I think most sermons and teachings in modern Christianity, and not only there, are devoted precisely to how a person ought to behave. People often say that this is exactly why God’s Law is needed, because otherwise who will control a believer’s behavior? If he isn’t afraid of punishment, he will sin like crazy, and if you don’t restrain yourself, sins come crawling out of every crack. All of this is a carnal and worldly view, because that is exactly how children are raised in the world: “You made a mistake — you get punished, with words or with a spanking.” And Hebrews chapter 12 is right there: “If our earthly parents beat us for our own good, how much more does the Father of spirits ‘whip’ us so that we may share His holiness. So endure it and don’t complain.”

Such a picture of our loving Daddy, who punishes for every slip, does not draw people closer to God, but on the contrary pushes them away. Jesus said: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” [Mat.7:11] If our Daddy did not spare the most precious thing He had, even when we were still sinners [Rom.5:8], then why do we think that today we fall under some kind of punishment or that He removes His hand of protection if we sin? All of this comes from not understanding the grace of God. And indeed, grace cannot be understood with the mind, but only received by the spirit. Paul writes: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” [1 Cor.2:14]

The Spirit of God testifies: “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” [Heb.10:17] But the natural or carnal man says: “What do you mean He won’t remember? That’s not how it works. You have to pay for every bad deed.” In reality this is the spirit of the world, which instills in people the so-called “karma”. You sinned a lot — in your next life you are born a baobab tree, or you go to hell, if the person holds “Christian” views. Paul writes to the same Corinthians: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” [1 Cor.2:12] The Holy Spirit reveals God’s gifts to us, and gifts are undeserved and unearned, and in no way connected with the behavior of the person receiving the gift.

“Well, yes, we receive Christ by grace when we repent of our sins and God forgives us, but after that we have to behave worthily of our high calling,” someone will say. In fact Paul writes: “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,” [Col.2:6] How did we receive Christ? By faith, by grace, as a gift from God. [Eph.2:8] That means we must walk, or live and behave, in the same way. By faith, by grace, not relying on our own right works, deeds, our obedience to God and our own righteousness and holiness, but relying completely on the finished work of Jesus on the cross, His righteous act, His obedience to God and His righteousness and holiness. [Rom.5:18-19] Paul writes about the same thing to the Galatians: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” [Gal.5:25]

“Well, if there is no fear of punishment and sins come crawling out from all sides, then who is going to control a believer’s actions after all? I know a lot of believers who sin.” Listen, precious one, a believer’s behavior is governed by the Holy Spirit, if he lives in grace and relies on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In the letter to the Romans it is written: “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another; to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” [Rom.7:4] When we receive the revelation that we died to the law in the body of Jesus Christ on the cross and no longer live according to the flesh and in the works of the law, and the law has no power over us to condemn, then we live with a new husband — Jesus Christ. And this Spirit of Christ who is in us Himself bears fruit to God. Brotherly love, self-control, gentleness, compassion — these are not human effort, but fruit that the Holy Spirit produces. [Gal.5:22-23]

Bad Behavior Is the Result of Living Under the Law

Very often believers are frightened with the idea that if you remove the law and a person has no restraining factor, he will sin. As they say, grace is not a license for licentiousness. In fact, if a believer keeps doing some bad things, and especially if he lives with some addiction, that is a clear sign that he is in the bondage of sin and the law. The letter to the Romans says very clearly and plainly that sin has no power over a believer who lives under grace and not in subjection to the law. [Rom.6:14] In fact, sin has no strength without the law, because it gets its strength from the law. [1 Cor.15:56; Rom.7:8]

Sometimes people say that grace gives strength to overcome sin or temptation. Listen, grace does not give strength to fight and resist sin. Grace has already defeated sin on the cross. Even if a person has heard the gospel of grace, like the Corinthians, but goes on living under the law, he will behave as carnal, as a babe in Christ. [1 Cor.3:3] And you can repeat “I am the righteousness of God in Christ” until you’re blue in the face, but there will be no result, because the point is not in repetitions, but in the law, which gives strength to sin, makes faith void and the promise of no effect [Rom.4:14]. Jesus said: “Take away the stone” — remove the law! “Lazarus [the Holy Spirit, the new creation], come forth!” [Jhn.11:39,43] In this wonderful miracle of the raising of Lazarus a wonderful picture is revealed of how a believer begins to live with Christ, his husband, when the law is removed from his life, and he begins to bear fruit to God without any effort.

As long as the law with its demands of flawless behavior is in a Christian’s life, he will go on behaving as carnal. Paul writes to the Corinthians, who sued one another and committed sexual immorality: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” [1 Cor.6:12] Very often people grab only the first part of this verse and say: “Well, yes, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful, so let’s not sin.” But if you read the verse to the end, it says what is not helpful: I will not be brought under the power of any. If something has power over us, or in other words we have some addiction and can’t do anything about it, it is because we live as carnal, as people under the law, although in fact we are spiritual and grown-up sons of God, if the Spirit of God lives in us. That is why Paul reminds the Corinthians: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” [1 Cor.6:19]

Wisdom Opens Our Eyes to Grace

Peter writes in his letter: “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” [2 Pet.1:5-9] Notice that all the qualities listed above are manifested and abound as fruit in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In other words, the more we know, or rather receive in our hearts revelation about Christ, who is our new self, the more these qualities are manifested in us.

On the other hand, if these qualities are not manifested, it is because the person is blind. And what blinds him? We read: “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.” [2 Cor.3:15] The law blinds! That is why Jesus said: “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?” And then Paul goes on: “Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” [2 Cor.3:16]

Recently my wife Svetlana and I were talking about the wisdom of God, and the Lord reminded her that a few months before He revealed the gospel of grace to us, we were at a home group and the pastor said that we would pray and each of us would ask God for something. Interestingly, she and I simultaneously asked for the same thing — that the Lord would give us wisdom. That was many years ago and I had already forgotten about it, but the Lord reminded us. Indeed, when we ask God for wisdom, God reveals the truth about Christ. When Solomon received wisdom from the Lord, the first thing he did was leave the place of religion and law and go to Jerusalem, where the ark of the covenant was, which is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. [1 Kgs.3:9-10,15]

That is why Paul prayed for the Ephesians: “[I] do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,” [Eph.1:16-17] Notice that wisdom and the revelation of Jesus Christ go hand in hand. You can read a pile of books about grace and still go on living under the law, as carnal. The point is not knowledge, which only puffs up, but the love of Christ, which is revealed to us through the wisdom of God and the revelation of Jesus Christ, which are the Spirit.

So, when the Lord removes the veil and we begin to live in freedom, the Spirit Himself begins to transform our behavior. Paul writes further: “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” [2 Cor.3:17-18] When we live with Christ in freedom from the bondage of the law and with unveiled faces, because the veil of the law has been removed from our eyes, then the Spirit of the Lord begins to transform our works and deeds into the image of Christ. All those wonderful qualities Peter wrote about in his letter will begin to appear in our lives, like buds on the trees when spring comes. Winter is over [the old covenant], the clouds have parted [the veil of the law has been removed], the sun is shining [God’s glory in the face of Jesus], and the flowers have bloomed.

Yes, it is still winter outside, but spring is coming, and no one will stop it. So it is with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ — like the spring sun, like the morning dew and the light of the rising sun. It is written: “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” [Pro.4:18] Even if for many believers it is still winter and there is a cloud in the sky, I believe that spring is coming, and the light of the glory of Christ is beginning to shine in their hearts, and His righteousness and His grace will shine in their lives in all their fullness!