The Gospel: Mercy and Grace

The Gospel is mercy AND grace. We cannot diminish or disregard either one.

We often hear, "Truth cannot be void of Love and Love cannot be void of Truth," which is true!

This is also true with Mercy and Grace.

The denial of God's Mercy or God's grace often leads to a works-based salvation.

False teachers who deny one or the other draw this conclusion from being displeased with the other, often due to pride, and create an alternative gospel that borrows certain aspects of the True gospel that are comfortable and controllable, while diminishing what they do not want to surrender to; either His mercy or His grace.

Here are the implications of each:

(1) The denial of Mercy I am talking about comes in the form of denying the literal blood atonement Christ paid for the remission of our sins. Mercy is demonstrated on the cross because we did not receive the punishment we deserved; instead, Jesus took that on Himself for us. When people deny this, they are denying the reality of God's mercy upon sinners and the love of Christ for His people to endure the cross on our behalf. People who deny the reality that we are sinners and that Jesus died for our sins diminish His love and His sacrifice; thus, diminishing His mercy.

Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection were not meant to be taken metaphorically or mythically, but historically and literally. I have seen a growing popularity in the denial of the penal substitutionary atonement, which is a new age and gnostic heresy, suggesting that our issue is 'ignorance of our divinity' and not sinning against a Holy God.

For those of you who deny the reality of God's mercy upon sinners in Christ's atonement for our sins, you are turning salvation into a works-based gospel, insisting that your spiritual liberation is not in the blood of Christ, but in your own ability to perceive your divinity.

This is probably the most dangerous of them all.

(2) The denial of Grace is often not articulated as directly as the ones who deny His mercy, but the denial of grace is usually revealed in legalism, lovelessness, and rarely speaking of the restoration of our identity, of blessing, honor, and priesthood in our Lord Jesus Christ. The beautiful gift of salvation is God's mercy in not punishing sinners, as well as His grace in lavishing us with His full acceptance, unending love, and blessings. These teachers often believe our current salvation is in our hands to 'keep up' - diminishing the power of His Grace to hold onto us (John 10:28) and to complete what He has started (Phil. 1:6).

**For those who preach God's mercy (His judgment upon sin placed on Christ) but fail to continue in the good news of His resurrection, or mention the Fullness of His love and acceptance, often turn the gospel into fear-driven legalism.**

----->The Gospel is a combination of realizing that you have a sin problem and having a new identity in Christ. The message of the Gospel is not that you are 'ignorant of your divinity/identity' (our sin causes the misguided view of self to begin with). That is a form of gnosticism. God forgives us of all of our sins when we trust in the finished work of Christ on our behalf, by dying on the cross and pouring out his blood for the remission of our sins.

----->But it does not stop there, because Christ did not just die... He resurrected! We are then called Children of God and are given favor and a new identity when we trust in him. We are given many promises and a great anticipatory hope (Romans 8:24)!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Conclusion:

(1) If anyone tells you that you have not sinned against God, or that the penal substitutionary death of Christ is false-- and that your biggest issue is 'ignorance of the true self' - FLEE from them.

(2) If anyone fails to remind you of God's grace, your identity in Christ, and His great love for you -- FLEE from them also!