May 20, 2025 • 13 mins
We explore the complex nature of grace in Christianity and how it often creates confusion for believers trying to navigate their faith journey. The grace paradox presents a challenging spiritual dilemma: Christ's unlimited forgiveness isn't meant to encourage sin, yet many Christians remain trapped in guilt and performance-based faith.
• Grace is frequently taught in a way that keeps believers bound to guilt and shame
• Most humans naturally feel guilt, but God isn't trying to manipulate us through negative emotions
• Christ's salvation covers past, present, and future sins because no one can perfectly keep God's law
• Many Christians fall into the trap of constant striving to be "good enough" for grace
• The enemy uses guilt to make us question our salvation and God's forgiveness
• When we accept Christ, we can stop the exhausting pursuit of perfection in our own strength
• Transformation comes through the Holy Spirit working within us, not our own efforts
• The Christian journey isn't linear—it involves progress and setbacks, not instant perfection
• A powerful daily affirmation: "Every day, I choose to embrace the gift of God's grace"
• True freedom comes when we resist the enemy's accusations and fully accept God's forgiveness
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What makes grace such a tricky concept?
Why does it make people uneasy,afraid or unsure how it applies
in life?
Let's just start out with theexplanation of what the grace
paradox is, how it affectspeople and how I recommend you
confront it so that you can moveforward in victory with Christ.
(00:21):
And then, at the end of thisvideo, I'm going to leave you
with an affirmation that's goingto give you power over those
feelings, power over thatsinking sensation.
I'm going to give you abiblically-based affirmation
that's going to get the deviloff your back.
When he's falling behind youand taking notes and giving you
your report card for the day,we're going to just shut him out
(00:44):
.
We're going to shut him up.
We're going to shut him down.
That's what we're going to do.
That's exactly what we're goingto do today.
Jimmy James Johnson, guilt-freefaith.
If you're looking for guilt,you're in the wrong place,
because we don't get down likethat here.
I'm going to get you walking invictory today.
Let's get into it.
Hey, this grace topic is not aneasy one, but it's essential.
(01:07):
It's going to free you up.
You're going to walk in moreconfidence and in more victory.
The grace paradox is, eventhough Christ has extended His
unlimited forgiveness for oursins.
That's not supposed to permitor encourage us to go ahead and
just continue to go on and dowhatever you want.
(01:28):
It doesn't matter because it'scovered.
And if that sounds confusing toyou or kind of like you're
forgiving me on one hand butthen it's kind of conditional,
depending on what I do next,yeah, it sounds confusing, it
sounds iffy.
It's frequently taught iffy.
It's a paradox with which I'mnot comfortable.
The reason why I'muncomfortable with it is that
(01:50):
the way that's explained keepsyou bound up.
It keeps you a prisoner toguilt.
As a human being, unless you'rea sociopath, you're going to
feel guilt.
It's just unavoidable.
Most of us have some type ofheart.
Most of us aren't delighted inhurting people or treating
someone horribly.
That's treated us well.
Like most of us, in our heartand our spirit, we are grieved
(02:13):
by that.
We don't have to try to forcepeople to feel guilty.
We don't need to install thispermanent guilt alarm in them.
We're talking about walking invictory and power and you can't
do that when you're spendingtime trying to get people to
feel more guilty or trying toget yourself to feel more guilty
, or questioning how much guiltyou should feel.
(02:34):
You know how guilty does Godwant me to feel?
Surely, I can't just accept Hisgrace and His forgiveness Like
that doesn't even feel right.
No, it's not going to feelright.
That's why you're not Jesus.
That's a message that Jesus hadto bring.
That's a message that we haveto internalize day by day.
And how do we internalize it?
(02:54):
We internalize it by readingthe Word, hearing what God
really has to say about thisissue for yourself, by
surrounding ourselves with good,biblically-based Christians who
are going to reinforce thisconcept, that are going to pick
us up and strengthen us in thisconcept when times are difficult
to break down.
(03:16):
Unnecessary guilt, becauseyou're going to feel guilt.
Normal people feel guilt.
That's not what we're talkingabout here.
We're talking about goingagainst what Christ died for.
We're talking about discountingChrist's salvation.
We're talking about trying tofigure out every technicality
where forgiveness doesn't applyor we shouldn't feel comfortable
(03:38):
.
You know we can't livedouble-minded with that.
So you're going to feel naturalguilt.
What I don't want you to do isdwell in that, wallow in that.
Think that that's from God,that somehow God is reinforcing
that in you, or that God istrying to manipulate you or
break and shape you intosomething through this negative
(04:01):
emotion.
I don't believe that's how Godoperates.
You'll have to see this videohere talking about how God knew
that rules and guilt would sowthe seeds of rebellion and
acting out and unforgiveness,and that's not the direction
he's trying to go with you.
So see this video for freedomon that issue and some powerful
(04:23):
affirmations.
How do people try to resolve thegrace paradox?
One reasonable take on this isdefinitely accept grace.
Christ died for your sins.
They're not counted against you.
There's not some checklist.
No one's waiting for you at thegate of heaven to determine
whether you scored high enough.
(04:44):
But at the same time, youshould be thankful for grace and
that thankfulness, thatgratefulness, is what should
motivate you to be a betterperson or to sin less, or to
drop that addiction or to quitthat infidelity or lying or that
(05:05):
disrespect.
And that sounds very reasonableand that indeed, may very well
happen.
I mean, when you invite theHoly Spirit into your heart and
become a Christian, the HolySpirit's going to be working in
you and through you.
There's going to be atransformative force at play
from then on and that might be atransformation.
(05:27):
That is very obvious to peoplewhere they're like wow, you know
it's like night and day.
Here's Jimmy before Jesus,here's Jimmy after Jesus.
It's like he's a saint now.
But for a lot of people it's notthat.
A lot of people get thecriticism even still, like here
they are saved, hopefully.
You know in your own heart.
You know that your relationshipwith Christ is a personal
(05:48):
experience and Christ doesn'tneed anyone else to testify on
your account.
This isn't majority rules, likenobody votes on your salvation.
No jury of your peersdetermines if you're guilty or
not.
Christ laid out the guidelines.
He is the truth and the life.
So when you've come to Him, youcan rest assured in that.
(06:09):
That's that blessed assurance.
That's a done deal.
So here's the thing that becomesvery tricky about this.
People will say, well, sinceyou're saved, now you need to
strive to be better, you need tobe acting better, you need to
quit drinking, you need to getoff the drugs, you need to not
be up in the strip club.
Okay, if that's a directionthat Christ is leading me, then
(06:33):
the Holy Spirit in me is workingme that way and I'm moving in
that direction.
But what does that journey looklike?
Is that going to be a black andwhite thing?
No, it's going to be up andaround and about and I got
better on this thing.
I fell back on this thing.
I really kind of hit bottom fora while over here and then I
(06:54):
wow, I really felt like I hitthe pinnacle there.
I was really just doing theright thing.
And you're going to go throughall of that.
But Christ doesn't want you tobe fooled by that, because the
devil's going to be therepointing this out to you oh,
you're not really saved.
Oh, you're not reallytransformed.
Oh, you're not really adifferent person now.
(07:15):
Oh, you still have that impulse.
Oh, you still have that urge.
You still act like this or thatwhen you're mad, or when you're
down or when you're challenged.
See, the enemy's going to beall over that battle.
So what I'd say to you it'sgoing to sound very
controversial, especially ifsomeone just takes this out of
context what I'm saying to youis that when you accept Jesus
(07:39):
Christ as your Lord and Savior,you can stop striving for
goodness and I know that's likea real shocking statement
goodness, and I know that's likea real shocking statement.
And, yeah, we'll go through therest of the videos.
You'll get more of the context,exactly what I'm saying here,
because I'm not suggesting thatyou go out and do all these bad
(07:59):
things on purpose.
You'll be in this conversationwith people about grace and
oftentimes you'll discover thatthey're not really 100% for
grace.
They're still holding on to thelaw.
They still think the law, thebiblical law, needs to
continually enslave you, thatyou need to continually be in
this striving this, fightingthis brawl with how can I be
(08:23):
better?
How can I do better?
Oh, I got to do better today.
You know what would Jesus haveme do today?
How am I gonna do better?
Oh, I got to do better today.
You know what would Jesus haveme do today?
How am I going to—it's justlike being in the corporate rat
race.
You really think that God, wholoves you and forgives you, sent
his son to deliver you?
That's all he had in mind.
That, oh, you're just going tobecome.
Yeah, thanks.
I'm kind of forgiven, but Iknow I need to get up today and
(08:46):
work real hard to be a goodChristian.
If you think that in your ownworks and in your own power you
can live a sinless life, thenroll with that, because then you
don't need Jesus, you don'tneed to be a Christian, you
don't need to go to church nomore.
You could just leave all thisstuff behind man because you
(09:09):
don't need it.
Christ came for those thatneeded him.
Christ came for sinners.
Christ came for those runningafoul of the law.
What a lot of people didn'twant to accept was that was them
.
Every single one of them wasrunning afoul of the law.
No one could keep the law then.
(09:30):
Nobody can keep the law now.
That's why Christ is forgivingthe past, the present and the
future, because there is noother category.
If you're a human being, you'regoing to sin according to the
law, 100%.
That's going to happen.
So the only way that Christcould leave you with that peace,
(09:52):
that peace that gives youconfidence in His love, that
peace that gives you the powerto call upon His name, that
peace that gives you the powerto call upon his name, is if
somehow you were able to reallyget it into your head that,
unlike everyone you've everknown or any situation that
you've ever been in here, is onerelationship with the living
(10:14):
God where your sins, yourtransgressions, your failings,
your fallbacks are forgiven.
They're actually covered period.
This is the affirmation Isuggest you roll with today,
because you're going to have toget the devil off your back.
(10:35):
That could come throughsomething that happens at church
.
It could come through somethingthat happens at work, through
your friend's group, it doesn'tmatter the situation.
The devil's going to be tryingto get at you.
The devil wants you to feelguilty.
He wants you to feel like, ohwell, you're the exception to
this grace thing, you're theexception to Christ's unlimited
(10:56):
love because you've done this.
If you had just parkedillegally, yeah, then Christ
would forgive you, no problem.
But if you attacked somebody,if you embezzled money, if you
God forbid really hurt or killedsomeone or betrayed someone and
destroyed their life or stoletheir pension or their health
(11:19):
care, or swindled them out oftheir life savings, destroyed
their relationship with theirspouse, those aren't covered.
That's what people are going totell you.
They are not covered by thiscovenant of grace.
And what I'm telling you is asuncomfortable as it sounds, and
I can feel it right.
I feel it Because I need thegrace message too.
(11:40):
Right, the grace messagerequires repetition.
We have to keep tellingourselves that, both in
reference to our own actions andfor other people.
So here's the affirmation I'dlike to leave you with today,
and this affirmation is going toleave you in peace and power
when the enemy is trying to getat you and convince you that
(12:03):
you're so hurt today, you're sodown today, you're so
disappointed today you've beenso wounded emotionally,
physically, psychologically,spiritually, financially.
This is what you need to breakout in those circumstances,
anytime it comes up.
Every day, I choose to embracethe gift of God's grace.
(12:26):
I choose to embrace the gift ofGod's grace and that's all you
have to say, because it is achoice and the enemy, working
through people, will try tosteer you away from that.
Here you are at that decisionfork.
Are you going to accept thatgrace?
Are you going to accept thatforgiveness?
(12:48):
Are you going to let that coveryou and then expand out to all
the people you deal with, or areyou going to let the enemy
convince you that God, now he'skind of mad at you today?
You have to cling to that andthe harder people are coming at
(13:08):
you, the more dug in you'regoing to have to get into that
affirmation.
Hang in there, I'm in yourcorner.
What makes grace such a tricky concept?
Why does it make people uneasy,afraid or unsure how it applies
in life?
Let's just start out with theexplanation of what the grace
paradox is, how it affectspeople and how I recommend you
confront it so that you can moveforward in victory with Christ.
(00:21):
And then, at the end of thisvideo, I'm going to leave you
with an affirmation that's goingto give you power over those
feelings, power over thatsinking sensation.
I'm going to give you abiblically-based affirmation
that's going to get the deviloff your back.
When he's falling behind youand taking notes and giving you
your report card for the day,we're going to just shut him out
(00:44):
.
We're going to shut him up.
We're going to shut him down.
That's what we're going to do.
That's exactly what we're goingto do today.
Jimmy James Johnson, guilt-freefaith.
If you're looking for guilt,you're in the wrong place,
because we don't get down likethat here.
I'm going to get you walking invictory today.
Let's get into it.
Hey, this grace topic is not aneasy one, but it's essential.
(01:07):
It's going to free you up.
You're going to walk in moreconfidence and in more victory.
The grace paradox is, eventhough Christ has extended His
unlimited forgiveness for oursins.
That's not supposed to permitor encourage us to go ahead and
just continue to go on and dowhatever you want.
(01:28):
It doesn't matter because it'scovered.
And if that sounds confusing toyou or kind of like you're
forgiving me on one hand butthen it's kind of conditional,
depending on what I do next,yeah, it sounds confusing, it
sounds iffy.
It's frequently taught iffy.
It's a paradox with which I'mnot comfortable.
The reason why I'muncomfortable with it is that
(01:50):
the way that's explained keepsyou bound up.
It keeps you a prisoner toguilt.
As a human being, unless you'rea sociopath, you're going to
feel guilt.
It's just unavoidable.
Most of us have some type ofheart.
Most of us aren't delighted inhurting people or treating
someone horribly.
That's treated us well.
Like most of us, in our heartand our spirit, we are grieved
(02:13):
by that.
We don't have to try to forcepeople to feel guilty.
We don't need to install thispermanent guilt alarm in them.
We're talking about walking invictory and power and you can't
do that when you're spendingtime trying to get people to
feel more guilty or trying toget yourself to feel more guilty
, or questioning how much guiltyou should feel.
(02:34):
You know how guilty does Godwant me to feel?
Surely, I can't just accept Hisgrace and His forgiveness Like
that doesn't even feel right.
No, it's not going to feelright.
That's why you're not Jesus.
That's a message that Jesus hadto bring.
That's a message that we haveto internalize day by day.
And how do we internalize it?
(02:54):
We internalize it by readingthe Word, hearing what God
really has to say about thisissue for yourself, by
surrounding ourselves with good,biblically-based Christians who
are going to reinforce thisconcept, that are going to pick
us up and strengthen us in thisconcept when times are difficult
to break down.
(03:16):
Unnecessary guilt, becauseyou're going to feel guilt.
Normal people feel guilt.
That's not what we're talkingabout here.
We're talking about goingagainst what Christ died for.
We're talking about discountingChrist's salvation.
We're talking about trying tofigure out every technicality
where forgiveness doesn't applyor we shouldn't feel comfortable
(03:38):
.
You know we can't livedouble-minded with that.
So you're going to feel naturalguilt.
What I don't want you to do isdwell in that, wallow in that.
Think that that's from God,that somehow God is reinforcing
that in you, or that God istrying to manipulate you or
break and shape you intosomething through this negative
(04:01):
emotion.
I don't believe that's how Godoperates.
You'll have to see this videohere talking about how God knew
that rules and guilt would sowthe seeds of rebellion and
acting out and unforgiveness,and that's not the direction
he's trying to go with you.
So see this video for freedomon that issue and some powerful
(04:23):
affirmations.
How do people try to resolve thegrace paradox?
One reasonable take on this isdefinitely accept grace.
Christ died for your sins.
They're not counted against you.
There's not some checklist.
No one's waiting for you at thegate of heaven to determine
whether you scored high enough.
(04:44):
But at the same time, youshould be thankful for grace and
that thankfulness, thatgratefulness, is what should
motivate you to be a betterperson or to sin less, or to
drop that addiction or to quitthat infidelity or lying or that
(05:05):
disrespect.
And that sounds very reasonableand that indeed, may very well
happen.
I mean, when you invite theHoly Spirit into your heart and
become a Christian, the HolySpirit's going to be working in
you and through you.
There's going to be atransformative force at play
from then on and that might be atransformation.
(05:27):
That is very obvious to peoplewhere they're like wow, you know
it's like night and day.
Here's Jimmy before Jesus,here's Jimmy after Jesus.
It's like he's a saint now.
But for a lot of people it's notthat.
A lot of people get thecriticism even still, like here
they are saved, hopefully.
You know in your own heart.
You know that your relationshipwith Christ is a personal
(05:48):
experience and Christ doesn'tneed anyone else to testify on
your account.
This isn't majority rules, likenobody votes on your salvation.
No jury of your peersdetermines if you're guilty or
not.
Christ laid out the guidelines.
He is the truth and the life.
So when you've come to Him, youcan rest assured in that.
(06:09):
That's that blessed assurance.
That's a done deal.
So here's the thing that becomesvery tricky about this.
People will say, well, sinceyou're saved, now you need to
strive to be better, you need tobe acting better, you need to
quit drinking, you need to getoff the drugs, you need to not
be up in the strip club.
Okay, if that's a directionthat Christ is leading me, then
(06:33):
the Holy Spirit in me is workingme that way and I'm moving in
that direction.
But what does that journey looklike?
Is that going to be a black andwhite thing?
No, it's going to be up andaround and about and I got
better on this thing.
I fell back on this thing.
I really kind of hit bottom fora while over here and then I
(06:54):
wow, I really felt like I hitthe pinnacle there.
I was really just doing theright thing.
And you're going to go throughall of that.
But Christ doesn't want you tobe fooled by that, because the
devil's going to be therepointing this out to you oh,
you're not really saved.
Oh, you're not reallytransformed.
Oh, you're not really adifferent person now.
(07:15):
Oh, you still have that impulse.
Oh, you still have that urge.
You still act like this or thatwhen you're mad, or when you're
down or when you're challenged.
See, the enemy's going to beall over that battle.
So what I'd say to you it'sgoing to sound very
controversial, especially ifsomeone just takes this out of
context what I'm saying to youis that when you accept Jesus
(07:39):
Christ as your Lord and Savior,you can stop striving for
goodness and I know that's likea real shocking statement
goodness, and I know that's likea real shocking statement.
And, yeah, we'll go through therest of the videos.
You'll get more of the context,exactly what I'm saying here,
because I'm not suggesting thatyou go out and do all these bad
(07:59):
things on purpose.
You'll be in this conversationwith people about grace and
oftentimes you'll discover thatthey're not really 100% for
grace.
They're still holding on to thelaw.
They still think the law, thebiblical law, needs to
continually enslave you, thatyou need to continually be in
this striving this, fightingthis brawl with how can I be
(08:23):
better?
How can I do better?
Oh, I got to do better today.
You know what would Jesus haveme do today?
How am I gonna do better?
Oh, I got to do better today.
You know what would Jesus haveme do today?
How am I going to—it's justlike being in the corporate rat
race.
You really think that God, wholoves you and forgives you, sent
his son to deliver you?
That's all he had in mind.
That, oh, you're just going tobecome.
Yeah, thanks.
I'm kind of forgiven, but Iknow I need to get up today and
(08:46):
work real hard to be a goodChristian.
If you think that in your ownworks and in your own power you
can live a sinless life, thenroll with that, because then you
don't need Jesus, you don'tneed to be a Christian, you
don't need to go to church nomore.
You could just leave all thisstuff behind man because you
(09:09):
don't need it.
Christ came for those thatneeded him.
Christ came for sinners.
Christ came for those runningafoul of the law.
What a lot of people didn'twant to accept was that was them
.
Every single one of them wasrunning afoul of the law.
No one could keep the law then.
(09:30):
Nobody can keep the law now.
That's why Christ is forgivingthe past, the present and the
future, because there is noother category.
If you're a human being, you'regoing to sin according to the
law, 100%.
That's going to happen.
So the only way that Christcould leave you with that peace,
(09:52):
that peace that gives youconfidence in His love, that
peace that gives you the powerto call upon His name, that
peace that gives you the powerto call upon his name, is if
somehow you were able to reallyget it into your head that,
unlike everyone you've everknown or any situation that
you've ever been in here, is onerelationship with the living
(10:14):
God where your sins, yourtransgressions, your failings,
your fallbacks are forgiven.
They're actually covered period.
This is the affirmation Isuggest you roll with today,
because you're going to have toget the devil off your back.
(10:35):
That could come throughsomething that happens at church
.
It could come through somethingthat happens at work, through
your friend's group, it doesn'tmatter the situation.
The devil's going to be tryingto get at you.
The devil wants you to feelguilty.
He wants you to feel like, ohwell, you're the exception to
this grace thing, you're theexception to Christ's unlimited
(10:56):
love because you've done this.
If you had just parkedillegally, yeah, then Christ
would forgive you, no problem.
But if you attacked somebody,if you embezzled money, if you
God forbid really hurt or killedsomeone or betrayed someone and
destroyed their life or stoletheir pension or their health
(11:19):
care, or swindled them out oftheir life savings, destroyed
their relationship with theirspouse, those aren't covered.
That's what people are going totell you.
They are not covered by thiscovenant of grace.
And what I'm telling you is asuncomfortable as it sounds, and
I can feel it right.
I feel it Because I need thegrace message too.
(11:40):
Right, the grace messagerequires repetition.
We have to keep tellingourselves that, both in
reference to our own actions andfor other people.
So here's the affirmation I'dlike to leave you with today,
and this affirmation is going toleave you in peace and power
when the enemy is trying to getat you and convince you that
(12:03):
you're so hurt today, you're sodown today, you're so
disappointed today you've beenso wounded emotionally,
physically, psychologically,spiritually, financially.
This is what you need to breakout in those circumstances,
anytime it comes up.
Every day, I choose to embracethe gift of God's grace.
(12:26):
I choose to embrace the gift ofGod's grace and that's all you
have to say, because it is achoice and the enemy, working
through people, will try tosteer you away from that.
Here you are at that decisionfork.
Are you going to accept thatgrace?
Are you going to accept thatforgiveness?
(12:48):
Are you going to let that coveryou and then expand out to all
the people you deal with, or areyou going to let the enemy
convince you that God, now he'skind of mad at you today?
You have to cling to that andthe harder people are coming at
(13:08):
you, the more dug in you'regoing to have to get into that
affirmation.
Hang in there, I'm in yourcorner.
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