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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

742. 15th Anniversary Program #2

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Mike and Joel continue reflecting about the past 15 years of doing the Growing in Grace podcast.

This week’s discussion includes: How grace made it easier to share the gospel with those who have been a victim of a works-based religious message, and how formal Bible education doesn’t qualify you to minister the gospel.



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737. Hebrews 3-4: We Enter His Rest Through Belief

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In the third program of our series in Hebrews, the writer illustrates how the gospel was proclaimed to the Israelites during the first covenant … as well as to those alive on earth after the cross. The difference is that those who were under the first covenant did not enter God’s rest because of a disobedience called unbelief. They did not mix the message with faith because the law wasn’t based upon faith … but works.

We have entered God’s rest within this new and better covenant which is based upon the work of Christ. “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” The Person of Jesus has become our Sabbath in whom we rest.



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728. Religious Requirements – or Grace (Choose One)

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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.



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The Deception of Self Righteousness

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One of the biggest deceptions in the world, especially in the Church, is that of performance-religion and self- righteousness. There’s a huge emphasis on maintaining the moral standards of the so-called “Judeo-Christian-value system.”

We hear: “I’m a good Christian.” “I belong to a church.” “I go to a home group.” “I read my Bible.” “I pray every day.” “I give my tithes.” “I try to live a good life and do my moral best.” “I don’t need to be set free because I’m already free.”

In reality, these are the people who need freedom the most.

I haven’t really struggled with knowing right or wrong and good or evil. For me, it was discerning between a life of self-righteousness and righteousness by faith.

Two Sides to Self-Righteousness

There are two sides to self- righteousness, both equally deceptive in keeping people bound.

  1. The Good We Do!

    The first area of bondage that self- righteousness produces is what Jesus called “making the word of God of no effect.” It’s the belief that I have it all together, and I’ve done my part or “better than most.”

    Some people actually believe they have it all together and are fulfilling their side of a bargain with God. Jesus said to the Jews who thought they had it all together:

    … “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. … Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition ….” —Mark 7:9-13 (KJV)

    The Jews taught that there was a way to be righteous by keeping the law, even if it meant they had to bend the law to do so.
    But Paul said, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20 KJV).

    The law was designed to draw man’s attention to his sin! What Jesus was saying to the Jews was that by bending the law to make it workable, they made the law or Word of God of no effect!

    Simultaneously, there’s another side to this truth. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD! Legalism and self-righteousness makes JESUS and His work on the cross of no effect in our lives. If we could keep the law by our own efforts, then we’d have no need for Jesus!

  2. The Evil We Do!

    Legalism and self- righteousness create guilt, condemnation, and obligation. One of the purposes of the law was to make people see and understand that no one can be made righteous by keeping the law. The Jews were serving God, governed by rules, regulations and performance, which could never make them righteous before God. They needed to be set free, and so do many people today.

True Freedom:

We can never experience any form of freedom if we are not freed from the deception of performance-religion, legalism, and self-righteousness.

When Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), He was saying: you will know “The Truth” (Jesus) and what He came to do. And Jesus will set you free from legalism, self-righteousness, and the condemnation and guilt of the law!

When we know “The Truth” about God’s love, we are set free from seeing an angry God who needs to be appeased and demands performance and sacrifice!

In Romans 3:21-25, Paul said:

“But now the righteousness of God WITHOUT the LAW is manifested … by faith of Jesus Christ … upon all them that believe… Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth … To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which BELIEVETH in Jesus.”

This is the freedom Jesus gave us. It’s this freedom we are to celebrate and grasp hold of every day!

Blessings,
Arthur Meintjes

716. Watch Out for the Bait and Switch

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It sounded great when you first heard the advertisement from Church Inc … salvation offered free by grace as a gift. But later they’ll say you missed the fine print and that believing in Jesus will now cost you everything (cha-ching!). The religious business lured you with a free product promotion which is now apparently out of stock as they suggest that it’s up to you to achieve a certain standard in order to maintain right standing with God.

The truth is that the gospel has no fine print, because it’s not based upon the letter (works), but it revolves around who we’ve already become by the blood of Jesus Christ and His finished work. We produce nothing … we simply bear the fruit of the Spirit who lives with us.



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702. Born Identity: You Are Righteous

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Sadly, most believers in Jesus Christ have been taught they are identified as sinners and have failed to realize the gift of God’s righteousness that has been inherited by faith, apart from works. The Jewish people pursued righteousness under the law by trying to keep the Ten Commandments, plus 603 other commands and rules from the law which came through Moses. Yet they never attained a state of righteousness through that law. Nobody was righteous under that system… not one. On the other hand, Gentiles who weren’t even chasing after right standing with God attained righteousness by faith. We have been gifted with His righteousness. In Him, we are in a state or condition that is acceptable to God because of what Jesus did for us (and not what we do for Him). It is not progressive, nor does it increase or decrease based upon our performance or behavior. Growing in our understanding of this grace that has been poured out upon us - and abides in us - now empowers us to outwardly reflect the light of Jesus Christ.



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696. The Spirit Vs. the Flesh (Walking in the Spirit)

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“The law is not of faith.” This word from Paul is a central theme throughout the book of Galatians. It needs to be kept in mind as we look through the letter, including chapter 5 as the apostle compares the Spirit to the flesh. Believers in Christ who had been freed from the law are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Romans 8:9). Although we can be tempted with the works of the flesh that Paul lists in Galatians 5, it is those who are of the flesh that will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (unbelievers). They are stuck in “works” mode… which may appear as sinful and at other times it may appear as Godly. This is not a passage on living “good enough” to inherit eternal life. We’ve all continued to struggle with being perfect… we still may have moments of anger, quarrels, jealousy, impure thoughts, etc. Fear not! God is always with you and He desires to be our helper during those times.

The Galatians were earlier accused of having fallen from grace because they were trying to be perfected by the law of works (Galatians 3:3 & 5:4). As children of God, we receive an inheritance as a gift because we are an heir, not because we are living in a way that is going to be considered morally acceptable. This is not to diminish or disregard the importance of behavior - Paul’s exhortation is for us who are in Christ to behave in a way that reflects the true righteous nature of who we’ve been born to be in Christ. This is not accomplished by our empty efforts of trying to produce our own fruit, but by the Holy Spirit within us. Now we can bear His fruit, apart from the law of works.



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695. Love Is Better Than Law

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In the third chapter of Galatians, Paul stated “the law is not of faith.” We’ve progressed to Galatians chapter 5, where the apostle attempts to encourage these people to avoid the pitfall of going from the freedom of grace back into the law of works. They had been bewitched and deceived into another gospel that really wasn’t the gospel at all. If they were going to choose the system of written commandments (such as circumcision), they would be obligated to keep the entire law - all 613 commands. Those who were attempting to be justified by law (works) had fallen from grace. Paul went on to admonish not to use their freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. So how does one walk in the Spirit and avoid the desire of the flesh? It’s done apart from the law of works and it’s rooted in the perfect love of God which was manifested through Jesus Christ… this is where we abide as believers inside of a New Covenant.



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691. “The Law Is Not of Faith” (Galatians 3:12)

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We frequently find them blended into the doctrines and sermons of Church Incorporated… selected portions of commandments from the law which came by way of Moses. Not the entire law, mind you. Each religious brand will pick and choose what they think should be applied and what should be left off the list. The problem? There shouldn’t be a list. The entire written code of the letter from the Old Covenant was wiped out and came to an end. It was replaced with a better option that arrived when Jesus was manifested - it’s called faith. Paul was explaining to the Galatians they needed to make one of two choices… attempting to follow and live by the works of the law (the flesh) or to live by faith in Jesus Christ.

Before faith came, the Jews were held as prisoners under the law. The Mosaic law was a tutor or guardian which was meant to eventually lead them to the custody of Jesus Christ. When faith (Christ) came, there was no longer the need for the guardian because us who are in Christ Jesus became children of God by faith. The law and commandments are not based upon the faith that was provided for us within a new and better covenant.



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Top Picks of 2018

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Happy New Year from the Growing in Grace podcast! We'll return in 2019 with brand new weekly Growing in Grace episodes, but this week's topic is the Top Picks of 2018. Mike and Joel have both independently selected two of their favorite episodes from this past year.

We'll start with this pick from Mike: Dead to Sin, Alive to Righteousness. (Podcast 655).



"This is one of my personal favorite Growing in Grace podcasts in 2018. It quickly and simply covers a handful of topics that are commonly misunderstood within the vocabulary of legalistic religious circles:

Under grace, can we just go out and do whatever we want?
Sin, repentance, and struggles.
Understanding who you are: The righteousness identity of a believer.
Already forgiven and sins taken away."

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Joel's first pick comes from a 17 part series that we did called "Summarizing the Scripture." As we were nearing the end of the series, we did an episode called Contradictions or Different Covenants? (Podcast 645).



"I like this episode because it's a great summary of the differences between the Old and New Covenants, and we talk about why did Jesus often taught works-based teachings that seem to contradict the essence of the New Covenant.  Under the Old Covenant, it was up to the people to keep the covenant, but all they ever did was fail.  Everything in the New Covenant is based on the finished work of Jesus and God's oath that He made to Himself, and not the works of the people.  It always confused me why Paul seemed to teach righteousness as a free gift that we receive apart from works, and yet Jesus seemed to teach that it was all works-based.

What I eventually came to understand is that Jesus was teaching the Old Covenant to those who were under it (Israel), for the purpose of showing them that they were not keeping it (and could not keep it), and they instead needed to turn, by faith, to this other covenant that was based upon God's oath to Himself and not their ability to keep a covenant with God."

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Next, from Mike, The Golden Rule: A Spiritual Death Sentence (Podcast 658).



"Here is one of my top 5 favorite Growing in Grace podcasts of 2018. It takes a traditional mindset 'head-on' with the subject of The Golden Rule as stated by Jesus:

'So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets' (Matthew 7:12).

Traditional Christianity has mistakenly mixed this law from the Old Covenant into church tenets and creeds. With one sentence He summarized the entire law which nobody could keep and it brought a sentence of guilt, bondage and death … not life. There is a better way."

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Another of Joel's favorites from 2018: The Gospel Is the Gift of God's Righteousness. (Podcast 665).



"Back to the basics with this one. We talk about questions such as What is the gospel? and How does it differ from the 'bad news?'  The 'bad news' is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but yet the 'good news' - the gospel - is that God justifies ungodly people by gifting them with His very own righteousness.  The gospel reveals the righteousness of God that is given as a gift to those who do nothing but believe. Those trying to attain righteousness by their own works don't find it, and yet it's given freely to those who aren't even trying.  This episode is one of my favorites because it's a great reminder to me that I have nothing to boast about before God, and I can stop trying to perform for God in order to attain or maintain right standing with Him.  I've already received it, solely as His gift to me."

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We hope you enjoy our year end picks!  Do you have any favorites?  If you'd like to hear more, check out the "Most Popular Posts" in the column to the right, which lists the most viewed posts on this website in the last year.

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656. “Am I Right with God?”

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Something many people wonder deep inside is the question of whether they are right with God. Even those who call themselves believers in Jesus Christ may question at times as to where they stand with God. Their fear or uncertainty is sometimes triggered by their behavior and performance. They may tend to assume their identity as a child of God is filtered through their works and actions, or religious rule-keeping. The gospel reveals something that isn't always heard through weekly church teaching, and it's the greatest news you could ever want to hear. We've been gifted with God's very own righteousness. Right-standing with Him is no longer something you'll ever have to wonder about ever again.



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The Prodigal Son and The Older Brother – What Were They Missing?

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I want to share this story from a new perspective that the Father just dropped in my heart this morning. I like to release a blog post on Saturday morning if I have time so when I woke up this morning I immediately began to ask God if there was anything specific that He wanted […]

The post The Prodigal Son and The Older Brother – What Were They Missing? appeared first on Sandra McCollom.

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