Grace As Defined by the Scriptures

Let us think for a moment about the scriptural concept of "grace." It is the writer’s point of view that the Divine grace given to us through the Lord Jesus is not a waiving of God’s expectations concerning the nature and conduct of man on the earth. Rather, grace is the Virtue of God, in fact, the very Presence of God, given to man through Christ to enable him to meet completely and perfectly every one of God’s requirements and expectations.

Both concepts of Divine grace are not correct. Either grace is a waiving of God’s expectations or else Divine grace is the power to meet those expectations. Either Divine grace is a waiving of God’s standard concerning man so that sinful, rebellious man may be received into the spirit Paradise on his physical death, or else Divine grace is an impartation of God’s Virtue with the end in view of restoring righteousness, holiness, and meekness to man so he may find rest in God and God in him, on the earth, in Heaven, and everywhere else.

Either we receive eternal life on the basis of a legal manoeuvre of God or else God has offered to us the ability through Christ to overcome sin so we lawfully may regain access to the tree of life.

Either grace sets aside the Kingdom principles of cause and effect, of sowing and reaping, or else grace forever establishes those principles and changes man so that what man is and does results in the blessing of God and fellowship with God.

Either God has fellowship with an individual according to the person’s religious beliefs concerning the atonement, the resurrection, the virgin birth, the nature of the Trinity, and the other tenets of the Christian religion, or else God has fellowship with an individual according to what the individual is and how he behaves.

Throughout history religious men have emphasized the beliefs of their own group. It is the writer’s point of view that God and His Christ care little for our knowledge of theology. They have fellowship with us in terms of what we are as a person.

God is delighted with a joyfully righteous individual who fears God, who trusts God, who deals with God straightforwardly and respectfully, whether or not his understanding of theology is accurate. We notice in the four Gospels that when the Lord spoke of His coming He never mentioned our doctrinal position but He did warn us concerning our conduct.

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:48-51)

God takes no pleasure in a smug, arrogant, presumptuous, deceitful, overconfident person no matter how perfect his beliefs may be. God does not have fellowship with us according to our religion but according to what we are as a person. The Kingdom of God does not consist of theologians and religiously ambitious and "correct" people but of saints who are joined together in the Spirit of God.

God and Christ do not have fellowship with us on the basis of grace but on the basis of what kind of person we are and how we behave. Anyone who walks with the Lord understands that Jesus is a Person, not an aloof system that operates in terms of the manner in which we have been able to bind God with certain "key verses."

If our religious beliefs do not lead us to Jesus the Person so that each day we come to know Him better, our religious beliefs are worse than useless. They are of religious Babylon—the organized religious confusion that keeps the believers ignorant of the Lord and His ways. Jesus the Person has nothing whatever to do with a "grace" that receives the sinful and disobedient into the spirit Paradise, and then condemns those who never have heard the Gospel to the Lake of Fire.

The Lord Jesus receives the prostitute, the drunkard, the thief, the murderer, and everyone else who comes to Him for help. The Lord Jesus possesses the authority to forgive anyone whom He chooses and bring him into the Kingdom of God. This is the meaning of John 5:24, which is one of the more important of the "key verses" from which the deadly conclusions are drawn. The thief on the cross who acknowledged the kingship of Jesus is an excellent example of the authority of Jesus to bring to Paradise whom He will. (Not knowing the background of the thief we do not know the depths of his repentance or the commitments he had made to God while hanging on the cross.)

Where the present-day understanding of Divine grace has gone off course is in the area of the distinction between coming to Jesus, on the one hand, and accepting doctrinal statements, on the other hand. Today’s converts, in many instances, are coming to doctrinal positions for salvation rather than to Christ.

The purpose of the Scriptures is to bring us to Jesus, not to a mental belief. When we come to Jesus He forgives our sins and deposits a portion of eternal life in our mortal personality. The depositing of a portion of eternal life in our personality is not a figurative expression meaning we shall live forever (all spirits live forever!). Rather, it means an actual portion of Divine Life has been placed in our mortal personality.

From then on we are to abide in Christ each day of our discipleship so the Divine Life given to us may be nourished and strengthened. If our new life is nourished and strengthened it will, at the coming of Jesus, make alive our mortal body. But if we permit the cares and things of the present world to choke out the eternal life that has been given to us, then there will be no inner Divine Life, no "oil" to make alive our body in the Day of the Lord. It is God’s Spirit who dwells in us, not our doctrinal position, who will make alive our body in the Day of Christ (Romans 8:11).

The Lord Jesus judges us, rebukes us, corrects us, and does everything else necessary to encourage the growth of Divine Life in us and to conform us to all the requirements of the Godhead. Meanwhile, the blood of the cross keeps us righteous in God’s sight. The blood makes up the difference between our present personality and behaviour and the personality and behaviour God requires. The personality and behaviour God requires will be the actual state of our personality when we have been completely redeemed.

We have no scriptural basis for believing that the blood continues to forgive our sins even though we are not participating in the program of redemption just described. The blood of Jesus covers only those who continue to walk in the light of God’s will for their lives. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (I John 1:7)

Today, in numerous instances, the converts are assenting to the facts of salvation, having been taught four or five "key verses" (verses appearing to fit the current idea of redemption) and are trusting they are candidates for Heaven. They do not know Jesus. They never have met the Master and they are not walking in the light of His Presence and will.

Numerous Christian believers are not disciples of Jesus. Therefore the writings of the Apostles do not apply to them to any great extent (except for the passages of warning—which are numerous). It is only as we continually hear Christ and abide in Him that we have everlasting life and are without condemnation.

The believer who is hearing Jesus and abiding in Him is not committing sin (I John 3:6). He is being taught by the Spirit to overcome sin. He is walking in confession of sin and repentance. Each day he is growing in godliness.

Notice the emphasis in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation on having "ears to hear" the voice of the Lord Jesus. This passage is directed toward the churches, the golden lamp stands. To hear the Word of Christ is not to read the Scriptures, as important as the Scriptures are. Rather, to hear the Word of Jesus is to hear through the Spirit the Word of the living Christ. As many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God.

Numerous believers have been taught from the Scriptures but never have met the Lord or heard His voice. To be learned in the Scriptures is not the same as knowing God. The Scriptures never shall pass away—not even when the heaven and the earth pass away. But for all their supreme value, to know the Scriptures is not the same as knowing Jesus. It is the knowledge of Christ, not the knowledge of the Scriptures, that is eternal life. Some are teaching today that the Scriptures and Jesus are one and the same, that Christ is the Bible and the Bible is Christ. This is not at all true. The Bible is not our Lord nor the Bridegroom nor the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Continued growth in godliness and an ever-deepening personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus are a different matter from the lukewarmness of those who think they have bound God to certain verses taken out of context (as so often is the case with John 5:24; John 1:12; Romans 10:9,10; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:1; and Ephesians 2:8,9) and now possess a guarantee that no matter how they live, whether or not they lay aside their life and follow Jesus, they certainly will be received warmly into the spirit Paradise when they die. This is the perversion of grace.

Jesus indeed does give everlasting life and freedom from condemnation to every person who hears His Word and believes in God. But this hearing and faith is a continuing process. It is the way of faith, the road to eternal life. It by no means is referring to a one-time action in which we "make a decision for Christ" and then continue in our customary manner of living.

The expression "the righteous shall live by faith" means the righteous live every moment in obedience to God and in union with Him rather than according to their own pride, mental understanding, and soulish desires. "The righteous shall live by faith" is not referring to adherence to a set of doctrinal beliefs. It is speaking of the way of faith, of seeking the Lord in all areas of what we think and what we say and do. It is speaking of living by faith. The redemption that is in the Lord Jesus either is the forgiving of a person so when he dies he can go to another world where he cannot sin, or else the Christian redemption is the transformation of a person so he can bring the Kingdom of God, the doing of God’s will, into the earth. The earth always is given to the meek, to those who practice righteousness, who love mercy, and who walk humbly with the Lord.

Divine grace either changes the standard and the environment, or the man. Which is it? The wrong answer destroys the purpose of Calvary. God comes to sinful man and offers him complete forgiveness of his sins through the blood atonement made by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary.

But to what end is man offered forgiveness? To the end he may go to the spirit Paradise when he dies? Is this why God forgives men through Christ—so in their untransformed state they may go to a place of joy in the spirit realm? Is this what the Scriptures teach? What passage of the Scriptures teaches that man is forgiven so he may go to Heaven when he dies? This is not what the Scriptures teach. Such a concept is without basis in the Scriptures. It is a modern man-cantered myth designed to remove from man all responsibility for his salvation. He can disobey God repeatedly and then inherit the approval and blessing of God when he dies.

Man is offered forgiveness, not that he may enter the spirit Paradise when he dies but that he may repent of his sins and enter the program of salvation from sin and self-will. There are a few passages of the Book of Revelation that portray redeemed man in the Presence of God and Christ in Heaven (people never are portrayed as living in mansions). But those who are in Heaven are waiting until God has made it possible for them to return to the earth, which is the eternal home of man. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)

The rulers of the ages to come are prepared in the Presence of God in Heaven so they may return to the earth and bring the will of God to pass in the earth. In fact, God Himself and His Christ will return to dwell in the earth, as was true in the beginning. This is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom from Heaven.

The elect who are abiding in Christ go to the Presence of God when they die, not because Heaven is their home but because Christ is their eternal home. They must wait until it is time to return to the earth. No passage of the Scriptures teaches that when people die they go to Heaven to live forever. Grace is not a means of bringing untransformed people to the spirit Paradise when they die.

The fate of man is not decided when he dies. The fate of man is decided when he stands before the judgment seat in the Day of Christ. The spirit realm is an area of waiting until the Lord comes, raises the dead, and appoints each individual his portion depending on how he has lived on the earth.

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (I Corinthians 5:5) Notice in the above verse that the question is not whether or not this sinning Christian will go to Heaven by grace but whether or not his spirit will be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. If the current doctrine of grace were true there would be no question of his entrance into Heaven. He is a Christian. He goes to Heaven by grace. The blood of Jesus covers his fornication with his father’s wife.

The present-day scholars will respond by saying this man was not truly saved in the first place, because if he were, his salvation never could be placed in jeopardy. This argument is contrived and confusing and it goes in circles. Are we to say that there are multitudes of believers who are not truly saved? They think they are acceptable to Jesus but they are not? That if they truly are saved their salvation can never be placed in jeopardy? If such is the case, how can we know if anyone is saved? By his works? If so, our teaching is shown to be true.

Or is it true that we cannot know whether or not we are saved? Are we claiming that if a person commits fornication with his father’s wife he never was saved in the first place? We know the incestuous believer was a member of the church of Corinth for he was chastised and then forgiven by the church (II Corinthians 2:6,7).

Is it true that if a person sins it is because he never was truly saved to begin with? As we stated previously, the end result of this argument is that no individual can be assured of his salvation until he stands before Jesus. In the footnotes of the edition of the Bible referred to earlier, the statement is made that the believers being discussed in Hebrews 6:4-8 are professors of religion who never had possessed a true relationship with Christ and that is why it was possible for them to fall away.

Yet, these "professors" were "enlightened," had "tasted of the heavenly gift," had been made "partakers of the Holy Ghost," and had "tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come." According to this edition of the Scriptures these never were truly saved. What, then, is their definition of salvation? It can be observed, therefore, to what lengths today’s theorists will go to provide a basis for the perversion of grace they are setting forth.

We have stated that the fate of man is decided when he stands before the judgment seat in the Day of Christ. There is an exception to this. Those Christians who, as was true of Paul, press forward in Christ, can attain the "out-resurrection" (Philippians 3:11, Greek term). In order to arrive at the out-resurrection (Greek—exanastasis) we must continue confessing and repenting of our sins, obeying God perfectly from the heart, walking in the power of Christ’s resurrection, being changed into the death of the cross, until we are perfectly reconciled to God. We can pass through the Judgment Seat of Christ while we yet are in the present world if we are willing to do so.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (I Peter 4:17) If we follow the Lord Jesus to this extent, when we die we will take our place in the Presence of Christ, there to await our appearing with Him in the Day of His revealing. If we attain the earlier resurrection from among the dead, the second death no longer will possess authority over us (Revelation 20:4-6). We will have passed through the judgment of our sin and attained the resurrection out from among the dead. Attaining the first resurrection is the end result of living the life of victory in Jesus.

It can be understood, therefore, how terribly misleading and destructive the current perversion of grace is. By emphasizing the flight of man to the spirit realm on the basis of his assent to certain key verses of the Scriptures, the entire concept of overcoming, of attaining the Presence of God, is eliminated from the minds of the saints. The resulting apathy and unpreparedness is precisely what Satan desires.

Satan understands that it is through the victorious saints, those who have pressed forward to perfect conquest in Jesus, that his kingdom will be overthrown. If Satan can persuade the believers that all there is to the Christian redemption is a flight to the spirit Paradise, and that the authorization for this flight is nothing more than an assent to the facts of the atonement, he can continue to seek his will and image among the nations of the earth. The inheritance of Christ thus remains in Satan’s hands.

The concept of the so-called "pre-tribulation rapture" is very acceptable to Satan. By encouraging the believers in Christ to look toward an escape from the earth rather than toward victory in Christ in the earth, Satan hopes to prolong his dominion in the earth.

Satan is not concerned about how many people flee into the spirit realm. What Satan is concerned about is the creation of the brothers of Christ (Romans 8:29). He knows that the Scriptures point toward the glorious Day when Christ, Head and Body, will return to drive out from the earth all wickedness. In that Day the Glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This is the coming of the Kingdom of God foretold by John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Apostles of the Lamb. The coming of the Day of the Lord signals the end of Satan’s dominion over the earth. The current concept of grace works against the development of godly people. It works against the fervent determination the believer must possess if he or she is to attain the out-resurrection and return with the Lord Jesus.

The current concept of grace serves only to attract large numbers of people into the Christian "clubs" (we do not say churches) and to keep them from setting aside their own life, taking up their cross, and following the Master. Rather, they are to wait until they die and go to Heaven or until the Lord comes and takes them to Heaven. The concept of the resurrection from the dead and our living once again in our body on the earth is virtually unknown to the present generation of Christians. The apostolic emphasis on the resurrection from the dead has been set aside in favour of an unscriptural stress on the catching up ("rapture") of the believers. It is a false vision and the people are perishing as a result.

After God forgives a person He plants Christ in him and gives him of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of giving to a human being such Divine blessings is that he may overcome sin and self-seeking and grow into the image of God. The white raiment with which the members of the Wife of the Lamb are clothed in the Day of the Lord is the righteous conduct of people who have been transformed through their living relationship with Christ (Revelation 19:8). It is a "house from heaven" that is formed as the believer sows his body to the death of the cross and lives in the resurrection Life of the Lord.

The Spirit of God brings the individual through numerous experiences and teaches and builds him up through various ministries. The Holy Spirit has been charged with purifying the Bride in preparation for her marriage to the Lamb. It is the believer’s part to lay down his life, take up his cross, and follow the Lord Jesus. It is the Spirit’s part to lead the believer through the steps of sanctification until his ways please the Lord. Meanwhile, the blood of the atonement keeps on making the believer acceptable to God.

The law of cause and effect, of sowing and reaping, never has been waived or changed and never will be changed. It is the fundamental law of personality and behaviour that governs all God’s creatures. No exception is made for believing Gentiles. God and His standard never change. Rather, under the new covenant the individual has been given the opportunity to be changed through the Virtue of Christ. It is not what he reaps that is changed, it is what he sows that is changed.

The Lord Jesus did not come to forgive the liar so he can go to Heaven. The Lord Jesus came to change the liar into a truthful person so he can have fellowship with God. All liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire. The Lord Jesus did not come to forgive the adulterer so he can go to Heaven to live forever in a mansion. The Lord Jesus came to change the adulterer into a morally pure person so he can have fellowship with God and inherit the Kingdom of God. All adulterers will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

The end result of the work of Divine grace is the creation of the Kingdom of God—the performing of God’s will in the earth as it is in Heaven. The goal of the Christian redemption is not our going to Paradise when we die but the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. The Kingdom of God is made up of people who behave righteously. Don't the prostitutes enter the Kingdom before the self-righteous? Yes they do, because the prostitutes will repent of their behaviour and follow Jesus.

Are we preaching that we are saved by our own dead works? Most assuredly not. We are preaching that true salvation produces, lives in, and is brought to maturity as the believer interacts with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Apart from such daily transformation there is no salvation, no Kingdom of God, no eternal life.

The "state of grace" and "dispensation of grace" that are preached are not of God, not scriptural, and totally destructive of God's intention under the new covenant. The Kingdom of God is the doing of God’s will in the earth as it is performed in Heaven. Therefore any teaching suggesting that the Kingdom of God is something other than the actual performing of God’s will by people in the earth, the actual practice of righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God, is against the Christian Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God—that which was preached by John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Apostles of the Lamb.

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19) If the believer does not understand this he does not understand what salvation is. Salvation primarily is deliverance from Satan, from the world, from our own lusts, and from our self-will. Salvation is deliverance from the power of sin and the receiving of Divine Virtue so that we practice righteousness.

Forgiveness is our introduction to the program of deliverance. Forgiveness does not stand by itself as the product of the work of Calvary. Forgiveness, the appeasing of God’s wrath by the shed blood of the cross, has meaning only in terms of the deliverance of the individual. Forgiveness is maintained only on the condition that the believer is moving forward in the program of release, of redemption. The moment the believer in Jesus begins to grow careless, to draw back, to neglect his salvation, he comes into disfavour with the Lord. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man drawback, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. (Hebrews 10:38)

It is obvious that many passages of the New Testament speak of works of righteousness we Christians are to perform. This is true of the writings of the Apostle Paul—the principal proponent of "grace." But pastors and evangelists do not always make clear the role of works in the Christian redemption.

One well-intentioned but misleading explanation of the relationship of works to grace is that we are saved by grace (unconditionally forgiven) but we ought to do good works because we love Jesus.

This explanation is unfruitful for two reasons. First of all, the spiritual environment has become so demonized, the lusts with which we are tempted so powerful, that all such good intentions break down quickly. We yield to sin, trusting we will be forgiven "by grace." Second, we have no support in Scripture for such an attitude. This is not the scriptural relationship between faith and works. Good works are not a "nice" thing we do to please Jesus. According to the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans, if we Christians continue to serve unrighteousness we will die spiritually. Faith apart from works of righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God is dead.

Righteous conduct, holiness of personality and behaviour, and obedience to the Father are the product and evidence of salvation. Redemption produces iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to God. Therefore there never can be a division between being saved and righteous behaviour.

To be saved apart from works, according to the Apostle Paul, is to be saved apart from the works of the Law of Moses, not apart from righteous, holy behaviour. What sense would the concept of being saved apart from righteous behaviour make when the product and evidence of salvation is a new creation of righteousness?

Today the Lord Jesus is waiting until His enemies have been made His footstool (Hebrews 10:13). To forgive an individual is not to make the enemies of Christ His footstool. The enemies of Christ are made His footstool only when Satan has been overcome and driven from the personality of the individual—and this by the believer’s own choice.

It was man who allowed Satan to enter the earth. It has been given to man to drive Satan out of the earth. Man can do this only by his union with Christ.

If the Christian redemption primarily is forgiveness, then the new covenant is no more effective than the old covenant. Also, Christ is portrayed as the one who excuses the sins of his disciples. If such is the case, then God did not send Christ into the world so through him the world may be delivered from sin but so man may continue without penalty as a sinful creature. That would be a doing away with the law of sowing and reaping. It would become true that the soul that sinned would not die. We could continue in our sins because of God’s "love" expressed through Christ.

If the Christian redemption primarily is the forgiving of man with the intent of bringing him to Heaven when he dies, the Christian redemption is useless as far as establishing God’s Kingdom in the earth is concerned. It would mean that Jesus is not King of kings and Lord of lords over the earth; that the kingdoms of the world never will come under the ruler ship of Christ; that the Glory of God never will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; that the words of the Hebrew Prophets never will be fulfilled.

If the Christian salvation primarily is the forgiving of man so he can go to Heaven, there to live without temptation, the saints never will reign over the earth. The saved would live a new kind of life in Heaven—a life about which the Scriptures say virtually nothing. The description of the Kingdom of God by the Hebrew Prophets would contain little of interest to the Christian because his future would be in the spirit realm with the angels. The return of Christ would mean no more to him than the opportunity to escape to the spirit Paradise.

If the Christian salvation primarily is the forgiving of man so he can go to a sin-free environment, it is not reasonable he should spend his life learning stern obedience to the Spirit of God. There would be no need for him to master the lessons of patience, of faithfulness, of love, of diligence. He would not need a transformed character in Heaven. Since all believers would receive the same reward, why should the Christian seek the face of Jesus? Why should he endure year after year the painful self-denial that is such a vital part of the victorious life, of gaining the Kingdom of God? (James 1:4; Revelation 1:9.)

This concept of grace would let the nations continue in darkness. Justice never would come to them. Meanwhile the Christian people, the light of the nations, would be playing in their mansions.

The modern concept of Divine grace apparently is not aware that the return of Jesus and His saints is for the purpose of bringing justice to the nations. The saints who lived their self-willed lives before Christ’s coming would live their self-willed lives in the spirit Paradise while the nations of the world continued to stagger about in moral blindness, violence, and lust. The so-called "royal priesthood" would be singing and dancing on the streets of gold. The members of the Body of Christ would be enjoying their rubies and diamonds while laying in bed in their mansions.

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