NOTE: It would be hypocritical to post this lesson
with confrontation in mind, when the lesson itself is about grace. For anyone who may stumble upon this blog
through a search engine, our men are on a quest to live out the Kingdom of God
on earth today. Part of that quest is
to have a solid understanding of how to enter into, and live in the Kingdom of
God. We’ve concluded that Grace is the
outward manifestation of the Kingdom life, just as sin is the outward
manifestation of a carnal life. If you
continue to read this blog, it is sure to offend those who’ve grown up with, or
been indoctrinated by the prevailing definitions of Grace.
(SORRY CHARLIE,
THIS IS A LONG BLOG)
LESSON: Grace is much more than love, kindness,
privilege, compassion, mercy, or any other ‘one word or two word’ definition
that we’ve come to embrace over the years.
I hope by now, you’ve come to understand the complexity of grace. We could spend the rest of our lives
studying this one word, and still not fathom all that it is, nor all that it
does, because IT is the work of the HOLY SPIRIT, dare I say Grace is the Holy
Spirit. Even as much as I’ve prepared for this study, I haven’t even scratched
the surface, although I have bashed my head on it a few times.
The problem with
any study into grace, is our tendency to confuse grace with salvation. We interchange the two as if they were Lego
blocks, even though the evidence to the contrary is in the scriptures. They aren’t one in the same, and never will
be. I believe one of the easiest ways
to prove a point is to inject our accepted definitions into a scripture. Let me do one of our Pastor’s favorite
passages: 2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT Each time He said, “My grace is all you
need. My power works best in weakness.”
. . . Let’s substitute ‘salvation’ for grace. “My salvation is all you need. . .” Uhhhhh, nope, that don’t work
for me. Now, let’s inject Pastor’s
definition of Grace; “My power to
succeed is all you need. My power
works best in weakness.” Yep,
that’s better! Now let’s inject the Holy Spirit in there; “My Holy Spirit is
all you need. My power works best in weakness.” NOW that’s what I’m talking about!
Let’s do another
verse, Ephesians 2:8 “For you are saved by salvation through
faith. . .” Not much better. Yet, when we talk about Grace, we make it a
loose definition for being saved. NOW,
let’s do it as written, “For you are
SAVED by GRACE through FAITH, and that not of yourselves, it (salvation) is a gift
of God.” (emphasis mine) Faith is a
gift of God, Grace is the gift of God, Salvation is a gift of God. Duh!
God created everything, so it would stand to reason that grace, faith,
and salvation would be of God. Without
wanting to step into the obvious minefields that surround any discussion of
grace, let’s make our position perfectly clear; YOU MUST BELIEVE IN JESUS
CHRIST IN ORDER TO BE SAVED!!!!!! If
you don’t believe me, then believe Jesus. (I am talking to Christians here.)
There are three
things Jesus said you must do in order to be saved. YOU must repent, (He would not tell you to do it unless it was
something you had to do.) you must believe, (God is not going to believe for
you, else he wouldn’t be going about looking for someone to show himself strong
in) and you must be baptized (Christ already did that once, he doesn’t need to
do that for you.) Yes, I’m being facetious. The problem with Ephesians 2:8 isn’t with
the words, but with how we translate those words. Those who want to make a
mantra of the last part of Ephesians 2:8 try to make grace into some kind of mystical force that can’t be
resisted. ‘You will serve me. . .
.(eerie synthesizer music plays in the background)…..You are helpless before
me. . . . .(a wave of the almighty’s arm,) . . ..You will love me. . . Okay,
I’m getting out there.
The other side of
the grace argument is just as flawed, because it makes grace into marshmallow
filling that sweetens a poor excuse for cake.
“God’s grace has covered all my sins, I’ve accepted Jesus as my savior,
I choose to follow Jesus. I can act any way I want to, because I’m covered by
grace.” WRONG WORDS DUDES! Let’s take a look at the one example that
busts both ideas. Turn to Luke 18:18-30
A rich young ruler
came to Jesus, the savior of all mankind, with a sincere desire to do something
to inherit eternal life. (Doesn’t everybody?) Jesus didn’t confront the young
man, nor did he make him bow before him. The young man could easily see for
himself, that Jesus knew the way to eternal life, that’s why he came, and bowed
before Him of his own free will. If the
idea of total depravity were true, the rich young ruler wouldn’t even
have guessed that Jesus could lead him to eternal life. Jesus knew the young man was serious, and moved
to tears by the young ruler’s stated obedience to the law of Moses. Jesus asks the young man the one thing he
asks all of us to do, “sell all that you have. . .and follow me.”
DECISION
TIME!
The hope of
eternal life stood before the young ruler, and he rejected it. The Holy Spirit was busting on this boy’s
chops hard! Jesus is weeping, the disciples are hoping, heaven holds its
breath. . .Still, he was able to turn his back on the one thing he came to
Jesus for. This story clearly puts the
decision to believe in Jesus in our own ballpark. I reject the notion that human beings are ‘totally depraved,’ and
grace is the only way we can find Him.
I believe God is always searching for us, no matter where we may be
hiding. He’s been calling out to us
since the dawn of creation. The Gospel
is the call, and love is the reason for the call. Grace is what we get when we
answer the call. I’ll repeat my assertion, the biggest problem we face when we are
discussing grace, is confusing the GOSPEL with grace. They aren’t the same. If
we take Jesus at His word, GOD LOVES EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! The gospel is that truth, but the Gospel can
be resisted, and hell will be filled with people who resisted the gospel. Salvation is not Grace, and Grace is not the
offer of salvation. I hate it when we lump
everything in one basket and throw it up into the air like a tossed salad. “Here, eat this, we’ll throw a little
‘carnal’ dressing on it to make it more palatable.” Before long, the salad doesn’t matter, it’s the dressing we
taste. God doesn’t have love potions to
make us love Him. Yes, everything comes from God, but it is still our choice to
believe, repent, and love Him. God didn’t program us to follow Him. Actually, he’s looking for those who
willingly follow him. We’re going to be
coming back to Ephesians 2:8-9 a lot more over the course of our study, so
we’ll leave it alone for right now. Let’s
look at another passage that clearly demonstrates Grace’s function in our salvation,
and ultimately what its role in the Kingdom is. Last week I told you we’d be looking at Romans chapter 5, so
let’s turn there now.
Romans chapter 5,
5:1 Our faith in the atoning, cleansing, work
of Jesus Christ is what justifies us.
(the therefore, is chapter four) We stand clean before God,
through the work that Jesus did.
5:2 It is faith
in JESUS that gives us access to the GRACE (Spirit) of God in which we stand
(Justified/righteous/blameless/ empowered/ and HOLY) rejoicing (boasting) in
(Jesus) the hope of the Glory of God.
Duh!!!!! Jesus is the Glory of God.
We boast in HIM because he Did it.
He bought our ransom, paid the price, redeemed us. WE BOAST IN HIM, because we believe in the
work he did. FAITH ACTIVATES
GRACE! (Remember: you are saved by
grace through faith.) YOU MUST BELIEVE! Faith (trust) opens the gates of heaven. NOW Grace is available to
you.
5:3 (Now that we believe, and grace is available
to us,) We can do more than boast about Jesus’ work on the cross, we can also
boast when we go through tribulations and trials. WHY?
Because we KNOW that tribulations work to make us patient. [Patience is
a fruit of the Spirit, (Galatians 5:22) which proves that GRACE is already at
work IN us.]
5:4 We know that enduring tribulation also
develops strong character, and once we’ve developed a strong character, we’ll abound in confidence. (Remember these things are happening AFTER
we believe into Jesus)
5:5 Our confidence (hope) in Jesus won’t
disappoint us. (We won’t be ashamed
when we pass from this life to the next, because when we stand before God,
we’ll have believed in the truth, and Grace will have completed its work in
us.) Not only can we have confidence on the Day of Judgment, but also we can
have that confidence NOW, because we have God’s love spread all over our hearts
by the power of the Holy Spirit. (This
love is how people SEE the grace of God.
Grace is tangible, and visible to all.
(How do you think people know you are ‘gracious.’ It is how we know we are HIS.)
NOTE: Up
to this point, Paul has been describing the work of Jesus Christ, which not
only sets us in right standing with God for the future, but it also gives us
strength to endure tribulation, and hardships.
Now he will show us the scope of salvation in its intricacy. All this stuff is past tense stuff, before
you became a NEW man.
5:6 There was a time when we were powerless,
weak, and carnal. (Sinman) THEN (BAM!)
Christ died for us! (We didn’t ask Him
to do it, and we could have cared less that He did it. It wasn’t our idea.) He didn’t die for the righteous, holy,
blameless, or more deserving, HE died for us when we were helpless, decrepit,
evil, despicable, nasty, and stinky. He loved us when we were his enemies. (This is HIS love at work, not His
grace. If grace were love, He would
have said: For God was so gracious, he gave his . . .) God loves all of us, but His love for us
isn’t the issue. Our loving Him isn’t
the issue. No matter how much He loves
us, and regardless of whether we love Him, sin still stands between us,and
God.
5:7 The carnal mindset is offered up here; A
carnal man would be tempted to give their lives for someone who is good or
righteous, but who would give their life for a child molester, murderer, thief,
liar, rapist, adulterer, prostitute, or addict? WHO WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?
JESUS! Wow!
Paul loves to mess with people’s minds.
5:8 Yes, while we were totally messed up beyond
all hope of ever being right with God, Jesus gave his life for us. He stood in our place (I want you to get a
mental picture of this, because it is the key to understanding grace.) HE HUNG UPON THE CURSE (THE CROSS) AND TOOK
UPON HIMSELF THE MOST VILE SIN ANY MANY OR WOMAN HAS EVER COMMITTED. He did this while we were his enemies,
while we were still sinners, while we were helpless, while we didn’t even know
what He was doing. THIS IS THE LOVE HE
HAS FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD! (This is
still not grace. Love alone, doesn’t
make salvation happen for us, we have to believe Jesus is the Son of God, that
He died, and rose again.)
5:9 As if being justified (made right, forgiven,
just if I’d never sinned) by His death wasn’t enough, He has given us a back
door to escape God’s coming wrath. Yes,
God’s wrath is coming. The earth will
be purged by fire, and we will escape it through the work Jesus did on the
cross.
5:10 FAVORITE
VERSE ALERT: I love it when Paul does stuff like this; for if when you were enemies to God, He
chose to reconcile you to himself through the death of His Son, imagine the
salvation he has in store for us through the resurrection (LIFE) of His
Son. In other words, if you think
Christ dying on the cross for your sins was awesome beyond words, wait till you
figure out what his resurrection means!
HIS resurrection makes life available to us. We were reconciled, cleansed, made whole, by the work of the
cross. I won’t diminish its power or
deny its strength. BUT!!!! His resurrection is LIFE! Hello, we’re talking about Grace here.
5:11 His resurrection life (Grace) allows us to
boast in God, through our relationship with Jesus, His Son. It is a familial joy, a joined exuberance, a
“my Dad’s bigger than your Dad” boasting.
Not that we’ve done anything, but that we know who our Daddy is. This keeps on proving the old adage that
it’s not what you know, but WHO you know that counts. If I get to do nothing but be a gatekeeper in God’s stadium,
that’s enough for me. (I think there’s a scripture that is similar to what I
just said)
5:12 Now we’re going to step back into the
discussion of sin again: By one man (Adam,) sin entered the world, and by
that sin death, which has passed upon all men from that time till now, because
all men have sinned. (I want
you to think about the immensity of the influence and power of sin. All men have sinned)
5:13 Paul makes it clear, that sin has been in
the world since Adam, but we weren’t held accountable until the Law was given
to Moses. The law is God letting us have just a glimpse of how bad we are
messed up, and just how HOLY He is. Sin’s power to kill is absolute, how do we
know that? Paul says the proof lies in
the fact that men continue to die.
5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses,
(one sin is death, white lie, big lie, steal bubble gum, say; I hate you etc.
. .)
even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who
was a type of the one who was to come. (remember, God doesn’t kill us,
separation from Him kills us. When we sin, we choose to die. Sin and death are
hand in hand, but Paul is setting us up, Adam is a type of. . . )
5:15 But the
free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's
trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the
grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. In other words,
if you think Sin was the tough boy in the park, wait till you link up with
grace.
5:16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin (Adam). For the
judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the
free gift following many trespasses brought justification. Paul is trying to show us the unimaginable
power of Grace. It absolutely destroys,
and overwhelms the power of sin. The
next verse makes it perfectly clear.
5:17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death
reigned through that one man, much
more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of
righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. The power of sin is destroyed, and we are
new creations, without the curse of sin and death ruling over us.
ADMONITION WARNING: The tendency for most Christians is to wrap
themselves in what they think is grace, and battle with sin at a personal
level. Doing this robs grace of its
purpose for our lives. When the battlefield
is in our own backyard, we are rendered ineffective for the Kingdom. When we were carnal, we didn’t fight with
righteousness. If we did something
good, we didn’t feel bad about it. The
carnal nature is only focused on itself.
On the other hand, grace’s greatest power is when we put the Grace of
God on display. Sin has to cower before the light of God’s grace. When we are consumed with the Holy Fire of
God’s love, sin is a non-issue. If we
are obsessed with our own salvation, I guarantee you, we won’t be able to help
anyone find theirs. WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN
A WEALTH OF GRACE TO OFFER TO OTHERS.
5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to
justification and life for all men. {if
you haven’t picked up on it by now, I don’t think you ever will. Christ has done it! Whereas sin entered the world through the
action of one man, Grace (the opposite of Sin,) has entered the world through
the action of one man.} (BAM! BAM!
BAM!) Death’s outta there!
5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many
were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made
righteous. (Instead of sinning, we are
gracing. Grace allows us to do God’s
good works, we gotta tell the world, gotta share da love..)
THIS IS WHERE WE ENDED OUR STUDY SUNDAY: Go ahead and read on, because we’re going to
finish this on Sunday.
5:20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass,
but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, (because Grace is the
opposite of Sin, and sin is powerless before Grace, Grace wipes out sin)
5:21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace
also might reign through righteousness
leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
There you have it!
Grace (The Spirit of Christ) is at work, and alive in us to overcome the
power of sin. Death is swallowed up in
life. WE are great big grace machines,
spreading the good news, releasing the good stuff, and chasing death down every
dark alley it tries to hide in. We are
LOVE’S sidekicks. “Here, let me give
you some healing, Man.” “Oh, that,
that’s nothing, I got GRACE for that.”
“Trouble? I got da cure for
trouble.”
I’m not being smug, prideful, or anything like
that. I’M CONFIDENT IN THE POWER OF
CHRIST! When Peter, and John healed the
man on the way to the temple, they weren’t being prideful when they said;
“Silver and Gold have I none, but such as I have. . . .” Grace, is what we got. (I know, poor
English.) It’s the difference between
carrying around a little puff gun, and carrying around a disintegrator ray
gun. When death tries to set up shop, we
whip out the ray gun of grace and blow him away. KNOCKED OVER! Then we
watch with joy as another loved soul runs off with their ‘fuzzy.’ For those who were predicting the death of
the Church, and the end of Christianity, you better grab a hold of something
solid, because the Kingdom of God is erupting all over the world. Love, mercy, healing, and deliverance are what
this great awakening is all about. A tidal wave of Grace is about to sweep over
the world. The fire of LOVE is going to
consume everything in its path. THE
NEXT GREAT REVIVAL IS HERE!!!!!
