False Grace, Loving God and Hating Evil

What a mess our world is in. What a mess America is in. What a mess the church is in.

Isaiah 5:20 encapsulates, I believe, the cultural condition of much of the world, most of America and an alarmingly high percentage of those who belong, or at least claim to belong, to the body of Christ. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."

But, hey, "grace," right? I mean, you've seen the bumper sticker. "Christ's grace is sufficient," isn't it?

Well, yes and no. Christ's grace is sufficient to give us His strength in our own pathetic weakness and to impute his perfect righteousness to us, despite our own filthy and fallen nature (see 2 Corinthians 12:9).

Understand that by "hell no," I don't mean "hell" in a crass, swear word, Donald Trumpy kind of way. I mean that to continue sinning in an unrepentant, guilt-free, "evil is good" manner, leads to death. It leads to physical, emotional and spiritual death, whether you call yourself a "Christian" or not.

"Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Romans 6:16-19).

So, in order to be "set free from sin" we must "obey." To stop sinning is to obey. To continue sinning is to disobey. To disobey leads to death - it makes us "slaves to sin." To obey, to stop sinning, leads to life. It makes us "slaves to righteousness."

What does it mean to be "set free from sin"? Well, it means, as Christ admonished, that we are, among other things, to "go and sin no more" (see John 8:11). Sin, with its associated chains of bondage, is over there. We are over here. Sin is behind us. We've "put off [our] old self, which belongs to [our] former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires," and, thusly, are "set free from sin" (see Ephesians 4:22).

Jesus said, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).

"Hmm," you might say. "I don't recall my pastor ever saying anything about 'turning from my wicked ways' in order for Jesus to 'forgive [my] sin and heal [our] wicked land.' What did Christ mean by 'turn from their wicked ways?'"

Well, after centuries of robust debate, a debate, mind you, that rages on even today within the body of Christ, an ever-so-slight majority consensus has emerged that maintains the following, rather nuanced and theologically highbrow thesis:

Best-selling Christian author Randy Alcorn once wrote, "Any concept of grace that makes us feel more comfortable sinning is not biblical grace. God's grace never encourages us to live in sin; on the contrary, it empowers us to say no to sin and yes to truth."

We can all agree that, when we repent and ask His forgiveness, Jesus forgives us our past sins. Still, there is a deceptive tendency in much of the church - and by "deceptive," I mean demonic - that suggests Christ came to set us, captives to sin without Him each and every one, free, not from sin, but, rather, from guilt for that sin.

This, of course, is yak manure. Jesus did not come, nor was He tortured to death on a tree, so that, by His grace, He could kill our guilty feelings for ongoing, habitual and unrepented-for sins.

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2).

It is hellacious error to say that, as Christians, we are not supposed to "feel guilty" when we sin. When you sin, you feel guilty because you are guilty. Feeling guilty, otherwise known as "being convicted" in our sin, is a painful symptom of a dying soul. Christ's grace is not spiritual Percocet intended to numb the pain of guilt. Guilt is the warning sign, sin is the cancer and Christ's grace, the cure.

There is a deceptive, deadly, and evil brand of false "grace" out there, prevalent within the Christian church. It's a grace that says yes to sin and no to truth, that calls evil good and good evil. A guilt-free, prideful, "gay"-affirming, gossiping, slothful, "pro-choice," kids will be kids, always use protection, God will forgive my abortion, nicer than Jesus kind of grace that is leading millions of people who honestly believe they're saved, born-again Christians, straight to the flaming pits of eternal damnation.

Too much "hellfire and brimstone" for you, my friend? Well, sorry. I care about your soul. I care about your eternity - even if your false-teacher, likely-bound-for-hell-himself pastor, priest or bishop doesn't.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not self-righteous. To the contrary, under my own power, and in my flesh, I lack a righteous bone in my entire body. I'm the worst sinner of all.

Even so, through the amazing and perfect power of the Holy Spirit, I am able to call sin sin, evil evil and good good. I am able to recognize sin in my own life, sin in the life of our once-great nation, and sin in the life of the church. I can then repent and, with and through the Holy Spirit, "go and sin no more."

You've heard the old adage, "Love the sinner hate the sin." Some complain that it's found nowhere in the Bible.

True, not word-for-word, anyway. Still, this transcendent truth, this overall concept, is found throughout the Holy Scriptures. We are literally commanded to hate evil.

"Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good..." (Amos 5:14-15).

So, there you have it. That's grace. Love Jesus. Love others. Hate evil. Repent and "go and sin no more."

I understand and generally agree with this however I believe that Jesus foresaw all our sinful acts when he died on the cross and made the choice to love and forgive us anyway, not just the sins we did before we were saved.

It’s another of the great mysteries. Either we are sealed in the Holy Spirit and we are saved if we truly believe in Christ’s free gift or we lose that salvation every time we sin in which case none of us are safe.

I believe He wanted us to have the assurance that we are in in His family, just as a mother or father wants to assure their children they will be loved no matter what. The other option is to make us all neurotic, fearful of losing that grace with every misstep.

Do we deserve this grace? No, never. But if we are born again, we will produce fruit that will become more evident as we mature. If we don’t produce fruit, it should be clear that we were never in Christ. By your fruit, you will be known.

Not one person who is in hell right now is there because of sin.

They are there because they denied Christ is who He said He is, and failed to repent (to change their mind) of their sin.

John 14:6
John 6:29
Romans 10:9-10
Acts 16:31

Even Paul admitted he still sinned a lot in Romans 7.

Jesus said, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Um, no he didn't.

Apparently some people don't know the difference between the Hebrew Bible and the "new testament."

Yes, I was referring to the concept that we must “do something” to obtain Salvation.

The Bible doesn’t teach Jesus + Something = Salvation, despite what some preachers these days teach.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, â€œIt is mine to avenge; I will repay,â€ and again, â€œThe Lord will judge his people.â€ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31

As God is perfect in love, He is also perfect in justice. This includes the harm so called Christians do while expecting to be forgiven. If there is no sincere repentance and a true turning away, Christ will just say "I never knew you" to the "Christian".

I would have liked it if, after conversion, the Holy Spirit would have changed us so we were absolutely incapable of committing a sin. Yet, I don’t know anyone who didn’t, at some level, continue to sin whether it was pride, covetousness, greed, lust, judgementalism or the more covert acts of sin.

Jesus blew away the Mosiac concept of sin to make humans truly incapable of not sinning. He did this to illustrate God’s true holiness and our total need for His Grace and not to depend on ourselves.

We are not free from the punishments and consequences of sin and if we continue willingly, we are speeding ourselves down the highway of separation from Him until our hearts turn cold and no longer respond to His calling.

How sad for the person who thinks they have to be perfect to have Jesus’ love and forgiveness. Those people will eventually become frustrated and bitter rather than grateful for a Savior that forgives “seventy times seven”.

Let me add there’s another side of the coin that become “Christians” without ever being taught about sin or that certain “lifestyles” are okay with God despite what Scripture clearly says and so many are led in a no-consequence false teaching that perverts God’s message. I see this happen more and more and this alarms me as much as the ones who think only those who “live like they do” can be saved.

Is there perpetual forgiveness without feeling the need to repent (Post acceptance of Christ)? In some Christian's minds, they justify sinning and to continue to do so unabated, thus taking the Cross for granted. For a lot of Christians, they can freely sin because they mouth the "right" words but their body never speaks faith, honor, and virtue. Is that true Christianity? Should we take Christ for granted? That is what that verse was implying.

No one is perfect, but those who are in Christ strive for perfection because the Spirit leads then to that and when they stumble, seek repentance and correct themselves. It's a struggle, but the "yoke" is rather easy for those truly in Christ to humble ourselves when we fall.

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