Today, we continue our series entitled “Living the Grace Life,” where we will learn to embrace and walk in God’s unmerited, unearned, and often undeserved favor throughout 2025.
As part of this series, I am teaching a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Galatians. Let’s get into it.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Corinthians? ?9?:?8? ?TPT??
“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything—every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”
Galatians? ?5?:?4? ?TPT??
“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace!”
Romans? ?6?:?14? ?ERV??
“Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.”
1 Corinthians? ?15?:?10? ?NIV?
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
Scripture(s) we will study today:
Galatians 2:4 TPT
“Yet we were compelled to do so because of the false brothers who were secretly smuggled in among us to spy on the liberty we have in Christ Jesus. They had come to make us slaves again to the law.”
Galatians 2:4 ERV
“We talked about this problem because some false believers had come into our group secretly. They came in like spies to find out about the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves again.”
Galatians 5:1 TPT
“Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”
Setting the Stage:
In yesterday’s message, we learned about running your race with your grace while staying connected to other Kingdom leaders. Today, Paul reveals why that conversation in Jerusalem was so critical. There were infiltrators among them. These were false brothers who had secretly come in to spy on their freedom and attempt to bring them back into bondage.
This wasn’t just a theological debate. This was spiritual warfare. These false brothers weren’t openly challenging the gospel of grace; they were secretly working to undermine the freedom that grace brings. They came as spies, not as sincere seekers of truth.
This passage reveals a sobering truth: Not everyone who claims to be with you is actually for you. Some people will infiltrate your life, your ministry, your business, or your relationships with the specific intent of bringing you back into bondage from which grace has set you free. In this case, the attack was against the freedom grace brings, but just to be clear, satan can also manipulate people to attempt to attack whatever God is doing in your life.
Today’s message is about protecting the freedom that grace gives you and recognizing those who would steal it from you.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Grace Makes You a Target for Those Who Want to Control You.
The false brothers came specifically to spy on their liberty. They weren’t interested in learning about grace; they were interested in destroying the freedom that grace provides. When you live in grace-based freedom, you become a threat to those who want to control people through performance-based religion.
How this applies to you:
— Your freedom in grace will make some people uncomfortable, especially those who benefit from keeping others focused on religious performance rather than a relationship with God.
— When you operate in God’s grace and fully embrace who you’re called to be, you’ll make insecure people uncomfortable because their religious practices have never produced the level of confidence you walk in.
— Grace-empowered confidence threatens people who derive their identity from religious activity rather than their identity in Christ.
— Some people will try to bring you back under performance pressure because your freedom exposes the emptiness of their religious routines.
— Your peace and joy in grace will convict those who are stressed and burned out from trying to earn God’s favor through their works.
— When you refuse to live under constant pressure to prove your spirituality through activities and requirements, you expose the inadequacy of performance-based approaches to faith.
— Grace-based living challenges traditional religious thinking, making you stand out among those who believe acceptance comes through doing more rather than resting in what Jesus already did.
— Your joy, peace, and effectiveness in grace will be baffling to those who are exhausted from trying to earn God’s favor through religious activities.
— The enemy works through well-meaning people who genuinely believe they’re helping you but who actually work to steal, kill, and destroy the freedom and confidence that grace provides.
2. Grace Teaches You to Recognize and Choose What and Who Supports Your Freedom.
Paul warns about “false brothers” who came “secretly” and “like spies” to undermine the gospel of grace. This teaches us that not all influences in our lives actually support the freedom God intends for us. Grace empowers you to discern what undermines your freedom and intentionally choose what strengthens it.
How this applies to you:
— Not everyone who uses spiritual language is actually promoting spiritual freedom. Learn to discern between influences that encourage your growth and those that subtly undermine your confidence in God’s grace.
— Choose relationships with people who celebrate your freedom rather than those who consistently make you feel guilty for resting in God’s acceptance.
— Watch for systems and environments that consistently question your peace and try to convince you that your grace-based living is somehow incomplete or insufficient. In other words, watch out for manipulative churches because they are out there.
— Avoid influences that use guilt and obligation as their primary tools, making you feel like your rest in God’s acceptance is somehow irresponsible or spiritually immature. They make you feel like the most responsible thing you can do is worry about your salvation.
— Recognize when requirements are being added to grace to maintain control – whether in churches, relationships, or workplace cultures.
— Choose environments that promote growth without guilt and support your journey in grace rather than constantly questioning your spiritual maturity.
— Some people and systems will attack your liberty in grace because your freedom threatens their authority – choose to invest in relationships and environments that thrive on freedom rather than control.
— Surround yourself with people who are genuinely for your freedom rather than those who benefit from keeping you in bondage to performance.
— Trust your peace (or lack of it) when someone or something consistently makes you feel condemned for resting in the freedom that grace provides.
In short, this point is a warning against legalistic and manipulative churches. I wish I did not have to give you this warning, but I do.
3. Grace Empowers You to Refuse to Live Under Performance-Based Pressure Again.
Paul says these false brothers wanted to “make us slaves again.” The word “again” is crucial. It implies they had already been set free but were being pressured to return to bondage.
How this applies to you:
— You have the right and the power to refuse to go back into performance-based pressure, no matter who is suggesting you should do more to prove your devotion to God.
— When people try to put you under spiritual performance requirements, meaning that they tell you all the things you must DO for God to bless you, you must lovingly but firmly maintain your position of rest in what God has said to you. You are not earning anything. You are living by faith to receive what God has already provided.
— Freedom in grace is not spiritual laziness; it’s the power to serve God effectively without the anxiety and burnout that comes from performance-based faith.
— You don’t have to prove your commitment to anyone by returning to the religious stress that grace has eliminated from your relationship with God.
— Your identity is secure in Christ, not in your ability to maintain perfect spiritual disciplines or meet others’ expectations of what a committed believer should look like.
— You may not be “doing it” the way they want you to do it, but as long as you are being led by the Holy Spirit and living in accordance with God’s Word, you will have peace that will not be shaken by their questions or criticism.
4. Grace Gives You the Authority to Fiercely Protect Your Freedom in Christ.
Paul didn’t ignore the threat of the false brothers; he addressed it directly and refused to compromise. This shows us that protecting our freedom in grace requires both spiritual awareness and bold action. Jesus paid too high a price for your freedom for you to carelessly surrender it to anyone.
How this applies to you:
— Standing firm in grace will reveal the true motives of people around you – some genuinely want your growth, others want your compliance to their agenda. In other words, they want you to serve them. I have seen manipulation in the church, and I get angry when I do.
— Your boundary-setting in grace will expose manipulative people who are used to controlling others through guilt, obligation, and religious pressure.
— Your grace-empowered success and confidence will trigger jealousy in people who have been trying to achieve through works what you received freely through grace.
— Some relationships will end when you embrace grace because they were built on you depending on them. This is a level of control Jesus never intended.
— You have the God-given authority to protect the freedom that grace has given you. This is how you steward the freedom that Jesus purchased with His own blood.
— Study the Word of God so you can recognize when someone is adding requirements to what Jesus has already completed for your acceptance with God.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for the complete freedom that grace has given me in Christ Jesus.
I declare that I will not become a slave again to religious performance requirements.
I refuse to live under the guilt, shame, and condemnation that performance-based religion brings.
I declare that Your grace is sufficient, and nothing can be added to what Jesus has already accomplished.
I will use my freedom responsibly, not as a license to sin, but as the power to live righteously from a place of rest rather than striving.
I choose to stay free and help others discover the same freedom I have found in grace.
I am living #TheGraceLife, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
