Grace in Galatians (Part 209) – How Grace Changed The Way I See God

https://youtu.be/8vfytwtRRQw?si=Xp6ODOlozMzmXHOO

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.

We have reached the end of a long and glorious journey. After more than two hundred messages, we have studied every verse of Galatians and recapped all six chapters. Now I want to close this series in a different way. I am not going to walk back through the book again. Instead, over these final messages, I want to tell you how grace changed everything in me. We begin with the biggest change of all. Grace changed the way I see God.

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 4:4-5 TPT“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son. He was born of a woman and lived under the constraints of the law. Yet all of this was so that he would redeem and set free those held hostage to the law so that we would receive our freedom and the privileges of adoption as his children!”

Galatians 4:6 TPT“And so that we would know that we are his true children, God released the Spirit of Sonship into our hearts—moving us to cry out intimately, ‘My Father! My true Father!

Supporting scriptures:

Romans 8:15 TPT“And you did not receive the ‘spirit of religious duty,’ leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the ‘Spirit of full acceptance,’ enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, ‘Beloved Father!'”

Hebrews 4:16 TPT“So we come freely and boldly to where love is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.”

Romans 8:1 TPT“So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 TPT“For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.”

1 John 4:18 AMPC“There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection].”

Setting the Stage:

Of all the things grace changed in my life, nothing changed more than the way I see God. I used to relate to God as a Judge. I thought He sat on a high bench with a gavel in His hand and a file with my name on it. Every prayer felt like pleading my case. Every failure felt like another mark against me. Then I discovered grace! For example, in Galatians 4, I learned that God sent His Son so that I could be adopted as His child. The moment that revelation landed, my perspective of God and my walk of faith changed forever. The courtroom became a family room. The gavel became the welcoming embrace of a loving Heavenly Father. The Judge I feared became the Father I love. Let me show you what grace did.

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

1. The Biggest Shift Was This: My Judge Became My Father.

I was raised in a religious environment. The church I attended was very religious, my mother was very religious, and my family was religious. When it came to God, there was a lot of fear and trembling, but there really wasn’t intimacy and love. As a result, the best way I can describe it is that I related to God the way a defendant relates to a judge. I thought every prayer was me pleading my case. I thought every mistake was added to a file He was keeping. I walked into church hoping I had done enough that week to stay out of trouble. Then God’s grace opened my eyes. I learned that God sent His Son so I could be adopted in His family as a son. The Judge I was afraid of was actually a Father who loved me the whole time.

How this applies to you:

— Galatians 4:4-5 TPT says God sent His Son “so that we would receive our freedom and the privileges of adoption as his children!” Jesus did not come just to clear my record. He came to give me a family name. Forgiveness got me out of the courtroom, and adoption walked me into the family room.

— A judge keeps a record; a Father keeps a relationship.

— Under the Law, people came to God as a Judge. Every failure brought the fear of punishment, and every sin meant the gavel might fall. But the moment I was placed in Christ, the One on the bench stepped down and pulled up a chair next to me. The Judge who was against me became the Father who is for me.

— Religion gave me a courtroom mindset where I was always hoping to be good enough to avoid punishment. Grace gave me a family mindset, where there is really nothing I can do to make my Father disown me. As a result, I don’t serve God because I’m afraid of him or because I’m afraid of going to hell. Now I serve God because I love him and I’m convinced that he loves me. 

— I want you to picture a guilty man standing before the bench, bracing for his sentence. Then the Judge takes off the robe, walks around the desk, and says, “I am also your Father, and I already paid your fine.” That is not a fantasy. That’s not a movie. That is the gospel. That is exactly what God did for you, but His unearned grace.

— When the Father looks at you, He does not see your sin. He sees His Son.

— Walk into today knowing the Judge became your Father. This revelation should change everything.  

2. I Stopped Tiptoeing To God And Started Running To Him As “Abba.”

When you think God is a Judge, you tiptoe. You measure your words. You only come to God when you think your record looks clean. That was me for years. I prayed like a man filling out a legal brief, hoping to say the right thing so the verdict would go my way. Then I read that the same Spirit who lived in Jesus now lives in me, and His first instinct is to cry out, “Abba, Father.” Abba is not formal. Abba is “Daddy.” Here is what grace taught me. I do not have to earn an audience with God. I am family, and family runs in.

How this applies to you:

— When I was in the United States Army, I worked for several general officers at the three- and four-star level, and I learned their idiosyncrasies. Some were okay with me just walking into their office if they were in there working. Others were not, and I had to learn how to approach them. When it comes to God, when you get a revelation that you’re God’s son (not a slave or a servant, but a son), you can just walk right in because you’re part of the family. You get to come to the Father in the name of Jesus, and He wants you to come boldly. Did you catch that? Not timidly, but boldly. You don’t approach someone boldly when you’re afraid of them. This is why many religious people are timid when they pray. They are afraid of God. 

— Now, someone may say, “Hold on, Rick, the fear of the Lord it’s not something we should lose.” I understand the point there, but the fear of the Lord is about reverence for God, not actually being afraid of Him. When I was religious, I was afraid of Him. Grace helped me get rid of that fear.   

— John said,“There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection].” (1 John 4:18 AMPC). Once you meditate on the love of God and you open your heart to God’s love towards you, fear has no power over you. 

— Galatians 4:6 TPT says, “God released the Spirit of Sonship into our hearts—moving us to cry out intimately, ‘My Father! My true Father!'” That cry is not something I worked up. The Holy Spirit put it in me. My access to God is not a privilege I earned; it is a relationship He gave.

— I want you to picture a small child who bursts into his father’s office in the middle of a meeting. He does not knock. He does not apologize. He climbs right up into the lap, because he knows whose he is. That child is the picture of how God wants you to come to Him.

— Religion taught me to flinch before I approach God; grace taught me to run to Him with confidence that He loves me.

— For years, my prayers sounded like a man on trial. Now they sound like a son at the dinner table. Same God. Same throne. Completely different relationship. Romans 8:15 TPT says you received the “Spirit of full acceptance” and “you will never feel orphaned.” The Spirit was given so you would never wonder if you belong.

3. I Finally Understood God Is Not Keeping Score Against Me.

The hardest religious habit to break was the scoreboard. I believed God was tallying my good days and my bad days, and that my standing with Him went up and down with my performance. This is something that was ingrained in me from my mother and my church, I guess. But whether God was keeping score or not, I was definitely keeping score in my own head. Living this way is exhausting. Here is the truth that set me free. God is not keeping a record of my wrongs, because the record was already nailed to the cross.

How this applies to you:

— Romans 8:1 TPT says, “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus.” The case is closed. Not pending. Not under review. Closed. You are not waiting on a verdict; the verdict already came back, and it reads “righteous.”

— I have preached in jail and prison. There’s a big difference between those two. Those who are in prison have already been sentenced and are living out their sentence. Those who are in jail have not been sentenced yet, so they’re living with the stress and weight of waiting for the sentence to come. When you fully embrace the grace of God, you realize that you’ve already been sentenced. You were already declared unrighteous, but Jesus took the rap for you. Everything that was supposed to go to you went to Jesus, and all the righteousness that was on Jesus came to you. That’s the gospel, and that’s grace.

— The gavel already fell, and it fell on Jesus, not on you.

— 2 Corinthians 5:21 TPT says God made Jesus “to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.” That is the great exchange. He took my wrong so I could carry His right. I am not trying to become righteous; in Him, I already am.

— I want you to picture a believer who wakes up every morning wondering if he is still in good standing with God. He measures the day by how his quiet time felt and how many boxes he checked. He is worn out, and the exhaustion is religious, not spiritual. The day he believes the case is closed is the day his soul can finally rest.

— The enemy still whispers my old record to me. He brings up the failures, the wasted years, the things I am ashamed of. But here is my answer: when the Father looks at me, He does not see that file. What Jesus covered, God does not count.

— Hebrews 10:17 KJV says, “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” He is talking about your sins and your iniquities. God does not just forgive them; He chooses to forget them. The God of the universe keeps no record of what He already buried in the blood of Jesus.

— God is not your scorekeeper; He is your Father.

4. Now I Live Loved, Not Afraid.

Fear was the fuel of my old religion. I obeyed to avoid punishment. I served to stay out of trouble. I gave because I was scared not to. But fear and sonship cannot live in the same house. When I finally understood that God was my Father and not my Judge, the fear started to drain out, and love took its place. Here is what I learned. A Judge inspires fear, but a Father inspires love. I do not obey God now to escape hell. I obey Him because I love Him, and because I know He loves me.

How this applies to you:

— 1 John 4:18 AMPC says, “There is no fear in love… full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!” Every trace. Grace did not just lower my fear of God; it evicted it. You cannot be terrified of a Father who is crazy about you.

— Fear drives religion; love drives sonship.

— For years, I obeyed God the way a defendant behaves in front of a judge: careful, nervous, hoping to avoid the sentence. Now I obey Him the way a son honors a father he adores. The actions can look the same, but the heart behind them is night and day. One is bondage. The other is love.

— I want you to picture two workers doing the same job. One works terrified of getting fired. The other works because he owns the company alongside his Father. Same tasks, two completely different men. Grace turned me from the frightened employee into the beloved son.

— Here is the test, and it is a simple one. Ask yourself which room you are living in. If you serve God to avoid His anger, you are still in the courtroom. If you serve Him because you are secure (you are resting) in His love, you have moved into the family room.

— I am not afraid of God anymore, because I finally know how much He loves me, and I know that He does what He does for me by grace, not merit.

— The revelation of God’s grace has changed the way I live. It changes the way I see God, the way I see myself, the way I see others, and the way I see my future. I pray you embrace this revelation as well. It’s #TheGraceLife. 

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that You are no longer my Judge. You are my Father!

Grace moved me out of the courtroom and into Your family room!

I come to You boldly now, not as a defendant, but as Your child!

The Spirit inside me cries “Abba,” because I really am Yours!

You are not keeping score against me. The gavel already fell on Jesus!

When You look at me, You do not see my sin. You see Your Son!

I will never feel like an orphan, because I have a Father!

Perfect love has expelled every trace of fear from my heart!

I do not obey to escape punishment. I love because I belong!

I see God rightly now, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

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

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