Grace in Galatians (Part 197) – STOP Living Under The Weight Of Religion

Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

As part of this series, I am teaching a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Galatians.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture we will study today:

Galatians 6:16 TPT“May God’s peace and mercy rest upon those who follow this rule of life, for they are now true Israel and part of God’s family.”

Galatians 6:16 AMPC“Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule [those who discipline themselves and regulate their lives by this principle], even upon the [true] Israel of God!”

Supporting scriptures:

Philippians 4:6-7 TPT“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.”

Isaiah 26:3 TPT“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.”

Lamentations 3:22-23 AMPC“It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.”

James 2:13 TPT“Mercy always triumphs over judgment!”

Galatians 5:1 TPT“Christ has set us free! This is freedom! Stand strong in it, and don’t fall back into the bondage of religion all over again.”

1 Peter 2:9-10 TPT“But you are God’s chosen treasure—priests who are kings, a spiritual ‘nation’ set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience his marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own. He did this so that you would broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world.”

Ephesians 2:19 TPT“So now, you are no longer foreigners or guests, but rather you are the children of the city of the holy ones, with all the rights as family members of the household of God.”

Setting the Stage:

Today, we move into Galatians 6:16. And Paul, the pen still in his own hand, pronounces a blessing over every believer who walks by the new creation rule.

Galatians 6:16 NIV says, “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, to the Israel of God.” Read that. Peace. Mercy. And belonging to the family of God. That is the blessing Paul speaks over you when you walk by the new creation principle instead of the religious one. Let’s unpack this today.

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. When You Walk In Grace, You Walk In Peace.

The first thing Paul speaks over the new creation (New Testament) believer is peace. Read that word. Peace. Not striving. Not anxiety. Not fear. Not performance pressure. PEACE. And that is no accident, because peace is the natural fruit of a grace-based life. 

Religion produces anxiety because religion always wonders if you have done enough. Did I pray enough? Did I give enough? Did I serve enough? Am I good enough? That kind of life cannot produce peace. But grace says, “Jesus already did enough. He prayed enough. He gave enough. He served enough. He was enough.” And the believer who finally rests in the finished work of Jesus walks in a peace that does not depend on circumstances. A peace that surpasses understanding.

How this applies to you:

— Peace is the natural fruit of #TheGraceLife, for several reasons.

1. You are not taking on the pressure to perform. 

2. You are not living life on your own terms. 

3. Since you know you are not pursuing your will, then you also know that it’s not your bill. 

4. You know God’s plans for you were settled before the world began. 

5. You also know God gives you the power to do what He called you to do, especially in areas that far exceed your power, ability, and strength. 

If you fully embrace these things, you will have inner peace that is not contingent on anything going on outside. 

— Philippians 4:6-7 TPT says, “Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.” Read that. The peace of God comes when you cast every detail of your life on Him.

— Religion produces anxiety. Grace produces peace.

— I want you to picture a believer who is born again but still living under religious pressure. He is exhausted from trying to keep up with the rules. He wonders if God is mad at him. He wonders if he prayed enough today. That is not the peace Paul is pronouncing. Paul is pronouncing the peace that comes from knowing the work is finished, and your standing is secure.

— Since I was raised in a very religious environment, even after I was born again, I thought I could lose my salvation. Every night, I prayed prayers where I confessed every sin of commission and omission. I tried to remember everything I did wrong and confess it to God because I didn’t want to go to sleep and die in my sleep and go to hell. And then one day, I remember reading Philippians 4. I was baffled because I never saw myself having that type of peace. The Bible was telling me to be careful for nothing, or to have no anxiety about a thing. I was thinking, how could I not be worried about anything if I’m afraid of going to hell? It wasn’t until I got the revelation that my salvation is secure in Christ because of what Jesus did, not because of what I do, that I was finally able to embrace the peace of God in earnest.

— Isaiah 26:3 TPT says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.” Read those words. Perfect peace. Not partial peace. Perfect peace. And the path to perfect peace is a mind fixed on the One who finished the work.

— The most peaceful believers are not the ones with the easiest lives. They are the ones who have learned to rest in the finished work of Christ. Their circumstances change. Their seasons shift. Storms come and go. But their peace stays, because their peace is anchored in something the storm cannot reach: JESUS HIMSELF!

2. God’s Mercy Is New Every Single Morning.

The second thing Paul speaks over the new creation believer is mercy. Mercy is one of the most powerful realities in the universe. Grace is when God gives you what you do not deserve. Mercy is when God spares you from what you DO deserve. And every born-again believer is a walking exhibit of both. You did not earn salvation. You did not deserve forgiveness. You did not qualify for adoption into God’s family. But the Father gave you all of it anyway, because His mercy is bigger than your failure. Lamentations 3:22-23 says God’s mercies are “new every morning.” Read that. Every morning. Not every now and then. Not when you have earned them. Every morning. The mercy you needed yesterday is already replaced by the mercy you need today.

How this applies to you:

— Grace gives you THE GOOD you do not deserve. Mercy keeps you from THE BAD you DO deserve.

— You did not earn salvation, and you cannot lose what you did not earn.

— James 2:13 TPT says, “Mercy always triumphs over judgment!” Read that word. Triumphs. Not balances. Not negotiates. Triumphs. 

— I want you to picture a believer who keeps trying to earn what mercy has already given. He prays the same prayer of repentance ten times for the same sin. He cannot forgive himself, even though God has already forgotten it. Stop. Mercy did not need to be earned the first time. It does not need to be earned the second, third, or tenth time either. Receive it.

— Meditate on this verse for a minute: “For I will demonstrate my mercy to them and will forgive their evil deeds, and never remember again their sins.” (Hebrews 8:12 TPT). The King James Version says, “For I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Read those words. Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. The God who knows everything, the God who sees everything, has chosen to remember nothing when it comes to the sins Jesus paid for. That is the mercy of the New Covenant.

— When God says “no more,” He means NO MORE. Not on your worst day. Not in your weakest moment. Not ever.

— Every day I wake up is a day of mercy. My breath is mercy. My health is mercy. My family is mercy. The fact that I get to preach the gospel after the life I used to live is mercy. And the mercy of God is the only reason any of us are still standing. Walk in that mercy. Extend that mercy.

— The believer who has truly received mercy cannot help but become a conduit of it!

3. Religion Gives You A Thousand Rules. Grace Gives You ONE.

Look at the phrase Paul uses. “All who follow this rule.” What rule? The new creation rule. Paul is contrasting two ways to live. Religion gives you a thousand rules. Grace gives you ONE. The one rule is this: Live from the reality that you are a new creation in Christ. That is it. Not “do these 613 things to qualify.” Not “perform these religious rituals to be acceptable.” Just one rule. Walk in your new creation identity. And here is what is amazing. When you walk by the new creation rule, you end up fulfilling everything the religious rules were trying to produce, without the burden of the religious rules. Walk in the freedom of God’s amazing grace.

How this applies to you:

— Galatians 5:1 TPT says, “Christ has set us free! This is freedom! Stand strong in it, and don’t fall back into the bondage of religion all over again.” Read those words. Don’t fall back. Religion is always trying to pull a free believer back into bondage. Your job s to stand strong in the freedom Christ purchased for you.

— The rule of grace is the only rule that sets you free.

— I want you to picture a believer trying to keep two rules at the same time. The rule of grace says he is righteous. The rule of religion says he has to prove it. He spends his days oscillating between rest and striving. Or, said in a more accurate way, between resting and stressing. That is exhausting. When you finally get a revelation of Jesus’ finished work, you enter into God’s rest. 

— Religion produces performers. Grace produces sons and daughters. Sons and daughters don’t work on being sons and daughters. They rest in the reality that they are. 

— Romans 8:14 TPT says, “The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit.” Read that. The mature children of God. Not the ones who have memorized the most rules. The ones who are led by the Spirit, one moment at a time. 

— The believer who embraces God’s grace walks in peace, walks in freedom, and walks in supernatural power. Because he/she is no longer striving or stressing to be what God already made him to be. He/she is letting the Spirit produce IN them what religion could receive FROM them. Religion focuses on the flesh (your performance). Grace focuses on God’s Spirit. 

— Let the Holy Spirit lead you into the life God planned for you before the foundation of the world!

4. You Have A Family You Did Not Earn.

Look at the final phrase of Galatians 6:16. “To the Israel of God.” This is one of the most powerful statements in the New Testament. Paul is taking a term that for centuries was reserved for a specific ethnic group, and he is opening it up to every believer in Christ. Romans 9:6 says, “Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” Paul is teaching that the true Israel is not defined by bloodline. It is defined by FAITH in Jesus Christ. 

Every born-again believer is part of the Israel of God. The new covenant family. The chosen people. The royal priesthood. The holy nation. And the moment you got born again, you were grafted into a family bigger than anything you ever belonged to before. You are not alone. You are not an orphan. You are part of the family of God.

How this applies to you:

— You are part of the Israel of God, the family of faith, the new covenant church.

— 1 Peter 2:9-10 TPT says, “But you are God’s chosen treasure—priests who are kings, a spiritual ‘nation’ set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience his marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own.” Read those words. He claims you as His very own. That is the family you belong to now.

— You are not an orphan. You are not a bastard. You are an heir. You have been adopted into God’s family. 

— Ephesians 2:19 TPT says, “So now, you are no longer foreigners or guests, but rather you are the children of the city of the holy ones, with all the rights as family members of the household of God.” Read those words. All the rights as family members. No more standing on the outside looking in. No more wondering if you are good enough to be included. You are IN.

— The family of God is a forever family. If you are born again, then you and I are family now, and we will be family forever. 

— Earthly families come and go. People move. Friends drift. Relationships end. But the family of God is built on something eternal. The blood of Jesus. And the bond that the blood made cannot be broken by time, by distance, by circumstance, or even by death.

— I will close this point with this. You belong to the Father. You belong to Christ. You belong to the Spirit. You belong to the family of God. And the moment you settle that in your heart, loneliness loses its grip. You walk into every room knowing you have a family that the world cannot take from you. A family Paul calls the Israel of God. A family Jesus calls His own. Live with that sense of belonging today and every day!

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that peace and mercy rest upon my life as I walk by the new creation rule!

I refuse the anxiety of religion, and I receive the peace of grace!

Mercy triumphs over judgment in my life, and I am living proof!

Your mercies are new every morning, and I receive a fresh supply today!

I walk by the rule of the new creation, not by the rules of religion!

I refuse to fall back into the bondage of religious performance!

I am part of the Israel of God, the family of faith, the royal priesthood!

I am not an orphan. I am an heir!

I belong to the Father. I belong to Christ. I belong to the family of God!

I am living THE GRACE LIFE, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!