"So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.” Romans 3:28.

Paul preached a sermon that is recorded word-for-word in Acts 13 that culminated in the following verses: "38 Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."

To the Pharisees, this was unacceptable. They could not fathom how, without obeying the law of Moses, a person could be made 100% righteous and free from the demands of the law by simply believing in Jesus. They wanted to hold on to their ceremonies, fasts, sprinklings, washings and what to do/give in order to get from God, which no one would need advice on once they believed in Jesus. This "knowing the Lord" is in line with God's word in Hebrews 8:11- "And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying,‘You should know the Lord.’For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already."

The Pharisees wanted to keep on levying people with rules and regulations which even they could not keep. They wanted to shut Paul up because if the people believed and accepted Jesus as their High Priest, they would no longer be relevant; their days of telling people how many days to fast and what seed to sow in order to overcome things like sickness, lack and other ills would be over. And along came Paul talking about salvation in this Jesus that they thought they had finished dealing with when He died on the cross!

If you look closely, the message that the Pharisees preached is no different from what is being preached in many churches today: Obey the law in order to get right with God and receive from Him aka “do good, get good; do bad, get bad.” Righteousness by works. 

But Paul preached Grace - that with Christ, we get the good that we don’t deserve and escape the punishment that we deserve because Another, Jesus Christ, took our place on the cross. Righteousness by faith.

In his letter to the Romans (3,) he wrote of God: “26...and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

No wonder Paul said “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,..” in Romans 1:16. But what gospel? Galatians 1:6 says “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”

The only gospel is Grace. It goes against the grain of human logic. Even today, many who profess Christ are against the gospel that is “the power of God for salvation” and want to be under the law that they cannot keep. The letter kills. Believers, by God’s grace, let’s not be found here. 

Like the Pharisees, many leaders in the church see God's grace (personified by our Saviour Jesus Christ) as competition - they think that people will stop coming to church/giving tithes and offerings and start sinning anyhow if they start believing that God loves them just the way they are and does not expect them to do anything - including fast, sow seeds, etc- by human effort before He delivers them from trouble and shows them His Salvation.

Romans 8:32 says God gives us all things FREELY with Christ. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

All things! Including Christ’s “Neither do I condemn you” that makes us “go and sin no more.” 

Freely, and not because we did anything to deserve it.