Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat (16 page)
Read Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat Online
Authors: Joseph Prince
Tags: #Religion / Christian Life / Personal Growth, #RELIGION / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth, #Religion / Christian Life / Inspirational
I believe the Lord put these two stories side by side—one in Luke 18 and the other in Luke 19—to help us understand that we can be justified only by faith and not our works. Justification by faith produces hope, peace, joy, and a heart for Jesus that results in good fruit. Attempting to be justified by works produces fear, anxiety, and an inability to produce lasting fruit.
When the rich young ruler came wanting to be justified by his
works, the Lord gave him the law and he left sorrowful. There is no record that he gave even one nickel to the poor. But look at what happened when Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus’s house. Not one commandment, just pure grace was given. And it resulted in Zacchaeus’s giving half his wealth to the poor and making a public commitment to repay fourfold everyone he had stolen from!
The law
demands
, grace
supplies
.
The law demands, and it results in fear, guilt, and sorrow. Grace supplies, and it produces generosity, holiness, and inward heart transformation. Now, you tell me, which gospel should we preach? Justification by works through the law? Or justification by faith through the power of God’s grace?
The law demands, and it results in fear, guilt, and sorrow. Grace supplies, and it produces generosity, holiness, and inward heart transformation.
Unfortunately, because many have been taught and believe, like the rich young ruler, that they can be justified before God only by their works, they end up conscious of failing Him. They end up with a fearful expectation of God’s punishment and judgment. Every bad thing that happens to them reinforces that fear. Even when things are going well, they are fearful of losing God’s blessings or protection because of a mistake they may have just made. The result? Insecurity, dread, anxiety, and all kinds of fears become constant companions that rob them of the joy of living, let alone living life with boldness and confidence.
My friend, if that describes you, if you’ve been living in the abyss of fear for as long as you can remember, it is time for your liberty. You can begin this journey of freedom today by believing that God’s heart is full of love, grace, and mercy toward you. Listen to your Father’s heartbeat: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned” (John 3:17–18). Do you believe in Jesus? There is no condemnation for anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus! All who call on Him and believe in Him are not condemned but saved. That is the good news of the gospel.
All who call on Jesus and believe in Him are not condemned but saved. That is the good news of the gospel.
Unfortunately, this good news of no condemnation from God is not being proclaimed from every housetop. Many believers are still living under the heavy yoke of condemnation and fear because they hear the Mosaic covenant being proclaimed and put themselves under the Ten Commandments.
Look at how the apostle Paul describes the Ten Commandments in 2 Corinthians 3:7–9: “But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious… how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.”
No one can argue that Paul was talking here only about ceremonial laws (like the killing of sacrificial animals) and not the Ten
Commandments, because only the Ten Commandments were “written and engraved on stones”—written by the finger of God Himself. And Paul calls them the “ministry of death” and “ministry of condemnation.”
Paul then contrasts the Ten Commandments with the new covenant of grace by describing the latter as the “ministry of the Spirit” and “ministry of righteousness.” Can you see the clear distinction that God makes in His Word? The Ten Commandments minister death and condemnation, whereas the gospel of grace ministers the spirit of liberty and the gift of God’s righteousness.
Now, please understand this: the Ten Commandments are glorious! The problem has never been the Ten Commandments or God’s perfect law. The problem has always been imperfect man’s ability to keep God’s perfect law. Based on the terms of the Mosaic covenant, if you kept God’s law, you were blessed. But if you didn’t, you were cursed, were condemned, and had a death sentence hanging over your head.
Man’s only hope to be right with God once and for all is Christ.
The fact is that even under the old covenant, no man was able to keep the law perfectly. From the very beginning of the law, God made a provision of animal sacrifices so that man’s curse, condemnation, and death sentence could be transferred to the sacrificial bull or lamb. What is this a picture of? This is a picture of Jesus at the cross! When
John the Baptist saw Jesus on the banks of the Jordan River, he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). So even in the law we see that man’s only hope to be right with God once and for all is Christ.
The book of Hebrews explains this beautifully:
The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
—Hebrews 10:1–4
NLT
My dear reader, what could not be accomplished by the blood of bulls and goats was accomplished PERFECTLY by the blood of Jesus Christ. In Christ we have been purified once for ALL time. The curse, guilt, condemnation, and punishment for all sins have been fully met at the cross. In Christ we are no longer under the ministry of condemnation, but are under the glorious ministry of righteousness.
In Christ we are no longer under the ministry of condemnation,but under the glorious ministry of righteousness.
The book of Hebrews continues to explain, “He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time” (Heb. 10:9–10
NLT
).
Our Lord Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (see Matt. 5:17). The law was perfectly fulfilled at the cross when He cried out, “Finished!” (see John 19:30). He met the demands of the first covenant, which is the Mosaic covenant of the Ten Commandments, in order to put the second, which is the new covenant of God’s grace, into effect!
We are in the age of God’s grace. That is why we preach the gospel of grace! My friend, the cross of Jesus has made all the difference! You no longer have to live in condemnation and fear under the old covenant of the law. You are now under the new covenant of grace, where you are fully forgiven, justified, and made righteous by Jesus’ blood to reign in life.
When you realize you are justified by faith and not by your works in the new covenant of God’s grace, something liberating happens. You become free from the ministry of condemnation and the death it ministers—guilt, insecurity, dread, anxieties, and all sorts of debilitating fears. Condemnation robs you of peace in your heart and of joy in your relationship with your Father. It robs you of faith and confidence in His love and ability to save you. But when you know and believe you are not under the ministry of condemnation but under the ministry of righteousness, you can come freely before your Father in heaven and bring every concern on your heart to Him. You will not be constantly fearful that your failures will cause Him to punish you or withhold His blessings and protection from you, because you
know that Jesus bore the punishment meant for you upon Himself at the cross.
When you know and believe that you are not under the ministry of condemnation but under the ministry of righteousness, you can come freely before your Father and bring every concern on your heart to Him.
Dear reader, as you are reading these words, perhaps you know what it’s like to battle fear every day. Perhaps you’ve been plagued by fears of being unable to cope with certain changes in your circumstances. Maybe fearful thoughts of losing your health, your job, your children, or your very life keep you awake at night. Perhaps you suffer from severe anxiety attacks and the very thought of going anywhere outside of your home fills you with suffocating fear. I want you to know that this is not the life God wants you to live. Through the sacrifice of His Son and the perfection of Christ’s finished work, He has made a way for you to live free from the captivity of fear.
What I’ve shared with you so far in this chapter is foundational to your breaking free from every fear, bondage, and cycle of defeat that you may be in right now. I encourage you to take some time to go over the previous sections and really meditate on the liberating truths from the Word of God that I have shared with you. Meditate on how they apply to you personally. I believe that as you do, you’ll personally experience every knot of fear dissolving as you see the Lord’s perfect love for you.
In Christ you have been redeemed from all fears. You no longer need to live in fear of judgment, punishment, and condemnation from God for your sins. Because you are a believer in Jesus, the curse of the law and its ministry of death and condemnation no longer have a hold over you! His Word victoriously proclaims that “Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified)” (Gal. 3:13
AMP
). You have been redeemed!
Because you are a believer in Jesus, the curse of the law and its ministry of death and condemnation no longer have a hold over you!
Do you know what the mother of all fears is? I believe it is the fear of death. Why do believers come under the fear of death when they’ve been forgiven, justified, and redeemed? It’s simple: when believers don’t believe that all their sins have been punished and forgiven through the death of Jesus Christ at the cross, their consciences are never at rest. As a result, the wages of sin, which is death, continue to oppress them and keep them under bondage.
But here’s the good news: God’s Word tells us, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death” (Heb. 2:14
NLT
). Why did He do all this? To “release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:15). Our Lord Jesus wants us free from the fear of death and from any bondage.
Read Hebrews 2:15 again and you’ll see that the fear of death leads to other fears and bondages—“those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” People who fear death automatically fear falling sick, so they worry about their health all the time. Every little symptom causes them anxiety and keeps them running to doctors. Many times the fear of death is the root of people’s fear of flying, driving, or simply going to the mall, because they imagine the worst things happening to them. For some people the fear of death is so severe that it interferes with their daily life. It consumes their thoughts and negatively affects the decisions they make.
If that’s you today, I encourage you to take the time to anchor yourself in the truth of these two verses. Know beyond the shadow of any doubt that Jesus, through His death at the cross, has set you free from the fear of death, and with it every bondage you may be in right now. Hebrews 2:15 shows us clearly that the moment the fear of death is removed from your heart, your bondage is removed. Your very susceptibility to being in bondage is removed. Hallelujah! Jesus died on the cross to set you free. The more you are established in this truth, the more you’ll experience the abundant life He came to give you.
Jesus, through His death at the cross, has set you free from the fear of death, and with it every bondage you may be in right now.
Let me encourage you with Ursula’s testimony. This precious sister from South Africa found freedom from all her fears, including her
fear of death, when she simply began to understand the true nature of God and have a personal revelation of His love and finished work. Here is her story:
I grew up with a fear of dying. I remember being anxious about dying from a young age and even suffering from terrible nightmares from the age of six. I wanted to depend on God for my freedom, but I could not relate to or trust Him.
Because of the uncertainties I faced, I set out to create a perfect and completely safe house where I could live, work, and ultimately raise a family in peace and security. However, once I became a wife and mother, I found it increasingly stressful to keep my loved ones safe. I have three adventurous little boys and I felt increasingly out of control when faced with the unpredictability of life.
I started to isolate myself more and more, walled in by my unrealistic expectations and fear of exposing my vulnerabilities to the harsh judgment of others. I started experiencing dizziness, brain fog, and feelings of blacking out. Eventually, my anxiety increased to the point that I was paralyzed with fear.
I went for several tests with different specialists, but no one could pinpoint a particular cause for my symptoms. I felt like the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible who spent all her money seeking different cures, yet seeing nothing work.
Three and a half years ago, I was admitted to a hospital for nonstop panic attacks that lasted almost a week. It was a pit so deep and dark that I struggle to find words to adequately describe it. I felt like I had been buried alive in hell, completely disconnected from God and others.
But as I lay on that hospital bed, God penetrated the haze of my fearful thinking and lovingly showed me that He was not the source of my troubles as I’d come to believe, but my solution. Desperately, I hung on to that single truth and as I did, help began to come. God brought a counselor into my life who preached God’s grace to me. Then, my husband happened to have lunch with someone in his office and this man’s wife passed Joseph Prince’s DVD to me via my husband.
As I watched the DVD, the truth of what was preached resonated deeply in my soul. From then on, I went online and downloaded more MP3s and have been listening to them nearly every day these past three years. As I embraced my Father’s powerful love that He has made available to me in Christ, my heart was transformed and I began to blossom and thrive.
It has been three years since my hospital visit and God has progressively restored all that the locusts have eaten. I have been healed to the point that I no longer require antidepressant medication. Instead, I live enjoying an intimacy with God, my family, and friends that I could never have imagined before. Jesus has come into all the dark areas of my life to be with me, befriend me, and warm me with His presence. He shows me the love and forgiveness of God and restores my hope for the future!
I thank God for the ministry of Joseph Prince in revealing the truth of Who God is to people desperate for intimacy with their Daddy God, and for fearlessly preaching the good news of the gospel of grace!
What a glorious testimony of freedom from paralyzing fear! I love how Ursula is now enjoying an intimacy with God she never thought
possible. When she didn’t have a revelation of His love and forgiveness, she couldn’t relate to God and trust Him for her freedom. In fact, she even believed that God was the source of her problems. You see, when your perception of and approach to God are based on the Mosaic law of the old covenant, you can’t have an intimate relationship with Him, and you stay entrenched in your fears.
Conversely, when you have a revelation of God’s love and you approach Him not through the law but by relying purely on His grace, you will have the intimacy with Him that you long for. And this intimacy will produce good fruit in your life. Whether it’s fear of death, fear of rejection, fear of failure, a relationship issue, or a long-term addiction, you will find yourself overcoming your challenge as His love and power work mightily in you, through you, and for you. You cannot but thrive and blossom when you are basking in the glory of God’s powerful love and amazing grace!