Appointed To Bear Fruit: A 90 Day JourneyНамуна

Living in Grace

Satan is actively working to keep us from abiding in Christ so that God’s mission will not be accomplished through us. Satan tells us that it is normal to sin or not obey God’s commands. After all, not even Adam and Eve could keep God’s command. Satan downplays the seriousness of sin as well as its consequences. We must recognize the Devil and his work. He is both a liar and an accuser. Since the beginning, Satan has been deceiving believers so they do not obey God and then accusing them after they sin saying that God will never forgive them. The Devil’s schemes are evil.

Some churches have scarred disciples by emphasizing obedience to the commands of God rather than focusing on living in grace. Teachers tell their disciples that they must obey God’s commands or else God will punish them. These disciples in turn agonize over the sins they commit. For instance, Jesus told us that when you lust in your heart, you have already committed adultery. In today’s world where we are bombarded by sexual images, it is a real struggle to keep our hearts pure and free from lust. We find ourselves again breaking the commandments and are consumed by guilt. And Satan is right there accusing us saying that God will not forgive you this time. He will cut off the His relationship with you. Therefore, we beat ourselves up over how we have once again failed God.

Yet our experience with God is not to be like this. After we put our faith in Christ, we live or abide in His love. We have a relationship with Him that can never be broken by anything that we do. We are eternally secure in our salvation because Jesus has paid it all. The guilt we experience when we sin is because we are sensitive to God and desire to do His will. We understand His grace and our status as a child of God so we respond differently to our guilt. We run to the cross because Jesus has paid our debt of sin in full. Satan no longer has a basis to accuse us before God. And when we confess our sin, the work of Christ becomes greater in our life as we understand how complete His forgiveness is. This results in a deeper love for Christ and a greater commitment to live in obedience to Him. Praise God that His truth overcomes Satan’s lies.

Jesus has destroyed all the works of the Devil by living a sinless life and bearing our sin on the cross. Jesus says that He has kept the Father’s commands and proves it by rising from the dead. He faced the judgment seat of the Father and was found sinless. Jesus always lived His life in perfect obedience to the Father. Often, we think of this in terms of obeying the Law of Moses. He never lied, lusted, worshipped false gods, etc. But Jesus’ obedience was much greater than only obeying the Law of Moses. Jesus obeyed the will of the Father as well by denying His rights. “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). The Son chose to obey the Father so that salvation could be given to us. His perfect obedience allowed Him to abide in the love of the Father and bear fruit by fulfilling the Father’s plan of salvation.

When we confess our sins and live again in obedience to Him, we eliminate the barrier to Christ’s love flowing through us. Our desires become the same as God’s desires for us and we joyfully choose to obey. Obedience is always connected to love; it’s the motivation behind our obedience. This love is a decision to live a life of self-denial no matter the cost. Obedience is our response to the grace that Christ has given sinners like us. We want to fulfill His desire which is that all people may be saved. As He leads, we make sacrifices for His glory, denying ourselves daily and bringing the gospel to those who have not yet received Christ. 

Application:  Are you abiding in His love or living under guilt?