Part 2 - The Most Impactful Things I’ve Learned About Grace
Sometimes we have to unlearn some things from our past in order to truly appreciate and experience God’s grace in our lives. In my last blog post, I mentioned how I struggled when God was teaching me new things about His grace. I pushed back. I tried to fight against where God was taking me. Eventually, He won. He always does.
I’m glad He did because now I feel like I know Christ as my life. I experience Him in ways I didn’t before.
There are a lot of things God has taught me, and I wrote about 3 of the most impactful things I’ve learned about grace in part 1 of this blog post. Here in part 2, I’m going to share 3 more things about grace that have made such a difference in my life, and I hope they’ll do the same for you.
DEAD TO SIN
I used to think that sin was very much alive in me. There seemed to be evidence of that through certain behaviors that showed up from time to time. I tried not to sin and even asked God for help, but I couldn’t seem to overcome some of them.
Because of those beliefs and experiences, I used to think of myself as a poor old sinner who was saved by grace. I no longer think that.
What God showed me is that through Jesus, I was actually dead to sin. In Christ, I no longer have a sin nature.
I used to. Before Christ, it was in my nature to sin (Eph. 2:1-3). It was part of me at the very core of my being.
But the moment I put my faith in Jesus for salvation, I received the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13) and He joined Himself to my spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). I was regenerated (Titus 3:5). I was given a new nature (2 Peter 1:3-4). I have new spiritual DNA as a born-again child of God.
As a result, I am dead to sin (Romans 6:6-7). It’s no longer alive in me the way it once was.
Now, I still have a flesh and will deal with indwelling sin in my body and soul. I might still think about sinning from time to time. I might still feel like sinning every now and then. But that is different from nature.
In my new nature, through my union with Christ, I want to do good. I desire godly things because I am in union with God Himself, and He is supplying my new nature.
I am not a sinner saved by grace but a saint who sometimes sins. Knowing that and counting it to be true (Romans 6:11), has given me victory over sins that I didn’t have before.
It’s my hope that this will be your experience as well.
DEAD TO THE LAW
I used to think that the way to live the Christian life was by trying to obey God’s laws. It was my job to know God’s rules and to focus on trying to follow them.
But God showed me that I had been released from the law and was dead to it now (Romans 7:4). He revealed to me that He had to cut me off from law in order to bear fruit (Ro. 7:4). He taught me that I now serve in the new way of the Spirit and not the old way of the written code (Ro. 7:6).
The Spirit is my Guide. He fills me with power and enables me to go where He leads and to carry out what He asks me to do. I am a vessel for the Spirit to work through. He is the Vine and I am a branch (John 15:5).
In my spiritual union with Jesus, He isn’t going to lead me to sin. I don’t have to work at trying to follow God’s rules. I just need to keep my eyes on Jesus and He’ll express His life through me in ways that reflect the new creation that I’ve become.
There is a freedom that comes with knowing you are dead to the law. It’s not a freedom to sin but rather a freedom to now walk by the Spirit who produces behavior, speech, and actions through you that align with your new spiritual DNA as a child of God!
NEW COVENANT
I used to think that the New Covenant started at Jesus’ birth. There is a page in my Bible just before Matthew 1 that says, “New Testament.” Therefore, I’m thinking everything that I am reading from that point on is part of the New Covenant. I no longer believe that.
God showed me that the New Covenant started at Jesus’ death (Hebrews 9:16-17; Luke 22:20). He taught me that Jesus was born under the Law, lived under the Law, and taught people who were living under the Old Covenant (Gal. 4:4-5).
Therefore, not everything we read in the gospels is directly applicable to us today regarding the way we live as New Covenant believers.
There was a two-fold ministry to the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught to both reveal the condemnation people were in under the law and to inform them of what life would be like under the New Covenant.
In other words, not all of Jesus’ teaching was meant to show us how to live under the New Covenant. Some of it was meant to show us we were condemned under the Old Covenant. (You can read more about this in this blog post here)
What God showed me is that I must look to understand the context to see if Jesus’ teaching applies to me as a New Covenant believer.
If I read the words of Jesus where He is trying to reveal how I am condemned under the law and interpret it to mean that the application is for me to live out that law, then I’m going to be met with frustration and failure (Romans 7).
Also, as I read the words of Jesus where He is revealing the speech, attitudes, behaviors, and actions that line up with who He created me to be, I must remember that I live on the other side of the cross.
It’s not up to me to try and live a life of effort to change myself through my conduct. I act and behave certain ways now because I’ve already been made that way as a new creation in Christ. As I abide in Him, He produces and expresses His Life through me.
Through revealing to me when the New Covenant actually began, God has cleared up so many of the confusing aspects of things that I read in the gospels and how they apply to me today.
CONCLUSION
These, along with what I’ve written in part 1 of this blog post, are the most impactful things I’ve learned about grace, and I hope that they’ll make an impact on you as well.
As a New Covenant believer, you are one with Christ, have been given a new identity, and are completely forgiven for all your past, present, and future sins.
You are dead to sin and have a new nature that allows you to live victoriously over sin in your life.
You are dead to the law. God has now put His Spirit in you to guide and empower you to live in ways that align with your new spiritual DNA as a child of God.
“The law can tell us what we ought to do, but it can’t give us the ability to fulfill its demands. The only thing the law can do is give us a sense of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:7,9). We have died to a system of rules and have been born again into a supernatural relationship of grace!”
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