| Author | Message | ||
| Denisegilmore |
I am clinging to Jesus Christ and what He has done, for my life. | ||
| Patti |
For your life, for all who trust in Him. The Gospel is our sure foundation, Denise; our anchor in the storm of life. Jesus Christ is our righteousness. He is all that we need. God bless! | ||
| Max |
"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Comunion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus christ, living and incarnate." --Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, p.44-45 | ||
| Max |
^^The Gospel is our sure foundation, ______; our anchor in the storm of life. Jesus Christ is our righteousness. He is all that we need.^^ For "WE ALL, with unveiled [unlegalistic] face, beholding the glory of the Lord, ARE BEING CHANGED into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." --Paul, RSV 2 Corinth- ians 4:18. Therefore, we need not fear the storm of life, because God uses storms to change us from one degree of glory to another. And anyone who is NOT being is changed is one who Christ has NEVER known. For the text clearly says, "WE ALL ... ARE BEING CHANGED! Praise God, Max of the Cross | ||
| Patti |
Grace is a divine attribute, not human. Grace is God's infinite mercy for sinful humans. Grace is totally unmerited on our part. Grace is a gift (by definition). Grace cannot be false or "cheap," because it is an attribute of God. We must be very careful with what terms we refer to our God. Hebrews 10:29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified (past tense) him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. | ||
| Max |
^^Grace cannot be false or "cheap," because it is an attribute of God. We must be very careful with what terms we refer to our God.^^ We must be even more careful not to attribute false or "cheap" or "changed" [Jude 4] grace to God. For God is never mocked. | ||
| Max |
^^Hebrews 10:29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified (past tense) him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.^^ Changing God's grace into Satan's grace IS trampling "the Son of God under foot," IS treating "as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant," and IS insulting "the Spirit of grace" in verity. ^^For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are GODLESS MEN, who CHANGE THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO A LICENSE FOR IMMORALITY AND DENY JESUS CHRIST our only Sovereign and Lord.^^ NIV Jude 4. | ||
| Patti |
The only kind of "cheap" or "false" grace would be a grace that does not emanate from God, and I know of no Christians who claim that grace does not come from God. We Christians know that we are saved by His eternal mercy alone, so I cannot understand why a Christian, such as Bonhoeffer, would choose to build up a soapbox on something non-existent, such as "cheap" grace, on something negative, such as "false" grace. Even if it were possible to have a "bogus" grace, why would a Christian devote all of his/her time dwelling on the false instead of telling others of the infinite mercy (grace) of God in saving sinful humans for the sake of Jesus Christ? The Gospel is not a message of warning against all possible heresies; it is a POSITIVE message of salvation in Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine a Christian theologian expending so much energy jousting at windmills. There is no salvation, no peace, no reconciliation, no joy, in being able to identify a "falsehood." There is only salvation, peace, reconciliation and joy in knowing the very Good News of our acceptance with God for the sake of the obedience of the One, even unto death. Why should we spend any time thinking up heresies to fight when the only cure for heresy is constant reiteration of the Truth, the Gospel of our accomplished salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. | ||
| Max |
^^The only kind of "cheap" or "false" grace would be a grace that does not emanate from God.^^ It doesen't emanate from God, but from Satan. | ||
| Max |
^^I cannot understand why a Christian, such as Bonhoeffer, would choose to build up a soapbox on something non-existent, such as "cheap" grace, on something negative, such as "false" grace.^^ Or why a New Testament writer, such as Jude, would choose to build up such a soapbox on "changed" grace? "For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who CHANGE the GRACE of our God INTO a LICENSE for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Õovereign and Lord." NIV Jude 4. | ||
| Max |
^^Even if it were possible to have a "bogus" grace, why would a Christian devote all of his/her time dwelling on the false instead of telling others of the infinite mercy (grace) of God in saving sinful humans for the sake of Jesus Christ?^^ Why would Paul dwell on it? ^^What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace my increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Chriswt was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may LIVE A NEW LIFE.^^ Romans 6:1-4 NIV. A new life that is "being TRANSFORMED INTO HIS [CHRIST'S] LIKENESS WITH EVER- INCREASING GLORY, which comes from the Lord, who is the [Holy] Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV. It is the one who espouses it who devotes "all of his/her time dwelling on the false instead of" the true -- not the one, such as Paul or Jude, who oppose it. | ||
| Max |
^^The Gospel is not a message of warning against all possible heresies; it is a POSITIVE message of salvation in Jesus Christ.^^ The gospel exposes all heresies by presenting true grace. True grace is active, working good deeds. False grace is passive, allowing evil deeds to flourish. | ||
| Max |
^^I cannot imagine a Christian theologian expending so much energy jousting at windmills.^^ I know of none who does. | ||
| Max |
^^There is no salvation, no peace, no reconciliation, no joy, in being able to identify a "falsehood."^^ The true exposes the false. Effortlessly. Real salvation, peace, reconciliation and joy expose the false by knowing the true. For example, once you've seen the sun you know it's not a flashlight. | ||
| Max |
^^There is only salvation, peace, reconciliation and joy in knowing the very Good News of our acceptance with God for the sake of the obedience of the One, even unto death.^^ And you would recommend disobeying the obedient One? His only law is love. | ||
| Max |
^^Why should we spend any time thinking up heresies to fight?^^ We don't. | ||
| Max |
^^The only cure for heresy is constant reiteration of the Truth, the Gospel of our accomplished salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ.^^ "The only cure for heresy is" to OBEY "the Truth, the Gospel of our accomplished salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ." For disobedience is the clue to the "changed" grace of Jude 4. | ||
| Max |
All heresy or false teaching denies Scripture somewhere. And the "changed grace" theory is no exception. Here's the Scripture it denies: NIV James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. 20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless ? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. MC | ||
| Jtree |
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ Jesus has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1 THE LAW says, "This do, and thou shalt live." THE GOSPEL says, "Live and thou shalt do. THE LAW says, "Pay me what thou owest." THE GOSPEL says, "I frankly forgive thee all." THE LAW says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." THE GOSPEL says, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." THE LAW says, "Cursed is every one who continues not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." THE GOSPEL says, "Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered." THE LAW says, "The wages of sin is death." THE GOSPEL says, "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." THE LAW says, "If..." THE GOSPEL says, "Therefore..." THE LAW makes blessing the result of obedience. THE GOSPEL makes obedience the result of blessings. THE LAW restrains the old man. THE GOSPEL gives liberty in the new man. THE LAW says "DO." THE GOSPEL says, "DONE!" THE LAW demands holiness. THE GOSPEL gives holiness. THE LAW commands the service of an unwilling bondsman. THE GOSPEL wins the loving service of a son and a freeman. Happy Sabbath REST! Joshua of the Rock! | ||
| Max |
And happy 7-days-a-week eternal Sabbath rest in Christ Jesus to you too, Joshua of the Rock. --Max of the Cross |
