The Lord Jesus Christ: God’s marvelous Grace personified!

Believers, by grace, let’s stop believing that "other people" love to or are looking for excuses to wallow in their sins and only we want to do what is right. Most people who are entrenched in sins and addictions are looking for the Way out. Those who enjoy their acts of sin, e.g porn addiction and overeating/over-drinking are held captive by it and many want to stop. No one in their right mind would self-harm.

Grace is the Way out of sin. Titus 2:11-14 says of the grace of God (Christ Himself) who has appeared to all men-

“11 God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone. 12 This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age. 13 For we continue to look forward to the joyful fulfillment of our hope in the dawning splendor of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus, the Anointed One. 14 He sacrificed Himself for us that He might purchase our freedom from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people who are His very own, passionate to do what is beautiful in His eyes.”

Notice verse 14: “He sacrificed Himself for us that He might purchase our freedom from every lawless deed.”

This shows us that anyone who is living in sin is living in a prison. That one is a slave of sin and for such to be free indeed, he needs to be purchased (ransomed, redeemed, bought back.) Same way the freedom of a slave is purchased by a kind benefactor, only the price for freedom here is death.

Human effort at getting out of this prison of sin (trying to obey the Ten Commandments and doing good things) cannot redeem anyone from lawless deeds. Any kind of escape from this prison of sin (trying to stop sinning) by self-will and sheer determination will only be temporary. “Ha Satan” literally means “prosecutor at law” in Hebrew. Like a runaway slave, it is only a matter of time before Satan the Accuser deploys the long arm of the law that many are trying to keep to returning the sinner back to worse conditions of their slavery to sin,

“For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14.

Try to obey the law to get right with God and sin has dominion. By grace, let’s not have this verse backwards. Let’s not strive to obey the law in a bid to be godly (aka be like God) according to the example of Eve. Satan is still using the strategy of getting people involved in doing the seemingly laudable thing of trying to be godly (be like God the Righteous) through human effort at obeying the law (which gives the knowledge of good and evil) but this only strengthens the grip of sin and leads to death. It also makes Christ’s death count for nothing in the lives of those who try. See Galatians 2:21:

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”

By grace, believe right.

Christ “sacrificed Himself for us that He might purchase our freedom from every lawless deed.” If we could save ourselves from our sins, Christ would not have needed to sacrifice Himself for us. A price has to be paid to purchase our freedom from every lawless deed (not some, every) and that price is death, a death that Christ died for all. Matthew 1:21 says of Him:

“She will give birth to a Son and you are to name Him ‘Savior,’ for He is destined to give His life to save His people from their sins.”

But law-keeping (human effort at obedience) cannot save. Under law, sin has dominion. BUT CHRIST (GRACE PERSONIFIED) SAVES. We often think that some sins are beneath us (same way Peter thought he would not deny Christ) but the reason we are not committing particular sins is because we have not been tempted beyond what we can bear in those areas. Without Christ, a big enough trial will transform a person who thinks he cannot hurt a fly into a child molester overnight. We are not in control as we think:)

This is why sermons with the theme “stop sinning, obey the law and come to Christ or you will burn in hell” cannot help anyone. People are already trying hard to be obedient but the arm of flesh will fail. Christ is the One who makes free indeed. See our Saviour Jesus Christ in John 6 (MSG:)

“43-46 Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End...."

Even our being called to know Him has got nothing to do with our own filthy rags smarts and high moral standards. We would be no different from the souls out there that don't believe or those that we describe as "living in sin and having no heart for Christ" if He hadn't given us the desire to come to Him.

Realising this truth brings us down from any pedestals of morality that we might have erected for ourselves and makes it difficult for us to condemn or get tired of those who do not believe or are still living in sin. We find it hard to tell these beloved of God things like "You'd better stop sinning and come to Christ, or else you will suffer and burn in hell!" This is akin to telling a blind person: “See!…or else.” The desire to come to Christ is a gift from God and it is Christ who saves us from our sins.

When our eyes are opened to see how we are saved, even redeemed from every lawless deed, we get to have compassion on those who are still living in sin and are yet to be drawn to Christ our Shepherd, just like our Saviour in Matt. 9:36-37:

“When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to His disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.”

Like Christ, instead of seeing people who just refuse to believe, don’t want to go to church and just want to wallow in sin, we GET TO see confused and helpless people, like sheep without a shepherd; we too would not believe if we had not been drawn/given the desire to come to Christ our Shepherd.

With this understanding, our natural inclination would be to do what Christ says in verse 38 above:

“So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields."

God hears the prayers of His children. If we really want our loved ones to see the Light and live right, let's pray to our Abba Father in Christ to touch their hearts and by His grace, tell them about His love and His power to save from all that we need saving from, including our sins (Matthew 1:21.) When God does the drawing to Christ, even the stoniest of hearts will swim oceans just to hear His word. Christ does it all.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.