Close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself bound. Imagine your hands, arms and legs bound with chains; imagine being shackled tightly and how you would feel, not being able to move at all. Now imagine that there was a divine miracle, all of the chains that bound you have instantly fallen off; you are no longer bound. You were not able to move at all before, and now you are free to move around as much as you desire. You have a reason to rejoice! You have a reason to celebrate! You were a prisoner, and now you are free!
This scenario is actually more than just an imagination – it is a wonderful reality. You and I were prisoners once; prisoners to sin, prisoners to sickness, disease and all the curse of the Law of Moses. Now however, we have been set free. We have been released from all of the curse, however many people do not yet realize that they have been set free. They are behaving and living as though they are still bound, even though the shackles are no longer holding them in-place. Today we will be studying the wonderful reality that you have actually been released from the curse. You do not have to live in bondage and fear any longer. Jesus has delivered you.
There is a division in many Christian circles today; and this division is between the holiness of God, and the Grace which Jesus Christ has brought to humanity. You may have heard it spoken in church or preached from the podium, that “God is a Holy God. His Holiness is uncompromising and His eyes see everything.” This is an absolutely true statement – no doubt about it at all. But what is the intent of the message? For believers in Christ Jesus who have been cleansed from all of their sins, is the holiness of God still something to fear?
I have spoken to many believers who are facing confusion, because they have been taught that they should be in fear regarding the holiness of God and should constantly be weighed-down in remembrance of their sins. To do otherwise would mean that God had “given them up to their sinful lusts” or that they have a “seared conscience”; and we have an entire separate study on the true meaning of a seared conscience for those who are trapped in the psychological jail-cell of sin and guilt because of that particular false teaching.
The question we will be answering today in this study is: Is the Holiness of God separate from the Grace of Christ? Many people think that they are on two opposite ends of the spectrum, as if God has a split-personality disorder. Yet is this what the Bible actually teaches? We will be looking at this today in the scriptures.