True or False

‘Then Jesus… said to the woman, ‘Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?’ ‘No, Lord’, she said. And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I. Go and sin no more’. John 8:10-11

The grace that doesn’t change us is not the grace of God. God’s grace is powerful enough to change your life completely. A classic example is the story of the woman caught in adultery that was brought before Jesus [John8:1-12]. The world sought to condemn her but Jesus’ response to her was grace. Regardless of what she had done in the past, Jesus’ response was not to accuse her but to accept her. However, there is a second part to His response that many of the ‘grace preachers’ today fail to mention. Jesus completes it by saying to her ‘Go and sin no more’. In other words, Jesus was saying to her that He will not accuse her. Instead He freely offered her grace but with an instruction not to continue in sin. The grace of God will teach you to live pure. The grace that allows you to continue along a path that is not pleasing to God is not the grace of God. ‘Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ [the Messiah] he is a new creation [a new creature altogether]; the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come’ [2 Cor.5:17 AMP]. The grace that claims that Jesus has paid the price and as such you are permitted to keep living in the old nature is not the grace of God. False grace teaches that you can do whatever you want to do, grace covers it. The grace of God teaches that whatever you have done up until now is forgiven but go and sin no more. Restitution is a response to grace. The challenge with restitution is that there is no guarantee that the party you are restituting to will embrace you or take it lightly. There is no guarantee that man will forgive you as easily as God does. However, God instructs that we must restore what is not rightfully ours. Restitution is acting in obedience. Even though you cannot control how people will respond, you have to do your part in setting things right so that you are free with God. The only guarantees are the overflowing joy that you will receive and your walk with God will soar to another level.

Prayer: Lord, help me put a guard over my heart and keep out wrong interpretations of Your Word. Help me see where I must restitute and give me the grace to follow through, in Jesus Name