Acceptance Grace, Empowering Grace, Great Grace

The “grace revolution” is not a tame little “renewal”. This is wild and passionate; it is not for the faint-hearted or insecure. It is about a grace culture, a revival culture proclaiming the gospel of grace without apology (Acts 20:24, Romans 1:16). And now is the time. There are multiple millions that are ready to be saved. As this grace revolution continues and we preach the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, we will see an extraordinary harvest. But this revolution is not limited to the lost. There are multiple millions of believers under a law/grace mix ready to get set free as we preach the righteousness of God in Christ to them. II Corinthians 5:19 says, “That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, NOT counting men’s sins against them”. Not counting men’s sins against them! That’s good news, that’s the gospel of grace. And He is committing to US this message of grace, this message of God’s total acceptance and reconciliation!

Two components of the gospel of grace that I believe must be understood are acceptance grace and empowering grace. “Acceptance grace” is the unconditional acceptance and love of God the Father as we stand before Him clothed in Christ’s righteousness. It is not achieved; it is simply received. As we confidently draw near to Him, He interacts with us, “baptizing” us in assurance and unlimited acceptance. As we have more understanding of acceptance grace, we realize that there is no disapproval of the Father towards us, no possibility of rejection from the Father. The foundation of our acceptance is not our fluctuating performance but is always the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ on our behalf. That’s acceptance grace and builds into our lives a strong, supernatural sense of security. And, when we embrace the good news of God’s total acceptance based upon the righteousness of Christ, there will be an “empowering grace” upon us. Boldness will naturally flow out of believing the message of God’s accepting grace.

We see an awesome church in Acts 5. Verse 16 says, “Even from the towns around Jerusalem crowds continued coming in to bring their sick and those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed”. The key to that power is found in Acts 4, “And the apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power. And great grace was on them all”. (Acts 4:33). The anointing was upon them ALL, not the few, to do the works of God. A foundation built upon the revelation of acceptance grace will not permit fear, works, condemnation, or guilt to stand between us and God’s empowering grace. This is truly “great grace”.

II Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him“. We walk in the same righteousness He walked in. As a result we can say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to tell the good news to the poor. He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set oppressed people free, and to announce the year of the Lord’s favor.” As co-heirs, not co-equals, we too can outwork the power of God because we are clothed in His righteousness, not in our own righteousness! Acceptance grace shows you that the power of God is part of your inheritance. However, a highly respected leader in the current revival movement says something else. In the following quote he implies that moving in the power of God is based primarily on OUR righteousness. He says, “The ones God intends to clothe with the same anointing that rested upon His Son are those who have the same heart for the face of God that Jesus possessed. Only those with His heart can be trusted to use His power for its intended purpose – to (properly) represent Him in all His glory and goodness. This is our challenge – and our destiny”. Sounds good doesn’t it? But it is that subtle law/grace mix calling us to attain by performance what has already been given by grace. First of all, believers already have a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26, I John 3:9). Secondly, the perfect righteousness of Christ that entitled Him to walk in the power of God has been fully credited to US! We are now the righteousness of God in Christ! It’s not about achieving worthiness; it is about receiving His. Otherwise we will try and measure up, seeking to “qualify” for power. But because we can’t or eventually fail, moving in the miraculous grinds to a halt. And this is why Paul said he did not want to be found in his own righteousness but “the righteousness which is from God by faith‘”. WHY? Paul said, “so that that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection”. Here we see acceptance grace giving us intimacy with the Lord and instant access to His resurrection power all because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. That’s it. Period. End of story.

The Holy Spirit has come to convict the unbeliever of their need for the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And the Holy Spirit has come to convince the believer that they ARE the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! The Lord is saying to the believer, “I have taken away the written code and the regulations that stood opposed to you, I canceled them at the Cross and now you are righteous! You are righteous! You are righteous in Me!” (Col.2:13-15). And we say, “I believe it Lord. I am righteous! I am righteous! I am righteous, in You”.

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!

Grace Revolution!

As you can see by some of our more recent posts, we are involved in a “grace awakening” or maybe better put, a “grace revolution”. It is a very necessary foundation to the move of God that is gathering momentum globally. We believe we are going to see the lives of countless Christians revolutionized by the pure, unhindered grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the grace revolution is not going to stop until those God intends to set free are out from under the mixture of law and grace that holds so many Christians captive.

People might ask, “Do we really have to call this a ‘revolution’ ? Isn’t that just hyperbole? “ Well maybe Galatians 5:4 can explain. Paul says, “Those of you who are trying to be justified by the law have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen away from grace“. This doesn’t mean falling into sin or losing our salvation. There is, however, an epidemic in the body of Christ of falling away from grace. An epidemic of living under a law/grace mixture where there are rules and regulations and principles and precepts arranged to keep us from sinning, to help us gain access to God, to provoke blessing from God, and to move Him to act on our behalf. In that we have fallen from grace – the grace that teaches us that sin shall not have dominion over us because we are not under law but under grace. The grace that teaches us that we already have His favor, His love, His blessing, and access to His presence based upon the performance of Another – Jesus Christ.

old covenant/law vs. NEW COVENANT/GRACE!

 

On the first Pentecost, 50 days after the first Passover, God gave the Ten Commandments (the Law-the Old Covenant) at Mt. Sinai and 3,000 died. (Ex.32:16-28) On the day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus, God gave the Holy Spirit at Mt. Zion and 3,000 were saved and the New Covenant Church was born! (Acts 2:1-41) God is stirring great grace in the hearts of His sons and daughters in this hour that we might KNOW the grace that has been freely given to us in Christ. (I Cor. 2:12) Now is the time to awake and embrace the grace of God in Christ and be loosed from any chains of the law that are still working in our lives to dilute the magnitude of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Let this contrast of law and grace – of old covenant and new covenant – resound in your spirit to the glory of God and set you free to truly trust in His amazing grace! Let these truths from the Word of God act as a sword (Heb. 12:1-2) to separate you from any guilt and condem-nation or striving to achieve and attain so that we may all go forth in the power of His grace bringing many sons to glory!

The Law was given. Grace and Truth came in the Person of Jesus Christ.

The Law exposes sin. Grace covers, cleanses, and removes sin.

The Law calls your sin to remembrance. Grace calls your righteousness in Christ to remembrance.

The Law condemns the best of us. Grace saves the worst of us.

Focus on Christ!

Rejoice in His everlasting love for you today and always and walk in the power of His amazing and abundant grace!

The Outpouring

Let’s get prophetic:

All over the world there is a cry for freedom; freedom from religion, release from controlling leaders, freedom from condemnation and accusation. God is responding to that cry through a fresh outpouring; a fresh outpouring of revelation regarding the gospel of grace. Because of the guilt, shame, fear and uncertainty plaguing much of the church today, great grace is coming; Acts 4:33 says, “And with great strength, ability and power the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace rested richly upon them all”. There is a rapidly developing distinction between law teaching and grace teaching. God Himself is bringing it. And those who oppose it will be dismayed at how fast it is going to spread. An increasing revelation of the righteousness of God is going to flood the earth until the end of the age revealing the infinite magnitude of God’s love, power and grace: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is REVEALED – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Just as it is written the righteous will live by faith”. (Romans 1:17). This will not be a short term local “revival” that will have an emphasis and disappear, no, the gospel of grace is being released and will be going forth everywhere. We are going to see the establishing of a grace culture and a greater understanding of the New Covenant in the church at large. It’s time for freedom to break free.

In His Freedom We Will Live!

All over the world there is a cry for freedom and liberty from religion and condemnation and God is bringing it through a fresh outpouring of the gospel of grace. This song resonates with gratefulness to God for setting us free.

The Power Of His Grace

This a different kind of post, but it is a real life example of the effect God’s extravagant grace can have upon a serious problem experienced by many Christian men. It is an actual testimony of an individual set free by the grace of God. A pastor introduces the testimony by saying, “Let me just read this one e-mail. This testimony may be a shocker to you, but it proves that people who say the gospel of grace gives people license to sin are wrong. Just the opposite happens. They find out how wonderful Jesus is and that His unconditional grace is truly unconditional and that by His incredible love, we actually get free of what oppresses us.”

Here in italics is the testimony received by the pastor above. My comments are in parenthesis:
“For the last 10 years I have been addicted to internet pornography. I have been involved in 3 churches in this time and I have confided to pastors who were good men and they suggested many things – I also had many insights about ways I could get free but I could not stop my addiction”. (That would describe many Christian men worldwide. Many of these men are being told by leaders and other well-meaning Christians that they need to stop what they are doing and implement a seemingly endless list of “biblical and moral principles” to remedy the problem. They are told they need to “mortify the deeds of the flesh”. But that’s not the way it happens. The ministry of the law is death and condemnation. It‘s not about doing “something”; it’s about pursuing Someone ).

Oh the Glory!

 

Nick and Joy were married on Sunday, June 29th under a miraculous blue sky exactly the way God had promised it would be! No ominous weather forecast could prevent God’s hand from performing exactly what He had designed for this amazing day of His love and grace demonstrated in Nick and Joy as they exchanged their vows and rejoiced with their family and friends. Thank You, Jesus!