“cheap grace”...The Silent Christian Killer
I have visited several different churches and denominations throughout the years and the one constant throughout each church is that everyone believes that they are saved. When you hear the altar call each week, the preacher basically asks everyone, “do you know where you are going if you were to die today?”. Some rush up to the front to assure their salvation, while others believe that they have already obtained it. But is walking down the aisle to the front of the church enough?
It is often said that in order to be saved, we must believe in the Son of God. We must believe that He came to suffer for our sins and that because he suffered for our sins, that if we believe in Him, we will be saved. Clearly I am simplifying things a little but for the most part, this is the main platform for Christianity. Though I am also a believer in this teaching, I caution all so-called Christians to not think that the journey stops there. As James 2:19 says, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain main, that faith without works is dead.
Please do not mistake what I am trying to say, we are saved by grace. That means that nothing we have done or can do will save us. With that being said, grace does not give us the ability to do what we wish. Many of us are walking around thinking that because we are "saved" that we can live a life of sin. We must understand that Jesus died to forgive our sins, but not so that we would continue to live in our sins. Some folks think that because they say that they are saved, that they really are saved.
A great deal of Christians are walking around with this thought of “cheap grace”. With “cheap grace” many live as if everything can remain as it was before. That is why many people do not respect Christians because we look and act no different than them. It's like saying I am saved and yet you sleep around, take drugs, use filthy language, and spend your time in the club. My question to you, is do you think that sounds like someone who is truly saved? I have spoken to many pastors on the subject of "Once saved always saved" and they all pretty much say the same thing -you cannot gain salvation and then lose salvation. I then pose the question to them, “if someone comes down to the altar to be saved and truly believes it at the time but then turn right back around and continue to live a life of sin, will they go to heaven?”. Most, if not all of the pastors say that maybe that person was not truly saved from the beginning.
I believe that our churches stay filled today because our preachers are fixing meals for the people that are easier to digest and because there is not true contrition involved. Are we not called to repentance? To repent is not to half way say Lord forgive me, it is to feel the wrong in what you have done and to turn away from that wrong. It is not to perpetuate that wrong and think that grace has covered it.
Am I saying that he who believes in Christ is not saved? No I am not! Am I saying that we are not saved by grace? No, I am not! Am I saying that because we become "saved" that we will never commit sins? No I am not! What I am saying is that someone who is saved does not live a life of perpetual sins. They do not purposefully and boldly sin. A saved man falls and gets back up -he does not stay down and wallow in his sin. And as the Lord says in the book of Matthew, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!" Don't let your “cheap grace” do you in!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment