ENEMIES OF GRACE It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1) Apostle Paul rebuked the Galatian Church in his writing for their excessive and abrupt apostasy which had made them to depart from faith [gospel message] wherein they had been instructed and planted. False brethren moved in quickly after Paul left and sowed tares of great error amongst the wheat by insisting that they have to combine the works of the law with the righteousness that is found in Christ for them to be justified in the sight of God. The craftiness here is that they stated the fact which has no truth of grace as its foundation. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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. Gal 2:20 KJV Our ‘new life’ in Christ Jesus has nothing to do with the law, our strength or mind power which is NOW based on dependency on the Holy Spirit the Disperser of grace. He gives direction knowing that it is not to him that wills or runs but to the one who has obtained mercy/favor from the Lord. It is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Lord. Faith in the justification power of God releases grace which capacitates us to be and to do through the glory of God infused in us. [Therefore, I do not treat Gods gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose]; I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through [observing the ritual of] the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. [His death was then wholly superfluous.] Galatians 2:21 AMP We will invalidate, set aside, frustrate and nullify the grace of God if we dare try to add anything other than what the Holy Spirit allow to our spiritual works. The flesh/law profits nothing Jesus said, for the grace of God has the complete treasure needed to do the works of God per time. Frustration means to “disappoint God in what he appointed us to accomplish”, to frustrate our hope in God or frustrate God’s purpose in our lives and ministry. Literally, it also means to break or interrupt; hence, to defeat, to disappoint, to draw back, to bring to nothing, as, to frustrate the plan and design of God or to attempt to frustrate the will or purpose of God. To frustrate is to set aside, to nullify, bring to nothing, to displace, to reject and to make less important what ought to be. To make ineffective, useless, unprofitable; to make vain, to null or disannul; to cancel; and to put no value on what God intend to do. Grace is made of no effect if we… set up the righteousness which is through the law” leaning on the arm of our flesh or our own carnal righteous stand which is a filthy rag [Isaiah 64:6]. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Gal 2:10-14 KJV Peter showed preference to the Jews based on the law and he withdrew the Christian liberty of grace and love that has torn down the walls of partition between Jews and Gentiles which made them one in God the Father. Grace rests on the gospel truth which we believe and receive by faith else we will still be involved in the law of do’s and don’ts and sacrifice of bulls and rams and we will think that we are made just by these works. Faith in the gospel message induces grace to work for us but faith in the Old Testament law nullify grace and make it of no effect. Charles Swindoll powerfully lists the enemies of grace as: From without: legalism, expectations, traditionalism, manipulation, demands, negativism, control, comparison, perfectionism, competition, criticism, pettiness etc. from within: pride, fear, resentment, bitterness, an unforgiving spirit, insecurity, fleshly effort, guilt, shame, gossip, hypocrisy etc. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. 2 Chro. 26:16-20 KJV Pride, arrogant and disrespect for God and His sanctuary is the act of venturing into office that we are not called into. This attitude is an enemy of grace and such person will be set aside after experiencing the wrath of God like Uzzah. And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. 1 Chron. 21:1 KJV King David was proud of his success and fame and he numbered Israel to know the physical strength of his army when God had instructed that Israel must not be counted. He had over time enjoyed multiple and amazing grace to the point that he took advantage of what had promoted and given victory to him in the past. Before, David will never do anything without consulting God for direction and approval. On this occasion however, he refused to hear the voice of God through Joab: “Joab resisted: May GOD multiply his people by hundreds! Dont they all belong to my master the king? But why on earth would you do a thing like this--why risk getting Israel into trouble with God? Joab, disgusted by the command--it, in fact, turned his stomach!--protested by leaving Levi and Benjamin out of the census-taking. 1 Chro. 21:3 & 6 Message Bible And Jesus continued, You have a clever way of rejecting Gods law in order to uphold your own teaching Mark 7:9 GNB We must not be like the religious leaders of Jesus’s days who neglected the grace of God. They preferred, obeyed and upheld the law and tradition rather than follow the gospel truth and be endowed with grace. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Matthew 18:15-17 NIV Offenses, malice, misunderstanding, anger, bitterness will show their ugly face to make you fall short of God’s glory and His grace [Romans 3:23]. We must be determined that grievances will be settled and the sun will not go down on our wrath. It is essential that we obey divine preposition of forgiveness and disallowing sin that will break the edge of grace that encapsulate us. Let love flow freely so that it can cover a multitude of sin. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. Luke 7:30 KJV One of the ordinances of God in the New Testament is to be baptized in water and in the Spirit. As a matter of fact, we cannot receive power until we are baptized in the Holy Ghost as the word said… “Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you” [Acts 1:8]. We will disannul, frustrate and nullify the “Power of the Age to come” in our lives when we do not allow this very important baptism in our lives. We have to note the fact that the grace of God shines gloriously in justifying a sinner through the righteousness of Christ. Beware; it is a horrible sin to frustrate the grace of God and anybody that seeks righteousness by the law always frustrates the grace of God in the gospel. Lastly every sound believer who is conscious of the truth and walk in the light of it will likely not be guilty of this sin. Anything that is sin will contradict our faith in God and also frustrate the workings of the grace of God in and through us. Sin is also committed by Christians who uses carnal methods and alterations to obtain the favor of God than this grace alone; they frustrate the grace of God. Justification exonerates and cancels the sentence that condemns those who obeyed the law therefore sinning against the God of Grace. Sanctification is the healing of the disorder of sin. Justification and sanctification are always inseparable, but they are superbly distinctive. Justification is an act of God’s free grace. Sanctification is when the Holy Spirit fashion within us; justification is something done about us, spoken of in the word in the terms of a spiritual legal act that vindicates and it is the acquitting of a man from all condemnation. It is the freeing of a man from all charge, and it is done by God alone, and given to a man before he can do anything good. Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,” Rom. 3:24&25). The grace of God in upholding a sinner through the righteousness of Christ appears to be very outstanding, even in the very christening of it: it is the grace of God. It is actually great grace; it is the grace of a holy, just and powerful God. It is the grace of that God that can do everything and empower us also by the strength that He supplies. It is the grace of God towards dreadful offenders, and that makes great changes through transforming them to become like Christ. The righteousness of the law was fulfilled by Christ, and this is reckoned to a believer; and so the righteousness of the law of God is fulfilled in him; fulfilled by Christ, and so fulfilled in the believer in him. The word said … “Being justified freely”! Indeed it is a free gift of Jehovah God! You will frustrate grace if you try to earn it through works! Grace will be frustrated when we do not receive the grace of God when it is tendered and when we seek other ways and measures for righteousness than the grace of God. Christians ought not be carelessly indifferent about grace or think that they can live without it! Charles Swindoll said we must not have the tendency to compare for it is unwise… Before we will be able to demonstrate sufficient grace to let others be, well have to get rid of this legalistic tendency to compare. (Yes it is a form of legalism.) God has made each one of us unique as we are. He is hard at work shaping us into the image He has in mind. His only pattern (for character) is His Son. He wants each one of us to be unique ... an individual blend and expression unlike any other person. He emphasized that Controllers win by intimidation. Whether physical or verbal, they bully their way in as they attempt to manipulate us into doing their will. Whatever the method, controlling, like comparing, nullifies grace. If you are given to controlling others, grace is a foreign concept to you. We must not have the human tendency to be legalistic, narrow minded and rigid, which is so often partly a cover-up for our own insecurities and fears. Proliferation of Churches springs up most time because the ideology in scriptures we discover like Martin Luther is different from what the Church we are in has and we leave to start our own Church. The new freedom of the Spirit, with lots of new ideas and strategies we encountered are often indoctrinated, legalized and are now more rigid in certain ways and fleshly controlled than the older churches we left in search of grace, freedom and reality. So now, we too are in captivity to legalism and tradition if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to modify and interrupt our plans to put in fresh ideologies and spiritual strategies that the spiritual organization can continue to matter in the matters of the Kingdom of God. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Eph. 4:29-32 One of the marks of maturity is the ability to disagree without becoming disagreeable. It takes grace to handling disagreements [with brethren, other churches and unbelievers alike] with tact, diplomacy and discretion. It is one of the crowning achievements of grace. You should pray for them even if they are grossly wrong and allow God to sort them out instead of tongue lashing them and spreading bad omen about them; the Lord of the harvest will fight for them and you will fall out of grace. Devil brings in the eternal devastation of men under the gospel though unbelief of God’s word of promise. Every man that leans on his natural inclinations has an evil heart of unbelief in him. Take heed! Having been warned by the apostle “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” Heb. 3:12 This matter of unbelief is many ways spoken of in the word: the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, and his righteousness, stands all in the word of God, not of works but free unmerited favor of God. Grace and works, in the point of righteousness before God, are perfectly opposite; We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also, that you receive not the grace of God in vain, 2 Cor. 6:1 KJV Apostle Paul makes a great distinction between these two; “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ”, (Gal. 4:7). Every man that is for righteousness by the works of the law is a servant; he looks upon God as his master, and the law as his master’s will, and he sets about obeying with all his might. Now, is not this a good servant? Yes. But all such servants go to hell: you must be children, for none but children are saved. And, indeed, there are none true servants to him, but they that are children: they are but slaves, and are cast out, that do not serve with their love, and expect the inheritance only as a gift of grace; not by the works of the law. We must not be blind to our need of grace in all facet of life. Remember, you are not under law but under grace. That is why the Spirit of the Father now dwells in you and you can now call God as “Abba Father” Apostle Paul said “You are saved by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast,” Eph. 2:8, 9 KJV
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 02:56:45 +0000
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