Grace As Currently Defined by Many Believers
The term grace is used in our day to represent a waiving of God’s requirements concerning man’s behaviour, an alternative to them. Christ is seen as coming to earth primarily to forgive the moral shortcomings of the believers so they may go to Heaven when they die..
The concept is that through the centuries man has not been able to meet God’s expectations. Therefore God in His love and mercy has made it possible for unimproved man to inherit life in the spirit Paradise in Heaven. The blood of Jesus is a "ticket" which sinful, rebellious man may use to obtain entrance to peace and joy in the spirit realm.
It is stated that it is not necessary for man to change his behaviour; rather, it is his profession of "faith" in Christ that brings him into fellowship with God. In actual practice the profession of faith often proves to be a mental assent to certain theological facts rather than true faith in the living Jesus.
Grace is currently understood to be a changing of God’s standard of righteous and holy behaviour, a changing of God Himself, so that man through Christ may be able to receive the inheritance of a son of God even though he remains sinful, self-cantered, and disobedient to God.
An unchanged Adam is permitted back into Paradise. He is given to eat of the tree of life. Untransformed believers serve as kings and priests of God. God accepts man as he is, through Christ.
The father comes to his prodigal son in the pigsty, runs to him and falls on his neck, kisses him, puts the best robe on him, a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet, kills the fattened calf, and restores the family inheritance to him. The son then arises from among the pigs and returns to his riotous living, knowing his father will never disown him.
How unscriptural, misleading, and destructive is the doctrine of "once saved always saved" (meaning if we once make a profession of faith in Christ we never again need to worry about the judgment of God)! How many teachers of the Christian faith will stand before God with their followers and discover that God judges every man according to his works!
The story of the prodigal son teaches not only forgiveness but also true repentance as the means of gaining that forgiveness. How would the story have ended if the prodigal had never returned to his father?
Modern Christian theology stresses the father’s forgiveness but not the son’s repentance, apart from which there could have been no forgiveness or restoration. The early apostles stressed repentance.
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. (Acts 11:18)
It is repentance that brings us to eternal life.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: (Acts 17:30)
Repentance is more than belief or feeling sorry for our sins. To repent is to turn away from the world, from sin, and from self-will. To repent is to turn to God, to righteous and holy works and obedience to the Lord. Any conversion experience that does not include the works of repentance does not bring salvation to the believer. It is not enough to believe or be remorseful—or even to confess our sinful state. There must be the works of repentance.
The implication of current teaching is that the citizens of Heaven and Hell are not distinguished by the kind of people they are but by whether or not they profess faith in the fact that Jesus died for their sins and was raised from the dead.
We know that if Jesus comes to an individual and he refuses God’s Christ, the judgment of God abides on him. We are not implying we can refuse to bow the knee to the Lord and then please God by our works. We cannot save ourselves by our own righteousness now that God has given His Son to die for our sins on the cross.
However, in our haste to show that man cannot save himself and that God has a grand plan of redemption for us, we have thrown out the proper scriptural balance. We are discounting the value God places on godly behaviour. We are forgetting that only those who practice righteousness are accepted of God:
But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. (Acts 10:35)
The Scripture declares plainly that the person who practices unrighteousness will be judged of God whether or not he or she professes faith in Christ.
. . . I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)
It is taught that the judgment of the believer’s sins was accomplished on the cross and all that God will judge henceforth is the believer’s works of service (meaning he will receive a marvellous reward if he serves God and a lesser reward if he does not). The contemporary doctrine is that the professor of faith in Christ has nothing to fear in the Day of the Lord even though he has neglected to serve Christ during his life on the earth.
The hastiest review of the New Testament writings will make plain that the concept of the lukewarm Christian having nothing to fear is a dreadful corruption of Paul’s doctrine of the grace of God in Christ.
And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)
We have made the Word of God of no effect by our traditions.
What a perversion of the Gospel of the Kingdom modern Christian teaching is!
Indeed, God does forgive the repentant heart. But God does not say, "I love you anyway even though you will not serve me."
Rather, God commands, "Go and sin no more."
God is not mocked. He understands well the difference between the truly repentant individual and the person who is presuming on God’s compassion so he may continue in his sins and rebellion.
We cannot outwit God by using the Gospel of Christ as a legal technique such that we can preserve our way of life and still receive the inheritance. God captures the crafty in their own craftiness. God deals shrewdly with the crooked (Psalms 18:26).
If we think carefully concerning what is being conveyed today, the grace of God in Christ is seen to be an admission of defeat on God’s part. Man, being hopelessly sinful and rebellious, will not serve God. God, therefore, has created a device known as "grace" whereby man can walk in unrighteousness, moral filth, and disobedience to God and still have fellowship with God through Christ.
How many ministers of the Gospel are living in sin today because of this concept of grace? They are trusting (and teaching) that God waives His standard and brings people into fellowship with Himself while they continue in their sins and rebellion against God. "No one is perfect" they cry and proceed to practice sin and foolishness.
The logical conclusion of the present concept is that Paradise and the new Jerusalem are filled with sinful, self-cantered, rebellious individuals who are "saved by grace" (meaning God does not see what they are or what they do because they are "covered" by the righteousness of Jesus). What the inhabitants are in nature and behaviour has not been changed. Rather, they have been brought into a better environment (in Heaven) and partake of the righteousness of Christ by identification, not by transformed behaviour..
Believers in Christ who do not, through His grace, overcome the world, their lusts, and their self-seeking, are still sinful, disobedient personalities after they die; unless being shed of our body of itself results in a change in our nature. But there is no passage of Scripture that teaches or implies that physical death results in a change in our personality or that the Lord Jesus will change our personality (other than our body) at His appearing.
Physical death is an enemy, according to the Scripture (I Corinthians 15:26), not the means of our transformation into the image of God. Also, we must consider the fact that Satan and other bodiless creatures rebelled against God while in the realm of spirits. If being in the spirit realm causes us to serve God, how, then, was it possible for the angels to transgress?
What passage of Scripture teaches us we become righteous, holy, and obedient to God on the basis of our entrance into the spirit realm, or that the Lord Jesus will transform lukewarm believers into mighty kings at His appearing? Is it not true rather that what we have become during our life on earth will be revealed at the Lord's coming?
According to the Hebrew Prophets, God’s intention is to bring forth righteousness and praise in the sight of the nations of the earth.
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:11)
If God’s purpose is to bring forth righteousness and worship that can be witnessed by the peoples of the nations of the earth, then the new covenant, the Christian covenant, as it is being presented today, is inferior to the old covenant in terms of God’s purposes. The old covenant insisted on godly living and there were penalties for violations of the Mosaic Law and statutes. But the new covenant (according to much current theology) carries few or no penalties. One can live as he pleases; and as long as he tells God he is sorry and that he is trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to save him, God loves him and forgives him for Jesus’ sake.
It is impossible for imputed (assigned) righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. The nations look at how we behave. They are not interested in our legal standing before God or to what extent we share in the righteousness of Christ by being identified with Him. They consider what we say and do!
There is an old saying, "Love is blind but the neighbours isn't!
Having your conversation [manner of life] honest [right; honourable] among the Gentiles [nations]: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (I Peter 2:12)
"Your good works, which they shall behold."
The implications of the doctrine of grace, as it is taught commonly, are not ordinarily examined. But they should be! Every doctrine set forth in the Christian churches (which are the only light of the world) should be examined carefully in terms of its adherence to the Scriptures and also (and especially) in terms of the fruit it is producing.
The believer, as he struggles against the present demon-filled world, Satan, and his own lusts and self-will, tends to follow the line of least resistance. The line of least resistance is the doctrine of grace as it is being preached today.
When the pressure becomes great enough the believer may succumb to what he knows in his conscience is not right. The Christian may try hard to live righteously; but when he is pressured enough he may sin. He is apt to do so because deep in his brain and heart is the concept that he is saved "by grace," meaning that Jesus will overlook his sins and disobedience and receive him to Glory anyway.
The present logic declares that since we are saved by grace it is not essentially important how we behave in the world. We will not reap what we sow. We will be saved in any case even though we do not endure to the end. We can sow to the flesh and not reap corruption if we believe in Jesus. No one who professes faith in Jesus has anything to fear in the Day of Judgment—and so the current deception goes.
It is taught that we ought to make an attempt not to sin. But if we do sin, if we leave our wife or husband and commit fornication, if we steal, if we lie, if we disobey the call of God on us, we still will receive the inheritance because we are saved by grace and not by works. If the Christian does yield to temptation he will suffer no significant loss. This is the current position of Christians.
A corollary of the "grace" concept is the belief held by numerous Christians that all believers will receive the same reward. This notion is maintained in spite of the teaching of the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation.
The current basic misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God, the poison that weakens the will of the Christian to resist sin, to overcome the devil, and that has led to so many other destructive teachings and practices, is a perversion of the Apostle Paul’s doctrine of grace. Such ideas as the pre-tribulation rapture, the overemphasis on the love of God, the "faith" and "prosperity" errors, and the division of the one Body of Christ into a "Gentile Church" and a "Jewish Kingdom" have produced a foolish, morally weak set of "believers" who know neither Christ nor God the Father, who are smug, arrogant, presumptuous, and well on their way toward becoming the False Prophet of Revelation, Chapter 13.
The sixth chapter of the Book of Romans teaches that the Christian salvation consists of a set of choices we make and continue making every day of our pilgrimage. Either we are choosing constantly to yield our body to righteousness or else we are choosing to yield our body to sin. The unsaved person, not having received the Virtue of God, is unable to choose to yield his body to righteousness. He is compelled to rebel against God because of the spirit of Satan who holds him captive.
He who receives Christ possesses the authority and power to choose to obey righteousness. Through the authority of the blood of the cross he can leave the kingdom of Satan and serve God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit he can overcome the desires of Satan, the world, and his own lusts and self-will, and walk in righteousness and holiness.
If the believer chooses to walk in righteousness and holiness he gains eternal life. He is allowed back into Paradise, so to speak, where he can partake of the tree of life and gain immortality.
But if the believer, having received Christ and been baptized in water, chooses to obey the lusts of sin, he destroys his own salvation. The Christian must choose each day to obey Christ, to abide in Him, to live by and in Him, to sow to the Spirit of God. If he does he will attain the first resurrection from the dead. He will be revealed together with Christ in that Day (Philippians 3:11; Colossians 3:4; II Thessalonians 1:10).
But if he does not choose to walk in the Spirit of God he will reap corruption. He will die spiritually (Romans 8:13; Galatians 6:8). He will slay his own resurrection.
To conceive of Divine grace as a waiving of the consequences of sin is to contradict directly the teaching of the Apostle Paul in the sixth chapter of Romans. The preachers of today, as did Satan in the garden, are teaching that we shall "not surely die." But the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, warn us that the soul that sins will die. Paul reinforces this principle in the sixth chapter of Romans.
Christ did not come to the world so the soul that sins will live. Rather, Christ came to give us the authority and power whereby we can choose not to sin. When we choose not to sin we regain access to the tree of life and eat and live forever in the Presence of God and the Lamb.
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)
"That do his commandments." Modern Christian theorists are removing the authority and power of such statements by claiming they apply to the Jews and not to the Gentiles. They are perverting the Gospel of Christ. Does God have two moral standards—one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles? Are there two seeds of Abraham? Two olive trees?
Are there two kingdoms of God—a superior, heavenly one for the Gentiles and a lesser, earthly one for the Jews? Does it follow, then, that the Gentiles will continue in sin and be saved "by grace" while the Jews, who are the natural branches of the cultivated olive tree, must keep the commandments of God?
Are we blind enough to defend such obvious anti-Semitism, such a mockery of the eternal plan of God, of the Gospel of Him who is gathering all things together in Christ?
Can the concept of two kingdoms, an earthly one of works and a heavenly one of "grace," be found in the writings of the Apostles of the Lamb? Has it not rather been invented by theologians?
Christians, because of their conscience, and because there are some lingering ideas in society and in the churches of how a Christian ought to behave, practice righteousness and holiness to a greater or lesser degree depending on the individual’s conscience and will and the community standards. Personal devotion and the prevailing social expectations are taught and practiced to a limited extent. But this is in spite of, not because of, the current theory of grace.
One current edition of the Scriptures states in its comments on Ephesians 2:8,9 that we are saved unconditionally by grace apart from works. The full explanation in the footnotes is in direct opposition to the statement made by the Lord Jesus that we must endure to the end in order to be saved, and also to the exhortations of the Book of Hebrews and of First John.
The Lord Jesus said:
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 10:22)
The edition, in its footnotes following Ephesians 2:8, states: "The grace of God is unconditional: we are not saved on the condition that we ‘hold out to the end’ or that we ‘fail not’ or that we ‘do our best.’ We are saved by the grace of God apart from works." (New American Standard Bible, "The Open Bible Edition", New York, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1979.) Compare: "he that endureth to the end shall be saved"; "we are not saved on the condition that we ‘hold out to the end.’"
We see here an example of the influence of humanism on Christian scholars. The Word of God has been destroyed in our day and we are not even aware that it has happened.
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. (Isaiah 42:24,25)
Every kind of sin is being practiced in the Christian churches and every kind of problem exists as a result. "He hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not."
The pastors and evangelists rush to assure their congregations that God loves them and all their problems are coming from the devil. But these Christian leaders are false prophets. Various natural disasters are afflicting the United States of America—earthquakes, floods, droughts. The pastors refuse to acknowledge the hand of God in these judgments and so the people do not repent and call on the Lord.
The third chapter of Hebrews warns us that we are made partakers of Christ if "we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14). The entire epistle is addressed to backsliding, experienced believers. It is a stern warning to these Jewish saints to press forward to the "rest" of God—to the state of spiritual maturity in which our will has been changed into God’s will and we always are choosing to flow with the Spirit of God in the realms of moral image, relationships, fruitfulness, and power.
The Book of Hebrews refutes the concept of "once saved always saved," of unconditional, irresistible salvation. Our possession of the Divine salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ depends on our faithfulness and diligence in laying hold of it.
We will not escape the wrath of God if we neglect the salvation He is offering to us through Christ. Neglecting one’s salvation (Hebrews 2:3) is not directed primarily to an initial refusal to accept Christ. Rather, the warning is directed toward Christians who are not walking by faith, not seeking God in every aspect of life in the assurance that God exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him diligently.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; (Hebrews 3:12-14)
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. (Hebrews 4:1)
Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. (Hebrews 5:11,12)
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. (Hebrews 6:7-9)
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:11,12)
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26,27)
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:39)
Today’s Christian scholars, teachers, pastors, and evangelists in many instances are not presenting the teachings of the Scripture. The scholars are following blindly their deductions from the "key verses" they have chosen. They are not adhering to what the Scriptures state. Rebellious man is perverting the Word of the most high God.
It is possible to make a profession of Christ and then be cast away. Jesus Himself declared that the unfruitful branch will be cut out of the vine (John 15:2).
Notice the implications of the following parable:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, (Matthew 13:47-49)
The angels shall come forth at the end of the age and separate the wicked from among the righteous. What wicked and what righteous? The wicked from among the righteous of the Kingdom of Heaven. The wicked shall be removed from the Kingdom of Heaven at the end of the age. Does this sound like grace that is separate from works? Does this agree with a "pre-tribulation rapture?"
Or is this just for the Jews? Are the Jews the only members of the Kingdom of Heaven? What unscriptural doctrines are preached in our day!
The often-repeated argument that those who fall away were never saved to begin with will not stand the test of reality. If this argument were true, no individual could know whether he was truly saved until the day he or she died and stood before the Lord.
There are numerous people who truly were "saved" at one time who later fell away, who backed away from the path on which the Lord was leading them, who neglected their salvation in favour of some worldly delight.
Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. (Colossians 4:14)
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. (II Timothy 4:10)
Was Paul mistaken about Demas in the first place? Did Demas’ love for the world and forsaking of Paul not affect his salvation? Or is it just the Jews who must behave righteously or else they never were saved? What nonsense is preached today!
Most believers know of one or more persons who started in the way of eternal life and then turned back into the world. But the theoreticians keep on in their removal from reality proclaiming that if a person turns back into the world he never had eternal life in the first place.
Is there a passage in the Scriptures that teaches if we once put our hand to the plough we are not to turn back?
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)
The doctrine that teaches a genuine Christian cannot turn back is set forth to please the pleasure-seeking, lukewarm, backslidden, careless, sinful, rebellious churchgoers of our day. Their ministers inform them that they cannot possibly lose God’s favour no matter how they behave. Why don’t their shepherds warn them that their behaviour indicates they never have been saved from the beginning, if this is what the leaders truly believe?
Christian scholars, teachers, and evangelists indeed are teaching a perversion of Paul’s doctrine of grace and the morally and spiritually corrupt fruit can be witnessed on every side.
No matter how the leaders may hedge their statements and beliefs when confronted with the implications and fruit of their teaching, the contemporary understanding of grace is reflected in such reasoning as: "I ought to try to do good. But if I continue to sin, Jesus loves me and has saved me by grace. I can fornicate, use profane language, abuse my body, lie, steal, gossip, and never set aside my own life and seek the Lord Jesus. I know my behaviour is not pleasing to the Lord, but this is what we all do. When I die I shall go to Heaven to live in a mansion because I am saved by grace."
This is what numerous believers in Christ think in their mind and believe in their heart and it is the reason why the Christian churches are not setting an example of morality in the eyes of the nations of the earth. The perversion of grace has destroyed the Christian testimony. The light of the world is not shining.
The only spiritual light of the world is the good works of the Christian people (Matthew 5:16). When the Christians are abiding in their statements of doctrine rather than in Christ, works of righteousness and holiness are not revealed in their personalities. There is no moral light to guide the nations.
Two prostitutes came to a street evangelist and asked for the blessing of God. The evangelist expected they would desire to repent of their sinful profession. They responded that they loved their work, that they intended to continue in it, that their hearts were pure, and they wanted God to bless them. They believe their hearts are pure because they have been taught a perverted gospel of grace.
A mother recently was heard to say that she knew her children had Jesus in them so she was not concerned about how they behaved. Yet her children are behaving in a manner sternly condemned by the Scriptures. (So is the mother by taking such an attitude.) This is the fruit of contemporary Christian teaching!
These people are behaving consistently in terms of the current doctrine of "grace"—more consistently, in fact, than believers who claim that a person who behaves unrighteously never was a genuine Christian and at the same time maintain that it is not necessary to behave righteously in order to be a Christian.
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