Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17.
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Grace gives you a new beginning. And not just once, but as often as needed to become the masterpiece I made you to be. Grace takes you from a sinner to a saint in one swift step that I call being born again from above. It is then for you to work out what has happened within your inner man of the heart by renewing your mind, but you have My righteousness and that qualifies you then and there for your inheritance with the saints in Light and makes you a joint heir with Christ. And this is for everyone who will repent and receive Jesus as Lord, for if you are in Christ you are a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Your spirit has become alive to Me and dead to sin. For in Jesus, I rescued you from the domain of darkness, and transferred you to the kingdom of My beloved Son, in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of your sins by His blood. Colossians 1:13-14.
Today as we continue our series on the surpassing riches of grace we come to Life Lesson No. 8: “Grace is a New Beginning.”
When you come to Jesus and receive Him by faith as your Lord, the Holy Spirit regenerates you to be born anew by the incorruptible seed of My Word into a whole new creation in Christ, clothed in glory and filled with My power, beauty, and love. This is only possible because of the shed blood of Jesus—the true Passover Lamb who took away the sins of the world. But just as with the first Passover, unless you applied the blood to your home, you were not covered from the destroyer, so too you need to accept Jesus as Lord to take advantage of the work of redemption in your life. But it is there for all, He paid the ransom for all. 1 Timothy 2:6. If you recall at the first Passover, which is a shadow of the substance of Jesus, anyone, Hebrew or Egyptian, that got in the shelter of the blood was saved. That is why I tell you that My people who left Egypt were a mixed crowd, there were Egyptians who were wise to seek Me with the Hebrews and believe in the blood.
Grace is about the Spirit, the water and the blood, but that is the way I see the testimony from Heaven of your reconciliation, sanctification and glorification. But the way it takes place from below in your life is the redemption and cleansing by the blood, the regeneration of your spirit in the water of the Word giving new birth in the imperishable seed of My Word by the Holy Spirit, and then the filling of you with the Holy Spirit in the new birth and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon you by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is poured upon you by Jesus, just as it was on that fulfillment of the feast of Pentecost. Jesus came to take away your sins first and then once He had made purification of sins, He sat down at My right hand, Hebrews 1:3, and received the Promise of the Holy Spirit and poured Him out on you. Acts 2:33.
My grace flows to you by the Spirit, the water and the blood. Will you enter the flow? For this process is once for all and yet it continues during your entire life. It makes the new and living way to My throne of grace. If you walk in the Light as I Myself am in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus My Son continually cleanses you from all sin. If you are quick to repent and confess your sins to Me, I am faithful and righteous to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Keep pushing forward and forget what lies behind that is futile and dead, old things have passed away and new things have come. It is time for you to walk in newness of life.
And this was the same path I set before the people and priests of the Old Covenant to come to the Holy of Holies. First you brought your lamb or other designated unblemished, clean animal to the priest at the bronze altar, placed your hand upon its head and transferred your sins into the pure animal and its purity transferred to you, then you slew the sacrifice and the priests poured out its blood before Me and then burnt up the rest until only ashes remained, which were then disposed of outside the camp. Next the priests washed in pure water at the laver before they could enter the inner court where the showbread, the lampstand, and the golden altar of incense were kept, and then the High Priest, in a cloud of incense with the blood of the lamb, could enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant where I dwelt among them above the cherubim. This foreshadowed the true tabernacle in Heaven where Jesus has gone as your great High Priest as your forerunner to open the way and put His own blood of eternal redemption upon the mercy seat of My grace. I now call it the throne of grace and tell you to come there with confidence to receive mercy and find grace just when you need it. Hebrews 4:14-16.
The flow of grace, the fullness of grace, grace upon grace, great grace—how much grace will you allow Me to flow into your life? Will you open and enlarge your heart in My Word or will you shut your heart to Me and harden it to My grace? You can grieve and limit My Spirit. How? By doubt and unbelief and by trying to work out your own righteousness in ignorance that you have it and can go forward to do deeds of righteousness now. For there are those who have a form of godliness but deny My power, they are the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions, who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:4-7. Have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women but be constantly nourished on My Words of faith and sound doctrine. 1 Timothy 4:6-7. Do not learn to be idle, going around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention. 1 Timothy 5:13.
Grace enables you to act just like Me. That is why there is no law against grace. Grace is My divine life flowing into you and filling you with My fullness, and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.
It is by grace through faith that you become like Me in thoughts, words and actions. As Jesus did, I told you in His younger years He grew in grace and wisdom before Me and man. I gave Ezekiel a vision of My grace flowing as living water from My sanctuary, from My altar, out into the world, and at first it was just a trickle, then as he began walking in it and through it, it began to rise higher and higher and higher until he could no longer cross it or walk in it but had to swim in it and flow with it. That is how grace comes in ever greater measure, the more you believe in My Words and My works in your life, the more you believe in the abundance of grace flowing to you freely from Me and in the gift of righteousness that is yours in Christ Jesus, the more grace you receive, and the more you receive, the more you believe in greater and greater measure.
Until you uncover the treasure of grace, which is what My Son described as a treasure hidden in the field of the world, which is My Kingdom within open to you now, you are not living the level of life of the new creation that you are in Christ. You are still walking in your old ways of the world, the flesh and the devil. Will you give up the old ways to embrace the new ways? The works of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit My kingdom. Galatians 5:14-21. You cannot enter the Kingdom or even see into unless you are born again. And once you are born again, you must awaken to righteousness or you will return to the old ways of forgetting you have been purified of your sins. In Jesus you will find the treasures of grace.
The Word of My grace is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Acts 20:21. You are justified as a gift by My grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24.
Grace makes all things possible to those who believe. Grace makes it possible for you to begin anew each day as the person you desire to be. The old is gone and the new has come. You are not locked in by the sins, mistakes, abuse, and pains of the past, I have redeemed you and made you righteous with My own righteousness. And the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. Proverbs 4:18.
Elihu, the messenger sent by Me to Job, describes grace very well for you, and if you are in a place of pain now it would be good for you to take heed to this and take it by faith with praise and thanksgiving. “Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it. In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, that he may turn man aside from his conduct, and keep man from pride; He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing over into hell. Man is also chastened with pain on his bed, and with unceasing complaint in his bones; so that his life loathes bread, and his soul favorite food. His flesh wastes away from sight, and his bones which were not seen stick out. then his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to those who bring death.” Job 33:14-23. So far this sounds not good. Through pride, disobedience, and disregard for My Word this sinner has come to a sorry stage in his life. He is in the bottom of the pit, close to hell, he has cut his life short. Is this My Will? Certainly not, and yet you were all once going down into this condition who have followed Adam and let Satan have free reign in your life. But suddenly, I send My Messenger as a mediator between you and Me to give you back the righteousness you threw aside in Adam and are unable to get back on your own. “If there is a messenger as mediator for him, One out of a thousand, to remind a man what is right for him, then let God be gracious to the sinner, and say, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom; let his flesh become fresher than in youth, let him return to the days of his youthful vigor!’ Job 33:24-25. I found a ransom to release from the bondage of sin that man close to going down to the pit and I pulled him out and restored his body to the beauty and vigor of youth. Why? Because My messenger, the One whom I sent to seek out and save the lost, has paid your ransom to Me. You could not pay this on your own, for no one but He had an eternal life to give for the eternal life you lost in Adam. So now what happens for the sinner about to descend to hell in death? “Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, that he may see His face with joy, and He may restore His righteousness to man.” Job 33:24-26. In Christ, I restore you to My righteousness, which is the highest righteousness attainable. And your response? Read on: “He will sing to men and say, ‘I have sinned and perverted what is right, and it is not proper for me. He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit, and my life shall see the light.’” Job 33:27-28. And the conclusion that you see this day in every believer’s life: “Behold, God does all these oftentimes with men, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.” Job 33:29. And you know who the Light of the world is! And no follower of his will ever walk in darkness, no, never, for he shall have the Light of life.
Man pulled out from Me and went into another “god” who empowered man to live as he did, that is, proud, foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending his life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another, and to have his reward, which is sickness, death and destruction, and ultimately the second death of hell. Your shepherd became death. A culture of death. But then I sent Jesus out from My bosom, deep within Me, to seek you out, take your sins and pains and bear your judgment, cleanse you, purify you, fill you with My Spirit, and then pull you back with Him into Me, into My grace, into My divine life in you, and into My reward. In Him, it has pleased Me to give YOU the Kingdom.
I love you. Do you understand the enormity of grace to you? You were dead in your sins and trespasses but grace raised you up and made you alive. Made you like Jesus, God and Man joined in One. He is My grace extended to you in one like yourself. He is the resurrection and the life. And that is a new beginning. Grab hold.