Loving the Christ-life!

By Tammy Lacock

“But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4:20-24 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman helps believers uncover the gospel of the Apostle Paul, a gospel that hasn’t been preached through the generations and yet is the only true gospel for us today.

Paul was the only one raised up by Christ, Himself, to present to us the gospel of grace. No longer are we subject to any other gospel, such as the law. In this dispensation of grace, any and all laws are removed. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:20-24 that Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection conquered death along with our old nature and old way of living, which was under the law by the usurper, Satan. Christ’s death and resurrection ushered in grace, our new way of living. Our new life is Christ. Our sin-natures have been uprooted and replaced by the Seed of Christ. Christ now lives literally in every believer. No longer are we saved by anything we do or don’t do. We are saved by Him.

In fact, Paul tells us of our new life in Christ over 186 times in his epistles. We have been born again. We are now joined to Christ in spirit making us one Spirit in Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). We are brand new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

What Paul noticed in his day of preaching this new gospel to believers is that they had no idea this change actually took place. He was given the enormous task of spreading this new gospel. They couldn’t grasp what he calls, the “mystery of the revelation of Jesus Christ” — that Christ now lives in us, and our new life now begins by being complete in Him. Just like today with us, their minds had a lot of catching up to do in their new life. We must have a constant mind renewal, Paul says, to understand and ultimately live our new life in Christ. And the only way is now through a personal relationship with Him. We must now have the mind change of no longer focusing on the outer things for our righteousness and focusing now on Christ within us, who IS our righteousness. God no longer sees anything we do or don’t do as pleasing to Him. He sees Christ in us as our righteousness. This is pure grace.

Once we can start to understand our new life in Christ as the ultimate gift from God, we can begin to understand His amazing grace and His unconditional love. Through this revelation, we can begin to grow in our personal relationship with Christ, focusing on Him more and more in everything we do and through any and all circumstances and situations. Through trials and tribulations, God really begins working in us so that we “may learn Christ.” In fact, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent to us to help us through these trials and tribulations as we begin our new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit, Paul says, works in our minds now, teaching us of the Christ within and directing us into relationship with Him, rather than focusing on the trials and tribulations. He says, knowing Christ is the only way we will get through them unscathed. We can see through Paul’s own trials of being shipwrecked three times, stoned to almost death and imprisoned until the end of his life, that he had to have a radical mind change if he were to come through these unmoved and bring him into deeper relationship with Christ. He knew that through his sufferings, he would learn Christ. And that’s all he wanted.

Ultimately, God desires for us to reciprocate His love, the love He showed us through the sacrifice of His own Son. The sacrifice which led to our new life, our eternal life in Him. However, He is a God of choice. He gave us free will to choose. And He wants us to choose Him. Paul tells us that our mind renewal, which leads to a more intimate relationship with Christ, will eventually lead us to choosing to Love God.

Love is a choice, not a feeling or an emotion. God keeps working on us to bring us to that choice. If life is a series of choices being lived out, as Warren puts it, then as our minds renew in Christ, the ultimate choice becomes clear. Yet, Paul says, the mind, where choices are made, is the battlefield. He says focus our minds on Christ and nothing else. Again, he says, we are not alone in this task. The Holy Spirit comforts us as we begin and endure this journey.

Now that we know, through Paul’s gospel of grace, that Christ lives in us, to never leave nor forsake us, may we focus on Him and learn Him. And may we choose to love Him more and more every day!

By Tammy Lacock

In this week’s podcast, Warren continues to emphasize, through Paul’s epistles, the importance of now having a radical mind-change as a believer in Christ. Through knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and revelation (words that deal with the spiritual growth of the mind), Paul says we must “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). If we are ever to live our new lives completely in Christ, “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2), living who God created us to be, our minds must turn from focusing on outer things, the things of this world, to Christ within us, our new life.

Warren reminds us of the knowledge and understanding Paul gives us in 1 Thessalonians that we are a tripartite being, made in the image and likeness of God. We are soul, body, and spirit.

When we’re saved, we are saved in our spirits. This is where Christ is now joined to us, making us one spirit in Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). We are perfect in our spirits because of Christ, the Son who pleases the Father. His death, burial, and resurrection was a perfect atonement for the curse of Adam by Satan passed down through the generations. In our rebirth, God uprooted our sin-nature and replaced it with His Son’s nature, the Seed of Christ, in our spirits. However, our souls, where our minds reside, have a lot of catching up to do. The radical change that took place in our spirits has yet to happen in our souls, where God is still working in our mind, will, and emotions, the part of us still growing in the revelation of the wisdom and understanding of Christ.

Most Christians have no idea that Christ now lives in us, so their minds are still under subjection to their old life. What good is our life here if we have Christ in us but have no understanding of it? Paul says, now that our new life is Christ, our minds must now undergo a radical mind-change in our understanding of this new life. And he tells us we are not left alone in this task. The Holy Spirit’s sole purpose is to teach us the things of Christ and comfort us in our new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit works in our minds to reveal Christ so that our souls come under subjection to our new life in Him in our spirits.

Mind-renewal — the journey of the believer’s mind which had been usurped by Satan since the curse of Adam — gives the mind over to the Christ now alive within. Paul says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).

Ultimately, the constant renewal of our minds will lead us into a deeper and deeper relationship with Christ. This is spiritual growth, the only growth that truly matters. Paul was the greatest psychologist of all time because, by revelation from Christ, he understood that our minds have been held captive for so long, making choices contrary to our creation. If there was any chance for us to know and love Christ and live our new life in Him, we would need a radical mind-change, a mind-change that helps us see that all God really wants from us is a personal relationship and reciprocal love. He wants us to use the free will He gave us to ultimately choose Him. So life is a schoolhouse, where the circumstances and situations, and moreover the crises, are meant to draw us inward to Him. No longer to the outer world, and even the outer Christ of miracles and wonders, but to the resurrected Christ who, by His death, now literally lives eternally in every believer.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 KJV)

All He wants in return is for us to love Him back. Love is not an emotion; it is a choice. With Christ as our new life, isn’t it time to get to know Him? And isn’t it finally time to give our minds over to Him, to choose Him? Once we dive into Paul’s epistles and ask the Holy Spirit to continually renew our minds to the Christ within us, we will find that the choice to love Him is the greatest choice of all.

By Tammy Lacock

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:10)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman again emphasizes the Apostle Paul’s gospel of grace as the only gospel for believers today.

Paul’s gospel of grace is that by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we are saved. By God’s grace we are joined to Christ in Spirit, reconciled to God by His life literally within us now. We are not saved by anything we do or don’t do. We are saved by the uprooting of our sin-nature and the placing of God’s Seed, His Son, in our very spirits. We are saved by Christ, and He is our new life. We are brand-new creations, bona fide sons and daughters of God by Christ. In fact, our new life in Christ was part of God’s plan before He created the world.

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4)

The question for believers today is, Do you know Christ lives in you now?

Most Christians today don’t know. Preachers aren’t emphasizing Paul’s gospel! We’ve literally been born again by having Christ’s life within us, but many don’t know it. Instead, they are living the same way the early church lived, basing their salvation on their works (and outer signs and miracles) rather than getting to know and love the resurrected Christ who now lives in them.

Christ revealed to Paul in the Arabian desert that Christ lived in him, and yet believers at the time, including the disciples, couldn’t grasp this revelation. Christ Himself raised up only Paul to bring this new gospel to the world. That no longer do we look for Christ outside of us. He literally lives within us now.

“But when it pleases God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son IN (my emphasis) me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” (Galatians 1:15-16)

Paul realized believers needed a radical mind-change for this new gospel to take hold.

Warren tells us, through Paul’s epistles, that this mind-renewal is extremely important if we are to live our new life in Christ and live who God created us to be. We must make up our minds whether we will conform to this world or fix our minds now on Christ within us, our new life.

Yes, as believers, we are saved. We are going to Heaven. We are completed by Christ’s life within us. Yet our minds are polluted. If we don’t know that Christ lives in us, then we will never live out who God created us to be. If we don’t get to know Him and love Him now while we’re here, then we will invariably conform to this world. We can ask the Holy Spirit to clear out the clutter and renew our minds to our new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit’s sole purpose is to teach us of the Christ who now lives in us so that we can begin to focus our minds on Him rather than anything outside of us.

May we follow Paul as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) and have a radical mind change. He didn’t care whether he lived or died. This world meant nothing to him. The truth that Christ lived in him set him free. All He wanted was to know Him and love Him.

And now, It’s time to make up our minds!

Will you continue to conform to this world?

Or have a radical mind change by focusing on Christ, He who now lives in you?

“And not be conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2 KJV)

By Tammy Lacock

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman begins a series on “Renewing the Mind,” based solely on the Apostle Paul’s gospel of grace for us today.

Paul was the only man Christ raised up to deliver the message of grace by Christ alive in every believer. He didn’t just know about Christ; he knew the resurrected Christ who, by His death, was joined to him in Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). In fact, Paul makes it clear that the only thing he wanted was to know this Christ who lived in him. Everything else was “dung.”

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians 3:8)

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” (Philippians 3:10)

Paul tells believers how to live our new life in Christ; by the help of the Holy Spirit, we must have a constant mind-renewal if we are ever to know Christ and develop our love affair with Him. We must change our mindset of outer works to the Christ living inside each of us. He likened our new life to a marriage, Christ now being our first love, the one we go to for everything and the one that now comes through us.

Warren Litzman explains that in our world today, we are stimulated only by outer things. Christians are being “dumbed down” by Paul’s gospel of Christ living in us not being preached. Christians are focusing on the things of this world rather than looking within ourselves for Christ. Paul tells us over 146 times that Christ lives in us. Yet most preaching today is not based on our our faith and works, not our inner relationship with Christ. Faith is the hardest work a Christian does because we base it on results. We have missed the essence of Paul’s gospel. Our faith must not be based on results but on knowing Christ alive in us now. Paul says it is now the faithfulness of Christ, not our own faith that matters. Our salvation is the person of Christ in us and not anything outside of us.

“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” (Philippians 3:9)

In the Old Testament, God dealt with his people by outer works. Righteousness was based on what man did to please God. In turn, God performed many miracles. However, Paul tells us our righteousness is now Christ by His life within us. We are to focus on knowing Christ. Because Christ now lives in us, we can get to know Him personally in a unique relationship with Him. We are no longer the overcomers because we now have the overcomer within us. Stepping into God’s grace means getting to know Him now. By Christ’s life within each of us, we can now say we are all one body in Him. He in us and we in Him, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

Now that we are complete in Christ and we are getting to know Him, we can truly live out God’s purpose for us.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:13)

By Tammy Lacock

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

In the final episode of Out of Law into Grace, Warren Litzman emphasizes the Apostle Paul’s precise distinction between soul and spirit as a fundamental step into the fullness of God’s grace. In fact, everything Paul writes about is based on the wisdom of God’s grace, by revelation from Christ Himself, that the human being is made up of three parts: body, soul, and spirit.

In the Old Testament, soul and spirit were used interchangeably. However, Apostle Paul tells us now in the New Testament that soul and spirit must be rightly divided (Hebrews 4:12), and we do this by rightly dividing the Word of God.

Warren gives us a few areas in Paul’s epistles that help us rightly divide the scriptures and move out of law by a clear understanding of the wisdom of God’s grace.

He starts off by explaining body, soul, and spirit through 2 Corinthians 1:10, “Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in who we trust that he will yet deliver us.”

Here Paul tells us about our deliverance in three parts: spirit, soul, and body. We are already delivered (saved) in our spirits by Christ’s death and resurrection. We now stand perfect before God because Christ is joined to us by His Spirit, making us one spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17) with Him.

God sees only Christ in us now. The person of Christ joined to us in spirit is our salvation.

He then tells us we are being delivered in our souls, where our minds, wills, emotions, and intellects reside. We are always being delivered in our souls; it is ongoing as we learn Christ and the Holy Spirit turns our hearts toward Christ, away from self. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). Our love affair with Christ takes place in our souls — getting to know and love the Christ who now lives in us.

Lastly, Paul says our bodies will be delivered upon Christ’s return, when we will get new, heavenly bodies.

Coming into grace, we need to understand that our minds and bodies will never be perfected while we are on earth, but through these parts we can allow Christ in us — living in our spirits — to come through. We must rightly divide our understanding of soul and spirit if we are to ever understand our salvation.

His second point is that when we move out of law into grace, our understanding of the Cross becomes clear. There are two foundational truths we need understand about the Cross. The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:19-20) and, because of His death, God could now birth His own children through and in Him (Ephesians 1:4). Nobody is placed in Christ until the finished work on the Cross. Our old sin-natures could not be uprooted and replaced with Christ’s nature until His death.

This is our spirit salvation. This is why in His last words on the cross, Christ said, “It is finished.” God’s plan is finished by Christ’s death and resurrection and God placing His Son in us. Christ is our new life, making us now bona fide children of God.

Warren’s third point emphasizes our need to understand Hebrews 4:12 or we will never step fully into pure grace:

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Here Paul tells us again that we must rightly divide our souls and spirits; on earth, our souls will never match our spirits. Our spirit is Christ, a person, and our souls are what we do, think, and feel, where we make decisions. God will never take our decision-making ability away from us. Our decisions plan our life and cultivate our relationship with Christ, who now lives in us. It’s in our souls where the Holy Spirit works to help us grow in our love affair with Him.

And lastly, Warren highlights our need to rightly divide the Word of God in, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Warren explains that we are not to divide the scriptures according to our own understanding, but that God’s Word speaks for itself. We must study the scriptures to understand that, since the Cross, we have moved out of law and into grace. Paul tells us Old Testament and New Testament, soul and spirit, and law and grace must be rightly divided. By studying God’s Word, the Holy Spirit will help us see these distinctions so we can live accordingly. Moving into pure grace means moving entirely out of law (Old Testament, soulish thinking) and into Christ, living Him now by letting His Spirit come through us.

In Galatians 2:20 (KJV), Paul states our new life in Christ so beautifully, without confusion:

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

This is the wisdom of God’s grace.

Perfect in Spirit, by Christ, verses:

• 1 Corinthians 2:6
• Philippians 3:15
• Colossians 1:28
• Colossians 4:12
• Hebrews 13:21
• 2 Timothy 3:17
• 1 Peter 5:10

By Tammy Lacock

“But of him ye are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Part 9 of Out of Law Into Grace, Warren Litzman further explains, through the Apostle Paul’s epistles, what it means to step into the fullness of God’s grace.

Warren emphasizes that Paul’s gospel is that of pure grace, that is grace without any law in it, not one single ounce of it! It’s a new gospel, one that supersedes any other, the only gospel for today. And it begun at the cross.

Paul’s gospel tells us we are no longer to live under any law, that by Christ’s death and resurrection, we are freed from it. Although we are living in pure grace now, most of us are still commingling law and grace, Old Testament and New Testament understanding.

In 1 Corinthians 1:30, Paul tells us that no longer are we made righteous by anything we do or don’t do (the law). In grace, by God’s new covenant to us by Christ’s death and resurrection, we are made righteous by Christ, who now lives in us. We are freed from the bondage of the law and our sin-natures by Christ. His death and resurrection justified God’s uprooting of our sin-nature and replacing it with Christ’s nature, His seed planted in us. By Christ’s death we have new life. We are brand-new creations, joined to Christ making us one spirit in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Paul’s message to us in 1 Corinthians 1:30 is that Christ is made unto us wisdom. Paul emphasizes here that our wisdom now no longer comes from our own understanding (Old Testament-law mind-set) but from the Christ who now lives in us (New Testament-grace mind-set). By the revelation of Christ, only Paul was raised up to deliver this message to the world. It’s Christ’s wisdom now coming through us, the wisdom of Christ as our new life, that we are saved by His grace and kept saved by His grace. There’s no law, no works of our own involved in our salvation.

Warren notes that it is important to recognize that the law isn’t bad; it brings us to Christ. However, we nullify the cross when we continue in it. Most Christians today are still living in law. Paul says we are saved simply by believing, yet he also reveals that if we are still living in the law (appealing to God by our own works) for salvation, taking the emphasis off of Christ, then we still need that constant mind-renewal to gain the wisdom of Christ as our new life. We haven’t yet given our minds over to Christ. (Philippians 2:5). In fact, according to Paul, we have His mind at our disposal. (1 Corinthians 2:16) The question is are we aware of that?

This is where we must divide soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12). In our spirits we are made perfect in Christ, joined to Him in one Spirit. In our souls, the part of us where our minds, intellects, and wills reside, we are maturing in our new life in Christ. It’s in this part of us where we need to catch up to what we already are in Spirit. It’s in this part of us where the Holy Spirit works. His sole purpose is to comfort us in this transition and teach us of our new life in Christ.

We have the tendency to go back and forth in law and grace. But yet, until we step into the fullness of God’s grace, we will never live who God created us to be. The Holy Spirit, working in our minds to the awareness of Christ in us and His wisdom coming through us, is the only one who can help us step out of law and fully into God’s grace.

Lastly, Warren urges us to read and reread 1 Corinthians chapter 2 as the key to understanding grace. In grace, he tells us that Christ is our wisdom. Every one of us who believes has His wisdom at our disposal. Taking that step into the fullness of God’s grace in our new life in Christ means giving our minds over to Him so that His understanding and wisdom, not our own, will now come through us.

By Tammy Lacock

“Follow me as I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:11)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman once again deeply examines the Apostle Paul’s key message of stepping out of the bondage of law and into the fullness of God’s grace in Philippians 3: 6-8.

“Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians 3:6-8 KJV)

In verse 6-8, Warren explains how Paul contrasted his life before his conversion to his new life in Christ. He boasted of his previous life only to show us that he had everything going for him in an earthly sense and considered himself to be an avid obeyer of the Jewish law. In fact, he said he was blameless in the law. He even persecuted followers of Christ in his adherence to the law, and no doubt suffered the rest of his life for this.

He gave up all this from his old life, knowing that in Christ, there is no other life for Him than in God’s grace. By giving up his old life and identity, he is now free to step into the fullness of God’s grace, that is who God created him to be. All he wanted now was to know Christ more and more.

Paul lists 16 I-phrases in Philippians chapters 3 and 4, emphasizing that nobody is going to help us take our first step into grace, nobody but ourselves. This is the love affair that develops as we continue to live our new life in Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can come into our minds and hearts and help us to “suffer the loss of all things” so that we “may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Paul shares throughout his epistles that we are no longer to live in bondage to the law. To live by the law would nullify Christ’s death and resurrection. Christ’s death and resurrection ushered in a new gospel, that of God’s grace. In this dispensation of grace, we are no longer saved by our works and our adherence to the law. We are saved by Christ’s work on the cross. This is God’s Grace. We must leave behind our old lives if we are to ever live fully in God’s grace. In fact, when Christ died, our old lives died too (Galatians 2:20). When He arose to a new life, we arose as well to a new life in Him.

What “things” of our old lives do we need to lose if we are to follow Paul and step into the fullness of God’s grace? Everything Paul gave up made room for him to be a servant of God, so that Christ could reveal Himself and work through him more and more. In fact, Paul suffered the loss of these things so that Christ could, in turn, use these things to further the gospel of His grace. Paul persecuted Christians in his old life and now he wanted nothing to do with that.

If we are to win Christ, we too will suffer the loss of all things. Just as Christ did with Paul, He will use our sufferings to make room for us to be better servants, to further His gospel of grace.

Follow Paul as he follows Christ. Winning Christ means stepping into the fullness of God’s grace so that we, too, can finally live who God created us to be.

By Tammy Lacock

“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” (Philippians 3:2-3 KJV)

In this Part 7 of stepping “Out of Law Into Grace,” Warren Litzman sets it straight by keeping the gospel of grace simple because the Apostle Paul keeps it simple.

He explains, there was no life in the Old Testament because there was no cross, only law. Believers in the Old Testament lived a “soulish” life, basing their righteousness on their adherence to the law. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection ushered in a new covenant — God’s grace. Because of Him, we are no longer bound by the law. We are brought to life — a new resurrected life — by Him. As believers, Christ is our new life by Him now being joined to us in one Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). This new life in spirit is grace. We now live in spirit and in truth.

“He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 5:12 KJV)

Truth is a person. Truth is Christ.

Warren focuses this week on Paul’s letter to the Philippians chapter 3, verses 2 through 8. Here Paul is setting us straight that there is to be no commingling of the gospels of law and of grace. In verse 2, Paul speaks of “dogs” as people who intertwine law and grace gospels. When this is done, neither is of any merit. Many churches today are commingling the gospel of law (righteousness by what we do or don’t do) and Paul’s gospel of grace (righteousness by Christ), yet Paul makes it clear that, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we are only to live by God’s grace now. To live by the law would nullify Christ’s death. Christ ushered in God’s grace by His death, burial, and resurrection on the cross, so there is to be no more confidence in our flesh, no more confidence in anything we do, and no more adherence to the law for our salvation. Christ did the work; and by His death, we died with Him to our old lives and arose with Him to a new life, His life within us now (Galatians 2:20). Christ is our new life. We are brand-new creations in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). No longer does God see our own works as righteousness. He sees only Christ as our righteousness. It’s that simple.

Paul tells us in verses 4-5, that before he met Christ on the road to Damascus, if there was anyone that kept the law most and was righteous by it, it was him. He was an avid scholar of Torah and was making his way up in Hebrew standing. He was the “meanest man alive,” as Warren puts it, because in his strict adherence to law, he killed Christians.

Yet in his instant conversion, Paul knew Christ and addressed Him as Lord. And from that day forward, he was all in. He knew the truth, and the truth set him free free from the entanglement of law and his old mind.

So Paul uses his background as a means of sharing a new gospel, a gospel that only he was raised up by Christ Himself to deliver to the Jews (who rejected it) and to the Gentiles (who accepted it). Paul tells us that all of that law stuff doesn’t apply to God's children who live by the Spirit within; it’s all garbage, compared to this new gospel of grace. It’s all but “dung” compared to Christ. His new life in Christ was all that mattered to him. All he wanted was to know Christ more and to share this new gospel of grace with anyone and everyone who would hear it. He makes this clear in verses 7-8 when he says: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”

Today, with such a commingling of Scriptures on how we should live, Paul reminds us to keep it simple. Only by Christ’s death and resurrection are we able to now live in grace. His death abolished our living by the law and ushered in a new life of grace, living by the Spirit. By the help of the Holy Spirit, whose sole purpose is to teach of Christ and our new life in Him, we can step into grace. From law to grace, from law to truth, from law to Christ. It’s that simple.

Grace is Christ

By Tammy Lacock

“He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (John 12: 25 KJV)

In last week’s podcast, Warren Litzman explained what Jesus is saying in John 12:24 that death is a prerequisite for bearing fruit. If He doesn’t die, then He will not finish His Father’s plan and there will be no fruit.

He tells us of the bigger picture. He must give up His earthly ministry, His preaching of the law, and His old self in order to bear fruit, to step into the fullness of God’s grace. These are all outer things of this world and mean nothing compared to His resurrected, eternal life. Only by His death will He be made free. Only by His death will a new covenant be ushered in — the covenant of God’s grace. Only by His death can He step out of this world and its bondage to the law and step into the fullness of God’s grace.

The same goes for us as believers. In verse 25, Jesus is telling us juwe must die to this world, we must fix our minds on the bigger picture, if we too are ever to step into the fullness of God’s grace — eternal life in Christ.

“If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” (John 12:26 KJV)

And in verse 26, Jesus is telling us that by following Him and dying to this life, we will never be separated from Him. This is the gift of God’s grace, eternal life in Christ. As believers, when he died, we died too. When he arose from the dead, we also arose to a brand-new life in Him. Where He is, we are. And By His new life in us now, God no longer sees our old life, He sees Christ. Because of Him, we are bona fide sons and daughters of God. Only by dying to our old lives can we now bear fruit, Christ’s fruit, and fully step into God’s grace.

Christ Himself raised up the Apostle Paul, and only Paul, to deliver the message of God’s grace to the world. Paul says follow me as I follow Christ (1 Corinthians 1:11), not the earthly Christ but the Christ who lived in Paul — the Christ who, by His death, abolished the law, ushered in grace, and by God’s grace is now joined to our spirits, making us one spirit in Him (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Throughout his epistles, Paul tells us what Jesus was saying in John 12:24-27, that our old lives don’t matter. Our new life is Christ. As believers, we are no longer separated from Him. But Jesus tells us He must die first to bear this fruit. And by His death, we are no longer bound to this world and the law. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we have been ushered into a new covenant, God’s grace. There is nothing we can do or not do to be saved. Christ did the work on the cross so He would bear fruit by living in each and every one of us who believe. Only by our new life in Him are we made eternal beings. Only by Him are we complete.

There are many verses where Paul mentions our new life in Christ. The following verses especially align with what Jesus said in John 12:24-28:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2 KJV)

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

By Tammy Lacock

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:24 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman discerns what it means to step into the fullness of God’s grace.

In John 12:24, Jesus is telling us here that death is a prerequisite for bearing fruit. If He doesn’t die, then God’s work isn’t finished, and there will be no fruit. He must give up His earthly ministry, His preaching of God’s law, and His old self to step into the fullness of God’s grace. That is God’s ultimate plan for Him. God’s grace is the fruit Jesus talks about here. Christ steps into this fullness when He proclaims in His last breath on the cross “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. It is finished.” The same is true for us as believers. Our old selves, our old belief systems of who we think we are and what we must do to be saved, must die with Christ (Galatians 2:20) if we are ever to bear His fruit and step into the fullness of God’s grace. That is His ultimate plan for us.

Just as Jesus abolished the law at the cross, we too must die to any and every law that keeps us from fully living our new life in Christ, our new life in grace. This is the only way we can truly live in the fullness of God’s grace. This is the only way we can truly live who God created us to be. Only then will we bear fruit, Christ’s fruit. God no longer looks at our works, as He did by the law in the Old Testament. He NOW sees Christ as our new life in us. This is grace, ushered in by Christ’s death on the cross. His death brings forth much fruit, that is, His resurrected life NOW in each and and every one of us who believes. We have eternal life in us NOW.

The Apostle Paul, the Apostle of Grace, is the only one in the Bible raised up by Christ Himself to reveal to us that God’s grace is NOW. He tells us how to live now that we are living in grace. He tells us that the law has been stripped of its power by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Moses ushered in God’s law, and Christ ushered in God’s grace, dissolving the law. His death opened the door for God to be a Father to each and every one of us. As believers, we are NOW His bona fide children, one body in Christ.

Paul says taking our first step into grace means death to our old lives and, more specifically, our old minds if we are ever to bear fruit and live in the fullness of God’s grace. He says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5 KJV).

May we, once and for all, give our minds over to Christ now and step fully into God’s grace!

“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17 KJV)