Grace is not license to sin, but the desire and the power of God working in the believer to produce God’s will.

Defining grace is a powerful message of goodness for a world lost in its evilness.  The proclamation of Jesus Christ is so productive in changing lives that it has become known as simply the Gospel. It is the Good Message for every man.

Defining Grace from the Bible

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed the good tidings that God would deliver His people out of captivity:

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40:9).

It was a good message to hear that God would save His people.

Jesus, when He began His ministry, said,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18).

Jesus came into this world to preach the gospel. With the word translated gospel meaning ” the good message,” Jesus came to tell the good news that the kingdom of God had come, salvation had come (Mark 1:14).

Defining Grace Etymologically

Originally, the word translated gospel meant “a reward for good tidings.” Eventually, defining grace came to mean simply “the good message.” The root of the original word of the New Testament is a compound word that means, “to announce good news (“evangelize”) especially the gospel.” The two words that make up the compound root are “good” and ” a messenger; especially an angel.” Furthermore, the word meaning “a messenger” has as its root the meaning of “to lead.” The good message, the gospel, is that which leads man out of the perils of his life.

When Jesus came preaching the gospel, he was more than just the messenger of a good message. The true meaning of the gospel declares Jesus Christ Himself as the gospel. He is the only means by which man is save: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The good message is not a message about Jesus. It is the message of Jesus.

Defining Grace is the Coming of Jesus

The good news of God is the coming of Jesus into this world. It is his life, his teaching, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and his coming into the life of the believer through the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, the good news is that man can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a personal relationship with God Himself.

The beginning of the New Testament book which is now known as Mark catches the significance of the ultimate meaning of the gospel. He started his book with, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). As will be seen, the emphasis is on the life of a person rather than a body of information. Jesus is the gospel. He is the defining of grace.

When Jesus began His ministry, it was recorded that

Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, “the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (1:14,15).

According to Mark, the gospel was Jesus preaching “the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe . . . .” Notice, Jesus associated his coming with the kingdom of God, repentance, and belief.

Defining Grace in the Kingdom of God

Central to experiencing the kingdom of God is “repent . . . and believe the gospel.” By observing the context of this statement, an understanding of the exact nature of the good news can be seen. Mark wrote,

As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (1:2-4).

According to Mark, the baptism of repentance is associated with the preaching of John.

When John further said,

There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost,

he is comparing the two baptism. John baptized in water and Jesus baptized in the Holy Spirit. The baptism of repentance and the baptism of the Spirit are inseparably tied together. An individual cannot experience one without the other (Acts 2:38) in the kingdom of God

Defining Grace in Baptism

By John connecting the baptism of repentance with his preaching and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the preaching of Jesus, he gave the essence of the two baptism being connected by Jesus when He said, “repent ye, and believe the gospel.” With repent referring back to the baptism that John preached, believe the gospel would refer back to the baptism that Jesus preached. In other words, with the context of Mark’s record having associated the baptism of repentance with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the statement of Jesus (“repent ye, and believe the gospel”) is also declaring the same truth. Defining grace has believing the gospel and repentance being inseparably tied together.

What this implies is simply that the gospel of “repent . . . and believe the gospel” is the baptism or a baptism of the Holy Spirit. The good message for man is that the Father will send his Son into the life of the believer to baptize the believer with the Holy Spirit. defining grace is simply the good news that the Spirit of God will come into the believer to overwhelm (literal meaning of the word baptize) the believer to save him. It is as Jesus told Peter,

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God” (John 21:18,19).

The gospel, the good message of defining grace, is that the Heavenly Father will send his Son into the lives of believers to baptize them with the Holy Spirit, to carry them where they should go but cannot within themselves. The believer must decrease and Jesus must increase.

Defining Grace for Daily Living

Jesus told Peter that he girded himself and walked according to his own desire. In other words, Peter was directing the course of his life by the dictates of his own mind. He was walking in the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2). It was this thinking of Peter from which he must be saved. He needed to come to a new way of thinking. He needed to experience repentance.

According to Jesus, Peter would not only leave this way of thinking but he would be girded by someone else. Notice, the two go together. Peter would no longer gird himself and walk according to his thinking but he would walk according to someone else’s directions. He would experience the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus. He would “repent, and be baptized . . . in the name of Jesus” (Acts 2:38). He would “repent . . . and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14). He would be delivered from his old way of thinking and be given a new way of thinking. He would be saved by defining grace.

Just as the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus are inseparably connected and “repent ye, and believe the gospel” are inseparably tied together, Jesus and the gospel are inseparable. The true gospel cannot be disconnected from Jesus. The preaching of the gospel cannot be separated from the preaching of Jesus. Jesus is the only hope for gracious daily living.

Defining Grace Cannot Separated the Preacher from What is Being Preached

In other words, the world systems have attempted to divide the preaching of the gospel into two separate components: the act of preaching and the content of what is being preached. Things being said about Jesus by a man, however, is not the gospel. As will be seen, one who is “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:8) at the time of preaching is not speaking in his own thinking. It is not a man within himself saying things about Jesus. It is actually Jesus himself speaking through the man. If it is not Jesus speaking then what is being shared is not the gospel. The act of preaching the true gospel cannot be separated from Jesus. Christian learning dictates that defining grace is Jesus preaching the gospel.

The reality of Jesus being the gospel can be seen in another statement of Jesus. He said,

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16).

This statement is perhaps the most precise statement of what it means to be Christian ever written. If this revelation of the defining grace can be understood, or more correctly stated, if it can be experienced, it will be understood why the proclamation of Jesus Christ changes lives.

The contextual background to this statement is recorded in John 13. Jesus told the disciples,

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come . . . Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice (13:33,36-38).

Defining Grace is Good News

Where was Jesus going? Why could Peter only go with Him later and not now? Why was Peter mystified? Perhaps, Peter was greatly discouraged after being informed that he would not only fail to give his life but he would actually deny knowing Jesus. For Jesus said to him, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).

Then Jesus continued,

In my Father s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (14:2-3)

Although Peter did not understand, Jesus was getting ready to become the way, the gospel of defining grace, for Peter. Jesus would take him where he could not and would not go himself, to his death.

Peter may have been discouraged over Jesus’ statement, but he could take hope because there was a mansion, a place Jesus was going to take him. The original word translated mansions in 14:2 was used by John one other time in Chapter 14:

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (14:23).

The exact original word that was translated mansions in 14:2 is translated abode in 14:23.

Defining Grace is Abiding in Jesus

Moreover, the root of the word translated mansions, is used forty times by John and it is translated abide twenty-four of those forty times. In the next chapter, Jesus stated,

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (15:4,5).

In fact, Jesus used the word abide eight times in the first ten verses of Chapter 15. Jesus said, “In my Father s house are many mansions . . . I go to prepare a place for you” (14:2). Where Jesus went was to prepare a place for Peter and all believers. The place he prepared for his disciples was the “stayings,” which is the literal translation of the word translated mansions by the King James Version.

Paul said the same thing to the Ephesian saints when he wrote to them concerning this mystery of experiencing life:

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him (1:9,10).

Jesus said to Peter, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). He also said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit . . .” (15:5). Again, He stated, “. . . if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (14:23). Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and return prepared a mansion for every believer. The mansion is the “staying” of the believer in Jesus, the oneness of being set with God in defining grace.

Defining Grace is Experiencing the Life of Jesus

Moreover, Jesus said to His disciples: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you . . . .” It is unfortunate that most of Christianity today regard ordained as being “invest[ed] with the office of minister, priest, or rabbi” (a good example of why the English dictionary cannot give understanding to the ways of God). The ordaining Jesus accomplishes has nothing to do with an office of ministry. Ministry will, in fact, occur but the word ordained in this verse does not relate directly to a man s ministry. It relates to his condition in Christ, his experiencing of Jesus.

The actual word that is translated ordained contains the essence of the mystery of His will, the mystery of experiencing the gospel, the mystery of defining grace. It is the underlying teaching and truth of Jesus Christ as recorded in John 13-15. The word ordain means “to place (in a passive, horizontal position as opposed to an active, vertical posture).” Jesus said to Peter and to all of His disciples that they had been chosen to be placed, horizontally and passive, in a place he was going to prepare. They could not go until He had gone. However, He would come again and take them to be where he was. They would be taken to the secret dwelling place of the Most High God.

In addition, Paul stated that it would be a place where the believer would experience “all spiritual blessings” (Eph. 1:3). Jesus referred to it as the place (15:5) where much fruit would come forth (15:5). Not only would this abiding place bring forth fruit, the fruit would remain (15:16). Plus, “. . . whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (15:16).

Is it any wonder the translators of the King James Version would call this staying a mansion? It is the place where all the blessings of God are experienced. It is the essence of Jesus Christ being “the way, the truth, and the life.” It is the true gospel of defining grace.

Defining Grace is How God Works

Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (15:16). Notice, the way the word that is used three times in this dynamic statement of what it means to be Christian. It gives the verse a sequential order in its fulfillment, a sequential order to the outworking of the gospel, Jesus Christ.

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that . . . .” The choosing and the ordaining by Jesus produce something. It produces “that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that [this second “that” is italicized in the King James Version, meaning it is not in the original] your fruit should remain.” The going, the bring forth fruit, and the your fruit should remain are products of being chosen and ordained. They do not produce themselves.

Moreover, the going, the bring[ing] fruit, and the fruit remaining produce something. They produce “that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” The “whatsoever ye shall ask . . . [and it shall be given you]” occurs out of the fruit remaining, the bring[ing] fruit, and the going. Although the ingredients of the verse may not be fully understood yet, it can be seen they are sequential in their order, sequential in how they occur in one’s life. It is how defining grace works in the outworking of God in your life.

Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go . . . .” It would seem that the going would be the activity of doing something for God: preaching, teaching, evangelizing, or some other good deed. However, the word translated go in this verse is not the usual word translated go with it s common meaning “to traverse.”

In this powerful statement of what it means to be Christian, the gospel, it is revealed that each believer is chosen and ordained “to be led under, i.e. withdrawn or retired (as if sinking out of sight) [literal meaning of the word translated go].” The meaning of this original word is defining grace in the truest sense of the word. It is the part the believer plays in what it means to be Christian. It is the part each believer plays in experiencing the gospel, in preaching the gospel.

Mystery of Defining Grace

What a marvelous revelation to understand that the first product of being chosen and ordained by Jesus is to be led out of sight. To the world’s way of thinking, it seems foolish to expect life to be found in sinking out of sight. To those who have experienced the Jesus life, however, it is the wisdom of God. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Notice, how similar this definition of “to lead under, withdraw or retire” is to Paul’s statement to the Philippians:

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 [Paul became willing to give up his baking and tree making], and do count them but dung . . . that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead (3:8,10,11).

“To withdraw, retire, be taken out of sight” is “the loss of all things.” It is to be “made conformable unto his death.” It is to experience the dying-off. It is to sink out of sight. It is to experience the gospel, the mystery of defining grace.

Defining Grace is to Experience Christ

Why was Paul willing to lose all things and count them as refuse? He gave the answer, “. . . that I may win Christ, And be found in him . . .” (3:8,9). Why did Paul want to win Christ and be found in Him? Again, he said, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” (3:10). Why did Paul want to be “made conformable unto his death?” Why did Paul want to experience this death? He knew that he “might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” His mortality might be swallowed up by the life of Jesus (2 Cor. 5:4).

Life is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ; therefore, man must continually experience the dying-off of his life to experience the life of Christ. Man must continually die to his own living to experience the life of Jesus. Amazingly, man must even die to his own deeds for God to experience the true gospel. For the good life is never found in man’s work (even when they are for God), but the good life is only found in defining grace.

What a Privilege to Know Defining Grace

In summary, when Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go . . . .” He is stating that the believer has been chosen and ordained to go to the place that Jesus has prepared. The believer has been chosen and ordained to be taken to the staying. The believer has been chosen and ordained to experience the reality of oneness in Christ, the reality of the gospel.

This staying is a place of absolute mystery to man for it proclaims that man lives only when he dies. Jesus told Peter, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards” (John 13:36). He also told him,

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee [sounds like Paul s “being made conformable unto his death”], and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God . . .  (John 21:18,19).

Peter could not go to the place Jesus was going until Jesus had been there and returned to do the same work in Peter. Peter s religious zeal led him to make bold statements of commitment and dedication, “. . . Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake” (13:37). He thought he was willing to die for Jesus. At this point in his life, however, Jesus said, “. . . Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice” (13:38). The rooster will always crow before man, in himself, can go to the place where Jesus went.

No man can or will go to that place in himself. Peter would get there, but it would be because “another [would] gird [him].” Paul would get there, but it would be because he was “made conformable unto [Jesus ] death.” All men can get there, but they can only get there by Jesus.

It is the simple preaching of the gospel message that will enable men to experience what it means to be Christian, to be taken to the place of oneness in Christ. The simple preaching of the gospel message, however, is not someone saying something about Jesus. It is Jesus himself speaking the wonderful words of life, the gospel.