GraceUncovered

Authors home articles Gracelife

GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

806. The 800 Club: Looking Back – Sanctification – It Is Finished

by

Since our 800th program, we’ve been looking back at some of our most essential conversations when it comes to being established in the knowledge of the truth. One piece of good news that seems to elude religious folks is that our sanctification is not a work in progress, but was completed by Jesus Christ and gifted to us as a new creation in Him. Works-based religion yearns to try and make the gospel about what we do, thereby putting us in the spotlight instead of where it belongs—on the finished work of Jesus. They will dress it up to appear humble enough by saying salvation is an instant gift, but sanctification is a gradual process which we get to participate in through self-improvement while establishing some sort of moral high ground.

God makes it clear there is no boasting when it comes to our sanctification because it’s something Jesus already took care of for us, leaving no doubt that we’ve already been declared holy and set apart. Israel wasn’t able to achieve this by works and commandments … and we can’t either. We can rest from that effort and believe Jesus did enough to complete the job. Being sanctified isn’t something we’re trying to become, it’s who we are and part of our new identity in Him.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

800. The 800 Club: Looking Back – Believers Identified as Righteous

by

This week reaches a new milestone for our Growing in Grace podcast with the manifestation of program #800. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be reminiscing about some of the subjects that we feel have been some of the most significant when it comes to understanding the gospel of grace and what the finished work of Christ has provided for us. One of those is the gift of God’s righteousness.

Most church buildings are filled with believers who have assumed they are “sinners saved by grace,” when no such phrase is written within the pages. It’s a fake I.D.! We have inherited certain attributes from God as new creations in Christ and one of those is that we are now identified as righteous—the righteousness of God in Him.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

728. Religious Requirements – or Grace (Choose One)

by

When we consider the Bible as one book (instead of many books), we begin to jumble things together within the two primary covenants that were never meant to be mixed. When we see God’s commandments with conditions attached throughout much of the Old Testament, and when we assume Jesus was always speaking instruction to us who would become future believers, it can easily result in us filtering new covenant writings from the apostles through a particular mindset that leads us away from grace and back to a foundation of works.

This week’s program will help to differentiate between requirements which demanded perfect results … compared to exhortations delivered by grace. The former would seek to establish identity by trying to work at becoming something we haven’t achieved. The latter starts at the finish line, as we realize we have been made new and are already declared the righteousness of God.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

710. Born Identity: We Are Heirs

by

An inheritance is not received by one’s commitment. It is not something that has been earned by working for it. It’s gifted. It’s not based upon law, but upon promise.

In order for a will (or covenant) to take effect, there has to be the death of the one who made it. Jesus died in order for us to receive an eternal inheritance, with an unbreakable seal - the Holy Spirit of promise.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

709. Born Identity: You Are a Saint

by

The world tends to view saints as people who are rewarded for good behavior. That’s not how God sees it.

While most believers in Christ are being told in no uncertain terms - week after week - that they are nothing but dirty, rotten sinners, we find God identifying you as something quite the opposite… holy. It’s part of the inheritance you have received.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

708. Born Identity: We Have Peace With God

by

Jesus came to bring peace to those who would receive it. It’s not like the fleeting peace the world tries to give.

How do we begin to truly experience this personally? Is it by how we begin to live our lives or by following a multitude of religious rules? Quite the opposite.

The good news: You can’t make peace with God - but He has made peace with you.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

707. Born Identity: God Remembers Sins No More

by

The Christian religion is often built upon the idea we should repeatedly be seeking a renewed forgiveness from God whenever we fall short.

It’s time to ask ourselves a question at it relates to the message of the gospel and the New Covenant of Jesus Christ: How can we be forgiven for something that God says He no longer remembers?



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

706. Born Identity: Forever Forgiven – Unconditionally

by

How can we know for certain we’re forgiven by God? Is it based on the condition we repeatedly confess all our sins? Is it dependent on whether we forgive others or not? Water baptism?

Let’s ask a different question that contains a very significant answer: Why did our High Priest offer His blood by a sacrifice that occurred “once for all” and afterwards - He sat down? Knowing you are completely forgiven by God should never be something you have to wonder about.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

705. Born Identity: God’s Forgiveness Is Not Repeated

by

If we needed to continue seeking more forgiveness from God for every time we fell short, then the second covenant established by Jesus was a failed experiment. Repeated forgiveness is what the Jews pursued under the first covenant (before the cross).

If more forgiveness needs to be dispersed by God, then Jesus would need to keep offering Himself again and again. We have a better proclamation inside of a new and better covenant. Sins weren’t just covered; they were taken away.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

704. Born Identity: Forgiven Through One Offering

by

Still seeking more forgiveness from God? You could probably use some good news. God’s complete forgiveness for sin occurred once for all.

When sin has been removed and taken away to be remembered no more, the forgiveness offerings are no longer needed. We no longer seek what we already possess.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

Born Free

by

Anytime that we discuss freedom as it relates to believers in the kingdom of God, we must realize that freedom means different things to different people!

In Acts 22, an incident in the life of Paul powerfully illustrates the New Testament truth regarding Christian freedom in the kingdom of God!

Paying a High Price!

And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. (As a Roman Citizen or a FREE man, Paul had rights!) And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this FREEDOM. And Paul said, But I was born FREE. —Acts 22:25-28 (KJV)

Freedom meant something totally different to the Roman captain than to Paul.

Many today believe that their Christian May freedom is obtained by ‘paying a high price’—hard work, moral discipline, personal sacrifice! They think that if you sacrifice much in zealous pursuits of Christian discipline, you are ultimately rewarded with victory and freedom.

But I like what Paul said, “Maybe your freedom cost you a high price, but I was born FREE.” Before we can understand and experience true freedom, we have to know that it’s not something we obtain through personal sacrifice, we are born into it!

That doesn’t mean that our freedom was without cost. It came at a very high cost—THE LIFE OF THE SON OF GOD. The degree to which you understand and believe in the freedom you are born into in Christ is the degree of true freedom you will experience in everyday life!

Freedom of the Heart

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he [man] thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

“Thinketh” means “to calculate; to put a valuation on.” “What” and “who” we value in our hearts determines where we go and what we become! Therefore, the way I believe about God and our relationship, controls the way I see and relate to myself and others.

Before we can understand and experience true freedom, we have to know that it’s not some- thing we obtain through personal sacrifice, we are born into it!

True Freedom Starts at a Heart Level!

All the experiences of our lives, can be directly linked to the condition of our hearts or our belief system! (Prov. 4:20-23)

You can be a God-fearing, Holy Spirit-filled, Bible-quoting, morally-disciplined Christian, living in a reclusive commune! But if your beliefs are still deeply rooted in performance religion, you’ll never be free from the destructive behaviors and bondage that dominate your life.

Unfortunately this is the sad reality of many Christians in the church today.

Knowing the Truth Will Set You Free

The Jews served God based on performance religion that unknowingly kept them in bondage. Jesus said to them:

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? —John 8:31-33 (KJV)

They didn’t even recognize the religion they were in. They thought that everything was just great!
They served God under a system governed by rules, regulations and performance that could never make them acceptable before God. This is what they needed to be set free from, and it’s the same for many today.

Jesus said, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” That truth is relationship with God—free from legalism, self- righteousness and the guilt of the law! Jesus came to give us freedom and abundant life in Him. Celebrate the freedom you were born into every day!

Blessings, Arthur

703. Born Identity: You Are Sanctified

by

Hollow religious teaching will declare you’re saved by grace (justified), but being sanctified is a gradual, progressive, life-long process which must work at in order to become more set apart before they reach the finish line . It’s time to change our thinking. Consider that through the cross God has already gifted you with sanctification and this is the starting line. Whew! It’s the ultimate head-start, and now you can run from here.



Download  GIGBite  YouTube

Get the book

Categories

Recent Posts