Grace Doesn’t Do Moral Darkness, You Know
Published on Facebook, August 12, 2010
By Bud Powell
God cannot be the source of disobedience, for that
would be to deny Himself."God is light, and Him is no darkness at all,
" is the way James puts it.
Paul puts it this way, "For the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world...." [Titus2:11,12]
How can you say that you can live in an ungodly way
because you believe in grace? Grace teaches something else. In the school of
grace you learn to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. In that school you
learn to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.
So, why would those who talk of grace lie to one
another? Why would they lie about their ministers and elders? Why would they thumb
their noses at the judicatories of the church? Why would they say, "Lord,
Lord," and do not the things that Jesus said?
Must the minister apologize to his congregation for
teaching them what the Scriptures say about esteeming highly those who are over
them; a text that specifically applies to the officers of the church who are to
admonish the unruly? [1Thess. 5:12-14] "Are over" means to have rule,
to preside, to administer. The Lord Jesus has prescribed a government and order
to His church. Must the minister be sorry that is written in the Scripture and
apologize for it? Must parents apologize to their children because the
Scripture says, "Honor your Father and your Mother?" Does the
Scripture and grace teach us to hate our parents and spurn them even unto their
deaths? To defy and slander those who try to obey this order? Even worse, are
we to be abettors of those who live unruly lives? The order prescribed in
the Bible is also the word of God.
Of course the rebels always have a ready response.
They like the idea that there is truth on both sides of everything and are
ready, "You must be Roman Catholic and deny the priesthood of the believer
and the freedom of the Christian." Neat, self comforting, and wrong.
The principle is right, the application is damnable.
This perversion and corruption of grace does not
come from heaven, but from somewhere else. It is a wisdom that does not descend
from above but arises from the world, the flesh, and the devil.
"For where envying and strife is, there is
confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, andeasy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality, and without hypocrisy." James 3:16, 17
A good minister will refuse profane old wives
fables, but will be nourished upon the words of faith and of good doctrine and
will exercise himself unto godliness. [see 1Tim. 4:6] Godliness means obeying
God and not the tizzy fits that silly women have. ["silly women" is
to be considered as a single idea, denoting only one class of women. The Bible
also speaks of wise, sober, and godly women who do not run from house to house
stirring up strife in the church.]
Not only is sin contrary to grace, but the counsel
that aids and abets the behavior is also not of grace. That which is contrary
to godliness cannot be of grace. Every work of darkness is contrary to grace
and is to be reproved, rebuked, and corrected, or what is the ministry for?
Jesus was no enabler and comfort for those who rebelled against the truth.
Neither must we be. Love does not do evil against his brother.
"They say still unto them that despise me, The
LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh
after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you."
--Jer. 23:17
