Wow, wow, wow… amazing… Some accuse Christians of picking and choosing between the laws of God they want to obey and the laws they do not want to obey. Some have a hard time understanding what the difference between the law of the Old Testament and the grace of the New Testament really is. To the more sincere professing Christians, grace is obviously not a license to sin. To the less sincere, however, grace allows us to do whatever we want. Why do I say “less sincere”? Well, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that Jesus didn’t die so those who professed to follow Him could wallow in the sins that put Him on the cross in the first place. But, for whatever reason, there are many professing Christians who think living in sin or committing sins is absolutely fine – there is nothing wrong with it because they are under “grace.” Now I’m not talking about doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts. I’m talking about a very serious question: “Have I truly been born again? Have I been convicted of my sins, have I received The Holy Spirit and become a new creation in Jesus Christ?” As this minister shall Biblically prove, the true grace from God and the grace of Western “Christianity” are two diametrically opposed doctrines. They are completely different. Biblical grace is the power of God at work in your life that enables you, through the ongoing process of sanctification, to be more and more like Jesus Christ. True, Biblical grace has two parts: Justification AND Sanctification. On the one hand we are justified through faith in Christ Jesus, this is true and this is grace, we do not deserve it. But, on the other hand, we have a responsibility to turn from our sins, to repent, to grow in Holiness, to study and be filled with God’s Word and to seek after the narrow way Jesus spoke of – the narrow way that leads to heaven not the broad, easy way that leads to hell. These are commands throughout the New Testament, commands with serious warnings, not suggestions. The Holy Bible talks numerous times about unfruitful people, unrepentant sinners, those who are disobedient to God’s will, those who are disobedient to Christ’s commands etc. who will “not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians, Ephesians, Corinthians (and many other passages) etc. etc. - lists of people who will not inherit the kingdom of God… but The Holy Bible does not say “unbelievers” – not a lot anyway. The Holy Bible does not go on and on, warning after warning, about non-believers. The main warnings are to people who are in the faith. Warnings to grow in Holiness, repent of sin, make no provisions for the flesh, examine yourself, stand firm, run the race with endurance etc. What did Jesus say to the 7 churches of Revelation? The first thing He said EVERY time was “I know your works.” “I know your works.” Wow, so apparently Jesus preached works because Jesus never said “I know your beliefs” or “I know your profession of faith” to ANY of the churches in Revelation – not one. Why is that? Why is that? Because we, as followers of Christ, have a RESPONSIBILITY. You can lose your salvation, you can fall away, you can go astray and you are not automatically saved just because you believed. You have to seek after God, in His Word and in Prayer, and you need to grow in sanctification and become more like Christ – not just by the power of God at work within you but by your willing effort to seek after God and seek His will. You have to get sin out of your life and make no provision for the flesh – you have to do that. Why? Because God gave us freewill – we’re not robots and God does not want robots. True worship is having the choice to live in sin and chase after the world or to turn to God and seek after Him and serve Him because you love Him. That is worship. Grace does not mean you say a prayer in a mega church one time or even that you were truly born again and now you can live as you please. No, no, no, no… that is NOT what grace means. Grace is the beginning of salvation – not the end of it. We’re not once saved always saved until we get to heaven. We are always justified by the blood of Christ, don’t get me wrong, we cannot earn salvation. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But we have a great and earnest responsibility to obey God, seek after His will, grow in Holiness and be sanctified. Why did Peter say that we should conduct ourselves here on earth “in fear.” That’s what he said, while we are here on this earth, we should conduct ourselves in fear. Why? Because we can fall away. As David Wilkerson said: “Folks, this is not a game… this is your eternal soul.” As David Wilkerson said, if you flirt with the sins and filth of this world, you won’t make it. It will get a hold on you. Deception and false doctrines are another big issue – and satan uses them to great affect. People who have the wrong view on Christianity and salvation are far more vulnerable to falling away than those who do not. We’re not automatically saved just because we believed or even if we were truly born again – people can and do fall away and there are many examples of that in the world today and in The Holy Bible. And the thing that really proves this point I am making is the fact that The New Testament talks about it so much – all the warnings to stand firm, to run the race with endurance, to keep your eyes on the goal etc. make absolutely no sense at all if we cannot lose our salvation. The God of The Holy Bible doesn’t say a whole lot of things that have no purpose or reason – the stern warnings in the New Testament are there for a reason. Finally, according to David Pawson, there are literally 80 warnings about losing your salvation in The New Testament alone – 80! He wrote a book on it actually. And I can believe Him, I’ve read the New Testament many times and there are many, many warnings. Jesus wouldn’t talk about blotting out names from the book of life or spitting out the lukewarm if He didn’t mean it. God bless all, may The Holy Spirit speak to you powerfully through this sermon and convict you of whatever you may need to hear. May our heavenly Father grant you ears and humility to hear. God bless once more. https://youtube/watch?v=fGSdJIjX-ck
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 10:10:37 +0000
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