Question: “What is this different mindset, what is ‘grace’ all about?
It’s about your efforts and what is not your efforts.
The law (in the Old Testament) is about our self-efforts.
Grace is basically the unmerited, undeserved favour of God, which means you cannot do anything in your own efforts to please God or deserve or get anything from God. He only blesses you because of His Son Jesus.
The foundational basis of God’s grace is something that you cannot earn, something that you do not deserve, something that our own human efforts cannot achieve from God. We are entirely, entirely only blessed through the sacrifice and atonement of Jesus. When we believe in Him we partake of everything that He deserves. He basically took everything that we deserved on Himself at the cross so that we could take everything that He deserved – and He was a holy, sinless man who deserved the fullness of God, the blessing, the righteousness, everything. So Jesus took our sinful nature and our sinful deeds on Himself, He knew no sin and he sinned not once, but he took on all of our sins so that we could be made righteous. (2 Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.)
When you try to deserve yourself to be made righteous, you’re actually nullifying the work of Jesus, because that was His point. God gave us the law to bring us to the end of ourselves to show us , the law actually reveals our sins – to do this and don’t do that. The Ten Commandments was the law engraved on stone and it’s actually called “the ministry of death”. Because no one could keep the law. So Jesus actually came to fulfil the law. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for the sinful deeds of man committed in the law, so now we’re living in God’s grace.
It’s always about what Jesus has done. Grace points us to the cross. Grace points us to the finished work of Jesus. Because Jesus bore what we deserved so now we are actually enjoying the blessings that Jesus deserved. Because He was the substitute for us. So now don’t try to do something in your mind or in your daily efforts and think God will be pleased with your works – doing something out of works or duty to try to earn merit with God. Just rest in Him and love Him and you will find that if you let Him, He will produce the works in you because you are in Him and He is in you; so therefore just as the vine produces fruit, so will you because of your union and the love between you. The sap produces the fruit – His works. (Hebrews 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.)
That makes it easier for us though! Religious people hate this because they always try in their self-efforts – have they kept the Sabbath, have they kept the law, have they done good deeds? When you try to earn something that cannot be grace because that means you earned it.
That leaves us in a very good position because no matter what mistakes we make, no matter what we do wrong, no matter whatever, it doesn’t count on us any more, it just counts on Jesus. And that’s why grace is so important because it always points us to Jesus and we have a consciousness and awareness of Jesus, because you realise that even when you make mistakes, you are still the righteousness of Jesus, that you are still forgiven, that your sins are still put on Him. You are constantly thanking Him and constantly just thinking, “Phew, if it was up to me it would be horrible,” because you realise that you never make the mark, you are always missing the mark in any case, and that’s fine because God doesn’t look at you, He’s looking at you through His Son. It means that God is looking at you the same as He looks at Jesus, and He wants to treat you like He treats Jesus, so let Him!
So basically it’s a place of rest. Grace is just resting and going, “Phew! Thank you Jesus, You have done it all, You are the perfect One, but because I believe in You, I receive that abundance of grace.” It says in Romans 5:17 they which receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life as kings through the One Jesus Christ. And 1 John 4:17 says, Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world…in this world! We are full of His power and all the fullness of the Godhead. (Col 2:9-10 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.)
So the enemy tries to keep you aware and conscious of your own self all the time and you think “ohhh and trying, and ahhh so tough!” So just remember, I know it takes time to get this concept into you but just realise that God is judging you and looking at you and assessing you based on His Son. So rest in His Son, rest in Jesus, have faith in Jesus, trust in Jesus, and keep your eyes on Jesus, your consciousness on Jesus; it always points to Jesus!
And once you get that you’ll truly find rest. Even faith could become a work when you try and work up faith and try to know “do I have enough faith for this?” No don’t think like that.
(Here’s an illustration of that principle – the Bible story of when Moses told the children of Israel to paint sheep’s’ blood on their doorposts so that the angels would identify who to pass over so that they’d be safe from the final plague that would set them free: One daddy of one family said, “do I have enough faith in the blood on our doorpost to keep us safe?” and so his family trembled all night. The other daddy of another family said, “We did what Moses said to do, so we leave the rest up to God to protect us,” and they rested all night. But the blood saved them both so the worriers stayed awake and worried in vain!)
So the key element here is learning how to receive that grace, because we’re so used to the mentality of self effort – we’re taught it as children – if you obey you get blessings, if something goes wrong its because you did something wrong, you disobeyed. That’s the law, that’s bringing yourself under the law. Gal 5:4 says Christ is become of no effect to you those of you who are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace.
Now that’s a horrible place to be when Jesus becomes of no effect to you. When He becomes of no effect to you, when you are sick you remain sick, when you are poor you remain poor, when you are without wisdom you remain without wisdom. It says Christ becomes of no effect to those of you who are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace.
So that’s not a good place to be, it’s much, much easier and much nicer and better to always look to Jesus and be conscious of Jesus and don’t be conscious of your sins because there are so many verses saying that you are forgiven and Hebrews 10:12 says that after He’d offered one sacrifice for our sins FOREVER, He sat down at the right hand of God.
So don’t be aware and conscious of what you did or did not do because it’s not based on you any more, so just be constantly resting, be constantly at peace. God is good; He loves you!
When you rest He works, when you work He rests!
So be constantly thinking about Jesus the whole time and just throw yourself on His grace and mercy because His grace is what saves us and His grace is what will transform us.
When you realise its not up to you any more and stop striving and straining then you really get set free because God looks at us through the sacrifice of His Son and that’s what He counts. And when you’re in Christ and Christ is in you, that’s God measuring stick of How He sees you.
People get healed by grace because God already healed them (2,000 years ago) and He just wants them well. So just rest in that faith and it will manifest. Don’t try to push or strain and struggle because you’ll just wear yourself down and you’ll get tired and stressed. Everything God does for us and has done for us is through His grace.
So don’t be subtly caught up into works. In Gal 2, Paul says to them “Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” Because they were listening to someone say, “Yes you were saved by grace but you have to keep this law to stay right with God.” Paul said you’ve been tricked… he used harsh words and said if anyone preaches another gospel let him be accursed… because the whole thing is about grace and it points you to Jesus and its not dependent on man’s efforts any more.
So just be set free!
Author: Chris Chittenden