You In Christ and Christ In You

Okay, we are on lesson 15. Open your Bibles to Romans 6.14. And my first question for the day is, why are we not under any law system now as believers? What's that? We're dead to the law.

Romans 6.14 states, for sin, The principle of sin, not just the actions of sins, but the principle of sin shall not have dominion over you.

The statement says that it did. It did have dominion. We Americans, because we live under this constitution and have such a great government, we don't know what it's like to be under the dominion of something or somebody. Trust me, the whole world is under the dominion of sin. And the reason it gives that dominion of sin would not be over us is that we are not under the law but under grace.

So what it does is it connects the law and sin together. See that? So now we live under grace. And Bob is right. The reason that we are not under sin anymore is because we died. We were co-crucified with Christ, which separated us from the old creation, which includes the law and condemnation. Okay with that? That's what most of chapter 6 is about. So we're not under any law system because we died to it. Now the law is not affected, is it? The law remains what it is, right? But we're just not under it.

If you left the United States and went to live in Portugal, you wouldn't be subject. Well, maybe Obama would like you to be tax laws, but you wouldn't be subject to the laws here. You'd be subject to whatever the system is there. Well, imagine leaving the whole planet and the whole creation and into a new creation in which the operating system is grace now and not law.

OK. So, under what operating system then, if God is not operating under a law system, what system does he operate under now? What's that? Under grace. So, do you think about that the only method in which God deals with mankind today, especially believers, is a grace system? He doesn't revert back to law? No matter what you think? It's grace only or it's nothing. You okay with that?

How about non-believers? Are they under a law system? Yeah, they are. Because they live in the old creation. How does God deal with non-believers in the old creation? In terms of how he comes at them. It comes out of grace, doesn't it? What he does is he says, look, you're under condemnation of sin and death, right? My whole approach to you today is for you to leave where you are and come to me, to my son, by grace, through faith, to be saved. Now they live under a system that's in place, condemnation, but they're condemned.

I hate to use Colette as the example, But when she arrived yesterday, what did she come with? She came with a sin nature. Now, maybe Jenny and Jeremy are hoping that she's the one exception. Trust me, she'll prove them wrong. She's got a sin nature, even though she's this big. And so she's under the umbrella of sin and death and law in that sense, but not the mosaic law, but just law principle.

OK with that? You're blinking. I didn't hear the original response that he said. So I guess everybody. Well, how do I say this? The whole world is under the condemnation of sin. OK, which means that they weren't condemned. Well, take that back. Why? Why is the whole world condemned? Why is every single individual condemned? They have fallen short of the glory of God.

They're in Adam. So when you show up on the planet, you show up in Adam. Adam already had a trial in the garden and he lost. And so he was sentenced to death because he sinned. And Romans 5.12 says that every individual sinned in Adam. He didn't sin for us, we sinned in him. So we're all condemned. Under that system of condemnation, there are principles. And none of those principles are grace. Not a single one.

Because Adam starts out with a law, doesn't he? The first law. Here's this tree, don't eat of it. That's a law. And he did, and he broke the law. And Romans 5 says that even though men aren't condemned because they didn't act similarly to Adam, they're all condemned because they died in Adam. See that? We didn't all get our chance at the tree, but we all sinned in Adam when Adam sinned. That's a system, an operating system, called sin and death. and the laws are in place there. Now God comes at us, now because of the work of Christ, only and solely on a grace basis. He comes to the lost man and he says to them, I have resolved every single issue that's between you and me, which primarily is sin and death. And what does he require us to do?

Believe him. That's a non-work response. It's a non-meritorious response. So even the response of faith is under the grace principle. That's the only way God acts today. He doesn't punish countries because they don't do right things. He doesn't seek out non-believers and lay the hammer on them because they're bad. His whole approach to mankind today is grace only. That's the only way he operates today.

And so what happens? You become a believer Hopefully you became a believer on a grace basis, so that you understand how God operates, at least at the beginning, so that you will continue on a grace basis. Because we don't know anything about grace living in Adam, not a thing. A couple of verses.

For God who is rich in mercy with his great love wherein he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, He has quickened us or made us alive together with Christ. By grace you are saved. And has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace. He is going to show off His grace in the kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith and that is not of yourself. It, the salvation, is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. That's God's whole approach to the lost world.

That's what he's up to. He's constantly seeking lost souls. All the time. He never stops. He never says, well, I don't know, you know, that Courtney, he didn't quite measure up, so he's not a good candidate. He's not like that. Because of what his son did, he's after everybody. Whosoever will, may come. Makes no difference.

So how do we know that we are under a controlling system? What I meant by this question is that, I think especially for us Americans, it takes us a while to come to the conclusion or the understanding that we are controlled. We're not controlling anything, no matter what Rush Limbaugh says. We are controlled. Either the sin nature controls us, or something else controls us.

The biggest lie in the world, which has been in play for 10,000 years, is that everybody has a sin nature that controls it, and that sin nature is convincing that person that they're free. Are you in an instant argument when you tell somebody you don't have free will? You're in a fight right now, because the whole world is convinced they have free will.

This is freedom, this is will, and I go where it tells me, well, it's telling me I'm free. You understand? Free will. I don't think there's any such animal as a free will. But as soon as you say that, you're in for a fight. Because we cherish that free will thing, don't we? You have the ability to choose, but does that mean you're free? So, how do we know that we are under a controlling system? Probably the only way you find out is by reading the Word of God.

Look at Romans 3.9. Okay, somebody on this side read it. But then are we better than they? Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jew and Greeks are under sin. Under sin. What does that mean? We're in trouble. We are under sin. Whether you recognize it, understand it, believe it or not, all men are under sin. They're under it. If one man could escape it, then he would be the one guy that didn't die.

But then Romans 6.14 says, that we just read, that for sin should not have dominion over us anymore because we are not under law, we are under grace. So, every human being on this planet is under one of those two systems. You're either under the sin and death, or you're under grace. There's no middle ground.

You don't get to live on the yellow line. My buddy Bob used to say to me that the whole world thinks they're living on the yellow line. They do some good stuff, they'll get over here. They do some bad stuff, they'll get in the... coming traffic. He said everybody's born in hell and this is the best hell's ever going to be.

We're either under sin or under grace. We are under the principle of grace and that's why we're spending so much time talking about it because we need to understand the system that we live under so that we can function properly as those that live under grace and that's really important for us to know. Any questions? So I kind of answered my own question, why must we be told about grace? Why do we have to be taught? Or maybe put it this way, why does Paul spend so much time in his epistles telling us about grace? We as humans want to have some kind of a law system that we can I'm doing all these things. If every one of us in this room is saved out of a sin condemnation law system and we are positionally put into a grace system, how much do we know?

Nothing about it. So what is our natural reaction? To try to live a gracious life by law. Isn't that what we do? So grace is not a natural way for human beings to think. We don't think graciously early on in our Christian life because we don't know anything about it. We just don't think graciously. It's not built into us. If we are not taught grace, we will never get it. If you're not taught, and I'm not taught grace, I will never understand it. and I'll never get it.

It just is not going to come to me someday with like a light going on. I have to learn. I have to learn grace. And as I learn it, as I learn it, I will discover that this is the one area that I'm going to learn from here until the day the Lord takes me home to be with Him. I will never stop learning grace. Ever. Every second I will be learning. Okay, so if I have to learn it, And it's not natural to me. Where do I find it? Yeah, it's in the Word of God. That's the only place you'll find it, is in the Word of God.

And to be honest with you, as a young believer, when you first start running into the grace, it kind of scares you. Because you think, well, gee, God would expect more from me than... You know, you read the grace like Paul puts a position first and then shows you a life in the second half of his epistles based on the position that you already have.

And what do our minds do? We try to do this with it so that we can get God to bless us more than he already has. And if we begin to understand that you can't, our definition of grace was that it's unmerited and unlimited blessing, then there isn't anything we can do to add to it.

There isn't anything we can do to make it bigger, greater, or accrue to me in any bigger form other than just to take it. That sentence alone just blows your mind when you think about it. There's nothing I can do to get God to act towards me more graciously than he already has. Nothing.

And if I try, I go out from under the umbrella of grace and go into a lost system, I'm in big trouble. Is it possible to operate under grace and be ignorant of grace? What do you think? Should I ask the question again? Is it possible to be operating under grace and at the same time be ignorant of the grace? Since God only operates under grace, and we're learning about grace, it indicates that we didn't know much about it, so I think we can be ignorant of it. So a believer either understands grace or he doesn't, right? If he doesn't, How can he operate under?

Even though he's in it. The problem is, is that he misses the whole system. But he still has the benefit. He has a positional benefit, but not the conditional benefit. Right. We all. I mean, I have to think that most believers, when they leave this planet and go home to be with the Lord, and they step into that full-on grace, it's like, wow, where was this all my life? You know? Kind of thing. The blessing that they'll conditionally walk into will surprise them. God doesn't want it that way. He wants believers to understand the grace they live under now.

So, you know, when we talked a couple of weeks ago about spending some time on position and condition, it's really important to understand the position we have. You know, I keep saying it's important for this. It's important for this. It's important for this. It's important to know. Right. And once you know, it's important to believe. Right. So once you know, begin to understand the grace that you live under. Your job is to do what with the grace that comes towards you. Take it. And you take it by faith.

We make a big deal, we just spent three months on the identification truths. How many of you, without being taught identification, would come up with that? Walking down the street saying, wow, I was crucified with Christ. What a thought. No. You learned it in the Word of God. My first exposure to the identification truths was a man sat me down and he said, I want you to read Romans 6, the first six verses.

I read it and he said, what does it say? And I said, looks like I died. He said, yeah, you did. I said, no way. He said, what does it say? It says that I was crucified. He said, yeah, you were. I said, no, here I am. I'm standing here. What are you talking about?

How else would I have learned it other than in the word of God? It's the same thing with grace. The only way you learn grace, learn about it, is in the Word of God. Now, once you start to learn about it, how do you react to it? You believe it, and what does the Spirit of God do? He begins to cause you to function in a grace environment, so that it isn't foreign to you, and you will take it all the time.

Understand what I mean by that? So what's the answer to five? Yes or no? You cannot operate under grace if you don't know it. Because I'm talking about a conditional operation, the way you live your life. You cannot operate unless you know it. Isn't it that you can operate, you just don't get the benefit of it? Because God operates under grace. Maybe benefit is a better word. No, I'm going to stick with the word operate. And the reason I'm going to do it is this.

Like I said before, when I'm saved, I enter into, positionally, into the salvation and grace of God. What do I know about that? Not very much. So in every circumstance that comes up in my life, if I'm not taught grace, what do I revert to? a legal system. I've got to pray more, study more, and so God can bless me.

When you say that, it sounds like you put more emphasis on the conditional basis than on the positional, which is who you really are. I'm not discounting the position. My question is focused at, can a believer live and function moment by moment under a grace system if he doesn't know anything about it? I would say when you're a believer, I'm in grace. Whether I recognize it or not. From your position.

I'm not arguing position. I'm talking only condition here. But you're still operating. It goes back to what Donna was saying. You don't receive the benefits of that grace system. I'm in it. The Lord is pouring out his grace on me. I'm going the other way. I'm not receiving that flood of grace. What you're giving me is position.

Right? No, condition. But then you're saying that you're two different people, one's a position person and one's a position? I mean, when you say operate, you know, when we operate under sin, that's a total commitment to it, right? When we operate under grace, isn't it the same? You either are or you're not.

Yeah, well, let me go at this another way. I recognize and I agree that In my position, when I'm saved, I'm under grace. And I also recognize that a brand new believer will ask God for things, pray to him, and God will answer him without hesitation. A more mature believer may not do that because he has something else he wants to teach him. He's teaching him grace. What I'm asserting is that if you're saved and you don't ever go to Sunday school, you don't ever read your Bible, you don't ever have any exposure to the information that has to do with grace, how can you live under it?

In other words, in your daily walking around existence. Because you're law-thinking and law-minded. That's all you know. Could it be that you're operating under it, but you don't understand it? That's true. That's okay. I'm not questioning the fact that you're under it. What I'm talking about is, how do you walk every minute of every day? You're under a position of grace all the time. But the way I function and live my life could be totally legal.

When I go to Boy Scouts on Monday night at the Third Reformed Church, trust me, there's no grace in that place. Mike, when you say it's possible, you know, all of us know many other believers. They're going to sue me now because they're going to kick me out of the Scouts. Drummed out of the Corps.

You think it's possible for a believer to maybe understand some aspects of God's grace, but maybe there might be some small area where he's willing to admit that God is gracious in that, but a large part He does not. Well, salvation alone is gracious. Let's talk about salvation.

If I come to you as a great evangelist, and I say, Donna, you're a dirty rotten sinner, condemned or going to hell for sure. But if you'll make a commitment to Christ, He'll save you. You say, okay, where do I commit? But then I'm not a believer. So I add to that, I say now, you need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, He died for your sins and rose again, right? So you need to make a commitment to Christ. She's saved. Do I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins? Faith. So you're saved on a grace basis. Yes, you do. You've been introduced to grace. You know how it functions.

I dare say that there's a lot of people walking around today who are saved that didn't get saved on that basis in terms of only grace. They had to get up and come forward. They had to receive Jesus into their heart. They had to do something like that in addition to just believing the gospel. There's a little bit of grace and a little bit of law in that deal, right?

Now, I'm coming out of a lost system. Here I start on my Christian journey. and I know in my mind that there was something, a little bit of something I contributed to that salvation, how do you think I'm going to function? I'm always going to be looking for that little bit of something that I contributed. If I was saved solely on the basis of faith and grace, then I understand. There's nothing for me to do, even in the walk. I'm looking for the grace.

But how many times do you walk under Do you understand what I'm saying? You've got to learn the grace. You've got to learn about it. You've got to learn how it functions. And as soon as I say that, it sounds like I'm laying a law on you, right? The principles have to be known, because faith has to have an object. Believers are not ignorant people. They are well informed about the grace that they live under. See that? Well, I think a lot of people in here, including myself, believe in his first thing.

It was such a wonderful thing that the Lord saved me. I've got to start doing, trying to live for the Lord in this way that I do the things he said to do and when I don't do them, I get chastised. So you try to insert that law in there no matter how... Yeah, I've got to show God I'm appreciative. Yeah, I've got to demonstrate to God how appreciative I am of His salvation.

You don't go get something for nothing, you've got to... That's exactly my point. We are not geared to get something for nothing. You come over to my house for dinner, I know what you're thinking. You've got your calendar out, saying, well Mike, can you come over to our house? And I say, no, it's grace alone that makes you uncomfortable. That's why you have to learn. Because we're not built that way in Adam. We are in Christ, but not in Adam. It kind of sounds like you're making grace a work system.

What I'm saying is that in order to find out what grace is and how it functions, The only place that you can discover it and find out about it is in the Word of God. So, I think you're right when you're saved. You have this tremendous sense of, oh my goodness, God saved me and I need to respond. Yes, grace is a great motivator, but our initial reaction is to respond other than just living in the grace. I've got to show God how appreciative I am. I've got to do a lot of stuff to show him that I really meant it.

Isn't the question of resting as opposed to doing? Yeah. Good point. Because you can talk about walking, you're talking about essentially decisions that you make that come to you in your life. Which mode are you going to be in? I think you almost have to stop and say, okay, which one am I? And when I'm presented with the gospel and I have a decision to make, and what's the decision?

To believe or not believe, right? Do I receive the salvation by believing? Yes, I do. But if I understand that the salvation coming towards me is a work of God only, I have nothing to contribute to it, whatever, but I get the whole thing by believing and my faith doesn't contribute to it.

I've started on a grace basis. I understand the basic principle, God does everything and I receive. I'm to live by faith in what he shows me and reveals to me about him and his work and his grace. I've started on the right foot. See that? The process of stepping into that knowledge is a process of grace right there. The natural instinct like you've been talking about is to work it out. Yeah, we want to make a deal. And so the grace is there, but you enter into it, I guess through your consistent learning about it. And believing it, I think.

And therefore, that's part of the grace process going on right there. That's a great point, Steve, because if you're saved on a grace basis, and I was saved on a grace basis, that's why I think you should wait until you're about 30 before you get saved. What happened in my heart was that because I understood the grace, the appetite for what God had for me just went over the top.

And on that very day I got in the Word of God and I've never gotten out. Never. Because I knew, I didn't know then, but I went into the Word of God and started to read and understand more and more and more grace. And that was the only place I could find it. I found it fellowshipping with other believers and hanging out kind of thing, but it was in the Word of God. And so the hunger to learn it was putting me graciously And how did I respond? I couldn't do otherwise. Do you understand what I mean by that? Was it a process? Yes, it was. But the more I read, the more the grace overwhelmed me.

There wasn't any place I could read in Paul's epistles where he said, OK, this is your turn. This is where you got to do your thing. I couldn't find any of that. Because everything he wanted me to do was based on something that he'd already done before. And he just wanted me to respond and believe him. It's complete. It's that my process is, doesn't always, I don't always acknowledge and understand my complete process right there. So I'm like my own stumbling block.

What is our food? Our food is the Word. And it's a growth. It's just like me growing up. When I'm a baby and I milk and you grow and it's a long process, but it's a growth process. It's not a work, anything else. It's us maturing in Christ. And notice that verse says, I grow in the grace, not into it.

Understand that? I'm not standing out here and Grace is over there and I'm going to hustle to get into it. No, I'm already in it and what am I learning? I'm learning in the environment of Grace and the knowledge that goes with it. Donna. So, based on what you just said, then I have a problem with you either under law or you're under Grace. It seems like you'd be under law or in Grace.

Oh. But those two are really not, you can't compare them side by side. No, you can't. You can't. And so again, I think the answer to what you're saying is a position and condition answer. I am I am in grace. Peter says I am right. And I'm to grow in that environment.

If if you and I decided that we were going to go live under the ocean forever, you know, do scuba diving, we would be growing in the water. Or let's say we're going to live in the biosphere. Or in the space station. They take us to the space station. And we're going to grow in the space station. We're going to learn all about how that thing is and that's where we're going to live from now on. Are we in it?

Yeah, positionally we're in there, but we're learning about what the environment is. I am positionally in grace. Now, I can be in grace, positionally, but function legally. And if I'm functioning legally, I am not the recipient, conditionally, of the benefits of the grace that I live under. Okay? Okay. I know that I agree totally with that. I can see the big picture.

But as a young believer, when I don't understand grace, and I'm functioning pretty much all the time under love, probably in my own making, that I need to do this, and be this way, and act like this. Oh, we all do that, yeah. And all that, and yet, as I'm going along that way, I recognize that I have sinned. I've done this, or been ugly to somebody, or said something, whatever. And I feel guilty. And so I go to the Lord in prayer, and I say, please forgive me for that. And I'm thinking of one thing. And He cleanses me by His grace of all the things. And in that regard, I'm benefiting from the grace. Yes, you are. Because what did you do? You put yourself under a grace principle. Because God comes... Here's how God... Here's God's principle. He goes to the lost and He gives them one requirement. You must believe. He goes to the believer and He gives them one requirement if they sin. What's the requirement? Confess. Right? Non-believers are to believe. Believers are to confess. If you don't confess, he says, okay, you don't judge yourself, I'll judge you so you won't be condemned to the world.

His grace is functioning and coming at us no matter how dumb we are, or how stubborn we are, or how legal we are. He's always coming at us from a grace to teach us. I mean, the fact that we can confess our sins and he restores us to fellowship and cleanses us It isn't my confession that did it. He already took care of it.

That's what people under grace do. When they get out of fellowship, What am I to do? I'm to confess. Sure. If I'm not a believer, what does God want me to do? Do 45 spiritual push-ups, go to church for six weeks and then he'll save us? No! Believe me. You have to define confess. Okay, I'm not going to do that today because it's coming up about two weeks from now. But confession, just on a thumbnail, confession is to say the same thing. That's what the word means.

So when I go to God, if I've sinned, here I am a believer, and I bet four bucks on the nuggets and I won. Shouldn't be betting, it's bad. Even though it's Mother's Day, I wasn't all that nice to Donna. So the Holy Spirit convicts me, and if I'm sensitive to fellowship with Christ, it's right away. What's my response to the conviction? I agree with God. Now what am I going to agree with Him about?

That I'm a dirty, rotten sinner? No, because He's already said I'm not in my position. Right? Oh, I'm condemned? No, you're not. What is He saying to me that I'm supposed to agree with Him about? That I am in the position that He says I am, and I believe that, but I have been acting totally inconsistent with who you say I am. I agree with you. I've been doing this stuff that doesn't line up with who you say I am.

I did this and this and this and this. And I'm restored to fellowship. I've never lost my position as a son. Ever. No matter what I've been doing. So you see how the grace works? The grace is never to condemn me. In the confession, if I don't confess, His grace still comes at me and puts me through a set of circumstances so I will agree with Him. That's why we Christians never get too nervous about somebody who goes to the far country, because we know the Spirit's going with them. And sooner or later, they're going to come back. That pig food gets real tasty after a while. Okay? Good discussion. Thanks.

So, who is the person that we can see grace in? Who is the one person you see grace in? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the grace guy. So what does man bring to salvation then? When the salvation transaction is about to take place and here comes the man to the table and Christ is on the other side of the table, what does the man bring? Sin. He brings sin. He brings weakness.

He brings, Romans 5.6 says, for when we were yet without strength. That's a tough one for you Americans to swallow. In due time, Christ died for us.

Romans 5.8, but God commends his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't call you up and ask you if it was okay. He did it anyway. 5.10 For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

2 Corinthians 12.9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. So here comes a man to salvation.

What does he bring? Does he bring his checkbook? No. He brings sin and weakness. What does God bring? He brings the salvation package and grace, the whole thing. Now, it's an act of God's grace that he would even over time persuade a man that he was weak and sinful. Because if the Spirit of God isn't operating on him, opening up the understanding of a man and his sinfulness, he'll just disregard it and live by this little set of rules and moral system he's got and think he's okay. How many people do you hear say, well, I'm sure that the man upstairs is going to judge me based, I did enough good stuff that when I die, it's going to be okay. You know, is that the biggest bunch of nonsense you ever heard?

Where is Christ in that thing? Nowhere. Now I want you to think hard about this. In the context of salvation, is God's grace apparent? Now this is a hard question. And I'm not looking for a yes or no answer. In other words, when God put together the salvation package, did he do it in grace? It says, for by grace are we saved. But before it gets to you, when God is working it out, is that a gracious act?

I would say no. No, it's not. Well, it would be because he put John in the beginning of time before he even knew anything about it. That's what it would be. That's why he called you. Well, take you out of the picture. We're going to take man totally out of the picture. Here's God, and God has a problem. And the problem is sin. He has been offended by man's sin. And because he's righteous and holy, he's got to come up with some way to satisfy his righteousness and his holiness.

So what does he come up with? He and his son get together and they make a covenant. They make a deal. And what's the deal? If you'll become a man and die, I will raise you up." Any grace in that deal? No. No grace at all. The sins of all time are put on Christ and He dies. No grace in that deal. So it's all finished by the time it gets to you and me. So in putting the grace package together, from God's perspective, there's no grace at all.

It cost Him the most expensive thing and the most dear thing He had, which was the life of His Son. But once that's accomplished, then he can act graciously. And that's the point I'm trying to make. God in dealing with the sin issue did not deal in grace. He dealt in righteousness and holiness.

You see that? And that's true then in Revelation, right? When it comes time to judgment, it's the same thing. There's not a gracious aspect there, right? That's right. The work of God is judicial. And he made Christ sin. And once he did that, he couldn't act graciously to Christ. He crucified him. He had to die because he was made sin. Now once he has done that, and that's not a gracious act, he is satisfied about sin.

Once he's satisfied then, what can he do? He doesn't have to, by the way, once that transaction is complete, you and I don't have to go, we can't go to him and say, okay, you're done, I'm ready. He's going to say, ready for what? I'm satisfied. I don't have to give this to you. I'm under no obligation, no obligation to offer you salvation, even though I'm satisfied. You know why he's under no obligation?

Because if he's going to act in grace, he can't act under an obligatory system. He's got to do it solely on the goodness of his heart. But that's what he does, because he's a loving, gracious God. He comes to us and he says, That sin issue that was the only and the issue, I've resolved it. I'm extending the grace to you. If you will believe me that I took care of it and believe in my son, you will accrue all the benefits of the salvation I'm offering you by grace only. See? That's the point I'm trying to make.

There was no grace in the transaction of the cross of Christ. No grace at all. It was judicial. So does that wipe out It totally wipes out any effort you had. Divine forgiveness to be extended to man cannot be extended unless God is satisfied about the offense. And Steve couldn't satisfy God about his own personal offense, couldn't do it. Neither could Adam, neither could anybody. but the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, becoming a man and dying on the cross for your sins, satisfied the righteousness of the Holy God.

That's what the word propitiation means. God says, I'm satisfied. And because I am, now I can do all these other cool things. Grace. I can extend a salvation to you by grace alone. There's nothing for you to contribute to it, because I took care of all the issues.

God not only extends salvation, by grace, he also keeps through grace those who he has saved. He keeps us by grace alone. He does not come and say, well I saved you by grace, but here are the rules. No, no. He keeps us by grace. And God teaches in grace those who are saved and kept how they should live. and how they may live to his eternal glory. Once you're under grace, he's going to teach us how a person functions under grace.

Now you think, well, there must be a set of rules there. No, there are principles. Principles are different than rules. The best example I know is the principle of gravity. When you drop something, it hits the floor. It's a law, but it's more than a law, it's a principle. There's nothing that gravity has to do to justify itself. You see that?

So if I live under the principles of grace, there's nothing I have to do to justify my living under the principles of grace, but I need to learn how it goes, and how it functions. Because as a new man in Christ living under grace, I want to know how it, because it isn't stagnant, it's dynamic. And I need to know about that. and how it functions. I need to know every second how to live under this grace thing.

To the glory of God, not to the glory of Mike. To the glory of God. Did you have a question? The best understanding of grace is comprehended by a person who understands what about himself? Boy, did it get quiet. Must be a hard question, huh? The best understanding of grace is comprehended by a person who understands what about himself? He's undeserving. That's right. That he's undeserving. That he's unworthy. That he's undeserving and that he's unworthy.

That's the person who understands grace the best. We'll pick up with question 10. next week and when I'm done praying I'll have questions for next week and then the following week I'm going to give you about an eight-page paper to read, hopefully you'll read it, by Lewis Barry Chafer on grace and then my questions two or three weeks from now will be based on that paper and I think you'll find that paper really interesting. Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace And now we thank you for your love towards us, that not only do we positionally live under grace, but you're teaching us how it functions and how we function in the environment of grace itself. We thank you and pray in your Son's name. Amen.