Cheap grace, what?
I was involved with a wonderful Facebook conversation yesterday. The topic was “cheap grace.”
True grace compells one to enter in further. Pauls coversion is the perfect example. He was so enamored by the free gift of grace that he became the perfect poster child for it. Those who say it is a license to sin didnt quite get the message right. After 30+ years of Christianity the veil was torn away and I feel I had that Emaus Road moment. The word has come alive to me to such a way that I want it more than anything else. Also, the areas where I had issues with as far as crucifying the flesh and fighting against have become non issues. I am now no longer concentrating on fighting and attaining in my own works. When I took the emphasis off my works and resting in the finished works of the cross I am walking in freedom both spiritual and fleshly. I am now driven to run to his rest.
I was thinking on the term false grace and It popped into my memory. Counterfeit bills! The US trains its auditors and investigators by having them spend countless hours with real currency (not fake). They become so accustomed to the REAL DEAL that if the fake comes along they know it only because they know the real…
Romans 6
1. It is not possible to interpret grace as a cheap excuse to continue in sin. It sounds to some that we are saying, “Let’s carry on sinning then so that grace may abound.” (In the previous chapter Paul expounds the heart of the gospel by giving us a glimpse of the far-reaching faith of God; even at the risk of being misunderstood by the legalistic mind he does not compromise the message.)
2. How ridiculous is that! How can we be dead and alive to sin at the same time?
3. What are we saying then in baptism, if we are not declaring that we understand our union with Christ in his death?
4. Baptism pictures how we were co-buried together with Christ in his death; then it powerfully illustrates how in God’s mind we were co-raised with Christ into a new lifestyle. (Hos 6:2)
5. We were like seeds planted together in the same soil, to be co-quickened to life. If we were included in his death we are equally included in his resurrection. (2 Cor 5:14 – 17)
6. We perceive that our old lifestyle was co-crucified together with him; this concludes that the vehicle that accommodated sin in us, was scrapped and rendered entirely useless. Our slavery to sin has come to an end.
7. If nothing else stops you from doing something wrong, death certainly does.
8. Faith sees us joined in his death and alive with him in his resurrection.
by Mirror Bible – mobile app. http://www.mirrorbible.com
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Faith comes by hearing (remix)
It’s the Good News! Faith comes from the report. The cross of Christ was a success. He was the message, the revelation of the equality of sonship. Jesus is God’s language. The message supplies faith.
Verse 17 is the traditional “Faith comes by hearing and ……”
[Romans 10:16 – 17]
16 It is hard to imagine that there can yet be a people who struggle to hear and understand the good news. Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
17 It is clear then that faith’s source is found in the content of the message heard; the message is Christ.
(We are God’s audience; Jesus is God’s language! The Greek, ek, is a preposition that denotes source or origin; thus, faith comes out of the word that reveals Christ. The word “Christ” appears in the best manuscripts. Herein lies the secret of the power of the gospel; there is no good news in it until the righteousness of God is revealed! [See Rom 1:17] The good news is the fact that the cross of Christ was a success. God rescued the life of our design; he redeemed our innocence. Man would never again be judged righteous or unrighteous by his own ability to obey moral laws! It is not about what man must or must not do but about what Jesus has done! God now persuades everyone to believe what he knows to be true about them. [It is from faith to faith.] The prophets wrote in advance about the fact that God believes that righteousness unveils the life that he always had in mind for us. “Righteousness by his (God’s) faith defines life.” [Hab 2:4].)
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Do you believe what I believe about you?
Do you believe what I believe about you?
My definition of me does not define me accurately, only God’s definition does an is the only one that matters.
God defines man, not man. He has only one view of all mankind and that is the one he originally designed in us. We were each made pre-creation in His image. He is our blueprint! We were made in His image! He is our template. He is our father and unconditionally he likes us a lot. He sees everyone the same. There is no favorites, he loves us ALL.
Song by Godfrey Birtill
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Mind Blown
We were known before the creation, He will have only one view of me eternally. That life that was in Christ from the beginning is my union. The revelation of my blueprint, my original identity, and redeemed innocence.
2 Corinthians 3:18, the revelation of seeing oneself outside of time and space to what God has put and sees in me is a mind blower.
Makes me want to say “it can’t be that!” But it is what he meant!
My true likeness is Him!
What’s true of Him is true of you.
1 John 1- 4
Mirror Word
1 The Logos is the source; everything commences in him. The initial reports concerning him that have reached our ears, that which we indeed bore witness to with our own eyes, to the point that we became irresistibly attracted, now captivates our gaze. In him we witnessed tangible life in its most articulate form. (To touch, psallo, to touch the string of a musical instrument, thus resonance.)
2 The same life that was with the Father from the beginning, now dawned on us! The infinite life of the Father became visible before our eyes in a human person! (In the beginning “was” the word; eimi, timeless existence, “I am”)
3 We include you in this conversation; you are the immediate audience of the logic of God! This is the word that always was; we saw him incarnate and witnessed his language as defining our lives. In the incarnation Jesus includes mankind in the eternal friendship of the Father and the son! This life now finds expression in an unreserved union.
4 What we enjoy equally belongs to you! I am writing this for your reference, so that joy may be yours in its most complete measure. (In all these years since the ascension of Jesus, John now ninety years old continues to enjoy unhindered friendship with God and desires to extend this same fellowship to everyone through this writing.)
(See 1 John 1 in Breath of Life by Andre Rabe:
1:1 That which is most significant in time, first in position, and highest in rank, that which is original, entered our ears and we recognized its authenticity. It opened our eyes and we have gazed upon it ever since!
1:2 This Word is life and has become a present and tangible reality for us. Life appeared and captured our attention – we resonate with confirmation. We cannot but declare to you that this is absolute life, the way Father intended it from the very start. It is now so clear to us.
1:3 That which awakened our ears and arrested our attention, is what we declare to you, in the confidence that the same intimacy we enjoy, will be ignited in you also! This fellowship, this entanglement is with the Father and with His son Jesus Christ.
1:4 We write this that you may enjoy this perfect delight with us.)
[I John 1:1-4]
by Mirror Bible – mobile app.
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Found on Facebook this morning
Romans 1:16
This is the heart of the gospel that I proclaim; it began with an unveiling of sonship 1in me, freeing me to announce the same sonship 2in the masses of non-Jewish people. I felt no immediate urgency to compare notes with those who were familiar with Christ from a mere historic point of view.
(The Greek text is quite clear: “It pleased the Father to reveal his son in me in order that I may proclaim him in the nations!” The words, en emoi, translate as “in me,” and en ethnos translate as in the Gentile nations, or the masses of non Jewish people! Not “among” the Gentiles as most translations have it. Later, when Barnabas is sent to investigate the conversion of the Greeks in Acts 11, instead of reporting his findings to HQ in Jerusalem, he immediately finds Paul, knowing that Paul’s gospel is the revelation of the mystery of Christ in the nations [see Col 1:27]. No wonder then that those believers were the first to be called Christians, or Christ-like!)Jesus Christ confirms that the son of man is the son of God. “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” [Mt 23:9] Paul reminds the Greek philosophers in Acts 17 that we live and move and have our being in God; humankind is indeed the offspring of God. He is quoting from their own writings, Aratus, who lived 300 BC. The incorruptible seed of sonship is as much in every man as the seed is already in all soil, even in the desert, waiting for the rain to awaken and ignite its life!
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, so shall my word be that proceeds from my mouth, it shall not disappoint my purpose, it shall saturate the soil and cause it to bring forth and sprout, instead of the thorn the cyprus and instead of the brier the myrtle!” [Isa 55:8-11, 13]
In Matthew 13:44, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in an agricultural field! There is more to the field than what meets the eye!
In 2 Corinthians 4:4, 7, Paul says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels! But the god of this world seeks to blind our minds through unbelief [believing a lie about ourselves, Num 13:33] to keep us from seeing the light of the gospel revealing the glory of God in the face of Christ who is the image of God, as in a mirror! When Jesus speaks of the sinner he speaks of him as the lost sheep, coin, or son. [Lk 15] The inscription and image did not disappear from the coin when it was lost, how can we praise God and with the same mouth curse a man made in his image? [Jas 3:9 and Lk 20:20-26] Mankind forgot what manner of man he is by design; man is the image and likeness bearer of his Maker; this is exactly what Jesus came to reveal and redeem. We may now behold him with unveiled faces as in a mirror and be immediately transformed [in our understanding] into his likeness. From the glory [opinion] of the flesh to the glory [opinion] of God. Legalistic religion kept the veil in place; the proclaiming of the liberating truth of the Good News, removes the veil! The “ugly duckling” didn’t need a face-lift or lessons on how to fake the swan life! It only needed to know the truth about itself to be free indeed.) Mirror Bible
All above was taken from a quote from Francois du Toit on Facebook. 10/6/2013
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Sanctfi…when?
Think if the word sanctification, we have been lead to believe it is a process, a process leading to our fullfilment or being whole.
Now think about a prayer you say for your food, when you ask God to sanctify your twinkie, do you wait 6 months for the process of sanctification to work its way out in the twinkie? Nope, we somehow believe God can do it instantaneously. The fact of the matter is Jesus paid for my sanctification and our fullness 2000+ years ago. My fullness was actually set in God’s mind before the world was formed, before Adam was created. We were created in God’s very likeness and image.
Mankinds identity is found in Him pre-Genesis (Genesis 1:26 Jeremiah 1:5).
Adams sin was not a surprise to God. He knew in adavance what would come to pass. He knew that Jesus would come as God incarnated as a man and be crucified, buried, and resurrected. We (mankind) were co-crucified, co-buried, and co-resurrected with him. By doing this the curse of the law of sin and death was broken once and for all (Romans 6:10-11) He died once for all! He does not have to die again for any new sin that happen. God does not relate to us in a time and space mentality. He created us in his being before the foundation of this world. He set his son out as a sacrificial lamb before Adam, before everything he created us and forgave us. He saw us perfected and walking in fullness. Romans 8:1 tells us we are are now no longer condemned, our sins are not held against us. The accounting ledgers have not only been credited to us but burned up and forgotten. God does not and will not see those ledgers or remember them again. The way he saw us pre-conception is the way he will always see us (perfect!).
I was at a conference two weeks ago and I heard this “the church is devils best PR agents.” We have been deceived! I have been lied to. I no longer have a sin nature. That sin nature was obliterated at the cross. For the past 30+ years I have been walking under the idea I had a sin nature and I had to work out my salvation. I was a bi-polar Christian mess. My relationship with God was based on my performance. If I was having a good spiritual day I could show up before God. If I was having issues (which was 90% of the time) I would wallow in (self) condemnation. I was living under the law and a lie. My identity was found in my actions. I was taught to press in to God. I taught others, “to the degree you press in to God is the degree he comes to you.” THAT IS SUCH A LIE!
He loves you and sees you from the place of your original identity. The cross brought mankind to its place redeemed innocence and a re-Genesis. Salvation, forgiveness, and grace are free gifts. Nothing we can do will help us obtain them. The law was based on works and was a flawed system thats whole reason for being there was to point to the short comings of mans ability to come to God. Jesus came to wipe out the law and replace the system. It wasn’t an upgrade it was a new (kainos) way.
Romans 8:10-13
10 The revelation of Christ in you declares that your body is as good as dead to sins demands; sin cannot find any expression in a corpse. You co-died together with him. Yet your spirit is alive because of what righteousness reveals.
11 Our union with Christ further reveals that because the same Spirit that awakened the body of Jesus from the dead inhabits us, we equally participate in his resurrection. In the same act of authority whereby God raised Jesus from the dead, he co-restores your body to life by his indwelling Spirit.
12 We owe the flesh nothing.
13 In the light of all this, to now to continue to live under the sinful influences of thevsenses is to reinstate the dominion of spiritual death. Instead, we are indebted to now exhibit the highest expression of life inspired by the Spirit. This life demonstrates zero tolerance to the habits and sinful patterns of the flesh.
If you still believe you have a sin nature you will continue in fighting to overcome sin. It has already been defeated. When you walk knowing it has been defeated and in the understanding that God sees you whole an perfect you can come to God as your GOOD FATHER! I am found in Him and being in Him changes my paradigm completely. Walking in the understanding of how God sees and defines me is so freeing. I want to be defined by God not by others or myself.
Yes I am sanctified, its not a process but God’s declaration over mankind. I have no part of attaining it but accepting it.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! I am found whole in him!
On the night of 8/1/13 I had a dream where I was praying for God to break in and blinders to fall off people, that the revelation of being found in Him would change lives. If you are reading this take that prayer for yourself.
Kilen's Spot 