Men sometimes mix law and grace when they teach the Gospel. They are afraid of teaching “too much grace†so they will say we need “balance†when we preach the Gospel. But when you add law to grace it is no longer the Gospel and God calls it mixture and not a pure Gospel.
This mixture of law and grace (that men call balance) goes something like this: A person is forgiven and born of the Spirit when they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He took away all our sin by His death on the cross and that He was raised again on the third day, BUT a believer must keep the law in order to be righteous and confess his sins every day and ask God to forgive his sins again and again every day to stay right with God. Those added words after the BUT are not balance. That is mixture. That is error.
This thinking will cause a believer to not enter into God’s rest and allow Jesus to live His own life through the believer. Now as a believer we let the Spirit guide us, not the law, and when we sin as believers we thank God for the forgiveness we already have because Jesus died once for all sin, for all people, for all time and we don’t keep asking God to forgive us.
The true Gospel leads us to a growing revelation that we are one with Jesus. Paul said he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would be one with Him even as He was one with the Father. He in the Father, the Father in Him and now we in Him and He in us. One. That is now the reality for every believer. This awareness of our union with Jesus, where He Himself is our righteousness, is what brings a deep peace in our lives. We have peace with God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. This is the root of all rest.
When we know God’s love is toward us unconditionally and that we have the gift of righteousness then we know we can never mess up or not measure up before God. He loves us as much as He loves Jesus. Jesus said that in John 17.
So let this unconditional love of God and this rest in Him grow in you and you will find a new freedom and you will not worry about meeting other people’s expectations or be concerned about being perfect all the time. Ask God to make life full of joy again for you. Ask Him to show you how you can mentor other believers because that will bring joy. Ask Him to give you the desires of your heart and then go after it knowing Jesus is with you and in you to bring it to pass. Dream big because He is a very big God and He likes to bless your socks off. If you are a believer, you are His son or daughter and there is nothing you can do to cause Him to love you less or love you more.
James Barron
Thank you James.
I have been listening to your archived messages for years. First introduced through J. Byrd, former colleagues from Ocoee High School.
Gods message through you have been a blessing and a way for me to communicate to others. Thank you. Blessings and peace to you and your family.
In Christ,
Peter Jordan
P.S. Geaux Tigers