Cheap grace! Easy Believism!

Jesus plus nothing, 100% natural, no additives. Andrew Farley is celebrating your freedom in Christ. Call in and ask your questions at 877-655-6755. That's toll free at 877-655-6755. By a satellite from Texas, it's The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley. Hello everyone. Welcome to The Grace Message. I'm Andrew Farley. So glad you're joining us tonight. That number to call, 877-655-6755. We got wide open lines, plenty of room for you to get in with your question tonight. Maybe you've got a question about a scripture passage. Perhaps you heard something in church recently and well, you're not sure about it. You want to put it to the test. That is exactly why we're here for you tonight. Go for it. Give us a call right now. 877-655-6755. If you're a first time caller tonight, please know we love it. We love to hear from our first timers. We want to hear from you. And if you're a veteran caller, maybe you've joined us in the past, but has it been a while? Well, it's time to join us once again. I'll give you that number one last time. We are filling up, but we got room for you right now. 877-655-6755. One line remaining. Grab it right now. All right. We're going to start out tonight in Toronto, Canada, and we'll talk with Michael.

Hey, Michael, what's on your heart tonight, my friend? Okay. I decided I live close enough to Toronto, so that's good. My apology about Ezekiel, first of all, I didn't read the whole chapter. There were plenty of verses about Ezekiel wanting to be wise like a god, or be wise as Daniel. And then came the passage about Satan in the Garden of Eden. But that's not my issue tonight. The issue here is, I'm re-asking kind of about the parable of the servant who did not forgive his fellow servant, and therefore he is thrown in jail with the jailers and all that. Even though his sin was forgiven before, first of all, did the king decide to cancel his forgiveness? Because at the end of the parable, Jesus said, therefore, unless you forgive the person from your heart, you will not be forgiven. And that's in the parable as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So without an understanding of law and grace, we're not going to get Jesus' teachings. I mean, without an understanding that Jesus has two different messages for two different kinds of folks, we're going to miss this. And lots of teaching does. Lots of churches, lots of pastors, lots of Bible teachers and Bible study leaders. We miss this. But you got to see it, that Jesus has two messages for two different kinds of people. First of all, he has a grace and love and mercy message, and it's all about his new covenant. He's talking about light and love and the Holy Spirit. He's talking about his return. He's talking about the comforter, the counselor, the new covenant, total forgiveness. He's talking about all these things.

And then you turn the page. You turn the page sometimes. For example, in Matthew, you turn the page, and next thing you know, you're reading, cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, be perfect, sell everything in order to enter the kingdom. I mean, I got to ask you, is that how we get in the kingdom? By selling everything? Do you put all your stuff on eBay, and next thing you know, you're saved? No, you're not righteous by selling everything. You don't get a ticket to heaven by selling everything. And we certainly don't have to sever body parts like we're an amputation ward. So what's going on here? Well, when you read this parable, let me just read the conclusion. It's worse than you said, Michael. It's worse than you said, because this wicked servant, this servant who wouldn't show mercy, this servant who had received mercy, then did not extend it. And here's what he gets. It says, and his lord moved him. with anger handed him over to the torturers handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him my heavenly father will do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart whoa whoa so we're talking about torture folks and Jesus has a teaching on torture Jesus has a teaching on how God's gonna torture you so what are you gonna do with this you're gonna sweep it under the rug act like it doesn't exist you're gonna try to spin it into well he didn't mean torture he just meant time out yeah he didn't mean torture he just meant go off in the corner put your nose in the corner and try to think about what you don't know it says torture handed over to the torturers for not forgiving so that's why we got to understand Jesus has a law teaching and he has a grace teaching he has an old covenant teaching and he has a new covenant teaching and when he's talking to the proud Jews of his day when he is trying to show them that they are so

hard-hearted that they are so arrogant that they are so far away from the idea of receiving grace that you know they need to confront their self-righteousness that's what he's doing when he says things like cut off your hand pluck out your eye be perfect like God go sell everything the rich man goes away sad when he hears it the rich man goes away sad the Pharisees they go away mad mission accomplished what was the mission to expose the futility of law based living to expose self-righteousness to expose pride to to expose the the craziness of saying I want mercy and forgiveness from God but I'm not going to give it to other people because I'm I'm bitter and I'm resentful and I like it and see that is what Jesus is bucking up against that's what he's exposing and when he he presents this parable it does not end pretty this is not about Christians this is about torture this is not about children of God in heaven getting you know tapped on the hand or disciplined no this is about torture this is about hell and so what he is talking about here is self-righteousness leads you to hell and if you are going to remain in your bitterness and resentment and you are not going to receive mercy and get a new heart that gives mercy then you are going to remain dead in your sins and you are going to deserve punishment so that's what's going on in this parable it is a description of an unbeliever it is a description of a proud and arrogant person living under Old Covenant law and they want mercy and love and forgiveness from God but they have no desire to give it to anybody else they are not humbled they are proud they are not ready to receive they are arrogant and so this is one of those parables where you got to recognize there's two messages of Jesus he has a law message for the proud and he has a grace message for those who are humble and he talks about the Old Covenant and then he says this is the New Covenant in my blood if you don't understand that Jesus has two messages in his ministry something like this will absolutely confuse you there is a stark contrast between the impossible debt that we owe God and then the incredible grace that he gives us instead and so with this punchline my heavenly father will do the same to you ouch that's going to leave a mark that'll sting and

that's the whole point he is showing his audience what justice would really look like you want justice here's justice let me show you justice on steroids he is showing them the true standard of the law so that they will be driven to God's grace instead he wants them to come to the point where they say Lord Lord I have been so unkind to my servants I have been so unkind to the people around me I have been arrogant I have been proud I have been resentful I have been bitter and here I am expecting grace from you Lord I repent of that old life and I want you I want your grace, I want your love, and I want you to show me how to extend it to other people." See, that's where he wants to get the folks that are listening to this parable. So Michael, I hope that helps. The two messages of Jesus, the law message and the grace message, help us interpret everything about Jesus, including his parables. Thanks for your call tonight. Reach out to us again any time. All right, let's go to Texas. We'll talk with Sam. Hey, Sam. Hello, Andrew. That was excellent. It made me forget my question. So I'll make a comment, and I'd like you to comment on the comment, so it's more of a comment than a question. Okay, but Sam, before you get into it, your question was about new faith only and also easy-believism? Yes. It's about that. And you answered that pretty much with the two messages of Jesus, easy-believism. I just wanted you to comment on easy-believism and then those who say, those faith-only people,

they're easy believers. They have cheap grace. They're going to stand in judgment for every idle word and for their misinterpretation of the Scripture. So, you know, not so much to—I don't know how to word it—not so much to correct them, but just comment on our easy-believism and our hyper-grace and how it liberates. Yeah. Well, first of all, all of those are just kind of cheap shots from the cheap seats, right? I mean, people just launching all kinds of accusation, and, you know, the bottom line is Jesus taught easy-believism. I mean, He literally—Jesus' actual words are, my yoke is easy. My yoke is easy. That means connection with me is easy. You want to be harnessed, you want to be connected, you want to be bonded, you want to be yoked to me? Well, I'm going to lead you in a way that is easy and light and you will find rest for your soul. And so, first of all, Jesus taught easy. And then second of all, Jesus taught believism. And He says in John 3, 16, whoever believes in me will not perish but have everlasting life. The Apostle Paul picks that up and he says, for by grace you are saved through faith. It is not of yourselves, it's a gift of God so that nobody can brag about it. So easy is in the Bible, it is the gospel. The gospel is easy and the gospel is believism. And that's why people miss it. People miss it because they want to make it hard. They want to make it hard and heavy. And it's easy and light.

They want to make it difficult and all about what they're doing. They want to make it about work instead of grace. They want to make it about themselves instead of Jesus. But the gospel is all about the heavy lifting that Jesus did. He lifted that cross, He carried it to Calvary, He was crucified on it, He crawled out of that tomb, He went up to heaven on our behalf, He sat at the right hand. He did all the heavy lifting. He did all the work. And He said it's finished. And that's what saves us. We simply believe in what He did. So it's easy, it's light, it's believism, and we find rest for our souls. Now as far as cheap grace goes, I've heard that for decades now. And really, I don't believe in cheap grace. It doesn't make any sense to me. You either have free grace or expensive grace. But there's no cheap grace. Why not? Well, because first of all, grace costs Jesus His life. That's expensive. Jesus had to die to give us grace. Jesus had to be crucified. He was assassinated. There was blood all over the place. It cost Him His very life to bring us His grace. So that's expensive grace. And then, when you receive it, you don't pay for it. So that's free. Jesus bought it. Jesus bought it, and it's free to us.

So it's expensive grace for Him. It's free grace for us. There's no such thing as cheap grace. I don't even know what people are talking about. I'll take the grace that Jesus Christ offers. I'll take it for free because He paid everything. So there you have it. Now, you know, maybe people tongue-in-cheek mean, oh, well, you're going to abuse that grace. Well, so are you. Every Christian I've ever met has abused it. Have you ever sinned? Yeah. Well, you're abusing God's grace. He forgives you. Are you still gonna sin again? Yeah, you'll sin again tomorrow. Well, you abused it. Well, how about the next day? You're gonna sin again. Are you serious? Like it's Thursday. You're gonna sin on Friday and Saturday Yes, you are. So then you abused it. I mean What are we gonna do play of this game get out a clipboard and start counting people's sins and let them know that they're Every time they sin they're abusing it. So it's cheap grace. Now. They believe in no, it's the same grace It's it's expensive grace for Jesus It's free grace for us and thank God for his free grace because there's no other kind of grace The only kind of grace there is is the kind Jesus paid for The only kind of grace there is is free grace. Otherwise grace is no longer grace Now lastly you mentioned this other Supposed slur this other supposed jab that people take as they throw stones at The message of God's grace. They say that's hyper. That's hyper grace And I think you better just agree with that one because that's biblical hyper-grace appears four times in the Bible and The person who you know kind of uses hyper-grace as a slur. Well one of their main

Leaders he's the guy that ended up in a recent scandal and not the grace people But the guy who was throwing stones at grace ended up in some sort of a news story about scandal I don't know but The bottom line is, you know, isn't it? Ironic that we're throwing stones at grace and criticizing grace and then guess what we need grace And we need grace when we fail miserably, too So, let me just show you where hyper-grace is in the Bible you'll find hyper this Prefix hyper you'll find it in Romans 5 20. It says when sin increased grace abounded all the more and the Prefix there in Greek is hyper then Ephesians 2 7 It says that in the ages to come God would show the surpassing riches of his grace and that word surpasses is hyper Balaam and Hyper is the prefix used to show that God's grace is above and beyond all we could ask or imagine then 1st Timothy 114 it says the grace of our Lord was more than abundant Well that phrase more than abundant guess what it uses the prefix hyper Hyper play on also and that means grace overflowing in surpassing abundance and then lastly John 1 16 It says of his fullness we have received and grace upon grace. I love that phrase grace upon grace So This one here. Oh my goodness. It stacks grace on top of grace on top of grace that makes me hyper Does it not make you hyper? So let's go ahead and embrace 1st Timothy 1 Ephesians 2 Romans 5 there's even another I think there's four total that use that prefix hyper and It is a hyper grace. It is an expensive grace for Jesus It's a free grace for us. It is an easy Believism Jesus made it easy by doing all the work. He said it's finished All you got to do is call upon him and believe trust him and you'll be saved

What are we gonna do here folks? We're gonna make it harder than it is We're gonna make it harder than Jesus said we're gonna make it harder than the gospel and we think we're doing God a favor No Scaring Christians is not ministry and we need to teach the truth the truth About the idea that it's grace upon grace. There is so much grace We don't know what to do with it all and it's not like your grace is gonna make you sin more I mean Romans says grace is gonna make you sin less. It says sin won't master you Under grace So by grace, you got your heart ripped out by grace You got a new heart by grace You got the Holy Spirit placed in you by grace. You were sealed with him forever by grace You're dead to sin and alive to God by grace. You got a new nature Grace is bigger than forgiveness. Grace is bigger than mercy Grace is powerful Titus chapter 2 says the grace of God teaches us to say no to sin So I hope that helps and love your question reach out to us again Anytime let's go to Florida for our last question of the evening We'll talk with Aaron. Hi, Aaron, what you got for us? Oh, I kind of want to get your perspective on worship. And sometimes I go to church and they're just, I sit there like a worship service and it's just so over the top with lights and music and sounds. And part of me thinks, oh, you're just overreacting. And then part of me thinks, well, you know, they're trying to fabricate some kind of emotion part of my life. And then, so I was wondering what, maybe I should just read the Bible and pray alone. Yeah, I hear you.

Let's just get over one of those church services. So I was kind of wanting to see where your thoughts are on worship. Yeah, I mean, I think you're onto something, Aaron. You know, basically strip it down, I would say. Strip it down. What if we didn't have a sound system? Okay, then there'd be four guys up there with some instruments. And then what if they were acoustic? Okay, then you'd probably need to be in a living room. You'd probably need to be, you know, 25 feet away. And then they'd be strumming on the guitar, sitting on your sofa right there in your living room. So what you're hearing is first of all, the size, the size of the performance, the magnitude of the music. And it's loud and there's a sound system. And you're thinking, oh man, this is professional. And this is electric. And this is, you know, this is polished. And so therefore this is insincere. And what I would say to that is don't go that far. Don't go to that last place of this is insincere. I think you're right that it's big and it's booming and it's loud and it's electronic. And it's reaching a big crowd both online and in the room, which sometimes is almost the size of a stadium. So it needs to be loud. But we can't see people's hearts, right? So what is worship?

I mean, if you're asking me what worship is, worship is not just music. I mean, 1% of your worship, Aaron, 1% of your worship might involve music. 99% of our worship is any move that we make in dependence on Christ. So it's not just about, you said read, well, maybe I just stay home and read my Bible. Okay, read your Bible is called reading your Bible. That's not worship necessarily. Singing a song can be worship. It can also not be worship. Reading the Bible can be worship. It can also not be worship. Here's what worship is. Present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your reasonable act of worship. So that's what worship is. Jesus put it this way in John four. He said, true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. So we worship when we believe Him. We worship when we trust Him. We worship when we offer our bodies to Him. And there are people in that church service singing along and they're saying, God, use me today. Use my body, use my hands, use my feet. I love you, Lord. We can't judge the motives.

We can't see the hearts of people. Is music big? Sure it is. For more information on the broadcast ministry of Dr. Andrew Farley, please visit andrewfarley.org. That's andrewfarley.org. Join us next time as we invite you to celebrate the grace message with Dr. Andrew Farley. This program is sponsored by your generous financial support. Hi, I'm Andrew Farley. I hope you enjoyed today's program. And if you have more questions, whether it's about a Bible verse, personal struggle, or anything on your heart, biblequestions.com is here for you. You'll get clear grace-based answers in 10 seconds or less. No confusion, no judgment, just practical truth that meets you right where you are. Whatever's on your mind, you'll find real answers rooted in God's love. Visit biblequestions.com. That's biblequestions.com.