Grace is Love

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve only had ONE commandmand (law) and still, they broke that ONE (sounds like our kids? ) (Like your mother telling her kids: Don't put your hand in that cookie jar !!!) Through Adam, we are born spiritually dead. Through Jesus Christ, we are born-again spiritually. Romans 5:12 [ Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ ] Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— Unregenerated person means spiritually dead person. Sin is separation from God meaning spiritually dead facing eternal death. Born-again means spiritually alive facing eternal life. The concept is this: Sin,is where an unregenerate person runs away from God, meaning that a person called a "fugitive" that as a sinner, it is a person's inclination is to flee from God. Like when Adam and Eve sinned, they fled from God and hid. Satan to Eve: "Did God say, you shall not eat of any tree of the garden?" What God really said: "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen. 1:16-17) Satan to Eve: You will not die. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:4-5) What God really said: "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen. 1:16-17) Result of the fall: Spiritually: Adam and Eve died since God broke away the relationship with them and kicked them out of Garden of Eden. Death is universal spiritually and also by nature. Physically we are born alive however spiritually dead. When we have Jesus Christ in our lives, we no longer spiritually dead but spiritually alive even though our physical body will continue to decay and will die someday. A spiritually dead person cannot will himself to live anymore than a physically dead person can will himself to come back to life. If the dead person (spiritually or physically) is to come back to life he/she will have to be resurrected by God. In the spiritual realm this means he/she must be born from above. A spiritually dead person is without the Holy Spirit, therefore we do not have the "ability" to get saved on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to prick and quicken us to be alive. Without the Holy Spirit is TOTAL DEPRAVITY". The Holy Spirit is the only person that can quicken people to be saved. 1 Corinthians 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Acts 7:51 "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 1 Thessalonians 4:8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. 2 Corinthians 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. Romans 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Romans 8:7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 1 Corinthians 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. Understanding God's Holiness: Romans 7:12 (NIV) So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 2 Corinthians 4:15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. The bottom line is that Grace is love. 2 Corinthians 13:14May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Ephesians 6:24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. 1 Timothy 1:14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.