The Gospel of Grace

Now after John was put in prison,

Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying,

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

Repent means to change the way you think or to adjust your thinking so that your thinking lines up with Gods thinking. Mark 1:14-15

A chiropractor will often make adjustments in your joints to help alleviate pain in your body and help you to walk upright.

One adjustment in your thinking can alleviate a-lot of unnecessary pain and help you to walk in the new life that God created you to walk in.

In other words right thinking will lead to right walking, right living and a whole lot of peace and joy.

This is why Jesus encouraged people to  repent and to believe the gospel .

Our biggest problem is right between our own two ears! again repent means to Rethink

Believing the truth will set you free.

Free from what?

Free from the dominion of sin and its side affects.

Believing the gospel of  grace does not set us free to sin, but sets us free from the dominion of sin.

Believing the gospel of grace is absolutely necessary in order for us to be set free from the dominion of sin and its side affects.

No amount of fleshy effort can ever set a person free from the dominion of sin.

If you don’t believe me just ask Paul!

The apostle Paul knew what it was like to try and deliver himself from the dominion of sin through his own self .

You can read all about Pauls struggle in Romans 7:18-25

We are not set free from the dominion of sin through self effort! We are set free from the dominion of sin by grace through right believing or by believing the right gospel .

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14

What is the gospel?

First.

The gospel of grace tells us that Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins and it is finished !

The gospel of grace tells us that there is now nothing else left to do, but to believe that what Jesus did actually worked! The blood sacrifice of Jesus was sufficient for forgiveness of all my sins past, present and future.

We are not being forgiven little by little.
We are forgiven once and for all !

So also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people.

He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. Hebrews 9:28 NLT

Jesus he is not coming back to deal with our sins why? because he already has dealt with our sins once for all time!

Understanding that we are completely forgiven is absolutely necessary for us to continue to walk in the freedom that Jesus came to give us.

I am writing to you who are God's children because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus. 1 John 2:12

Over and over the Scripture tells us that our sins have been forgiven what God is asking us to do is to simply believe what has already been done.

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
2 Peter 1:5-10

The key to a mature, productive, fruitful life is knowing that all your sins have been already been forgiven!

Now as important as the forgiveness of sins is did you know that forgiveness of sins is just part of the gospel of grace that God has called us to believe?

Not only have we been forgiven, but we have also been made new!

Second.

Not only does the gospel declare that we have been completely forgiven, but it also tells us that the old is gone and the has new come.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17

Did you get it? The old is gone and the new has come!

The old you that was in Adam is dead and gone! You are not who religion has said that you are.

You are not just a poor Old Sinner, saved by grace you are a new creation in Christ! The old you was put to death , cut out , and taken away and the new you has come!

You are a new creation in Christ and God needs you to believe this!

Your freedom depends on it!

The gospel is not that you are just a forgiven sinner, but that you are now  a new creation in Christ and that you are now the righteousness of God in Christ.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

The Bible is like a mirror that reveals who we really are now in Christ! The old is gone and the new has come!

Listen to what Paul says about our old nature in Romans 6

knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:6-7 / 11

Believing the gospel means that you believe that you no longer have an old sinful nature that old sinful nature has already been dealt with once and for all ! its dead and gone!

Believing the gospel is to believe that when Christ died you died with Christ!

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."Galatians 2:20-21

Believing the gospel means that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ