If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left (Heb 10:26)

Wow! That looks scary! Let’s take a quick survey. Please put your hand up if you have lived a sinless life since accepting Jesus as your Savior. Hmmm. I don’t see any hands. I have been saved for decades and – if I’m honest with you – I cannot say my performance has been flawless throughout that period. I’m pretty sure I sinned this one time back in 1987…

Ha! It’s easy for me to make jokes. I’ve been set free. I no longer mine at the pits of religion with condemnation. I’m drawing from the wells of salvation with joy!

The wrong way to interpret Hebrews 10:26

All jokes aside, Hebrews 10:26 is an oft-abused scripture. If you wanted to use this verse to scare people, there are a couple of angles you could take:

1. You could use this verse to present a “balanced” view of God, like this: “He is a God of grace and He is a God of judgment. He’s not some senile Santa in the sky. He’s a God of vengeance and a consuming fire. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

2. You could also use this verse to preach works: “You will be judged according to the light of your revelation and those who have received the knowledge of the truth will be held to the highest standard. It’s time for judgment to begin in the house of God. If you fall away it is impossible to be brought back to repentance!”

What is the problem with these messages? Well if you listen to the first one you’re going to come away thinking that God is schizophrenic, at war with His own nature. He loves you, but He doesn’t. It’s unconditional love – with conditions. And if you listen to the second you will either end up a religious fraud or a nervous wreck. You may even wish that you had never heard the gospel because ignorance is bliss.

The tricky part with these false messages is that they are composed of true statements. Our God is a consuming fire. But the interpretation is all wrong. They are anti-cross and anti-Christ. Any message that tells you that God is double-minded or that the good news is bad news ought to be rejected. You know that, right? Good. So how do we read Hebrews 10:26?

Trampling the Son of God under foot

A key to unpackaging this scripture is to recall the audience. Hebrews was written for – surprise, surprise – Hebrews. It was for those who have grown up with the “elementary teachings” of the Old Covenant. In other words, the author writes for an informed audience. They know all about the law, sacrifices, and high priests. But what they may not appreciate is that the law was only a shadow of the good things to come. The law points to the true high priest Jesus and His eternally perfect sacrifice.

Hebrews was written to reveal Christ and His work so that we may “enter through the new and living way,” “go on to maturity,” and “draw near to God.” That last bit is the key. How do I know the two sermonettes above are carnal nonsense? Because neither will inspire you to draw near to God. Indeed, they will have the opposite effect.

Hebrews 10:26 describes those who have received the knowledge of the truth (i.e., they have heard the gospel) but they have rejected it. The writer compares those who reject grace with those who reject law:

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:28-29)

This passage is not talking about Christians but those who, like Judas, have heard the truth and spurned it. Judas spent time in the company of the Lord. He not only heard the truth, he saw Grace and Truth in the flesh. But Judas rejected Jesus as Lord. He never saw Jesus as anything other than a rabbi. Calling Jesus “Rabbi” is a bit like calling the President “Mister,” only infinitely more so. It’s not just insulting, it’s unbelief.

Jesus came to give His life for Judas but Judas wasn’t interested. He preferred his own sinful life of greed and betrayal. I am sure Judas had many opportunities to repent (i.e., change his mind) and put his faith in Jesus, but he never did. He rejected the grace of God that could empower him to say no to sin.

Jesus died for Judas. What more could He do? There is nothing! There is no more sacrifice for sins other than the one Jesus provided. To reject Jesus as Lord is to trample the Son of God underfoot and treat the blood of the covenant as unholy.

How do you insult the Spirit of grace?

If I was to give you a free car out of the generosity of my heart, but you insisted on paying for it, I would be insulted. Similarly, we insult the Spirit of grace by trying to pay, with works and sacrifices, what God has freely given us. We may call it “proving our salvation” or “appropriating what God has given” but it is unbelief. It is like saying, “I don’t believe Jesus has done it all. I need to finish what He started.”

The wrong way to read Hebrews is to think that God is judging us on our performance. Over and over again Hebrews tells us that it is Jesus and His performance that matters. It is His sacrifice that made us holy, indeed, perfect forever (Heb 10:10-14). How can we interpret Hebrews 10:26 as a warning against sin when Hebrews 9:26 says that Christ appeared once for all “to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself”? Is His a finished work or isn’t it? If it is, then sin is no longer the problem. Where there is remission of sins, “there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (Heb 10:18). The good news is that the Son of God is the once and final solution for sin. Because of Jesus, both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit choose to remember our sins no more (see Heb 8:12, 10:17).

The warning of Hebrews

In a forthcoming post I will look at Hebrews 6:4-6, which is another passage that bothers some. But the punch-line is the same. The main warning of Hebrews is not in regard to sin but unbelief:

So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Heb 3:19)

The Hebrews of Moses’ day never entered God’s rest because they hardened their hearts to His voice. In the New Testament era, many Jews were doing exactly the same thing. They received the knowledge of truth, they heard the gospel of grace, but they rejected it. They may not have said so in so many words, but by their actions they revealed their distrust.

For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. (Heb 4:2)

The author of Hebrews writes to stir up faith. Without it we cannot please God. With it we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Heb 10:39)

Some people hear the good news of God’s grace and shrink back. They cannot believe it. “It’s too good to be true,” they say. “I’d better cover myself by doing works.” Do you see the danger? You cannot cover yourself. This is idol-worship. You are elevating yourself to co-savior with Christ. You are insulting the Spirit of grace by trying to pay for what God has already given you. This is why sermons that put the emphasis on you and your performance are dangerous. Don’t buy into any message that purports to give you a list of keys or steps that will help you achieve/accomplish/appropriate what you already have. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and the sweat of men to take away sins and it is faithless to strive for what you already have (every good thing!).

According to Hebrews there are only two kinds of people; those who don’t enter because of their unbelief and those who believe and are saved. Sin is not the variable; faith is. Where does faith come from? Jesus! He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2). Fix your eyes on Him.
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Related posts:
- Acts 21:17-26
- What happens to unfruitful branches?
- Do NIV readers have a sinful nature?

Your answer to this question defines your One Big Truth. Your One Big Truth is the truth you cling to when all is lost. It’s the backbone that helps you stand and the keel that keeps you on course. It’s the spark in your imagination, the drive in your engine, and the peace in your sleep.

Do you have a One Big Truth?

Perhaps you’ve never thought about this before. Then consider Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle. Puddleglum is one of my favorite characters from the Chronicles of Narnia. He is grim, gloomy, and famously pessimistic: “There’s one good thing about being trapped down here – it’ll save funeral expenses.” But he’s a good wiggle in a storm. If you’ve read The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, you will know what I’m talking about.

Puddleglum’s conviction

Near the end of the story, Puddleglum and his friends Jill and Eustace find themselves trapped in the dark world of Underland. Using incense and lies, an evil enchantress tries to convince them that the world they’re looking for does not exist. Narnia is nothing but a make-believe world and Aslan a foolish dream. Jill and Eustace are bewitched but Puddleglum breaks the spell with a bold declaration:

Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up all those things… Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one… That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.

Puddleglum’s One Big Truth was that Aslan and Narnia were more real than the world he could see with his eyes. Acting on his conviction, Puddleglum refuted the witch’s lies, stomped on her fire, and saved the day.

As Puddleglum so brilliantly shows us, your One Big Truth is an undimmable light in a dark world. It’s an unbreakable bridge between where you are and where you are going. If Puddleglum had not been so sure of his One Big Truth, then all would’ve been lost. It is unlikely that he and his friends would have escaped the realm of Underland.

So what is your One Big Truth? What is your central belief? In my travels I have encountered several beliefs that people have adopted as their Big Truths. Here are four:

-    obedience – the most important thing is to obey God no matter what; He demands it
-    attitude – the most important thing is to make a good effort; God knows our hearts
-    sacrifice – the most important thing is give God our best; He has already given us so much
-    fruit – the most important thing is to bear much fruit proving ourselves to be His disciples

I suppose these are fine but they are not my One Big Truth. The difficulty I have with these is that all of them rely on me – my obedience, my attitude, my sacrifice, and my fruit-bearing – and I just don’t have that much faith in me. Like Puddleglum, my faith is in another. My backbone comes from Someone else.

What do you want to pass on to your kids?

Lately I’ve been asking myself, what is the one supreme lesson that I want my kids to learn from me? In other words, what is my One Big Truth? I’ll give you my answer in a minute but before I do, why don’t you pause and ask yourself that question. What is the single greatest insight that you would impart to those who come after you?

Have you got something?

Okay, here’s my One Big Truth: God loves us with an unfailing love. This is simply mind-blowing to me. Every form of love that you and I will experience in this world is failing love – it breaks, it wounds, it disappoints, and eventually it dies. I don’t mean to sound jaded – I’m not – but human love is inherently brittle. We were not designed to live off it.

But God’s love never, ever fails. Not ever! What does that mean? Jeremiah said His is an everlasting love (Jer 31:3). It doesn’t wear out or die. Paul said His love surpasses knowing (Eph 3:19). Your mind simply cannot grasp the extravagant magnitude of His love for you. Paul also said His love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. This is the honest-to-God truth. God doesn’t love you with human love. He loves you with an unconditional and unfailing love (1 Cor 13:7). I guarantee you that you’ve never seen its like anywhere else!

God will never make you jump through hoops to earn His love. He won’t love you any more if you succeed and He won’t love you any less if you fail. If you lead millions to Christ or none at all He’ll love you just the same. He loved you into existence and He loved you while you were dead in sin (Rm 5:8). His love for you is unaffected by your obedience, your attitude, your sacrifices and your fruit. He loves you because He is love. But as awesome as God’s love is, it will have no effect on you unless you know it. It is knowing and being convinced about the truth that sets you free.

Knowing the Father’s love

Think of the Prodigal Son. His father loved him the same at the beginning of the story as at the end. His love was without shadow or qualification. But the Prodigal didn’t know his father’s love until he was embraced. I am sure the father wanted to hug his son every day but the son wasn’t interested. In fact, the son wished his father was dead so he could get his hands on the old man’s money. Later he returned home because he thought he could earn favor by serving. Happily, he learned that the Father’s love is not for sale.

It was the same with the older brother. He didn’t know his father’s love. His one big truth was based on his obedience: “All these years I have been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.” If the younger brother was a rebel, then the older brother was a religious man. The father loved both of his sons but neither knew it.

Jesus once said to the Pharisees, “I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts” (Joh 5:42). Those who preach religious duty and obligation are unacquainted with the unfailing love of God. This is why they portray His love as brittle and conditional – they’re preaching what they know. If you listen to the lies of religion, then you will never know the unfailing and unconditional love of God. Religion cannot give you what religion does not have.

I hope that my kids turn out to be nothing like the Prodigal and his brother. But if they were to stray and end up in the pig pen, or worse, a works-based church(!), the one thing I hope they would remember above all else is that God loves them with an unfailing love. Religion would tell them that God is standing with crossed arms, but Grace declares His arms are always open. Religion says God is angry and maybe hates you, but Grace proclaims He is always in a good mood and His favor is on you. Religion says you need to get yourself sorted out and cleaned up before you can come home, but Grace shouts, “Come as you are!”

I can’t prepare my children for every possible lie and snare that this world might throw at them. Who knows what evil enchantress lies waiting around the corner? But if they know the unfailing love of their heavenly Father – if they know that Almighty God is for them – it won’t matter who comes against them.
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Related posts:
- Is God’s love unconditional?
- Grace and love in the Chronicles of Narnia
- Forsaking your first love: What was the Ephesians’ problem?

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. (Rm 7:15)

We’ve all been there. But before you pat yourself on the back and say, that’s how I used to be, before I met Christ, let me ask you this: Is Paul describing his old life as a sinner or is he describing struggles he’s faced as a believer? This question divides opinion but my view is that he is describing anyone who is walking after the flesh. In other words, his message is relevant for everyone.

Walking after the flesh

Walking after the flesh is what you do when you attempt to get your needs met independently of God. It’s leaning on your own understanding, relying on your own strength, and drawing from your own resources. Sinners do this routinely but Christians can act this way as well. In either case, the results are disastrous (Rms 8:13). Live solely on the basis of your own will-power and understanding and you will sow death into your relationships, your ministry, your finances, even your health:

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Pro 14:12)

“But Paul, doesn’t Romans 8:9 say, ‘you are not in the flesh but in the spirit’?” It does. But there’s a difference between being in the flesh and walking after the flesh. When Paul says, “we were in the flesh” (Rm 7:5), he is referring to our state before we were born again. We were in the flesh but now we are in the spirit.

But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, (Rms 8:9a, NKJV).

We are not in the spirit because of the way we walk – flesh cannot give birth to spirit (Jn 6:6). But even though you are in the spirit you can still walk after the flesh. Even though you are in Christ, you can still act as though you were in Adam. Capiche?

So how do we know when we’re walking after the flesh? The New Testament is full of examples contrasting walking after the flesh (bad!) with walking after the spirit (good!). But sometimes what we need is a quick test to tell us whether we’re doing one or the other. Romans 7 provides just such a test.

The flesh test

“Am I walking after the flesh, yes or no?” In Romans 7, Paul shows that your answer to that question may be found by asking this pair of questions:

1.    Am I doing what I hate to do?
2.    Is this making me wretched and miserable?

If your answer to both of these questions is “yes,” then you’re walking after the flesh. The problem may not be what you’re doing so much as how you’re doing it. If you’re acting on the basis of your own might – your own resolve, understanding, and strength – then you’re walking after the flesh and God will have nothing to do with it. In Paul’s case he was trying to reform his sinful behavior by keeping the law. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he ended up doing the very thing that he hated. Doing what you don’t want to do is, for the Christian, a classic symptom of walking after the flesh:

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (Gal 5:17, NKJV)

Okay, so what about the sinner? Does Paul’s flesh test apply to him as well? I believe it does because anyone who tries to get their needs met apart from God will, from time to time, feel wretched and miserable. Why? Because God made us that way. He created us with a whole bunch of needs so that we would look to Him to fulfill those needs. We weren’t designed to live independently of Him. When we do we can experience intense frustration and heartache. On the surface we may think we’re hurting because someone let us down or things didn’t turn out as expected. But the reality is we’re feeling like that because we were looking to someone or something other than God to get our needs met. We don’t live on the basis of our feelings, but if you’re feeling wretched then your flesh may be trying to tell you something. Your flesh test may be giving you a positive result. That’s good, for it’s doing exactly what it was designed to do!

Wretchedness and frustration are symptoms of walking after the flesh. You will not experience these feelings when you are walking after the spirit. I’m not saying everything’s going to come up roses. I am saying if you are able to stay focused on Jesus, then even in the face of hardship you will experience peace such as the world does not know:

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Rms 8:6, NKJV)

I got a positive test result – now what?

Okay, so you’ve taken the flesh test and discovered that, “Yes, even though I’m in the spirit I’m walking after the flesh. I’m trying to make something happen, it’s not happening, and I’m miserable. Now what?”  Well the answer to that question is not a What but a Who, as we will see in the coming posts. But let me leave you with a quick suggestion by telling you what I am learning to do when I get a positive flesh test result: I go and lie down.

Lying down is not something I like to do. My flesh was built to be driven hard and I think sleeping is a waste of time. However, I often push myself too hard and this can lead to suffering and wretchedness. But by the grace of God I am learning. And one of the things I am discovering about myself is that I am less susceptible to the distractions of the flesh, and more in tune with the spirit, when I am horizontal.

Just this week, for example, I was banging my head against the wall and feeling frustrated about a project that was not turning out the way it was supposed to. Work harder, screamed my brain. I did, but to no avail. “I hate this,” said I. “It’s making me miserable.” Then revelation came. “Aha! I’m walking after the flesh. I’m trying to make something happen.” I immediately stopped. I pushed back from the desk and went and lay down on the rug in my office. (Believe me, this is hard for me!) Then I prayed a deep theological prayer that went like this: “Lord, I give up. I give up trying to make this happen. I give up leaning on my ability. This is not even my problem anymore – it’s Yours! Do whatever seems good to You.”

You have to understand that there was nothing wrong with what I was doing. But when you’re walking after the flesh even doing good can be bad for you. So I quit trying to make it happen and as soon as I did freedom came. My mind was instantly filled with life and peace and inspiration and creativity and solutions I had never dreamed of.

No cordless Christians

“Oh, so you were just recharging your batteries then.” Absolutely not! We don’t run on batteries and there are no cordless Christians! Christ is our life (Col 3:4). I was being transformed by the renewing of my mind. I was saying no to the flesh and yes to the spirit (Rm 8:5). I was setting my mind on things above and fixing my eyes back on Jesus. On this occasion He gave me a solution to my problem; on another occasion He might’ve suggested I drop the project and go play with the kids. Or He might’ve suggested something completely different. In any case I would’ve found life and peace by trusting Him.

If you’ve been feeling frustrated with the way things are turning out, then recognize the death-dealing work of the flesh. The best thing you can do is “put off” whatever it is that you’re doing and fix your eyes back on Jesus. You got distracted there for a bit but thank God for that wonderful flesh test of Romans 7 that has brought you back to your senses and back to Christ who is your life.
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- How to walk after the flesh in 20 easy lessons
- Are you religious? Take the test!
- John 15:6 – Abiding in the vine

But you know what? God is not only the Lord of your present and future, He is also the Lord of your past. When you were born again, He gave you a brand new life complete with a brand new past. How about that! You have a completely new history! And it begins at the cross:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20a)

In our last post we asked the question, What happened to me at the cross? The short answer is, You died! This is one of the most important things that ever happened to you, yet many Christians are ignorant of it! Just once I would like to hear a believer testify about their past like this: I was born, I did some stuff, then I died. I was crucified with Christ and that old self no longer lives. That’s basically what Paul was saying in Galatians 2. He also said that the basis of our new life with Him is supposed to be a revelation that we died with Him:

“This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him.” (2 Tim 2:11)

Do you want to live, and I mean, really live, with Him? Then you need to know the answer to three questions: (1) What did I lose at the cross? (2) What did I gain at the cross? (3) What did I retain after the cross?

1. What did I lose at the cross?

At the cross your old self was crucified (Rms 6:6). The person you used to be apart from God – your “old man” – is dead so there’s no point trying to reform him. If your old man gave you a bitter and painful past, then go dance on his grave because he’s gone and he’s not coming back! Do you know what else is gone? All your sin (Ps 103:12). Sin had a death grip on you but Christ cut him loose (Col 2:11). You may still be wrestling with some old habits, but you do so from a place of freedom (Gal 5:1). You are no longer sin’s slave (Rm 6:6).

Your natural inability to please God has also gone (Rm 8:8), as is any relationship you might have had with the law (Rm 7:6). God is pleased with you on account of Jesus so you can say goodbye to guilt and condemnation. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rm 8:1). Rejection is also gone and if you can wrap your mind around the awesome love revealed to you through the cross, then you will find all fear of punishment has gone as well (1 Jn 4:18).

Finally, the world as you knew it is no more (Gal 6:14). Your old sources of identity and security have been replaced with something infinitely better. Any performance anxiety you may have about the future will go when you realize that you are in Him and He has already overcome the world (Jn 16:33, Rev 3:5).

2. What did I gain after the cross?

At the cross, and before you did a single thing, you received peace with God and complete forgiveness (2 Cor 5:19, Col 2:13). When you were placed in Jesus, you gained His acceptance (Eph 1:6), His righteousness (Rms 1:17), His holiness (1 Cor 1:3), indeed, His eternal perfection (Heb 10:4). You don’t act holy to become holy; you act holy because in Him you are holy. Isn’t that wonderful? But wait – it gets better!

As a result of the cross He gave you His life: Christ is your life (Col 3:4). You now stand on His faith (Gal 2:20), are filled with His Spirit (Rom 8:11), and think the thoughts of His mind (1 Cor 2:16). When you were born again you were made into a brand new creature (2 Cor 5:17). As He is so are you in this world (1 Jn 4:17). So obviously you do not have a sinful nature. You are not one person on Sunday and another on Monday. Sure, you can still walk after the flesh and reap corruption, but you are not defined by what you do. And when you do sin, you have a mighty Advocate who speaks to the Father on your behalf (1 Jn 2:1).

But here’s the thing; you no longer want to sin. Because of the cross you have new desires and new aspirations. You used to be driven by the flesh but now you are led by the spirit (Gal 5:18). You used to work to prove yourself but now you are compelled by the love of Christ (2 Cor 5:14). Strangely, you are both more rested and more fruitful than you have ever been before.

Best of all, you gained a new Father (1 Jn 3:1) and now enjoy the full rights of sonship (Gal 3:26). Before the cross you feared God from a distance, but now you approach His throne of grace with confidence (Heb 4:16). Before the cross you were a beggar living off scraps from the king’s table. But because of the cross your every need – whether for healing, deliverance, or provision – has been supplied according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Php 4:19). You are now an ambassador and a royal priest of the Most High King (1 Pet 2:9). And as His representative you have His authority over sickness and demons. You shall lay hands on the sick and they will recover.

3. What did I retain after the cross?

As we have seen, you lost a lot and gained a lot at the cross. But on the day that you were born again, there were two things that you retained unchanged. First, your physical body did not change. You may have been healed, but your body is still subject to the effects of the fall. Although you personally were saved, your earthsuit is still getting older one year at a time. We are still waiting eagerly for “the redemption of our bodies” (Rm 8:23).

Second, beyond repenting and deciding to trust Jesus with your life, your way of thinking probably did not change. If you liked chocolate and drove badly before you were saved, then you probably liked chocolate and drove badly after you were saved.

The beginning of your new story

God’s intention was for you to reign in this life (Rms 5:17). His plan is for you to be the head and not the tail, to be on top of your circumstances and not under them. However, this will not be your experience, either now or in the future, until you appreciate what God has done in your past. Every believer knows what happened to Jesus on the cross, but not every believer knows what happened to them. Because of this they’re striving to become someone they already are and they’re fighting to obtain something they already have. They pray like beggars instead of commanders and they see themselves as servants instead of sons.

The instant you were born again, God did an amazing work in your life. He gave you a glorious new past and a completely new life. He changed just about everything there is to change about you. But one thing God left unchanged was your mind, your way of thinking. Only you can change that.

Given that there is one part of you that did not change at the cross, what do you think is the key to living the victorious life that God wants you to live? That’s right, you need to change the way you think,

“and be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph 4:23)

Our thought patterns are shaped by our past. So which past are you identifying with? Your old man history or your new man history? Everything we need pertaining to life and godliness comes through our knowledge of Him who called us (2 Pet 1:13). If you want to see breakthrough in your life, look to Jesus, look to the cross, and change the way you think:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Rm 12:2a)

Now repeat after me: “On the cross I died and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” This is the glorious beginning of your new story!
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Related posts:
- Who do you think you are?
- Son or sinner: What are you confessing?
- Want to be a transparent Christian? Then reveal what’s really inside

Lifetime Guarantee

Many Christians struggle to live the Christian life. They want to do the right thing; they try to do the right thing; yet they often fail to do what they want to do. When the frustration builds they snap and do things they later regret. They have no idea how to fix this sad state of affairs beyond trying harder next time. But no matter how hard they try, they will fail again. Why? Because the Christian life, according to Bill Gillham, is not difficult to live – it’s impossible to live! Only one Person has lived the Christian life perfectly and it wasn’t you. But the good news is that He lives in you and He is your victory in all those areas where you’re failing.

For years we Christians have been told there’s a civil war going on inside – the bad me versus the good me, the sinful nature versus the new nature. This is simply not true according to the Bible. You had a sinful nature but it’s gone:

“In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ…” (Col 2:11)

If you still had a sin nature, you wouldn’t be distressed when you sin. But you are. You do the thing you don’t want to do and it makes you miserable. This regret is actually an encouraging sign for it’s one proof of your new Christ-like nature. It’s not your old man come back from the dead that’s making you miserable; it’s sin. Don’t identify with it. It’s not you. “It is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me” (Rm 7:17). Recall that when Paul writes about sin in Romans 5-8, he’s describing sin as a noun, not a verb. Think of sin as an enemy agent “crouching at your door desiring to have you” (Gen 4:7).

Some people will tell you that we’re in a battle with ourselves. But the Bible says my old man has been crucified with Christ and I am a new creation. Now I’m collaborating with the Holy Spirit in a fight against sin. As Gillham says, “It’s God and me against him.”

However, this is a fight that we will lose whenever we engage with our flesh. You’re born of the Spirit but you can still walk after the flesh. What is “the flesh”? It’s a way of living that says, “I can get my needs met outside of Christ.” In a word, it’s independence. It’s a mindset that says, “I can do it, I can fix things, I can make it happen.” Plenty of Christians are living exactly like this. Their motives are sincere – they’re trying to do the right thing – but they’re stuck in Romans 7. “What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” The problem is I’m the one trying to do what I can’t do. So many think this is cycle of trying and failing and rededicating your life to God and resolving to do better next time is normal but it’s not. It’s abnormal. It’s carnal Christianity dressed up with the respectable rags of religion.

Are you trying or trusting?

To summarize, many Christians are skewered on two problems; (1) they think they’re in a ceaseless conflict with their old selves (even though the Bible says that our old self has been crucified with Christ – Rms 6:6), and (2) they’re fighting with carnal weapons of will-power and resolve. You could not find a better example of walking after the flesh than this!

Let me give you an example of how this plays out in everyday life from Gillham’s book. Put yourself in that car outside the post office with the pretty girl walking past. What do you do? If you’re a red-blooded male with macho flesh, you’re going to be tempted to seduce that woman to bolster your need to feel manly. That’s temptation but it’s not what you actually desire. You’re happily married and you want to stay that way! Plus, as a Christian you have a desire to live holy. So your desire and the temptation in front of you are at odds with each other. All clear so far?

But notice how that temptation is received in your mind. Sin will speak to you using words like “I” and “me” to deceive you into thinking that his thoughts are your thoughts. Sin will say, Man, oh man, she’s hot and I’d like to get close to her. It sounds like your idea but it’s not. It is sin’s idea. The idea originated with sin, not you. Now if you respond with your flesh and you have weak flesh, then you’re going to feel powerless. You might find yourself doing the very thing you don’t want to do and you’ll end up wretched and miserable. Conversely, if you respond with your flesh and you have strong flesh, you’re going to resist the temptation and feel real good about yourself for doing so. Do you see the problem? Weak flesh will lead to guilt and condemnation; strong flesh will lead to religious pride. Either way, you lose.

We have this idea that if we do the wrong thing, we’ve sinned, but if we do the right thing, we’ve beaten sin. But sin doesn’t care what you do; sin just wants you to engage with your flesh. Sin wants you to lean on your own understanding and trust in your own resources instead of His. Adam ate the fruit because he thought it was good (Gen 3:6). He thought he was doing a good thing, but it was a carnal act that led to spiritual, and eventually physical, death.

So how do we respond to temptation? Victory is found in appropriating your true identity in Christ. When sin makes his suggestion, you respond like this. “No! I’m dead to that. That is not my thought. It’s true that I have sexual needs, but I trust you Lord to take care of that for me. That’s your problem, not mine.” Do you see what we just did? We refused to take ownership of an idea that originated from sin and we refused to tackle the problem in our own strength.

You’re dead to sin, so act like it

Since sin is always looking to get a reaction out of you, the best reaction is to play dead. Here’s Gillham:

“How does a dead man response when you try to stimulate him? He doesn’t! He just sits there!… This is a faith (belief) position taken by the mind and will. God said that I am dead to sin but alive to God in Christ (see Romans 6:11-13), so I will choose to act as if I’m dead to sin by acting as though Christ is living through me in this situation… ‘Gee, Lord, those are interesting bricks on the post office. I wonder how many there are under each window? Yes, there are seven. Isn’t that interesting.’” (p.109)

Now you may be wondering, isn’t this a little hypocritical, to act contrary to how I feel? Isn’t this dishonest? Well that depends on your definition of hypocrisy. Here’s Gillham again:

God’s definition of a hypocrite: Pretending to be what you are not.
Satan’s definition of a hypocrite: Acting contrary to how you feel. (p.135)

Satan will always try to get you to act on the basis of your flesh – your emotions, your feelings, your own understanding of things. He will try to tell you that what you feel is real. He would have you believe that if you act contrary to what you feel is right, you’re being dishonest and hypocritical. But this is pure flesh! We don’t determine truth by what we feel but by what God says. And He says you’re a new creation, holy and blameless. He says Christ is in you and you’re in Him. So when you act dead to sin and alive to Christ, you’re not pretending at all. You may feel like a phony, but you’re actually starting to walk by faith in your true identity:

“Now, what if you would simply act (by faith) as if Christ were expressing His life through your personality and earthsuit to bypass the flesh and speak loving, encouraging, tender words to your wife and children. What if you act (by faith) as if Christ were using your arms to reach out in love by giving them a hug or pat on the back? You would be acting as if Christ actually were your life. You would be acting like something is true that is true, wouldn’t you?” (p.136)

“Believing in Jesus” is not merely an intellectual acknowledgement of His Lordship. It is our daily occupation. It is living as if He will supply all of our needs because He said He would. It means we stop playing the angles. We stop looking to make things happen. We stop keeping score. And we begin to believe and act as though we are safe with Him because it’s true. As Gillham says, peace is not a feeling but a knowing –

“- knowing that the Father has everything under control; that you are in Christ, seated in heaven, resting; and that He is in you now, living.” (p.172-3)

There are plenty of books out there that tell you what living under grace means, but Lifetime Guarantee teaches you how to do it. This book, which I suspect has spawned countless grace ministries, is one of the best books you’ll ever read on how to make the Christian life work.
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Related posts:
- How to walk after the flesh in 20 easy lessons
- What happens to unfruitful branches?
- see all E2R’s book reviews here

What does it mean to abide in the vine? You need to have a good answer to that question because Jesus warned that there are consequences for not abiding in the vine. He also said that those who do abide in the vine will bear much fruit:

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” (Jn 15:4)

Many people interpret the words of Jesus as carrots and sticks. They think, if I fail to abide I will be cast out and burned, but if I do abide I will bear much fruit, so I’d better start bearing fruit. Read it like this and Jesus’ words will become a law for you: produce or perish! And that’s going to be a problem because the fruit Jesus is looking for you can’t produce. Apart from Him the only thing you can produce is Frankenfruit!

In this short series on the commands of Jesus, we have seen that Jesus expects us to do impossible things, namely, He expects us to do the same works He did and greater works still. Happily, He has promised that we will do these impossible things because He is in us and we are branches to His vine. Unfruitful branches are not chopped off, but are lifted up out of the dirt. This lifting up and the bearing of fruit in us is something that He does. So far, so good.

But what does it mean to abide or remain in Him? That sounds as if Jesus is putting conditions on us. It sounds like He is saying, you have to do something otherwise you’ll be tossed and burned. But what is the something we must do? I guarantee you that any list of somethings that man comes up with will include keep short accounts with God or confess your sins. This is a classic example of watering down scripture to accommodate human shortcomings. You want something to do? Try this:

“Whoever abides in Him does not sin.” (1 Jn 3:6, NKJV)

What does God expect of those who abide in Him? Zero sin! Yet many people believe, “whoever abides in Him may sin occasionally – after all, we’re only human – but as long as we quickly confess our sin God will be faithful and just and forgive us our sin.” Well God is faithful and just but you can’t use His goodness to wriggle out of 1 John 3:6. You can’t lower His standards to accommodate your less-than-perfect performance.

A line in the sand

I occasionally get emails from people who are opposed to the gospel of grace. They say we must do everything in the Bible or at least everything that Jesus says. Well Jesus said, “be perfect” (Mt 5:8) – how’s that working out for you? I might just as easily respond with the words of John:

“No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” (1 Jn 3:6, NIV)

I love this! This verse deals life to those who trust Jesus and utter condemnation to those who don’t. It draws a big fat line in the sand and shouts, “Choose your Savior!” To those who are trusting in their own good behavior this verse declares, “Your best is not good enough. God expects sinless perfection.” Either you must be perfect or you must put your faith in a perfect, representative. Guess who! Jesus is our perfect High Priest (Heb 7:28)! We stand on His sinless performance, not our own.

A promise, not a condition

Jesus told the disciples, you are in me (our imperfections are hidden in His perfection) and I am in you (we carry His sinless DNA). Jesus didn’t sin and He won’t ever sin. If you let Him live His life through you, then without any conscious effort on your part you’re going to start talking and acting just like sinless Jesus. This is a glorious promise for all who believe:

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 Jn 3:9)

So what does it mean to abide in the vine? Here’s the answer we’ve all been waiting for…

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” (1 Jn 4:15)

Have you confessed that Jesus is the Son of God? Then God abides in you and you in Him. You may wonder, But how did this happen? All I did was confess. Well you could not have believed and confessed Jesus as Lord unless the Holy Spirit had led you to do so (1 Cor 12:3). The work and the glory are all His. Rest in that!

The trouble is, you can’t rest because somewhere inside there is a little voice that’s asking, Can I abide today and not abide tomorrow? Can I be in the vine one moment and cut off the next? Why would Jesus tell his disciples to abide if there wasn’t any danger of not abiding?

The problem, as usual, is found between our ears. Most of us have grown up with a slave mentality that says our value is determined by what we do. This was certainly true of the disciples who had been born and bred under the law. They were conditioned to think in terms of their performance. This works mindset is also evident in some of our English translations:

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” (Jn 15:4, NIV)

Again, that sounds like a condition. It sounds like Jesus is saying, if your abiding performance is up to scratch, then I will reward you by abiding as well. But it is not a condition to make us sweat; it is a promise to make us rest. In John 15 Jesus goes to great lengths to counter the law-mentality of the disciples. He does this by hitting them with promise after promise:

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” (Jn 15:9)

How does the Father love Jesus? Ask yourself this question: How many miracles or works had Jesus done when the Father declared from heaven, “this is my beloved Son?” None! The Father loves Jesus unconditionally, without any reference to His performance or fruit. That means that Jesus loves us unconditionally! He wants us to rest in His unconditional love.

You’re free? Be free!

Just to recap – if you think abiding is something we must do, then understand that the evidence of abiding is zero sin. This is humanly impossible. The only logical response to the command “abide!” is to trust in Jesus and His performance and quit trying to impress Him with yours. The word “abide” connotes “rest” and “surrender,” not “struggle” and “try harder.”

Trust God, the abiding issue is all settled from His side. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him.” But it may not be settled from your side. You may still be struggling with that old servant mentality. Instead of rest there is insecurity. Instead of joy there is anxiety. Am I in? Can I be cut off? If this is you, let Jesus speak to your insecurity:

“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (Jn 8:34-36)

The reality is, you are free indeed because Jesus has set you free. The reality is, you are abiding in the vine because you have confessed Him as Lord. But you may not be experiencing that reality. You may feel like you’re not free or you’re not abiding. Although you are a son with a permanent place in the family, you may still think and act like the slave that you used to be. There’s only one solution: renew your mind! Stop living by feelings and start walking by faith. You are abiding in fact, so start abiding in practice.

When Jesus said, “anyone who does not abide in Me is cast out as a branch, withers, and is thrown into the fire,” He was not referring to fruitless Christians. (They are lifted up.) He was describing those who refuse to believe to that He is the Son of God. He was describing those who are looking for life outside of the true vine. If you have confessed Jesus as your Lord, then walk in that the truth: You are free, God Himself abides in you, and as a son or daughter you have a permanent place in His family. Thank you Jesus!
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Related posts:
- John 14:15 – The commands of Jesus
- What happens to unfruitful branches
- James 2:24

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever.” (Jn 14:16)

Who is the Helper? He’s the Holy Spirit, the One who empowers us to show and tell the gospel of the kingdom (Rms 15:19). (Note that the Holy Spirit doesn’t come and go. Jesus said He will “be with you forever”!) Jesus then tells the disciples that on the day that the Holy Spirit is given,

“… you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (Jn 14:20)

This is the most awesome, incredible thing in the world! This is the mystery that Paul sought to make known to the Gentiles – Christ is in you! And you’re in Him! Do you need a picture to help you see this? Then look at the picture on the right…

Jesus said He is the true vine and we are the branches. Look at the picture and draw a mental circle around the vine. Do you see any branches that are not part of the vine? The vine is bigger than any branch but there’s no branch that is not also vine. Touch any branch and you are touching the vine. This is how Hudson Taylor describes it:

“Here, I feel, is the secret: not asking how I am to get sap out of the Vine into myself, but remembering that Jesus is the Vine – the root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit all indeed… I have not got to make myself a branch. The Lord Jesus tells me I am a branch. I am part of him and I have just to believe it and act upon it.” (Quoted in The Normal Christian Life, pp.56-7)

Now Jesus knows that you can’t bear fruit – “no branch can bear fruit by itself” (Jn 15:4) – but He plans to bear His fruit through us. What’s our part in this? He wants us to abide in Him, which means to dwell or stay put. It means don’t run off and try to do your own thing in your own strength. What’s His part? He plans to live His life through us and go on healing the sick and delivering the oppressed and doing all the other heaven-on-earth things He did when He was here in the flesh (Mk 16:17-18).

Are you a branch with no fruit?

What happens to unfruitful branches? Jesus said the branches that don’t bear fruit are “lifted up” (Jn 15:2). They are not cut off – that is a bad translation that would’ve made no sense to a Mediterranean listener! A viticulturalist would never throw away a branch for that would be like amputating part of the vine. (If you’re thinking of suckers, see my note in the comments below.) Unfruitful branches are lifted out of the dirt and re-dressed so they can be nourished by the sun. Sticking with that metaphor, the reason why some Christians are barren is that they’re facedown in the dirt and not looking at the Son. They’re busy, distracted, stressed, and have wandered from their protos agape, their primary love. When believers lose sight of Christ’s love they tend to become religious, just like the Ephesians. The next thing you know, they’re thinking that they have do stuff like obey His commandments to prove their love or earn His.

What is the remedy for unfruitful branches? God is. He is the Gardener who does the lifting up. He is not there to slash and burn but to prune and lift. As you begin to bear fruit it will be for His glory, not yours. If you’ve been distracted doing the dead works of religion, just stop and come back to your first love which is His love. His love is like food for us. We are energized by it. I might tell myself that I am writing these posts because of my love for Him, but in truth, it’s His love for me that compels me to tell others the good news. I would not love Him except that He has first loved me (1 Jn 4:19).

God believes in you!

When Jesus said, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments,” He was not making a threat but a promise! He was saying, “If you love me you will do the works and greater works that I have done because I’m the one who’s going to do them through you. Trust me! Believe in me! Abide in me!” Why does Jesus say we will do greater works? Because 2000 years ago there was only one Christ, but now there are millions of Little Christs. Back then He was just a tender shoot (Is 53:2), but now He’s a mighty vine with branches reaching into every place.  Back then God lived in just one man, but now He lives in millions of men, women and children all around the world and He wants out! What are the greater works? They are the works of Jesus done millions of times over, every day, all over the world by ordinary branches like you and me.

Aren’t you amazed that God operates this way – through people? It’s like God is saying, “I believe in you. I have confidence that you will come to rest in my love and allow me to reveal myself to you and through you.” Carnal religion says it’s all about you and your faith so you’d better perform, but the gospel of grace declares it’s about Him and His faith so rest! Paul understood this which is why he said, “the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me” (Gal 2:20).

Branches can not bear fruit but vines can and do so naturally, without any effort. As a branch you carry the nature of the True Vine in you and He will bear His fruit through you. He promised! Do you believe Him?

At this point you probably want me to tell you what to do. “What’s the takeaway? What must I do?” We Christians are so hung up on working for God that we don’t know what to do with Jesus when He says, “just abide!” Okay, here’s something you can do. Write this down. The next time you’re faced with a problem or trial, take a moment to let Jesus love on you. Allow the Lifter of your head to turn your gaze from the dirt back to Himself and then bask in His love. He is already shining on you. He has already been gracious to you and blessed you and given you His peace. Receive it!

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” (Jn 15:9)

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Related posts:
- Fear and trembling
- John 15:6 – Abiding in the Vine
- Incomplete deeds: The zombie church of Sardis (Rev 3:1-6)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14:15)

A legalist reads this backwards: “You will keep my commandments if you love me.” In other words, we must prove our love for God by doing what He commands. Commandment-keeping is our duty, a condition we must meet if we are to enjoy His love. But someone who is walking in grace reads it just as Jesus said it. He understands that keeping His commands is a by-product of love.  Paul explains this in Romans 8:3-4, but let me give you an everyday example inspired by something I read from Steve McVey.

Here in New Zealand we have a big problem with domestic violence. Consequently, there are many laws governing the responsibilities of fathers. Break any of these laws and you might go to jail or have your kids taken away. It’s a serious business. But to be honest, I couldn’t tell you what these laws are. I’ve never read them. Yet I can confidently declare that I am keeping every one of these laws. How do I know? Because I love my kids. I don’t keep the laws to show the authorities that I love my kids and I don’t relate to my children on the basis of these laws. I relate to them on the basis of love and keeping the laws of the land flows naturally from that love relationship. I know the laws serve a good purpose, but they weren’t written for me. They were written for fathers who don’t love their kids.

Similarly, the laws found in the Bible were not written for those who love Jesus (1 Tim 1:9). Contrary to what the legalist may tell you, keeping the laws to earn what He freely offers is a surefire sign that you don’t know the love of God. A legalist reads the words of Jesus above and sees a threat. Do the commandments or else! But love makes no threats. Jesus is returning for a bride and it won’t be a shotgun wedding.

What are the commands of Jesus?

The next time someone tells you that you must keep the commands of Jesus to prove your love, ask them, “what are the commands of Jesus?” They will probably respond with the greatest commandment which is, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul” (Mt 22:38). This is fine, I guess. But if you insert that command into the phrase above it becomes, “If you love me, you will love me with all your heart, mind and soul,” which is kind of redundant.

If you read John 14:15 in context, you will see that on this occasion Jesus is referring to two specific commands. Here’s the first:

“A new command I give you: Love one another….” (Jn 13:34)

And here’s the second:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me… Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves” (Jn 14:1,11)

How can we be certain that these are His commandments? Because John – who was there when Jesus spoke these words – says so in one of his letters:

“And this is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.” (1 Jn 3:23)

What does it mean to keep His commands?

Lest we dilute His commandments to accommodate our experience, Jesus outlines His expectations of obedience for both. Here’s what He expects from the first:

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (Jn 13:34)

How did Jesus love us? By laying down His life for us (Jn 15:3). That’s a high standard of love! Indeed, there is no greater love. And what are His expectations regarding the second commandment:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these…” (Jn 14:12)

Believe in Jesus and you will do the works of Jesus. Put it altogether and Jesus is saying this:

“If you love me, you will love one another as I have loved you and your faith in me will lead to miracles like I have been doing and greater miracles still.”

If you’ve been in any church for at least five years, you will know that Jesus’ first commandment is pretty much humanly impossible to keep, while the second commandment is definitely impossible. So the next time someone tries to lay a heavy burden on you by telling you that you must keep Jesus’ commandments to earn God’s love, just ask them how many people they’ve raised from the dead! When they look puzzled, tell them that Jesus commanded us to believe in Him and He said that those who did would do the same works He did and greater works besides!

Now that we begin to understand what Jesus wasn’t saying – He wasn’t saying that we need to keep His commandments to prove our love – we’re ready to dig deeper into what He was saying. That’s the subject of the next post. You won’t want to miss it. When you see what Jesus was promising His disciples and you, it’s going to blow you away! Maybe you’ve been intimidated by John 14:15 and the other new covenant laws. If so, prepare to be set free. When you get a hold of the words of Jesus you’re going to be so pumped that you’ll want to frame them and hang them on your wall. Stay tuned!
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Related posts:
- Chop off your hand?! Was Jesus serious?
- What makes Jesus sick? (Rev 3:16)
- John 15:6 – Abiding in the vine

That’s how it was for me with grace.

I knew people who looked into the Bible and saw radical grace but I didn’t. Sure, there were pockets of grace but there was a whole lot of other stuff as well. Then one day, revelation came and I saw Grace! He’s right there on every page and in every book! How can you miss Him? He’s huge! I now find myself reading old scriptures with new eyes and saying, “Look! This is speaking of Jesus! This is all about Him – I never saw this before.” Now that I’ve seen Him once I see Him everywhere. I was saved decades ago and I have always loved God with my whole heart. But when I got this revelation of His amazing grace, it was like being born again, again.

A friend recently asked me, “How well did you understand grace before you understood grace?” Here’s my answer: I thought I understood grace perfectly well. For as long as I can remember I’ve considered myself a testimony of His grace. But when Grace Himself came into focus, I was floored. I realized that I had barely understood grace at all. Looking back I can identify nine signs that showed I did not fully grasp the grace of God.

1. I understood that I was saved by grace but not that I was kept by grace

I had received Christ by faith and without doing a thing, but I was not continuing in Him by that same faith (Col 2:6). Although I would never have said it, I had taken out a little works insurance. Faith is a positive response to what God has done, but I liked to initiate things. And so my walk became “do, do, do,” rather than it’s “done, done, done.” There was no rest, only performance anxiety. There was always another meeting to lead, another plank of truth to teach, another stray sheep to gather. I thought this was normal. I could get excited about the idea of being saved and saving others, but I was not drawing from the wells of salvation with joy (Is 12:3). I was constantly stressed and I treated grace as grease for my engine.

2. I felt obliged to serve

Jesus had done everything for me, what would I do for Him? Of course I didn’t use the word “indebted” – that would’ve alerted me to the poverty of my theology – but much of what I did was motivated by a sense of obligation. I thus cheapened the exceeding riches of His grace (Eph 1:7) by trying to pay Him back for His priceless gift. Inevitably this shifted my focus from Him and His work to me and mine. Instead of being impressed by what He had done, I was trying to impress Him with what I was doing.

3. I motivated others using carrots and sticks

Because my own motives were screwed up it was inevitable that I would preach rewards and punishments to others. Do good, get good; do bad, get bad. At the same time as I was preaching against legalism I was putting people under law! My gospel was like an ash-tray – full of “buts”! God loves you but… Jesus died for you but…  God’s gifts always came with a price to pay. But grace is free – you either receive it or reject it but the moment you start charging for it, you’ve missed it. There’s only one motive in the kingdom and that is love. The Son of Man didn’t come to threaten us, judge us, or scare us, but to demonstrate love (Rm 5:8). I no longer believe that evangelism means scaring the hell out of people. The good news that the world needs to hear is that God is good and He loves us. The new covenant of grace is the formal expression of His unfailing love for us (Is 54:10).

4. I saw myself as a servant rather than a son

My identity was in the things I did rather than in my Father. I saw myself as working for God (a noble cause!) rather than doing the works of God. I would not have said I was justified by what I did for I knew that grace and works don’t mix (Rms 11:6). Yet I was mixing grace with works like there was no tomorrow! But here’s the strange thing. Even though I preached servanthood more than sonship, whenever there was a crisis I was quick to relate to Him as Papa. It was only when I was strong and healthy that I was seduced by the religious need to do something for God. Happily, there were many crises!

5. I kept asking God to provide things that He’s already provided

I knew enough about grace to approach Him boldly in my hour of need, but I didn’t know that He has already given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3). If someone was sick I would ask for healing when I should’ve just healed them (Mt 10:8). I would ask for more faith instead of living by the faith of the Son of God (Ga 2:20). Like the prodigal’s older brother I felt that God would bless me as I did my part. I didn’t realize that I was already blessed, deeply loved, and highly favored. In my ignorance I wasted a whole lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing. I thought I was being active and fruitful but in reality I was passive and faithless. God had already come but there I was face down asking Him to come again.

6. I was more sin-conscious than Christ-conscious

Like many Christians I was afraid of sin (keep it out of the camp!) and I was not known as a friend of sinners. I defined sin as bad works only and I taught that the solution to sin was repentance. I had read that the grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness (Tit 2:12), but I wasn’t quite sure how that worked. So when preaching against sin I used inferior incentives like fear and punishment that led, at best, to temporary, will-powered changes in behavior. I emphasized what people must do (repent!) more that what God has already done (forgiven us!). I kept the focus on us when it should’ve been on Him and my preaching was powerless as a result. If anyone failed to experience victory over sin, I just figured they were unacquainted with God’s transforming grace – even though I had given them none.

7. I always tried to do the right thing

Someone under grace says, “I trust Him from start to finish. He will lead me in the right path” (Ps 23:3). But in subtle ways I preferred rules to relationship. What I craved were clear Biblical guidelines for living. I thought I was choosing good, but then so did Adam. We both had an independent spirit that led us to eat from the wrong tree. I felt particularly good when people came to me for guidance. I thought I was giving them wisdom when really I should just have got out of the way and taught them to lean on Jesus (Jn 10:27).

8. I had a stronger relationship with the written word than with the Living Word

I did not read the scriptures to find Jesus (Lk 24:27) but to learn, what should I do? I read indiscriminately and was often confused by scriptures that seemed to contradict each other. My solution was to go for balance: A little of this, a little of that, for all scripture is profitable. But by failing to filter what I read through the finished work of the cross, I unwittingly poisoned myself. I was mixing the death-dealing words of the law with the life-giving words of grace. Although I was zealous for the Lord, in truth I was lukewarm. I was neither under the stone-cold reality of the law nor walking in the red-hot heat of His unconditional love and grace.

9. I knew I was righteous, but I didn’t feel righteous

When I stumbled I would more readily confess my sins to God than allow the Holy Spirit to remind me of the gift of His righteousness to me (Jn 16:10). I knew I was a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), but in many ways I acted and spoke as if I was merely an improved creation. I thought honesty about my struggles was the key to getting more grace. But I probably would not have struggled so much in the first place if I had just learned to see myself as God sees me – redeemed, righteous, and holy.

I am convinced that grace comes by revelation. If you don’t yet see it this post may sound like the ramblings of a man who is unbalanced. (Thank God I am! I’m done with balance!) If you do see Grace, then right now you will be resonating like a tuning fork. So let me finish with a few words for those of you in the first group. Please be patient with those of us who are leaping for joy. Don’t walk away from the Magic Eye picture scowling, “I can’t see it, there’s nothing there.” Just keep looking! Grace really is standing right there in front of you. And He’s huge!
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Related posts:

What’s So Amazing About Grace? must be one of the most popular books on grace. There are 244 reviews of this book on Amazon and another 612 reviews on Facebook. I have little desire to add to this mountain of generally positive, and richly deserved, feedback. But for the benefit of those of you who haven’t read Yancey’s book, here’s my brief summary:

What’s So Amazing about Grace? is a collection of stories about supernatural grace versus worldly ungrace. Stories are drawn from history (the Clapham Sect, Hitler) to events that were current at the time of writing (Bill Clinton and the Balkan crisis), and from classic fiction (Babette’s Feast, Les Miserables) to everyday family dramas. We learn about the founding of the modern hospice movement, Alcoholics Anonymous, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and Prison Fellowship. We get sound-bites from a diverse ensemble of characters ranging from the gracious (Solzhenitsyn, Mother Teresa) to the godless (Bertrand Russell, John Dillinger). It is such a colorful book that if they turned it into a series on the Discovery Channel it would be a winner! As you would expect in a book coming from an American evangelical writer there is a heavy emphasis on politics. But my favorite part is found in the final chapter, when Yancey writes about serving communion to the imperfect people in his church. This part inspired me to ask the question, who can take communion? So all in all, it’s a good book that succeeds in its goal of conveying grace. Read it and be blessed.

That said, I have three concerns with Yancey’s theology. I list these here not to criticize his work but to build upon it in the hope that we might advance towards our shared goal of seeing the church become a place where grace is found “on tap.” I wholeheartedly agree with Yancey when he says that a Christian’s main contribution to society is dispensing God’s grace. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do that.

1. Forgiveness doesn’t start with us

Yancey argues forcefully that the human race needs forgiveness if we are to break the chains of ungrace. But he over-steps when he says, “In some mysterious way, divine forgiveness depends on us” (p.88). The context of this comment is the Lord’s Prayer. In Matthew 6:15 Jesus said if we don’t forgive others, God won’t forgive us. Yancey wishes these words weren’t in the Bible for they seem to turn grace into law. He frets that if we think others are unworthy of forgiveness, we make ourselves unworthy of it too.

Yancey need not fret. These words of Jesus were spoken to people living under the law and not to us. To the law-conscious Jews, Jesus made forgiveness conditional in order to silence the self-righteous and reveal our need for a Savior (Gal 3:24). Thankfully the cross changed everything. We are not under law but grace (Rms 6:14) and forgiveness really does start with God (Col 2:13). As Yancey says elsewhere, forgiveness is a gift. You cannot earn it or qualify for it. You can only receive it.

2. We’re not sinful saints

Yancey is clearly impressed with the grace-dispensing practices of Alcoholics Anonymous. He seems to think that the church will be better off if we adopt AA’s principles of radical honesty and utter dependence on God. I agree. But radical honesty for Yancey means standing up, like an AA member, and declaring that one is still a sinner – even if one has been born again. I would say this radical dishonesty for it denies the transforming power of God’s grace.

For someone who is concerned with the original meaning of words like grace and charity, it is puzzling that Yancey uses the word saint pejoratively, usually to describe someone who is self-righteous and religious. Yancey clarifies that “true saints never lose sight of their sinfulness” (p.273). I guess there is a logic to this. If you know you are sinful and impure, you will be receptive to God’s grace. But give God a little credit! His grace turns sinners into saints. As the song says, I once was lost, but now I am found. It would be foolish of me to pretend I’m still lost or that I’m blind now that I can see. When you come to Jesus you get a new nature and it’s His nature. Would you call Jesus a sinner? I’m not denying the reality of our imperfections; I’m declaring faith in a higher reality which is Christ in me the hope of glory (Col 1:27). Yancey says that spiritual maturity is being aware of your own impurities (p.88). But the Bible challenges us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Him (2 Pe 3:18). Real maturity comes from knowing Jesus and appreciating what He has accomplished on your behalf (Eph 4:18).

Telling saints to pretend that they’re still sinners is the wrong way to release grace. It’ll get you asking for something you already have. The Bible says that he who is in Christ is a new creation (2 Co 5:17). Do you know what’s new about you? It’s true that we remain works-in-progress, but there will be no progress unless we learn to see ourselves as God sees us.

3. Trying harder is not the secret to Christian living

As I said I am completely in agreement with Yancey’s desire to see the church become a place where grace is dispensed. He is right on the money when it comes to the what. But he misses the mark when it comes to the how. How are we to forgive when forgiveness is so often hard to do? You must just try, says Yancey, for even though forgiveness is hard, the alternative is harder still. In other words, it’s up to us.

As an exemplar of this self-centered approach, Yancey describes Martin Luther King’s constant struggle to meet physical force with grace: “King had to fast for several days to achieve the spiritual discipline necessary for him to forgive his enemies” (p.132). What an achievement! But what does this have to do with grace? Nothing. This is walking after the flesh. It’s willpower not Spirit-power. I think Martin Luther King had an amazing revelation of grace but I have little faith in “soul force” or any other fleshly manifestation. The kind of grace that changes men comes from above, not within.

The choice is simple: You can try or you can trust. Perhaps you’ve achieved some successes in your own strength, but how will this help you when life hands you an impossible challenge? How will you forgive the unforgiveable? How do you love your enemies and those who spitefully use you? Yancey readily acknowledges that we all have limits and that we will likely fail. We should not pretend to be perfect – that’s hypocrisy. Far better to repent and resolve to do better next time. But this leads to yo-yo Christianity. You’ll be up one day but down the next. There’s a reason it doesn’t work: it’s a flesh trip and God won’t bless it.

The Christian life is not just hard, it’s impossible. No one can life the Christian life except Christ. The key to succeeding is not to try harder, but to see your self as crucified with Christ. Sometimes the best thing you can say is, “Lord I can’t do it!” Wonderful! Now stand aside and watch Him do it through you. Some of the people Yancey writes about illustrate this truth. He quotes a Polish Christian who could not forgive the Germans for their WWII atrocities: “Humanly speaking, I cannot do it, but God will give us his strength!” (p.123). That’s where grace is found – in saying, “Lord, I cannot, but You can!”

What is the secret to living the Christian life? Paul tells us:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)

Grace truly is amazing and Yancey does a good job of telling stories about it. But grace is even more amazing than Yancey describes, for Grace forgives us even before we have forgiven others, He makes us new, and He empowers us to reign in life supernaturally.
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Related posts:
-    The test of your gospel
-    Seven signs that you might be living under law
-    see all E2R’s book reviews here

In Part 1, we looked at 10 myths surrounding the Person of the Holy Spirit. In this post we’re going to look at 10 myths regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit…

Myth 1: The Holy Spirit teaches me to keep the commandments
Truth 1: The Holy Spirit guides you into a relationship with Truth Himself (Jn 16:13-14)

What did Jeremiah (31:33) mean when he prophesied that the Spirit would write His laws in our hearts? Was he promoting a relationship with the rules? No. Jesus is the law-keeper who lives within. Think of the Holy Spirit as a match-maker wooing you to Jesus. As we rest in Jesus and let Him live His life through ours (Gal 2:20), we find ourselves keeping the commandments effortlessly. “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, 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.” (Rms 8:3-4) More here.

Myth 2: The Holy Spirit is like a Divine Policeman enforcing law and order
Truth 2: The Holy Spirit strengthens, encourages and prospers the church (Acts 9:31)

Since many believers have been brought up on a diet of law and obligation, it is natural to think of the Holy Spirit as a Policeman enforcing God’s commands. But this is confusing covenants. How does the Holy Spirit strengthen and build up the church? Principally by revealing more and more of Jesus (Jn 16:14, Phm 1:6). The Holy Spirit is so good at what He does, that Jesus said that it was for our good that He leave so the Spirit could come (Jn 16:7). Think about that! We’re better off now with the Spirit than we were with Jesus in the flesh.

Myth 3: The Holy Spirit is unpredictable, sort of the solo agent of heaven
Truth 3: The Holy Spirit speaks the words of Jesus and the Father (Mt 10:20, Jn 14:26)

They really are all on the same team.

Myth 4: The Holy Spirit is mysterious and secretive – He’s hard to figure out
Truth 4: The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and revelation (Jn 16:14, Eph 1:17)

The Holy Spirit is in the business of making known to us the mystery of God’s will (Eph 1:9, Dan 2:19, Rom 11:25). Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us, not into some truth, but into all truth (Jn 16:13). He is not the author of confusion – that would be the devil. Rather, the Holy Spirit is the One who helps us make sense out of all Jesus said and did and everything that is about to happen (Jn 16:13, MSG). He really is the most wonderful Guide. Keep in step with the Spirit and you’ll never put a foot wrong.

Myth 5: The Holy Spirit scares me
Truth 5: The Holy Spirit releases rivers of peace and joy (Rm 14:17)

The Holy Spirit is the most powerful Being in the universe and He is for you (Rm 8:31). Some translations call Him “The Friend” for He truly is the great Friend of sinners (leading them to Jesus) and saints (encouraging and guiding us). He never leaves us for He is the Friend who sticks closer than a brother (Pro 18:24). Jesus said the Spirit would be in us like a river (Jn 7:38). Just as a river needs to flow, so too does the Holy Spirit desire to flow out of you to refresh and bring life to others. One emotion which is consistently linked with the Holy Spirit is joy (Lk 10:21, Acts 13:52, 1 Th 1:6). If there is no joy in your walk, lean on the Holy Spirit. Believe that He is with you and in you to strengthen you with the Lord’s joy. If you are timid in your witness, understand that God has not given you a spirit of intimidation (2 Tim 1:7). His kingdom is characterized by righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Myth 6: The Holy Spirit is in the background somewhere – I’m not sure what He’s up to
Truth 6: The Holy Spirit actively partners with us and empowers us to be bold witnesses (2 Cor 13:14, Acts 1:8)

In Greek the Holy Spirit is described as a paraclete (Jn 16:7). The image is of a soldier who partners with us side-by-side in combat like Jonathan’s armor-bearer (1 Sam 14:7). And what a Powerful Partner He is! He never loses, He bears no scars, and His enemies have already been defeated! If you are saved then you already are acquainted with His work, for you could never have confessed Jesus as Lord without His help (1 Cor 12:3). (Have you ever thanked Him for that?) Many Christians know what it is to walk in the authority of Jesus’ Name, but they do not fully operate in the power of the Spirit. They’re like a cop with a badge but no gun. Jesus gave us authority (Lk 10:19) but said the Spirit would give us power (Acts 1:8). When the Spirit came on Saul in the Old Testament, the Bible says he was turned into another man who was empowered to do “whatever the occasion demands” (1 Sam 10:6-7, NKJV). Similarly, in the new covenant the Spirit turns you into a new creation who is empowered to preach and demonstrate the gospel of the kingdom (1 Co 2:4). This includes healing the sick, driving out demons, and raising the dead, as the occasion demands (Mt 10:8). See Acts 3:11-16 for a picture of what this looks like.

Myth 7: The Holy Spirit leaves me speechless and anxious
Truth 7: The Holy Spirit gives you words to say so you need not worry (Mk 13:11, Lk 12:12)

Do you have an opportunity to speak but you’re stuck for words? Never fear for He is here! The gospel message is conveyed with words and wonders and the Holy Spirit provides them both. Trust Him – He’s really in you and with you! – and ask for His wisdom. He gives generously (Jas 1:5) and His wise words come pre-packaged with boldness (Acts 4:31).

Myth 8: The Holy Spirit is a euphemism for the warm fuzzies I experience in the mood music that follows the preaching
Truth 8: The Holy Spirit reinforces the preaching of the gospel with signs and wonders (Rms 15:19, 1 Th 1:5)

The modern church has diluted the role of the Holy Spirit to accommodate their limited experience of the supernatural. But Jesus promised that “signs will accompany those who believe” (Mk 16:17). What miracles were attributed to the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts? All of them! It’s the book of His acts. Every time the good news is preached, the Holy Spirit is looking to confirm the message with signs following. His ministry is revealed in a Show and Tell gospel. “With that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose…” (Acts 4:8, MSG). Cool huh?

Myth 9: The Holy Spirit crushes me with impossible demands – He teaches me how to die daily
Truth 9: The Holy Spirit raises the dead, makes us new, gives life, warns us of dangers, and frees us from the burdens of religion (Rm 8:11, Tit 3:5, Acts 15:28, 20:23)

More covenant confusion! The ministry of the law brings death and condemnation, but the ministry of the Spirit brings life and righteousness (2 Cor 3:6-9). True, He’ll let us come to the end of ourselves so that we might learn to trust Him. But He loves you just the same whether you stay in the boat or dance on the water. He comforts, He doesn’t condemn. Jesus promised life in abundance (Jn 10:10). The Holy Spirit delivers on that promise by replacing fear with courage, weakness with strength, and death with resurrection life (Acts 4:8-13, 2 Co 1:9, 12:10).

Myth 10: The Holy Spirit gives different groups different revelation which is why we have different denominations
Truth 10: The Holy Spirit baptizes us into one body (1 Cor 12:13)

There is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all (Eph 4:4-6). We see the distinctions and call them “flavors,” but God sees one body with many members (Rms 12:5). God gives diverse gifts for a common purpose – that we might mature and reach true unity in the faith. Unity will happen when we believe exactly what the Son of God believes and know accurately what He knows concerning us (Eph 4:13, MIRROR). The Holy Spirit produces unity in the body, not division.

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Related posts:
- 10 myths about the Holy Spirit
- Fear and trembling
- Are you “hot” enough for God? (Rev 3:15)

Here are 10 myths and 10 truths about the Person of Holy Spirit:

Myth 1: The Holy Spirit keeps a record of my sin.

Truth 1:  The Holy Spirit remembers your sin no more (He 10:17).

The Holy Spirit is not forgetful, but love keeps no record of wrongs. At the cross, justice was done and all your sins were forgiven (Col 2:13). To forgive literally means to send away. Your sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12). God has reconciled the world to Himself and is no longer counting men’s sins against them (2 Cor 5:19). If the old covenant was characterized by remembrance of sins (He 10:3), the new is characterized by forgetting them (He 8:12).

Myth 2: The Holy Spirit convicts me of my sin.

Truth 2: The Holy Spirit convicts you of your righteousness (Jn 16:10).

How could He convict you of something that He chooses not to remember? Jesus has done away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb 9:26). Your sins are not the problem. The real question is whether you trust in the grace of God. As an expression of His love and mercy, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of the sin of unbelief in Jesus. But the only thing He “convicts” or rather, convinces, Christians of is their righteousness (Jn 16:8-10).

Myth 3: The Holy Spirit leads me to confess my sin.

Truth 3: The Holy Spirit leads you to confess Jesus is Lord (1 Co 12:3)!

The Holy Spirit will never seek to distract you from Jesus. His ministry will always make you Jesus-conscious rather than self-conscious (Jn 16:14). Specifically, the Holy Spirit will lead you to recognize Jesus as Lord which means everything you have – including your problems and sins – belongs to Him. You don’t have the right to your sins. They are not yours for He bought them with His blood. Still thinking about your sins? Then reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rm 6:11).

Myth 4: The Holy Spirit is watching to see if I slip up and fail to finish.

Truth 4: The Holy Spirit personally guarantees your salvation and inheritance (Eph 1:13-14).

When you were saved you were marked as one of God’s own (2 Cor 1:22) and sealed with the Spirit for the day of redemption (Eph 4:30). The Holy Spirit is not a fault-finder, but a hope-giver (Rm 15:13). His hope is a firm and secure anchor for the soul (He 6:19). What’s your part in this? Trust Him!

Myth 5: The Holy Spirit reveals God’s judgment.

Truth 5: The Holy Spirit reveals God’s love (Rm 5:5).

“God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit…” (Rms 5:5, GNB). “So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment” (1 Jn 4:18). If you fear God’s punishment, please allow me to introduce you to the Holy Spirit.

Myth 6: The Holy Spirit inspires us to fear a holy and distant God.

Truth 6: The Holy Spirit helps you to know and draw near to God your Father (Eph 1:17, Gal 4:6).

“For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, ‘Father! My Father!’” (Rm 8:15, GNB). Wow! How good is that?!

Myth 7: The Holy Spirit lives somewhere out there, probably behind Alpha Centauri.

Truth 7: The Holy Spirit lives in you (1 Co 6:19; 2 Ti 1:14, Rm 8:11).

Under the old covenant, God lived in the temple. In the new covenant, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Co 6:19). Where does He live? In you! As Ralph Harris says, you are “God’s sacred mobile home.”

Myth 8: The Holy Spirit comes and goes. We need to cry out for Him to come.

Truth 8: The Holy Spirit abides, dwells, stays with you and in you (Jn 14:17, 1 Jn 3:24, Rm 8:11).

In the old covenant the Holy Spirit rested on certain people for certain times. But in the new covenant He abides with us and “makes His home in us” (2 Ti 1:14 AMP). If you have received the Holy Spirit, be comforted, for He’s not going anywhere. He has promised to never leave nor forsake us (He 13:5).

Myth 9: The Holy Spirit plays hard to get.

Truth 9: The Holy Spirit is The Gift, sent by Jesus and freely given by the Father (Jn 16:7, Lk 11:13, Acts 10:45).

According to Galatians 3:14, Jesus redeemed us so that we might receive the blessings promised to Abraham, namely, the promise of the Holy Spirit. Do you believe that Jesus has redeemed you? Then you are eligible to receive the promised Holy Spirit. Who is not eligible to accept Him? The (unsaved) world, “because it neither sees Him or knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you” (Jn 14:17). Look at what Peter said to those who heard the gospel at Pentecost: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The Holy Spirit does not limit Himself to a chosen few. Believe in Jesus and you will, you will, you will receive the promised Gift! Believe it!

Myth 10: To receive the Holy Spirit you must fast, pray, attend some classes, get straightened out, act holy…

Truth 10: The Holy Spirit is received by faith (Gal 3:14).

Did you fast and pray to receive Jesus? Didn’t think so. You just received by faith. It’s exactly the same with the Holy Spirit. How do we receive the promise of the Spirit? By faith (Gal 3:14)! “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Lk 11:13). Here Jesus is saying that the Holy Spirit is freely given to all who ask. Don’t let anyone tell you that you must do stuff to earn what God freely gives. Jesus already did it all. “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (Jn 16:24)

In this post we looked at 10 myths surrounding the Person of the Holy Spirit. In the next post we’ll look at 10 myths surrounding the work of the Holy Spirit. Stay tuned!

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Related posts:
- What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
- Confession, conviction, confusion!
- Are you religious? (Take the test!)

Paul describes the Christian life as a tug of war between the flesh and the spirit. The flesh is that part of us that lives purely by natural experience – what we see, hear and smell, etc. – while our spirit is that part of us that is united with Christ and lives by the word of God. Did you know it’s possible to be in the Spirit (i.e., saved) yet walk after the flesh? Indeed, this is exactly how many Christians live. They are trusting in God for the forgiveness of their sins, but in most every other respect they live no differently from their unsaved neighbors. When they get sick they queue up in the waiting room and when they get in debt they look for extra work. (I’m not against doctors and hard work!) They may be moral and decent people, but their lives are untouched by the supernatural power of God.

I suspect most Christians walk after the flesh simply because they don’t know any better. They don’t know that Christ’s atonement provided not only for their complete forgiveness, but also for their healing (1 Pe 2:24), deliverance (Mk 16:17), and provision (Ph 4:19, 2 Cor 8:9)). They are not receiving the full benefits of the cross because they don’t know the full benefits of the cross or, if they do, they think they must work to get them. They live like this because their minds have not been renewed. If this sounds like you, here are two good books that will help sort out your thinking and set you free.

“Spirit, Soul and Body” by Andrew Wommack

When you were born again, your spirit was instantly made new but your mind and body were essentially unchanged. If you battled with health or emotional issues before you were saved, there’s a good chance you continue to battle with those same issues now that you’re saved. Don’t misunderstand me. There is a huge difference between a sinner and a saint! But until the saint learns to think like a saint, he will continue to think like a sinner and in many ways this is fatal (Rm 8:6).

Paul didn’t challenge the Roman Christians to renew their minds in order to get saved but so that they would see the will of God manifest in their lives – His will for healing, deliverance, and provision. This is a life-long process. At every decision we either choose to walk after flesh (what do our five senses tell us?) or we renew our minds and walk after the spirit (what does God say?). You can walk by sight or you can walk by faith. Some Christians try to do both! They say they’re trusting God to come through for them but at the same time they’re busting their humps trying to fix things themselves. Perhaps they think they’re mixing faith with works but in reality they’re just walking after the flesh. They may talk differently from their unsaved neighbors, but their walk is exactly the same.

A book which will help you grasp this distinction is Spirit, Soul and Body by Andrew Wommack. In this book Wommack explains that merely believing the promises of God is not enough. If I told you that there was a rich treasure hidden in your yard, you would either believe me or reject me, but nothing would actually change until you started digging. Similarly, we will never see the spiritual blessings that God has already given us revealed unless we dig. Whether your need is healing, deliverance, or provision, this book teaches you how to dig.

“Extra Virgin Grace” by Ryan Rufus

Another good book on this subject was published just yesterday. Extra Virgin Grace, by Ryan Rufus, provides a sweeping study of many topics that have long been misunderstood and misrepresented, including the Beatitudes, holiness, eternal security, discipline and one of my all-time favorite subjects, true rest.

In Extra Virgin Grace, Ryan Rufus takes a close look at Galatians 5 and asks “What does it mean to walk by the spirit?” Traditionally “the spirit” has been interpreted as meaning the Holy Spirit. To walk by the spirit thus means doing whatever the Holy Spirit tells you. But if you look at the context of Galatians 4, you will see that Paul was referring to our reborn spirits. Your spirit is one with Christ and is in constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit. So the choice Paul was describing was whether to walk by the limited sensory experience of the flesh, or the unseen reality of our perfectly sanctified spirits. To live by the spirit means learning to make decisions from our spirit rather than our minds. Sometimes we just know things that reason cannot explain because they are spiritually discerned. We sense a prompting to pray for someone only to learn later that it was for them a moment of great need. This is how Adam and Eve lived before the Fall – their thinking was spirit-led rather than flesh-based.

If we understood that our spirits are perfect already (see Heb 10:14), and that we lack nothing (1 Co 1:7), we would spend less time teaching godly character and more time renewing our minds to live by the spirit. Instead of preaching on faith and sanctification, we would seek to reveal our true identity in Christ. As Ryan says, “The church preaches too much about who we aren’t.” Knowing who you now are and Who lives in you is the key to Christian living.

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Related posts:

- What do you think? Two must-read books about transformed minds

- Fear and trembling

- see all E2R’s book reviews here

Below are 50 things you need to know about your new God-given identity. Read these 344 words out loud, with conviction, and I guarantee you it will leave you feeling mightily encouraged… and new!

I Am

I am a saint, a trophy of Christ’s victory

I am born again of imperishable seed
I am a new creation, complete in Christ and perfect forever

I am a child of God, the apple of my Father’s eye
I am one with the Lord and the temple of the Holy Spirit

I am eternally redeemed and completely forgiven
I am seated with Christ in heavenly realms
I am summoned by name and I am His

I am dead to sin and alive to God
I am free from guilt and condemnation
I am righteous, holy and blameless!
I am healed and I am strong in the Lord

I am hidden in Christ and eternally secure
I am loved with an everlasting love and I am highly favored

I am my Beloved’s and He is mine

Selah

I am the head and not the tail
I am blessed with every spiritual blessing and I am a joint heir with Christ

I am a competent minister of the new covenant
I am bona fide and qualified, chosen and anointed
I am His royal ambassador, a missionary to the world

I am a stranger on earth, a citizen of a city whose maker is God
I am not looking back but I am pressing on to know Him more

I am trusting that He will finish in me that which He started

I am a king and a priest; a carrier of the Lord’s authority
I am a healer of the sick and a demon’s worst nightmare
I am king o’ the world because His victory is mine!

I am as bold as a lion and more than a conqueror
I am a towering testimony of the Spirit’s power

I am the salt of the earth and the light of the world
I am the sweet smell of Jesus to those who are perishing

I am a tree planted by the water, and I am a fruitful branch
I am the disciple whom Jesus loves

And by the grace of God I am what I am

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Sources:
I am a saint (Rm 1:7, Eph 1:1, Php 1:1 Ju 1:3), a trophy of Christ’s victory (2 Cor 2:14, AMP); born again (1 Pe 1:23), a new creation (2 Cor 5:17); complete in Christ (Col 2:10) and perfect forever (He 10:14); a child of God (1 Jn 3:1), the apple of my Father’s eye (Ps 17:8); one with the Lord (1 Cor 6:17) and the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19); eternally redeemed (He 9:12) and completely forgiven (Col 2:13); seated with Christ in heavenly realms (Eph 2:6); summoned by name and His (Is 43:1, 2 Cor 1:22); dead to sin and alive to God (Rm 6:11); free from guilt and condemnation (He 10:22, Rm 8:1); righteous (2 Cor 5:21), holy and blameless! (Eph 1:4); healed (1 Pet 2:24) and strong in the Lord (Eph 6:10); hidden in Christ (Col 3:3) and eternally secure (He 6:19); loved with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3); highly favored (Eph 1:6 charitoo); my Beloved’s and He is mine (Son 6:3); the head and not the tail (De 28:13); blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3) and a joint heir with Christ (Rm 8:17); a competent minister of the new covenant (2 Co 3:6); bona fide and qualified (Col 1:12), chosen (Jn 15:8, Col 3:12, 1 Th 1:4, 1 Pe 2:9) and anointed (1 Jn 2:27); His royal ambassador (2 Co 5:20), a missionary to the world (Mt 28:19); a stranger on earth (He 11:13), a citizen of a city whose maker is God (He 11:10,16, 12:22); pressing on to know Him more (Ph 3:14); He will finish what He started (He 12:2, Ju 1:24, 2 Co 9:8); a king and a priest (Rev 1:6); a carrier of the Lord’s authority (Lk 10:19); a healer of the sick (Mark 16:18) and a demon’s worst nightmare (Mt 10:8); king o’ the world (1 Jn 5:4) because His victory is mine (1 Co 15:57); as bold as a lion (Pr 28:1) and more than a conqueror (Rm 8:37); a testimony of the Spirit’s power (1 Cor 2:4, 12:7, 2 Co 1:9); the salt (Mt 5:13) and light of the world (Mt 5:14); the sweet smell of Jesus to those who are perishing (2 Cor 2:15); a tree planted by the water (Ps 1:3, Jer 17:7), and  a fruitful branch (Jn 15:8); the disciple whom Jesus loves (Eph 1:6) and by the grace of God I am what I am (1 Co 15:10). Hallelujah!

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Related posts:
- Son, servant or friend of God?
- Son or sinner – what are you confessing?
- Grace and love in the Chronicles of Narnia

1Co 11:26  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1Co 11:27  Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28  A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
1Co 11:29  For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1Co 11:30  That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
1Co 11:31  But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
1Co 11:32  When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Thankfully, I was wrong.

This scripture above must be one of the most abused and misunderstood passages in the entire Bible. It is regularly used to deny communion to those who need and it is frightening to 10 year olds. As we will see, it is one of the most liberating scriptures in the Bible, yet many believers are condemned by it. Doesn’t this seem a bit odd to you? Afterall, this passage was written by the same apostle who said, “there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” So what’s going on here? Did Paul have a change of heart? Is he now saying that God will condemn us if we partake of communion in an unworthy manner? No he is not.

I suspect that the problems began 400 years ago when the translators working for King James chose words that conveyed a sense of punishment and condemnation. Look at the word judgment in verse 29 above, which is taken from the NIV translation. In the original Greek the word is krima. When the King James translators were looking for an English word corresponding to krima, they chose the word damnation and the verse became,

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself… (KJV)

That sounds seriously bad! But krima can also be translated as decision or decree. Think of a judge presiding in a court. His decision is called a judgment or krima. As I have said elsewhere, when you have been raised on the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it is natural to assume that all judgments are bad. When a cop waves you over, you automatically think the worst. But a judgment is not inherently bad; it’s just a decision.

Similar words are found in verses 31 and 32:

For if we would judge (diakrino) ourselves, we should not be judged (krino). But when we are judged (krino), we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned (katakrino) with the world. (KJV)

If you click on the Greek words italicized above, you will see that diakrino and krino mean to distinguish and decide, while katakrino means to give judgment against or condemn. In other words, the only time Paul refers to explicitly bad judgment (the condemning, punishing kind) in this passage, is when he is referring to the world and not the Corinthian Christians. Contrary to what you’ve heard, this is not about examining yourself to see whether you’re worthy of communion and Paul never says we damn ourselves by taking it in an unworthy manner.

So what sort of judgments or decisions does Paul want us to make when taking communion? And what does it mean to proclaim the Lord’s death? To answer these questions we need to look at the two mighty deeds Jesus’ accomplished when He went to the cross. These two deeds are represented in communion by the bread and the cup.

The bread

At the Last Supper Jesus handed out the bread, said it was His body, and told the disciples to eat it in remembrance of Him (Lk 22:19). He didn’t say much else because no doubt they could all recall the fuss that happened the last time He said He was the bread of life:

“I am the bread of life… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world… I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Jn 6:48,51-54)

As a result of these words many disciples turned away from following Jesus (Jn 6:66). To them, the idea of eating His flesh and drinking His blood was repelling. They did not grasp that Jesus was referring to His impending sacrifice – that He would give up His body in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4-5 so that we might have life. But the lesson wasn’t lost on Peter for he later quoted Isaiah when he wrote, “by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pe 2:24).

What does it mean to eat the flesh of Jesus? It means to behold Jesus and all that He has done for you, both at the whipping post and on the cross. In communion the bread represents His body which was broken so that you might have life and health. This is good news for the sick, but it will have no effect in your life unless you believe it. In the passage above, Paul is basically exhorting us to judge whether sickness or health is from God. Sadly, many believers are confused about these things. They think that God wants them sick so they can learn stuff. They don’t recognize (diakrino) that Jesus gave His body so that we might be healed. By failing to honor His body and blood they take communion in a less than worthy manner. It’s like saying, “Jesus was wounded for nothing,” or “by His wounds I have not been healed.”

Sickness and death are part of the curse of sin (Ge 2:17). Jesus died to set us free from sin and all its effects, but we won’t be free unless we put our faith in His work. The good news profits nothing unless it is mixed with faith in them that hear it (He 4:2). The Corinthians were suffering unnecessarily because they were not recognizing or discerning the Lord’s body. “This is why many among you are weak and sick and some have even died.” It wasn’t that God was judging them for getting drunk at communion. No, they were suffering the effects of sin because they did not properly value what Christ had done on their behalf at Calvary. Because they were not judging themselves in light of the finished work of the cross (forgiven, accepted, blessed, healed), they were still experiencing the punishing effects of sin (rejection, sickness, condemnation). Because they weren’t attributing to Christ the full worth of His sacrifice, they were still suffering – in the language of King James – the effects of damnation.

The cup

At the Last Supper Jesus took the cup and announced a new covenant based on His blood:

“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:28)

In fear of eating and drinking in an unworthy manner, many Christians treat communion as a time of somber reflection. But proclaiming the Lord’s death should be an occasion of great joy and celebration! Was there ever a better reason to party than this? Think about it: We who were once defiled by sin have been washed white as snow (Is 1:18). Our guilty consciences have been cleansed and our forgivenness has been eternally secured by the precious blood of Jesus (He 10:22, 1 Pe 1:19). This is the good news in a cup!

I will provide a line-by-line paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 11:26-32 in my next post, but Paul’s message to the Corinthians can be summed up like this: Judge yourself in light of Christ’s perfect sacrifice. Because of His body and blood, you are forgiven and healed. Learn to discriminate what is from God (e.g., healing) and what is part of sin’s curse (e.g., sickness). Understand that anything that is not God’s will in heaven (there is no sickness in heaven) is not His will here on earth. When you learn to distinguish what is from God and what is not you are chastened or disciplined (paideauo, literally, trained up or instructed) of the Lord and escape the adverse effects of sin that the rest of the world suffers.

Communion = good news for the sick and unworthy

Are you battling sickness, condemnation and guilt? Then prepare a communion table in the presence of these your enemies and proclaim the Lord’s death! Don’t look at communion as merely a churchy-ritual; make it a bold declaration of faith! As you take the bread, behold the Lord’s body that was broken so yours could be whole. As you take the cup, discern the Lord’s blood that was shed one time for all your sins (He 10:12). Remind your enemies that they were thoroughly defeated at the cross (Co 2:15). Because Jesus has triumphed we can reign in this life (Rms 5:17). There is no grief or sorrow He did not carry; there is no curse He did not redeem you from (Is 54:4). Judge yourself as God judges you – perfectly righteous, eternally forgiven, and completely whole!
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Related posts:
-    Are sinners forgiven too?
-    Who can take communion?
-    1 Peter 4:17: It’s judgment time!
-    Nothing but the blood of Jesus: 5 reasons to thank Him

For example, if you’ve been around church a while, you might have noticed something very strange that happens when someone comes to Jesus. Before they are saved, they are told, “It’s all about Jesus! It’s not about you. It’s all about Him and what He’s done for you!” But once they’re saved the tune changes. Now it’s “all about you and what you do for Him!”

Before salvation it’s faith, faith, faith! But once the honeymoon is over, it’s works, works, works! Steve McVey pokes holes in this idiocy:

“Every true believer fully understands that he did nothing to become a Christian. He simply trusted Christ. Yet many believe that they must now do something to become a victorious Christian. So they substitute trying in place of trusting.” (p.21)

In Grace Rules, Steve McVey demolishes the idea that God is looking for us to spend our lives engaged in acts Christian service. God is not some divine employer in the sky and He doesn’t actually need our help with anything. Yet a legalistic mindset reduces Christianity to lifeless works of service. Perhaps you’ve heard it said that, “Your life is God’s gift to you. What you do with your life is your gift to God.” According to Steve McVey, nothing could be further from the truth:

“It really strokes our human ego to think that we can do something for God. Yet the truth is we cannot. Only God can do something for God. In His infinite grace He allows us to participate in what He is doing by placing His life inside us and then expressing that life through us.” (pp.13-14)

God is after so much more that our work. God is after intimacy. Our Father wants us to know Him and abide in Him and allow Him to express Himself to us and through us. As McVey says,

“Spiritual service is not our gift to God, but rather His gift to us.” (p.198)

And that’s not just some pithy saying. When you find yourself resting in a good God, yet at the same time doing the very thing that He put you on the planet for, it is the greatest thrill in the world! Nothing else comes close to living in the sweet spot of being who God made you to be. I’m talking about trusting Him, allowing Him to reveal Himself supernaturally in your circumstances, and bearing fruit effortlessly.

In the 15 years I lived in Hong Kong, I met literally hundreds of missionaries and church workers serving the Lord. For a while I could never figure out why so many were joyless. Many looked like they had lemons for breakfast. This puzzled me, because serving the Lord ought to be a joy (Is 12:3). But it never is when we’re operating under law, when we serve because we think we’re obliged to serve. Serving the Lord is also supposed to be – dare I say it – easy. That’s Jesus’ word, not mine (Mt 11:30). Steve McVey gives a brilliant example of easy work when he tells the story of Philippe.

Philippe came to Atlanta from West Africa, met Steve McVey, heard the gospel and gave his life to Jesus. As a new believer, Philippe visited Steve once a week to learn how to follow Jesus. Each week Philippe asked questions and took extensive notes. Steve McVey only learned later that Philippe was sending his notes to his village chief back in Cameroon. The chief would call all the villagers together and read them Philippe’s notes. Some of the villagers got saved and were asking questions. The chief passed these questions to Philippe who then brought them to Steve.

“Suddenly it hit me. I thought of all the years I had tried to produce something spiritual; all the time that I had spent trying to make a difference. I had sincerely used my abilities for God, but always felt frustrated. Now here was God doing it Himself. I was meeting with one man in Atlanta and I was also evangelizing and discipling a whole village of people in Africa! Only God can do that!” (p.43)

If I was to summarize Grace Rules in a sentence, it’d be this: No one can live the Christian life except Christ. Our role is to trust Him to express Himself through us. Steve McVey asks us to imagine what would happen if the spirit of Mozart suddenly came into you. What would you want to do? You’d reach for the nearest piano and start playing! You would be thrilled by this amazing new ability. You would want to express your new talent often. Whenever people came around you’d say “watch this!” and dazzle them with your creative compositions.

The good news is that someone greater than Mozart has moved in! The mystery of the gospel is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Step aside and let Him shine! I think it was Bill Johnson who said:

“He’s in you and he wants out! He’s in us like a river. He’s not in us like a lake.”

If you are new to the gospel of grace, there are two outstanding books that I recommend you read. One is Destined to Reign by Joseph Prince and the other is Grace Walk by Steve McVey. If you are well established in the grace of God and are looking for pictures of what it means to let Christ live through you, read Grace Rules.

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Related posts:
- see all E2R’s book reviews here
- “The Naked Gospel” by Andrew Farley
- What do you think? Two must-read books about transformed minds

“It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs…” (Php 3:1-2)

Perhaps Paul was motivated to write the same things again and again because of what had happened to the Galatians:

“I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace.” (Gal 5:4 MSG)

The Galatians never intended to cut themselves off from Christ, but this is what happens when you are seduced by the dead works of religion. One moment you’re under grace, the next you’re back under law. One moment you’re free, the next you’re enslaved. It is a subtle shift unmarked by signposts. Paul’s solution was to trumpet the dangers of law-living in all its forms. With the benefit of hindsight we read his letter to the Galatians thinking, “it’ll never happen to me.” Yet despite this brilliant epistle, many Christians are doing exactly what Paul warns us not to do and are in danger of falling out of grace.

Watchman Nee famously distinguished grace and law like this:

“Grace means that God does something for me; law means that I do something for God.”

To fall from grace is to buy into the idea that we can compel God to bless us (or not hurt us) through our performance. It is infinite hubris to think that we can manipulate the Creator in this way. Paul said that nothing we do matters, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision; the only thing that counts is faith expressed through love (Gal 5:6). Faith responds, it never initiates. Faith is a positive reaction to what God has already done. If you live by faith in the goodness of a grace-giving God, then none of the following symptoms of a law-based life will apply to you.

Watch out for these dogs – seven more symptoms of a law-based life

1.    You always try to do the right thing (while avoiding the wrong thing)

A preoccupation with doing the right thing is a classic sign that one has been eating at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. To live by a code of conduct is infinitely inferior to the life Christ wants to live through us. In choosing the wrong tree, Adam chose independence from God. An independent spirit wants to decide for himself and thus prefers rules to relationship. But someone under grace says, I trust Him from start to finish. He will lead me in the right path (Ps 23:3). Your choice is rules or relationship. You cannot reduce relationship to a set of rules. Live by rules and you’re setting yourself up for failure, for the law stimulates sin and produces death (Rms 7:5). Even when you do the right thing it’ll be the wrong thing because you’re operating in an independent spirit instead of walking by faith (Rms 14:23). But if you choose to abide in Christ, you’ll find yourself doing the right thing at the right time every time.

2.    You think we must do all the things Jesus said

Jesus said “be perfect” (Mt 5:48). How’s that working out for you? If you can’t score yourself a perfect 10, then you’ve already failed the test and there’s no hope. It’s true, God requires perfection and nothing less. But we have a perfect High Priest whose perfect sacrifice has already given us perfect standing before God forever (Hebs 10:14). Jesus was born under law and preached the perfect law to those under law in order that our sin – and our desperate need for a Savior – might be fully revealed (Gal 3:24, 4:4). Jesus preached the law and then fulfilled it on our behalf. The new covenant of God’s grace did not begin at Matthew 1:1, but at the cross when God’s own blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28). If you fail to filter Jesus’ words (before the cross) through Jesus’ actions (on the cross) then you may have settled for an inferior covenant. For more, read this.

3.    You think poverty is a good thing (it teaches character)

If you believe this, then you’ve never been poor. If poverty is a good thing, then abject poverty must be great! But there is nothing admirable about a 12 year old girl having to sell her body for food money or babies dying from preventable diseases. The devil wants you to think that poverty is a gift from God or that it is a controversial subject. It is not. Poverty is part of the curse, while prosperity is part of the package of God’s provision made available to us through the cross. (What do you think “blessing” means?) A poverty mentality is a natural consequence of living under law, for the law constantly reminds us of our indebtedness. But grace reveals a God of the “more than enough.” Live under the “weak and beggarly elements” of the law (Gal 4:9), and you’ll end up weak and beggarly! There’s no such thing as a prosperity gospel, but neither is there a poverty gospel. There’s only the gospel of Jesus Christ who became poor so that through Him you might become rich (2 Co 8:9). There was no lack in the Garden and there’s no poverty in heaven. If poverty is not God’s will there, it is not His will here.

4.    You think nothing will get done unless we first bind the strong man

A law mindset will always get us to think in terms of things we must do, even if they things that Jesus has already done. Who is the strong man Jesus spoke of in Matthew 12:29? He is the devil who had been keeping the planet in bondage ever since the fall. But at the cross Jesus disarmed and triumphed over His enemies (Col 3:15). Now it’s our privilege to plunder the enemy’s house and set prisoners free. To live under law is to say that Jesus can’t do it, won’t do it, or hasn’t done it. But grace rejoices that the work Jesus came to do – which included taking down the devil (1 Jn 3:8) – was finished at the cross. We empower a disarmed enemy when we believe him to be dangerous and in need of binding. Instead of focusing on the enemy and ourselves, look to Jesus who is our victory. Satan is already under His feet (Heb 2:8). Now put him under yours (Rms 16:20).

5.    You don’t think of yourself as righteous

Watchman Nee is Watching!

Then you need to repent and believe the good news! Before the cross righteousness was demanded of sinful man (Deut 6:25). But at the cross righteousness was freely given (Rms 5:17). If you have not received the gift of righteousness, if you still think there are things you need to do before getting saved/blessed/whatever, then you are suffering from a full-blown case of “under lawism.” The law says “do, do, do,” but grace says it’s “done, done, done!” The gospel of grace reveals the gift of righteousness that comes from God (Rms 1:17). There are only two things you can do with a gift. Receive it or reject it. We receive it by renouncing our sinful self-righteousness and acknowledging our need for a Divine Savior and His righteousness. God doesn’t make you righteous because you are good, but because He is good!

If you are a believer but still don’t think of yourself as righteous, train your mind to agree with God’s word: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). That’s not describing some future event. That’s describing what happened at the cross. Under first Adam you were literally a sinner; in last Adam, you are literally righteous. “If anyone is in Christ… the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17).

6.    You don’t think of yourself as holy

Then you’re in trouble because “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebs 12:14). Dead religion defines holiness in terms of behavior, but this definition falls far short of the perfect holiness required by God. Just as you cannot make yourself righteous, neither can you make yourself holy. But thank God for Jesus who is “our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Co 1:30). It is by His sacrifice – not yours – that you have been sanctified (Hebs 10:10).

The next time you’re struggling with this, go read 1st Corinthians. Few would say the Corinthians acted holy. Yet despite their bad behavior, Paul addresses his letter to the “church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ” (1 Cor 1:2). It takes a lot of faith to call the Corinthians saints, yet that is what they are in Christ! Holiness is not based on your behavior, but your identity. Jesus is holy and righteous. In Him, you are holy and righteous. A preacher of law says we must strive to become holy. That’s like saying, “I don’t identify with Christ who is my holiness.” But under grace we exhort one another to be holy (1 Pe 1:15), because that is what we are!

7.    You think you have disappointed God

Under law, it’s natural to think that you have disappointed God. No one – except Jesus – has ever fulfilled the requirements of the law. All fall short of God’s glorious standard (Rms 3:23). But here’s the good news. It is impossible to disappoint God. Disappointment results from unmet expectations and God doesn’t have any. The word “disappoint” is neither in His vocabulary nor in the Bible. Before you were born He knew everything you would ever say and do. He knew how long it would take you to come to the cross. He knew exactly how many times you would stumble. He knew in advance when you would run like a coward and act like a dullard. He even knows about all the mistakes you haven’t made yet. And He still loves you! Isn’t that wonderful?

Under law it’s natural to think of our shortcomings and project them as disappointments onto our heavenly Father. But grace opens our eyes to a good God who loves us with an unfailing love (1 Cor 13:8) and who, knowing all our faults, chooses to remember them no more (Heb 8:12). The next time you do something dumb, don’t listen to the lie that says you’ve disappointed Him. That’s the path to guilt and condemnation. Instead, have faith in His shadowless love and rejoice!

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Related posts:
- Seven signs that you might be living under law
- Seven more signs that you might be living under law
- Fear and trembling

Paul said the Galatians were “bewitched.” Some translations say they were under a spell. Paul wrote to set them free from the spell of the law and that meant asking a few pointed questions. Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard (Gal 3:2)? Are you trying to complete with human effort that which God began (Gal 3:3)? Does God manifest His presence among you because of your moral striving or because you believe what you heard (Gal 3:5)?

If the road to law is unsignposted, then one way to remain free in grace is to erect signs that reveal law’s boundaries. This is exactly what Paul does when he flags grace-killers like human effort (Gal 3:3), the traditions of men (Col 2:8), rules and regulations (Col 2:21-23).

In Part 1 of this series I said I wished Adam had put a big fence around the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He didn’t, so guys like Paul have had to warn believers like the Galatians about the dangers of nullifying grace by returning to the law. Self-imposed law can take many forms. In Part 1 I listed seven signs that will alert you when you’re in danger of trading free grace for enslaving law. Here are seven more…

1.    You feel rejected, guilty, condemned, or unworthy.

Condemnation is the number one symptom of a law-based life for the law is a ministry that condemns (2 Co 3:9). Before the cross, Adam’s sin meant condemnation for all men (Rms 5:18). Before the cross, God held us responsible for our sins and not even sacrifices could clear a guilty conscience (Lev 5:17; Heb 9:9). There’s only one thing guaranteed to clear a guilty conscience and that is the blood of Jesus (Heb 10:22). Now there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rms 8:1). By God’s perfect standard, all of us are unworthy, all of us fall short. Not one of us deserves what God has given us and that’s why it’s called grace. He qualifies the worst of us and makes us His beloved sons. A life captivated by His grace responds with “thank you Jesus!” But a life under law ignores what Jesus has done and chooses to remain under condemnation. For more, read this from CS Lewis.

2.    You think working out your salvation means working for your salvation.

It doesn’t. Jesus’ work on the cross was perfectly perfect and completely complete. Because of His sacrifice you have been made perfect forever (Heb 10:14). As He is, so are you in this world (1 Jn 4:17). Your work is to rest in Him. Click on the link to learn what it means to work out your salvation.

3.    You treat the Bible as a road map or instruction manual.

We are to live by the Spirit, not by the book (Gal 5:16). God wants us to have a relationship with Himself, not with His love letter to the world. Jesus gave us a pattern for Bible study on the road to Emmaus when He pointed out in the Scriptures all those things concerning Himself (Lk 24:27). Don’t read the Bible merely to find out what to do. Read it to discover Jesus.

4.    You think the remedy for lukewarmness is to get zealous for God.

Contrary to what you may have heard, we are not in a Mr or Miss Enthusiasm contest. God is not watching you on Sunday morning to see if you’re singing or clapping louder than the person next to you. Jesus is not going to vomit you out if you don’t get up and dance or hand out a gazillion tracts. Carnal zeal gets you nowhere with God (Rms 10:2). Genuine enthusiasm comes not from what you have done for God, but from appreciating what God has done on your behalf. And what has he done? He has made you, a born sinner, righteous and acceptable through the blood of Jesus. There is no middle, lukewarm ground. (Click here if you’re thinking of the Laodiceans.) You are either “the people” of God or you’re not (1 Pet 2:10). We don’t declare His praises to become a people belonging to God. We praise Him because we are a people belonging to God and He is praiseworthy!

5.    You are conscious of your debt to God.

What debt? You were in debt but Jesus redeemed you. On the cross, the righteous demands of the law that stood against you were fully satisfied. If the debt had not been met in full, Jesus would not have risen from the dead (Rms 4:25). Or perhaps you think this unfathomable act of grace now obligates you to God, that He bought your debt and now you owe Him. A law mind-set will always get you to focus on what you have done, or in this case, what you have not done and cannot do. A perception of indebtedness will cripple you and make you grace-resistant. God didn’t redeem you because you deserved it or because He was looking for an army of indentured servants. He did it because He is the Ultimate Giver and it’s His nature to love on us. See every good thing in your life as a gift from God (Jas 1:17). He gave you His Son (Jn 3:16), His Spirit (Acts 2:28), His life (Rms 6:23), His righteousness (Rms 5:17) – even your faith is His gift to you (Eph 2:8). Stop trying to pay Him back for His priceless gifts – it’s an insult to generosity of the Giver. Just bow your grateful soul and just say “thank you Jesus!” Then go tell other people the good news about this Great and Giving Redeemer.

6.    You think your illness is God punishing you for your sin

It’s quite possible that your illness is the result of sinful choices you have made, but God is not making you sick. A law mindset says you reap what you sow, that if you do bad (eg: sin), you get bad (eg: sick). But grace declares that God already judged all your sin at the cross. Jesus went around healing people. If God the Father is making people sick while God the Son is healing them, then they’re a house divided. Jesus provided for your salvation and healing at the cross. A person under grace won’t take sickness lying down but will proclaim the Lord’s death over their infirmities.

7.    You think there is too much emphasis on the goodness of God.

And let me guess – not enough emphasis on the badness of God?! “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” (Deut 32:4). There is no variation, no shadow of turning with God. He is good all the way through and He is good all the time! It’s no more possible to overemphasize His goodness than it is to grasp the width, depth, height and length of His love (Eph 3:18). (But I encourage you to try!) We need more emphasize on the goodness of God, not less! If you’re not convinced, read this post on the goodness of God.

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Related posts:
- Seven signs that you may be under law
- Forsaking your first love: What was the Ephesians’ problem?
- What makes Jesus sick (Rev 3:16)?

In the movie Eli carries the last known copy of the Bible. He comes to a town where Carnegie, the local strong man, is looking for a Bible to control people. Eli’s not about to give up the world’s last copy of the KJV to a Pharisee, so conflict ensues. Mid-way through the story, one of Carnegie’s thugs asks why they are being pushed so hard just to get a book. In an explosion of rage, Carnegie reveals his diabolical motive:

“It’s not a book! It’s a weapon. A weapon aimed right at the hearts and minds of the weak and the desperate. It will give us control of them. If we want to rule more than one small town, we have to have it. People will come from all over, they’ll do exactly what I tell ‘em if the words are from the book. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again. All we need is that book.”

There’s a world of truth in that statement. The Bible is universally known as “the Good Book” and rightly so. Its words are inspired and it will point you to Jesus. If you read the whole Bible through the lens of the cross, you will find redemption and life. If you read the written word to discover the Living Word, it will set you free.

But when handled incorrectly the Bible is utterly lethal. Buried within lies the law which, the Bible fairly warns, ministers death (2 Cor 3:7). For thousands of years, men like Carnegie have been using the law-bits of the Bible to control and manipulate others. Their goal is to enslave and dominate and their tools are fear and condemnation.

People have been living under self-imposed law ever since Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Jesus died to set us free from the curse of the law, yet some of us keep returning to the forbidden tree for another bite. Paul warned that we become “estranged from Christ” to the degree that we are under law (Gal 5:4). What makes the grace of God ineffectual in our lives? It is getting entangled again in religious notions about what it means to do the right thing.

I’d like to think that if I’d been Adam, the first thing I would’ve built was a fence around that tree. Then I would’ve put warning signs all over that fence. It’s too late for that now, but it’s not too late to put warning signs all around the law. Below is the beginnings of a list of signs that reveal whether you are living under the enslaving yoke of law or walking free in His divine grace. My purpose is posting this list is not to judge you, but to see you standing firm and free in Christ!

Seven signs that you may be under law

1.   You’re not 100% sure if you’re 100% forgiven

God doesn’t do forgiveness in installments. All your sins were forgiven at the cross (Col 2:13) when God the Son abolished sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb 9:26). Neither God the Father (Heb 8:12) nor God the Holy Spirit (Heb 10:17) remembers your sin any more. Still not convinced? Then read this.

2.   You believe Christians have a duty or responsibility to serve the Lord

Duty and responsibility are synonyms for obligation so this is a mind-set that says we are obliged, or indebted, to God. I’ve heard it said that “Jesus has done so much for you, what will you do for Him?” Indeed, God has given us everything. Ever wondered why? He did it “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:7). He is not just rich in grace, but exceedingly rich. You cheapen His grace by thinking you have a duty or responsibility to pay Him back. Your responsibility is to believe that He is good and true! It is not our obligation to serve the Lord, it is our royal privilege. It is not our duty, but our great delight.

3.   You suffer from performance anxiety.

Performance anxiety is a rational response to the uncertainty of life under the old covenant. But anxiety has no place in the new. We are to draw water from the wells of salvation with joy (Is 12:3). We walk under law in anxiety and fear, but we walk under grace with joy and thanksgiving! “Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned! Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of!” (Rms 4:7-8, GNB) God has made us His Sons, and with such a Father we need not be worried about anything (Mt 6:32). He is our Provider who delights to give good gifts to those who ask Him (Mt 7:11). Those who serve under the law are insecure, but sons are secure.

4.   You think, “God will bless me as I do my part”

The essence of a life enslaved by law is the mindset that says, “I must do something for God.” The motivation may be to earn salvation or some other blessing. But this mindset is anti-Christ and anti-cross. Contrary to what you may think, we are not justified by what we do but grace alone (Rms 3:24). Grace and works don’t mix (Rms 11:6). (And if you’re thinking of James 2:24, read this.) Grace, peace, and every spiritual blessing have been given to us by God our Father through Jesus Christ (Eph 1:3). We are not called to work for God, but to do the work of God. (Click the link to learn more about mixing grace with works.)

Grace is God’s part; faith is our part (Eph 2:8). Faith is a positive response to what God has done. Faith is saying, “thank you Jesus!” Faith is healing the sick and casting out demons, because Jesus made provision for our healing and deliverance at the cross.

5.   You think we need more preaching on repentance.

Repentance saves lives, but preaching on repentance doesn’t lead to repentance! A law mind-set emphasizes what people must do (repent!), but grace proclaims what God has already done (everything!). A law mindset uses inferior incentives (fear, judgment) that lead to temporary changes in behavior, but grace (God is good and He loves you!) changes the hardest heart. If you want people to genuinely repent, preach the goodness of God (Rms 2:4).

6.   You think you have to overcome life’s trials or Jesus will blot out your name.

It really isn’t about you. Jesus is our overcomer and our victory (Jn 16:33). Everyone who believes Jesus is the Son of God has already overcome the world, because The Overcomer lives in them (1 Jn 5:4-5). Jesus promised the overcomers at Sardis that He would never blot out their name. Ever since then insecure performance-oriented believers have feared He might change His mind and do exactly that. For more on overcoming, read this.

7.   You mainly think of following Jesus in terms of giving up things.

Christianity is a divine exchange, our life for his. No doubt you’ve heard people say that following Jesus costs you everything. And it does. You cannot call him Lord without renouncing the right to your own life. But see what you get in exchange! If salvation means nothing more to you than self-denial and personal sacrifice, you’ve missed the whole point. Christ offers us an unfair exchange; our life for His. God favors us with this exchange. We give him our sinful little selves and get everything in return. A law mindset looks at what we give up, but a grace mindset rejoices at what He offers in return! Stop thinking about what you gave up (nothing you could keep) and start enjoying what He has given you (everything!).

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Related posts:
- Two religions: Works and blood
- How do we pervert the gospel of Christ?
- Seven More Signs that You Might Be Living Under Law

Paul: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)

James: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?” (Jas 2:14)

Paul says “faith, not works,” but James says “I will show you my faith by my works” (Jas 2:18). That’s a little confusing. Paul declares that righteousness “comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Rms 3:22). But James says that merely believing is not enough:

“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (Jas 2:19)

And just so we wouldn’t be in any doubt about where he stands on this issue of works, James ends with this:

“You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” (Jas 2:24, NKJV)

Paul or James? Who’s right?

How are we to reconcile Paul with James? They seem to disagree with one another. One says “faith alone” while the other says “faith plus works.” This inconsistency has caused many believers to scratch their heads and none moreso than Martin Luther. Luther was famously disgusted with the book of James. His solution to the faith versus works problem was to cut James out of the New Testament! In his own translation of the Bible, Luther put James in an Appendix. No James, no problem!

It’s never a good idea to ignore or remove a scripture that we do not understand – let alone an entire book! But what are we to make of James in light of the finished work of the cross? Clearly both Paul and James are preaching good stuff, otherwise they would not be in the Bible together. So any apparent conflict between their messages must arise from a poor understanding on our part.

As we will see in this short study, both James and Paul were preaching pure, undiluted grace. James does not “go further” than Paul. Neither does he detract from the message of grace. Yet there is no doubt that he is calling for our faith to be seen in what we do.

What are the works James is referring to?

James 2 is possibly the most abused chapter in the entire Bible. Those who preach works will use this chapter to tell you that “you must balance grace with works.” Of course they won’t come out and say it in so few words. Instead, they will say things like, “Christ has done his part, now we must do our part.” Or they might say, “you were saved to do good works” before quoting Ephesians 2:10:

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

At this point everybody in the meeting will be nodding their heads because the preacher just quoted something Paul wrote that supports what James wrote, so it must be works after all. I knew this unmerited favor thing was too good to be true. I knew there had to be a catch. Well that’s okay, because I’m more than happy to work for Christ.

And before you know it the whole church will be running back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, feasting on the forbidden fruit and trying to impress Jesus with their good works! Instead of resting in Him, they will be working hard for Him.

But before you start trying to out-work Martha, just pause for a second and think this through. Yes, good works are a normal part of the Christian life. But if you believe you must perform for God to be justified or made righteous or acceptable, then you have set aside grace and come back under law. And you know that’s bad right?

Under grace or under law?

There is a lot of confusion today about what it means to live under grace and what it means to live under law. But 50 years ago, in his classic book The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee gave this brilliantly simple explanation:

“Grace means that God does something for me; law means that I do something for God.”

The essence of the law is that God requires something from me. The essence of grace is that God provides that which is required. Before the cross people lived under the strict demands of the law. Only one person ever succeeded in fulfilling all these requirements, and He did it all on our behalf. On the cross, Jesus paid the full and complete penalty for our sin setting us free from the curse of the law. Now we live under a new covenant of grace underwritten by God’s own precious blood.

The great tragedy of our time is that while most people know they are cursed if they try to live under the law, many are trying to do exactly that! With sincere hearts they have bought into a lie that says we must perform for Jesus or die trying. They pray, “God help me do the things you want me to do” as if relationship could be reduced to a list of tasks God wants done. People who live like this have put their faith in a perverted gospel and are in danger of setting aside grace. Their identity is not in Christ, but in the things they do for Christ.

Grace and works don’t mix

The truth is that you can’t balance God’s grace with anything we do. Grace is unbalanceable. Jesus went through unimaginable suffering on the cross in order that we might be redeemed from the condemnation of the law. To act as if we could somehow make ourselves righteous in our own strength is to reject as insufficient His perfect sacrifice and insult the Spirit of grace. As Jesus warned the Laodiceans, when you try to earn what He freely offers, it doesn’t please Him, it makes Him sick. Let’s be clear – the works of the flesh nullify grace. They do not mix:

“And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” (Rms 11:6)

So the wrong way to read James is to think that we must work for God and generally do stuff to make ourselves righteous. Yes, we were created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. But when we abide in Christ, He is the one who does them.

“It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Php 2:13)

Under law, good works become a struggle and a burden. We do them because we love Jesus but in the end we’ll crash and burn because failure is the inevitable result of living under law. Under grace, good works are easy and the burden is light because He is the One doing the heavy lifting. What is our part in this? Resting in Him, trusting Him, abiding in Him.

Justified by works?

Now that we begin to have a good sense of what “work” looks like in the new covenant, we are ready to unpackage James 2:24:

“You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” (NIV)

This is not a vague call for miscellaneous works of faith. I believe James had something very specific in mind – something that we do that determines whether or not we are saved, justified, and accepted. And we will find out what that is in Part 2 of our study when we look at what Jesus referred to as “the works of Abraham.”

Related posts:
- James 2:24
- Two religions: Works and blood
- The gospel comes to Laodicea