Watering-down Grace with Consequences.
Recently listened to a sermon online from Genesis 6, and then heard our lead pastor preach from the same passage a couple of weeks later. The contrast in messages was striking to me.
The sermon I heard online had its main point as Noah somehow earning God’s grace by being different from the world. Although there were some interesting illustrations to support this claim, it was not supported by the passage (you have to flip the verses around to support it). The exact opposite message was presented by my pastor: he pointed out that Noah found grace from God first. Not only does the passage support the second view, but the generally accepted view of grace in general does as well. You can’t earn grace. That’s why it’s called grace.
There is undoubtedly such a thing as consequences shown in the Bible, and Genesis 6 is indeed a picture of the consequences of living far from God’s plan, desire and wishes (ie, sinful living). But the passage is also about the unmerited favor God shows to man, and should immediately and ultimately cause the Christian to think of the Amazing Grace that He would later send in the form of Christ. If we work to stay in the good favor of God, what exactly did man do to earn Christ's sacrifice?
There is nothing wrong with preaching on the consequences of living far from God’s plan, but there is definitely something wrong with destroying the old-fashioned doctrine of Grace. You can preach them both from this passage without doing damage, but if you water-down grace by diluting it with works, you have destroyed it and have plunged into heresy.
A man-centered interpretation of Scripture can easily lead to this error, which is why you hear some folks ranting over the dangers of this philosophy and application of Scripture. This is a perfect example.
Biblical Grace = unmerited favor; God giving us something we do NOT deserve or earn, because of Christ’s work. Do not entertain anyone who messes with that.
Consequences = what we deserve for our actions. We all deserve the death curse by God because of our inherent sinfulness (even Noah, unless you believe he actually was a perfect man).
If you want to extoll the value of biblical Christian living in response to the Gospel and as a result of being restored to God, it would pay to stick with Scripture that is actually speaking to that directly…see Ephesians 4-6, and many other passages that help add clarity to Christian living.
Praying that people who hear heresy will recognize it as such and hold their pastor accountable for unbiblical teaching.
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