5 Growing in: Defence of grace

Fifthly, we should be growing in the defence of grace. This is a tremendous responsibility for every believer, failure at this point having been the tragedy of the last hundred years. So much has been lost by evangelicals; so many churches; so much of the great legacy of past blessing. Are we sensitive to error? Do we recognise it?

Would we, if we had to move to a new area, go placidly to a church which seemed to be bible-believing on the surface, but had fallen into serious error in doctrine or practice? We should be growing in the defence of grace because there are so many destructive trends assailing churches these days.

Satan's operations are always intensely cunning and deceptive. He sets up people in our churches who become famous as Bible-believing preachers, their books sell by the millions, but on close examination their teaching shows they are not truly converted. They deny penal substitution (Christ paying for our penalty), the very essence of the Gospel of Christ, together with other essentials of the faith, and they get away with it. By using biblical, evangelical language, they deceive undiscerning Christians, who go along with their errors, buy their books, and altogether fail to defend grace. Such Christians approve of the acceptable morsels in the teaching of popular heretics, but fail to notice what is missing, or what is twisted and opposed to the Word. Are we growing in the defence of grace? Do we neglect the errors of false teachers? If Christian people who possess the benefits of grace would only be sensitive to error, churches would never fall into the hands of superficial, worldly so-called Christians, ultimately to close.

By Peter masters