The Power of Right Believing: 7 Keys to Freedom from Fear, Guilt, and Addiction (24 page)

So He was gently correcting the disciples and saying, “You
not understanding
and
unwise
ones, who are
slow of heart to believe
…” I believe it’s important for us to understand that Jesus spoke these
words in a loving tone because He is also speaking the same words to us today. He is gently reminding us that we (His disciples) have a proclivity toward the same two challenges—not understanding His Word and being slow to believe it.

Beware of Zeal without Knowledge

There are believers today who don’t know or understand what God’s Word really says. And even in instances where they do know what His Word says, they are slow of heart to believe.

My friend, Jesus doesn’t want us to be ignorant about His Word and be defeated by our lack of knowledge. The reason we study God’s Word is not to merely accumulate Bible knowledge and historical facts. It is to have a constant revelation of Jesus. And how do we do this? We can start by asking the Holy Spirit. Many times when studying the Word, I would pray this simple prayer: “Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see Jesus in the Word today.” That is what it’s all about—
seeing Jesus.

There are people who read the Word and, instead of seeing Jesus, everything becomes a law to them and they become hard, legalistic, and pharisaical. Paul describes this phenomenon in the book of Romans: “They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge”
(Rom. 10:2). What knowledge is the apostle referring to? Read the very next verses: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:3–4).

In other words, they read the Word without seeing Jesus in it and they become zealous for the law. They end up unknowingly seeking to make themselves righteous by the law. Legalism is very subtle and insidious. Many legalists are unaware that they are trapped in legalism. They would never admit they are legalists and may even preach strongly against legalism.

There are also people who attack the gospel of grace because they are blinded by their zeal for the law and how man needs to make himself better through right doing. I truly believe that many of them are genuine and sincere; nevertheless, they are sincerely wrong.

Grow in the Knowledge of God’s Grace

You need to know beyond any doubt that the law can never make you righteous. Jesus is the end of the law. You are made righteous when you believe right in the person of Jesus and His righteousness. That’s what I mean by the power of right believing.

The apostle Paul is the best person to write about this because he was the Pharisee of Pharisees, the legalist of legalists. There was a time in his life when he didn’t know that he was bound up in legalism. Don’t forget that when Paul was still known as Saul, he wasn’t zealous for sin; he was zealous for God’s law. In fact, it was
his passion for God’s law that made him persecute the early church, drag many into prison, and consent to the slaughter of Christians. He only stopped doing all this when the risen Jesus Himself began to open his eyes to the truth on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1–8). Take a moment to look at the dramatic encounter that Saul had with Jesus:

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

Saul replied, “Who are You, Lord?”

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

My friend, when others come against you for what you believe about God’s grace, don’t feel like you have to argue with them and try to convince them. Love them and pray that God will open their eyes to see Jesus. The law is a veil, and it blinds them. However, once the veil is removed, like when Paul’s eyes were opened to the truth about Jesus, there is no turning back. Just look at what happened to Paul—he became the apostle of God’s grace and his zeal was no longer without knowledge.

Therefore, don’t take their attacks personally. People of grace carry a spirit of graciousness. Those who persecute you for believing God’s grace will have to encounter Jesus when He asks them, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Grace is, after all, not a teaching; it is a Person. If they choose to attack grace, they are attacking the person of Jesus. That is why I highly recommend that you love and keep them in prayer. Remember, and this bears repeating, people of grace carry a spirit of graciousness.

Be Quick to Believe

In many places there are believers who still think that God is mad at them whenever they fail. They simply don’t have a revelation of the gospel of grace and what God’s unconditional love means. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, such believers are undiscerning and unwise.

Then there are believers who know about the gospel of grace and who even know that God loves them unconditionally. However, this knowing is only in their heads. When they fail, even though they have the knowledge of grace, they are nevertheless still afraid to come with boldness to God’s throne of grace to receive mercy, favor, healing, and restoration.

What’s the problem in this instance? That’s right, they are slow of heart to believe God’s promise of abundant grace and gift of righteousness to reign in this life. Knowing God’s truths and the gospel of grace intellectually is not enough. You have to be quick to believe everything that Jesus has accomplished on the cross for you, especially when you are struggling with failure, guilt, and fear. God doesn’t want you defeated because of a lack of knowledge of His grace. At the same time, He wants you to be quick in believing in His promises for you.

You have already learned many things about God’s love for you in this book. If you want to see the power of right believing operating in every dimension of your life, I challenge you to believe in His grace, His love, His righteousness, His forgiveness, and His finished work. I promise you that you will be transformed beyond your wildest imagination if you dare to lean hard on His love for you. His love never fails!

Ignite Your Heart

I want to show you another interesting aspect of the Emmaus story. The word “Emmaus” means “warm baths,”
³
and I have taken this walk to Emmaus with some of my pastors. Of course, we didn’t do the full seven-mile hike. We got off the tour bus about a mile away from Emmaus because I am merciful to my pastors. After all, they are not as “strong” and “young” as I am. I’m just kidding.

On a more serious note, when you think about it, seven miles is a long distance. In fact, if you read the entire story, the two disciples didn’t just walk seven miles. On the same day, they walked back to Jerusalem from Emmaus, making it a total of 14 miles or 22.5 kilometers. When was the last time you walked 14 miles in the same day?

How was it that the disciples were not tired or exhausted, especially given their initial frame of mind as they set out on their journey? Something must have happened to the disciples’ bodies as they walked with Jesus. Their physical bodies were quickened, strengthened, and invigorated. Their youth was most certainly renewed
as God’s Word promises that “those who wait on the L
ORD
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).

What happened on the road? What caused the disciples’ bodies to experience such a burst of energy and life? Listen to how the disciples described to each other what they had felt as they walked with Jesus: “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).

Therein lies the key! When the Scriptures are opened to you and things concerning Jesus are unveiled, your heart will be set aflame and burn within you like it did for these two disciples! Don’t forget what Jesus did when He heard their wrong believing and conversation of defeat: “Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself
” (Luke 24:27, emphasis mine).

In other words, beginning with the first five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, collectively known as the Torah), Jesus expounded all the things concerning Himself. Then He continued to reveal Himself in the books of the prophets, books such as Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.

Wow! What a journey it must have been! No wonder the disciples’ hearts were ignited and burned within them. Like the name of the village that they were traveling to, their hearts were bathed continually in a warm bath as Jesus opened their eyes to see Him in all the Scriptures.

What Are You Looking At?

On the first day of His resurrection, Jesus set a precedent for us on how we ought to read and study the Bible today. He doesn’t want us to approach the Word to find out what we need to do and go away with a bunch of laws. Absolutely not! Jesus wants us to open the Scriptures to see HIM. See Him in everything from Genesis to Revelation. The more you see Him, the more you will be free from all forms of self-occupation and be transformed from glory to glory.

When you look at yourself—your weaknesses, failures, mistakes, and even strengths and righteous deeds, there is no lasting hope, joy, or peace. The apostle Paul considered all his accomplishments as “dung” (Phil. 3:8
KJV
), while the prophet Isaiah states that “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6).

Jesus shows us that the way to become completely occupied and consumed with Him is to turn away from our own dark thoughts and depressing conversations and to open up the Scriptures to see Him. Be occupied with Jesus, fill your thoughts with His goodness, and saturate your heart with His love.

Open up the Bible and see Jesus in the types and shadows in the Old Testament. Every sacrifice, every feast, and even the tabernacle
and priests point to Jesus. In the New Testament, see Jesus loving and forgiving those whom the world despised, like the woman caught in adultery. See Him healing the blind, lame, and all who were oppressed with sicknesses and diseases. See Jesus multiplying provision for those who lacked. I promise you that your heart will burn, your body will be renewed, and your mind will be filled with His shalom-peace, joy, and soundness. I promise you that sin, addictions, bad habits, fear, guilt, anxiety, depression, and condemnation will drop off from your life when you are absorbed and occupied with the person of Jesus. They simply cannot coexist in your life when you are occupied with Christ and not yourself.

Open Up the Scriptures to See Christ

Many years ago when I was studying the Emmaus story, I asked the Lord why He chose to restrain the eyes of the two disciples such that they couldn’t recognize Him. I asked Him, “Wouldn’t it have been better for them to see You with Your nail-pierced hands?” I reasoned to myself that those nails must have been huge and one could possibly see light shining through those wounds. Wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus had walked down the busiest streets of Jerusalem, lifted up His hands, and hollered, “Yo! Everyone, check this out!”

But Jesus didn’t do that. He knew doing that would not produce true faith. He revealed to me that it was more important for the disciples to see Him in the Word than to see Him in person. Wow, those words brought so much hope and encouragement to my heart. If the faith of the disciples was based on them seeing Jesus physically in the flesh, then what hope do we have today? Jesus purposefully restrained their eyes so that they would see Him first in the Scriptures. That places you and me on
equal ground
and with
equal opportunity
as the two disciples. Jesus wants us all to see Him in the Word.

God’s Word tells us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17
NASB
). This means that the more you hear Jesus unveiled, expounded upon, and pointed to in the Scriptures, the more faith will be imparted to your heart to believe everything God’s Word says about you. Could it be that the reason many believers are still living in defeat today is that Jesus has not been unveiled in the Scriptures to them?

There seems to be a spiritual famine in the world today, a dearth of teaching and preaching that unveils the person of Jesus in a way that causes people’s hearts to burn as if they were in a warm bath. Instead what we often hear is teaching on right doing and more right doing. My question is, is that the gospel? Is Jesus being unveiled?

The gospel is all about Jesus. It’s not about right doing. It’s all about right believing about Jesus that makes a difference in people’s lives. The apostle Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’ ” (Rom. 1:16–17).

The gospel is the gospel of Christ, and everything is about Jesus. It’s not the gospel of morality and character, and it definitely isn’t the gospel of money and prosperity. But do you know what the gospel does? It produces all of those things. The true gospel of Jesus Christ always produces godliness, holiness, morality, character, provision, health, wisdom, love, peace, joy, and much more. They all flow from the gospel of Jesus Christ.