Grace is Holy

I often have these modern ‘grace’ zealots challenge me on the issue of true holiness which I preach, and the bottom line is always the same. In fact the bottom line is always the same on ALL issues pertaining to the Gospel of Christ, and that is that true doctrine points the way to eliminate sin from the lives of believers; whereas false doctrine makes allowance for and justifies sin in one’s life. One individual a while back wanted me to give him some scriptures to support the reality of literally getting sin out of our lives. I gave him some, and then after blowing a bunch of hollow theological smoke on the issue he wanted me to give him more. He didn’t get any more because he didn’t believe the ones that I gave him to begin with. But he could have just read the entire new testament of the Bible, and it is quite evident that the grace of God is for GETTING RID of sin, NOT for justifying it! How about this one: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Now this guy’s answer, and the modern 'Christian’ answer to that question is, HECK YEAH! But somebody must have overlooked the APOSTLE’S answer to the question: “GOD FORBID.” How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6:1,2). That’s pretty easy math, don’t you think? As in one plus one equals two. But if that isn’t enough, let’s take another look AT THE BIBLE: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, RIGHTEOUSLY, and GODLY, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us FROM ALL INIQUITY, and PURIFY unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Tit. 2:11-14). Come on now friend, that’s as plain as the nose on your face. God isn’t a sinner, so living “godly” doesn’t include continuing in sin. And “purify” means just that, PUREify. 'Pure’ means unmixed, and I’m thinking that in this case it means the righteousness of God in us unmixed with sin.

The beloved apostle seemed to agree with this thinking too, even to the point of saying that anything otherwise would not merit salvation, which is to say the resurrection of the dead: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And EVERY man that hath this hope in him PURIFIETH himself, even as HE is pure” (I Jn. 3:2,3). God is clearly in agreement with these things himself, as he has repeatedly said to those who would serve him, “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Pet. 1:16). Jesus was certainly on board with this mindset of believers being literally made pure from sin, and he was also on board with John about those being the only people who would be saved: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for THEY shall see God” (Mat. 5:8). You can figure out the flip side of that saying for yourself. All of these things are EXTRAORDINARILY easy to see, UNLESS you are wanting to hold on to sin, and are not willing to “suffer in the flesh, [and] CEASE from sin;” as the apostle Peter said we must do (I Pet. 4:1). Then I had another guy a couple of weeks ago trying to impose this 'salvation by grace [sin included]’ doctrine on me. His testimony was that I SIN when someone pulls out in front of me in traffic, and that I LUST AFTER every attractive woman that I see. Funny, but he’s never been with me in the car, and he couldn’t identify WHO I’ve lusted after, or when. No, that was HIS TESTIMONY, and he was trying to MAKE it mine also, SO THAT he could feel justified in his continuance with sin. In fact that is NOT my testimony at all. MY TESTIMONY is that I am truly “redeemed from ALL iniquity,” as the scripture states, and that I am “purifying [myself], even as he is pure;” as the scripture says again. It’s funny how every false doctrine gets sucked into the void of futility when someone starts reading the Bible, believing what it says, AND BELIEVING GOD to the point of making it happen in their life! I asked this man, “What sin do you convince me of?” In other words, beside unfounded claims about me, what wickedness of mine could he actually document? His answer was that I am guilty of lying, because I said I am not continuing in sin. Well, how about that! I am a liar because I claim to be conducting my life as a normal child of God. Interesting.

I suppose Paul was lying too, when he said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). By this individual’s thinking, this statement means that Jesus is a sinner, because Paul said that Christ was all that was left in him; and this man stated plainly, as so many do, that the apostle Paul was indeed a sinner. John must have been lying as well, because he plainly said, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as HE walked” (I Jn. 2:6). Hmmmm. And ALL of these people who support this modern Christian nonsense continually contradict themselves with everything that they say. They have to say they are righteous, because otherwise they are not partakers of the faith and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But then they turn around and actually make the PROUD boast of being a sinner. The reality, or non reality actually, of the modern 'grace’ mindset is, that you are not righteous UNLESS you ARE presently a confessing and practicing sinner. I’m not kidding. You may not realize that it is saying that, but under the surface the spirit behind it is making that exact point. So whose spirit might that be? Well, look at it this way; if we confess to be a sinner, what do you think we are going to be? That’s exactly right, a sinner. What does the BIBLE say about the hope of ANY sinner who remains in sin? “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Jesus answered that question for us with sobering clarity: “He that overcometh [sin] shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:7,8). All that is really left for this little discussion are some more very sobering words of Jesus: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Rev. 22:11). I think that pretty well covers the bases and closes the case on the damnable heresy of the flesh-pleasing “sinners saved by grace” mentality. Amen.