Episode 8 - It’s All About Grace

Over the past several episodes we’ve been laying the Biblical groundwork regarding the work of the Blood and of the Cross in establishing our justification before God and the grounds for our ongoing sanctification into Christian maturity. I know at times it may have felt like slow going up to this point, but we can’t talk about the “how” of the victorious life in Christ without understanding the “why.” I hope that together we’ve established at least the basics of why, in the Blood of Jesus and the Cross of Jesus, we find everything we need to successfully run the Christian race until we hear the Father say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23). So now let’s begin to explore how we can live out in practical experience what God has declared to be true about us in concept. To start with, we must always keep this one fact uppermost in our minds: everything starts—and ends—with God’s grace which He gives us through no merit of our own. Period. Dot. The End. So, for instance, when Paul tells us in Philippians 2:12 to “Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear,” he immediately reminds us how we can do this in the next verse: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” We are only able to walk in victory because God has already provided the two ingredients victorious living requires: the desire to do it and the ability to do it. This is the crucial difference between the Old Covenant and the New. The Mosaic Law was and is true and righteous, but it has no power to free us from sin; on the contrary, it brings condemnation on us because we’re unable to keep its commandments. Contrast that with what Paul says in Romans 8:1-4: “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.” Notice that Paul says the Law in itself is “just.” And Paul does not say that Christ came to do away with the Law, but rather that Jesus fully satisfied the Law. And Paul makes it very clear that we are no longer bound—or free—to follow our old sinful nature. These are all extremely important distinctions, because they address several heretical teachings that are still alive and well today. One of these is that the Old Testament teachings are no longer relevant to us now that we’re under the New Covenant. Another false teaching goes to the opposite extreme by denying the work of grace, declaring that Christians are still obligated to follow the Law, and that failing to keep the Law completely will lead to eternal judgment. And a third dangerous fallacy that existed in the Early Church era and is still around today is that sin really isn’t that big of a deal, and that as long as a person repeats a “sinner’s prayer,” they can keep on living the same lifestyle as they always have. All of these perverted views of Christianity are answered totally and completely by one thing alone: the grace of God. It was the grace of God that gave mankind the Law so that we could recognize both our sinfulness and our inability to atone for our sins on our own. It was the grace of God that sent Jesus to the Cross to provide that atonement and fulfill every requirement of the Law that we could not. And it is the grace of God that empowers us by the Holy Spirit to walk out our salvation in the real world, no longer slaves to our old way of living. Please join me for our next episode entitled, THE PATH OF PROGRESS: KNOWING. Until then, grace and peace be unto you! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wordonthemountain.substack.com