Grace : The Power to Change

-2 Cor 3:5-8,14,15-Our Sufficiency is of God, Who has

made us ABLE MINSTERS of the N.C,not of the
letter(Law) but of the Spirit (N.C) : for the letter kills
but the Spirit gives life. The O.C is the ministry of
death & the N.C is the ministry of e’ Spirit.
-Some ministers & many Christians today are
standing w’ one leg ine’ O.C & e’ other in e’ N.C
-The O.C was a schoolmaster (Pedagogos) taking us
to Christ(Gal 3:24-25) so we no longer need the
schoolmaster.
-Heb 8:6-10,13-Jesus is e’ Mediator of this Better
Covenant,written not on stones but one’ heart: It
came because of the insufficiency of e’ 1st one.
 -The 1st one is now obsolete & it now finds it’s
fulfilment in Jesus. Since e’ resurrection of Christ e’
Church has had an ongoing problem attempting to
incorporate e’ O.C into e’ New. Unfortunately to do
so totally neutralises e’ power of e’ N.C to work in
our lives. Under e’ O.C if a person fell short in
anyway he would rightfully look for e’ curse of e’ law
in his life (Gal 3:13). He had a covenant w’ God that
was based on his performance. The promises of that
covenant were contingent upon one’s ability to obey.
The promises were for those that obeyed & e’ curses
for those who did not.The N.C is different. Its a
better covenant yet our unbelief continues to refer
us to e’ O.C. This then is our downfall.
- No one can live by e’ dictates of e’ law that’s why e’
N.C of Grace came.
- The law was a cry for Grace: for a Saviour since no
one was able to live by e’ law.
- For by e’ deeds of e’ law no flesh can be justified
(Gal 3:11).
- Grace came because e’ law failed.
- It was never God’s intention for man to live by e’
law but He wanted to show man how sinful he is &
because of that man needed a Saviour.
- Jn 1:17- The law was given by Moses BUT Grace &
Truth came by (in e’ form of) Jesus Christ.
- Jesus literally came.
- In e’ N.C God didn’t make a covenant w’ sinful man
as individuals (because e’ weakness of e’ O.C /law
was man (Rom 8:3) BUT He made it w’ Jesus (Gal
3:16). The O.C was based on each individual’s ability
to uphold his side of e’ covenant BUT e’ N.C however
is based on One man’s ability (Jesus) to uphold e’
covenant. He fulfilled all e’ righteous requirements
of e’ law. He made e’ covenant sure by sealing it w’
His own blood thru His death. It cannot be changed.
-Trying to accept terms of e’ O.C is by default
rejecting e’ terms of e’ N.C in which case we should
obey every commandment w’out fail (Jam 2:10, Gal
3:10). Even e’ Jews themselves failed to live by e’
law. Law - Awareness to sin w’out giving e’ ABILITY.
- Rom 2:4 - Don’t despise e’ Grace of God: for it is e’
goodness & kindness of God that lead to repentance.
- Legalism makes apostasy easy. Paul says he knew
not sin until e’ law was given to him.
- More stricter rules & laws breed in people’s hearts
new ways of breaking e’ same w’out being caught.
- Jesus always reached out to people in Love &
Grace. Ref Jn 8 - Woman caught in adultery: Go & sin
no more.
-Rom 2:3- e’ same thing that you accuse others of is
e’ same thing that you’re guilt of. 2 Sam 11:12-
Nathan confronts David after he sinned w’
Bathsheba.
 - Gen 38 - Judah accuses Tamar of adultery, e’ very
sin David was guilt of.
- Grace is a gift that costs everything to e’ giver &
nothing to e’ receiver. Grace is God’s ability working
in man, making him able to do what he could not
naturally do in his own ability. Man has never had e’
ability to change his nature. Jer 13:23 - can an
Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots,then
may ye also do good who are accustomed to do evil?
- Under e’ law people work hard at trying to change
but e’ Bible says Righteousness never came by e’ law.
The law never changed people but simply gave them
a Standard of conduct: Isaiah compares this standard
to rags & Paul compares it to dung (Philp 3:8-9).
 - Jesus was abounding in Grace (God’s ability) &
Truth - Jn 1:14b,16 & of His fullness have we all
received Grace for Grace. Its that Grace that makes e’
N.C life a possibility. Apart from Grace we still would
be striving & struggling in our own strength.
- Grace & Truth - Jesus gave e’ power (Grace) to live
that truth. The 1st Covenant brought glory to man &
e’ 2nd gives Glory to God because of His
accomplishments in man. Ref - Jew/Gentile praying.
- Ref to e’ law & e’ teaching of Jesus: His teachings
went far beyond e’ law/performance BUT He
focused on e’ Heart (motive & intent). Not only did
He say we had to do e’ right thing but that we had to
do it from e’ heart.
- Jesus raised e’ law to a higher standard: to e’ level
of e’ heart/not just performance BUT e’ right heart :
Jesus referred to just looking @ a woman w’ a
lustful eye as adultery.
- He established that e’ motive of e’ heart always had
to be Love & nothing else.
- Not talking of Behaviour Modification But Believing
right which leads to Living right.
- Grace does not take away Responsibility but it adds
Responsibility. It doesn’t promote ungodliness but it
upholds Godliness. Ref to 1 Tim 3:5 - form of
godliness denying e’ power thereof (not e’ power of
God) BUT N.B - Its saying there’s power in godliness.
Godliness is e’ result of Grace.
 - Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness. Its not e’
absence of restrain but rather it empowers one to
restrain.
- Rom 6:14 - For sin shall not have dominion over you
for you’re not under e’ law but under Grace:
meaning if you’re under law sin has dominion over
you.
-The amount of legalism you allow yourself to walk
into empowers sin in you, it will dominate you. N.B -
You don’t overcome sin by prayer & fasting but by
walking in Grace.
- Law is man’s ability & Grace is God’s ability.
- Grace is not an excuse to sin but e’ power over sin:
Rom 6:1- Shall we remain in sin that Grace may
 abound? No ways.
- After Salvation people usually experience an
immediate change in many areas of their lives but
however often these changes don’t last: Why?-
Religion creeps in. A very thin line separates True
Christianity from Religion. One falls into sins that
had him bound before coming to e’ Lord. They start
to question their Salvation. If e’ new believer would
continue in e’ Lord e’ same way they came to Him
(Col 2:6) they would continue to experience victory
over sin.
- Greatest change ever experienced came at
Salvation, in an instant by faith: why not continue in
that same simple faith.
- Gal 3:3 - Foolish Galatians, having begun in e’ spirit
you now want to be made perfect by e’ flesh (law).
You’re not saved by Grace & brought into
Righteousness by works.
- At Salvation God gave you a new spirit & a new
heart (Ez 36:26): spirit not only made new but
righteous, holy, perfect & complete - not a little baby
spirit that had to grow up. Your spirit is as whole,
clean, righteous, perfect & complete as it will ever
be. The need is not for one to get more righteous but
to get that which is in your spirit to become a reality
in your life. INSIDE OUT - Getting that which is on e’
inside to get out. How do you get e’ holiness,
righteousness, etc to get out into e’ realm you live?
 - You get it out through e’ Heart. Your Heart is e’
Door. N.B - Grace is God’s influence on e’ heart.
- All that God has done in our spirit comes into our
life through e’ heart. The condition of e’ heart
determines what will come out of e’ inner man.
- The Heart is e’ seat of your being. Its who you really
are. Prov 23:7-As a man thinks in his heart, Phil 4:8-
think on these things, Mat 12:34b - out of e’
abundance of e’ heart e’ mouth speaks, Ps 119:11-
hid in my heart. What we think, what we expose
ourselves to, beliefs we adopt - ALL affect &
influence our heart. Our spirit can be full of joy, life,
healing but e’ condition of our heart can keep those
things from becoming a reality in this realm.
- Its only through e’ heart that all these things can be
realised since our lives are an overflow of our hearts.
Its called living life out of e’ overflow.
- Real Victory goes beyond behaviour &
performance. Right behaviour is of little value if we
inwardly crave to act another way: Real Victory is
not walking away from sin longing to give in to it,
BUT it is walking away from sin w’ a deep sense of
pleasure & peace.
- Mat 11:28-Come & l will give you rest
(Sabbath/Grace). Learn of Me...Israelites are an e.g.
to us: their major mistake was that they refused to
enter into God’s rest. God wanted them to enter into
e’ promised land. He wanted them to live in houses..
 They didn’t build & eat fruit from tees they didn’t
plant. (Enjoying e’ fruit of someone else’s labour.)
- So they didn’t enter because of unbelief (Heb 3:19):
Likewise if we don’t enter into rest (Grace), we’ll die
in our works wilderness.
- Grace allows us to come across a whole lot of
spiritual benefits which we are not necessarily
looking for. We come upon happy discoveries when
we are not necessarily looking for them.
- Real change is of e’ heart & its effortless. Its living
life out of e’ overflow w’out putting own strength
BUT by receiving God’s ABILITY in our hearts.
- Rom 10:10 - w’ e’ heart man believes unto
Righteousness.
 - God discerns e’ heart, so e’ motives of our
heart should always be pure.
- Dead Works - Right/Good things done to earn
God’s favour/approval/ blessings.
- Good Works - Right/Good things that are
done as a result of one’s love for God.
- Works Righteousness -Trying to attain God’s
Righteousness by doing certain things other
than receiving it by faith. (Rom 9:31-32).
- Faith Righteousness - Receiving God’s gift of
Righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus
alone.(Rom 9:30).
- The Judaizers were a group of people who believed
that Jesus was e’ Messiah & they taught that you
must believe in Him to be saved BUT they also
taught that one must obey the law to be righteous,
receive e’ blessings & stay saved.
- If you did not obey e’ law & maintain your
righteousness, you lost e’ benefits of God (Shame).
- Many books ine’ N.T were written to address this
erroneous doctrine that seemed so reasonable &
godly, yet rejected everything Jesus accomplished.
-This concept is present & preeminent in e’ church
today. This is e’ basis for much charismatic &
mainstream doctrine today: Saved by faith in Christ
Jesus & made righteous by works.
-The most enticing logic to e’ human mind is ‘works
righteousness’. It just makes sense to us. The human
mind cannot conceive of righteousness as a free gift.
- Rather than trusting e’ Grace of God, we trust our
logic & are thereby cheated.
- No one can live under e’ law & qualify. The Jews
tried it & failed. The law states that no one will ever
be justified by be’ law, yet we foolishly try & cling to
it, because it is logical to us.
- Col 2:6 - keep walking in Jesus e’ way you came to
Him (by faith). Vs 9 -The fullness of the Godhead
dwells in Christ in bodily form. It means that
everything God is & everything God has dwells in
Christ.
 - We are therefore complete in Him (Col 2:10) : So l
don’t need anything else to make me complete. This
is e’ mystery that’s been hidden for ages i.e. Christ in
me e’ hope of glory (Col 1:27) : not my works, not my
amount of faith BUT Christ in me.
- My works won’t make me complete but my works
should flow from e’ reality that l am complete in
Jesus & never flow from an attempt to be made
complete.
- Col 2:14 - Blotting out e’ handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, & took
IT out of e’ way, nailing IT to e’ cross. N.B - We have
a mentality of Jesus nailing our sin @ e’ cross.
- N.B -WHAT DID JESUS NAIL ON THE CROSS? Not our
sins (He bore our sins to e’ grave) BUT it was e’ LAW
(Handwriting of Ordinances which was against us)
that He nailed to e’ cross.
- The law gave Satan e’ basis to accuse us before
God: as long as he had a basis to point to our
failures, he had a right to accuse us before God &
yourself. Jesus had to remove e’ basis of accusation -
Rom 4:15 - ‘where there’s no law there’s no
transgression’. The only way for there to be no
transgression was to remove e’ O.C & replace it w’
one that provided righteousness as a free gift. 2 Cor
3:14 - e’ removal of e’ law made us able to see both
God & e’ devil as they really are.
 -The Bible says that e’ law was a veil over e’ eyes of
those who were under that covenant. The veil being
taken away made it possible to see God as He is & to
be transformed from glory to glory.
- We were also able to see Satan as he is: a big,
gossiping liar whose only tool against us was e’ law.
- Now that he no longer has that tool, he has no
power over us. He would only have a basis of
accusation & condemnation if we were still trying to
be made righteous by e’ law.
- God never intended for us to live by or to be made
righteous by e’ law BUT by GRACE.
- Grace costs Nothing but Faith. Its against human
logic, it provokes Jealousy in others.
- Mat 20:1-15 - A farmer hires labourers to work his
vineyards: some came @ sunrise, some @ morning
coffee break, some @ lunchtime & some just before
knock off time. Everybody seemed content until
payroll time when e’ stalwarts who had toiled for
12hrs under e’ blazing sun learned that e’ sweatless
upstarts who had barely put in an hour would
receive exactly e’ same wages as them. The boss’
action contradicted everything known about
employee motivation & fair compensation. It was
atrocious economics & that was e’ intent.
- Lesson: Grace isn’t fair: its scandalous.
- He was giving us a lesson on Grace which can’t be
calculated like a day’s wages.
- Grace isn’t about finishing 1st or last: It is about not
counting. We receive Grace as a gift from God not as
something we toil to earn.
- Why would God choose Jacob a conniver over
dutiful Esau & why confer supernatural strength on
idolatrous Samson? Why groom a runty shepherd
boy, David over his well to do brothers to be Israel’s
king. David later falls into adultery & kills? Why then
bestow a sublime gift of wisdom on Solomon e’ fruit
of that adulterous liaison?
- Jesus would ask: Are you Pharisees envious
because l open e’ gates to e’ Gentiles so late? That l
honour e’ prayer of a tax collector above a
Pharisee’s? That l accept e’ last minute confession of
 A robber & welcome him to Paradise? U begrudge
Me leaving e’ obedient flock to seek for e’ stray one
or My serving e’ fatted calf to e’ no good prodigal?
-The full day workers were not cheated: they got
what they were promised: their discontent arose
from e’ scandalous mathematics of Grace. They
didn’t believe that their employer had a right to do
what he wanted w’ his money when it came to
paying scoundrels 12 times more than what they
deserved. God dispenses Gifts not Wages. None of us
gets paid on merit for none of us comes close to
satisfying God’s requirements for a perfect life.
- If e’ world could be saved by good bookkeeping, it
would have been saved by Moses not Jesus.
- By my reckoning Judas & Peter stand out as e’ most
mathematical of e’ disciples. Judas must have proven
to be a genius w’ numbers for him to be elected
treasurer. Peter was a stickler for detail, always
trying to pin down Jesus’ precise meaning. He counts
e’ fish one’ miraculous catch engineered by Jesus:
153. Who, but a mathematician would bother to do
that? : It was altogether in character for him to
pursue some mathematical formula of Grace: How
many times shall l forgive my brother when he sins
against me? 7 times? Jesus taught him that
forgiveness was not about counting. We forgive
because we were forgiven.
- Grace isn’t about deserving.
- From nursery school we are taught to succeed in e’
world of No Grace. The early bird catches a worm.
No pain, no gain. There’s no such thing as free lunch.
Demand your rights. Get what you pay for, nothing
more, nothing less.
- Yet if l care to listen l hear a loud whisper from e’
Gospel, that l did not get what l deserved. I deserved
punishment & got forgiveness, deserved wrath & got
love, deserved death & got everlasting life.
- God asks e’ prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute
(Gomer) to illustrate His love for Israel. Gomer bears
3 children for Hosea then abandons e’ family to live
w’ another man. While there in prostitution God
gives Hosea a command to “ go show your love to
 your wife though she’s loved by another man & is a
prostitute. Love her as e’ Lord loves e’ Israelites
though they turn to other gods”. In Hosea e’ scandal
of Grace became an actual talk of e’ town scandal.
- Hosea welcomed his wife back home. She didn’t get
fairness or justice BUT she got Grace.
- At e’ heart of e’ Gospel is a God who deliberately
surrenders to e’ will, wild irresistible power of Love.
- Ref to Paul’s life: Grace is e’ best he could wish
them because it is e’ best he received. “I am what l
am by God’s Grace” (1 Cor 15:10).
- God loves us because of who He is not because of
who we are. God gave up on His son rather than give
up on humanity.
 - How would my life change if l truly believed e’
Bible’s astounding words about God’s love for me, if l
looked in e’ mirror & see what God sees.
- Each day Jewish men begin their morning prayers
by giving thanks to God who has not made them a
gentile, slave or woman. Acts 10 shows clearly e’
results of such an attitude. A revolution of Grace was
underway.
- Against all odds Jesus went against Judaism &
Legalism to show Grace. Never enter e’ home of a
Gentile, never dine w’ sinners, perform no work on
e’ Sabbath, wash your hands 7 times before eating:
Thus when word spread that Jesus could be e’ long
awaited Messiah pious religious Jews were shaken.
 - Had He not touched lepers, had He not let a
woman of ill repute wash His feet w’ her hair? He
dined w’ tax collectors & one even joined His inner -
circle of 12. He was lax about e’ Sabbath observance,
moreover He deliberately crossed into Gentile
territory. He praised a Roman Centurion as having
more faith than anyone in Israel & volunteered to
enter e’ Centurion’s house to heal his servant. He
healed a half bred Samaritan woman w’ leprosy &
had a lengthy conversation w’ a Samaritan woman to
e’ consternation of His disciples who knew that Jews
don’t associate w’ Samaritans.
-This woman rejected by her neighbours on account
of her serial marriages became e’ 1st
 Evangelist appointed by Jesus & e’ 1st person to
whom He revealed Himself as Messiah.
-Then Jesus culminates His time on earth by giving
His disciples e’ Great Commission: a command to
take e’ Gospel to unclean Gentiles, in all Judea &
Samaria & to e’ ends of e’ earth. Gospel Inclusive not
Exclusive. How could He be e’ awaited Messiah?
- Jesus sealed His fate w’ His insistence on e’
gentiles’ right to approach God: Rung by rung, Jesus
dismantled e’ ladder of hierarchy that had marked e’
approach to God. He invited sinners, defectives,
aliens, e’ unclean & Gentiles to e’ banquet table:
Jesus’ parable of sending messengers into e’ streets
& alleys to invite e’ poor, e’ crippled,
 e’ lame & e’ blind fulfils e’ above. The prodigal son
ends w’ a banquet scene featuring as its hero a good
for nothing who had soiled family reputation.
- Lk 8:26-36 - Sails into Gentile territory & heals a
naked madman & commissions him as an evangelist
to his hometown. Next, He’s touched by an unclean
haemorrhaging woman (thought to be in her
condition as a result of sin) whom He heals. Lk 9:51-
55 - Samaria refuses to receive Jesus; disciples want
to call fire to destroy Samaria but Jesus rebukes
them. He later sends them there thru e’ Great
Commission. Still they didn’t go; only Philip went
(Acts 8:5-8, 26-39) & led many to Christ & baptises e’
1st Missionary to Africa/Ethiopian Eunuch.
 - Acts 2 - e’ right kind of fire: 3 000 were saved.
- Mat 23:13-17 - Ref to Pharisees as a brood of vipers
& whitewashed tombs not because of their
extremism: l doubt if He really cared what they ate
or how many times they washed their hands BUT He
did care that they imposed extremism on others &
focussed on trivialities & YET neglecting more
weighty matters.
-The low point of Legalism played itself out @ Jesus’
execution: e’ Pharisees took pains to avoid entering
Pilate’s place before e’ Passover
Feast & arranged for e’ Crucifixion not to interfere w’
e’ Sabbath rules. Thus e’ greatest crime in history
was carried out w’ strict attention to legalistic detail.
 - Lk 11 - Beware of e’ leaven of e’ Pharisees:
Hypocrisy.
-The Pharisees saw strictness as a means of
achieving & gaining status just as we have as
Christians set up our own set of acceptable &
unacceptable sins. Legalism fails miserably @ e’ one
thing that its supposed to do: to encourage
obedience. The finer e’ net e’ numerous e’ holes.
- A system of strict laws actually puts new ideas of
lawbreaking in a person’s mind: “For l would not
have known what coveting really was if e’ law had
not said do not covet; but sin seizing e’ opportunity
afforded by e’ commandment, produced in me every
kind of covetous desire”. Rom 7:7.
 - Moralism apart from Grace solves little.
- What comes to mind when sinners think of e’
church? (Holier than thous?).
- Ref to prodigal son receiving Grace despite
having lived riotously & carelessly.
- 2 Cor 13:14 -The Grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, e’ love of God & e’ communion of e’
Holy Spirit, be w’ you all: Grace is what Paul
could wish them because Grace is what he had
received when he was turned from e’ worst of
sinners to e’ Chief Apostle (1 Cor 15:10).
- Grace is actually e’ power to overcome sin.
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