Today we will continue our series entitled “God’s Grace & Our Faith.” We are looking at The Law given under Moses vs. the Grace provided by Jesus. Our primary scriptures are John 1:14 & 17. In our last message, we also looked at Galatians 5:18 from four translations. Today we will go back to it and only look at The Passion Translation because I want to use the language we find there for today’s message.
(John 1:14 New International Version)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:17 New International Version)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 5:18 The Passion Translation)
“But when you are brought into the full freedom of the Spirit of grace, you will no longer be living under the domination of the law, but soaring above it!”
So what does this mean for you today? I feel led to focus on the words: “full freedom of the Spirit of grace” and “soaring above.” There are levels of freedom in Christ, and the Holy Spirit ushers us into the FULL FREEDOM Jesus died to provide us. This freedom allows us to SOAR in life!
1. Once you are in Christ, you are free from hell.
If you are Born-Again, you are free from the condemnation of hell. You have been made righteous in Christ Jesus. However, that does not mean that you know how to live like who you are. You may not be going to hell, but if you don’t get God’s Word down in your heart and if you don’t learn to be led by God’s Spirit every day, you can still experience hell on earth. You can be saved and miserable if you never renew your mind, you never learn to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit, and you never develop the discipline to DO whatever He leads you to do.
2. Jesus restored the Holy Spirit.
One of the major things Jesus did for us was that He restored the Holy Spirit to mankind. People focus on the fact that Jesus redeemed us from sin and took the sting out of death. Those things are critical. Thank God for being redeemed from sin and death. But Jesus also gave us access to God’s Spirit again. This is an access Adam lost in the Garden. Without the Holy Spirit, we can never become the men/women we are born to be. You can live a good life by simply reading the Bible and living by what God SAID. But you will never maximize your purpose and potential until you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and follow His leading. To do what God has called you to do, you must get past living by what God SAID and learn to hear what He is SAYING to you every day. This happens by the Holy Spirit.
3. The Holy Spirit and God’s grace make you FREE!
The Apostle Paul calls the freedom the Holy Spirit provides “full freedom of the Spirit of grace” (Galatians 5:18 TPT). Let those words sink in. The Holy Spirit ushers us into God’s grace, and as we embrace the fullness of God’s grace, we also embrace the freedom to become everything He called us to be. Because of the grace of God, not only are we free from the power of sin, free from the fear of death, and free from the bondage associated with The Law of Moses, but we are also free from the limits of our humanity. We can no longer use limits as excuses. Whatever God has called us to do, He has already equipped us to do, and we must embrace it.
The Holy Spirit and the grace of God give us the power of God to BE and to DO all God has called us to BE and DO. The excuses have to “go out of the window.” If God calls us to something we don’t have the money for, if we are led by God’s Spirit, He will show us how to receive the funding. God is our source. If God calls us to something we don’t have the education or experience for, if we are led by God’s Spirit, He will give us the wisdom required. Divine revelation is greater than education. If God calls us to something we simply don’t think we can do, but we learn to be led by God’s Spirit, and we attempt it anyway, by faith, we will experience the freedom to become more than we ever imagined. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit will lead us to “soar above” anything and everything. We will “soar above” the life we thought we were going to live, and it will happen because of the “full freedom of the Spirit of grace.” It will happen by the Holy Spirit.
4. As a reminder, faith only works when you are convinced that God loves you.
In the Old Covenant, the emphasis was on YOU and what you could do for God. Scriptures read like this: “If you obey…“, “If you acknowledge…“, “If you honor…“, etc. The question of the Old Covenant was, “Do you love God?” Under the New Covenant (the grace and truth Jesus ushered us into), the emphasis is NOT on us and what we do for God. The spotlight is on God and what He has already done for us. The problem is that: 1) most believers don’t have a revelation of what God has planned for their lives (meaning that they cannot see into the future God has prepared), and 2) on those occasions where they DO get a glimpse of God’s plans, they don’t have the faith to believe what God revealed. Why? Because the plans seem too good to be true. They don’t believe that God would be that good to them. They struggle with God’s goodness because they don’t truly believe in His grace. I pray you get past these struggles. You have to get to the point where you settle the issue of God’s grace towards you. God wants to bless you richly. He wants to use you for His glory. And He does NOT want to do so because YOU are good. God wants to do so because HE IS GOOD! Simply because He loves you; because of His grace.
5. Once you know God loves you, you are able to SOAR in life by His grace.
You will never be able to believe God on the level of your divine assignment if your belief system is contingent upon your performance. Said another way, if the level of your faith is tied to the level of your perceived goodness, then the level of your faith will never reach God’s best because your performance will never be good enough to measure up to the size of your calling.
God calls you BEYOND your ability to perform. God’s call on your life far exceeds anything you could ever work for, earn or deserve. God has called you to SOAR IN LIFE! For this to happen, God takes the spotlight and pressure OFF of you. If you are going to be the man/woman God called you to be, if you are going to SOAR in life, it will happen because of God’s goodness and not yours. It will happen by God’s grace and NOT your performance. This is the message of the New Covenant. This is grace. This is the gospel. I pray you get this down in your heart!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for ALL Jesus died to provide for me. Jesus delivered me from the power of sin. Sin has no power over me. Jesus delivered me from the fear of death. I am dead in Christ and have done all the dying I am going to do. Jesus also delivered me from the bondage of The Law. I don’t live by a bunch of rules. I live by Your Spirit. Jesus ushered me into “full freedom of the Spirit of grace,” and I embrace it. I now SOAR ABOVE the life I thought I was going to live. I do this by Your Spirit. I do this by Your grace. I do this for Your glory! Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
