For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Romans 5:17 NKJV
For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the one individual, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17 WEY
Grace is the Gospel of Jesus Christ pledged, promised, and made available through His victorious Redemptive work at Calvary. Grace is the unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor of Almighty God. Paul tells us that receiving an abundance of this grace will cause us to reign, rule, and dominate as kings in this life.
We have been in an ongoing series studying this abundance of Grace so we can receive it more and more in our own lives and live triumphantly. We have seen that this Grace is NOT of ourselves, but all of Jesus. We have seen how forgiven we are and what repentance truly means. It seemed good to me to keep pursuing more of this Grace and relinquishing religious traditions and ideas.
Grace is all of Jesus, and never anything we have added or contributed.
Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace. Romans 11:6 HCSB
Yet, with all the truths revealed from God's Word, so many traditions arise from men attempting to add to the work of Christ to gain more acceptance and approval from God. Not only that we add more rules and regulations for believers to follow so that they will receive more goodness from God.
For many leaders, sin seems to be the kryptonite or the barrier to God stopping Him from hearing us, fellowshipping with us, and communing with us. As if sin was not dealt with completely at the Cross of Christ. Jesus died for the sins of mankind, yet religion teaches that He still sees sin upon us and steps away until we change our behavior.
This is not an encouragement to engage in sin, sin has its own consequences apart from God punishing someone. Drunkenness produces hangovers-nausea, dizziness, headache, sluggishness and fatigue. Steal, lie, or commit fraud, and the consequences will follow, some include prison time. This is not divine retribution.
God cannot punish you when you sin, if He did, then He would be unfaithful, unjust, and untrue. He cannot justly punish sin in the body of Jesus on the Cross and turn around and punish you as well. For God to hold your sin against you after you have trusted in Christ is to declare that Jesus' work of Redemption was not enough. That Jesus' shed blood was insufficient to pay for your sin. That He has not fully accepted the Finished Work of Christ. The ledger on the accounts of Heaven would have to read insufficient funds, Jesus was not enough.
Thank God, though Jesus' blood was enough, and God is completely satisfied with the Redemptive work of Christ. The Father has gladly accepted Jesus' payment for sin and separation. The price is paid in full, and for the believer, God is never again imputing sins to your account ever again
Religious traditional-minded leaders still preach and teach that your sin blocks the blessings, breaks fellowship, and renders Faith and prayers ineffective. They have the people living in a schizophrenic, fearful state of forgiven/unforgiven of their sins. They are more sin-conscious and less Grace and righteous-conscious.
Traditional religion errs because they don't know the Scriptures. They tend to read passages with a preconceived bias from their upbringing. They read into passages rather than reading the actual passage.
The first act of tradition we see is in Genesis 3. Eve added to what God actually said. That is what tradition does. It adds to what God actually said. Religion has built a stronghold concerning sin and the believer and the Holy Spirit, which leaves so many with a sin-consciousness rather than a grace-righteousness consciousness.
Adding to Jesus' words or rather reading into Jesus' words, they create a doctrine that the Holy Spirit convicts the believer, the child of God, of their sins. In John 16, Jesus speaks of the work of the Spirit. He does not teach or state the Spirit will convict believers of their sins. That is nowhere in this text.
When He comes, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; John 16:8-9 MEV
Who is the Spirit convicting? He is convicting the world, the lost. What is He convicting them of? Their sin of homosexuality, transgenderism, fornication, lust, greed, murder, hate, lying, or stealing? No! He is convicting them of one sin, the sin of unbelief.
The World's sin is unbelief, which manifests in the fruit of self-righteousness. They reject God's Righteousness, opting instead for their own righteousness. They create their own standards of what is good and right. Often, it is at odds with God. This is what repentance is all about. It is changing the thinking of man. It is about renewing the mind to God's truth.
As for the saints, the only thing the Spirit convicts the believer of is their Righteousness in Christ, their true identity in Christ. The Spirit is not tallying up your sins, and convicting you for them. Conviction is a legal term for guilt. We are not guilty because of Jesus.
Religious tradition tells believers they remain guilty before God and must make sacrifices and atonement for their shortcomings and failures. This flies in the face of the redeeming work of Christ. In Christ, you are not guilty. God is not requiring you to pay for the sins that Jesus has already perfectly paid for!
Christ Jesus paid the highest price for our Redemption. He fully paid the price for our forgiveness. He took the just recompense for our transgressions. He is not holding them against us as well. We stand faultless, guiltless, and blameless before the throne of an Almighty Holy God. This is all because of Jesus and His Finished Work!
