Grace tells us that when we fall flat on our face in our failures and sins, Jesus’ perfect performance on our behalf gives us the freedom to stand back up, brush ourselves off, look to Him, say thank you, and keep on moving forward. The church is not for perfectly behaved people. The throne of God is the throne of GRACE. Our only criterion to receiving grace is realizing that we couldn’t do anything to earn it!
This amazing grace flows for those who believe that they are righteous by faith:
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)1
This verse is not referring to our own righteousness. The Good News of the Gospel is that we have been given the free gift of Christ’s righteousness. Righteous means right standing. To believe we are in right standing all day every minute of every day takes faith! Why does it have to be by faith? Because every day we’ll look in the mirror, and see anything but a righteous person. Our actions and thoughts will tell us that we are not righteous and try to condemn us. That’s when we need to believe we are righteous from “faith to faith.”
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him… (Colossians 2:6)
We received Christ by grace through faith, and that’s how we live it out every day until we go to heaven.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Paul tells us that the righteousness of God must be “revealed.” That’s why we need the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Paul prayed for the Ephesians:
…making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him… (Ephesians 1:16-17)
Grace doesn’t make sense to the natural mind. All we understand is deductive reasoning which says, “Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad.” Every religion including Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam believes that. It’s the same thing as karma. Every religion believes that we should get the good we have earned and the bad we deserve. It’s only by the revelation of the Holy Spirit that we can understand grace because grace tells us that we get the good we could never earn, and we never have to get the bad we deserve. It’s scandalous. It’s not fair… especially if we consider that Jesus who never sinned became sin for us so that we could never have our sins counted against us in heaven, and especially when we consider living under an open heaven even though we haven’t behaved perfectly.
(from pages 37-38 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1 Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
