Just think, we were destined for wrath but, praise the Lord,
we can be saved by His grace. We were
all dead in our trespasses and sins, we were all walking spiritually dead at
one time, walking in the way of the world, in conformity to the ruler of the
domain of the air-the ruler of the spirit who is now operating in the sons of
the disobedience. We too all lived among
them in the cravings of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and
the mind. By nature, we were children of
wrath, just like the others, but God was rich in mercy because of His great
love by which He loved us. Even when we
were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Messiah. (By grace
you have been saved) And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the
heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua – to show in the olam ha-ba, (Ages to come) the measureless richness of His grace in
kindness towards us in Messiah Yeshua. You
can find this in Ephesians chapter 2.
Paul knew the grace of God very well. When he was called
Saul before his conversion, He persecuted the church, having some of the saints
thrown into prison and guarding the cloaks of those who were stoning Steven agreeing
with what they were doing. You can read
about Saul’s conversion in Acts chapter 9 when God’s grace was poured out upon
Saul, and he turned from being a murderer to the Lord and became a believer and
a saint. This is what I call true grace.
The reason I say that this is true grace is that there is a
teaching going around that some people call hyper grace. These teachers teach that when you are
born-again you are forgiven for all sins past, present and future. You don’t have to repent anymore if you do
sin, it has already been forgiven which is bringing confusion to many in the
church. We know that God is not the author
of confusion. I have never heard any of
these preachers or teachers teach this but it sounds like this would give people a license
to sin. If this were true, why would 1 John 1:9, which is talking to the church,
be in the Bible?
What about James 5:13-20, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let
him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the
church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him
up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses
to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The
effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with
a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did
not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and
the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone
among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that
he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and
cover a multitude of sins.”
And what about 2 Corinthians 7:8–13, “For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it;
though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry,
though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that
your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that
you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance
leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces
death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What
diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation,
what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you
proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Therefore, although I wrote to
you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the
sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God
might appear to you. Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we
rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been
refreshed by you all.”
Now go to the book of Revelations
chapters 2 and 3 and read what the Lord said to the five out of seven churches;
they were told to repent. And make sure
to read what Revelations 3:20 that says, I stand at the door and knock if any
man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with
Me which was written to the church. People
use this verse as part of their salvation message but if you keep it in context,
it was written to the church of Laodicea. It
doesn’t sound to me like you don’t have to worry about repenting anymore after
you have been born-again. God’s Word
says, ‘my people perish for lack of knowledge,’ so be very careful that you are
not deceived, don’t go beyond true grace. If you want to learn more on this subject go
to You Tube and look up Dr. Michael Brown-hyper grace. Enough said I hope this has been a help and an
encouragement. May the good Lord bless
you and yours and may you all have a super day!!
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