Our indepth study into grace was
necessary for us to understand the battle between the two extremes of Christian thought. While there are varying
shades of thought between the two extremes, they usually fall into one of two
categories. The Kingdom of God suffers because the message we want to present
is muddled by human interpretation. Once we accept one view or another, we can
rarely tolerate people who embrace the other view. Literalism, Calvinism, Armenianism,
fundamentalists, protestants, and Catholics have all broke upon ONE word,
GRACE. As I told you when we began this
study, I am not a theologian, nor do I consider myself studied enough to teach
this beyond what I read in the Word. I
always pray that when I read the Word, I will be given insight by the power of
the Holy Spirit to teach you true and right.
It isn’t important for me to be a scriptural bulldog, unwilling to let
go of whatever spiritual bone I might dig up.
It is important for me to present the Kingdom correctly.
Next week, we are going to rejoin the
original study about the Kingdom of God. We’ll spend some time looking at human
kingdoms, human societies, and the carnal view of things first. WHY?
Because we live in this earthly vale.
The problem as Christians, is that our perspective, and therefore, our
way of life within that perspective is skewed to our world view. The AWAKENING, is happening now, and if we
are trapped within a rigid perspective, we’ll be worse off than the spiritual
leaders of Christ’s day. When the Grace
Awakening occurs, we don’t want to be looking for the old things, while the new
things pass us by. Grace was, is, and
will ever be the founding principal of the Kingdom of God.
EXAMPLE TIME: As an American citizen,
I am guaranteed freedom. Liberty was the
founding principal of our nation. We established liberty as the bedrock of all
our laws, and privileges. Our laws established the limits of our liberty, while
at the same time we trust in those laws to ensure the expression of our liberties.
Our laws are a double-edged sword that protects us, and limits us at the same time.
The only way we can lose our freedom, is to either commit crimes against
society, or to surrender them to others.
As we’ve become a global society, American’s have surrendered many of
their ‘rights’ in exchange for safety, and security. What we hold dear to ourselves is the last
thing we will relinquish as the ‘socialization’ of our government continues. It is my personal belief that as the march of
years continue, freedom will be exchanged for safety. It is inevitable. Where once we were born to
enjoy liberty, we will one day be satisfied with just being ‘safe.’ Eventually, liberty, and freedom will become
distant concepts.
In the same way our nation was
founded upon the principal of liberty, the Kingdom of God was, and still is
established upon the principal of Grace. The laws of the Old Covenant, as well
as the Spirit of the New Covenant have Grace as the guiding principal of the
Kingdom. AS I said earlier, Grace is
more powerful than liberty. It is God’s grace
that gives us liberty. Where once we
were slaves to our sinful nature, we are now at liberty to live the divine nature. Only grace gives us the power to do that. When we exchange the power of grace for the
false security of the law, we become worse than the Pharisees. If we go to the other extreme of denying the
power of grace to change our natures, we risk becoming as carnal as the
Sadducees. Trying to appease the carnal
kingdoms of this world is exactly what the scribes and teachers were doing when
they handed Christ over to Pilate. It didn’t work. Trust me, the kingdoms of
this world will only grant you liberty in as long as it doesn’t rob others of
what they seek to possess. This concept
is easily seen in totalitarian forms of government, but is just as active
within ‘democratic’ forms of government.
We’ve seen plenty of examples within the Middle-East of what happens to
people who are in disagreement with the majority, or even the leader of a
nation. The dissenter’s liberties are
taken from them without a moment’s notice. There is no true liberty outside of
God’s grace. We are seeing that in our
own nation, today. The very government
that is supposed to protect our rights is challenging every right given to us
in our Constitution. This is all being
done in the name of peace, and safety.
Sound familiar?
Grace, on the other hand, is
something that gives us liberty even when we are bound, or imprisoned by the
kingdoms of this world. The power of
grace transcends this physical world, and moves things in the Kingdom of
God. Grace’s expression, is liberty,
true liberty of spirit. Spiritual liberty is what Christ came to bring to us. When
you read the passage from Luke 4:17-21 it becomes clear that liberty is the
heart of grace. What does grace do? It brings hope to the poor, it releases the
captive, it gives sight to the blind, and releases the oppressed. LOOK specifically at verse 19. “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor.” God’s blessing, and favor have
come, and his favor is more than the salvation of our soul. This promise was made to Isaiah in chapter
61. God’s promise of grace has always
existed. God’s favor, His good will
toward men has always existed, and will never end. His Kingdom, is given by birthright, not by
naturalization. Grace then becomes the expression of those who choose to live
out their true citizenship. This is why
these last few weeks matter. This is why
we’ve spent so much time studying grace.
Grace is the underpinning of the Kingdom, just as liberty is the
underpinning of our nation. Anything
that robs another believer of his or her liberty in Christ, is not grace. That
is why we have to be so careful in our walk with Christ. Grace is the divine
nature expressed through the Godhead, as well as those who are born again. Sadly, the church has lost its way on the
issue of grace, because we’ve exchanged our grace for the safety, and security
of laws, by-laws, constitutions, declarations of faith, and governments. Pastors became possessors, Apostles became appointers, Prophets became
profiteers, teachers became taunters, and Evangelists became legalists. We enshrined our thinking above God’s
grace. It has taken thousands of years
to do it, but the path to safety has returned us to the same spot Adam found
himself in. We’re afraid to be clothed with God’s righteousness, so we use the
fig leaf of human doctrine to cancel the power of God’s grace. Instead of being without shame as Christ
intends us to be, we are continually checking to make sure our nakedness isn’t
showing. It is high time for the Church to wake up, and make herself ready for
the groom.
You can be sure, the awakening is going to happen, the
Church must wake up! How can we
convince a world to embrace the grace, when we ourselves aren’t convinced of
the liberty wherein we now live. How can
we convince people of the divine goodness of God, if the divine nature isn’t
found in us. The divine nature lifts us
beyond our human desires, and enables us to live a life of faith, moral
excellence, divine knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly
affection, and a love for EVERYONE. We
could never do this through the carnal nature.
Don’t get me wrong, the carnal nature is capable of doing ‘good’ things,
even following the law, until it becomes puffed up. The default attitude of the carnal nature is
pride. So, what looks good on the
outside is actually filthy on the inside.
The problem with pride, is that it is the beginning of all sin. It denies everyone of their liberty, even the
one who is bound up in it. Grace
immediately challenges the carnal nature.
You see, when Christ spoke in Luke 4 about HIS anointing, He made a list
of the things that the carnal nature does.
The carnal nature clothes itself in bad news, it enslaves, it blinds,
and it oppresses. As you will see in the
next few weeks, this is the power of the kingdoms of this world. When we advance the Kingdom of God, we are
bringing liberty to those who don’t even know they are wretched, poor, blind,
captive, and oppressed. We must be busy
like Christ, destroying the strongholds of darkness, and tearing them
down. We are leading people into the
Kingdom of light, through the leading of the Holy Spirit. That is why we are
ambassadors for Christ, we are representing a better Kingdom. Even if the evil
one should try to jail us, persecute us, beat us, and shut our mouths, he will
fail because his kingdoms are already defeated.
As we saw in Russia, and we are seeing in China, it is impossible to
destroy God’s grace. Leaders will fail, oppressors will fail, and false
teachers will fail. The governments of
this world will eventually bow before the true creator of all things, and they
will acknowledge the grace of God. The power of God’s grace will ensure His
Word goes out into all the world to save, heal, and deliver. We only have to be willing to be the agents
of His grace.
