Charisma News – 2/18/2013 – Michael Brown
The biblical message of grace is wonderful, glorious and life-transforming. We can’t live without it for one second of our lives. But there is a message being preached today in the name of a new grace reformation, mixing powerful truth with dangerous error. I call it hyper-grace.
One of the foundational doctrines of the hyper-grace message is that God does not see the sins of his children, since we have already been made righteous by the blood of Jesus and since all of our sins, past, present and future, have already been forgiven.
That means that the Holy Spirit never convicts believers of sin, that believers never need to confess their sins to God, and that believers never need to repent of their sins, since God sees them as perfect in his sight.
It is easy to see how such teaching can be dangerous, especially to a believer being tempted to compromise.
One hyper-grace teacher wrote this: “When God looks at me, He doesn’t see me through the blood of Christ, He sees me—cleansed! Likewise, He sees us as holy and righteous. He sees us, and He loves what He sees!”
Really? Always? 24-7? God always loves what he sees when he looks at his people?
Yes, he loves us, but does he always love what he sees?
Did Jesus love what he saw when he rebuked five out of seven congregations in Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3? Did Paul, writing on behalf of the Lord, love what he saw when he warned the Galatians that they had fallen from grace and become trapped in legalism? Did James, also writing as a servant of the Lord, love what he saw when he rebuked his readers for being “friends of the world” and “adulterers and adulteresses”?
And if the Lord doesn’t see our sins, why did James write that if a believer who was sick had also sinned, God would forgive him when he healed him (see James 5:14-15)? And if he doesn’t see our sins, why did the Lord discipline believers in Corinth because of their sins (see 1 Cor. 11:27-32)? (And pay careful attention to 1 Corinthians 11:32, “When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”)
If Jesus doesn’t see our sins, why did he say to the church in Ephesus, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (Rev. 2:4, NIV)? And why did he says this to the church in Sardis? “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” (Rev. 3:1-3)
Does it sound like the Lord was thrilled with what he saw in Ephesus and Sardis?
If the Lord always “sees us as holy and righteous” and always “loves what He sees,” why did he rebuke the believers in Laodicea, telling them that they were “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17)? Why didn’t he say, “I see you as beautifully clothed, healthy, and rich?”
If he was so happy with what he saw in Laodicea, why did he threaten to spit the congregation out of his mouth (see Rev. 3:16)? And if believers never need to repent of their sins, why did Jesus say, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent” (Rev. 3:19)? And how interesting it is that the same Greek word used in John 16:8—where Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of its sins—is the word used by the Lord in Revelation 3:19 (translated there as “rebuke”; and note Rev. 3:22: this is the Spirit speaking!).
It is because God loves us that he rebukes us (not condemns us) and it is because sin is so destructive that he calls us to turn from it. This is the goodness of God, and this is what grace does, as Paul wrote in Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”
How tragic it is today when God’s people mistake the voice of His correcting love for the condemning voice of Satan, and how sad it is when they resist the purifying work of the Spirit, claiming that there’s nothing to purify since God no longer sees their sins.
Has He justified us by the blood of Jesus? Absolutely. Has He has set apart as holy to Himself? Without a doubt. Has He called us to be His sons and daughters, all by His love and grace? Yes He has. And it is because of these things that Paul wrote, “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Cor. 7:1).
What a beautiful, lofty calling. Don’t let anyone steal it from you.
*Special note: I’m in the process of writing a major book on “hyper-grace,” but you can watch a one-hour teaching video here.
Michael Brown is the author of The Real Kosher Jesus and the host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire on the Salem Radio Network. He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience. Follow him at AskDrBrown on Facebook or @drmichaellbrown on Twitter.
I agree with this article and felt that I should also share what God is showing me about the church.
Before I make this statement, I have to emphasise that I am not talking about the church that Jesus intended. Though I am talking about what the church has become today.
The challenging statement that I want to put forward is “Has the church become worthless”. I already sense that this statement will at the minimum raise a few eyebrows and at the worst make people very angry but before you rip this up, let me put forward my case because this case is a case for change.
As I look at the church in both my birth country of New Zealand and in Australia, where I live, I hear more and more people saying that the church is irrelevant or its beliefs out of touch. As for our politicians, they continuously pass laws which are contrary to what is expected from the bible. You might say that the church is continuously being trampled under the feet of our politicians and those people who do not believe in Christ. They certainly ignore the churches viewpoint and do whatever they want to do.
When I thought about this, the phrase “Being trampled under feet” I am reminded of the scripture in which the salt loses its saltiness and is cast out into the street to be trampled underfoot. The real question I have to put forward is “Has the church lost its saltiness?” I would argue most strongly that it has lost its saltiness and is thus cast out into the street to be trampled upon.
What makes be believe that the church has lost its saltiness is as follows:
• The church has separated grace from the law. Jesus came to fulfil the law, not do away with it. There still are and will always be consequences to breaking the law. We rarely talk about sin as stated in the law of God, but we always talk about forgiveness and salvation in Christ. This is not only wrong; it diminishes the value of salvation in Christ. It makes His salvation a lot like applying a splint to a leg when the person receiving it does not think that their leg is broken. They take it for granted and no longer truly value it. They usually turn out to be fairly nominal Christians. I also am not saying that we should go around pointing the finger and judging people. We should fulfil the second commandment in this and show Godly love to those caught in Sin. Showing Godly love does not stop us from saying that sin is sin no more that saying to a child after they have burnt their hand that they must not touch the fire. It is just good sense.
• Many a person is currently standing up and stating things which are contrary to God’s word. Very rarely are they corrected by God’s servants and so only their point of view is getting put forward. These people are leaders of our church and in the case of Australia, the people are an ex-prime minister and a potential new prime minister who has stated that they are Christians yet supports marriage for relationships which according to the bible are not right.
• Adultery and fornication is common place in our church. Unnatural relationships are also common. If we are being truly salt then these events should be the exception and not a common thing. We have become no different to the world
How can we even stand in the presence of God and accept what is going on. I cannot and must speak against this.
I have also seen that we have followed the path of Israel. When God took Israel out of Egypt they had no king. The people of Israel had only one king and He was God, yet they rejected God and set up a king called Saul. They were warned not to do this and that the king would take from them their sons and their provisions but they did it all the same. This is what the church is doing today. We have appointed kings. People no longer seek God for guidance, but seek their leader (Pastor, Bishop, Apostle, Prophet etc). They have like Israel separated them self from God and rely on someone who is subject to error to seek God on their behalf. In many cases the people have little or no relationship with God. When the advice they receive is in error they would not know because they neither check it against the word of God nor do they seek God in prayer to validate it. In fact if they skipped the visit to the leader and sought God themselves they would only need to go to the leader to help confirm what they believe they have heard. In many cases when the leader has fallen into error so do the people following this leader.
We no longer trust God. Instead we trust an increasingly corrupt leadership which has lost its foundation. We are like sheep without a shepherd and the hired hands are out of control. We are being led to a cliff and unless we seek God we will fall over it.
It is time to change. We need to seek God for our future. We need to seek God as to what we must do. We have to stop treating God as our servant and become His servants. We need to learn obedience to God in all things. We need to show love to the world but be disciplined in our obedience.
God’s judgement starts with His house. I know that He is at the door and will hold us to account for all that we have done. Disasters will become more common and people will become more wicked unless we who are called by His name change our path. It is the church that needs to repent and by doing so God will heal our land. The future is in our hands. We can choose righteousness or judgement.
Repentance and prayer, obedience and love are the key to our nation’s future. It will determine if we are to receive a blessing or a curse. I know that we can change, we just need to take the first steps into the right direction.
HYPERGRACE is an unbiblical word invented by Christians who seem fearful that other Christians are having too much fun!