SIMPLY A SINNER SAVED BY GRACE?


One of the favorite sayings that go on in the churches today is the phrase "I'm a sinner, saved by grace."  How many times how we heard it?  How many of us believe it?  I would not so much have a problem with the statement if it were part of phrase or sentence that also points out that once we become saved by grace, there is a lot more to consider.  See, that statement as it is used in today's churches falls right in line with the lie that our salvation is based on just one moment in time when we decided that we were going to just accept Jesus Christ in our heart.  While many classify this is the beginning and the end of all considerations concerning our faith, the Bible clearly points out that the point of that initial conversion is only the beginning.  You see, we don't start running the race until we actually come to Jesus Christ in repentance and put our faith in Him.  Throughout that whole time that we were living in rebellion to God, we were not running the race.  In fact, we didn't even know where the starting line was.  And if God's Spirit hadn't brought conviction to our hearts, we wouldn't even know that there was a narrow way in first place. 

Indeed before we came to Jesus Christ, we were sinners, the agents of endless rebellion against the Lord in heaven that is Righteous, Holy and Pure.  Before we came to Christ, our hearts were as far from Him as the east is from the west and we had no idea how much each of those days that we lived in rebellion that we pushed Him to anger and broke His heart.  He created each and every one of us so that we would bring glory to Him but we didn't see fit to give God glory.  Instead, we were too busy running around and making a mockery of His name and joining the devil in being God's enemies.  Now grace is defined by many is receiving something that we don't deserve.  I would agree that all of the grace that God works in us is something that we don't even deserve in the first place but yet that still doesn't tell us what grace is.  There is a passage in the Bible that is very clear on what grace is: 

So you see, grace is far beyond just getting something that we don't deserve.  And it is far beyond just initially coming to Christ in repentance to be saved.  Grace is about all those things that God equips us with so that we can carry out His will for each of our lives.  Grace is about having that full provision so that we no longer have to sin and have no excuse to sin. 

Many would disagree with me if I were to say that when we come to Jesus Christ, we no longer have to sin.  Why do you not believe this?  I've heard the excuse that we sin all day, every day.  Is this really true though?  Do we have to sin in our minds all day long?  Do we have to sin in our deeds all day long?  Do we come to Jesus Christ, who has defeated death and who in His humanity overcame the world, and yet we still have to fall victim to our flesh and the devil's tactics at every turn?  Saints, we are free in Jesus Christ, there is no way that if that is true that we can still be in bondage to the devil or to sin.  This is what is meant when the Bible says that we are made new creatures in Christ Jesus.  The old has passed away and the new has come.  What is the old?  The old is the sin, the wickedness and the evil that we were caught up in when we did not have Jesus Christ.  But now that we have Jesus Christ and we have His Spirit that dwells within us, we have that power working within us that allows us to resist all wickedness and evil.  For someone to say that he/she is a believer in Christ and yet still falls into sin has nothing to do with God's provision because it indeed is there.  The problem there is the person not willing to carry up his/her cross daily and fully be submitted unto the Lord.  Not to mention as is pointed out in the passages above, for Jesus to tell people to sin no more would make Him out to be a liar if we had to sin all the time.  Sometimes I really have to wonder if we are so involved in traditions that we can not even have our eyes open to really see what His word says and what is really going on in our world.  Because for too many of us, we have absolutely missed out on some very important components of what a true faith is because we've been too busy trying to justify our sins, which God Himself says that we are to commit no more.  Isn't that what repenting means?  Doesn't it mean to turn away from our sins?  So then why do we continue to commit them?

Saints, are we servants of Christ or servants of sin?  For if we are servants of Christ, we can not can not also be the servants of sin and Satan.  1 Corinthians 10:21 tells us that we cannot partake both of the cup of the Lord and of devils.  1 John 3 shows us that if we sin, we are not of the Lord but of the devil, particularly in verses 8 and 9.  My question is how in the world can be so mixed up about the clarity that the Bible brings on this issue.  It's not like the Bible beats around the bush on these things or speaks in some sort of figurative language that we can't understand.  The Bible is crystal clear in the fact that the people of God are not to sin and that sinning is of the devil.  James 4:7 tells us to submit ourselves to God.  Only by doing so will we be able to successfully resist the devil and when we resist the devil, we are also resisting temptation and the lure to sin.  Yet there is this great deception that has been in place for years that we can somehow be sinners and yet also at the same time be children of God.  Is this Biblical?  Is it that just became we believe that Jesus Christ is Savior and is the Son of God that takes care of everything concerning our standing with the Lord?  And was does real belief mean?  Let's look into James 2: 

True faith and true belief has fruits and works attached to it as evidence.  And not just any ol fruit or works but fruits and works that are noticeable and can be seen by others.  Now I'm not saying that we go out and do things to be noticed, but those who are truly following the Lord will have those fruits and works as a part of their lives.  As James points out, faith without works and fruit is not true or saving faith at all.  This is the truth of the Bible.  Also, part of what faith in Christ and love for Christ entails is obedience to Him.  True belief, true faith and true love of Christ will have obedience attached as a component.  Is this works salvation?  Am I saying that we are saved by works?  No, we are saved by faith but true faith is to be able to be proved by works.  For true faith should be evident to those who are around you.  People should be able to see something different about us and they should be able to tell that we aren't quite like the normal people of the world.  This should be evident for it sure was evident with Jesus and all the people of God throughout history.  Also what many of us forget that is what we are going to be judged on.  Will we be judged on our faith or our works?  Let’s take a look at what the Bible says: 

As we can see, Scripture clearly shows us what we are going to be judged according to.  For at judgment, our works will be what proves our faith to be true or our faith to be false.  I'm not saying this as some sort of scare tactic, I'm pointing this out because it is the truth that we need to take heed of.  That is why 2 Corinthians 13:5 points out that we need to examine our very faith to make sure that our faith is continuous and ever present because if we lose focus on Christ, we can commit apostasy.  Or have we also been fooled by the false man-made traditions and interpretations into thinking that all those verses that we love to use regarding eternal security are absolutely unconditional and have no bearing on whether our faith is present or not?  Is this not the very subject of false doctrine that Jude alluded to when he wrote this? 

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:3-4) 

Let's take another look at that passage.  There is only one gospel, one way of salvation and one way of faith.  And Jude pointed out that there were men that had very subtly came into the assemblies and corrupted the grace of God.  What does this mean?  It means that they corrupted the very thing which is our provision so that we may live holy and upright lives in this life.  And what was the result?  There was lasciviousness, which means that the people no longer took any thought of being holy and righteous but it became a free-for-all in terms of sinning and thinking nothing of it.  What's most telling is the end of the verse where it states that the result of all this is that the Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ is denied and rejected as a result.  Yes saints, it is true that by sinning people reject and deny God and it doesn't matter if there was a conversion or a past confession.  Who do we think all these warnings to persevere, endure and hold fast to our faith are directed to?  Is it the world that reads the Bible for understanding and for spiritual nourishment?  These warnings and these things are directed to us, the people of God and those whose hearts are open to God.  When I first came to the realization of the false doctrine of eternal security in the case that we can't do anything to forfeit our salvation or become apostate and that all of our sins were forgiven, past, present and future, I didn’t think of it to be as serious as I do now.  It is a serious issue because this false doctrine has caused many believers to take a very lackadaisical approach to the faith and has set them up to be overcome yet again by sin and Satan and ultimately die in their sins if they did not repent.  The fact of the matter is that we surely can forfeit our own salvation, we can become apostate just like many of the churches are doing today and that only our past sins were what were forgiven when we first came to Christ.  Here is proof that only our sins past are forgiven when we repent and come to Christ: 

If we sin after we come to Christ, we are not automatically forgiven.  Instead, we must repent and come back to Christ for forgiveness.  This is part of why Jesus Christ ever lives as our High Priest so that if we do happen to sin, we can still ask for forgiveness and we will be forgiven.  Yet this is not a license to sin because God knows our hearts and He knows whether we are being genuine or not in our repentance.  And understand that He will not strive with you forever so that if you hear His voice and you do not repent, eventually His mercy will run out, your heart can be hardened by Him and you will die in your sins.  So be careful saints for only our sins past are forgiven when we put our faith in the Lord.  Consider the example of the generation of Israelites that were in bondage in Egypt (like us when we were in bondage to our oppressors of sin and the devil).  God delivered them and they were made to pass through the Red Sea to safety from the Egyptians (like us when we repented and came to Christ and He delivered us from the power of sin and Satan).  Now God promised them that He was going to bring them into a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey where they would receive their inheritance (for us, the promise of dwelling with Jesus Christ forever and eternal life being our inheritance).  The Israelites spent 40 years in the desert where they were tested and many fell (our walk with the Lord will bring us many tests and trials that we must overcome through faith or else we will fall away).  A whole generation of the Israelites which by the way included Moses did not get to enter the promise land except Caleb and Joshua for only those two had faith which was continuous and present through every single circumstance (many of us start our race in Christ but there are only few that will finish; only those who endure, persevere and finish the race will gain the prize of eternal life).  Do you see the parallels there?  And God has never changed so the principles still remain the same regarding faith and how we are justified by our faith.   

Saints, we have to keep moving forward to the goal.  We have to be persistent and we have to be unyielding and determined to get to that finish line.  And God has given us sufficient grace to do so.  The question is are we going to let His grace work its course?  The people of Christ are known as the redeemed, the saved, the overcomers.  How we would have believers that would refer to themselves as sinners is absolutely absurd when we have been supposedly washed clean and made whole by Jesus.  If we are still sinners then something is terribly wrong.  One of the most misinterpreted passages of Scripture is in Romans 7 where many "scholars" and "experts" believe that this describes a true believer and Paul even after he came to Christ: 

This can not be the Paul that is sold out for Jesus Christ and that preaches righteousness, holiness and purity.  If it is, then it makes Paul out to be a hypocrite of the highest order and we might as well no longer believe in Christ because this would also prove that His power can not deliver us.  Yet praise God this is not the case.  What Paul is describing here is the state of a person before he/she is delivered by the power of Jesus Christ.  Remember that we can not be servants to sin and Christ at the same time.  It is either one or the other.  So in this example of Romans 7, we have one who is overcome by the power of sin and evil.  The flesh rules.  Now let's take a look at Romans 8: 

Now why is there condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus?  Because those in Christ Jesus walk after the Spirit, not the flesh.  And of course to be in Christ means to have our previous sins forgiven and to be brought in right standing with God.  In Romans 7, Paul was describing a person that walked after the flesh and we know that one who walks after the flesh and is carnal is one who is at odds with God.  Yet to walk after the Spirit means that a person is Spirit-led and that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ because those who have their faith in Christ have the Holy Ghost dwelling within them.  Now read the rest of Romans 8 as it talks about how we can not be led by both the flesh and the Spirit at the same time.  As I said before, it is one or the other.  For those of us who hold to that false view of eternal security, I pray that you would consider this view in light of Scripture and repent because too many are being misled as a result.  And we are required to overcome sin and overcome anything and everything that would stand in our way to try and prevent us from finishing our race.  Jesus in the book of Revelation makes this clear not to just one, not two, but all seven of the churches that He gave a message to: 

Also, I believe we need to pay really good attention to the fact that in the context of some of these exhortations by Jesus, He also is instructing the church to repent.  So this means that overcoming isn't simply based off a conversion in the past but that one must continue to have faith and must always presently possess faith in order to be able to overcome.  This also means that even after we initially come to Jesus Christ, that our sins after that must still be repented of.  I've heard of the lie given by many preachers that say that the Father simply looks upon us and sees Christ when we sin after we've initially put our faith in Christ.  That is false!  Any time that we sin, you better believe that God sees it clearly and He is not pleased.  Those of you who are presently living in sin, I do not care if you had a past profession or even followed the Lord for a time like Judas Iscariot.  Repent and get right with the Lord before it is too late.  If you hear His voice now, if you feel the conviction now, then repent now.  Don't suffer the same fate that Judas Iscariot did where at one time he was a close friend and follower of Jesus Christ who preached the gospel, cast out demons, healed the sick and shared the bread at the Lord's table, only to die in his sins and be doomed to hell.  Think about that for a second and let it sink in.  A man who was once a close friend and disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ is the same man that Jesus Christ will one day send to his eternal death because he at some point ceased to have faith and betrayed the Lord.  And that betrayal wasn't just any betrayal.  It was a betrayal in which afterward, there was no point of return for Judas.  That is why he killed himself. 

Job and Daniel were examples of persons who were righteous and they did not give others an occasion to blaspheme God.  Were they sinless?  No, only Christ was sinless.  Yet they were true examples of followers of God to the rest of the world.  Are we really setting a good example and really shining Christ's light to the world?  In fact, what is going on in our society with those who are claiming to be followers of Christ?  Let's see.  Not in any particular order:  Fornication, adultery, sexual misconduct (molestation, rape), divorce, greed, use of foul language, lying, cheating, drunkenness, unforgiveness, drug users, homosexuality, pride and just about all other evil and wickedness one can think of.  And I'll tell you what, there sure is a lot of blaspheming of Jesus Christ going on in our world as a result.  It is one thing to suffer for Jesus Christ for doing what is right but to suffer for claiming to be of Christ and yet be living like we're Satan's children is another.  And we think that we're doing God such a favor and that we're being so humble by just giving the excuse that we are "sinners saved by grace".  I have just about had it with that line myself and I'm pretty sure that God has been fed up with it long ago. 

Saints, this is how it is.  In Jesus Christ, we are set free from the chains of sin.  That means that any believer that claims to have an addiction that he/she can not stop and that says that it still has a hold on his/her life has not yet fully surrendered unto Christ and has not stayed surrendered unto Christ.  Why do we keep on thinking that the things that we have to overcome in our lives are just going to be overcome magically as long as we just simply believe it in our minds.  We can't just believe in Christ in our minds but we must believe in our very heart to the point where we are willing to lay everything that we are down at His feet and simply allow Him to do whatever He wishes to do within us.  Indeed God can deliver in such a way as to remove even that desire of sin as well but for the most of us, we have to take up our cross every day and lay ourselves at the Lord's feet each and every day or we are one step from falling right back to where we were became we even came to Christ.  Some of us are so busy looking at deliverance as something that just happens by osmosis and they forget that many times we have to live out our deliverance. 

Our example to the world for the most part has been very poor.  We have not been the chosen and sanctified people that God has called us to be and because of that, not only have we suffered in our relationship with the Lord but we have become a stumbling block to others as well.  For if the people of Christ can't live out their lives as God intended, then is there any hope for anybody to be able to do so?  Saints, we are the be the ones that people can not rightly condemn.  We are the be the ones that are holy so that we reflect Jesus Christ.  And we are to recognize that as we are the examples to the world that God intends for us to be, we are then giving others the best opportunity that we can to see the power of God at work and to show that God is indeed true.  We're so many times so self-consumed that we forget that others are watching us, even more closely so because we claim that we are Christians.  And the world is saying if these people are claiming to be Christians, then I want to see them prove it.  We prove it by our good works, by our holiness, by our purity, by our faith and by our love.  We prove it by being separated unto the Lord and not being worldly like the rest of the bunch.  We prove it by having self-control, something that the world lacks a great deal of and unfortunately many of us who call ourselves believers as well.  Yet according to Galatians 5:23, to be in control of our selves is a fruit of the Spirit.  So those who are fleshly and carnal can not have self control but those who are led by the Spirit will have it. 

Abraham is considered the father of our faith and this command from the Lord stands for each and every person of the faith.  God wants and requires us to walk before Him blameless, upright and perfect.  That is why He went through such great lengths to have our sins forgiven and to set us free from the power of sin because those things stood in the way of us fulfilling that command.  We are not sinners anymore when we come to Christ and follow Him.  Indeed we were sinners at one time but if we are in Christ, that old life is done and we are to be living out the new life that we have in Him.  When I see people use that phrase "sinners saved by grace," I wonder if they really understand what it is that Jesus Christ did when He died and rose again.  What surprises me more than anything is that the truth of the Bible is crystal clear but the glasses of tradition have blinded many from seeing the truth.  Let's open our eyes saints and realize that we were saved, redeemed and delivered for a true high calling.  Stay true to Jesus.