Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat (17 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
GLORIOUS GRACE
G
race transforms lives.
I have received so many powerful testimonies from people all around the world who have awakened to their righteous identity in Christ and found freedom from their sins. The gospel of grace tears down the veil of Christian religion and brings people into an intimate relationship with God. The Word of God tells us, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not” (1 Cor. 15:34
KJV
).
The grace revolution is this great awakening to righteousness. When people hear the real gospel being preached—the gospel that tells them how right Jesus’ finished work has made them—they begin to grasp just how loved, valued, and precious they are in Christ. From then on, their lives will never be the same again. They begin to realize that they don’t have to live in defeat, live bound to addictions, and live in failure. Instead of seeing someone worthless when they look in the mirror, they see a highly favored, greatly blessed, and deeply loved child of the Most High God!
When people hear the real gospel that tells them how right Jesus’ finished work has made them, their lives will never be the same again.
Kirk, who lives in Germany, shared this with me:
My wife had contemplated suicide because I kept failing to keep the promises I made to her. It seemed like the more I struggled to do things right, the more I ended up doing those things wrong. Eventually, she left me and in five months we were officially divorced. She then moved to Austria with our nine-year-old son.
I knew that my bad conduct was a thorn in my marriage, but I didn’t know how to make things right. However, God knew, and that’s why He pointed me to Pastor Joseph Prince.
The very first day I listened to Pastor Prince’s preaching about God’s grace, I felt as if a heavy burden was lifted off me. It was as if God knew about my burden more than I did and He made a way to set me free.
You see, I used to be very conscious of my weaknesses and shortcomings, believing that I would never escape God’s curses and hellfire because of them. Every day, I made commitments to live right, but I found myself struggling to improve my behavior. I was tormented by fear and my powerlessness.
Despite attending church, Bible study, and prayer meetings regularly, I felt so empty that I wondered if I would make it to heaven. I was also confused because I thought God was gracious in giving to us, but would cause His wrath to fall on those who disobeyed Him. Trying to get myself fully right with God to avoid His wrath and get His blessings was like living under a curse.
Kirk’s turnaround and restoration came as he kept hearing about God’s glorious grace:
As I kept listening to Pastor Prince share the message of grace and the gift of righteousness, I began feeding on God’s love for me. My life became more meaningful because I discovered that it is no longer I who live—Jesus is the One Who operates in me. The more I focus on His love for me, the more I fall in love with Him, and the more the Bible becomes a book about His love.
It was during the times of separation and divorce with my wife that I surrendered completely to the power of God’s grace because there was nothing more left for me to do other than to say yes to Jesus. Jesus turned the turmoil of my divorce into a breakthrough. I started experiencing life like never before as God kept showing up in my daily living, healing me, and fixing issues in my life—even issues that I had not asked Him to fix.
At the same time, God was also healing my wife from the emotional breakdown and renewing love in her heart and mind. Gradually, she opened up to me and showed me her care and kindness.
So miraculously, we got back together and we are one again by His grace. Now, I’m with my family every weekend—something that was never possible before. I was promoted in my company and with the promotion came a company car that makes it possible for me to spend more time with my wife and son.
Besides mending my marriage, God also delivered me from a sexual sin. Prior to discovering the message of grace, I was watching pornography. However, since I started following Pastor Prince’s ministry, the desire to watch pornography just died and I no longer indulge myself in that area. Jesus did it all for me even though I don’t deserve it at all!
I thank God that He has raised Pastor Joseph Prince to bring the good news to those whom God loves, those beaten down by shortcomings, hopelessness, and addictions—those like me. Now, I am walking with boldness, knowing I’m fully safe and sound in Jesus Christ and that He is always there for me. Eternal life is my inheritance in Christ Jesus by faith, not by my self-works.
Wow. Isn’t God good? Kirk’s marriage was restored and he was also set free from an addiction to pornography. He is no longer “beaten down by shortcomings, hopelessness, and addictions.” And it all happened because he “awoke to righteousness” and realized just how unconditionally and irrevocably loved he is by God. Hallelujah!
But even as God restores the glorious truth of the gospel of grace to the body of Christ, be aware that the enemy also produces a counterfeit grace to try to confuse people and make them wary of the true ministry of God’s grace. Why is there a counterfeit grace? The reality is, there are counterfeits of things only when they are of great value and greatly prized. You find counterfeit diamonds, but not counterfeit pebbles.
Now, don’t be discouraged or afraid that you might be misled by counterfeit grace. Just be skillful in God’s Word and learn how to discern what is scriptural by reading God’s Word for yourself. Build a strong foundation on the true gospel of grace. The simplest way to know if someone is preaching the gospel of grace is to evaluate whether the teaching glorifies our Lord Jesus. Does the teaching cause you to want to live a life that glorifies Him? Does the teaching emphasize your works or the work of our Lord Jesus? Does the teaching cause you to be occupied with yourself or occupied with our Lord Jesus?
The simplest way to know if someone is preaching the gospel of grace is to see whether the teaching glorifies our Lord Jesus.
Some of you may have come across a teaching that claims
everyone
will ultimately be saved. This is called “universal reconciliation” and I want to say this from the outset: it is heresy. Such teachings do not exalt or glorify our Lord Jesus. You CANNOT talk about eternal salvation without the person of Jesus and His finished work at the cross. Jesus is the only way! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
There are also those who teach that being holy is not important since we are under grace. They claim that under grace there is no correction and no need to grow in holiness. Let me just say this: such “teachers” are propagating error! The truth of the matter is that you
cannot become more righteous, but you can become more holy. True grace produces true holiness. That is why the apostle Paul exhorts the Corinthian church to “awake to righteousness, and sin not” (1 Cor. 15:34
KJV
). The more you are under grace—the more you are established in your righteousness in Christ—the more you will want to live a holy life and be open to God’s correction.
The more you are established in your righteousness in Christ, the more you will want to live a holy life and be open to God’s correction.
So is there correction under grace? Absolutely. But I want you to be established in the fact that under the new covenant of grace, God does
not
correct His children by using accidents, sicknesses, and diseases. Correction in the new covenant takes place through His Word. Paul tells us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (see 2 Tim. 3:16
NASB
). Notice how correction through God’s Word includes “training in righteousness,” which is believing that you have been justified or made righteous by faith in our Lord Jesus. I have found that oftentimes the Holy Spirit uses God-appointed leadership to accomplish this (see Gal. 6:1, 2 Tim. 4:2, 2 Thess. 3:15)—to point you back to Jesus’ finished work and who you are in Christ. That is why it is so vital that you be a part of a local church with good leaders.
Observe how the apostle Paul corrects those in the Corinthian church who got entangled in sin and sexual immorality:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them
members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
—1 Corinthians 6:15–20
How did Paul correct them? In saying, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” he corrected them by firmly reminding them of their righteous identity in Christ. He then went on to remind them that their bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit. What does all this tell us? It tells us that anyone who is reminded of and has a revelation of his or her righteousness in Christ will have the power to overcome sin!
Anyone who is reminded of and has a revelation of his or her righteousness in Christ will have the power to overcome sin!
It is those who have forgotten or who are not established in their righteous identities in Christ who get trapped by the destructive forces of sin. Under grace we are called to walk in newness of life as the righteous children of God. We are called to reign in life through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. We have been
purchased with a price, a heavy price at the cross, and are now called to live for the glory of our Lord Jesus!
Earlier on I mentioned the importance of reading the Bible for yourself and being skillful in God’s Word. Look at this passage from Romans 6:
Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should
no longer be slaves of sin
. For he who has died has been
freed from sin
. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that
He died, He died to sin once for all
; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be
dead indeed to sin
, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore
do not let sin reign
in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness
to God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you
, for you are not under law but
under grace
.
—Romans 6:6–14 (emphasis mine)
There is an erroneous thinking that preaching the Ten Commandments can produce holiness in people. In reality, if you read the
passage above closely, you will see that it is actually the preaching of the gospel of grace and the finished work of Jesus that gives people victory over sin! Because of the cross at Calvary, you are no longer “slaves of sin.” You are “freed from sin” and “dead indeed to sin.”
The preaching of the gospel of grace and the finished work of Jesus gives people victory over sin.
Also, in Christ, by the power of His glorious grace, you have the liberty and power to glorify your Lord by not letting “sin reign in your mortal body” and by presenting “your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” You can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that “sin shall not have dominion over you,
for you are not under law but under grace
” (emphasis mine). That’s the glorious gospel of grace! Grace produces glorious, victorious, and holy lives.
Now, if you know people who are living in sin and claiming that they are under grace, you know that they are most definitely
not
living under grace! How can they be when the Bible states that sin shall not have dominion over those who are under grace? Grace is the power to go and sin no more (see John 8:11). There is a grace revolution going on and it is liberating precious people from the power of sin!
There are people who think that preaching God’s grace gives people a license to sin and endorses licentiousness. That is not what God’s grace does at all! On the contrary, God’s amazing grace transforms a person’s heart and produces true holiness. By true holiness, I am
referring to a holiness that isn’t just outward, but also deep and intimate, beginning at the very core of a person’s heart. Holiness is a fruit of God’s grace.
God’s amazing grace transforms a person’s heart and produces true holiness.
The word “holiness” in the New Testament is the Greek word
hagiasmos
, which is sometimes translated also as “sanctification.”
1
The moment you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you were justified by faith and made perfectly righteous. You were also made holy or sanctified, which is to be set apart unto the Lord. And as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, you are progressively transformed into His image from glory to glory (see 2 Cor. 3:18). Now, you cannot be more righteous, because you are already 100 percent righteous by Jesus’ blood. But under grace you can grow in holiness in the way you live your life.
I am all for holiness and I am vehemently against sin. Where I differ from some preachers is in my focus on
how
we stop the power of sin and help God’s people grow in holiness. For many preachers the answer to sin is preaching the Ten Commandments. I believe the answer is preaching Jesus and the gospel of grace.
When people experience Jesus’ unconditional love, they fall in love with Him and inevitably out of love with sin. Why? Because when you are loved and in love, you desire to please, honor, and bring glory to the One Who loves you unconditionally. A woman who is loved by her husband, and who is in love with her husband, doesn’t go around looking for ways to commit adultery.
In the same way, a church who knows she is loved by her Savior,
and who is in love with her Savior, doesn’t go around looking for ways to dishonor Him. That is why my mission every Sunday is to preach the gospel of grace in my church. My part is to unveil our Lord Jesus to the congregation and show them His beautiful grace in the Word of God. When they experience the undeserved, unmerited, and unearned favor of God, they will go on to live glorious, victorious, and holy lives.
A church who knows she is loved by her Savior, and who is in love with her Savior, doesn’t go around looking for ways to dishonor Him.
We read in 1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Now, which comes first? Our love for God, or God’s love for us? God’s love for us! Yet so many are still preaching that Christianity is about our love for God. My friend, Christianity is all about God’s love for you. It is His love for and in you that results in inward heart transformation. Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship. Christianity is not about a list of dos and don’ts; it is about intimacy, love, and a warm, beating heart. That is why you can’t preach holiness and right conduct to someone who has not yet experienced and tasted the grace of God.