Hi Mike,

Thanks for your response. Would you please expound on being “guilty of turning grace into lasciviousness”? I tried to clarify this myself using “e-Sword”, but couldn’t find the reference/explanation.

Bless you for your assistance!

C____

Hi again C____,

The reference was to a verse in Jude:

Jud 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

I doubt that you will find an explanation of this verse simply because very few Christians realize that “grace… chastens.”

This truth is hidden by the King James translation which translates the Greek word, paideuo, as ‘teaching’ instead of ‘chastens’ in Titus 2:10-12. Consequently grace is defined simply as ‘unmerited pardon’. That incomplete definition makes grace an inactive noun. But grace, in reality is a very active verb, that chastens us to forsake ungodliness and to live godly lives in this present world. Be sure to read the section on the ‘Purpose and Function of Grace’ in the paper on Strong Delusion.

I am constantly accused of two extremes. Either I am guilty of preaching and teaching that:

1] Everyone is going to be saved whether they sin or not. Those who make this accusation believe that I teach that we are saved in our sins. They invariably go on to reason that if we are going to be saved regardless of what we do, then we might as well continue in sin. That is the reasoning of a “carnal… babe in Christ.”

2] On the other extreme, I am constantly accused of teaching salvation by my own works. This accusation comes mostly from those who want to “turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.” They truly see grace as a dead noun with no power working in their daily lives. To these folks ‘grace’ has only to do with what Christ did for us while He was on the cross. These folks are mystified by scriptures like:

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

This verse, and all the verses that talk of suffering for Christ’s sake, just simply don’t fit into their half-true, dead noun understanding of the definition of the word ‘grace’. They blindly wonder what could possibly be “behind of the afflictions of Christ?” Yes indeed, ‘grace’ is a “free gift”. You have done nothing to deserve this wonderful gift of God. You can do nothing to deserve God’s wonderful gift of ‘grace’. But what is it that we are talking about here? What is this undeserved gift? It is:

Tit 2:11 … The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [Greek: paideuo – chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

There is no charge for this free loving gift from a caring heavenly Father. It is simply His loving nature that bestows this free gift upon us.

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening [Greek: paideia] of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [Greek: paideuo], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening [Greek: paideia], God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth [Greek: paideuo] not?

This being a scriptural fact, rest assured that if you are God’s elect:

Rom 5:20 … Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound:

Of course this defines God’s consuming fire as the very function of grace, so that this principle will be the instrument for the purging of all of mankind in God’s last and greatest work of ‘grace’, known in spiritual words as “the lake of fire.”

Many Christians know and see the need for purging sin out of their lives. However, it is rare for them to see that this is the very function and purpose of ‘grace’.

I hope this helps you to see that ‘turning grace into lasciviousness,’ is a very common thing when you don’t understand the scriptural definition of ‘grace’. Again, grace is an active, loving verb in the life of God’s elect in this age and in the lives of all others in the ‘lake of fire.’

Mike