Extravagant Grace

There is a message in Scripture often seen as idealistic and even “dangerous” by self-appointed keepers of the law: I call it extravagant grace. Extravagant grace has the audacity to believe that it is possible for Christians to follow Jesus and please Him without constantly hearing about their sin, looking at their sin, and working day and night to eradicate their sin. Could it be that a guilt-driven, performance-driven Christianity might become a thing of the past for more and more believers? Yes, but not before all law-based models of sanctification are brought down by God’s grace in each individual’s life.

Religious paradigms have embraced the means by which our disarmed enemy is given the power to continue to bring guilt and condemnation, accusation and frustration to the people of God. Condemnation brings defeat and depression and may be difficult to discern because it is hidden in erroneous mixtures of law and grace. The Bible says in Revelation 12 that Satan is the accuser of the brethren, day and night. Apparently that is not only one of his primary job functions, but describes his very nature and essence. But no accusation comes from God to His people - none at all. Romans 8:33,34 says, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect when it is God Who justifies, that is, Who puts us in right relation to Himself? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us? Who is there to condemn us? Will Christ Jesus, Who died, or rather was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?” God never condemns us!

Jesus is very clear in John 16:7-11that when He talks about “convicting”, He refers to the world and those who lie in unbelief regarding Who He is. Then He says that by His Spirit He also convicts of righteousness because He goes to the Father. When Jesus went to the Father, He declared and imputed righteousness forever to those who believe. There are a countless number of Christians who believe the Holy Spirit’s function in their life is to illuminate their sin, bringing them into guilt on a regular basis. Here it is thought that the Holy Spirit unrelentingly makes me conscious of my sin. Then in order to be forgiven of my sin, I must confess that sin to God striving diligently to prevent it from returning and begging this remote (but loving) God for help. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit is actually in me desiring to illuminate Christ’s righteousness to me and His faithfulness to continually keep me clothed in that righteousness. He desires to bring to my remembrance the truth that I have ALREADY confessed all my sins on the day I received Christ and acknowledged that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. The Holy Spirit will remind me of the Lord’s faithfulness to cleanse me from ALL unrighteousness at the moment I received His unconditional, free gift of salvation. The Holy Spirit points me to the unrelenting, undeserved, extravagant grace of God in Christ that never lets up, gives up, or lets go of any of us who believe. By GRACE we have been saved through faith NOW AND FOREVERMORE! No, the Holy Spirit is not bringing us non-stop remorse and consternation over our sins as the means to motivate change. Actually, He is all about reminding us that we are already forgiven of ALL our sins and is leading us into that truth all the time! He is moving us away from sin-consciousness to righteousness-consciousness. This is accessible instantly to us! Remember Jesus said in John 16 that the Holy Spirit was sent as our Comforter to convict us of His amazing righteousness given unto us. The truth is that through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary, God forgave the sins of whosoever should believe. He made it a done deal, a “finished work”, one that makes unforgiveness past tense. At the cross God took away the rules and laws that stood opposed to us, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Having stripped rulers and authorities, He made a show of them publicly, triumphing over them in it”. (Col.2:13-15).

I’d like to go back and address a teaching that has become somewhat of a sacred cow in the church. The teaching says that every time you sin, you have got to miserably confess your sin in order to be forgiven of that sin. That somehow the more you confess your sin and the more disgusted you get with yourself about your sin, the more likely you will be able to change and eradicate that sin from your life. This is Old Covenant teaching. Yes, I know that I John 1:9 says, “If you confess your sins He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness”. But let’s look at the context of that Scripture. It was written to a congregation made up of Gnostics and people who were confused by Gnostics. Gnostics were teaching that sin didn’t exist in the world. They weren’t born again - they didn’t believe in the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the Cross for the remission of sin. John is writing to address and rebuke that pre-salvation Gnostic idea that sin was non-existant. That particular Scripture is telling the Gnostics, you do have sin, it separates you from God, and if you confess your sin HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE YOU OF YOUR SIN COMPLETELY AND ETERNALLY. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from ALL sin.

Now we all know that when we are saved, we are cleansed of all unrighteousness. But if you go to Hebrews 10:1-4, it warns that under the Old Covenant they had a system where you had to confess your sins again and again and again because “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins”. The blood of bulls and of goats could not remit sin or take away the feeling of sinfulness and guilt. It actually was a constant reminder of their sins (sound familiar??). We have a New Covenant and by one sacrifice this High Priest Jesus Christ has made perfect FOREVER all those who are being made holy! There is no more sacrifice needed for sin! I John 1:9 testifies to this. Our sins are forgiven! I John 1:8,9 isn’t telling you, the Christian, that you are a sinner. Those Scriptures are telling you that your sins are gone and forgotten and that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! Hallelujah! Romans 3:21 tells us, “but now a righteousness apart from the law has been given to those who believe”. Think about it, we say that Jesus died for all our sins on the Cross and that His finished work was sacrificially sufficient for the forgiveness of all our sins. Then after we are saved we say, “OK, every time I sin, I need to confess those ‘new’ sins in order to be forgiven”. Wow, talk about confusion! Scripture tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, NOT counting our sins against us but imputing and counting our sins against Jesus and imputing Jesus’ righteousness to us. In his book “Destined to Reign”, Joseph Prince says it this way: “We don’t have to confess our sins in order to be forgiven. We confess our sins because we are already forgiven. When I say ‘confess our sins’, I’m talking about being open with God. I don’t go before Him begging for forgiveness. No, I talk to Him because I know that I have already been forgiven. I know that I can go to Him freely–He is my God…So confession in the new covenant is just being honest about your failures and your humanity. It is the result of being forgiven and not something you do in order to be forgiven.”

It’s time we stepped into our new covenant reality and trusted the love of God and the grace of God to be just what it is…extravagant! We truly do have a BETTER covenant. It is superior to the old covenant and based on better promises. We must stop mixing the two and getting confused! If a Christian confessing sin in order to be forgiven was so important then why did Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, not mention this as it pertained to Christians? If confessing our sin as a New Testament practice for forgiveness of sin is crucial, then Paul denied us that opportunity by his omission of that emphasis. We are not to live from confession to confession, but from faith to faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work.

So what do you do when you sin or blow it or make a mistake? We go boldly before the throne of grace, humbled by His unconditional love and forgiveness for us. You do not beg for forgiveness, you walk in the forgiveness purchased for you on the Cross. You thank Him that He is not counting that sin against you and that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Thank Him that there is NOW no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Go before the Lord realizing you don’t have to atone for your sin; He already did. Go before God realizing you do not have to re-think your sin and mull over it and strategize against it because God has no memory of it. As a result, we are compelled by this extravagant grace to go and sin no more; that is, no longer walking in unbelief but as the righteousness of God in Christ, sons and daughters of the Most High. And as we consider our faithful, all loving Savior, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, empowering us and moving us forward into deeper relationship with Him. We do not have to become who God says we already are. And to the measure we acknowledge God’s total acceptance of us, the forgiveness of all our sins, and our guiltlessness before Him; to that measure we will walk in a supernatural freedom from sin and a sense of His love, presence, and nearness that truly is EXTRAVAGANT!