The Power of GRACE

Isaiah 6:1-7
"5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”"

The Grace of the New Testament is not just about unmerited favor. Grace is not even just about love or unconditional love. It is about the power of the resurrection! The power of the resurrection conquered death and sin and Scripture claims that anyone who is touched by grace would have this exact same power!

Grace is so powerful that it changes whatever it touches towards love, righteousness and holiness just like what happened to the prophet Isaiah when the coal touched his lips. Because of this truth, there is no such thing as a powerless Christian. This is not the power to heal, or the power to speak, or any earthly power. It is divine power, the power that separates and frees us from the dominion and shackles of our sin nature. This is very clear from...

Romans 8:11
"If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you"

Romans 8:13:
"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

If we even think or assume that the life being referred to in Romans 8 is about eternal life in heaven we miss the whole point of the New Testament! Unless the New Testament uses the full phrase "eternal life", New Testament "life" is mostly about the here and now while we walk this earth.

Romans 8 is not about heaven after we leave the earth. It is the experience of heaven while we are on earth! A powerless Christian may not be a Christian at all according to...

Romans 8:9
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. "

We often misunderstand what the "abundant life" is all about in John 10:10. We think that it is an abundant materialistic life and it is not. We also mistakenly think that it is another phrase for eternal life. Although many rightly think that it is about our spiritual adventure on earth, only a few realize that such life is abundant because it has the power to conquer sin all the time. It is abundant because it is freedom from the clutches and power of our sin nature. Otherwise, it is a miserable life instead of truly abundant.

We have been misled by those who teach that the effects of grace (forgiveness, righteousness of God, holiness) are mainly IMPUTED to us and we are considered righteous in the sight of God when we receive it. This is a half gospel and therefore, a FALSE gospel. The full gospel message also includes the truth that BECAUSE GRACE HAS RESURRECTION POWER, grace and its effects are IMPARTED to us which makes us die as Christ died and live as Christ lived (Living a Christ-like life as Christ-like people)! Until then we cannot be certain or fully assured that we are truly saved according to the Word of God.

Other references: Romans 6:4, Romans 6:11-14, Ephesians 2:5-7, Colossians 2:12, Colossians 3:1, and...

Galatians 2:20-21
"20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law (human effort), then Christ died for no purpose."