Grace is truly the unmerited favor of God, but the true definition of grace concerns “the divine influence on the heart”.
GRACE: The Greek word used in the New Testament is defined by Strong’s exhaustive concordance;
“Graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act……..especially
THE DIVINE INFLUENCE UPON THE HEART AND IT’S REFLECTIONS IN THE LIFE;”….
The grace of God through Jesus Christ is the Spirit of God working in us to change our motivation, to change our “want to”, to conform to the will of God. The grace of God is ; “The divine influence on the heart…..” .
However, God will never change our “want to” without our permission. For our free will is never to be violated. We must choose to die to self and seek His righteousness. He alone, can work resurrection life in us.
To do what is good, to obey God, to come under His government (Kingdom) is no more possible for Christians without the grace of God working in us than it is for the unregenerate. Therefore, the grace of God works in us, as we seek His righteousness and submit to Him, this is His work! This is the rest we seek to enter into. This is the Kingdom of God or Government of God within us that Jesus spoke about;
Luke 17:20-21 And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Matthew 12:34 –35 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart
bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things
As we submit our old thoughts and imaginations to Christ, He will do the work of changing our mind, our will and our emotions to conform to His government within us, His Kingdom. Then, as the inner life is changed, by the Spirit of God, our outward actions will reflect the new nature that Christ has wrought in us. No longer will our outward action be the result of our work, but of His work. We have at this point, entered into His rest, his Sabbath.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is
that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest
any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Isaiah 58:13 -14 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from
doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the
holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor Him not doing thine own
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own¯ words:
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORDhath spoken it.
See now, with spiritual eyes, the Sabbath, His Holy day, His rest. This is a type or metaphor, a spiritual mystery, which speaks of resting in Him, trusting in Him, not in ourselves. It is His work. We can not and must not try to do it.
Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Man could not keep the law before Christ, how can we obey God’s rules without His help now. The very reason God needed to send a savior to the world was because man was totally unable to keep the law and therefore was unable to save themselves from the consequences of disobedience to begin with. What Christian is so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, by faith, being born again of His Spirit and now will attempt to return to the old days before Christ and attempt to perfect themselves from the inside out, by the works of the flesh… their own efforts, without the Spirit.
Galatians 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye
now made perfect by the flesh?
So as we willingly choose Christ’s’ life in us, and then, do not frustrate the subsequent grace He provides; He will do the work in us required to eventually manifest His righteousness in and through us. “Working out your own salvation”, as stated in Philippians 2:12, does not mean you do the work. You work out your salvation by laying down your old life, your old nature and your own desires. You then are to humbly submit every thought to the obedience of Christ (bring every thought captive) and seek His righteousness. Then the Spirit of Christ in you, can and will do God’s work of changing your intellect, your will and your emotions. However, for the most part, this is a process, not an event, and requires your faith in God, that He can and will bring to manifestation, that which you commit to him.
There is a natural law that points to a parallel spiritual law; “You reap what you sow, and it takes time from planting to harvest”. Sow to the flesh….reap to the flesh. Sow to the Spirit…reap to the Spirit
Mark 4:26-27 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will
and to do of His good pleasure
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
As a Christian, have you ever been wronged and known in your Spirit that you need to forgive the person who wronged you? However, you do not yet feel like forgiving. Your intellect, will and emotions being contrary (anti-Christ) to your Spirit, you still feel resentment, hurt, and betrayal. So, you try with all your might to do the right thing and to somehow display the right outward actions and attitude that you should. Yet you fail, for inside (your deceitful fleshly heart) you still feel the resentment, hurt, betrayal and unforgiveness. It is in this state, we frustrate the grace of God, unless we humble ourselves and turn to God for help in this time of our trouble.
To fully take advantage of the grace of God, we must come to God the Father in prayer, admitting our resentment, hurt and betrayal, laying it down as it were at the cross, humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Asking God to mortify or put to death the deceitful fleshly feelings of our body (our carnal mind, will and emotions). And then look forward, in faith, to receiving in us a new life, a new nature.
Then, in time, we will see our hearts cleansed and renewed by the Spirit of God working in us. Then from the heart, will come, the manifestations of our clean heart in fact. Now our responses are truly born of the Spirit of Christ and His work in us, not ours. That would be, “His righteousness”.
Waiting, patiently for God to work in us, thanking Him in advance for the change of heart He will work in us that will, in His time, result in the manifestation of His “true righteousness. His, not ours. Meanwhile, as Christ’s work in us is in progress, we are by faith; “the righteousness of God, in Christ”. Having committed our problem to Him. Our confidence is in Him to perfect us in that area of commitment; in fact. Our confidence must not ever be in our own ability to comply with God’s government.
Roman 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit.
I believe, to walk after the flesh has at least two pitfalls. First; if we walk after the flesh, by knowingly yielding ourselves to the lusts of the flesh, either in thought or deed. “Just go ahead and think it and or do it, what the heck.”
Second; (and I think the biggest trap for most Christians) is to walk after the flesh by trying, in our own strength, to control our thought life and ultimately the manifest acts of our flesh. We try, try, try, to do, do, do what is right, right, right, and do not turn in humility to God for help when the Holy Spirit has pointed out a problem He now wants to correct.
Isaiah 28:12-14 “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”; and, “This is the place of repose”- but they would not listen. So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do, and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there-
So that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured” (New International Version)
Trying to deal with the lusts of our flesh in our own strength, by the works of our flesh, frustrates you and the grace of God. In the end, you won’t change your “want to” and the Word of God will only become to you; rule after rule after rule, which you can't keep, and for which you can not escape the earthly consequences, even as a Christian.
If disobedience, (sin) is not dealt with in a timely and appropriate manner, it will in time, result in unpleasant consequences for Christians in this life. Disobedient thoughts or imaginations and or those resulting manifestations must be submitted to the grace of God.
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
1 Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not
be judged.
Revelation 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication;
and she repented not.
James 1:14-15 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
To walk after the Spirit is to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit, examining ourselves, and quickly surrendering to the Grace of God. There is no condemnation to those who walk after the leading of the Spirit of God. Even though the manifestation or righteous fruits, in fact, may take time, we are righteous during this process, by faith, if we are walking after the Spirit.
His manifest righteousness, in us. His righteousness, is the ultimate manifestation in us and through us, of something previously hoped for (by faith, you are saved through grace). This is a daily process with the ultimate goal of Christ’s nature being fully wrought in and through us; maturity, manifest Sons of God.
Grace is the divine influence on the heart to effect the life. By faith….you are saved…..thru Grace and faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Hebrews 4:9-10 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also Hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His
Know this, that God, having begun a good work in you, is able, to do
that which you have committed unto him. However God has given you the freedom to choose, and he will not violate this privilege.
2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things:
nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ:
Peter, Speaking of Jesus, wrote these words;
1 Peter 2:23 Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He
suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously:
Jude 1:24 Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and
to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
Quickly turning over our disobedient thoughts and imaginations to Christ is contrary to the practice of many Christians today. We know we must obey God’s laws, we certainly see that by reading the scripture and by the leading of the Holy Spirit. A couple of examples;
1 Joh 3:24 And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.
Matthew 5:19-20 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least
commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in
the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the
same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
All to often, we assume we must do the work of changing our old sin nature in order to facilitate the keeping of His commandments and “gut it out” until we manifest the required results all the time. This is a sure recipe for failure. The things we sometimes do, we wish we would not do, yet we do them anyway, our spiritual desires conflicting with our old nature, the lusts of our flesh.
Romans 7:25 ……So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
We can’t mortify the deeds of the body without the help of the Spirit, yet in practice, often, we somehow insist this is what a good Christian must do. This is a mixing of law and grace, a misunderstanding or certainly a misapplication in actual practice, thereby frustrating the grace of God.
Romans 8:13-14 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye
through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? V25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord…….
“Saved” or salvation is more than just being born again of God’s Spirit and having eternal life. “Saved” is more than saved from Hell and eternal damnation. “Saved” is all of that, but it is also the salvation of our souls (our intellect, our will and our emotions), it is a process of daily surrender to Him (dying to self) and His resurrection life in turn, working in us, daily.
We are “saved” first by the new birth in the Spirit, to know God, to be a part of his household forever. However, as a child of God, we are also “saved” daily, from the unpleasant consequences of our potential disobedience to God’s laws in this life. “Saved” from sins consequences in this life, by His life in us, which changes and regenerates our heart, in order that we willingly manifest from the heart, obedience to God and reap the fruit of righteousness in lieu of the fruit of Sin.
We learn obedience to the rules of God the Fathers household, (His Kingdom or Government) in much the same way that our children learn obedience to the rules of our household. As our obedience and subsequent maturity in the natural are related, in like manner is our obedience to the rules of God the Fathers household. This, in order that we may grow “Spiritually”, becoming trustworthy, mature Sons of God, and rule and reign in life with Christ Jesus. We follow the pattern of the Son.
Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
What good natural parents, would grant power of attorney to their continually rebellious, disobedient child? What child, who continues to be rebellious and disobedient to their good parents, does not diminish the quality of their own lives and the lives of others around them? Remember the principle; first the natural, then the Spiritual.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to His mercy He saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
The cleansing of our hearts, the seat of our intellect, will and emotions, is His work, not ours. We can not do this, any more than we can cause the new Spiritual birth in ourselves. We therefore must be cleansed in our hearts by the grace of God, through faith in what Jesus Christ will do, until from the cleansed heart will come forth manifest righteousness through the body. Thereby are we justified, first by faith and then in fact.
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Galatian 2:20-21 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if
righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
To become a Christian, we must believe Jesus, by faith, for our “new-born” life in the Spirit, our beginning. As Christians, we then must progressively believe and trust Him to change us day by day from the righteousness which comes by faith to His manifest righteousness in us . His righteousness is righteousness in fact, or manifest perfection and maturity. When His righteousness is perfected in us, we then will be mature Sons of God without need for further rebuke or correction. Otherwise, as Christians, we will be as foolish as the Galatians who Paul admonished;
Galatians 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye
now made perfect by the flesh?
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
John 15:5 4. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Psalms 37:4-7 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him:…
Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
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