Free Grace?

Many people would say that grace is the most important doctrine of the Christian faith, in fact, it even defines the very essence of the faith.  Grace is the gift of salvation from God in Christ that we cannot earn ourselves.  But is grace a free gift or does it cost something?  I believe grace is free in that mankind cannot earn it, but it is not free in at least three other aspects.

Grace is not free in respect to what it cost Jesus to accomplish.  As the second Person of the Godhead, Christ had to become a man and come to Earth in humility.  He then lived a perfect and holy life in obedience to his Father and died on the cross to pay the price for the sins of mankind.  This sin offering was extremely costly and it provided the righteousness for the justification of sinners before God.  This grace is free to all who call upon Jesus, yet it cost him his very life.

The grace of Christ is also not free in that we must accept his righteousness and not our own for salvation.  This can only happen when we exchange our life for Christ's life.  We see this in Mt.16:24, "Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.""  This does not mean that we must be physically crucified on a cross, but spiritually we must die to any pursuit of self-righteousness before God.  We must accept the righteousness that Christ alone provides, which is our justification before God.

By accepting the grace of Christ we also receive a transformed heart and walk in faith and in newness of life.  And as we walk in faith with a changed heart, we must in addition turn from sin and seek to live for Christ as Lord.  We are not free therefore to live as we please but in grace we desire to live for Christ and his truth.  This is the process of growing in faith and sanctification and this produces good works as we become more Christ-like.  There is a distinction then between the meritorious works of Christ for justification and the good works of Christians in grace and growing in sanctification.

The free grace doctrine however teaches that there are no works required for Christian faith, and we are set at liberty in grace.  But the Bible teaches that we were created for good works as we live out God's grace.  We see in Eph 2:8-10, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."  God's grace always produces faith, and faith always produces good works.  And Christians will never walk in faith perfectly as we are still sinners in a broken world, but if there are no good works there can be no true faith.

The idea of free grace is a false wind of doctrine that blows against the true Christian faith.  For we must give all we have in exchange for Christ, (Mt. 13:45-46), for our justification.  And in faith we must seek to deny our sinful natures to grow in sanctification and good works to become Christ-like.  This is sometimes called the cost of discipleship, but these are works of faith that come from the grace of Christ.

The grace of God is a precious gift we cannot earn.  And grace is not a freedom to live however we please.

What About Hell?

The Veritas Fellowship is all about discovering and proclaiming the true truth of Christ in an age of postmodernity, irrationality and individualism.  It's a fellowship to seek for truth and light in a world of brokenness and darkness.  I love to emphasize the truth and light, the redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation and peace with God.  This is almost heaven in the here and now.  To know God, even to a small extent, is the best experience I've ever discovered.

But against the joy of heaven that can be discovered in a relationship with Christ is the pain and suffering that can be known in the world.  Possibly one of the greatest apologetics for the truth of Christ in Scripture is the brokenness of sin and death in the here and now.  As I love to look at the heavens, the universe in its vast splendor of order, beauty, design and wonder, I also can see the pain and heartache and destruction in the world.

Many will say, 'look at the evidence of all this suffering, how can anyone believe in God?'  Often that discourages me as well, I can easily be overcome by the worry and fear that the world portrays.  But, what does the evil of the world really describe?  Does it describe the world as God created it?  Or does it describe the world as God said it would become if man turned away from him?  The brokenness and sin describes the world without Christ and not with him.

It is essential to see life therefore through the eyes of Christ in Scripture for he teaches us there really is sin in this world, and there is both a heaven and a hell in the world to come.  It has also been said that the most difficult teachings of hell in the New Testament were reserved for Jesus himself as no one else had such authority.  It is clear that Jesus believed in hell and he warns everyone against its peril.

In the sermon on the mount we see many spiritual truths that describe the nature of sin.  Jesus teaches us that sin is a matter of the heart and not just an issue of our external behavior.  In Mt. 5:22 we read, "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool' will be liable to the hell of fire."  And also in Luke 12:5, "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear him!"  These are grave warnings that must not be dismissed as the teachings of an ancient Rabbi.  Jesus has been raised from the grave and these are just some teachings of the truth of hell and its horrors.

Regarding the final judgment of all men Jesus teaches us in Mt. 13:41-42, "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  This teaching clarifies the judgment of all mankind and the agony of hell.  Humanity needs salvation from lawlessness and no amount of good works will ever redeem us from our sin.

The good news is in this same section in the following verse.  For Jesus clarifies in Mt. 13:43, "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  The other option to hell is heaven where those who trust in Christ alone will find eternal life and will 'shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father'.  This is what we were created for, and Jesus came to live a perfect life so that he would give this gift to all who call upon his name.

Hell is a reality that can be seen with glimpses in the sin and brokenness of this world.  It can only be truly understood as we know from Scripture, and it is horrific in every aspect.  Let us all who believe in heaven and hell run to Christ and live in his truth so that we too will "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom" of God.