“God is always smiling at you…. Even if you are in stubborn sin….no problem! The Holy Spirit does not convict believers of sin!” That’s a message that the hyper-grace/nonsensical ‘new’ covenant pastors/preachers want their unsuspecting audiences to hear. But is this true? But is this biblical?
THE ANSWER FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS
After an elaborate discussion in Acts chapter 15 the council of the Apostles came up with this decision: ” For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28,29). Please note the phrase above which goes this way: “it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” (v. 28). What seemed good? Abstaining from sexual immorality (v. 29). So, it can be safely concluded that both the Holy Spirit and the word preached by the apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (like Heb. 13:4, ‘let your marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral…’) will convict us of sin, if we believers become sexually immoral.
THE ANSWER FROM CORINTHIANS
Raad 2 Corinthians 12:21. It goes this way: “I am worried that when I come to visit that my God will humble me somehow before you, that I will have to grieve over all those who have sinned before and then refused to turn away from their addictions to impure practices, immoral sex, and reckless perversions” (2 Cor. 12:21 The Voice). If Apostle Paul was grieved at the stubborn sin of the Corinthian believers, what makes us think that God the father, God the Son, and God the Spirit who inspired his writings was happy when the same thing goes on in the modern believer – stubborn, unrepentant sin (2 Tim. 3:16)?!
THE ANSWER FROM EPHESIANS
Paul writes this very clearly elsewhere: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption…” (Eph. 4:30). Again the context of this verse is sin in the life of the believer – sin for which there is no repentance – See the verse above and below: Eph. 4:29-31: “29Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.” If the Holy Spirit is grieved over stubborn sin in the life of the believer, what makes us think that God the father will be smiling? He certainly is not!
THE ANSWER FROM THE BOOK OF JAMES
The hyper-grace cult teaches that the Holy Spirit only convicts the world of sin – he never convicts believers of sin (John 16:8). But the fact of the matter is that even believers can become worldly (See James 4:4). So when believers become worldly, the Holy Spirit will definitely convict them of sin (if they are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit). And believers who are stubborn in sin are called, ‘adulterers’ in James 4:4 – not children of God. And those stubborn in sin will not inherit the Kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:9,10).
THE ANSWER FROM REVELATION
Come with me to the book of Revelation to understand this further. These are the words of Jesus to the church believers/leaders of Thyatira who tolerate sexual sin and won’t repent from it: ’20But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling. 22Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds. 23Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.’ (Rev. 2:20-23). If Jesus is upset over unrepentant sin among the believing folk and, at times, may even release punishment for it, here and now (not to forget the ultimate punishment of hell) as seen above, then what makes us think that God the Father is smiling at us when we are in stubborn in sin without any mind for repentance?
Do not believe the hypergrace/nonsense ‘new covenant’ teachers and go to hell with them!
If you are living in stubborn sin, repent right now! Otherwise we store God’s wrath – not pleasure – for us down the line (Romans 2:4-5). If you are wondering, where such a teaching is found in Romans – a letter written for believers, here are the verses I refer to: ‘Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Rom. 2:4-5).
In the book of Revelation, we clearly see that the Holy Spirit is convicting church believers of sin and calling them through Jesus for repentance. The phrase ‘he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ is often repeated by Jesus as he addresses different church believers in different locations, in the book of Revelation (Rev. 2:7,11, 17,29; 3:6, 13,22). And what was one thing that Jesus repeatedly told church believers/leaders (in sin, including the sin of sexual immorality, See Rev. 2:20-22)? This: REPENT (Rev. 2:5,16, 21,22; 3:3; 3:19). So, the Holy Spirit does the work of convicting believers of sin and calling them to repentance.
Do not believe the lies of the hyper-grace cult teachers and go to hell (which is where they will go, if they do stop teaching their lies).
(Duke Jeyaraj is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission. Find out more at www.dukev.org).
