Grace robbers are everywhere today! Their faces can be seen on “Christian” television; their voices bellow from the pulpits of large churches across the land; their best-selling books are widely featured in Christian bookstores. It seems that at every turn there surfaces another voice in the Christian world who would steal the joy and assurance away from any believer who will listen to such voices and follow their unbiblical teachings. True Hope in Christ Jesus and in his wonderful free gift of salvation through faith alone are replaced by doubt. Doubt increases; it shifts one’s focus from trusting in Christ and his finished work on the cross alone to a fixation on oneself—What have I done for God lately? Am I really doing enough? This increasing introspection quickly begins to destroy confidence in Christ Jesus alone and assurance of one’s salvation. Decimation of assurance morphs into fear and anxiety. Fear of what? Fear of not being sin-free enough to please God; fear of not reading the Bible enough; fear of not attending church often enough; fear of not witnessing enough; fear of not doing enough to help the poor; fear of not being “on fire” for Christ; fear of not being good enough to please God. Fear leads to dread, often the dread of possibly heading for hell one day. Grace-robbing preachers fuel this dread through their incessant unbiblical judgmental rants. Dread destroys any semblance of joy remaining in the Christian’s life. And what is the final result? A miserable, defeated, guilt-ridden believer. Yes, a believer to be sure: one who has placed her complete faith in Christ Jesus alone for salvation—by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Ephesians 2:8-9. But one who has allowed the joy-sucking assurance-thieving grace robbers to steal away the Grace, Hope, Joy, Assurance, Confidence and Guilt-Free existence that God would have for the true believer in Christ to experience every day.
Let’s make every effort to speak out against unbiblical grace-robbing teaching in the body of Christ. And let us live and encourage other believers to live Guilt-Free lives of Confident Assurance through faith in Christ alone and through his wonderful gospel of 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (the death, burial and resurrection of Christ).
Bruce,
Excellent. That is such an encouragement for all of us to continue contending for the faith once delivered to the Saints!! Salvation by Grace alone through Faith alone in Christ alone. And then live by God’s Grace, not by fear. Thanks.
In Jesus Christ eternally, Jack
This message will be shared with my church! Thanks much for posting
this! God bless.
John Gregory
Thanks Jack and John for the encouraging words of joy.
Blessings brothers!
Bruce
Bruce, great article!
Thank you for continuing to take a stand for the Gospel in its clarity, simplicity and purity. The Gospel is infinitely more powerful than all of the snake oil salesmen combined.
So well-said! Focus on Christ and live truly free, focus on self, and exist in fear. Thank you Jesus!
Thanks, John and David, and may God continue to grant you the joy and assurance with which you have blessed us all here.
God’s blessings on you!
Bruce
I’m in! John 6:68, 1 Timothy 4:10-12, Hebrews 6:10-12. We have a lot of work to do.
Believe in Jesus
Levi
Thanks Levi; all good verses.
I’d like to add that what also can create fear is this erroneous idea that God has somehow chosen men to damnation and that I just may be one of them if my life doesn’t prove otherwise. One of the most crucial truths to make clear to people is that our initial faith in Christ and what He has done is not a fruit of regeneration. Period. All men can either believe or choose not to believe the gospel truth if it is presented to them. If you are currently trying to assure yourself of your salvation based on your works, put your gaze back on Christ. Then you will find the freedom and motivation again to serve the Lord and truly live free.
Well said Jim!
Thanks for declaring the warnings about the dark side of Calvinism and LS teaching. And thank you for your call to living free in Christ Jesus.
God bless you,
Bruce
Thanks Jim F, (and Bruce for your reply)
Too often, here at ExPreacherMan, we see people reporting the Dark Twins of Calvinism and LS wreaking havoc among their churches. It is difficult to separate the two philosophies (and it is philosophy and not theology) even though one or the other may be denied by their proponents. Look inside most LSers and you will find a Calvinist — and look inside a Calvinist and you will see the root or fruit of LS. BOTH are Grace Robbers!!
Levi,
Thanks for that short but sweet comment..
That together we may “… earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 1:3
I am so grateful to the Lord for the fellowship of discerning believers we have here. Thanks!!
In Jesus Christ eternally, Jack
Really well said. I feel that once our Life in Christ becomes about not sinning, or not performing well, that the enemy has won a great victory. Such views are so far off the point. Everytime I would talk about grace I always felt I had to moderate it with something performance based, often saying “not that I condone sin” or “not that I’m saying sin isn’t a big deal”- but those statements to me always seem to lead back to the Law as a solution. If I truly want to be victorious over sin and perform well, it will never come by any law or character building seminar; I believe it will instead be a natural result of focusing on God’s Grace. I believe He must be willing to take that chance with us, otherwise He would have given a new set of laws. My apologies if these comments stray off the mark, I’m pretty much a whippersnapper.
-Tim
Thanks Tim,
I think you are right on point. We should focus on our relationship with God and on walking in the Spirit. The Enemy loves it when our focus and confidence are anywhere but on God.
Thanks Tim, Great comments!
I echo Jim’s sentiments that what you said was very helpful and on point. I can certainly relate to times when I, too, used to feel a need to moderate grace teaching. After all, true grace preaching and teaching is kind of rare in churches today. But the longer that I proclaim the biblical truths of God’s incredible grace, and the more times that I witness Christian lives being freed from legalistic bondage and undeserved doubt and guilt by God’s incredible grace, the more convinced I become that living by grace is the ONLY way to go!
Excellent article Bruce! I was encouraged by this and many of the insightful comments as well. I don’t want to side track this discussion at all but since fear was a major theme of the article…Recently I was glared at by a brother in law and told that maybe we all should be afraid of God more than we are. Since I come from a troubled background with a father who was prone to angry outbursts, fearing my heavenly Father as well does not appeal to me to say the least. I know there are verses about the fear of the Lord, so I am wondering what is the Free Grace perspective on fearing the Lord? I appreciate any help with this.
Excellent post and very encouraging. I could use more of THIS in my seminary classes!
“Fear the Lord” means “awe, wonder and deep reverence” rather than being afraid or in dread. God, by His grace, desires to work this reverential fear in you…
“… I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. Jeremiah 32:40
Welcome Alex. Thanks for your comments. May the Lord bless you in your studies and fill your days with his joy and grace!
Bruce
Hi Jon,
I, too, was fearful of my father at a young age. In later years I worked through all of those issues. And I, like you, have never wanted to view God as being harsh, mean or vindictive (he is omnibenevolent, meaning ALL loving and ALL LOVE); I do not in away way view fear of God as being afraid of him. I sense that many who are caught up in Lordship Faith teaching are secretly afraid of God and afraid for their eternal destinies.
I agree with Matt’s comments regarding “awe, wonder and deep reverence.” I would just add a similar thought: We should not treat God in a shallow or flippant fashion. Yes, Jesus is our Savior, our brother, our friend, but he is also the Creator and Sustainer of the universe! I have heard expressions that I think are inappropriate like, “God is my buddy,” or “Jesus is my co-pilot.” I think that some of the modern praise choruses reflect a lack of depth of understanding and representation of the nature and character of God. One that comes to mind goes, “God is so gooooood; God is so gooooood; God is so gooooood; he’s so gooooood toooo me.”
Bruce
Thanks Matt and Bruce for the responses. I did a google search on the subject and came up with awe,wonder and reverance as well. Though some seemed to want to define it as just out and out fear. With the idea being that if we have enough fear of God we will avoid sin and so on. Being in awe of the Creator of the universe makes more sense to me. Fear doesn’t motivate me the way Love and Grace do.
I’m remember that chorus as well, though it’s been many years since I’ve heard it.
@ Tim
I feel the same way. I hate following up any grace talk with “But I’m not saying you should sin it up”. If people misconstrue, then good, the gospel I am presenting is true and pure. If they ask “are you saying I can sin all I want”, then they have misunderstood the power of God’s grace in freeing from sin, and are still focused on their flesh and it’s wants, not on their identity and its freedom.
If they want to sin, and their Christian life is one of putting in effort to stop sinning, then they have missed it. The only way to overcome sin is to reckon ourselves dead to it, and not even consider its power, because it has no power over dead men.
@lukasaurus
You make overcoming sin sound pretty simple and easy. Does this mean you’re living in a sinless state of perfection? You never struggle, feel tempted, blow it?
@Jon, if I may humbly offer my thoughts on what lukasaurus meant was more of a this method- grace, not that method-law and while I agree I’m not sure if either of us would say it is easy. Paul seemed to think he himself was “the chief of all sinners”, yet the key never seems to be law. We do “work” at it of course, but that labor must be directed at entering into “rest”- which in a world where we want to keep going and going is an odd state and it seems we must work all the harder. Still, the difference between working for “rest” and working for “law” is that one’s yoke is easy, the other is ultimately impossible and guilt ridden. Law slays you on the spot if you can’t fulfill it completely and perfectly (and we are assured we cannot); walking in Grace as we head towards “rest” picks you up and dusts you off when you fall. So it’s not that we don’t struggle; rather what is it we’re struggling for? Look, I suppose there are those saints who are stronger than me and are perfectly happy serving a God who seems more Self-concerned and rigid and who has a big checklist- and maybe they sin only a little, but I wonder, is there abundant life? I see God as Self-emptying and other-directed (even as He asks me to be so that the world will see I am His child), He’s not waiting to ding me on some technicality. Sure, He asks me not to sin, not because by doing so I might fulfill the law and become Holy and more acceptable in His sight; but because now that I am a new creation sin is a pointless and unrewarding way of life that has consequences here on earth that my Father would rather me avoid. He does not have some divine ruler that He measures me with; Christ is in place of the ruler. Yes, I still struggle, I still must work hard, it is not easy to realize and live in the true reality of being a Believer. Intellectual knowledge sadly does not automatically translate to practice. I can say “I am a new creation all I want”- but to actually live it- now that is something else entirely; fortunately God is very patient and kind. Sorry all for the long-winded response.
I appreciate your response Tim. I was certainly not arguing that we should be under the law. I know I still sin more than I care to admit. I used to feel a lot of condemnation,guilt and lack of assurance. I want nothing more than to rest in God’s grace. I believe I’m moving in that direction. I just found lukasaurus’ comments confusing because it made it sound like to me that Grace would somehow cause an immediate cessation of sin. So I thought ‘what’s wrong with me, why do I still seem to struggle?’ I’m still learning and have never attended a Bible college so I’m probably not as learned as many others here. I’m very grateful for God’s patience and kindness as you mentioned, Amen to that! I guess I need to keep trying to remember to focus on Christ and not on myself. Thanks for your explanation Tim.
Jon,
Focusing on Christ and not yourself is to me a good way to start practicing the verse that says reckon yourself dead unto sin and alive unto God. (Romans 6:11) The idea is that we are free from the power of sin over us but this does not not mean we will live in sinless perfection. Being set apart unto God (sanctification) has both a one time starting point at conversion and and end point at of glorification when we are with God in heaven. The progressive part in the middle is where we become more like Christ but that sin nature is still present.
One of the hardest things for me was to get over was beating myself up over my sin. I would feel conviction and repent often but there is a point where we need to leave it with God under the blood of the cross. Beating ourselves up really actually is counter productive and can send a person right back into a cycle of sin. Remember that Satan can’t take away our salvation but he is happy when believers live self focused frustrated lives.
Jon,
You said in response to Tim:
Your discernment is above average.. and please remember, a Bible College or seminary education does not necessarily render Biblical discernment. Only a few who comment here are Bile College or seminary educated. And I know many “educated” Christians who don’t have half the discernment and desire to learn that you display.
You further said:
Jon, my friend, to be grateful for God’s blessings and keep our focus on Christ are two of the keys to Christian victory. Keep it up!!
Until we arrive in Heaven, we are ALL learning as we grow in God’s Grace through His Word.
In Jesus Christ eternally, Jack
Although I agree with your view of grace robbers, the apostle Paul said, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…. (Philippians 2:12).” Is the apostle Paul guilty of being a grace robber? If not, then how do you explain the words of Paul who wrote by the inspiration of Jesus?
Hello Jim,
Thanks for joining our discussion today.
Yes, Paul spoke in great detail about the first century grace robbers; he especially did so when he spoke out in Galatians against the Judaizers who were stealing away the grace of God from the believers’ lives through foisting upon them the old Jewish legalist chains of bondage. In your quotation of Philippians 2:12, you should have continued on to quote its companion verse 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” The term in both verses from the Greek for “work” is ergon , from which we get the English word “ergonomics,” or the study of work methods. Please note that verse 12 says to “work OUT” your own salvation, NOT to “work FOR” your salvation. And verse 13 explains that it is, in actuality, GOD who is working IN and THROUGH believers to bring about his will in their lives. A parallel text, also through the pen of Paul, is Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Jack, I and others have pointed out many times on this site the word “should” from verse 10. Yes, of course the loving grateful response of one who has been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone is to desire to love and serve God. It is the proper, right thing to do—it is what we SHOULD do.
So, back to your original question, “Is the apostle Paul guilty of being a grace robber?” MOST CERTAINLY NOT! He is simply instructing the believers that, in view of the wonderful gift of salvation that they received in Christ given by God’s grace and embraced by faith, they should serve the Lord; it is the right thing to do; it is what they SHOULD do.
@Jon,
Tim expressed what I was saying. Life shouldn’t be a struggle to perform for God, nor should it be a struggle to not sin. When we struggle with the flesh, it is because we are walking in the flesh. We may not neccesarily be sinning, but we are law minded, flesh focused, trying to improve on something God has said He has already put to death.
It is very easy for me to struggle. It is very easy for me to walk in the flesh, because it is what most of us have done most of our lives – live by performance based measures to impress God and others. So when we hear the Gospel that says “it is done, make every effort to rest”, it is hard to believe that.
While I may have made it sound easy above, it is actually very difficult to let go of our law based mentality and let God work in us, without our own effort, because it is contrary to everything we have known and will know. It requires us to let go of our safety nets and just free fall into His arms of grace.
The goal isn’t sinless perfection, sinning less or even sinning more (as some people accuse us of). The goal is to not be sin conscious at all. The book of Hebrews says that if the Jews had a sacrifice that, once offered, would cleanse and take away sin, they would no longer be conscious of sin. (Hebrews 10:2). Instead, they had a sacrifice that was an annual reminder of sins. Jesus is a once for all sacrifice, a one time offer, that did cleanse, and we, as cleansed people, have that better blessing that the Jews never had and should be as they would have been – having no consciousness of sins. That is, not thinking about whether or not we have sinned today or will sin, or putting effort into not sinning (or, put effort into sinning), but rather, think on who we are in Christ, and let our lives flow from that.
If Jesus really did take away the sin of the world, including my sin, why should I constantly worry about it.
Lukasaurus, I agree with your comment. If we are focused on sin, we are not focused on Grace. Jesus took away our sin and gave us His righteousness. We do not need to constantly worry about it.
When I discuss Grace with people, particularly people caught up in LS, I like it when they say something like: “But, it’s not a get out of jail free card.” My response is, “yes, it is.”
I know Grace is not a license to sin. But, to caveat the Grace message with anything regarding sinless perfection or sinning less is to change the focus of the message from Grace by faith in Christ alone to Grace by faith plus works.
Jesus paid it all. There is nothing left for us to pay, earn, or do.
By the way, my sister-in-law joined my family for vacation last week. She is a substance abuse counselor. She said that some of her clients are worried that their behavior is going to keep them out of heaven. She quotes them Ephesians 2:8, because she knows that true Christianity is salvation by Grace, through faith in Christ, and is not dependent on behavior. But get this: she understands the Grace message but does not believe it! She is an atheist. Please join me in praying for her.
John,
Welcome back.. we will certainly pray for your sister-in-law that she will come to believe what she tells her clients..
Being a former atheist, I wish I had a simple formula to get her to understand and believe the Gospel. But we know the only answer is —– The Gospel. …. For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;…. Romans 1:16 [Even for an atheist]
In Jesus Christ eternally, Jack
Lukasaurus and John,
I agree with you both.
My question to all is this: What should I do if I find myself in a church with many who are, may be, or tolerate grace robbers? How much is too much? Thoughts? The closest church to me that I would consider other than my current church is 35 mins away and that may make it hard for me to get involved beyond the Sunday morning service. It’s decision time for me.
I would appreciate any prayers for wisdom in my decision.
Jim F, after listening to a few of Tom Cucuzza’s sermons online, I am convinced that the Grace message can be delivered in a clear, concise, non-garbled manner. If I contrast this with the hundreds of sermons I have heard elsewhere (several SBC-affiliated churches and one EFCA church), the difference is very distinct.
That leads me to conjecture as to why so many people distort the Grace message. I can think of several reasons:
1. They don’t understand it
2. They don’t believe it
3. They believe it, but don’t want to be “soft on sin”
4. They believe it, but want to see more committed Christians
5. They believe it, but have some Calvinist/LS tendencies
6. They want to appeal to, or be part of, a broader group
I don’t know how many grace robbers in a church is too many to consider making a change. If grace-robbers include pastors or church leaders, I would leave.
Some thoughts from Clear Gospel Campaign on this question:
“If you want to know the doctrine that a church teaches, don’t ask to read the doctrinal statement. It may be gathering dust! Meet several members of the congregation who have been there for at least three years. Ask them what they believe about certain topics of theology. These men and women are the real fruit of the pastor’s labors! And by them, you will know what he really believes. Their emphasis will be that which he has emphasized. Their ignorance on certain topics is simply a reflection of their pastor’s failure to address those topics with clarity and accuracy. Trees beget fruit after their own kind!”
“Scripture teaches the unity of the church as one of the highest goals toward which the church should aspire (Ephesians 4:3). We believe, therefore, that not every theological dispute merits separation. For example, whether the church of Galatia was located in North Galatia or South Galatia is a valid question, and one that has been explored and debated by theologians, but it is certainly not a question over which fellowship should be broken.
We believe, however, that any area of doctrine even remotely affecting the integrity of the gospel is inherently serious (Galatians 2:11-14), that Scripture calls us to draw the line at the earliest point, and to yield not one inch on matters that jeopardize the integrity of the gospel, a compromise that jeopardizes the eternal life of every man, woman and child on this planet who has not yet heard the gospel message (Galatians 1:6-9, 2:5).”
Thanks John, that puts some things in focus for me. I believe that some in leadership there would fall into points 5 and 6. Some of them like the idea that I am there with a slightly different perspective but they just want a big tent and I feel that it is likely time to find a place where they are willing to take things as far as the gospel more seriously. There are some that believe that everyone can just get along as long as you are not an extreme Calvinist or an Arminian that believes that one can renounce their salvation. I keep saying, what about the gospel? What about keeping things Biblical because the Bible says so not because it seems to fit with some kind of man made system. People’s eternal destinies can be in the balance. Maybe that is the real dagger behind the error of thinking that, well since all of the elect will be saved – we’re not going to worry too much about how the gospel is presented. It seems that when some do start to care you get the old turn from sin for salvation.
I’m just longing for a place with a more consistent understanding of the gospel across the board.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who replied. I’ve been encouraged and enlightened by all the comments. I think John summed it up well with his comment: “If we are focused on sin, we are not focused on Grace. Jesus took away our sin and gave us His righteousness. We do not need to constantly worry about it.” That is a very good reminder for me!
Great news! Dr. James Scudder’s church and college near Chicago have just purchased a large new site for the college. The proclamation of the message of God’s wonderful grace will continue to spread. Our good friend, Dr. Tom Cucuzza, is an adjunct professor at Dayspring Bible College and Seminary. See the link for pictures:
http://www.dbc.edu/campus/index.html
Bruce,
Exciting. Great news indeed!!! Dayspring Bible College and Seminary is very likely the only remaining clear Free Grace Bible college around.
We need to continue to pray for all those who are now and will be involved with DBC.
In Jesus Christ eternally, Jack
Praise the Lord! He has certainly provided a beautiful campus from which to teach the grace of God in Christ. May their tribe increase.
This is a true story………………………………………….two years ago, a believer attending our church went to the Lordship Salvation preacher to beg for counseling and empathy, heading into a third divorce. At the time, I did not know what Lordship Salvation was, but I knew something in the sermons was very wrong. After receiving counseling from this pastor, within 12 hours, this man committed suicide. I’m guessing it may very well have been because he realized he could not “live up” to the conditional love of Lordship Salvation. The week after the suicide, the pastor publicly bragged in his sermon about how he led this man to the Lord, renouncing the man’s previous understanding of “Cheap Grace.” These Lordship people are monstrous bullies, and are damaging the assurance of Free Grace, so as to incessantly monitor the lives of other people.
Hello Sam,
Thank you for sharing that poignant yet oh-so-sad story. We have heard others share similar stories of the terrible fallout of Lordship Salvation teaching in Christian lives (none quite so severe as yours). One person, for example, shared that after her brother read Francis Chan’s caustic lordship book “Crazy Love,” he foolishly and hastily quit his job and moved his family to the other end of the country with no real goals, no contacts and no prospects for employment in sight. Quickly his family became destitute. Yet, after he read the book, he thought that he had to do something extreme, something over the top, to prove his commitment to Christ and to somehow guarantee that he wasn’t a part of the dreaded “lukewarm” churchgoing masses that Chan declares to be all headed for hell.
Here’s an article that I wrote on the subject entitled, “Grace Under Fire: The Fallout of Lordship Faith Teaching”:
http://www.freegracealliance.com/pdf/DRIVEN_byB_Bauer.pdf
Stunning. I’m surprised he had the audacity to say anything given the tragic outcome of his counsel. Add to that the sad belief by many that suicide is an unforgivable sin, of which I’d think LSers would be the most vocal. Surely multitudes picked up and went after that???…(unfortunately, I think I can guess the answer).
But like you said, Sam, deep down you knew something was wrong with those sermons. Were they “Washeresque“? So glad you’re outta there.