Free Grace vs Cheap Grace
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Understanding effective evangelism is of great interest to me. I want to sharpen my understanding of how we, as believers, can most effectively share the message of Christ with not believers. How do we fulfil the great commission? How do we go and make disciples biblically, effectively, efficiently?
T4T
Share Jesus without fear
Relational Evangelism
Way of the Master
So I was watching the Ray Comfort on the youtubes. Australian. California. He gets people to engage with him in public. Cameras going. and he will ask their belief in an afterlife.
Go through their belief of them self.
Go through the 10 commandments.
Then take them through salvation verses.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
There is a call to repentance.
Ask them to go and think about it more.
Pray with those willing to accept Christ.
I wonder if they really understand what has happened. Maybe they had a conversion, or maybe they just got caught up in the moment. Did they understand what grace is, and what it isn’t. Did is just watch someone get saved or did I just see someone given a false sense of security where they added Jesus to their life like a rider on an insurance policy.
Who is going to disciple them.
I was speaking to a friend last week that has studied and been involved in foreign missions. One of the things he said was that the problem with foreign missions, especially when it comes to counting numbers of people that “Accepted Christ.” was that many of these cultures are polytheistic and they say that they are accepting Christ, when what they are doing is just adding Him to the collection of all the other gods they worship, as a way of hedging their bets.
Cheap Grace
Cheap Grace
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
The cost of discipleship
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
Can you have forgiveness without repentance?
No.
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Is repentance a work?
If repentance is a work and is a requirement for salvations......We have some problems.
repentance isn’t a work, it is a paradigm shift. It is change in belief that God is right about sin and that you are wrong and the realignment of your beliefs to be in line with His.
repentance and faith go hand in hand.
The Whole Christ: Sinclair Furguson
At the end of the day, we cannot divide faith and repentance chronologically. The true Christian believes penitently, and he repents believingly.
The problem is that there a those that claim to believe in Christ, but are not repentant.
Cheap Grace.
Three ways we cheapen Grace.
Paid Grace
Paid Grace
We cheapen grace when we try to pay for it.
If someone were to walk up and give you a brand new motorcycle and say this is a free gift. That would be a tremendous gift. You would recognize the value of it and be humbled and thankful.
But how much would you cheapen that bike if you pulled out your wallet and said, Here, I’m going to give you $20 for giving it to me.
The minute you try and pay for it, you cheapen to the amount that you are giving.
Such is the Gospel.
If you start adding your things to God’s forgiveness. You have cheapened the blood of Christ to that which you are giving. It is no longer a free gift, but a transaction.
22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Undervalued Grace
Undervalued Grace
We cheapen grace when we undervalue God’s Grace
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,
46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
What is doesn’t mean. We are not the treasure or the pearl.
Don’t you believe that for a second. The cost of your salvation is not a reflection of your worth, but a demonstration of God’s love for you.
But ask yourself, if Jesus was willing to die on the cross to give you the opportunity to enter into the kingdom.....How Great is the Kingdom!!!!
What are you NOT willing to give for that?
Things I won’t give up to enter the Kingdom.....
This minute you put anything on that list is the minute that you reject Christ.
Rich young ruler. sell all that you possess and distribute to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come follow Me.
He valued his stuff over God’s Kingdom. He was attempting to cheapen Grace.
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
Grace presumed
Grace presumed
The third way we cheapen grace is when we presume God is just going to forgive you for what you are about to do.
It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission may work with your boss or your spouse, but I wouldn’t try it with the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Paul : Romans 5/6 makes an argument
Law goes up....Sin goes up
Sin goes up....Grace goes up.
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Fail to do good works.
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Lordship if Jesus Christ.
16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
The New Testament uses the word for “Lord” (kurios) 748 times, and 667 of those times it is used in reference to God or Jesus (e.g., “Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 1:4). In contrast, the New Testament uses the word for “savior” (soter) only 24 times.
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
Repent.