Category: Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace

Solid Bible Teaching Against False Teachings Like Hyper-Grace, Hyper-Supernaturalism, Immortality on Earth, Annihilation, etc.

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace

God the Father: The Biblical View Vs The Emotional View

Duke Jeyaraj

In a month when we celebrate Father’s Day (it falls on June 20th, this year), it will be appropriate to study the character of God as a Father so that we fathers can copy him. The Old Testament repeatedly presents God as the Father (though some wrongly believe God is a consuming fire in the Old Testament but a loving Father in the New Testament, influenced by hyper-grace false teaching which largely appeals to people who do not take time to read the Bible fully and comprehensively). You will be surprised to know that even the Old Testament clearly teaches that God is a Loving Father. However, he is not the Loving Father, the hyper grace cult false teachers paint him to be via their popular-on-Youtube worship songs and their doing-violence-to-the-full-counsel-of-God sermons.  

THE PLAN

It was God’s eternal plan to be a father to us. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes this known. He writes, ‘For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering’ (Hebrews 2:10 ESV). God had an Eternal Son. He enjoyed the fellowship with him he had very much. He wanted more sons and daughters – sons and daughters who would be fully human albeit. The addition of these children will bring joy to God the Father. The joy will be for the kids as well as they fellowshipped with their heavenly dad! To bring more children to glory the Eternal son suffered on the Cross – that is the message of Hebrews 2:10.

THE PAIN

One of the earliest mentions in the Bible which introduces God as a Father to us is in Exodus 4. The Lord instructed Moses to say these words to Pharoah: “Let My son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Now I will kill your firstborn son!” (Exodus 4:21,23 HCSB). When we were slaves of sin, God sought to make us, sinners, sons! So, he sent Jesus to die for us to endure pain on the Cross. When we repent of our sins and come to him in faith, we become sons and daughters of God (John 1:12).

THE PAIRING

The next Old Testament reference to God as a Father is found in the Song of Moses. In that classic Holy Spirit inspired song, Moses presents Israel as God’s son. He sang, “They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish. A perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus deal with the Lord; O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has he not made you and established you?” (Deut. 32:5-6 NKJV). One key thing I learnt from this passage is this: The Father God imagery is not only imagery for God in the Bible. In the same song of Moses, God is compared to “the Rock” (see Deut. 32:4, 15, 30) and the Eagle (see Deut. 32:11). Those who teach that God is only a loving Father and nothing else are clearly wrong. In Hebrews 12, God is presented both as a COMPASSIONATE FATHER (vs. 5-6) and a CONSUMING FIRE (vs. 12)! So, we must always pair the imagery of a loving father present in the Bible with other imageries for God in the Bible. The Bible says, “It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes” (Eccl. 7:18, NIV).

Prophet Isaiah, the prophet with the best vocabulary amongst all Bible writers, connects the transcendence of God with the picture of God as the Father in Isaiah 63:15-16. Though ‘God looks down from heaven’ (a phrase that talks about his transcendence), as Isaiah put it in Isaiah 63:15, he is also ‘our Father’ (as Isaiah expressed it in Isaiah 63:16)! The Christian Faith is unique because it is the only faith where the dwelling-in-Heaven God is the same person who like our doting-us-on-Earth Dad! The Bible remarkably pairs these two unlike qualities in one and the same person – our eternal God!

THE PRIVILEGE WHICH COMES WITH…

Prophet Jeremiah, the Bible Prophet who wrote the most-worded Bible Book in the Bible, also introduces God as the Father. He writes, “For I am a Father to Israel. And Ephraim is My first-born” (Jeremiah 31:9b, NASB). To have God as our Father is a privilege. But that privilege comes with a responsibility. What responsibility? To be fruitful! The word, “ephraim” means to “doubly-fruitful” in Hebrew. “Since I am your Father, you must be doubly-fruitful, Israel” – that was Prophet Jeremiah’s inspired message. Since God is our Father, we must be holy! How did I make this connection? In John 17:11 in the high priestly prayer, Jesus called his father, as the Holy Father! So as children of the holy father, we too must be holy in our day to day lives! Apostle James also attaches responsibilities to those who call God as Father. He wrote, “With it (the tongue) we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God” (James 3:9, NASB). Those who enjoy the love of the Father (privilege) should love people around them and speak kindly to them (responsibility). James made another connection between privilege of knowing God as the loving father and a connected responsibility of taking care of the poor and the needy. He does so here: ‘Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world’ (James 1:27). Apostle Peter also attaches responsibilities with those who call God as a Father. If we call God as Father, we must be ready to be sanctified and obey the Lord Jesus, Apostle Peter teaches (I Peter 1:2). He further writes, ‘And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile’ (I Peter 1:17). While can celebrate the privilege of calling God as our Father, we must not forget the responsibility we have in showing him a holy reverence and healthy fear!

THE PERIL

Prophet Hosea perhaps paints the most moving picture of God as a Father in the entire Bible. Here is his unmatched, emotion-stirring depiction: ‘Eternal One: When Israel was a child, I loved him; and out of Egypt I called My son. But the more I called to Israel, the more they walked away from Me. They kept on sacrificing to other divine mastersand burning incense to idols! But I was the one who taught Ephraim to walk, holding him up by his arms, but his people didn’t know I was the One who took care of them. I led them along with leather cords; with ropes of love I showed them the way. As I dealt with them, I lifted the yoke from their neck; I bent down to give them their food’ (Hosea 11:1-4, The Voice). Here we see how the people of Israel walked away from God their father who reminds them of his great love for them almost fighting back his tears. Does this love continue forever without ever stopping? The hyper grace cult false teachers who present God as the father compare him with earthly fathers. They ask, “Do you stop becoming your earthly father’s son, if you rebel against him? You don’t. In the same way the Heavenly Father will never stop loving you even if you walk away from him, stubbornly, for the rest of your life – you are in no danger of being punished by him. You still remain His Son!” Really? The very next verse post the greatest Bible passage on God’s fatherly love we see God sending a punishment for the people of Israel who spurned his fatherly love: “They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria – he will be their king. Because they refused to return to me” (Hosea 11:5, NASB). Prophet Hosea foretold the end of the northern Kingdom of Israel, also known as Ephraim, here. As he foretold the Assyrians overtook them in 722 B.C. So, there is a real peril if you keep spurning the love of the Father God and keep indulging your flesh. Romans 11:22 warns that if we spurn God’s kindness (expressed by His Fatherly nature), we are in the real danger of being “cut off”.

In fact, Prophet Hosea who painted God as a loving father in Hosea 11 portrays him as an upset and furious Bear-Lion-Wild Beast in Hosea 13. He writes, “I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open. He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper” (Hos. 13:8-9 ESV). So, what is full message of Hosea? It is this: God loves you as a father. But if you are stubborn in rebelling against Him and chasing after sin, he reserves the right to become as an angry bear-Lion-wild beast who can ultimately send you to hell.

Using memorable word-number picture, the author of Revelation, Apostle John teaches when one calls God as his father (Rev. 14:1) he needs to “follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev. 14:4) that is, obey Jesus in all areas of his life! Read Revelation 21:7-8 very carefully and you will understand this: those for whom God is a Father will be the ones who “conquer” (Satan, Self and Sin); they will be the ones who have turned from hell-populating sins such as sexual immorality, murder, sorcery, idolatry, lying, etc.

THE PARENTING

Having understood comprehensively the Fatherly Nature of God as per the Word of God we fathers must parent like God for Apostle Paul call believers to become “imitators of God” (Eph. 5:1). That means just as God disciples his kids moved by great love so that his kids may “share his holiness” (Heb. 12:7-10) we fathers must discipline our kids. We must not hesitate to give them whacks when necessary! Those whacks would be a God-intended way of wooing them to grow in holiness!  We must discipline our kids when they live in sins such as sexual immorality (porn-watching, affairs, gadget-addiction, etc) and not look the other way like King David apparently did when Amnon raped Tamar. Prophet Eli finally spoke some words of restraint when his sons went astray in a brazen manner (but it came far too late as God had already planned to execute judgment on them – check out I Samuel 2:12-25). The Nelson Study Bible notes, “Eli had warned his sons of divine judgment (I Sam. 2:25), but he never really rebuked them for their sins (I Sam. 3:13). By neglecting his parental duty, he was in effect favouring his sons above God.” Fathers let us not parent like King David and Priest Eli, but like God!

Let us return to a biblical view of God the Father shunning our hyper-grace cult impacted view of God the Father!

(This article was published in Aim Magazine June 2021 edition. Aim is published by the Evangelical Fellowship of India. Duke, the author of this piece is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission, the G4 Mission. This is a viewer-supported, reader-supported Indian ministry. You may hear Duke preach at http://www.Youtube.com/VisitDuke. You may buy his book on sex, love, marriage, porn, phone addiction, etc. , via Amazon (the kindle edition) or Google Books (the e-book). For the print version of this book which is seen as a text book on taboo topics please whatsapp us at +91-8886040605 and we will send you the payment link.)

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace Lent Devotion

BYE BESETTING SIN, THANKS TO THE BLOOD!

Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj

If it is not possible to overcome besetting sin in our lives as believers, the Bible will not even call us for it. But it does! Hear the writer of the letter to the Hebrews: “Therefore, seeing we also are compassed by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 KJ21).

There are those who are merely satisfied with the cleansing work of the Cross. Does the Cross cleanse us from sin? Of course! Apostle John wrote, “the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all Sin” (I John 1:7 ESV).

The Cross of Christ does more than just PURIFICATION. It gives us POWER over habitual sin. The Cross of Christ does more than just WASH away sin. It gives us the wherewithal to WALLOP sin! The Cross of Christ does more than just CLEAN sin. It enables us to CRUSH sin’s grasp over us!

The connection between the Cross of Christ and victory over besetting sin is so clearly established in Scripture that we will have to be stone-blind or be heavily influenced by cultic hyper-grace hell-populating teaching not to notice it.

Apostle Peter expressed it clearly. He wrote, “He(Christ) himself bore our sins on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (I Peter 2:24 ESV). Apostle Paul penned the same thing using different words and imagery: “Those who belong to Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). And when he wrote in Galatians 6:14, “the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and to the world” he was saying this: “thanks to the deep work of the Cross in my life, the besetting sin of worldliness is now dead (crucify here means death) in me!”  Jesus died so that we might have victory over sin in our day to day lives.

Let me talk about various “P”s that help us understand how the blood of Christ gives us victory over daily, besetting sin.

PEACE & THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Prophet Isaiah wrote, “the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him” (Isaiah 53:5). When we choose to sin against the Lord as a believer, the first result is a loss of peace. The knowledge that we will lose our peace when we sin should strongly deter us from walk down the familiar path of sin. Yes, that journey to watch a web series full of erotic scenes is not worth it for it destroys our peace which was given to us because of the work of the Cross. Yes, that online affair outside the boundaries of marriage is not simply worth it because our serenity goes for a Six (to borrow a Cricket imagery)! Apostle Paul wrote, “we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” (Romans 5:1 NLT) on the Cross. “When I commit a wanton wickedness against my Lord, my peace will go for a huge Six. I don’t want that to happen. So, I will overcome the temptation before me by tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit!” That is what we should say. That is what we should do.

PRECIOUSNESS & THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

The Bible says, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ” (I Peter 1:18-19). When we realize the preciousness of the blood of Christ, we will realize how atrocious it is when we keep returning to same old sin (that porn-watching, that drunkenness, that abusive language, etc.).

Hosea’s wife left him to go to the Red Light area for prostitution. But that did not put a red light (stop) on his love for her. He bought back his wife from the Red Light District operators  by paying 15 pieces of silver, five bushels of barley and a measure of wine (Hosea 3:2). These things were by no means cheap those days. They were very expensive. Exodus 21:32 and Zechariah 11:12 tells us that the price of slave in the Jewish slave market was 30 shekels of silver. Translate that into today’s world where to ‘buy’ a kidney also you need to shell out a bomb. Imagine the price of one full individual, then! Hosea paid this monstrous amount, part in silver (15 pieces), part in agricultural produce (five bushels of barley and a measure of wine). After redeeming her, Hosea told her not to return to the Red Light area as a prostitute (Hosea 3:3). She had to put a ‘red light’ (stop) on her life of sin having experienced a love from her husband which did not stop even though she went into the red light area! Having been bought with something far more precious that Prophet Hosea paid for his wife, which is the precious blood of Jesus, we must also take efforts to overcome sin. Since we were “bought” with a price – the utterly precious blood of Jesus – we must glorify God in our body, the Apostle Paul wrote (I Corinthians 6:20). We must stay away from sinful habits that destroy our souls and bodies – torrid habits such as masturbation coupled with porn-watching, alcohol/drug consumption, sexual activity outside marriage, etc.

THE PROFANING & THE BLOOD OF JESUS

The author of the book of Hebrews wrote these powerful lines: “How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned blood of the covenant by he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of Grace?” (Hebrews 10:29 RSV). And when do we profane the blood of Christ? The same author answers this question very directly: “when we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth” (Hebrews 10:26 NIV). So, when we are tempted to watch that profane web series that is showing in that popular streaming service (Netflix and the likes) we must tell ourselves this: “If I watch that, I would profane the precious blood of Jesus which I do not want to do. So, I will overcome that temptation empowered by the Spirit!”

Yes, it is possible to beat besetting sin through the blood of Jesus!

THE PERSECUTION & THE BLOOD OF JESUS

John observed in the Book of Revelation this: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not lives even unto death” (Rev. 12:11). Yes, end-time believers overcame “the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev. 12:9) through the blood of the Lamb (the Lord Jesus Christ). The Devil tried to threaten these believers with severe persecution but because they were inspired by the blood of the Lamb they did not “love their lives so much that they were afraid of death” (EXB version of Rev. 12:11). Jesus was extremely bold as he marched toward the Cross. While his disciples ran helter-skelter when the Roman arrest party came, he very boldly marched towards them saying, “I am he (the one you have come to arrest)!” (John 18:4-6). His bold voice threw the arrest party on the floor. They were flabbergasted.  He was that bold! So, his blood gives us the courage in the face of persecution that can came to us for saying ‘no’ to sin. Therefore when we say ‘no’ to sin inspired by the blood of Jesus this complaint that the writer to the Hebrews made about his congregation will be no longer true about us: “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4 RSV). Instead of compromising with sin trying to escape the brickbats, inspired by the blood of the Lamb we will conquer sin despite the onslaught of severe persecution which may come from the Government, from your boss in the place of work.

Keep connecting the above-mentioned four “P”s – Peace, Preciousness, Profaning, Persecution – with the Cross of Christ! Habitual sin, which the Bible clearly warns us against (I John 3:6), will be a thing of the past!

This article was published in Evangelical Fellowship of India’s AIM magazine (April 2021 edition). Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj, is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission. He has preached by invitation in over 20 Indian States and in five nations, in a ministry that has spread over three decades. His book, STRAIGHT TALK (on Sex, Love, Marriage, Porn, Sexting, Phone Addiction, wise life partner choice, happy marriage, and More), is seen by some as a Reference Text Book on what the Bible has to say on these Taboo Topics, and is available on Amazon and Google Books. Alternatively, you can reach out to him via WhatsApp at 91-8886040605 or email to emailduke@gmail.com to buy a copy.

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace Deep Disciples of Jesus Shaping Article

HOPE YOU WILL CHOOSE TO ENDURE; IF NOT HERE IS THE CURE!

Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj

November 16 is the International Day of Endurance.

A prominent worship leader with a popular worship band said that he was leaving the Christian Faith. That was just barely three weeks after a popular author of a best-selling book that called generations of Americans to sexual purity (‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye’ was the book’s name) did the same.

Are you, my believer friend, tempted to give up faith? Don’t!

There is a cure for those who won’t choose to endure! What cure? It is to learn once-again in a memorable way what the Bible teaches on spiritual endurance!

Do you know that the Bible calls for spiritual endurance, repeatedly? It does so using three approaches:

  1. COMMANDS THAT CALL FOR ENDURANCE

The New Testament writers call believers to endure in their salvation using a POSITIVE approach in the following Scriptures: ‘But all of you who endure to the end shall be saved’ (Math.10:22);  ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples’ (John 8:31, RSV); “When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is dead wood, gathered up and thrown on bonfire” (John 15:56, MSG); ‘Keep your eyes open for spiritual danger, stand true to the Lord’(1 Cor. 16:13); ‘ For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end’(Heb. 3:14); “Don’t quit, even if it costs your life. Stay there believing. I have life-crown sized and ready for you”(Rev. 2:10); “Keep tight grip on what you have ,so one distracts you and steal your crown” (Rev. 3:11). Starting from 1 Corinthians 10:12 – ‘So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!’ –

How do we persist in our salvation? Systematic Theologian J. Rodman Williams explains: We do so by our abiding (1 John 2:24-25; Heb. 2:1,3.Jn 15:3-4,6,7), we do so by our continuing (Col. 1:21-23; Rom. 11:11,22; 1 Tim. 4:16), we do so by our enduring (2 Tim. 2:10-12; Heb. 10:34-39,Matt. 24:12,13), we do so by our firmness (Heb 3:1-6, 2 Pet. 1:10-11,5-7;2:1,20,21) and we do so by our faithfulness (Rev. 2:10, 2:4-5, Heb 3:1-6, Heb. 6:4-8).

We are not talking about salvation by works here. We are talking about guarding our salvation by continued faith, exactly the same way we were saved by faith in the first place. I learnt truth from Apostle Peter who wrote: “who (those born again, v.3) by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (I Pet. 1:5, ESV).  We are saved by faith. And we guard our faith by faith. Yes, we are saved by faith and not works. But if that faith is alone and does not propel us to endurance, that faith is not real, saving faith (the message of the book of James is this very thing – James 2:20,26).

There is another way this very same truth is taught in Scripture. Let me explain: Without holiness no one will see God (Heb. 12:14). And nobody can live holy – say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions – unless they are enabled by the grace of God (Titus 2:11,12). So a grace-enabled life helps us to live holy and endure in our salvation!

We just saw how the New Testament calls the believer for endurance using a POSITIVE approach. The New Testament also calls us to endurance using a NEGATIVE approach:

2. CAUTIONS THAT CALL FOR ENDURANCE

We can think of several Scriptures in this regard:

2 Peter 3:17 says, “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall your secure position.” Peter couldn’t have stated this better.

2 Peter 3:18, in fact, expresses the same warnings in the positive terms: ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’  If there was no real possibility of a believer permanently backsliding, that one has to admit Spirit-inspired writers of scripture were joking here or I dare say, lying! But they were not. They were calling each one for spiritual endurance by writing these words! In a discussion like this, we cannot leave out the famous passage in Hebrews 6:4-8. Commenting on this key text, Grant R. Osborne says, ‘In conclusion we must say there is no more powerful or detailed description of the true Christian in the New Testament, yet one has to be stone-blinded not to note that they were in the real peril of falling away.’ Osborne further points out that if this passage was found in Romans 8, it would be considered as the most eloquent summary of the blessings of a believer! He summarizes brilliantly the danger of apostasy so persuasively and passionately presented in the book of Hebrews this way: Pay attention, lest you drift away, 2:1-4; do not harden your heart, lest you fail, 3:1-19. Fear not lest you fall short, 4:1-13; Press on, lest you fall away, 5:11-6:12; Hold fast lest you die, 10:19-39; be careful, lest you fall short, 12:1-17.

After having called the believe to endure spiritually, using both a positive as well as negative approach, the New Testament goes one goes one step further. We will discuss that in the next point.

3. CHARACTERS WHO SHOWED NO ENDURANCE

In the parable of the Sower, Jesus spoke of those ‘who believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away’ (Luke 8:13). Jesus clearly predicted, ‘At that time many will turn away from the faith. The love of most will grow cold’ (Matt. 24:10, 12).  1 Timothy 4:19 is blunt: some have shipwrecked their faith! Demas – a fellow-preacher in Paul’s ministry team – deserted Paul and perhaps even the faith for ‘he loved the world’ (2 Tim. 4:10). Peter described some teachers in the church who had known the way of righteousness yet turned their backs on the sacred commandment that was passed on to them (2 Peter 2:20-22). If they had turned their backs of the sacred commandments then without a shadow of doubt they had their faces set on the commandments – they were believers – once upon a time! But they became apostate. Finally, Revelation 22:19 shows that some believers can have their names removed from the book of life. Another example of actual apostasy could be Ananias and Sapphira. F.F.Bruce writes, “We cannot be sure that they were not believers, unless we are prepared to say that no one who is guilty of a deliberate deceit cannot be a true Christian. The thrust of the Simon the Socerer narrative in Acts leads us to conclude that there was a possibility of serious sin by the members of the church which could lead to their exclusion from eternal life, but at the same time there was a possibility of their repentance and restoration. In the Bible the root word for faith and faithfulness is the same. One can’t have one without the other.” Yes, Simon the Socerer is another real example of a New Testament believer character who did not endure. Acts 8:13 is very clear – Simon himself believed and was baptized. But as he had become ‘captive to sin’ (Acts 8:23), he needed urgently repent before it was too late (Acts 8:22).

But these characters who did not endure are matched by those who did. Stephen endured. And Church throws up more names in this regard: Polycarp, Tyndale, etc. Some recent additions have been: John Allen Chau (North Sentinel Island Missionary Martyr), the Coptic Christians slain by the ISIS (you have seen a WhatsApp video of their slaying – haven’t you?)

4. COUPLED WITH PROMISES ARE ENDURANCE CALLS (if you carefully notice)

As I bring this essay to a close, I want to encourage you by saying that Jesus has prayed for your spiritual endurance!  Jesus prayer was that the Father would “keep” the disciples (John 17:11, 15, 24). The very fact, Jesus is praying for them is proof that Jesus understood the real danger of them being lost for otherwise they would not need to be guarded through Spirit-enabled, grace of God-enabled endurance. According to Howard Marshall, John 17 should not be seen in isolation from John 15:16 and John 16 which warn the disciples about ‘falling away’.

The promise of John 10:28, 29 that no one can pluck us from God’s hand should not be divorced from John 10:2 where Jesus gives the condition for this promise: “my sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.” It is to be noted that all the verbs in this verse – especially ‘hear’ – is in present indicative sense in Greek original. Robert Shank notes, “The honest characteristic of the Greek present indicative is that it denotes the action is in progress.” There the incredible promise – “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them away from me” – is only of whom Jesus can say, “My sheep keep listening to my voice, and they keep following me!”

Wuest’s translation of John 5:24, where-in he correctly retains the present tense (‘having eternal life’) argues powerfully against using it as a text against spiritual endurance: “Most assuredly, I am saying to you He who habitually hears my word and is believing the one whom he has sent me, has life eternal …..” David Pawson brilliantly flows along this thought-line when he preached from Hebrews, that “these people [the Old-Testament believers of Hebrews 11) was still living by faith when they died”(Heb. 11:13). This clearly shows that faith should be a present possession for a believer – in other words, the believer must endure – in order to make the wonderful eternal security promises found in the New Testament work for him.

Apostle Paul wrote these glowing words of confidence: “I know him in whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed to him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). This did not mean that Apostle Paul did not believe in ongoing spiritual endurance. The same Paul wrote these glorious lines of promise which certainly indicate while he was certain that God would keep him, he also never forgot his responsibility to endure enabled by God’s grace. I Corinthians 9:27 talks about how serious Paul was when it came to exercising Spirit-empowered self-discipline with regard to ongoing, sexual, bodily purity (a stubborn failure in this, meant disqualification for Paul). Paul also worked out his salvation – needless to say, enabled by the Grace of God – with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). The Paul-penned sure promise of salvation in I Corinthians 3:15 – ‘he himself will be saved’ – is not absolving anyone from the need to endure. Otherwise why would there be a warning for those who fail to endure right below that promise, penned by the same Paul (See I Cor. 3:16,17; 6:13; 9:27).

The second last verse of Jude read this way: “Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault” (Jude 23 NLT). What a glorious promise! To whom was this given? It was given to those who “keep (themselves) in the love of God” (Jude 21). Yes, the ‘God-can-keep-you-from-falling’ is for those with a Spirit-empowered willingness to endure in the love of God!

(This article was published in Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Aim magazine, November 2020 issue. Duke is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission, G4 Mission. This is a reader supported ministry. Find out more at http://www.dukev.org).

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace Problem Bible Passages Practically Explained

Does the Philippians 2:12 phrase, ‘Work out your salvation with fear and trembling’, Imply Salvation By Works?

Duke Jeyaraj answers this question and brings out the main message of Philippians 2

The reading of Philippians 2 reveals a clear pattern. This pattern compares two categories. Jesus put sinners ahead of himself and died for them on the cross (Phil. 2:6-10). Timothy put the welfare of the church at Philippian before his own welfare (Phil. 2:19-24). Epaphroditus placed the life of Apostle Paul ahead of his life (Phil. 2:25-30). We must keep this pattern in mind as we interpret Philippians 2:12 where we read this: “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (ESV). The very next verse says this: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13, ESV). This is the pattern of comparison in Philippians 2:12-13: the work of God in the life of the believer who works out his salvation with fear and trembling. As pointed out above, the second category in the comparison pair is more important than the first category (sinners were more important than himself for Jesus; the welfare of the church at Philippi was more than his own welfare for Timothy; the life of Apostle Paul was more than his own life for Epaphroditus). Keeping the same pattern in mind, we can confidently say this: the work of God in our salvation is more important than we ourselves working out our salvation for the simple reason that it is God who enables, empowers us to do that work. It is not a self-work, but a God-powered work! So, the glory goes to God, not to us! The credit goes to God, not to us! So, Philippians 2:12-13 when it is seen in the clearly seen full context of Philippians chapter 2 does not teach salvation by works. “Christians are recipients of God’s initiatives of motivation and empowerment”.[1]

One principle we must follow to correctly interpret the epistles is this: we must read the letter in one sitting (don’t we do the same when it comes to any normal letter?).[2] When I wrote a letter proposing marriage to the Chennai-located Evan (my wife) in the year 1999 as a 25-year-old Bible College student in Bangalore, she read that letter of several paragraphs in one sitting! So, if we read Paul’s letter to the Philippi church in one sitting we will not stop until we read the last verse of the letter which is this: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with your spirit” (Phil. 4:23 ESV). So, what is the implication of this verse? All the things that Apostle Paul wanted the Philippian believers to do (including ‘working out their salvation with fear and trembling’) must be done enabled by the grace of the Lord Jesus, and through self-effort!

So, a total trust in God’s enabling grace would enable obedience to the command, ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling’ (Phil. 2:12; Eph. 2:8-9). Elsewhere, in two places, Paul couples the gracious enablement of God with this choice use that enablement to work hard. Colossians 1:29 is one such place: “To this end I strenuously content with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me” (NIV). Though it is Paul who strenuously contents, we must not forget the complete enablement for this came from energy that Christ gave him! I Corinthians 15:10 is the another place where Paul places God’s enablement along his choice to work hard: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (NIV). So, even if I as a believers work out my salvation with fear and trembling, it is not me who works, but the grace of God that is within me (I Cor. 15:10 adapted into Phil. 2:12-13).

What will be the fruit of working out our salvation with fear and trembling? Paul describes this in Phil. 2:14-18. There are things that we will not do: (1) we will not ‘grumble’ (Phil. 2:14), (2) we will not question authorities God has placed over us unfairly (Phil. 2:14), and, (3) we will not copy the crooked and depraved generation around us (the porn-watching, bi-sexuality embracing, bad-language-using generation). There are things we will do: (1) we will hold fast to the Word of Life (Phil. 2:16) – we will be diligent in Bible Study,(2) we will be ready to pour our very life for the sake of the Gospel (Phil. 2:17) – like how Jim Elliot, John Allen Chau were ready to do) and, (3) we will be glad and rejoice with our fellow believers (Phil. 2:18) – our happiness will not be dependent on happenings, but on Him (Paul was in a prison as he wrote this letter – Phil. 1:7). And if we worked out our salvation with fear and trembling enabled by God’s grace what is the reward? “In the day of Christ” (the final day of judgment) we will make our spiritual mentors proud (Phil. 2:16). Notice this here: holiness is as important as forgiveness to inherit eternal life on the final day of Christ!

Yes, salvation is by grace (Eph. 2:8-9), but it will always result in good works (Eph. 2:10). Doing these good works will not save us. But if we are truly saved, we will produce Grace-enabled, Holy Spirit empowered good works as described in Phil. 2:14-18.

What the connection between the humiliation and exaltation of Christ as described in Phil. 2:5-11 and the call the quit ‘grumbling and questioning’ in Phil. 2:14? Phil. 2:1-2 provides the clue. It is a call for unity among church believers. They were perhaps arrogantly opposing the leadership of the church. They were surely grumbling against the leadership of the church. This had to stop. Gordon Fee explains: “Go to Phil. 2:12-13. Now what is the point? Notice, how ‘therefore’ clearly signals that this is the conclusion. Given Christ’s example, they are now to obey Paul. In what? Surely in having unity, which also requires humility’.[3]

Even today what Paul wrote is applicable. Yes, church leadership should be held accountable. But at the same time, we must not fight with church leadership for petty, silly reasons. When the church leadership embraces hell-populating false teaching we must oppose them. When they act in a way that the kingdom of God is destroyed we must act. Otherwise, we must humble ourselves and work alongside the local church leadership.

[1] Richard R. Melick Jr., The HCSB Large Print Study Bible (Nashville, TN: 2015), 2044.

[2] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Hyderabad, India: Authentic Books, 2008), 59.

[3] Ibid., 68.

(Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission. This is a reader-supported Indian ministry. Find out more at http://www.dukev.org. Watch Duke at http://www.youtube.com/visitduke).

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace US Presidential Elections 2020 Devotions

TATA TO FALSE TEACHING STARTING WITH TRUMP! BYE TO CULTS STARTING WITH BIDEN!

Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj brings key Bible Truth from the Biden-Trump Presidential Debates

Philip Elliot wrote the following lines after the third US Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump: ‘…a pair of men in their 70s vie for the White House in the final days of an unprecedented election cycle’ (Time, October 22, 2020). Between 60 to 70 million American were watching!

I watched both the debates live turning on my TV set at 6:30 a.m. As a preacher of the Gospel, I wanted to pick up some communication skills from most watched debate in the world – the US Presidential Debate!

From the first debate what stood out was the number of times Donald Trump interrupted Joe Biden or moderator Chris Wallace. It was a whopping 128 times (Slate, Sept. 30, 2020).

Apostle Paul was not an ‘interrupter’.  He loved to listen in full to what the other side was saying! As he wrote the New Testament under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, his preempts possibly questions from his readers and answered them in advance. That’s how much he wanted to listen first and respond to what others would say to he wrote down. Brad Price writes in his commentary on the Book of Romans this: “Paul knew his readers would sometimes have questions about his instructions and teachings, so in many instances he answered these questions in advance”. Wow! So instead of interrupting others, Paul was inviting interruptions as he spoke or wrote so that he could stop what he was doing, listen patiently and give a well-thought-out rejoinder!

So, what does he do in this connection in the book of Romans? He asks the question and answers them himself! One question he asked on his reader’s behalf was this: “So then, do the Jews have an advantage over the other nations? Does circumcision do anything for you?” (Romans 3:1, The Voice). Here is another question in the same category: “How should we respond to all of this? Is it good to persist in a life of sin so that grace may multiply even more?” (Romans 6:1, The Voice). He asked another question like the second question in chapter 3 itself. This was the question: “But if my lie serves only to point out God’s truth and bring Him glory, then why am I being judged for my sin?” (Rom. 3:7, The Voice).

How does Paul go about answering these questions? His answer to question number one about the Jewish advantage in receiving the Law much before Gentiles did was this: the large-scale disobedience to the Laws that God gave them would have the consequence of being objects of God’s wrath (Rom. 3:5). His answer to the second question about grace of God being used as a license for immorality was straight to the point: grace was not to be used as a license for immorality – and if anyone would think it was so, it would be pure slander (Rom. 3:8). Listen in to this, his classic response to question number two he pre-empted from readers of the letter to the Romans:  “By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom. 6:2, The Voice). He rehammers the same answer using different words:  “So what do we do now? Throw ourselves into lives of sin because we are cloaked in grace and don’t have to answer to the law? Absolutely not!” (Rom 6:15, The Voice).

In the same way we must also pre-empt the questions people may ask as we present Bible truth to them. For example, when you share the Gospel with friends from Islamic faith you can be almost sure that you will hear this question: “How sure are you that the Bible you are quoting from is reliable?” You must be ready with answers for such questions which you will come. Did not Apostle Peter tlelll us thing: “Always be ready to offer a defense, humbly and respectfully, when someone asks why you live in hope” (I Peter 3:15, The Voice). 

In the third and final debate between Trump and Biden held on October 23, 2020, Trump used an unforgettable imagery – ‘vacuum cleaner’ imagery! He said, “I don’t make money from China, you do. I don’t make money from Ukraine, you do…They’re (the Biden family) like a vacuum cleaner. They’re sucking up money every place he goes.” In his 2016 Election, Trump used another colourful imagery – ‘drain the swamp’ – as he fought Hillary Clinton’s challenge.

Prophet Isaiah, the prophet with the best vocabulary among all the different Bible writers (numbering about 40), filled his book with word pictures that taught spiritual truths. He wrote, “Jerusalem stands like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard; Like a hut in a melon field, like a city assaulted and besieged” (Isa. 1:8 The Voice).

Imagine a watchman in his shelter on the lookout for animals or petty thieves that would attack the vineyard and take away the grapes (that were particularly tasty in Jerusalem)! It’s just him in that hut! It is all green around! But no humans around! Imagine another watchman in a hut in a melon field. He is there to chase away the melon hurting animals. He is there to give thieves checking into the melon field a run a whack. But it is just him in that hut. He’s lonely. Let’s move onto the third imagery that Isaiah used in the same sentence – a word-picture loaded sentence! He compares a city which is surrounded by an enemy army. The people can’t go out for business. No flight taking off from its airport. No trains moving in or moving out. No buses plying. Why did Isaiah pen all this? He wanted to talk about the effects of sin to people of the southern part of Israel – a place where he was called to minister in. Sin would make you utterly lonely – that was the point he wanted to convey through the three terrific, can’t-be-taken-away-from-mind images.

When tempted by the lure of sin – be it by porn-watching, by extra-marital affair, by alcohol-consumption, etc. – we would do well to remember these Isaiah 1:8 images and win over those temptations enabled by the Grace of God (Titus 2:11,12). Jesus died for a lonely generation. That’s why he became lonely on the cross for your sake and my sake. How do I know he became lonely? I know from this his cry from the Cross: “My God! My God why have your forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). Jesus became lonely so that you and I can be friends with God (Rom. 5:1).


And Joe Biden, in the third debate said, “We are learning to live with the Corona Virus (as Trump says)? Come on! People are learning to die with it! You folks home that have an empty chair at the kitchen table this morning. That man or wife going to bed tonight reaching over trying to touch out of habit where the husband or wife was …. that person is gone. Learning to live with it? Come on! We are dying with it!”

Biden’s poignant statement reminds me of a key Bible truth that has been twisted by hyper-grace (unbiblical grace) pastors/teachers. They effectively say it is okay to remain in sin. They say that believers need not absolutely bother about what they call as ‘behavior modification’. They say believers should be only concerned about ‘heart transformation’. They encourage living in sin by statements like these: ‘And if today God punishes you for your sin, that would make God unholy’; ‘Even your future sins are automatically forgiven’

But the plain truth of the Bible is this: true heart transformation will always result in behavior modification. But the plain truth of the Bible is this: without holiness no one will see God (ofcourse by the Grace of God and by the Spirit of God we can live holy lives).  Apostle Paul wrote these lines for believers: Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (I Cor. 6:9-10). Just below this passage Paul warns believers in the stubborn sin of sexual immorality can be destroyed by God (I Cor. 6:13). Paul also wrote the same to believers in the church at Rome: ‘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?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). And a little later he emphatically wrote, ‘For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live’ (Rom. 8:13). Death, for the believer who deliberately and stubbornly lives in sin. And the ultimate meaning for death in the Bible is conscious torment in hell (Rev. 21:8). And the far-out meaning of life in the Bible is eternal life in the literal presence of God (2 Cor. 5:4). So, chose life, by choosing holy living which is made possible by the grace of God and the Spirit of God.

The Presidential Debates between Trump and Biden may have been done and dusted. But the Bible truths we have learnt starting from them is for us to keep remembering!

(Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj is founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission, the G4 Mission. This is a viewer-supported Indian ministry to presentday people. Find out more at http://www.dukev.org).

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace

“Only Reward Loss, But Place in Heaven Guaranteed!” Does I Cor. 3:13-15 Teach That?

Duke Jeyaraj answers.

Who said believers will not be judged? Heretic, hell-populating Bible Teachers will say that. Because their final court of appeal is not the Bible. But this: “Whatever sounds like music to people’s ears!”. Sad! Terrible! Deplorable! And what’s more the rise of such cultic false teachers is predicted in the Bible (see 2 Tim. 4:3 which goes this way: ‘For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables’).

The Bible says, like others believers will be judged. Romans 14:10 is clear: “We all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”

I Cor. 3:13-15 does not teach believers living in sin will be excused on judgement day. If Paul meant that why would he write in SAME BOOK this: “Or do you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, not men who practice homosexuality will inherit the Kingdom of God” (I Cor. 6:9). What I Cor. 3:13-15 is teaching is this: we will be rewarded as per the quality of ministry we do. This should concern the hyper-grace cult folks a lot. They have lowered and flouted Bible standards just as a fleshly way to attract crowds. They have made MBA Marketing Principles (‘always look to please the customer as your customer is god’) as their Bible.

However, for me the Bible is the final court of appeal, not MBA Marketing Techniques. I Cor. 3:13-15 does not teach that those stubborn-in-sin if they are believers will be somehow be saved. This is how I Cor. 3:13-15 reads (for those of us who are not familiar with those verses Apostle Paul penned): their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

David Pawson’s brilliance in explaining this verse – I Cor. 3:15 and what is above it – is simply unbeatable: “Once again, the whole verse needs to be quoted, including the first clause: ‘If it is burned up….’ If what is burned up? What a man has ‘built’ during his ministry to the body of Christ., whether ‘pioneer’ or ‘maintenance’ (here pictured as planting and watering). In other words, what is being judged here is a believer’s service, not his sins. There are great variations in quality of service. The fire of divine judgment will leave some intact (like gold, silver, and costly stones) but bring others to nothing (like wood, hay and stubble). But someone who at least sought to serve the Lord will survive, even though he is left with nothing to show for his labor or deserving a reward. That this is irrelevant to a believer’s sins, as distinct from his service, is immediately apparent from the very next verses: ‘Don’t you know that you are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him’ (I Cor. 3:16-17). In this context, the sin is to divide the Church into jealous and quarreling groups who ‘follow’ different servants of Christ rather than Christ himself. Elsewhere he applies the same charge to sexual immorality (I Cor. 6:18-19). We may get away with poor service (but only just), but WE WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH SIN!” (David Pawson, Once Saved, Always Saved?, page 160-161).

If I Cor. 3:15 taught that the worst thing that can happen to a believer on the day of judgment was only a reward-in-heaven loss, but never a place-in-heaven loss, why would Paul write in the SAME BOOK, this: “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified” (I Cor. 9:27). Paul had a healthy fear that he would be disqualified from heaven, if kept yielding to his body’s desires (in our context – he kept watching porn, he kept indulging in sexual immorality, etc). This view is further underlined by this fact: the next chapter – I Corinthians 10 – warns New Testament believers that they could be ‘destroyed’ (go to hell), if they indulged in sin with impunity (vs. 9,10,11). So Paul did not subscribe to the meaning and implication the hyper-grace cult teachers ascribe to I Corinthians 3:13-15. So, when Paul writes, “he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved”, he did mean this: God will not send anyone to hell, because of low ministry quality. But he clearly did not mean what the hyper-grace cultists teach: “God will not send any believer to hell, even if they live in stubborn sin!” If Paul believed this lie, he will not have penned I Cor. 6:9-11 (HELL FOR BELIEVERS STUBBORN IN SIN), I Cor. 9:27 (HELL FOR EVEN STUBBORN-IN-PREACHERS) and I COR. 10 (THE GOD WHO DESTROYED HIS STUBBORN-IN-SIN PEOPLE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT WONT HESITATE TO DO THE SAME FOR NEW TESTAMENT PEOPLE OF GOD DOING THE SAME THING).

—–

Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission (G4 Mission – www.dukev.org). This is a listener/reader supported Indian ministry to presentday people functioning since 2006. 

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace

THE COMPASSIONATE CONSUMING FIRE


Duke Jeyaraj responds to the oft-repeated hyper-grace teachers’ lie, “No judgement post-Cross”

“Won’t see God as an angry/punishing God anymore after the Cross..” “God is not fuming at sin now….”: This the unbiblical rubbish that hypergrace cult false teachers keep teaching. But the Bible does not teach that. Why did Paul preach about “coming judgment” after the CROSS (Acts 24:24-25)? He could have well skipped it, if he believed in the hyper-grace cult Gospel. But he did not. Jesus prayed for Ananias and Sapphira sitting at God’s right hand. Yet when they lied to the Holy Spirit they dropped dead. After giving them enough chances, God decided to end their lives (Acts 5). “My Spirit does not always strive with man….” Gen. 6:3. After striving with this believer couple who were under the NEW COVENENT God decided to send judgement upon them. This is not a stand-alone event. The angel of the Lord stuck down boasting Herod (Acts 12:20-23). This also happened after Jesus died on the Cross, rose again, ascended, sat next to the Father and started praying! So did the “angel of the Lord” who struck down Herod “insult” the “finished work of the Cross”? Please answer hyper-grace Bible-twisters! “God will DESTROY those who destroy God’s temple” wrote Paul to New Covenent believers (I Cor. 3:16-17). So GOD insulted Jesus’ finished work on the Cross, here? Please answer Hyper-grace teachers! James warned that believers who could not control their tongue were in the danger of going to hell – the ultimate place of God’s judgment (James 3:6). James did not believe in this hyper-grace false teaching: “No judgment post Cross!” The writer to the Hebrews writes, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers, God will judge!” (Heb. 13:4). The writer to the Hebrews did not believe that post-Cross, there was no judgement for believers. Jesus told the believers of the church in Thyatira that he would “throw her (a self-appointed prophetess who mislead his followers to commit immoral sexual acts) into her sickbed with those who commit adultery with her…:” Jesus further said, “I will punish her by striking her children dead.”(Rev. 2:20-23). So the post-Cross Jesus here insulted his own finished work, according to Hyper-grace wolves in sheep clothing? The Bible says, in the New Testament, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe…for our God is a consuming fire!” (Heb 12:28,29). He is a compassionate father but also a consuming fire. We must stress on BOTH these characteristics of God. Suffering, sickness, death is not always because of sin (Read John 9: 1 onwards to get this). But God can choose to allow these as acts of punishment after having given a person enough chances. Only God knows how many chances to give a person. Not preachers. Not you. Not me. But if a person is still stubborn in sin, God can move in judgement even now, post the Cross of Jesus. This we find in the Bible as I have shown above. So the message for the believer is this: REMAIN in Christ (John 15). “There is no condemnation to those who ARE in Christ Jesus (notice, it does not say here, “those who ONCE WERE in Christ Jesus!” (Rom. 8:1). Hyper-grace cult false teachers (unless they repent) are not only going to hell, but taking people there. That’s why we can’t simply keep watching this. God’s Word to us is this: “Pursue those who are singed by the flames of God’s wrath and bring them safely to Him.” (Jude 23 The Voice, NKJV for today).

(Dr. Duke Jeyaraj is an engineer (Allahabad University) turned doctor of ministry graduate (of SABC). Duke is also the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission, the G4 Mission, a ministry to presentday people, that’s supported by those who read/hear/watch Duke’s messages, voluntarily. Find out more by liking www.facebook.com/dukebook)

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace

“Jesus loves sinners. But only condemns the self-righteous!” Is this Popular Defense of Hyper-Grace Biblical?

Duke Jeyaraj answers

This is just a popular perception put out by cultic, hell-populating hyper-grace pastors/teachers. But if we carefully look at the Scriptures as a whole, we understand this: Jesus warned that stubborn sin will take ANYONE to hell – not just the Pharisees, Hypocrites and the Self-Righteous! Have you read this statement of Jesus, a statement that he made to someone he healed: “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.” (John 5:14, The Message). Because this man was a recipient of Jesus’ grace – he was healed even though he did not deserve healing – Jesus expected and demanded that he be grateful for that grace received by living a holy life, a temptation-beating life, a victory-over-sin life! Grace received must lead to holy living! That was Jesus’ point! That was the point of the Apostles as well. If we are truly grateful for God’s grace, we will say ‘no’ to ‘ungodliness’ and ‘worldly passions” (Titus 2:11,12). In fact the Grace of God enables us to say ‘no’ to sin, ANY SIN. Yes, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, a Pharisaical attitude, is a sin as is porn-watching, as is drunkenness, as is foul-language use, as is pride, as is lying, as is stealing, as is adultery. The writer to the Hebrews warned about this: we cannot ‘obtain’ the Grace of God and ‘maintain’ bitterness with people we have relationship-problems with (Heb. 12:15). This writer also says this: ‘those strengthened by grace’ (Heb. 13:9) should also keep their ‘marriage bed pure’ (Heb. 13:4), of course enabled by the same grace, lest they fall into God’s judgment (Heb. 13:4). Jesus or the Bible does not differentiate between these two sins – self-righteous and other kinds of sins! Let not hyper-grace pastors fool you in this regard tell you this in-effect: “Don’t worry about sin in your life, as long as you are not self-righteous!” You will go to hell along with them (should they not repent), if you believe this lie! What is the ‘something worse’ that Jesus talked about in John 5:14 can happen to those who love to remain in stubborn in? A life in hell – a place of eternal, ever-conscious torment (Rev. 20:10; 14:9; 21:8). I hope that none of us will go there and remember this YouTube comment posted on 21 May 2020 and made as an article on dukewords.com eventually shortly after that!

(Duke Jeyaraj is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission. Find out more at http://www.dukev.org. Watch his message videos at http://www.Youtube.com/c/visitduke. Whatsapp him via +91-8886040605).

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#ThankYouRavi Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace

Answering Hyper-Grace Cult Proponents With A Method of Thinking I Learnt from Dr. Ravi Zacharias / Duke Jeyaraj

Hyper grace false doctrine cannot be sustained by it’s own philosophy. Let me explain: I am believer. I attack hyper-grace false teaching. The hyper grace proponent who sees this should only say, ‘Duke Jeyaraj, though he attacks hyper grace false teaching is the righteousness of God!’ They should not try to change me by commenting and counter commenting on Facebook because, according to them, I remain the ‘righteousness of God’ no matter what I do as a believer in Jesus. So, you see Hyper grace false teaching is a philosophically self-defeating. Thanks to Dr. Ravi ZACHARIAS who has trained me to employ arguments like this. Ever Grateful! #ThankYouRavi

(Duke Jeyaraj is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission. Find out more at http://www.dukev.org. WhatsApp him at +91-8886040605. Read his articles at http://www.dukewords.com. Watch his video messages at http://www.Youtube.com/c/VisitDuke)

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Anti-Dotes-For-Modern-False-Teachings-Like-Hyper-Grace Strong Believers Creating Articles

WILL GOD FORGIVE THE SIN I AM PLANNING TO COMMIT?

DUKE JEYARAJ

ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION: “WILL GOD FORGIVE THE SIN I AM PLANNING TO COMMIT – THAT GOSSIP SESSION I PLAN TO HAVE, THAT FOUL-MOUTHED RANT I AM ABOUT TO EXPLODE WITH, THAT ADULTEROUS AFFAIR I AM ABOUT TO ENGAGE IN, THAT HOUR OF SECRET PORN SURFING THAT I AM ABOUT TO LAUNCH INTO, ETC?”

The book of Revelation makes wonderful reading. The lessons already taught in the first 65 books of the Bible are pictorially confirmed by it’s book no. 66 – the book of Revelation. “There is nothing new in Revelation which is not taught elsewhere clearly in the Bible!” – this I believe.

We are ‘given a white robe’, we read there (Rev 6:11). That’s a symbolic way of expressing POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION. I call it ‘GIFTED SANCTIFICATION’. We come to Christ in repentance and faith just as we are, he makes us ‘white’ – holy and pure. But that’s just the start. Positional sanctification would and should translate into practical sanctification, if our repentance was genuine. By practical sanctification I mean a living a life of victory over sin in our day to day lives. John talks about practical sanctification this way: “No one who lives in Him makes a practice of sin” (I John 3:6).

The same book of Revelation talks about those ‘clothed in white’ in the very next chapter (7:13). The folks who wore white, deliberately chose to wear that color. We must make a choice to wear white clothes (spiritually speaking), that is, be pure, say ‘no’ to sin day in and day out, with God helping and we actively cooperating with him (quoting God’s Word, running away from temptation, praying to receive power at the hour of temptation, being accountable to a believer pal, etc). If we want only the privileges of positional sanctification without the responsibility of PRACTICAL SANCTIFICATION (‘GAURDED SANCTIFICATION’) we are like the man who walked into the wedding feast without wearing the ‘wedding garment’ already gifted to him before the wedding (Math 22:11). He had no excuse for not wearing the wedding garment (Math 22:12). We will have no excuse for living a practical holy life on the final day because God has given us everything we need to live that life – His Word, The Fellowship of the Church and opportunity to be accountable, The Holy Spirit, etc, etc (Eph 1:3). And the end of those who just want the privileges of ‘positional sanctification’ without the responsibilities of ‘practical sanctification’ will be same as that of that wedding guest whom Jesus talked about – being bound and bounced into eternal hell (Math 22:13). “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth (this part of the this verse is talking about PRIVILEGES); therefore I will punish you for all your sins (this part of this verse is talking about punishment sent by God for not combining the RESPONSIBILITY of living holy with God-given power with God-given PRIVILEGES!) – Amos 3:2.

So, my friend, let not anyone deceive saying, “Jesus has already forgiven the sin you are planning to commit.” The Bible declares that God will not forgive sin that we refuse to acknowledge, repent from, and ask Jesus forgiveness for. The Bible teaches that we only store up God’s wrath (we are on the road to hell, in other words) by refusing to repent (Rom 2:5). Another 2:5 – Revelation 2:5 I mean – warns of judgement of God which will come upon those CHURCH BELIEVERS who refuse to repent!

“Will Jesus forgive the sin I am planning to commit?” He will – provided you come to him in true repentance and ask him for forgiveness. But there is no guarantee that you will ever do that. Judas did not. He was saved. His name was written in heaven (Luke 10:20). But he also lived in sin even as he lived with Jesus. He used to, now and then, help himself with the moneybag of Jesus. He allowed greed to grip him, slowly but surely (John 12:6). The greed became a monstrous ball, and, before he knew it, Judas agreed to help the religious leaders of his day to arrest Jesus for the money he would pocket by doing so. He may have thought, “I will come back to Jesus after I am done and dusted with this sin!” (like we say, “I will ask Jesus forgiveness after I am done with this hour of porn-surfing!” or “I will ask Jesus forgiveness after I am done with this session of gossip with my close buddies!”). But he did not. Yes, Judas did not get back to Jesus after he committed wanton sin. He ended his life. He headed to hell (John 17:12). But Peter… Peter came back to Jesus after he committed sin. He repented genuinely. He took a U-turn. When he wept bitterly, Jesus did not ever say to him, “Don’t weep Peter. Don’t repent of your sin. I have already taken care of it!” (Math 26:75). Instead, Jesus allowed Peter to weep for his sin. Because doing so is good. It is better and wiser to weep over our sins now, in this period of grace when there is time, than to weep upon seeing Jesus return the second time to judge it when there will be no time given to repent (Rev 1:7). Jesus taught we must weep ourselves and our children (Luke 23:28). So, when we sin, we must feel for that sin and come back to Jesus in repentance (Luke 13:1-5).

We must consciously avoid deliberate sin. For when we keep committing deliberate sin without even repenting of it, there will come a point in our life, like it happened in the life of Judas, that we will, perhaps, commit a deliberate sin and never feel like coming back to Jesus in repentance. It’s then we come to a point in our life when ‘there will be no sacrifice for sins would be left but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of the raging fire that will consume the enemies of God’ as the Bible teaches (Heb 10:26,27).

So, let’s say with Paul, “I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave (‘wage war with sin with the power of God,’ in other words) so that after I have preached to others (‘after I have been a believer all my life and preached God’s Word too,’ in other words), I myself will not be disqualified for the prize!” (I Cor 9:27).

Also we must remember that there are consequences when God’s children commit wanton sin. Let’s look at the case of believers committing sexual sin deliberately.

From the Bible we read about the following lethal results when people have lapped up sexual sin: Firstly, the LORD will leave you and you won’t know it. Like it happened for Samson as he lay on Delilah’s lap (Jud 16 20). Secondly, you can never be a leader who will influence people for good. Joseph, one who was famous among a set of 12 brothers for beating sexual temptation was told under Divine Inspiration that he would be “prince among his brothers” while the one who slept with his father’s wife, Reuben, was told “you will be first no longer” (Gen. 49:4,26). David, the great leader of Israel who had an adulterous affair, had to go silent when his son raped his daughter (2 Sam13: 2l,22). Thirdly, violence could become commonplace in your family. David learnt this bitter truth when the lives of three of his Sons – Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah were cut short violently at the prime of their youth. Fourthly, you would have given birth to spiritual enemies who will battle against you for the rest of your life. The sons born to Lot’s daughters out of his incestuous relationship with them became ancestors for the Moabites and Ammonites – two of Israel’s most bitter enemies in their later years. Fifthly, the advantages you may have gotten through sexual sins will melt away. Remember, David’s love-child born as a result of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba eventually died notwithstanding his plea that God would spare Him (2 Sam 12:14).Sixthly, God’s name will be blasphemed. “You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? As it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you!'” wrote Paul (Rom 2: 22,24). Finally, when you persist stubbornly in sexual sin you’ll go to hell. The Bible doesn’t mince words when it says “the sexually immoral – their place will be the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (Rev 21:8). L-U-S-T is a four letter sin that will take you to a four-lettered place – H-E-L-L. Do these fatal figures concerning those who indulged in sexual sin make you shudder? It is meant to do just that. Reason? Shuddering can also be biblical way to beat sexual temptation! After proclaiming the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel (including the command, “You shall not commit adultery”) Moses told them, “The fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning!” (Ex 20:14,20). The next time when you think of yielding to sexual temptations, take time to count the cost of yielding to them and you will find that thought not so pleasurable.

The effects of yielding to sexual temptation or any temptation are deadly – even the secular world stories reveal this. It is said that Bill Clinton lost the privilege of his face being carved with the other great American Presidents at Mount Rushmore and a noble Prize because of his incredibly foolish sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky (Source of information – Asian Age, Bangalore edition, 21 September 1998). It is a fact that the great Australian leg-spinner, Shane Warne, lost the honour of leading the Australian Cricket Team because of the phone sex scandals that surrounded him. Tiger Woods lost his sponsorship deals with MNCs because of his sexual sins. This list is endless. Your name does not have to be in this list. Let’s live a victorious Christian life and win over the habit of committing deliberate, callous, sin, with God helping us and we actively cooperating with him.

(Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj is a fulltime preacher n writer who lives in Hyderabad. Duke founded the Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission in 2006. This is a reader supported Indian ministry. Watch Duke’s message videos at http://www.youtube.com/c/VisitDuke. WhatsApp Duke via +91-8886040605).