7/09/12 - "WHAT IS GRACE?"

Gal. 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Grace is a very important and powerful subject. It certainly is a very important part of our walk with Christ, and because of that the enemy has used this powerful topic to bring deception into the body of Christ. This is no different than any subject you would look at, there are several aspects to grace that must be considered when studying what grace really is. Whenever you only look at a part of a subject you certainly don’t get the whole picture and therefore can be mislead. It would be like looking out to the horizon and only seeing from the ground view one perspective of the earth, therefore thinking it is flat. But of course a complete view of the planet reveals otherwise.

That is what we are going to do this week in a brief study of grace. It is powerful, wonderful, and also able to empower us to change. It was given to us not only to bring us into right standing with God, but also to empower us to live as children of the light. Today there is much being said about grace, but most of what is being declared is the not the complete picture. Many are only looking at the horizon and not the whole scope of what grace encompasses. So let’s take a little journey through God’s Word and get a better understanding of the grace of God.

We start with our foundation verse I have already shared with you above. One of the key elements that grace is connected with and really is the primary reason we have grace in our life has to do with the work of justification. Justification means to be placed in right standing with God. God’s righteousness is a gift that is given to all those who having godly sorrow, repent, and turn to Jesus trusting their lives unto Him. As Paul states above those who have received Christ as their Savior by making Him the Lord of their life do so by faith in what Christ has done. To then think that one has to go back to upholding the Old Testament law to be justified in the eyes of God has fallen from grace.

This is a key point for there are those who teach today that many are trying to mix the law with grace. To mix the law with grace would mean that you would put your faith initially in Christ for salvation, but then you would continue to fulfill the requirements of the Levitical law to be justified in the sight of God. This is falling from grace for justification only comes through faith in Christ Jesus and what He did. But those who claim that ministers are mixing the law with grace say you are doing so whenever you talk about sin, or about righteous living, which is taught in scripture. The Bible has a lot to say about our lifestyle, but a minister of the whole counsel of God knows you cannot earn this gift of righteousness or right standing with God. That only comes through faith in Christ Jesus.

Be careful when you hear ministers say that for anyone to preach against sin they are mixing the law with grace, for that is not even biblically correct. That would only be true if someone was telling you that you must uphold all the requirements given in the Old Testament law to receive God’s righteousness. The gift of righteousness as I have stated earlier is only received through our faith in Jesus Christ. This of course does not mean that it really doesn’t matter then how we live, for after all we have been saved by grace. The wages of choosing to live a life of sin is still corruption as scripture clearly teaches in the New Testament.

Rom. 6:14 For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.
Rom. 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!

Everyone who is born again by faith in Christ is now under grace, not under the law. This is where most of the confusion seems to come from. People say they are no longer under the law but under grace so it doesn’t matter what they do. Anyone who believes this does not know what the law is nor what grace is. The law was necessary to reveal to man that he is a sinner and therefore in need of a Savior. The law did not give man the power to overcome sin, but revealed the sin within man. Grace means you got what you did not deserve. We did not deserve God’s righteousness because of the sinful nature we were born with, but God chose to give us this gift. This gift was made possible by God’s grace.

Once you receive this gift of righteousness through grace you are now a new creation on the inside. You now have the ability, God-given within you, to defeat sin and for it to no longer have dominion over your life. Grace empowered you to defeat sin, not live sinful. You could only become born again by faith in Christ Jesus, not by the fulfillment of the law, but once you got born again you now have a new spirit and the Holy Spirit within you to overcome sin and all of it’s destructive ways. Grace is heaven’s help extended to us to help us be empowered through the Holy Spirit to be victorious over sin, sickness, disease, and spiritual death.

Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Eph. 2:9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

It is by grace (heaven’s help) that you have been saved. Man cannot save himself by his own merit. This word saved here refers too much more than just getting born again. The definition of this word means: to save, i.e. deliver or protect (literally or figuratively): — heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole. Man cannot save, deliver, protect, heal, or make himself whole through his own works. If he could do so then he would not need God. Our faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished in redeeming our life is what brings us into what Jesus died and paid for. Anyone claiming that you must earn this through some type of religious works does not know the Bible.

Gal. 6:7 Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows,
Gal. 6:8 because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

We in no way earn from God what Jesus died and paid for. Does this mean that we can do whatever our flesh wants because after all since we are saved by grace there is no recourse for fleshly behavior? No. Anyone who looks to the Word of God that tells us what we should and should not do and thinks that doing what you want and not what God said won’t matter is deceived. Paul clearly states above that God will not be made a fool. If you sow to your flesh, letting your flesh dominate how you live and what you do, you are going to reap corruption. God didn’t have anything to do with it, and even though you have received salvation through grace it does not exempt you from this spiritual truth.

But for those who sow to the Spirit, which would be doing what God says to do with our life, is going to reap life, not corruption. Contrary to popular opinion today if you as a born again child of God choose to live a lifestyle of willful sin ignoring what the Bible tells you not to do you are taking the risk of hardening your heart to the point of denying your Christ and choosing to face the eternal judgment to come from which you were once delivered.

Heb. 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Heb. 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

Some would say that if you preach this then no one can live assured of their salvation. Sure you can. If you are not living a lifestyle of willful sin you know that you have no reason to fear the judgment to come, which will devour the adversaries. But to say that because we are now under grace we can live however we want is not biblically correct. There are even those today, who teach that no one is going to hell, that all will wake up in heaven. This is not what scripture teaches.

Jude 3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
Jude 4 For certain men have secretly slipped in among you–men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe–ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude gave a warning 2,000 years ago to the church that there would be those who would preach grace in such a way that it would give people a license for evil, and in doing so they are denying Jesus as the Master and Lord of their life. If Jesus is your Master and Lord you are completely surrendered to Him. Don’t fall for these modern day preachers who are telling us that if grace is not preached in such a way that it is misunderstood then it isn’t being taught biblically. This is not true. How can one have biblical understanding of what grace is if it is taught in a way that it is misunderstood? I don’t think I need to explain that.

Acts 20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
Acts 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

Paul was the predominate teacher of all that grace is in the New Testament. He declared before his departure to Rome that he had not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. Because he had not done so he was innocent of the blood of all men. There are some ministers today who are clearly not declaring the whole counsel of God. They want to be popular and are a fulfillment of what Paul warned Timothy about that in the last days there would be many preachers who would tickle peoples itching ears. Don’t fall for this. Be willing to hear the whole counsel of God, which will protect you and deliver you from this wicked and evil generation. Thank God for His grace, heavens help, that came down to man to make him brand new, and empower him to overcome the evil of the last days.

See You Again Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”

May God’s Best Be Yours!

Pastor Darryl Baker