022 Entitled Mercy + Greasy Grace = Cotton Candy Gospel

The Watchman discusses mercy, grace, and the Gospel from a biblical perspective. These topics are inadequately or incorrectly conveyed by many today and the time has come to reveal the true meanings of these topics. We are not entitled to mercy, grace is not greasy, and the Gospel is not all warm, soft, and fuzzy like cotton candy.

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Transcript

022 Entitled Mercy + Greasy Grace = Cotton Candy Gospel?

Welcome to the Watchman Speaks. I’m your host, Lonnie Richardson

Today’s episode is an episode that I’ve wrestled with greatly over the past few weeks. It is one that I have had a great deal of difficulty arranging thoughts and organizing those thoughts for conveyance. That tells me one of two things. 

1.     I have missed the unction of Holy Spirit and I have no idea what I’m talking about, or

2.     This is a major message for someone to hear, directly from God, and the devil doesn’t want it delivered.

I opt for the latter. The reason being is that this particular message is one that I’d hoped would fall to someone else. In my heart and in my spirit I know what I’m going to share is the truth. But in my flesh, I’d hoped that I could pass it on to someone else who was perhaps more qualified. I realize that God qualifies His messengers, and I am not, in any way, indicating that I am so qualified. However, when I sat down to pray about this week’s episode, this topic always came to the forefront. So be it.

Mercy, grace, and the Gospel are topics that seem to be misunderstood by many Christians this day and age. It’s no wonder considering how many pastors and preachers have twisted these topics to turn a dollar in book sales. I’ve read those books and frankly it’s all I can do to keep from losing my cookies in the trash can, which is where those books have landed.

Many have taken mercy and grace and manufactured what I call a “cotton candy gospel”. It’s all sweet, warm, and fuzzy. Many have taken mercy and made it marvelous. And, it is, marvelous. It’s just not marvelous in the way that some present it as if mercy is something owed to us. Others have taken grace on the run and slid way out of bounds to the extent that there is no right or wrong. They combine this owed mercy and greasy grace and present a cotton candy gospel.

Well, it just ain’t so.

Follow along closely. I’ve got a lot of tracks to make.

In the Old Testament, mercy is mentioned or translated as mercy 51 times depending of the translation that you adhere to. Twenty seven of those times is a direct reference to the mercy seat in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and 1st Chronicles. In other words “mercy” is attached to the atonement of the mercy seat.

Twenty four other times the word translated as mercy indicates love, to meet with love, take pity, sympathy, compassion, pardon, favor. But there is one word for mercy that indicates loyalty, joint obligation, and faithfulness. (Repeat) That word is “hesed”.

Mercy is mentioned approximately 68 times in the New Testament.

Twenty eight times the word is “Eleeo” meaning to have mercy, had mercy, received mercy or shown mercy.

Twenty four times the word is “Eleos” meaning mercy or compassion.

Only once, in Hebrews 9:5 is mercy referenced as propitiation and that at the mercy seat and that could not be related or spoken of in detail.

However, the word for mercy “hesed” is also translated as lovingkindness in many translations approximately 183 times, maintaining the meaning of loyalty, joint obligation, and faithfulness. (Repeat)

Lovingkindness “Hesed” is mercy. Mercy is the provision for and protection from what I deserve.

Grace, as I’ve been told, is the unmerited favor and provision that I do not deserve. Huh? I wonder who came up with that?

Grace, by whatever definition you wish to apply to it, is received by faith. What do I mean by whatever definition you apply to it? Well, in most of the resources that I have, grace is defined as “grace”. A word defined as it self can be given pretty much any definition a person wants to give it. 

Paul clears it up nicely for us in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result or works, so that no one may boast." 

So, it appears that there is nothing we can do to earn grace. It is a gift from God. That means it’s free. But the gift does not come with a cheap price tag. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.” Hmmm….what does that mean? It appears that grace is the favor of God to provide a sacrificial lamb whom we accept, by faith, and by that grace and that sacrifice we are saved if we have the FAITH to believe it. So, something is required of us and that something is faith. God’s grace is simply the offer of the sacrifice. We are given the choice to accept it in faith or not. We don’t deserve that opportunity. That is the unmerited favor of God. There are far too many who want to think that the unmerited favor of God is what they have reasoned it to be. Don’t believe everything that you think.

But many have taken the unmerited favor of God and the concept of grace and made it so greasy that it’s hard to hold onto. Grace is not greasy. Grace is sticky. It’s not that grace should stick to you but rather it is you who should be sticking to grace.

 You see, grace is mentioned 121 times in the NT and 11 times in the OT = 132 times

 Mercy is mentioned approximately 274 times throughout.

Mercy is what keeps you living long enough for grace to find you…if you’re listening for it.

Romans 1:5 “Through whom we have received grace (provision of Messiah) and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all Gentiles for His names sake.”

Does faith require obedience? Not according to those who peddle the greasy grace concept. According to most authors/pastors, a couple that I know of in particular, once you have received grace, you’re home free. You can do no wrong. But when conveying this concept of grace they fail to delve into the truth of faith required to receive grace and what that faith is capable of accomplishing. If we have the faith we have the grace. If we have the grace, we have the ability to be obedient to the faith. What does that mean?

If we truly have the faith to receive grace then we are able to live accordingly to that faith by which grace is received and steward the grace that has been given to us by faith.

Grace is the offer to give a redeeming savior which we accept by faith that it is offered freely. It is our decision to discern whether the offer is real or not. We don’t deserve the offer. But is God’s unmerited favor towards us to make the offer. That is the unmerited favor of God to make us an offer that we do not deserve.

So, that offer is a gift from God. Is that the end of it? We just get grace. No, not quite. 

Ephesians 3:2 “if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you.” 

There is a stewardship of God’s grace? Obviously so or the Ephesians would not have heard of such, and Paul would not be addressing it. What does it mean to steward God’s grace. It means the same as stewarding anything else. It’s how you manage it, how you use it, how you take care of it or how you neglect it.

Grace is the unmerited favor of God that allows you to be saved by your faith. But you have to believe it is so and it is expected that you act as if it is so. Otherwise, you’re merely tipping your hat to that grace, trampling the blood of Christ underfoot, and winking at conscious, repetitive sin as you go by. Grace is the offer of redemption by the blood of Jesus whereby one receives the Holy Spirit of God which empowers you to overcome sin.

Now, is ANY of us perfect? No. None of us is perfect. Being a Christian having received grace and Holy Spirit that follows that grace does not make one sinless. It should, however, be demonstrable in that you sin less. Oh yeah, one more thing. It should mean that you do not enjoy that sin or return to sin in a habitual, repeating pattern. Sin should be easily recognized and identified immediately. Therein, one can repent of their sin.

Now repentance is not about you, or me, telling God how sorry that we are that we have sinned. God already knows if we are truly sorry or not. What God is waiting on is to see if we turn 180 degrees away from that sin and resist the temptation of sin. That’s how it works.

 James 4:7-8 “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.”

Let’s look at that a little more closely. There’s a lot of meaning there that gets muddied over when one casually reads it. The truth of those words become opaque if one tends to listen to and believe the greasy grace and cotton candy gospel that is offered by many today.

“Submit therefore to God.” That’s pretty simple. However, the question that most people never ask is, “Submit how, or what, to God?” The answer should be pretty obvious. Submit everything to God. Yourself, your spouse, your children, your finances, EVERYTHING! To submit is a total surrender and that surrender is unconditional. When an MMA fighter puts another in a submission hold, the other fighter submits unconditionally because the pain inflicted is too great to bear. Any further continuation results in total annihilation. When Japan and Germany surrendered to the Allies in WWII it was because the losses were too great to overcome. There was no further hope for their cause. They were crushed. Their surrender was total and unconditional. Any continuance would result in total annihilation. It is submission. That’s the problem today. Most are afraid that they may have to submit to something or someone greater than themselves. 

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” What does that mean? It means that you deny your fleshly desires that lead you to sin. You resist the lies of the devil. “Oh, it’ll be alright. It’s just this one time.” That one time has many a time led people into habitual sin. So, how do we resist the devil? Remember, resist the devil and he HAS to flee from you! 

You draw closer to God and Holy Spirit that abides within you. You do that, they will draw closer to you. Therein, you are empowered to resist the devil and his lies and he has to flee. In drawing closer to God and obeying His Word, our hands are cleansed and our hearts are purified. It becomes easier to resist. 

But let’s look at the last point of those verses, “you double minded.” Double minded? What’s that? It means those who think they can have their cake and eat it too. It means those who say they have received grace and continue in conscious, habitual sin. That’s double minded. 

Now as I’ve said, I’m not perfect and neither are you. We all stumble occasionally. But when we do, we recognize the fact, identify the sin, and turn away or repent of that sin. Therein, we have not only received God’s grace, but we experience His mercy as well. 

Hebrews 4:16 is a good example of this. “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

But Paul goes even further to say that grace is not necessarily for just our benefit. Consider 2 Timothy 1:9 “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted to us.”

Jesus gave gifts and Holy Spirit has given gifts. They are holy callings but they are not according to our works or desires. They are for God’s purpose and grace. They are not to line our pockets or increase the balance of our banking accounts. There’s just that little thing about having the faith to actually believe that it is so. There’s that little thing about the stewardship of grace.

So much for the concept peddled by many authors/pastors/television evangelists that God exists to give us what we want and to make our dreams come true. No, we exist to fulfill God’s purpose through the grace that He provided and granted to us. “You can live your best life now.” That sound familiar? That’s cotton candy gospel speak. Everything is warm, sweet, and fuzzy.

Let me ask the question. Are your dreams about what benefits you or are they about what glorifies God? I’ve often heard it preached, “You have not for you ask not.” Everyone likes that sermon until someone like me pipes up and says, “Yeah, but the rest of it says, ‘You ask and do not receive because you’d spend it on your own selfish pleasures.”

Let me address this cotton candy gospel a little further. Television and social media platforms are flooded with people, pastors and prophets, conveying messages like, “God wants what’s best for you.”, “God is getting ready to promote you.”, God is opening doors and entering into new seasons on your behalf.”, and “God is getting ready to promote you to new levels.”

Hmmmm…..really?

I know and understand that most of this is a means of encouraging a believer who is down on their luck or struggling with issues of life. Encouraging others is a good thing. It’s called hope. However, hope misplaced is not hope. It is deception. 

But God did say, “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Now THAT’s encouraging. But wait let’s continue a little farther through verse 13. “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” 

God has plans for us all. He has a holy calling for all of us. He has plans to prosper us giving us a future and a hope. Does that mean that His plans are to give us everything we want or to make OUR dreams come true? That is not what it says. It says that He has plans. When we are obedient to the faith by which we have received grace and when we steward that grace appropriately, THEN we will call upon Him and pray to Him and He will hear us. We will seek Him and find Him when we search for HIM with all our heart! 

What are we seeking Him for? For His grace and His mercy. You see God provided His Son as a sacrifice as a grace offering for us to be saved by the blood of that offering if we have the faith to believe it. That grace leads to an inheritance in a kingdom to come. That, to me, prospers me and gives me hope. What could I hope for in this world that can top that?

A lot, and I mean a whole lot of preachers, Prophets too I might add, today would have you believe that being a Christian and living a Christian life is a bed of roses stuffed with the finest down. I suppose it might be if you are said preacher or prophet. But that is not what the word of God said.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 3:12, and listen carefully, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Wow! That doesn’t sound like much of the preaching or prophesying  that I’ve heard. That doesn’t sound like a cotton candy gospel to me. 

Wonder what Jesus said about this issue? Let’s have a look.

 Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Okay, that seems to be past tense. Let’s look further.

Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Okay that seems to be present tense.

Mark 13:13 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” Now that is definitely future tense. Now why would we be hated by all because of His name? Could it be that we have been transformed by grace and no longer adhere to the ways of the world?

Luke 6:22 “Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name, as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.” Does that mean that persecution is a blessing? That’s what Jesus said.

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.” Rather prophetic don’t you think? That sounds pretty familiar in the current society that we live in.  

John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…” Again, rather prophetic. That doesn’t sound to me as if I’m going to get everything I want in this life. It certainly doesn’t seem like a dream come true. 

John 15:25 But they have done this to fulfill what is written in the law, “THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.” Jesus was hated because He upheld the law. He did not bend to man or man’s notions regarding the law. He knew the law. Could it be that He understood the law of God and that He did not attempt to twist the law to His advantage? Now days, the concensus is that the law has been abolished. Jesus did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill the law for the sake of righteousness.

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” Our peace in in the Lord Jesus. Our peace is not in the things that we want or in the dreams of things we want. Those are things of this world. In the world we have tribulation. But Jesus said that He has overcome the world. Therein, we have peace.

And the list goes on and on and on. Mercy is marvelous, but it is not owed to us. More importantly, mercy is everlasting. Grace is not greasy. Grace is sticky and we should stick to grace tighter than super glue. The Gospel is sweet but it’s not cotton candy. It’s not all sweet, warm, and fuzzy. It’s not about this life. It’s about the life that is yet to come. Nothing of this world, of this life, can compare to what is coming.

Marvelous Mercy plus Greasy Grace = a Cotton Candy Gospel. It’s just no so!

I am the Old Watchman Ezekiel. You have been warned!

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