What’s Wrong With Just Preaching About God’s Grace?
There’s nothing wrong with preaching the grace of God! In fact, it is what we are commanded to do. But do we really understand God’s grace without a true and complete understanding of our condition before God? God’s way of showing us our condition is through looking into the mirror of God’s Law (ie. the 10 Commandments) which magnifies God’s grace by showing us what deep wretchedness He has really saved us from. If, however, we presume upon God’s grace (giving us what we don’t deserve) and mercy (not giving us what we do deserve) and think that His love is “unconditional” without carefully understanding His requirements, we risk being deluded and hearing the terrible phrase “I never knew you… Away from Me, you evildoers.” The soil of the human heart needs to be prepared by expounding the Law and the curse; the soul must be told about the condition of absolute surrender, and we must experience godly sorrow leading to repentance and salvation before we can know His grace and mercy.
The gospel message is not ours to modify and soften; it is God’s message and we must be faithful witnesses. A half truth is not the truth — it is perjury in man’s court and it is no different in God’s. Worse than complete untruths, those who hear a half truth conveyed as though it was the whole truth become convinced that God loves them and will accept them no matter what they do. It’s as if they were heading towards the cliff of God’s justice, about to fall off to their peril, and instead of warning them to change their ways, we plug earphones into their ears and lull them into complacency and eternal damnation with the pacifier of beautiful praise music!
YES — God’s grace and mercy are not something that can be purchased by ANY work or deed of man, but if there is no repentance and a giving up this life for the blessing of eternal life, then there can be no heaven and what’s left is eternal torment in Hell (we get what we deserve). Grace is not made effective to the willfully disobedient. Communicating anything otherwise is misleading and dishonors God.
Watch your life and doctrine closely.
Persevere in them, because if you do,
you will save both yourself and your hearers.
1 Timothy 4:16, NIV
The truth is that those who claim to love God and be a friend of God but do not obey His commandments are liars and the truth is not in them (see 1 John 2:4). If we say that we abide in God and He in us, then we ought to walk in the same manner as Jesus did (see 1 John 2:6). This is not something that one can replicate by striving in the flesh; it must be through a synergistic work of God with the fully submitted will of man.
The following is very thought provoking excerpt from a book entitled “What Would Jesus Do?” by Ray Comfort. It is an email message to Ray from a minister in the First Church of God in Waco, TX. Please listen carefully to his message.
Dear Brother Ray,
I have been a pastor for 25 years. I always thought I was doing a reasonably good job. Kind of like the folks that tell you they consider themselves “good people.” I had tried to preach, what I thought, was the whole counsel of God. I prayed, over the years, with many people to accept Jesus and make Him Lord of their lives.
My wife Judy and I moved to Ruidoso, New Mexico about six years ago to plant a church. Shortly after arriving I was convicted that something was horribly wrong with my ministry. I read the scriptures and prayed earnestly that God would show me what was wrong. The feeling continued to grow and I became depressed and moody. I asked Judy to pray for me and explained my problem. I didn’t know if this was the Holy Spirit convicting or Satan attacking. She prayed that God would reveal the cause of my depression and make Himself clear as He revealed any problem with my ministry for Him.
That night I had the most terrifying, realistic, blood chilling nightmare any man has ever had. I am a Vietnam veteran and I know a little about nightmares. Nothing in my experience has ever come close, nor do I ever want it to, to the horror of that night!
I dreamed that it was judgment day and I was standing right next to the throne of God. I noticed that to my left and my right were pastors as far as I could see. I thought this was odd that the Lord would reserve this front row space for pastors only.
I looked out across a space of only a few yards and there were millions, maybe billions, of people, yet I could see each one of their eyes staring at me. As I studied this group I noticed that I knew many of them from times at the alter or ones who had sat under my teaching. I was pleased to see that they had made it to heaven, but confused because they didn’t look happy. They looked very angry and hateful.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Away, I never knew you.” I was suddenly frightened that what I was seeing was those who “thought” that they were saved. Then I saw all of them pointing a finger at each of us pastors and together, in one voice that shook my soul, “WE SAT IN YOUR CHURCH AND THOUGHT WE WERE SAVED. WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US WE WERE LOST?”
Tears were pouring down my face and the faces of all of those pastors. I watched as one by one those people were cast into hell. One and then another, and another, and another……., until they were all gone. I died inside as each one screamed in agony and gnashed their teeth, cursing us as they went into the lake of fire.
Then I was looking into the face of Jesus and He said to me, “Is this the part where I’m suppose to say, ‘ Well done my good and faithful servant?” I woke up with a scream and my heart pounding and I was begging Jesus to forgive me.
I died a million deaths that night. Since that night I have done two things on a daily bases. I do everything I can to preach the law before grace in the hope that conviction of sin will bring a sinner to true salvation. The other thing that I do is pray for every person I have ever preached to asking God to repair any damage I have done. I also never believe anyone when they tell me they are saved. It is my duty to challenge them and search out the solidness of their salvation.
Your ministry and material has been a great blessing to me. I am learning to be more effective and confident as I teach others how to share their faith by using the Law. I have seen several people saved, who thought they were saved, as I have used The Way of The Master material to teach them evangelism.
I do want to hear those words, “Well done my good and faithful servant”, and thanks to you and your team I have a better chance of hearing them. Thank you! I just wanted to let you know, some pastors are waking up to the truth. The desire of my heart is to please God. I pray that my days of being a man pleaser are over along with the nightmares. I also pray that God will use me to bring other pastors into the truth of the Gospel message so that they will not have to face the nightmare that I did.
Blessings,
Steve Kreins
First Church of God
Waco, Texas