Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat (14 page)

Let me share another precious testimony, from Daphne from the United Kingdom. I have no doubt you will be greatly blessed by it:

Today Daphne sponsors many alcoholic women through a twelve-step recovery program and even runs a retreat for them. But she runs the program “with God’s grace at the forefront so that it is not a legalistic program.” She says,

Not only did Daphne experience the above breakthroughs, but her relationship with her only son was also restored. It actually began when she was hospitalized for an infection in her gallbladder. She shares the following:

Thank you, Daphne, for taking the time to share your powerful story. I agree with you 100 percent. When these precious girls, or others with addictions, experience true grace, they will find freedom from condemnation and their crippling bondages.

Can you see from Daphne’s story how it is so vital that you believe in God’s love for you? Because of His superabundant grace, your past doesn’t have to determine your future. In Christ you have a new life, a new beginning, and a new future. What God did for Daphne, He can and wants to do for you too.

So don’t allow self-condemnation to get the better of you. It’s a dangerous and vicious trap. Listen to how Daphne describes the dangers of this trap: “For us alcoholics who have been very ill with addiction, this self-condemnation and the belief that we are never going to be able to do what God expects of us often send us back to drink, develop an addiction to drugs, and even die as a result of complications.”

Condemnation kills! Whatever addiction you may be battling today, condemnation will keep you enslaved to it. Condemnation is a snare that keeps you imprisoned. It eats at you from the inside out.

You can’t just will away self-condemnation. You can’t just tell yourself to forget about the mistakes and bad choices you have made. You can try your best to forget about your past, but it will always creep back to haunt you. Been there before? Our sins demand an answer. They demand a resolution. They can’t simply be swept under the carpet.

The Bible tells us that the soul who sins shall die (see Ezek. 18:20) and that the wages of sin is death (see Rom. 6:23). Our conscience cries out against us and demands that punishment for our sins be meted out. That is why you need to have an unshakable revelation of your righteous identity in Christ. At the cross Jesus took your place of punishment and condemnation and became the full payment for all your sins. And when you believed in Jesus, you were justified by faith! The cross of Calvary has made all the difference. It’s the only answer that will satisfy your guilty conscience.

Now—and this is an important question—what does this justification by faith produce? Look at Daphne’s testimony. When she received the gospel of grace, she shared that “changes happened in me once I understood and believed that everything had already been done for me at the cross, and that Jesus wanted to heal me and pour His
grace into my life.” When did change and freedom happen for her? The moment she understood the power of the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord and how she is totally justified by faith. The cross, my dear reader, is the foundation for lasting breakthroughs and genuine inside-out transformation!

I submit to you that many people are unable to experience lasting freedom from their fears, addictions, and bondages because they don’t yet understand the gospel of grace. You can evaluate how well you understand what Jesus accomplished at the cross for you by looking at how free you are in Christ today. Are you constantly struggling with thoughts of fear, doubt, guilt, and condemnation? Are you persistently entangled in a sinful habit or addiction?

If that is you, you need to experience what Daphne experienced. You need to study, meditate upon, and feed on the gospel of grace. Don’t back away from grace; be strong in the grace of God extended to you. Be strong in understanding that your sins are forgiven. Be strong in the knowledge that you are justified by faith through grace. Be strong in the revelation that today, you are the righteousness of God in Christ.

When you are strong in the gospel of grace, you will produce a godly, holy, and glorious life! In the same way that you can’t touch water and not become wet, you can’t “touch” grace and not become holy. And this holiness is a true holiness that comes from the inside out. It is a holiness that flows from a heart that has been emancipated from self-condemnation. We are not talking about superficial outward changes. We are talking about changes that happen in the
deepest recesses of a person’s heart, motivations, and thoughts. Real change in a person whose heart is washed by the precious blood of Jesus and touched by His grace brings lasting breakthroughs.

When Daphne received the revelation of the gospel of grace and learned that all her sins are forgiven, did it result in her feeling that she now had a license to sin more? Did it produce a desire to go back to being an alcoholic? Of course not. True grace doesn’t produce a license or desire to sin. True grace produces the power to sin no more. True grace doesn’t produce the desire for adultery. True grace produces the desire to build a strong marriage.

Grace produced in Daphne lasting freedom from alcoholism and self-condemnation, but it didn’t stop there. It also produced in her a desire to help other precious ladies who are struggling with alcoholism and condemnation. In other words, her faith produced good works. You must understand that she doesn’t
have
to volunteer her time to help these women. She doesn’t have to, but she
wants
to. That’s what grace does in a person’s life. It transforms the person from the inside out. Grace makes a person gracious, kind, and generous. The gift of righteousness in you will produce fruits of righteousness.

I have been establishing over the last few chapters the good news that you have been justified by faith in our Lord Jesus, because it not only
frees you from self-condemnation and bondages, but also produces true holiness and good works in your life.

But Pastor Prince, what about the book of James, which says that one is justified by works and not just faith?

That’s an excellent question and I am going to answer it here for you. It’s important that believers understand what James means, or they will fall back into trying to be justified by works and end up in self-condemnation when they fall short.

I believe you are referring to this Scripture from James: “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (James 2:24). Now, I believe that there is no contradiction between what James says and what the apostle Paul teaches. What many people don’t realize is that what James is referring to here is
justification before men
.

Jesus said, “Let your light so shine
before men
, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16, emphasis mine). Who sees your good works? Men. James said, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:15–17). Notice how the good work of giving to the needy is done before men and to men?

You see, people can’t see with their physical eyes that you have been justified by faith. They can’t see that God has made you righteous.
They condemn or justify you based on what you do. You may tell your friends, “God has justified me and made me righteous through faith in Christ,” but they are not necessarily going to believe you or give weight to your words until they see your good works. In her testimony, Daphne described how her son could see the change in her, which in turn prompted him to be more open to the Lord and give up his use of drugs. Not only was Daphne finally sober, but she was also joyful and forgiving, and on top of that, she was dedicating her life to helping other women break free from alcoholism and drugs. Her good works justified her in her son’s eyes.

The problem with the church today is that we are focusing on works. We want to see good works and we want to see them
now
! No wonder so many new believers end up in self-condemnation when they can’t meet the expectations, and give up on church.

How often have we expected new converts to produce good fruit overnight? The moment they are saved, we expect them to stop cussing immediately and to use all the right words. Or we expect them to stop smoking or drinking right away, and to quickly begin reading the Bible and praying an hour each day. It’s like the little boy whose father expects him to grow a beard overnight—“Where’s your beard, boy!” And try as he may, the poor boy can’t grow a beard. But given time, just because he is his father’s son, he will grow a beard. And he will have this beard that keeps growing for the rest of his life no matter how many times he shaves it!

The truth is that once a person has been born again, once God has justified him based on his faith in Christ, good works will follow
because he knows how much he is forgiven and loved by God. That forgiveness and love experienced will overflow to others (see 1 John 4:19
NLT
). It may not happen right away, but the grace that God has placed in him will one day produce good fruit in his life (see 2 Cor. 9:8). That’s why I preach grace so strongly. Grace is the cause; good works are the effect. Focus on the cause and the effects will eventually come.

Pastors and leaders, I encourage you to establish your people in the grace of God. Help them grow well in that grace and the good works
will
come. For some the good works may come quickly; for others they may take a little longer, but the good works will come as your people grow in grace through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus (see 2 Pet. 1:2). We have to be patient and give people time to grow. Let God do His deep, lasting work in them. Our part is to keep pointing them to Jesus.