The Doctrines of GRACE

Exploring the Sovereign and Saving Favor of God in Rescuing Sinners

MARVIN R. KNIGHT

© September 29, 2017 The Church at South Mountain You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Church at South Mountain. Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © The Church at South Mountain. Website: casm.org While all reasonable attempts have been taken to trace the literary and biblical sources used by the author, due to the nature of some of the original materials (old audio/radio or live preaching events), some have been impossible to locate. Any information regarding the origin of any unreferenced statements or quotations is welcomed and will be included in the next revision of the study. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible: 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION: Strengthened by Grace

2. TOTAL DEPRAVITY: Why We Need God’s Grace So Desperately

3. UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION: The Family Secret of the Children of God

4. LIMITED ATONEMENT: The Design and Achievement of the Cross

5. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE: The Way God Calls Us to Jesus Christ, Part One

6. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE: The Way God Calls Us to Jesus Christ, Part Two

7. PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS: Going the Distance by God’s Power

8. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Applying the Doctrines of Grace Daily

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INTRODUCTION

The Doctrines of Grace | Lesson One Strengthened by Grace

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“The world should realize with increased clearness that Evangelicalism [Bible believing church] stands or falls with Calvinism.”1 Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield The Great Princeton Theologian

What benefit is promised to those who know and embrace the doctrines of grace? Hebrews 13:9—“Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.” In 1957, the great pastor and pulpiteer of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia said to his congregation, “Many Christians are like a love-sick teenage girl plucking petals from a daisy and saying, ‘He loves me, he loves me not.’ But God’s love is not fickle and temporary.”2 Do you believe this? If so, how do you know? Have you ever considered where you would be if God’s love were temporary or vacillating like an electric fan? The magisterial reformers and theologians have pointed to another flower to illustrate biblical truth by using the acronym TULIP:

▪ T—Total Depravity ▪ U—Unconditional Election ▪ L—Limited Atonement ▪ I—Irresistible Grace ▪ P—Perseverance of the Saints

In this study, we will explore what our puritan forefathers called, “the doctrines of grace.” If you want to know what explains a Christian, there is no need to look any further than the doctrines of grace. When looking at a Christian man or woman, the question often becomes, “How did he become a Christian?” Was it that he was born a Christian? No! Did he become a Christian by being baptized or joining the church? Some people believe this, but the Word of God makes it plain that such is not the case. Well then, what explains the Christian? The Apostle Paul would argue backwards and say, he called upon the name of the Lord (Rom.10:13). Well, why did he call upon the name of the Lord? Romans 10:9-10 answers that it was because he believed that Jesus is the one and only God who died as a substitute for our sins, was raised as a confirmation of His sacrifice, and affirmed as God’s Savior of sinners! How did he know to believe in Jesus for salvation? Paul answers that it was because he heard about Him, as well as 1 James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace, p.17 2 Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, TULIP Audio Series

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His mighty saving work, and God opened his heart. But wait! How did he hear? Was it an angel that came to him? Was it a vision? Was it a dream? No, he heard the good news through the lips of a preacher. Where did the preacher come from? Was he sent? Who sent him? God sent the preacher (Rom.10:14-15). Every Christian knows that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He is the Author of our faith. If you agree that this is true, then you already believe in the doctrines of grace. Look back on your life, dear friend, and then think of some of your family members or friends who are still in the dark. Why do you think, at this point, that you are saved and they are not? When you were running away from God, headed toward sure destruction, who initiated the action that stopped you in your tracks? Who was it that restrained you, convicted you, persuaded you, overcame your resistance, and dropped the seeds of loving grace in your heart so that you now rejoice to hear of divine grace? It was God Himself, wasn’t it? This is why we sing,

Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom. 3

This is also why we sing,

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name. On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand; All other ground is sinking sand. 4

I’m aware that at the moment this word, “Calvinism,” comes up, the zealous Armenian soul-winner says, “Reformed theology undermines our call to win the lost!” But I beg to differ. The greatest of all Baptist preachers, C.H. Spurgeon, was once asked, “How do you reconcile divine sovereignty with human responsibility?” In other words, if God is sovereign over everything, then how do you explain human actions? Spurgeon replied, “I never have to reconcile friends. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility have never had a falling out with each other. I do not need to reconcile what God has joined together.”5 Well, neither do we, dear friends. Both, as we shall see, are taught in Scripture and we must live with the tension. The mystery between divine sovereignty and human responsibility has been pictured as a man approaching a door over which is a sign, “Whosoever will, may come” (Rom.10:13). This person knows he needs to be saved, responds to this free and open invitation to all, and takes a step of 3 Stuart Townend, How Deep the Father’s Love for Us 4 Edward Mote, My Hope Is Built 5 Steven J. Lawson, Article: The God-Driven Church

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faith, coming through the door of salvation. But once inside, he turns around and looks at the backside of the door. There, he discovers another sign reading, “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world” (Eph.1:4). The point is clear, is it not? We are to preach to all men everywhere, proclaiming “Whosoever will, may come,” at the same time knowing that those who are chosen will respond and come to Christ. D.L. Moody once said, “The whosoever wills are the elect, and the whosoever wont’s are the non-elect.”6 The question in this study is not: Are you one of the elect? The question is: Have you come to Jesus for the cleansing power only He can give? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do you fully trust in His grace this hour? Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb! What are the Doctrines of Grace and Why This Series? The doctrines of grace are nothing more than a shorthand way to speak of five distinct Bible teachings related to salvation. The five subjects that we are to address in this series of messages are commonly known as Calvinism. These core doctrines actually serve as the heart and foundation of what is known as Reformed Theology. The reason these doctrines are a part of Reformed Theology is because they are at the heart of the Gospel, and when they were recovered, understood, and proclaimed, it led to great revolutionary changes in the church and the world. The opponents of the truth may question this statement, but there can be no doubt that each doctrine of grace draws attention away from what human beings can accomplish, in order to declare that, "…salvation is from the LORD" (Jon.2:9). However, these teachings did not originate with Calvin or Luther―as we shall see―but they can be traced back to their source: the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures. Before you let the labels of “Calvinism” or “Reformed Theology” frighten you, I want to strip away the false and suspicious assumptions that are often associated with this subject. It was my first year in Bible College when I first heard the term “Calvinism,” and I recall saying to myself, “I’m not interested in what a man says about God. Who is this Calvin, anyway? I want to know what Jesus says.” Little did I know that Calvinism is just a nickname for the strong old central doctrines of the Gospel of Christ that fueled the evangelistic fires, which spread in the greatest days of church history. The old truth that John Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, and that Paul preached; that same old truth is what I want to unfold in this study. This is the truth that thundered through Scotland as John Knox preached. It is the truth that rang like a bell in England where historians have recorded some of the greatest movements of God in history. It is the truth that Edwards and Whitefield sang as they preached and God’s Spirit fell in New England 200 plus years ago.

6 Steven J. Lawson, Article: The God-Driven Church

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Why study this subject? My aim in this introductory lesson is to set before you five reasons why we ought to know the doctrines of grace and embrace them in our hearts. But dear friends, don’t think for one second that we are here to merely become acquainted with these doctrines in our heads. Grab that thought and throw it out of your minds! My heart’s desire is that we would be caught up in wonder, love, and praise, and do what the hymn-writer wrote about when he said,

Pause, my soul! Adore and wonder! Ask, oh why such love to me? Grace hath put me in the number, of the Savior’s family: Hallelujah, thanks, eternal thanks, to Thee!

Why do we need to explore and embrace the doctrines of grace? The first reason is because of the spiritual revival we desire. R.C. Sproul, that champion of the doctrines of grace, once said that the “greatest need in today’s world is the revival and reformation of the Christian church!”7 Do you see a need for revival in the church? How about in your own life? Do you yearn for a time of spiritual refreshing and renewal? In our day, we have come to think that the status quo is normal Christianity because we have never seen anything else. The late Dr. James Montgomery Boice put his finger on the issue plainly when he said, "This is not the church's finest hour. We live in an age of weak theology and casual Christian conduct. Our knowledge is insufficient, our worship is irreverent, and our lives are immoral…perhaps the simplest way to say this…is that evangelicalism has become worldly."8 I once sat on a plane for four hours next to an intelligent and wealthy lady who claimed that she was a Christian and a Sunday school teacher. As we talked further, I came to discover that she did not hold to the Bible as the final authority for what the Christian is to believe about God and for how the Christian’s conduct should look. This explains why she believed that women pastors are not only acceptable, but, many times, better than men, and why she thought that dabbling in the New Age was an acceptable practice for a Christian. I am coming to realize more and more that she was not the exception, but the norm in many places. As I study the life of Christ, I see a pattern that He was always seeking to instill in His disciples. It involves three words: look, pray, and go. Look—that’s the call to see the human harvest that exists in the world, for if we do not see the need and feel the urgency, we will not pray and go with the Gospel. Right now, in your mind’s eye, I want you to try to look upon the world we live in. See the darkness! The distress! The difficulty! Look! Look, dear friends, not only upon the world, but upon the church today!

7 Archie Parrish and R.C. Sproul, The Spirit of Revival, Foreword 8 James Montgomery Boice

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Can you see that the showers of blessings have been restrained and the large and mighty influence of the Spirit stopped? Conversions have become rare—very few of our sons and daughters have been born again. The hearts of Christians are not as lively, warm, and refreshed as they should be as we sit under the Word and take of the Lord’s Supper. Does this bother you? Let us ask and answer two questions under this first heading:

1. What is revival? 2. What will it bring?

To revive means to live again. Just as a wilting flower needs the sun and water to revive its vitality, the Christian needs the same. A revival is not the same as spiritual health, although they are related. It is not a phenomenon of tongue-speaking or the display of miraculous signs and wonders. It is not a little replica of Pentecost, where we actually witness the baptism of the Spirit, placing those present into the body of Christ. It is not long preaching services five days a week and twice on Sunday. Some believe that in a revival, Christians cease to act and God simply takes over, but this is nothing more than religious fanaticism. Every Bible-believing New Testament scholar agrees that a revival has to do with the person and work of the Holy Spirit, dispensed by Christ Himself, working in a large abundant measure, degree, and influence, resulting in a new degree of life in the churches and a widespread movement of grace among the unconverted. Iain Murray defines a revival as “an extraordinary communication of the Spirit of God, a superabundance of the Spirit’s operations, an enlargement of His manifest power…breaking forth from the kingdom of God and sweeping over a community.”9 It is not generally the will of God that large numbers of men and women are converted suddenly, but it happened in Acts, and it has been seen every time there is a great revival in history. Is this not what we desire? Do we not desire what the men of old described as, “something being given which was not there before—something much more than a decision on the part of Christians to be more faithful or to make greater efforts…” These men said they had felt as if “the Lord had breathed on them” and they were “first affected with awe and fear”—then they were “bathed in tears”—then “filled with a love unspeakable…spiritual understanding, spiritual worship, spiritual repentance and spiritual obedience.”10 Is this not what we yearn for? The Reverend William Cooper of Boston said that more souls had come to him in deep spiritual concern in one week in 1740 than he had witnessed in the whole twenty-four years of his preceding ministry. When John Wesley formed his first Methodist society in London in 1740, it had only 75 members; but in 1743, the number stood at 2,020. In 1767, the Association Meeting of the Calvinistic Methodist at Bala in North Wales had 200 persons attending; by 1814, some 15,000 to 20,000 were present.

9 Iain Murray, Pentecost Today, p.24 10 Ibid, p.24

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During the years of 1857-1859, revival hit on both sides the Atlantic. It was estimated that half a million people joined the Protestant church in America and 150,000 in England. Revival will bring six things:

▪ Revival restores faith in the Word of God. ▪ Revival restores definiteness to the meaning of Christian. ▪ Revival advances the Gospel with amazing swiftness. ▪ Revival always has moral impact upon communities. ▪ Revival changes the understanding of the Christian ministry. ▪ Revival will change the public worship of the church.11

A.W. Tozer got it right when he said, “In my study and observations, a revival generally results in a sudden bestowment of a spirit of worship. This is not the result of engineering or manipulation. It is something God bestows on people hungering and thirsting for Him.”12 How does it come? What produces it? Charles Finney believed that it was conditioned upon our obedience. Should we obey? Of course, we should, but our obedience does not ensure or guarantee it. Jonathan Goforth, a missionary to China in days gone by, said, “If revival is being withheld from us it is because some idol remains still enthroned.”13 However, does repentance produce it? Does faith in His promises, prayer, and preaching bring revival? Certainly, God uses means, but our activity is not the controlling factor. Some of the godliest servants of Christ never saw what we call a revival. So, can we expect to see one in our day? What is the basis of our expectation? How do we know whether the world has already seen its last major revival? Our hope is founded upon the prophecies of Scripture yet unfulfilled. Roman 11 teaches that a considerable number of Gentiles will be evangelized and that evangelism would, in turn, speed up the lifting of the judicial blindness from Israel, resulting in the conversion of the nation in a day when converts are multiplied as the dew of the morning—and the whole world will be blessed by that conversion. History records that the single common element in every revival in history was the courageous, compelling, confrontational, and compassionate preaching of the doctrines of grace! The second reason is because of the strategic battles we encounter. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was right when he said, "The great battle today is for the whole of the Christian faith. It is being queried, denied, and ridiculed almost as never before. If we as Christians do not stand to defend the Gospel, we will find out soon that there will be little Gospel to defend.”14 When the church loses its grip on the Gospel, it shifts from being "the pillar and support of the truth" (1 Tim.3:15) to a den of thieves or a hangout for hypocrites. 11 Iain Murray, Pentecost Today, pp.171-193 12 A.W. Tozer, Worship and Entertainment, p.92 13 Jonathan Goforth, By My Spirit, pp.181,189 14 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, What is an Evangelical?

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I say this with sincere earnestness and without malice as God is my witness: many―if not most―churches are filled with fine, upstanding, “religious” people who have never been born again. They profess to know Christ, but do not possess Him. They have facts about the Gospel, but not faith in it. They know the plan of salvation, but not the Man of salvation. They have walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, raised a hand, been baptized, joined the church, and even become involved in ministry, but the sad reality is, they have never been inwardly regenerated. They may have been outwardly reformed, but have never received a new life. They know the Word of God, but not the God of the Word. As a result, they attend church in an unconverted state, self-deceived into falsely thinking they are saved when, in reality, they are not. Often the most painful battles that we face come at the instigation of unconverted people in the church. The Cambridge Declaration says it best in its statement regarding the result of moving away from the Gospel of Grace: "The result is a loss of absolute values, permissive individualism, and a substitution of wholeness for holiness, recovery for repentance, intuition for truth, feeling for belief, chance for providence, and immediate gratification for enduring hope."15

Does this sound like the church today? If the church is to be God-driven, not purpose-driven; God-pleasing, not people-pleasing; God-centered, not man-centered; then it must be comprised of people with converted hearts! When God builds a church, it will be a congregation, not a corporation; a family, not a factory; a body, not a business; and we will see the church arise again! As believers, we are given a mandate by the Holy Spirit to defend the faith—to fight earnestly for it. We do this not by being belligerent or mean-spirited, but by understanding the truth for ourselves first, then by filtering its applications in our own lives (in other words, gaining a working knowledge of it in our own everyday world), and finally by preaching and teaching it to all who would hear. History has proven that the teachings of Christ and the Apostles concerning the doctrines of grace are owned by the Spirit to bring about true conversions and healthy, humble believers! If we desire to see revival in the church and reconciliation of the lost to Christ, we must personally understand, sincerely embrace, and fearlessly proclaim the Gospel of God's grace. The third reason is because of the specific challenges that we have. Why is it so important to know the doctrines of grace personally, I ask you? There is the specific challenge of spiritual growth that we have. I do not want to be like the Galatians, who were saved by grace, but stunted in growth (Gal.3:3,5:4). Like them, many of us start well in devotion, but after a while also end in drudgery. We move from the routine, to the rote, to the rut.

15 The Cambridge Declaration, Solus Christus: The Erosion of Christ-Centered Faith

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Are you in a spiritual rut? The Galatians were, and Paul pointed out that the cause was connected to a lack of understanding about how to grow in grace. I don’t want to be a walking bobble-head. Rather, I want to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. This is the sad state of many of God’s children, but the cure is available. There are many good things in life, yet the writer of Hebrews declares that for the Christian, “it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.” By this, I take him to mean the doctrines of grace. Why is it so important to know the doctrines of grace personally, I ask you? Because of the specific challenge of our own unbelief. Where is the faith that believes that when God speaks, it is done, and when He commands, it stands fast? Where is the faith that knows that God can show Himself strong on behalf of those who fear Him? When we understand and embrace the doctrines of grace, we will not only believe, but we will testify that grace can turn selfishness into service, apathy into action, an unwanted baby into a blessing, vanity into victory, and trials into triumph. Why is it so important to know the doctrines of grace personally, I ask you? Because of the specific challenge of our secret fears and private struggles. The man in the world challenges us by asking, “What do we need grace for? We have technology and the Internet. We have entertainment and events on every night of the week. Why do we need grace?” Well, I think the young soldier headed off to the war put his finger on it when he said, “Will someone please tell us how to die?” Are you prepared to die? We know our birthdays, but no one knows the hour or the day of his death day. But I guarantee, you’ll need grace for it! We need grace to die but we also need grace to live. Do you find yourself in need of mercy for yesterday’s failures? Your sharp tongue? Your impatient glare? Your selfish action? Your indulgent or lazy habit? We all do! What about today’s challenges? What about your boss, your children, your spouse, and your neighbor with the loud music and the barking dog? Am I describing you? How are you going to face today’s challenges? In your own strength, you are sure to fail. But you don’t have to. Listen to the testimony of John Newton, that sailor turned preacher: "’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."16 Grace not only saves, dear friends, but it guides, it leads, it protects, it comforts, and it corrects our thinking about God and ourselves! "Nowhere," as Spurgeon put it, "is the grace of God more on display than in His love and work in rescuing sinners."17 Do you know how this grace works? This is my hope and prayer for you in this study.

16 John Newton, Amazing Grace 17 C.H. Spurgeon, A Defense of Calvinism, Article

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The question is: where is the compass that will point us back to Christ and the power of the cross? How do we shift attitudes and perspectives from the secular back to the sacred; from being man-centered and self-absorbed to being God-centered and self-denying? The answer is: by returning to those doctrines of grace which have always been characteristic of the church at its greatest periods of faith and expansion. The fourth reason is because of the subtle dangers we face. Notice the first statement in our text: “Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings…” A true believer can fall down, but he can never fall away so as to reject the truth of Christ and Him crucified. The true believer is like a man on a ship being tossed to and fro by the howling winds of temptation; he may fall out of the window, but he drops right onto the deck—safe in Jesus. He will never fall overboard and out of the great ship of salvation. This verse tells us that he can be “carried away” so that he is hindered from growing as he should. This study is needed because of the natural disposition we have to be “carried away by varied and strange teachings.” The term “carried away” is a compound word in the original language and is used in Mark 6:55 to describe impotent things, like the sick people who had no power on their own to get to where Jesus was, and, therefore, had to be carried on pallets. The term was not only used to describe impotent or weak things, but also light things, like the clouds which Jude speaks of which are carried about by the winds (v.12). This term is also found in Ephesians 4:14 to speak of immaturity and naïve children who can be “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” When you put all of these together—weak things, light things, and immaturity or naïve children, you find the apostle describing what we all are by nature. We all have within us a natural disposition to be carried away from the things of God. History stands as a witness of this fact:

▪ We can be like the children of Israel who, in Moses’ absence, turned to idolatry (Ex.32:1).

▪ We can be like the king and the people who revolted against God when Jehoiada died (2 Chr.24:17).

▪ We can be like the crowd who shouted, “Hosanna” as Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, but

within a few days cried out, “Crucify Him” (Matt.21:15; Mark 15:13).

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Do we not find this same complaint made by the Apostle Paul against the Galatians? Paul was amazed—shocked, really—that “so quickly” after hearing the Gospel and coming to Christ some were deserting Him. There was a haste in abandoning Christ that was abnormal for someone who had recently believed upon Him (Gal.1:6, 3:1ff). The image of a ship on the sea is found in the language (Heb.13:9). The imagery of the winds is added to teach us the effect of false doctrine upon the souls of men. In and of themselves, false doctrines are light, frothy, and empty—they have no substance. They are like cotton candy—big and sweet, but they give no nutritional value to the soul. False doctrine is also like the noisy wind on a boisterous sea, and the effects on the mind is that it lifts one up and down, offering no stability. It turns people off the course of salvation and ultimately endangers the souls of men. It fills the mind with uncertainties as to what to really believe. It alters the course so that the narrow road is forgotten and the broad road is preferred. Finally, it leads to shipwreck of the faith. What is it that is used to carry us away? The Apostle describes it as “varied and strange teachings.” Notice, first of all, that whenever the Bible speaks about false doctrines, it always speaks of them in the plural because there is no unity or harmony with them. They are diverse and conflicting, thus they are “teachings” or “doctrines.”

▪ Colossians 2:22 speaks of the “commandments and teachings of men.” ▪ 1 Timothy 4:1 speaks of the “doctrines of demons.” ▪ Hebrews 13:9 describes false doctrine as “strange teachings.”

However, Jesus said in John 7:16, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” The Gospel or the doctrines of grace are not five teachings, but they harmonize to form one doctrine. The Apostle proclaimed to the church at Ephesus,

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (4:4-6).

Herein lies the difference between the doctrines of men and the doctrine of God. God’s doctrine is one, plain, clear, firm, and stable truth. The doctrines of men are ambiguous, deceitful, unstable, and erroneous; but not so with the doctrine of God! The writer points out two marks of false teaching so that we can spot them. He calls them “varied and strange.” By “varied” he means “conflicting and confusing,” like the schools of Hillel on one hand, and Shammai on the other—one claiming that a man could divorce his wife for adultery and the other claiming that divorce was permissible if a woman burnt the morning toast or snored too loudly at night. This is the way false teaching is. It is always confusing and conflicting.

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But what does he mean by “strange”?

▪ In the Old Testament, Nadab and Abihu were killed because they offered “strange fire” which God had not authorized (Lev.10:1ff).

▪ In Exodus 30:9, God forbade “strange incense” on His altar.

▪ Zephaniah 1:8 speaks of strange or “foreign garments” that God had not given permission

for the priest to wear. Here the writer speaks of “strange teachings” to speak of teachings that had no biblical warrant in Scripture—they are foreign to the Word of God; they are alien the nature of the Gospel. Strange doctrines are any and all teachings that are not in line and in compliance with the Gospel of Christ and the apostles. Why this warning about false teaching and strange doctrines?

▪ God’s truth is precious to Him and false doctrines speak against God Himself. ▪ Just as Christ was at war with the false teaching of the Nicolaitians and the doctrine of

Balaam, He is opposed to all false teaching (Rev.2:19).

▪ False teaching spreads like leaven, affecting the entire body. It poisons and kills like gangrene. The Palestinian farmer knew that one sick sheep could infect the entire flock. The same is true of false doctrine (1 Cor.5:6; 2 Tim.2:17).

▪ False doctrine leads people away from Christ to follow sinful ways, which ultimately end in

destruction (2 Pet.2:1-2). Where can the people of God find safety? How can the church be kept from being carried away? The second half of the verse gives us the answer:

“…for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.”

The final reason is because of the sure strength we need. The tiny conjunction “for” connects the warning above with the reason here. Two things are shown to us: First, the aim or end of our faith—what is the aim of our faith? It is not the filling of our heads with theological notions, but the establishment of the heart. The greatest need of every Christian believer is to have his heart established. What is it meant by “heart”? In the Scripture, the “heart” is

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taken to be the mind, the soul, and the spirit; the command central of your life—for out of your heart “flow the springs of life” (Prov.4:23). Where is your heart? When is the last time you had a “heart checkup”? We live in a world of troubled hearts, darkened hearts, empty hearts, and cold hearts. Where is your heart today, dear friends? Tokyo is a city that is prone to earthquakes. There have been many earthquakes there that have toppled tall buildings and, because of that, it has become a place of experimental buildings to see which one of them can withstand an earthquake. In the summer of 1989, a building was built with an entirely new concept. In the basement and on the third, sixth, and top floors, sensors were installed. These seismic sensors detect any movement in the earth. Whenever there is any slight movement in the earth, they send an electronic signal up to the sixth floor where there is a six-ton slab of metal. As the building moves left, that slab moves right, and as the building moves right, the slab moves left and it counteracts the sway of the building. It is the way they insure that when an earthquake comes, the building still stands. Well, the way that God establishes the Christian’s life is to establish his heart so that it remains immovable. Second, we are shown the two ways that people seek to strengthen their hearts—by grace or by foods. The word “foods” here speaks of outward observances—and the Word of God says that no outward act sustains the inner life. You can participate in community outreach; you can attend a discipleship group; you can come to special events at the church; you can give, serve, pray, sing, and even witness, but these things DO NOT SUSTAIN, FIX, INSTALL, SETTLE, BOLSTER, UPHOLD, OR ESTABLISH THE HEART! The Writer says:

“…for it is good [better] for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.”

The word “grace” here is the writer’s shorthand way of saying the Gospel of the grace of God (Titus 2:11). The Gospel is the revelation of God’s grace. It is the instrument of God’s grace. This is why Paul said in Acts 20:32, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Two metaphors are found in verse 32. The first is that of an oak tree that has been “rooted and built up.” Scientists tell us that the oak tree has roots that spread as far under ground as its branches spread above ground, so that although branches are ripped off its trunk, the stump will never move or be rooted up. Such is true with the Christian whose heart is established by grace.

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The Christian who is established by grace would rather have his arm torn off from his body than to have his heart moved away from grace, or grace from his heart. The second image is that of a building. Jesus gave this picture in Matthew 7:25 and Luke 6:48, where He said that the man whose life is founded upon the rock shall not and cannot be shaken by rains, floods, or strong torrential winds. In other words, no persecution, no temptation, and no slick presentation will unsettle the man’s heart that is established with grace. Application:

Jesus poses to us three questions: How are you building? Are you determined to make His Word the habit of your life, the inclination of your days, and the direction of your walk? The size of a building means very little if the foundation is shaky. Foundation work is slow and hidden work. Are you ready for the storms? Storms don’t give warnings. There is a suddenness and uncertainty about them, and no Christian is immune to them. Do you understand the consequences? If you think that building your life consists simply of hearing the truth and walking away, but not practicing the truth, Jesus said you’re headed for a great fall. How? Perhaps one may fall emotionally, psychologically, and financially, but, for sure, he will fall spiritually. When? Maybe not now, but eventually. Get your heart established by grace by building it in practice upon the words of Christ. You will be a wise, prudent man if you do.