The Ways of the Heart
Frank Allnutt

Section 8: The Ways of Law vs. The Ways of Grace

Page 5: Born Again to Love

We can read countless books on law and grace, listen to sermon after sermon, watch video after video, align ourselves with various theological positions, and even graduate from seminary...and still not understand law and grace. And yet, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His own, simple way, gives this succinct explanation: “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love” (John 15:8-10).

God, through His grace, chose us to be His children, though we were lowly, unworthy sinners, born in the fallen image of Adam. Through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross in our behalf, God forgave us of our sins, gave us new, Christ-like spiritual hearts, and adopted us as His children. And He began a work to conform us to the functional image of His Son, Jesus Christ. He did it because He loves us. And all He wants in return is for us to love Him and others, and to experience His love for us. Jesus said: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:38–39).

Now, what exactly did Jesus mean by the Greatest Commandment? Well, the biblical record carries no explanation in the context. But this does not necessarily leave us to speculate. For when we understand what the spiritual heart is and how it functions, we gain some insight into what Jesus meant. Let's review my comments and illustrations on the Greatest Commandment:

Figure 8-4: The Greatest Commandment:

Jesus said we shall love God with all our heart
To love God with all our heart is to love Him with our whole heart—with the Holy Spirit (dove) expressing love through the individual's Christ-centered personhood and functionally united soul and spirit.

Now, let's focus on the soul chamber-part of the whole heart:

Jesus said we shall love God with all our soul
To love God with all our soul is to love Him with all our soul’s faculties (mind, emotion, will) and features (memory, belief, conscience, “New Spirit” of love, personality, character, temperament) operating in harmony with one another and with the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Since the soul is that part of the heart through which we (our unique personhood) expresses ourselves through our body and relates to the temporal realm, our love for God is expressed to Him and demonstrated through our loving conduct toward Him and others.

Jesus said we shall love God with all our mind
To love God with all our mind is to love Him as the foremost object of our mind set and with all our rationality. For we love whatever we set our mind to love. If our mind is set on self aside from God, we become self-centered and self-loving in a fleshly way. If our mind is set on things of the world, we will love the things of the world. But if our mind is set on Christ, it will be centered in Him and He will be the first object of our love and the foremost desire of our heart.

Jesus said we shall love God with all our strength
To love God with all our strength is to love Him with all the strength available to us when we inwardly function and outwardly walk in the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 2:6, 9; 1 Peter 4:8-11), in the light (1 John 1:7), in newness of life (Romans 6:4), in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 3:16), by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), in wisdom (Colossians 4:5), in obedience (2 John 6), and in truth (3 John 4), and in love (Ephesians 5:2). Paul writes: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV); and that “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5b).

Your new heart gives you the ability to love God and to live in the ways He has always planned for you to live—in freedom and victory in Christ. When Jesus said, “You shall love God...,” it was:

1. a command, to be sure, but it was also...
   
   
2. mentoring instruction from our loving Savior about how to use our new heart for its primary purposes—to love God, others, and ourselves; and,
   
   
3. a promise to be fulfilled in us.
   
   

James, like other New Testament writers, stresses that love is to be the motive behind obedience. He refers to Christ’s command to love your neighbor as yourself as the “royal law” (James 2:8). He elaborates by writing that it is by this royal law that:

1. we shall be judged (James 2:12);
   
   
2. we are to continue in (James 1:25);
   
   
3. we are to keep in each of its demands (James 2:10); and,
   
   
4. we are to perform.
   
   

The greatest evidence of Christ Jesus living His life in and through the believer is love—love for God, love for others, and love for self. More than sentiment, that love is Godly love demonstrated through a believer’s obedient life-style. It is wholehearted living. It is the life of grace. It is experiencing Christ as life (Figure 8-5).

Figure 8-5: With the Whole-Hearted Christian, God’s love is manifest in the functioning of the “inner man” and grace in the walk or behavior of the “outer man.”

Biblical Affirmations of God’s Grace in Your Life

By God’s grace, the Christian has been chosen “from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). And for a chosen one to experience the dynamic blessings of everyday grace calls for whole-hearted—faithful, humble, loving—obedience to the will of God. “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5b).

The humble heart is open to receive gifts of grace from the Spirit of Christ, but the proud heart quenches the Spirit and thus is closed to receiving gifts of the Spirit. God’s grace is His love for us expressed through the Spirit of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listed below are some of the graces we receive—past, present, and future—which God freely gives. Note that I have paraphrased and personalized the following Scriptures in the first person tense:

2 Thessalonians 2:13b-14—I was chosen by God from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this God called me through the gospel, that I may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 36:26—I have been given a new heart, the indwelling of God’s Spirit, and a “new spirit” of love.

Ephesians 3:17-19—Christ dwells in my heart through faith; and I am being rooted and grounded in love, so that I may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that I may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Gal. 2:20—I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live is Christ’s life in me, which is manifested in my attitude and behavior.

Ephesians 2:4-7—I have been made alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show me the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward me in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:17—Since I am in Christ, I am a new creature; the old things passed away and new things have come.

1 Peter 2:9-12—I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that I may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Matt. 22:37—I fulfill the law of God because of my Christlike new nature of love. (See also John 14:15; 15:10.)

Mark 12:30, 31—I have been given the ability and motivation to love God with all my heart, to love myself, and to love others.

John 1:12, 13—I am a child of God; He is my Father. (See also John 1:12,13; Romans 8:14-16; 8:9.)

John 15:13—I am a friend of Christ Jesus.

Romans 5:1—I have been justified through Christ (completely forgiven and made righteous).

Romans 6:1-6—I died with Christ and died to the dominance of the motivational power of sin.

Romans 6:8—I was resurrected with Christ, alive to God. (See also John 17:19-21.)

Romans 6:14—I am no longer under the authority of God’s law, but under His grace. Romans 8:1 I am free from condemnation by the law because Christ has forgiven my sins.

Romans 8:9—I am no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit, and God’s Spirit indwells me.

Romans 8:22—I am a “slave” of God, meaning I have been recreated in the image of His Son, and serve Him as my Lord.

1 Cor. 1:30—I have been placed into Christ through my resurrection with Him.

1 Cor. 2:12—I have received the Spirit of God into my heart. (See also Ezekiel 36:26, 27.)

1 Cor. 2:16—I have been given the mind of Christ.

1 Cor. 3:16—My body is the Temple of God.

1 Cor. 6:15-17—I am united “in spirit” with Christ because His eternal life is also my life. 1 Cor. 6:19, 20 I have been bought with a price (Christ’s sacrificial death). I am not my own; I belong to God.

1 Cor. 11:3—Jesus is my “Master” and my “head”—my Lord and my source and sufficiency for all things. (See also Eph. 1:22.)

2 Cor. 1:22—I have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge (a deposit or down payment) guaranteeing my inheritance and what is to come. (See also Eph. 1:13, 14.)

2 Cor. 5:14, 15—Since I have died and Christ is my life, I no longer live for myself, but for Christ.

Gal. 3:13—I have died to God’s law and have been redeemed from its authority and curse of death. (See also Romans 7:4, 6; Gal. 2:19, 20.)

Gal. 4:7—I am a child of God and an heir of God.

Gal. 6:14—I have been crucified with Christ to Satan’s world order. (See also John 17:15-19.)

Eph. 1:3—I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

Eph. 1:4—I was chosen in Christ to be holy, even before the earth was created.

Eph. 1:5—I was predestined to be adopted as a son by God.

Eph. 1:7, 8—I have been redeemed and forgiven, and have received God’s grace.

Eph. 2:5—I have been resurrected with Christ, and now live in Him.

Eph. 2:6—I have been raised up and seated with Christ in Heaven.

Eph. 2:18—I have direct access to God through His indwelling Spirit.

Eph. 3:12—I may approach God with boldness, freedom, and confidence.

Col. 1:13—I have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of light.

Col. 1:14‚—I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins (the debt against me has been canceled). (See Col. 2:13, 14.)

Col. 1:27—Christ lives in me.

Col. 2:7—I am rooted in Christ and am now being conditionally and functionally conformed to His likeness—progressively sanctified.

Col. 2:10 — am complete in Christ.

Col. 2:11—I have undergone circumcision of my heart—my old soul, spirit, and life were replaced with a new soul, spirit, and life. (See also Ezekiel 36:26, 27.)

Col. 2:12, 13—I have been forgiven of my sins and pardoned from any condemnation for them. (See also Eph. 1:7.)

Col. 3:1-4—I died with Christ and was raised up with Him. My life is His life, hidden with Him in God.

2 Tim. 1:7—I have been given a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. (See also Ezekiel 36:26, 27.)

2 Tim. 1:9—I have been saved and called (set apart) for God. (See also Titus 3:5.)

Heb. 2:11, 12—I am a brother of Christ Jesus.

Heb. 2:14—I have been delivered by Christ from Satan and his power of death. (See also 1 John 3:8; Rev. 12:10, 11; 20:10.)

Heb. 4:16—I have a right to come boldly before the throne of God (the throne of grace) to find mercy and grace in time of need.

Heb. 12:23—I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God. (See also Eph. 2:19; Matt. 13:38; James 2:5.)

2 Peter—1:4 I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God, by which I am a partaker of the divine nature (God’s nature). (See also Ezekiel 36:26.)

1 John 4:19—God loves me.

1 John 5:4, 5—I have overcome the world in Christ.

It is my prayer that you will always walk in grace—in whole-hearted, loving obedience to Christ, so that His joy may be in you and that your joy will be complete (John 15:11).

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Section 8, Pages:  1  2  3  4

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