THE SPIRIT OF GRACE I

Let me start by saying, in order to understand the grace of God for the New Covenant, you must first understand the mystery of Christ. In the Old Covenant, it is clear that the grace of God was unmerited favor, love, and blessing. The problem with the Grace Revolution message is that…

● It does not report the meaning of Grace in the New Covenant.

● It does not regard the fact that grace is expanded to define the workmanship of God;

● It does not define the work of grace in the making of the Body of Christ.

If my colleagues in the faith had such knowledge of these things, they would characterize their doctrine as ludicrous. But these truths are hidden in the mystery of Christ, and are revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Eph 3:1-3). Nevertheless, the mystery of Christ speaks on this wise:

I. GRACE . . . is a Spirit.

Zechariah 12:10

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications.

Hebrews 10:29

Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

There is only one Spirit the Body of Christ received from God. It is the Holy Ghost. Thus, the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Grace. Now if this is true, then we must maintain that the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of grace are one and the same.

Acts 2:17-18

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

Matthew 12:29

Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

(A reference to the fact that Jesus would evict the devil from the flesh - replacing the spirit of iniquity with the Holy Spirit - claiming the body as His own.)

John 17:2

As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

II. GRACE . . . is God’s influence in the heart that is reflected or manifested in the life we live.

It is a profound error to report that the law has no part in our salvation. Such a statement reveals an unlearned practitioner’s attempt to teach a word he is unable to correctly interpret. Jesus said, If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love (John 15:10).

It is true that we are not saved by the Law, but it is also true that once saved, we are able to keep or walk in the commandments of the law (that pertain to righteous character); simply because the indwelling of the Holy Spirit has made us to be the righteousness contained in the Law. (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 2:15)

Matthew 22:36-40

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

My dear brothers and sisters, God has not done away with the law, He simply took it off the tables of stone and wrote it in our hearts and in our minds. This is the work of the Spirit of Grace; for it is by the Holy Ghost that the salvation of God is accomplished. Let’s take an even closer look.

THE PROPHETIC WORD

Jeremiah 31:33-34

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD,I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Ezekiel 36:27

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

The scriptures above reveals the disposition of the heart of God concerning the way His people walked before Him. The whole purpose of the Covenant was to make it possible for the people of God to walk in the righteousness of the law.

THE PRESENT TRUTH

Hebrews 10:14-18

14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Now let us look at the purpose of the Spirit of Grace, as it is revealed in the workmanship of God in His making of the Body of Christ.

Ezekiel 11:19

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Here we have the full expression of Grace, its purpose and its power. God’s influence is a new heart, and a new Spirit. Not just a new impression.

Mark 2:22

And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.

Grace came into the world to guarantee the Father would have His holy nation. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Grace.

I heard my colleague erroneously say, “Context is key.” This he spoke concerning studying the Bible. But I say to you, perspective and position are even more key to understanding the Holy Canon. When you study the Bible from the position of the flesh, you lean to your own understanding, which is limited by the finiteness of the flesh. Flesh is not all knowing. Neither is it able to discern the spirituality of the Word of God.

Candidly speaking our bad behavior is of great consequence to our salvation. God does indeed deal with His children through grace, however, this does not mean that God will not judge them for sin or bad behavior. Contrary to what many say, the scriptures greatly support these points and rebuke contrary thoughts. It is obvious that such preachers either have no regard for truth, or are completely unaware of it. Let me continue to explain the work of grace in the believer.

Once again,

Jeremiah was inspired by the Spirit to say, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.

Paul, in attempting to quote Jeremiah says, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; Paul is simply identifying our inward parts as the heart and the mind, also known as our spiritual parts, and the inner man.

What do you suppose was the purpose for writing this law in our hearts? It was to facilitate the long awaited desire of the Father to have a people who were able to stand before Him in righteousness and truth? The scriptures testify of this being the very reason for the installation of another covenant.

Romans 8:3-4

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Because we are the advocates for living holy before God, sadly my brothers in the Grace Revolution movement refer to us as “Ministers of Condemnation.” But the script above declares that the main purpose for the coming of Christ was to condemn sin in the flesh; as opposed to making provision for it.

Jesus did not come, suffer and die, so that we could live a life flawed with sin. Don’t allow your heart to believe such a thing, simply because your past may have been a series of failures. The word of God is bigger and more powerful than your possible failures and the failures of others in the Body.

The law was written on tables of stone, and it had no effect on the disposition of the flesh, which was under the power of evil concupiscence. Concerning the law, one could read it, understand it, and try to obey it, but the end of such efforts was always failure. This caused the need for animal sacrifices to satisfy the penalty imposed on the people by the law.

These sacrifices and offerings were the atonement for the sins of the people. The word atonement simply means to be at-one-with. When the animal died on the altar of God, it was treated as though the people themselves had died, paying the wages of sin. But God had a problem with these continual sacrifices.

In the operation and workmanship of God, we were baptized into the death of Christ.

Romans 6:3

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:6-7

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Romans 6:10

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

According to all of the above passages the soul that is born again, is baptized into the death of Christ. However, that death took place before the world was created. Thus the death of Christ took place in eternity. Therefore, our baptism into his death placed our soul and spirit in eternity as well.

Our body, however, because it is now the temple of the Lord, it is His flesh, His bone and His blood. In order for the law of kinsmanship to be satisfied one must have a human body, however our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, though eternity dwells in it, it will not be capable of dwelling in eternity until it is changed in the resurrection.

Cherish the knowledge of this by waiting on the return of the Lord with a great expectation. This is the blessing of faith we render to the Father and the Son. And again I say, “Wait on the Lord.”