Dr. Brown visits a hyper-grace website and interacts with some really erroneous posts, exposing some of the dangers of hyper-grace teaching. He’ll also take your calls on Bible and theology. Listen live here 2-4 pm EST, and call into the show at (866) 348 7884 with your questions and comments.
Hour 1:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: The grace of God is wonderful, amazing, an ocean to dive in and swim in. At the same time, we don’t play games with sin.
Hour 2:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: The grace of God is liberating, transforming, and gloriously sobering as well.
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I am not a proponent of hyper grace and hold a very similar view to yours as regards the doctrine of grace. However, I heard you make the statement that repentance always requires a divorced man to return to his former wife or it is not true repentance. This is simply not true. Repentance from any sin requires acknowledgement of the sin and emotional and spiritual turning away from that sin and to stop ant future transgression of the same kind.
When Jesus intervened in the case of the adulterous woman he said go sin no more, not go try and repair and make amends for all of the adulterous affairs you’ve had. If a husband commits adultery and does not wind up marrying his paramour and decides he has had a change of heart and returns to his wife by the law of Christ Jesus the wife has the right not to take him back since the extramarital sex has effectively broken the marriage vow before God.
What this means is that when people repent of adultery or any sin the course of action necessary for forgiveness of sin is to acknowledge the wrong sincerely and to not continue in the sin. For an adulterous man no longer in love with his wife this means he ceases fornicating and returns to a life of celibacy until the day God allows him to move onto another marriage having been fully forgiven and cleansed through the blood of Jesus.
As for your statement that your congregation would excommunicate or expel a repentant adulterous person who had not returned to his wife but married his mistress and stayed married to her I find the manner in which you expressed this troubling and lacking biblical guidance and humility. Share it would be I’ll advised to allow both members of the marriage to continue assisting the same church for obvious reasons, the fact remains that Jesus taught us that if a brother sins against us 7 times in a day and 7 times comes back and asks forgiveness we must forgive them.
To emphasize the point of how I believe your comments on this issue tonight were lacking true understanding of God’s love and biblical teaching, let’s say I am a non-believer, but I have lived a moral and ethical life, not fornicating, married, monogamous, hard worker, successful having made all of the right decisions in my life. One day I hear Billy Graham speak and I finally get the call from Christ and I want to be saved, but I do not have any real sins of my own to repent from, must I still repent? Of course; what I repent from is my inherited unbelief, the sins I inherited from Adam. Does this require something from me, already being exemplary in my moral and ethical conduct, other than I sincerely have a change of heart and mind and confess it so publically? No. The same for a man or woman that commits adultery and does not go back to his or her spouse but repents asks God for forgiveness and never goes back to sinning that way. This is what the Lord teaches in the Gospels and through His Apostles. May God bless you with a heart of compassion for the sick for our Lord wants mercy not sacrifice.
Now note that non of this agrees with hyper grace for one cannot continue to repetitively commit the same sins and live as a sinner and enter into the kingdom, but we know that even murderers can repent from their sin and be saved so to can adulterous people who ruin a marriage.
Our sincere and contrite heart and our best effort to change is what is necessary for God to accept our repentance and extend forgiveness by the Grace of Christ. Seven times the righteous man falls and seven times he will get up; does not the proverb say?
With Godly Love,
Monk eli
Eli Hernandez,
Lu 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Ro 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Even if we are children of Abraham, and according to Paul we are, we must bring forth fruit in accordance with our repentance. We have not truly repented if we have only changed our mind but not our actions.
Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Lk 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
The preaching of Messiah began with “Repent!” His parable above certainly shows that if there is no fruit of repentance, then there is no real repentance. Being cut down and cast into the fire is not what we want. What is the fruit of repenting of stealing? It is restoring what has been taken away along with extra.
Ex 22:9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.
Lu 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Zacchaeus had fruits that proved his repentance.
What is adultery? It is stealing another man’s wife. It is taking away from your wife what you promised her till death parts the two of you.
If you do not attempt to pay your wife what you have promised, or if you continue to give what you have promised her to another woman, you have not repented. It does not matter if you have feelings of love or not. Love is not emotion. It is a commitment.
Mt 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Messiah emphatically says that remarriage is adultery.
1Co 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul says that adulterers shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Messiah preached that we should repent or we would forfeit the kingdom of heaven. Repentance is only real if it brings about works that are in keeping with repentance. Remaining in a remarriage or not seeking reconciliation with a divorced spouse is not real repentance. It is stealing what belongs to another, and in the case of remarriage it is giving it to another.
Mt 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Messiah said that not everybody will be able to receive His teaching. If you stay with your subsequent spouse, you are in adultery. If your first spouse does not want you back, you must be celibate until one of you dies…if you want to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Mt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
The gate into the kingdom and the path to the tree of live are not for those fat with the ways of this world. “Few there be that find it” means what it says. The false prophets of our modern age have told us that we can stay with our subsequent spouses and continue to rob our first spouses of what they are owed. They tell us that we can call Messiah “Lord, lord” and ignore what He said to do. Many divorced and remarried will hear, “Depart from me” because they refuse to obey Messiah and bring forth fruit that is worthy of repentance.
Be careful, Eli. You can easily become one of those false prophets that encourage others to continue in sin. A repentant thief returns what he has stolen. A repentant idol worshiper destroys them and then gives YHWH the worship He deserves. One repentant of dishonoring his parents, returns to obedience and honor. A repentant adulterer returns to his spouse if possible and remains celibate if it is not. The kingdom of heaven is worth it.
Jas 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?…
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Let’s not have dead faith that cannot save us. Let’s not deceive ourselves by refusing to be doers of the word.
Shalom,
Bo
Eli, please listen to the broadcast again. I spoke about a particular scenario with regard to adultery and remarriage.
@ Bo. Very true to Scripture your comment, and encouraging. Even king David knew from the law that a man who stole a lamb (sheep) had to pay 4 times given his response to prophet Nathan.
I quite enjoy listening to you Dr Brown. Paul when he tells us that our bodies are the temple of the living God he does understand from Scripture that even though the Lord put His Name on the temple Solomon built, He took Ezekiel and showed him how defiled it had become and send Nebuchadnezzar to destroy and burn it, so when he warns us in 1 Cor: 16 & 17 the text is rich with revelation of that scripture in OT. As much as Paul is called a grace teacher I find his teaching supporting the Law and the Prophets and for people who do not understand these they think they contradict. That is why Paul knew when it said ‘Do not muzzle the ox…’ it is a parable just as Nathan uses a lamb in his parable to king David. When Peter calls us royal priesthood to be understand the requirements of a priest we would have to go back to Leviticus and then we can understand the Lord saying we cannot serve 2 masters for the priests and Levites shall have no inheritance because the Lord is their inheritance. Of course God gave them towns and pasturelands and today he still provides for us but we cannot chase after money and say we serve God like prosperity gospel. Scripture is clear.
Be Blessed