23 Mar 2015 by Reverend Dr Jai Kumar –
Colossians 2:14-15
”Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he(Jesus) made a shew (show) of them (Satan and his demons) openly, triumphing over them in it”.
As a Child of God you have an ETERNAL COVENANT and it is sealed with the Blood of Jesus that speaks a better covenant.
The law was given through MOSES; GRACE and TRUTH came through Jesus Christ (John.1:14). Jesus Christ is God’s grace personified.
Ephesians 2:8 New Living Translation (NLT)
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
The teachings on the subject of God’s unmerited favour (GRACE) have been taken to different lengths by theologians and unfortunately have brought fear and confusion to Christendom today.
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT GRACE TEACHING IS DOCTRINALLY SOUND?
Here is what we need to be clear about first of all. To live by grace doesn’t mean you don’t have to do anything at all. That’s a total and absolute misconception and a lie of the devil. To live by grace doesn’t mean I can get away with everything. It doesn’t mean now that I am under grace I can sin, I can commit all kinds of immoral acts. No! No! No! That’s not what grace is all about!!
To live by grace means I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! (Phil 4: 13). I can uphold the commands of God not by my strength! But by the enabling power of grace that operates in me through the born again spirit in Christ Jesus.
I can’t make it on my own, by my own self effort, but I can uphold it by the enabling power of God. That is grace! Grace will produce a certain kind of character ! A certain kind of righteousness which is of the fruit of the spirit. Grace produces victory in our lives! Grace produces power in our lives! Grace is a power that transforms me from the inside and produces a brand new character which reflects the fruit of the spirit. Henceforth all the good works that I do now after this transformation as a result of that inner change, is done out of a genuine love for God.
Let me teach you how to discern if the grace teaching that you are hearing is doctrinally sound. When you hear the new covenant of grace preached, it is always CHRIST CENTERED! CHRIST EXALTED! It always reveals more and more of Jesus. There is no grace without Jesus.
There is no grace without the cross. The cross is the central theme of the gospel of grace. What does the cross mean to you and me?
Gal 6:14
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Without the cross we have nothing. If you preach the gospel without the cross you are preaching another gospel.
Because of the cross we have peace with God. Because of the cross every demon in hell trembles with fear. Without the cross it is impossible to be delivered, to be saved, to be healed, to have hope, to have peace, to have confidence.
If you have not been to the cross, it’s impossible for you to be an heir and joint heirs of Jesus Christ. (Rom. 8:17)
If you want eternal life you need to go to the cross. If you want forgiveness of sins you need to go to the cross. You want healings and breakthrough, you need to go to the cross.
It’s actually very easy to identify the difference between the old and the new covenant teachings. Just ask yourself if the teaching is putting the emphasis on what you are required to do or what Jesus has done. Can you add anything to the perfect finished work of the cross? Jesus said: It is done! It is finished! Can you add anything to the perfect finished work of the cross by trying to impress God with your good works? It has been perfected and completed forever by that one sacrifice. It’s not all about you. It’s all about Jesus.
GRACE OPERATES ONLY BY FAITH
Our part in the new covenant of grace is to simply believe! We are to believe in Jesus! In the new covenant, there is nothing for us to do but to believe and walk in the finished work of the cross by faith.
His finished work and the new covenant of His unmerited favor can only be appropriated by exercising the proportion of your faith.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21)
You know what? Forgive me for saying this! We have unfortunately complicated the SIMPLE GOSPEL OF TRUTH which God has designed to reach every human soul in this planet earth. We have hijacked this gospel by intellectualizing it with our clever human idea instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to teach it to the world. We have too many times forgotten and lost our way and we fail to remember that we are mere earthen vessels of God.
2 Corinthians 4:7
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
THE EXAMPLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON
When the younger son returned home after wasting his life in prodigal living the elder self-righteous brother becomes angry and refused to come into the house to celebrate in the feast for the return of his brother despite the father persuading him to come in. It is interesting to note, that the father who was abused, rejected and disgraced was not angry in this parable! Instead the father was compassionate and merciful. The Father was looking out for his son all the time.
The older son was the only person who got angry in the parable.
The older son is telling the father “I slaved for you all these years, you never even gave me a goat to celebrate with my friends.” But the father told the son “You have always been with me, all that I have belongs to you.” The question is, why must the son be slaving for the father. The father was a rich man. He had many servants. He had a lot of wealth. Why was he serving the father when he could have enjoyed his position as a son? Why was he trying to earn what was already his? Here is what we need to understand. The older brother missed the whole point. He could not see, he could not understand what was already his. He could not see his father’s goodness. All he saw was only his performance.
You know what? Unfortunately a lot of Christians are defeated today by and large, because they never could see the Father’s goodness! They never could understand the Father’s love! All they could only see is their performance.
We live under condemnation and guilt and we go about thinking we don’t have a right standing before God and therefore we think we need to earn our blessings by our performance. We become performance driven and we go about trying to earn our acceptance before God. Trying to prove to God that we deserve to be blessed while you are already accepted and you are already blessed by that one sacrifice that has been fully paid for you already!!
Please understand, after what has happened at Calvary God does not love you only when you are perfect. You need to breakthrough out of your religious mentality if you want to be set free. His love for you is unconditional.
Every time you let God down! Every time you fall! Every time you hurt God! God sees his son who has paid it all on the cross for you fully…
Psalm 103: 8
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. 9He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.
Can I tell you something today? God will never again allow you to earn His goodness, He will never allow you to earn His blessings, His favour and joy. He will never allow you to do so after what has happened at Calvary.
God is LOVE! God is not judgmental! There is no bitterness in Him!
Please understand His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
DON’T TRY TO ASK GOD TO GIVE YOU WHAT HE HAS ALREADY GIVEN YOU.
Just walk in it and tap into this glorious blessing purchased for you by the blood of Jesus.
Note: Rev Dr Jai Kumar is an ordained & licensed minister of Covenant Ministries International N.J. USA. He is also the representative of Faith International Bible School for Malaysia & Singapore. He is the founder and senior pastor of Full Gospel Outreach Ministry KL. A member of ECCM (Malaysia) Spiritual Adviser & overseer to various ministries and churches. An itinerant speaker with a passion for missions. He is also the author of a book entitled, ‘God’s Time Clock.’
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