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 2:15-16 TPT
“Although we’re Jews by birth and not gentile ‘sinners,’ we know that no one receives God’s perfect righteousness as a reward for keeping the law, but only by the faith of Jesus, the Messiah! Now we know that God accepts no one by the keeping of religious laws!”
Romans 3:22 TPT
“God’s righteousness is given to all who believe in Jesus Christ—and there is no difference between Jew and non-Jew, for we all have sinned and are in need of God’s glory.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Titus 3:5 ERV
“He saved us because of his mercy, not because of any good things we did. He saved us through the washing that made us new people. He saved us by making us new through the Holy Spirit.”
Setting the Stage:
Over the past three messages, we’ve explored Paul’s confrontation with Peter and learned how to handle conflict in a godly way. Now, Paul transitions from a story to theology, from example to explanation. He moves from showing us what went wrong to explaining why it went wrong and how to get it right.
Paul’s confrontation with Peter wasn’t just about social norms, political correctness, or cultural differences. It was about the very foundation of the Gospel. Peter’s withdrawal from the Gentiles was essentially saying that Jesus’ work wasn’t enough. It was suggesting that to be fully accepted by God, you needed Jesus PLUS the traditions of the Jews. Paul is now going to demolish that thinking once and for all.
The great exchange Paul describes here is the cornerstone of #TheGraceLife: God offers perfect righteousness to people who have imperfect performance.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Your Birth Certificate Doesn’t Determine Your Level of Righteousness.
Paul begins by acknowledging their Jewish heritage: “Although we’re Jews by birth and not gentile ‘sinners.'” Paul was making a point that even though they had every religious advantage—circumcision, the law, the temple, the covenant; none of that religious privilege made them righteous before God.
How this applies to you:
— Your religious background doesn’t make you right with God. You can be born in a Christian family, raised in church, baptized as a baby, confirmed as a teenager, and still not be righteous before God. My mother made sure I did all of those things, but I was still NOT Born-Again, and I was still ON MY WAY TO HELL before I got Born-Again on August 27, 1995. The fact that my mother made sure I was in church every week did not mean anything. Righteousness is received by faith, not inherited by birth.
— God does not have any grandkids. This means you cannot be saved by the faith of your parents. You must know Jesus for yourself!
— Your past religious performance doesn’t qualify you for God’s acceptance. Paul could have boasted about his religious résumé. He was circumcised on the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin and a Pharisee of Pharisees. But he counted it all as a loss compared to knowing Christ.
— Stop relying on your religious credentials and start relying on Christ’s finished work. Your righteousness doesn’t come from how long you’ve been saved, how much Bible you know, or how many church services you’ve attended. It comes from faith in Jesus alone.
— Understand that God doesn’t have favorites based on religious heritage. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Whether you were raised in the church or came to Christ later in life, your righteousness comes from the same source—faith in Jesus. You are either righteous by faith, or you are not righteous at all.
— Don’t let religious pride prevent you from receiving God’s grace. Sometimes, the hardest people to reach with the Gospel are those who think their religious background gives them special status. Pride in your religious heritage can actually keep you from experiencing God’s grace.
— Recognize that all human righteousness is like filthy rags before God. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that our best efforts at righteousness are like filthy rags in God’s sight. This includes religious works, moral behavior, and good deeds.
— Remember that the Gospel levels the playing field for everyone. Paul’s point is that Jews and Gentiles are in the same condition before God—both need righteousness that can only come through faith in Jesus.
2. Performance-Based Religion Always Falls Short of God’s Standard.
Paul states categorically: “No one receives God’s perfect righteousness as a reward for keeping the law.” This isn’t just about the Mosaic Law—it’s about any system that tries to earn God’s acceptance through human performance.
How this applies to you:
— Stop trying to earn what God freely gives. Righteousness is not a reward for good behavior; it’s a gift received by faith. When you try to earn God’s acceptance, you’re actually insulting His grace. God’s grace is a gift, and a gift cannot be earned. All you can do with a gift is receive it.
— Understand that God’s standard is perfection, not improvement. The law doesn’t just require good behavior; it requires perfect behavior. One violation makes you guilty of breaking the entire law (James 2:10). Since perfection is impossible, performance-based religion is hopeless.
— Recognize that religious rules cannot change your heart. The law can modify behavior temporarily, but it cannot transform the heart. Only grace can change you from the inside out. Rules create external pressure for conformity (especially peer pressure), but grace creates internal transformation.
— Learn that trying harder will never be enough. No matter how much effort you put into keeping religious rules, you’ll always fall short of God’s perfect standard. The harder you try to be righteous through performance, the more frustrated you’ll become. It’s not about more trying; it’s about more dying!
— Accept that your best days are still not good enough for God’s standard. Even when you’re having a great spiritual day (praying, reading your Bible, treating people well), you still need the righteousness of Christ. Your good days don’t make you more righteous, and your bad days don’t make you less righteous.
— Remember that the law was never meant to make you righteous; it was meant to show you that you need righteousness. Romans 3:20 says the law makes us conscious of sin. Its purpose is to drive us to Christ, not to make us acceptable to God.
— Understand that performance-based religion leads to pride or despair. When you’re doing well, you become proud and judgmental. When you’re failing, you become discouraged and hopeless. Grace frees you from both extremes.
3. Faith in Jesus Is the Only Path to Perfect Righteousness.
Paul declares: “But only by the faith of Jesus, the Messiah!” Notice it’s not just faith in Jesus, but the faith of Jesus. Our righteousness comes from His faithfulness, not just our belief.
How this applies to you:
— Your righteousness is based on Jesus’ faithfulness, not your faith performance. Jesus was perfectly faithful to the Father in every way. His perfect obedience becomes your righteousness when you believe. You’re not righteous because you have great faith; you’re righteous because Jesus was perfectly faithful.
— Stop measuring your righteousness by the strength of your faith. Some days, your faith feels strong; other days, it feels weak. But your righteousness never fluctuates because it’s based on Christ’s unchanging faithfulness, not your changing feelings.
— Understand that faith is the access point, not the achievement. Faith doesn’t make you righteous; faith accesses the righteousness that Christ already provided.
— Learn to rest in Jesus’ finished work rather than your ongoing work. Jesus said, “It is finished” on the cross. Your righteousness was completed 2,000 years ago. Your job is to believe and receive, not to achieve and perform.
— Recognize that this righteousness is perfect and permanent. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your failures and shortcomings. He sees the perfect righteousness of Jesus. This righteousness cannot be improved or diminished by your performance.
— Accept that this righteousness covers your past, present, and future. The righteousness you receive through faith doesn’t just cover past sins; it covers all sins—past, present, and future. This is why you can have confidence in God every day.
4. God’s Acceptance Is Not Based on Religious Performance – Your Performance Will Never Be Good Enough.
Paul emphasizes: “God accepts no one by the keeping of religious laws!” This is perhaps the most liberating truth in all of Scripture—God’s acceptance is not performance-based.
How this applies to you:
— Stop performing FOR God’s acceptance and start performing FROM God’s acceptance. When you know you’re already accepted through faith in Jesus, your obedience flows from gratitude, not desperation. You don’t obey to become accepted; you obey because you’re already accepted.
— Understand that your relationship with God is secure regardless of your performance. Bad days don’t make God love you less, and good days don’t make Him love you more. His love and acceptance are constant because they’re based on Christ’s performance, not yours.
— Learn to distinguish between your identity and your behavior. You are righteous in your identity because of your faith in Jesus. Your behavior may not always reflect that righteousness, but your identity never changes. Work on your behavior from the security of your identity.
— You still need to work on your behavior and develop your character because, while sin will not unravel your righteousness, it can unravel your life. Sin still has consequences. You will reap whatever you sow. Your actions will not change your righteousness status, but they will impact your life.
— Accept that God’s acceptance frees you to be honest about your struggles. When you know God accepts you regardless of your performance, you can be honest about your failures and weaknesses. Grace creates the safety to be authentic.
— Remember that this acceptance gives you confidence in prayer. You can approach God boldly, not because you’ve been good, but because Christ has been good on your behalf. Your prayer life is based on His righteousness, not your performance.
— Recognize that this acceptance motivates genuine change more than condemnation ever could. When you truly understand that God accepts you unconditionally, it motivates you to live up to that acceptance. In other words, you serve God because you love Him, not because you are afraid of going to hell.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for the great exchange—Your perfect righteousness for my imperfect performance.
I declare that my righteousness is not based on my religious background or my good works.
I understand that no amount of religious performance can make me acceptable to You.
I am righteous by faith in Christ Jesus! My sin was put on Jesus, and His righteousness was put on me!
I am not righteous because of what I do or what I fail to do. I am righteous because of what Jesus did!
Therefore, I stop trying to earn what You freely give and start receiving what You’ve already provided.
I perform FROM acceptance, not FOR acceptance.
I approach You with confidence because Your Word says that ‘As Jesus is, so am I, in this world!’
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!
