule of grace is Christ Jesus because the Bible says, we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus so that transitions us. Do we remember that Scripture in Peter that makes us to understand, it said, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special people, you have been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his dear son. From the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, where grace rules.
The kingdom of the light is where grace rules but it is not a license for misbehavior because grace teaches. If you are a student of grace, you should have learnt that you should eschew evil and love righteousness because that’s the personality of grace. Of the fullness of Christ, we receive grace. And what is the fullness of Christ? The Bible records concerning him that he loved righteousness and he hated iniquity because of that reason, he was exalted and given a name that is above every other name and all of us via his access, the access that we have in Christ, we now operate in the rule of grace. It doesn’t give us license for misbehavior, grace teaches.
So that place makes us to understand that we have been called to God’s purpose and to his grace. So you are called a child of God means you are called to the purpose of God and to the grace of God. So you are called into the rule of grace. So, God snatches you out of the atmosphere of law and brings you into grace in Christ Jesus. So you operate in a different atmosphere. Grace is spiritual. I want us to see that Philemon 1 verse 25
25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Philemon 1:25
If you see the spirit there, its small letter ‘s’. ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’, we’ve established that Jesus is full of grace and truth. He said ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit’. So grace is spiritually impacted so when we say we are living under the rule of grace, we are saying your spirit man is under the rule of grace. Your spirit responds and connects to God under grace. Not under the law, that is why we no longer sacrifice, we no longer kill bulls and kill doves, turtle doves and all that because we are no longer under the law. Under the law there were requirements for certain things, if you touch something that was dead or unclean, there was a different sacrifice for you. If you did something and peradventure become unclean, there is a different sacrifice if you are a man, there is a different sacrifice if you are a woman and all that.
But under grace, we have been saved from all that and under grace, we are being taught that obedience is better than sacrifice. Under grace we are being taught that see, to receive from God, you need faith. You need to operate in the realm of faith. You need to believe that God is and he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. Under the rule of grace, we are being taught that God is spirit and those that must worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. Under grace we are being taught that see, you have to shun evil things and embrace righteousness so grace teaches us how to live soberly, how to live righteously, how to live godly.
So the Bible says The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, because that is the portion of you that receives grace. You receive grace into your spirit so you are under the rule of grace in your spirit. So that’s why people say Ah! What happened to Adam when he sinned, Adam did not die physically but he ceased to operate under the rule of grace. Grace was suspended in his life, he started living under the rule of the law. That’s why the Bible says in the book of Romans, it said death came in through one man, Adam but grace, eternal life came in through the last Adam which is Jesus Christ. So the rebellion of Adam launched mankind into the rule of law. That’s not where man was before, man fell to that point but when Jesus came, Jesus took man out of the rule of law and brought us into the rule of grace.
But Jesus did not give us room or allowance for misbehavior, rather teaching, teaching us who God is, showing us the Father, showing us how to live as kingdom citizens. What did Jesus do in his 3 and the half years on the earth, he was modeling to us the perfect picture of a kingdom citizen. You would ask why did Jesus bother himself about some things? Did He need it? But he told John the Baptist something that gave us a clue about his heart, He said suffer it so now so that we can fulfill all righteousness because if we fulfill all righteousness, we would have made the Father glad, we would have done his pleasure and shown his sons the order in the kingdom.
And that’s why Jesus said of all the old order, John the Baptist was the greatest but when it comes to kingdom, the least under the rule of grace is mightier, is stronger, operates in a better atmosphere than the strongest under the rule of law because under grace we are given divine priviledges. Grace opens us up to divine priviledges, divine rights, divine authorities and divine influence. That’s what grace opens us up to.
8 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. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10
So you don’t buy grace, you don’t pay for it, it is a free gift from God, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So, we are beneficiaries of God’s grace, which is God’s free gift. So when we say we are under the rule of grace, understand this, when the grace of God is impacted upon your spirit, you have divine rights, divine authorities and divine influences. You are able to influence nations you have not been to because of grace. You are able to exercise rights. No wonder the angels said, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him? They are seeing how men are enjoying the rule of grace and they are wondering. Angels are marveled at it. That what is man that you have given him this kind of divine privilege? What is the son of man that you even give yourself, your attention to them. Grace! We don’t qualify for it, it is not our works. Grace! So we are products of grace. We enjoy grace, we live in grace because God has made it available to us as a free gift in Christ Jesus.
So, if you have heard a different message about grace, that grace is available just continue to live the way you are, it is not true. Grace teaches, it teaches you how to live, soberly, righteously and godly and I pray that that grace that God has impacted into your spirit by Christ Jesus will be at work in you, activated in you, teaching you daily, because grace can be there and it is latent, you need to activate the grace of God on your life. That’s when you can work in the fullness of all God has made available for you.
