Welcome! You are invited to explore and join an ongoing journey of discovery. You might even get to change your thinking about Grace. UnfailingGrace.com is all about the ‘display of God’ and the promotion of the radical New Testament message of Grace.
We’re David and Narelle Crabtree, pastors for more than 26 years of DaySpring Church, Castle Hill, NSW. Australia.
We have many passions relating to ministry. We have seen God move powerfully in “signs & wonders”, prophecy, transformation, healing, and deliverance. We hold on to what might be called a “high doctrine of the Spirit” which means that we have a very high value for the Person and presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of all believers.
We also hold a very high value for the “the Word”, the Bible, and have a high value in appropriate exegesis and hermeneutics. In other words, we want to follow as closely as we can, the teachings of the Bible particularly as seen through the lens of the New Covenant.
Jesus, through His death and resurrection, and then sending His Holy Spirit ushered in a “new government” (Eph 3), an “administration of Grace”. This new government is the New Covenant which, because of God’s empowering presence in every believer, makes all previous covenants “obsolete” and “useless” (Heb 8:13). Hence the need to re-look what Grace means in light of the New Covenant. This website is dedicated to exploring that discovery.
Grace and the New Man
The New Testament is clear that believers in Jesus are indeed new people. We are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Gal 6:5), “seated in heavenly places” (Eph 2:6), with our “old self” dead (Rom 6). Paul states in Romans 6, “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” (Rom 6:14) He also states that “[We] have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness.” (Rom 6:18)
Good news indeed! We are now dead to Law, and therefore dead to sin. The “old man” is gone and the “New Man” can now stand in righteous fullness.
Grace, God’s empowering presence is all about the empowered and righteous new man. Our chief responsibility is to live, empowered by the Spirit, as new people. The New Man (Grace/life in the Spirit) cannot be balanced by the Old Man (life under Law and in the flesh). We are to live forward into the new man in Christ.
God’s a Genius!
Truly, who else could have invented Grace. It’s the only way back to God, as nothing else would work. Grace is a gift but it is also a gift of a Person, the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Jesus. Grace needs no other reinforcement to ‘back it up’ other than the Holy Spirit. God’s gift contains His own power. Grace really is God’s empowering presence.
He is so rich in compassion and mercy
But God still loved us with such great love. He is so rich in compassion and mercy. 5 Even when we were dead and boomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace! – Ephesians 2:4-10 (TPT)
6 He raised us up with Christ be exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now joined as one with Christ! 7 Throughout the coming ages, we will be the visible display of the infinite, limitless riches of his grace and kindness, which were showered upon us in Jesus Christ. 8 For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believe in him. Nothing we did could ever earn the salvation, not even our faith, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ! 9 So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving.
10 We have become his poetry, a recreated people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!
Why venture on to turbulent territory?
Good question! It need not be turbulent, but when folks hold on to outdated religious views they will resist anything that challenges those views. The New Testament is full of accounts of that conflict, as is the history of the Christian church. It seems that there is a strong reluctance to let go of the Old Covenant and in particular a reluctance to let go of the governance of Law (Mosaism). While not usually put this way, there is a fear of completely putting one’s trust in Jesus, and have complete faith in the Holy Spirit’s ability to enable and sustain righteousness. Paul is clear, “the righteous will live by faith.” (Rom 1:17) And it is “by faith from first to last”. It is this righteousness by faith only, without Law, that sticks in the craw of most folk, particularly if they believe that adherence to the Law (usually the Ten Commandments) is required to assure our salvation. As Dr. Michael Eaton stated, “Any moral code that is based on the Ten Commandments is legalistic.” Food indeed for thought.
“Grace needs to be defended. We cannot allow it to be diluted or undermined. The New Testament understanding of Grace needs to be restored to its rightful, powerful place in our lives. It is the difference between living in faith or living in unbelief.” – David Crabtree
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
0 Comments