Greasy Grace and Mercy Mayhem

Passion Week: Jesus' Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, His final days teaching His disciples, the clearing of the money changers from the Temple, the Garden of Gethsemane, His arrest, the Disciples' fear and hiding, Peter's denial, Jesus' beating and trial, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection, the Empty Tomb. Here, in essence, we have everything that would encompass the ministry of Jesus...from crowds giving Him praise to, days later, some of that same crowd calling for His crucifixion. And, with the end of the week bringing His crucifixion and death, no painting nor movie can capture the brutality of His last hours...beaten beyond recognition, even to the point of being unrecognizable as human, according to Scripture. Jesus would pay the ultimate price for sin...giving His life, dying that we might live. By His death, the TOMB became a WOMB, and GRACE was birthed 3 days later! The price for grace was high...the cost for mercy great!

Now, roughly 2000 years later, the very tenets of our religious liberty and faith have somehow been morphed into almost unrecognizable entities, making the completed work of Jesus on that cross an almost meaningless act of love absent of any real power to change us. GRACE has now become to many...in the Church...a LICENSE TO SIN. MERCY has now become to many...in the Church...the FREEDOM FROM CONSEQUENCES. The question is: Is this REALLY what God intended when His ultimate plan was put into action? Did Jesus Christ really take that brutal punishment so that we could continue to sin daily, repeating our sin over and over? Was Jesus instituting a new way that included freedom from the consequences of sin here on earth? Let's examine...just for a moment...the truth of GRACE and MERCY.

Grace: unmerited favor, undeserved favor, an unwarranted act of love and favor. Ephesians2:8,9 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." I could write an entire book on GRACE...but suffice it to say that NONE of us EARN salvation. Salvation is a free gift of God, given to us by grace through faith when we receive Jesus Christ as Savior. But, here is where modern theology tends to leave the work of grace unfinished...with Jesus as our Savior.

It is true, OF COURSE, that Jesus IS our Savior. He accomplished that by dying in our place. WE are the ones who deserved death for our sins. Jesus, on the other hand, was blameless...innocent of all charges, not guilty of sin...the spotless Lamb. Yet, Jesus chose to die in our place. That makes Him our SAVIOR. HE SAVED US FROM DEATH. It is through the work of our SAVIOR that we are freed from a certain death. We must understand that Jesus' death was the ONE AND ONLY death that could pay for our sins. Once Jesus died on that cross, there is no death that can pay the penalty for sin...no lamb, no dove, no burnt offering. Salvation has been paid for by the blood of Jesus. BUT...BUT...we cannot TRULY accept Jesus as our SAVIOR if we do not accept Him as our LORD.

The term SAVIOR denotes that Jesus died in our place...the term LORD means we live under His rule and authority. We cannot call ourselves CHRISTIANS simply because Christ died for our sins...Jesus died for EVERYONE...he didn't just die for those who have presently accepted Him. His death was for ALL mankind. It is by misinterpreting this work of grace that men like Carlton Pearson have erroneously begun to believe and teach a false gospel that "ALL MEN ARE SAVED...THEY JUST DON'T KNOW IT." Carlton is CORRECT in his beliefs and statements that Jesus died for all men...thus, making him EVERY MAN'S Savior. But, Carlton...as do most Christians and scholars today...miss the truth of Scripture regarding this fact. It is NOT ENOUGH that Jesus is our Savior...he is the Savior of SAVED and UNSAVED alike. He became our Savior at the point of death on the cross...and no man, no theology, no doctrine can change that fact. CHRIST ALONE is the Savior of this world...of all mankind. He IS our Savior whether we accept Him as that or not. But...to become a Christian...a follower of Christ...we must accept the work of Christ on the cross...accept Him as Savior...by ADMITTING we are a sinner, BELIEVING that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and He rose from the dead, CONFESSING our sins to Him, and REPENTING of our sins...which means TURNING AWAY from our sins, going in the opposite direction. Then, we become a DISCIPLE (more than a FOLLOWER) of Christ. In other words, we make Jesus our LORD....we let Him control our direction, we obey His commands.

1 John 2:3,4 says "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Yes, it is by grace we are saved, but that simply denotes that we have not EARNED salvation...we can ONLY gain salvation by accepting the free gift or God by faith. There is nothing WE can do to bring about our own salvation! Salvation ONLY comes through Jesus. That is GRACE.

But...BUT...somehow, somewhere, in some mixed up, misunderstood theological debate...grace has become, at least in some modern theology and teaching, something that it is NOT. Grace is NOT forgiveness of sin that OVERLOOKS our sin. There is NOT ONE Scripture that EVER denotes grace as anything remotely like that. Somehow modern teaching has transformed grace into what amounts to a LICENSE TO SIN. With the proclamation that "WE LIVE UNDER GRACE", the Church has accepted and even perpetrated a false gospel that promotes the right to sin without subsequently asking forgiveness for the sin and continuing forward with repentance of the sin. I often read or hear statements such as this: "God forgives all sins...past, present and future sins." Truth? NO! Grace NEVER covers sin without confession and repentance of the sin! And...grace does NOT cover FUTURE sins! The fallacy of any teaching that allows sin to be forgiven WITHOUT confession and repentance is astounding.

Follow me here: A man is a murderer. He hears the Gospel and accepts Jesus as His Savior. Grace...as erroneously defined by many...is the man's stance, so he continues to murder, his sins covered by the grace that forgives past, present and future sins. The man never again repents, falsely believing in a grace that takes care of our sins forever, regardless of our actions and regardless of our lack of repentance. Of course, we can all see the absurdity in such an illustration. But, in less obvious cases of sin, we struggle with the same truth that is EVIDENT AND OBVIOUS in the case stated above: grace does not cover future acts of sin, and grace does NOT cover UNCONFESSED and UNREPENTANT sin. Paul would tell the churches that wherever there is sin, grace abounds even greater. But, Paul would continue on to say that grace does NOT give us the right to sin so that grace CAN abound...Paul said that thought is ABSURD!

The modern theology and teaching on grace has created a Church that now believes that sin is not as important once they are saved...in other words, since the person is now under grace, all sins are "taken care of" by Jesus, and a little sin here and there is ok. I believe with all my heart that the Church...the leadership, the Pastors...must once again preach that sin must be confessed and repented of...whenever, wherever it takes place. Grace is NOT a license to sin. It is the very reason that many will face God, crying, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" and He will reply "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23)

Does any of this mean that we will be perfect when we become a Christian? Of course not. But what it DOES mean is that, when we sin, we MUST not sweep that sin under the rug under the guise and excuse of GRACE. Quite the opposite...as children of God, believers and followers of Jesus, we must ALWAYS seek to follow God perfectly, and when we fail to meet that standard (when we sin), we must acknowledge our sin and repent of our sin. The Bible plainly shows us how sin can take root if we do NOT handle it in this manner: James 1:12-15 "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Without repenting of sin, sin can take root in us...incubate in is...until it is fully birthed. Once birthed, that sin can bring death. When we sin, we must repent. That is when grace is applied. Grace is freely given, but it is through repentance that we accept that free gift. Thus, we are no longer condemned, receiving grace instead of receiving what we deserve. And that thought brings us to our other word: MERCY.

Mercy: showing leniency, commuting a sentence, lessoning of an earned penalty. Through the work of GRACE, God shows and bestows on us MERCY. We are all sinners and we deserved to die for our sins. We, as sinners, are condemned to die for our sins. Jesus took our place. We DESERVE death...God GIVES us life. He shows MERCY. That is an amazing and loving act from God! God shows mercy for this reason: we cannot save ourselves! God loves us...and that love brings MERCY. But, again, a false doctrine regarding MERCY has crept into the Church.

Mercy is an act of God that doesn't put us to death for our sins as we deserve! Mercy simply allows us to go on living! Mercy allows us to survive our sins! Mercy is NOT doing away with the consequences for our wrong here on earth. There are consequences for sin: Murderers go to prison, maybe serving a life sentence or even being put to death; rapists go to prison; liars lose friends and credibility; adulterers lose marriages and trust; fornicators lose health due to sexually transmitted diseases; the list goes on and on. We must LIVE with the consequences of our sin...but, thank God, we do not have to DIE with the consequences of sin...which is eternal death, eternal separation from God in hell. If a young girl has sex with her boyfriend and gets pregnant, mercy will not do away with the pregnancy. God will not use mercy to make the baby disappear. The consequences of sin here on earth must be carried out and lived with. What mercy DOES do is take away the ETERNAL punishment for sin.

But many use the idea of MERCY to deal with issues of DISCERNMENT...which they mislabel as JUDGEMENT. God never tells us to NOT recognize sin. Scripture repeatedly tells us to be aware of sin. Within the Church, we are told by Paul to not only recognize sin, but to deal with it. How can the Church deal with sin if it fails to point it out and recognize it? Today, mercy has become the word used for OVERLOOKING sin. That is not God's intent or meaning regarding MERCY. If a minister, deacon, elder, etc. fail morally...it is not to be overlooked. Mercy does NOT mean that the minister should be allowed to remain behind the pulpit without repentance, with time away from the pulpit and ministry for restoration and reconciliation, and deal with the issues brought on by the sin. It is NOT mercy to ignore sin...it is STUPIDITY and DISOBEDIENCE and IGNORANCE. MERCY cares enough for someone to point out the sin and deal with the sin in an appropriate manner. It is because of mercy that a minister who has fallen into sin can one day be restored and can one day be reconciled to ministry. Far from being merciful, using mercy to COVER UP and/or IGNORE sin is harmful, and it may become spiritually fatal. There is nothing merciful about an eternity in hell!
The earthly consequences of sin may actually work for good in the lives of those who have sinned (which includes us all!). Without consequences, we may see no real need for abstaining from sin. If God simply did away with all consequences of committed sins once we repented, then we would probably see no need to stop sinning! Society, the Church and Christians would surely develop a mentality that says "I will sin and just ask forgiveness so I do not have to face consequences." If mercy was...as many proclaim it to be...a "get out of jail free card" then MERCY and GRACE become a sham, thus making the Bible irrelevant, Jesus a farce, God a fairy tale.

GRACE and MERCY are essential doctrines of the faith, but only if we define them and apply them properly. Mishandling these two can result in a Church that overlooks sin and allows it to build a stronghold of deception in its midst that will tear down the truth of God's Word and make it ineffective and powerless. It is because of GRACE and MERCY that we are able to find forgiveness...not hide from sin's consequences. With a proper understanding of GRACE and MERCY, the Church can rise above modern false doctrines and the POWER OF GOD can be seen and experienced in the midst of congregations across the nation and the world. Far from bringing freedom, many modern doctrines bring error and a powerless gospel...powerless to transform lives in OVERCOMING sin instead of living BOUND by sin.

Jesus' death on the cross was more powerful than modern doctrines make it to be! Jesus died that we may have life...and life more abundantly! That death brought victory OVER sin...not a life relegated to living in sin and just OVERLOOKING it. God is MUCH more powerful than that! To misuse and misinterpret GRACE and MERCY as many modern doctrines have done is to render the work of Jesus on the cross as POWERLESS and WEAK. Jesus DID NOT die to leave us in our sin! Jesus died so that we could OVERCOME and CONQUER sin!

Thank you, Jesus, for your grace and mercy! Thank you, Jesus, for not only forgiveness, but also for leading, guiding, disciplining, and correcting. May we recognize the great work you did for us on the cross. May we recognize that you died that we may OVERCOME sin. May we make you more than our Savior...may we make you LORD of our lives.

(I do plan to do an extensive writing on GRACE in the near future. As I stated, the aspects of GRACE are extensive...and understanding the truth of God's Word on the subject is essential to "right living" in Christ. God bless!)