Be holy as I am holy. -GOD

The Abuse of the Doctrine of Free Grace

By F. W. Krummacher (1796 - 1868)
http://www.gracegems.org/SERMONS2/kru02.htm

1. We have already said that this abuse of the doctrine of the free grace of God in Christ Jesus, is very easy. Is it truly thus? If I am in danger of sinking in a deep and muddy stream, and a compassionate savior throws himself into the water and rescues me at the hazard of his own life; should I forget my preserver and his deed of love, and throw myself afresh into the stream, the depths of which threatened to destroy me? Should I not rather, all my life long, be eager to testify my gratitude to my faithful benefactor? Should I not anxiously avoid the dark stream and its frightful depths, and sincerely hate and abhor it?

Oh my brethren, whoever has experienced real grace, who knows grace in its true character, and sees clearly that the Lord might justly have left him to perish, but that He has saved him, out of His free mercy, by the offering up of His own life; and not only that, but has also chosen him from the foundation of the world, looked upon him as a righteous child of God, and made him blessed to all eternity; he ought to dread nothing so much as a continuance in sin, and daily desire nothing more fervently than to be faithful to this Savior until death. But, truly, this experience does not fall to the lot of every man, and hence has arisen the abuse of it.

Men talk about free grace without having the slightest acquaintance with it from personal experience; instead of living in the element of grace, they have nothing but a mere head knowledge, or a superficial perception of it in their hearts; a complete break with the world, the flesh, and the devil, has not yet taken place; the conscience sleeps the sleep of death, and Christ is regarded as a mere substitute, whom the sinner thinks will make up the deficiency of his own fancied merit. Thus the abuse of this doctrine becomes very easy. When the whole head, the whole heart is filled with false premises, how can we be surprised that they should lead to the most false—no, infamous conclusions? What wonder is it that such a man, who chatters about grace without having become acquainted with it from heartfelt experience, with the tears of repentance, should appropriate the kindness of this Redeemer to himself, in such a manner as to leave his heart and life unchanged.

Only imagine to yourself a man who has yet to learn his deeply sinful condition in the sight of God. He hears how Christ has atoned for all; how He has offered a perfect sacrifice for the salvation of sinners, that His blood washes out all sin; that nothing further remains to be completed; that man must be saved by free grace, without the merit of works; he hears, that all which serves to advance a godly life and walk, must be bestowed by the Savior; and that we can do literally nothing without Him. The sinner's own inability is to him welcome intelligence; it is like an agreeable pillow to repose on. "This," thinks he, "may be turned to some account." "You have sinned," says he to himself, "consequently the Savior belongs to you, He has blotted out your sins; His merits, His righteousness, are yours."

He torments himself, and labors to bring his opinions to these truths; he appeals as being entirely orthodox to the promises of the Word of God; he believes himself called to repel all the accusations of the law, and of his own conscience, and allows himself to go on quite smoothly, as though everything were in the best possible condition. He has perhaps wept once over his sins; has accused himself, by a few strong expressions, as a lost sinner; has experienced the insufficiency of his own resolutions, and has deduced from a superficial insight into the demands of the law, that he cannot stand before God in his present state.

He now places Christ before him, and firmly persuades himself that he belongs to the elect of God, and that none can have anything against him. He troubles not himself as to whether he daily experiences the workings of grace in his heart, whether he is become a new creature, and sin is destroyed within him; he thinks that in his own perception of the doctrine of grace, and in the humble acknowledgments which he makes of his necessity of it, he possesses the fullest security that he belongs to the people of God; and considers—truly in a manner which excites horror when closely viewed—that this and every other declaration of the Bible may be brought forward to justify his apparent Christianity. Yes, he may perhaps be a zealous advocate for free grace; while he himself is still lying under the wrath of God, and has no spark of grace in his heart.

Perhaps you think that this abuse of the doctrine of grace is of infrequent occurrence? By no means. Most men are sick with the same disease. Why is it, that you are so quiet, so careless, so happy, so confident, so gay, so merry, while you belong to the children of this world? With which do you comfort yourself? You must die; you are traveling towards eternity! You must appear before the judgment seat of God; you have broken the law of God, and deserved the wrath of the Almighty. This you cannot deny. If your mouth says, No! No! Your heart cries, Yes, Amen, it is true. How can your heart have rest while these truths are existing; while the reproaches of your conscience are loud, and warnings of death, and the judgment to come, fill your breast?

"God is gracious," you say; and with this you try to cover your sins, and to still the goadings of your conscience, as well as you can. But, in God's name how can you believe in the grace of that God whom you despise; whose Word and commandment you reject; and whom you daily and hourly offend by your sins against Him? But you answer, notwithstanding, "God is merciful"; and thus you continue in your sins, in your impenitence, in your enmity against God; you lie and deceive, revel and rage, hate and covet, curse and swear; and spend your day in vain tittle tattle. Is not this abusing the grace of God? Do we not continually abuse His patience more and more, while we walk along the broad way of destruction as unconverted men?

But what shall we say of those who have really an insight into the grace of God, in the Gospel, and yet knowingly and willingly continue in their sins, or even only in one single sin? Have these hypocrites disappeared, or can we speak of such people as monsters, who are not to be met with in our country? Would to God it were so, but sad experience teaches us to the contrary. Even here, among ourselves in this country, where the knowledge of Christianity has the pre-eminence; where it is less subject to reproach than elsewhere; where the name of the Lord Jesus is acknowledged, even in our neighborhood, it is beyond all things necessary to warm you against the abuse of the doctrine of grace.

Even here there is a very large number of such, who have certainly the appearance of leading a godly life, while they deny the power of it, and declare by their actions, that though they can talk fluently about free grace they have always resisted its chastisement, which would have subdued their ungodly dispositions. Alas! There are but few who earnestly engage in a determined warfare against sin. Most people content themselves with mere knowledge, thoughts, feelings, acknowledgments, and speeches; while they, more or less, willfully turn the comforting truths of the Gospel into a pillow for their sins to rest upon. Thus the free grace of God is extolled by many who openly continue in their sins; and publicly mark themselves, by their pride or indolence; by their judging arrogance and uncharitable speeches; by their fraud and reveling; by their falsehood, avarice, and other vices, as men who know not the true life in grace.

We meet with many people who are zealous defenders of the truth, while in the observance of their domestic and civil duties they come far behind the great mass of the carnally minded and careless children of the world. They are always extolling the Savior, His merits, His free mercy, while they daily make Him the servant of sin. Men are anxious, truly, to be preserved from the curse, from the final punishment of sin; but they submit to the dominion of this or that sin, without any serious combat. And if men are urgently called to combat sin, they call it all legality, while they make the Gospel, in a carnal manner, favor their indolence and impurity, and run the doctrine of grace into an intoxicating draught, against the voice of the law and of their conscience.

Alas! The number of those who are true believers, and who in all points grow up to the full measure of the stature of Christ, living in the element of free grace, with the greatest purity, is very small; many, many hearts are filled with the leaven of the Pharisees; and the dangerous disease of the abuse of the doctrine of grace is an epidemic which snatches away numberless victims.