The Bible talks about the “true grace of God” (1 Peter 5:12) as opposed to the false grace being preached so prevalently today by and for professing Christians who will not surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that the grace of God may be received in vain. Therefore, Paul says, we “beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1). Many in our day have done this and turned the grace of God into lawlessness:
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 1:4)
Too many pastors and teachers are defining grace as nothing more than God’s unmerited favor, and that toward unrepentant sinful living. But grace is so much more than God’s unmerited favor, and a Christian may overcome all sin through God’s grace.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)
In other words, if you are truly under grace, sin will have no power over you. This is the evidence of the grace of God upon a person’s life.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. (Titus 2:11,12)
This is the true grace of the God that brings salvation. It is not just unmerited favor. No, the grace of God is the power of God for us to become new creatures that Christ can live inside. Jesus cannot dwell with sin. Any other grace is false grace that will not bring salvation. If it doesn’t teach you to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present evil world, then it is not the true grace of God.
Michael Brown describes the latest version of the message of Hyper-Grace as follows:
– Nothing you do will negatively affect your relationship with God.
– As a believer, you never need to confess your sins to God or repent of your sins.
– God doesn’t see your sins; He always sees you as perfect through the blood of Jesus.
– You can follow Jesus effortlessly. (source)
Does this sound familiar to you? The Game, a well-known rapper, speaks of having the “old me” or “the real me” or “the me I always was” still in existence while having faith in Christ. This fruit of Hyper-Grace allows people to think they are saved new creatures when the old man has not been put to death. Paul the Apostle tells us to “put off” the “old man:
But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)
In other words, when we repent and receive the forgiveness of sins in Christ, the “old me” dies and all things become new in Christ who died for our sins. That means we put off our former ways of life. But the Game says he’s still “thuggin'” and still smokes chronic and drinks and goes to strip clubs. On his album cover, The Game portrays “another Jesus” as a gang-banger with a rag on his face, a gold chain on his neck and marijuana leaves in the background. “I’m calling it ‘Jesus Piece’ cause last year in August I got baptized and so I’ve been going to church, but I still been kinda doing me out here,” he told Connecticut radio personality Jenny Bloom. “I still love the strip club and I still smoke and drink. I’m faithful to my family, so I wanted to make an album where you could love God and be of God, but still get poppin’ in your life.” (source)
This is the ultimate fruit of Hyper-Grace. While many professing Christians may not come out of a gang and drug background and whose lives may not appear to be as exceedingly sinful as The Game, they have embraced the same Hyper-Grace Gospel which will result in the same blasphemous fruit.
Many within evangelical Christianity have adopted such a twisted view of God’s grace that can only result in false conversions and powerlessness toward sin. Perhaps you don’t use the grace of God as an excuse to go to strip clubs, smoke and drink, but do you take advantage of the grace of God to excuse other sins such as hatred, unforgiveness, contention, anger, selfish ambition, gossip, impatience, bitterness, lust, or covetousness? If so, then what’s the difference between you and The Game? Dear brothers and sisters, don’t receive the grace of God in vain.
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