This Changes Everything

What is the one thing that sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world?  It is not turning from sin, prayer, confession, or even moral living, for all these practices can be found, in one form or another in other religions.  The one thing that makes the Christian faith unique is grace. Every other religion of the world rejects the idea of grace and insists that we must contribute something to our salvation. We must try harder, we must be better, we must live morally, and so forth. All the various religions of the world offer a self-help way to merit restoration with God, whether it’s the eightfold path of Buddhism, the karma and reincarnation cycle of Hinduism, the laws and ordinances of the Mormon church, or the four pillars of Islam. Only the Christian faith dares to suggest that God offers a relationship to people on the basis of pure grace.

Just two days ago I received the following email:

My wife and I travel for my job. We were in Valdosta for 2 months. We found your church right away. We both received the revelation of God’s Grace on July 7 when we listened to your message which is awesome. Wow we were blown away. I listen to Dan Molher all the time, but Dan message doesn’t go after religion like your message. I am at a loss for words on how to say thanks you for being bold and standing up for this message. I will carry it for the rest of my life, and I believe everyone around me will be transformed. We will be blessed for the rest of our lives. We have a brother in law that is all about confessing his sins every day. We gave him my book that I bought while I was there, and he has been blown away. He will receive the revelation soon. We just want to say thank you. We wish you would move to Texas and we could continue to attend your church. Lol. Be blessed Pastor Dell and stay bold, the message you carry is the Truth and don’t allow the enemy to tell you any different. Your message made a light go off in my heart that God is good. Like literally all the time.  

Kelsey

Amarillo, TX

The above is an awesome testimony of the life changing power of God’s Grace!  God’s grace is His divine favor and loving-kindness toward you, look to the cross and see grace, “Where Christ died for the ungodly”(Romans 5:6). Christ didn’t die for the good and the great and those who had it all together. He died for the weak and the lost and the poor and the needy. Christ gave His life for those who did not have any life, for those who were dead in their sin.

You Didn’t Give Your Life to The Lord

You had no life to offer Him. Every person born since Adam has been born spiritually dead, deeply in need of restoration with God. Since Adam, the entire human race exists in a state of death, alienated from the life God intended, and captive to the power of sin.  God’s strategy to overcome sin and death was to drown them in a waterfall of grace.

Grace Changes the Way We View Forgiveness

Most of the church sees forgiveness as something God CAN do, grace sees forgiveness as something God HAS done (Ephesians 4:32).  God doesn’t need your permission to forgive you.  Remember the paralyzed man brought to Jesus on a cot, as his friends tore off a roof to lower him to Christ?  Why do you think they brought him to Jesus?  For healing of course.  This man did not open his mouth, he didn’t say a word. But what did Jesus say to this man?  “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:20). Notice the man had not repented, he had not confessed his sins, he had not even asked for forgiveness.  The Scribes and Pharisees got upset about this, and they still get upset about this today.  They think you must ask for God’s forgiveness, no, you have to believe He has forgiven you and accept and enjoy His forgiveness by faith in the one who died to bring forgiveness. Receive that all your sins have been forgiven, this revelation, this belief affects your healing, your health, every area of your life!  This man needed to hear that his sins were not an obstacle to receiving his healing.  Why don’t we see more healings today?  Because of the lack of proclamation that your sins are forgiven you.

 God is Not Dealing with Your Sin, He has Already Dealt With It

To forgive literally means to send away and on the cross the sins of the world were sent away.  So, what about (1 John 1:9): “If you confess your sins, God will forgive you”?  Click on this link where I deal with this question.  https://dellyoung.net/2016/12/09/are-all-our-sins-forgiven-past-present-and-future/

Verbs Became Nouns

Prior to the cross, God’s forgiveness is almost always described as a verb. After the cross it is almost always a noun. Prior to the cross God related to the Israelites on the basis of the law-keeping covenant. “If you do A, B, and C, then I will forgive your sins and heal your land, etc.” This is called conditional forgiveness and it’s what Jesus preached prior to the cross: “If you forgive others, God will forgive you.” But after the cross, everything changed. The law was fulfilled, grace was revealed, and verbs became nouns. Forgiveness was no longer conditional on you doing A, B, and C. Forgiveness became a free gift paid for by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus Himself was the first to announce this:

He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness (aphesis – a noun) of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”  (Luk 24:46-47)

What did Jesus say? Does it read “repentance for forgiveness” or “repentance and forgiveness”? The difference is huge. Repentance for forgiveness is what John the Baptist preached prior to the cross. It’s forgiveness conditional on you turning from sin. It’s a verb for a verb. But this is not what Jesus preached after the cross. In Luke 24 Jesus says, “From now on, forgiveness is a noun. Forgiveness is not something God does, it’s something He’s done.”