Yes, but...

Acts 15:5 
But 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.”

Have you ever been talking with someone about the grace offered through the cross of Jesus Christ and had them say, “Yes, but...”? This is exactly what happened to the Apostles while they were preaching the New Covenant of forgiveness and restoration through the cross and the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 

The interesting fact is that this group of “Yes, but-ers” were believers. They had heard all the things that God had been doing for Paul and the others. They had heard of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the miracles that followed His apostles. They knew that He [Christ] had finished His work on the cross and yet they still wanted to add their works to it.

This is human nature. There is a desire in us to do things and to be justified by doing things. This is what makes the finished work of Jesus Christ and faith in that work so radical to the rest of the world. It is so anti-human nature to believe that everything has been done that even devout Christians can fall victim to this gotta-do mentality.

God’s desire is not for us to keep His laws with an attitude that we have to work to be justified. It is faith in His keeping of the law that justifies us (Romans 5:1). Under the Old Covenant we were required to keep the law in order to be justified. But we were incapable of keeping the laws. We have all broken them all, either in a literal sense or spiritually. Christ came to redeem us from the curse of keeping the law. He came to justify us in His perfection.

Under the New Covenant, through the finished work of Jesus Christ, God puts His laws in our hearts and minds (Hebrews 10:16, Jeremiah 31:33). He has taken away the burden of having to carry them around, written on big rocks as a continual reminder of how much we must do. Instead, He has put them in our hearts. Keeping the law as a Christian is simple as having a heartbeat, because it is not you who is keeping the law, but Christ who lives within you (Galatians 2:20). 

When you accept Christ into your heart you are accepting everything about Him into your body and your soul. You inherit, through grace, His perfection, health, holiness, prosperity, and peace. When you accept Christ you no longer have to work to be complete; you are completed! His finished work becomes a finished work in you.

So, next time you’re sharing the gospel of grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ and hear, “Yes, but...” ask this question: “Are you saying your ‘but’ is greater than my Jesus?”