The setting was sobering. Our tour group of 51 people was at Yad Vashem (The World Holocaust Remembrance Center) when our amazing tour guide told us, through tears, the gut-wrenching story of how his parents both survived the horrors of World War II. When he was finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in our group.

As we left Yad Vashem that day, my heart was heavy.

It always is when I visit that place, but this time, there was something else going on inside my heart as I thought about the horrible atrocities that have been heaped upon the Jewish people throughout the centuries. I thought about how the Jewish people as a whole do not see themselves as victims, despite the horrible evils that they have had to endure. Rather, they see the difficulties that they have endured as opportunities to rise above. The people of Israel have gone through more difficulties than any people group that has ever existed in the history of mankind, yet they are such industrious people. The nation of Israel is a world leader in innovation, security, agricultural technology and fresh citrus fruit production and exportation, just to name a few.

When I think about how the people of Israel have chosen to be opportunists rather than victims, it reminds me of what we are called to be as followers of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:37 tells us that we are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” Now, we all know what a conqueror is. In Paul’s day, it was the Roman army who beat the world into submission. Today, it is the UFC fighter who destroys his opponent in the octagon. It is a football team that destroys the other team 56-0. We can think of numerous examples of someone or some team being conquered, but what does it mean to be “more than conquerors?”

I appreciate this insight from John Piper:

“One biblical answer is that a conqueror defeats his enemy, but one who is more than a conqueror subjugates his enemy. A conqueror nullifies the purpose of his enemy; one who is more than a conqueror makes the enemy serve his own purposes. A conqueror strikes down his foe; one who is more than a conqueror makes his foe his slave. Practically, what does this mean? Let’s use Paul’s own words in 2 Corinthians 4:17: ‘This slight momentary affliction is preparing [effecting, or working, or bringing about] for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.’”¹

Here, we could say that affliction is one of the attacking enemies. What has happened in Paul’s conflict with it? It has certainly not separated him from the love of Christ, but even more, it has been taken captive, so to speak. It has been enslaved and made to serve Paul’s everlasting joy. Affliction, the former enemy, is now working for Paul. It is preparing for Paul “an eternal weight of glory.” His enemy is now his slave. He has not only conquered his enemy, he has more than conquered him.

We live in a day and age where more and more people tend to assume the role of the victim.

I know that there are many people who have experienced much more tragedy than I ever have, and that tragedy has left them deeply scarred emotionally; but the scar that has been left from the wound that has been afflicted has the opportunity to define their lives in one of two ways.

For some, a scar is the reminder of the event that ruined their life, or their marriage, or their faith, but for others who, through the grace of God and the Spirit of God working through embracing the Word of God, that scar becomes the symbol of the thing that should have ruined their life, and is now a testimony of the abounding grace and power of God that turns the conquered into those who are more than conquerors. The affliction and the enemy have moved from being the master to the slave for the glory of God and for helping others who have gone through similar trials learn to overcome.

The Apostle Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7:

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.”

May we who are followers of Jesus learn from our Jewish friends to not allow ourselves to be victims, but through the grace and power of Jesus working in us, be victorious and industrious for His kingdom and glory!

Notes:

¹ John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003), pp. 96-97.

Life truly begins as we die to ourselves and trust in Christ.

Once we receive Jesus into our lives, His Spirit joins with our human spirit, and we become born again as new creations in Christ. Our sinful life is exchanged with the righteous life of Christ. Our lives take on new meaning and true purpose, but this does not mean we are always living according to this newness of life. This is why Paul says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25, NKJV).

The Apostle Paul understood that we still have a natural selfish bent in life that gives us the potential to act according to our fallen nature, which can affect both our personal walk with God and the kind of fellowship we will have with other believers. Our family upbringing, fallen nature and personal choices have predisposed us to act and react in certain ways based on our previous conditioning. Sometimes, we try to excuse our behavior and bad habits by telling others, “This is just who I am.” Our insecurities and personal hang-ups still need to pass through the cross, so that we don’t let our past identity affect our new identity in Christ.

Of all the battles being fought in our world, the believer’s battle between the flesh and the Spirit is the most critical. Our personal holiness and influence on others depend on our victory in this area. Therefore, we must learn to appropriate Christ’s finished work on the cross and learn to walk in the newness of the Spirit.

Paul the Apostle said,

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:16-18, NKJV).

To be led by or to walk in the Spirit means to be governed and guided by His Spirit. This has to do with right belief more than right behavior. It is having a Gospel-centered way of thinking where we rely on God more than trying harder.

In our daily practice, it means choosing God’s will over our own will, so that we “do not do the things that [we] wish.” Only then can we overcome evil with good and be “the salt and light” we are called to be.

The Gospel takes us directly to the cross where both sin and the sinner were judged, forgiven and graciously exchanged for an entirely different way of life based on what Christ has done and continues to do through us!

Here are three essential ways to explain and maintain our daily walk in the Spirit:

1. Acknowledge God’s Presence in your life and your absolute need for His grace.

This begins by thanking God for His abiding presence and realizing that we always need God. Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (emphasis mine)

Since we all gravitate toward the appetites and confidence of our flesh, whether rebellious or religious in nature, our natural inclination can still be to solve our own problems and fulfill our own desires. But victory comes as we look to Christ for our sufficiency and satisfaction. David wrote in his famous shepherd’s psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). It is only as we are communing with God and aware of His presence that we will no longer need to rely on ourselves or look elsewhere for fulfillment.

The Apostle Paul makes a very important distinction in Galatians 5:19-21 when he calls our former sinful practices “the works of the flesh,” emphasizing what we naturally do apart from God, but when speaking of the life of the Spirit, he changes his verbiage and uses the term “the fruit of the Spirit.” Notice that it is no longer our works but His work in us that makes all the difference for us to become more like Christ. We are called to work out what God has already worked within, even as Paul reminds us, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13, NKJV).

Paul further explains that the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE – expressed in joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. Thus, walking in the Spirit will result in abiding in Christ’s love. This is possible only as we are rooted and connected to the life of Christ – since there can be no real FRUIT without the right ROOT.

2. Believe in God’s Promises and look past your own perspective.

Regardless of what we are going through, we must know what God reveals to us in His living Word. The Word of God declares who we are, how we are to live, and what we shall become.

With Christ living in us, we can heed God’s wisdom in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Although it is natural for us to lean on our own understanding in order to explain a situation or solve a problem, we are called to trust in God by learning and leaning on what He says to us. He will direct our paths as we acknowledge Him in all of our ways.

We must remember that there are no ties when it comes to the flesh battling against the Spirit. We are either under the influence of the Spirit or being governed by the flesh. Jesus said, “the spirit gives life and the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63). We are either carnally minded which leads to death or spiritually minded which leads to “life and peace” (Romans 8:6).

Thus, God’s promises are the right starting point for every situation we find ourselves in. His promise should be the premise of every process. Rather than always needing an explanation for our present circumstances, we should learn to live with an expectation of God’s promised conclusions.

Therefore, it is wise for us to learn and memorize the promises revealed in God’s treasure chest of Scripture and to unlearn what it means to be wise in our own opinions (Romans 12:16).

3. Rely on God’s Power and His sufficiency for our lives.

Even with a right spiritual mindset, we must not try to do the right thing in our own strength. Since we live in a fallen world that is constantly working against us and wearing us down, we must come to Him to find His rest for our souls. In order to walk in the Spirit, we must STOP TRYING and START DYING to be regularly RELYING on God!

We must believe that Christ has already given us the means and the motive to do all that He asks of us. With His every command comes the necessary grace to fulfill what He asks of us. It is His strength and power that matters. We are no longer living our own life but His. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)

Our victory lies in believing the Gospel and living in the present reality of who Christ is in us!

Paul puts it this way to Timothy, “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1). This means that we are to be strong in the strength that we do not have. Walking in the Spirit requires us to turn to God in the Spirit, surrender our will to His, and receive by faith what He alone is able to provide.

The human spirit fails unless the Holy Spirit fills!

After the sermon, a man came up to let me know he wasn’t happy with what he had heard. He didn’t put it quite that bluntly, but it was all over his furled brow and panicked expression. “So what did you think about the sermon?” I asked with a smile, “There was too much grace!” he said indignantly. It’s one of those complaints that you do your hardest not to laugh at because you actually take it as a compliment. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes in his commentary on Romans 6:

“There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. This is a very good test of gospel preaching. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel.”¹

Lloyd-Jones’ point is that this kind of criticism is actually a sign that we are preaching the Gospel rightly. That has been the case since the days of Paul the Apostle (see Romans 6). Reactions like this, however, are all too common among Christians. I believe that there are two things at play here. The first is a misunderstanding of the role of the Gospel in a believer’s life after conversion. The second is a misdirected, even if well intentioned, concern about the abuse of grace and permissiveness toward sin in the life of the believer, in other words, an unfounded fear of antinomianism.

The Role of the Gospel in the Believer’s Life

Many Christians seem to believe that the Gospel is really only for unbelievers. The Gospel is seen as the entryway into relationship with God, but then once it has served its purpose, it should be set aside for “more advanced things.” Sure, we might pull the Gospel from the shelf every now and again if we sin and feel the need for forgiveness, but that’s about it. For many Christians, this is the extent of the Gospel’s role after initial conversion. This couldn’t be further from the biblical picture of the role of the Gospel in the Christian’s life. The Gospel is not merely a push start for the Christian life; it is the foundation for the Christian life from beginning to end. The Gospel is just as vital for growth and sanctification as it is for initial justification. In other words, the Gospel is for believers just as much as it is for unbelievers.

Paul writes in Romans 1, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…” The problem is that we normally read this as if it said, “the gospel… is the power of God for justification.” But the term “salvation” in Scripture refers not only to the initial act of God in justifying us through faith in Christ. It also refers to our sanctification and ultimately our glorification together with Christ. Salvation covers all these aspects. That means the Gospel is also the power for sanctification, not merely for justification. It is the power to transform, not just the power to pardon. Unfortunately, we sometimes bifurcate the work of salvation and act as though justification is God’s work, and sanctification is ours. We act as though the Gospel has importance for the first, but means almost nothing for the second. But the Gospel is the power for the whole of salvation.

In some circles, we tend to look at the Gospel as the means for justification, and the Holy Spirit as the means for sanctification. This is a false division on two levels. First, while Christ is the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us, it is only the Spirit who applies this work to our hearts in justifying and regenerating us (Titus 3:5). Second, we would do well to remember the statements of Christ about the Spirit’s work. “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26). The Spirit does indeed work sanctification in our lives, described (among other ways) as “the fruit of the Spirit.” However, the means He uses to produce that fruit is to continually point us to Christ, to the Gospel. It is not a contest between the Holy Spirit or the Gospel—which one will hold the title of being the source of the “power of God” for sanctification. Rather, the Spirit powerfully transforms us by pointing us ever more clearly to the Gospel.

Too Much Grace?

To return to the original complaint I mentioned, it brings up a valid question: Is there such a thing as too much grace? There are some who would say “yes”—like the man who approached me after the sermon. The argument goes that if we too strongly emphasize that our salvation is completely secure by grace, not dependent on anything we do but solely on what Jesus has done for us, that this will give people license to dive headlong into all kinds of sin.

We must admit that there are certainly those calling themselves Christians for whom grace is just an excuse to continue living for self and sin. But these are likely people who have never seen the costliness of grace, never been amazed by its beauty. Yes, God’s grace is free for us, but it comes to us at the cost of His only Son, flowing from His wounds. For the abuser of grace, it is just a philosophical concept broken off from the suffering of Christ. This person’s concept of grace is superficial at best. In other words, their problem is not too much grace, but too little.

For the abuser of grace, it is just a philosophical concept broken off from the suffering of Christ. This person’s concept of grace is superficial at best. In other words, their problem is not too much grace, but too little.

It would be overly simple to say that all such people in brazen sin are not actually Christians. There are surely some Christians who find their way to this miserable state. Is “too much grace” to blame? Likely the opposite. What happens is that the Christian doesn’t see the beauty and depths of the Gospel, does not delight in the richness of the grace provided through the cross. Instead, they labor under a latent fear and insecurity and so wear themselves out trying to sanctify themselves in the power of their own will. Some simply give up in despair after a time. Again, the problem is not that they need less grace, but more grace!

The moralist would argue that too much grace is dangerous. However, the only motive he offers as a replacement is fear. Yes, one can certainly scare a Christian into a life of busyness via threats of judgment. But while this might make a busy, religious person, it will never make a worshiper. That person’s heart might keep rules and stay busy out of fear, but it will not love and delight in God. It cannot. God is only a dark threat on the horizon of such a heart, rather than a faithful father. Any diminishing of grace creates in us the fear-based mentality of a slave. But Paul writes, “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).

In stark contrast to the moralist’s argument, seeing the fullness and beauty of grace is the only thing that can cause us to enjoy Christ and happily pour out our lives for Him. Focusing on God’s abundant, unbridled goodness rather than our efforts is exactly what inspires love and fuels sanctification for the sake of the One who loves us so well. Any “change” without this motive is mere fleshly self-improvement. It is only the Gospel of grace, applied by the Spirit, which is the power of God unto sanctification. The puritan writer Thomas Chalmers summed it up well in his sermon The Expulsive Power of a New Affection:

“The freer the Gospel, the more sanctifying is the Gospel; and the more it is received as a doctrine of grace, the more will it be felt as a doctrine [leading] to godliness… That very peculiarity which so many dread as the germ of antinomianism, is, in fact, the germ of a new spirit, and a new inclination against it… Never does the sinner find within himself so mighty a moral transformation, as when under the belief that he is saved by grace, he feels constrained thereby to offer his heart a devoted thing, and to deny ungodliness.”²

If we are living half-heartedly as Christians, toying with sin, not really growing in sanctification, the answer is not less grace, but more.

¹ Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 6, pp. 8-9.
² Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, p. 10, accessed on October 10, 2017.