Grace
Galatians 1:3-7
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ
Eph 2:8 (NKJV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Notice that we are not saved by grace alone. We are saved by grace through faith. Faith grants us admission to God’s grace Without faith, God’s grace is wasted and without grace, faith is powerless. Faith in God’s grace has to be released to receive what God has provided through Christ
What does Grace then means?
•Rom 8: 1-6 (NKJV)
• 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
To understand if you are living in grace is to check what is grace is not:
1) No condemnation
2) Being self-righteousness
3) Carnally minded.
No Condemnation:
Well most of you say – of course I know that. I am now longer condemned. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. All the old things have past away.
There is a very fine line between living in the Spirit and living in the Flesh.
Why do we want to live in the Spirit?
Because by Living in the Spirit we are free. 2 Cor 3.
We have access to the fullness in Christ.
We are no longer our source to life and everything that pertains to it. God is and He will always be.
So let me you ask you the same questions that people asked me and the accuser of the brethren haunted me with?
If you become ill – say you get swine flu – what goes through your mind? What do people ask you?
WHAT DID YOU DO?
So the focus is on YOU.
If you have trouble at your work.
What do your family ask you.
WHAT DID YOU DO?
If you are in trouble, what happens?
YOU THINK WHAT DID I DO WRONG?
In your relationship, what do people ask you when things go wrong? Now tell me WHAT WENT WRONG?
This bring me to my second point –
SELF Righteousness
You or somebody wants to make the wrong right. The feeling or emotion or accusations need to be corrected. So to be right, somebody needs to be wrong. To be self-righteous is proof that you were right.
Very subtle - we go through this daily.
We become with or without the help of others our own judges – the verdict will be most of the time that we were right.
Unfortunately as believers many times we condemn ourselves. We take the blame. We acknowledge our sin and then we feel guilty, depressed and many times without hope. We focus so much on our problem that it consumes us.
3 We start TO THINK!
Think think think My friends Tigger and Pooh.
The Story song trains the children from a young age that we should think think think to solve our problems. While this is good advice it unfortunately leads us back to our own minds or information to change the outcome of our circumstances. So we then start to rely on our own power, while we are called to be spirit beings.
Let me go through this again:
Romans 8:1 (The message)
With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation.
Condemnation is the biggest hindrance to answered prayers. Condemnation stops you from receiving miracle power.
1 John 3:19,20 says that when your heart condemns you not, you have boldness toward God and whatsoever you ask you receive. When your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart.
Do not feel condemn. That means that you must not walk after the flesh. Your way is how you walk. To be out of condemnation means that you must find God’s way. You’ve got to get your walk right.
Galatians 5:16 says that you must walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The walk of the flesh and the walk of the Spirit oppose one another and you cannot do what you want to do. You’ve got a desire to please God, but you can’t get it right when you walk in the way of the flesh and not the Spirit. When you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. How do you walk in the Spirit?
Romans 8:2(a) (Amplified) For the LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE [which is] in CHRIST JESUS…
Genesis 2:7, Romans 8:11 and Jesus on the cross says the law of the Breath of God that gives Life. It says the law of God’s breath. It says the law of the Spirit Life. In Jesus was Life and He came that we might have life. The Spirit that gave life to Jesus shall give you life. God wants us to be a living soul. He wants us to be well in our souls. If your soul prosper, you will be healthy and prosperous. Get your soul right.
Romans 8:2(b) (Amplified) …[the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
There are two laws. Death reigned from Adam to Moses. The Law or sin reigned from Moses to Christ.
Now that Christ came, grace reigns. Christ is the law of Life.
Romans 8:4 (Amplified) So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the WAYS OF THE SPIRIT [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].
To get all the benefits, you’ve got walk a way that is not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
•Rom 8: 5 (AMP)
•5For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.
Spiritual mindedness is Life. You find peace and life in your soul. You get it with your mind. Your mind is in your soul. Your soul is the determining factor in your life. As you think, so are you. People struggle with the way and the walk. That comes after the thought and the mind gets right. Thoughts determine your walk. Carnal mindedness makes you fleshly. Spiritual mindedness makes you spiritual.
JESUS CLEARED OUR CONSCIENCES
Hebrews 9:8 By this the Holy Spirit points out that the way into the [true Holy of] Holies is NOT YET THROWN OPEN AS LONG AS THE FORMER [the outer portion of the] tabernacle REMAINS a recognized institution and is still standing,
Jesus said: "Break it down. If the former one still stands, we cannot throw the real one open. So, forty years from now Caesar will break the temple down and set the whole Jerusalem on fire. In the mean time, let’s get the Holy of Holies scattered. I will die on the cross and with a loud voice cry and the earth will tremble so that the veil would tear and they will NEVER be able to restore it again. In forty years from now, the temple will be torn down by the Jews to get the gold out. Break it down! I want to throw open the real one."
Jesus went in advance for us.
Hebrews 9:9 Seeing that that first [outer portion of] the tabernacle was a parable (a visible symbol or type or picture of the present age). In it gifts and sacrifices are offered, and yet are incapable of perfecting the conscience or of cleansing and renewing the inner man of the worshiper.
As long as they had the tabernacle with the three portions and bring the offerings, with those rituals, the conscience or inner man or the heart could not be cleansed or renewed. (In the Old Testament they did not used the word, ’conscience’ but ’heart.’ In Hebrews it is described that heart is the conscience and the inner man.)
The conscience of the man did the condemning work. It tells the man that he is guilty and ugly and he is a sinner and how can he come before a Holy God? How can he call God his God or his Father? The heart was condemning man, so how could he come and get from God? The inner man or the heart stood in the way of receiving from God. Now the rituals of the former covenant are done away where the heart could not be cleansed.
Hebrews 9:11-15(amp) But [that appointed time came] when Christ (the Messiah) appeared as a High Priest of the better things that have come and are to come. [Then] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with [human] hands, that is, not a part of this material creation, He went once for all into the [Holy of] Holies [of heaven], not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves [by which to make reconciliation between God and man], but His own blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us).
For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body, [Leviticus 16:6, 16; Numbers 19:9, 17, 18].
How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, Who by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent divine personality] has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God?
[Christ, the Messiah] is therefore the Negotiator and Mediator of an [entirely] new agreement (testament, covenant), so that those who are called and offered it may receive the fulfillment of the promised everlasting inheritance.
With the old way of rituals the man’s conscience could not be cleansed. But Jesus Christ took His own blood and went in advance for us into the place which is called ’There’ where the Holy Glory Power and Presence of the Almighty God is. He sprinkled His own blood in the true tabernacle not the one made with hands, but in the heavenly. He purged, cleared and cleansed our consciences or our hearts so that we will not be condemned.
Romans 8:1 Therefore, [THERE is] now NO CONDEMNATION (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus
In His Presence, where His Glory is, "THERE" is no condemnation. He cleansed our hearts, which condemned us. 1 John 3:19-21 says that when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. When you are in a desperate situation where you need God, your heart starts to condemn you. It says: "When did you last read your Bible?" or "You treated your family badly this morning." or "You are a sinner." In these situations the word says that God is much greater than your heart. God knows what you have done. God is greater than a condemning heart, but He wants you to get ’There’ for ’There’ is no condemnation.
GO BOLDLY AND ASK
1 John 3:21,22(amplified) And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us], we have CONFIDENCE (complete assurance and BOLDNESS) before God, And we RECEIVE from Him WHATEVER we ask.
If we can come to a place where our hearts condemn us not and ’There’ is that place, we have boldness. The righteous is as bold as a lion. (Proverbs 28:1) A lion does not ask a gazelle to catch him. So, if we’ve been made righteous because Jesus became sin so that we can be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21) We know that the blood has cleansed us and our consciences are now clear. We can now enter the place called ’There’ and boldly ask. Whatsoever we then ask we will receive. When it comes to the breakthrough, it is God who is the LORD of the breakthrough. He goes in advance and breakthrough for you.
REMEMBER - Most Holy Place - THERE - under His protection.
Hebrews 10:19-23 Therefore, brethren, since we have FULL FREEDOM AND CONFIDENCE TO ENTER into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the BLOOD of Jesus,
By this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is, through His FLESH,
And since we have [such] a great and wonderful and noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God,
Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.
So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.
It does not say that you breakthrough to the throne. You go to the throne.
• How must you go? Boldly.
• How can I enter in? Because of the blood.
• Why can I enter in? Because the veil is now rent.
• What is the veil? It is the body of the LORD, Jesus Christ that was stripped open on the cross.
We can go boldly to the throne of Grace to find help, exactly when we need it. Why do people pray and say that God will someday answer them? Someday you will be too old for that answer.
Prayer:
