“By grace you are saved through faith.”  Enough said. End of conversation. The die is cast. The fix is in. That’s all one needs to know. Or so Satan has deceived church people into believing (Rev. 12:9). The devil’s parishioners believe this because of a lack of knowledge of and belief in God’s Word. What professing Christendom does not understand is that GOD’S TRUTH IS IN THE FINE PRINT. There are three reasons why professing Christendom refuses to look for it. One: diligent study requires time and effort which are better used watching t.v., recreating, reading novels, etc. Two: what they hear on Sunday is what they want to hear. Three: a tradition of accepting the word church leaders as “thus saith the Lord.”

Because God’s Scriptural jewels are hidden within His Holy Bible and known only by His true saints (Rev. 2:17), Jesus said that “few” would go to the trouble to search for and “find” His strait gate then “strive” to enter it. The word “find” indicates that His Truth gate is not readily observable–one has to diligently search for it. Then, once found, one must “strive” to enter it, meaning that entrance is difficult due to pressure from other religious people who not only refuse to go in, but try to turn the seeker away from it and toward the various cults that make up Catholicism/Protestantism. See Bait and Switch. The “strait” (difficult) gate is God’s true church which lays out a “narrow” (highly restrictive) way (life walk-Jn. 2:6) for the convert to trod. Only this narrow, God-dictated way leads to eternal life (Matt. 7:13,14). And if someone points out this Biblical Truth to church people, they automatically resort to the Stephen Syndrome–they stop up their ears and drown out God’s Words with church doctrine. Read the sixth and seventh chapters of the Book of Acts to see how this works. The only difference between then and now is that Truth-rejecters cannot kill the messenger. BUT THIS WILL CHANGE.

Church “sinners saved by grace,” though quick to label themselves as such, do not know how God defines grace. All they know is that they have “it” and are therefore “saved.” They believe that grace=salvation. They could not be more wrong. Let us go to the Source of all spiritual Truth to learn exactly what grace is, what it is not, who has it and what is the proof that one is “under grace.” First, let us determine what grace is not. To do this let us turn to the Book of Jude, one of the most important books in the Lord’s Book of Law–the Holy Bible.

In Jude 3 we find the apostle writing to God’s “beloved”–His church. In this verse Jude, writing under the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:14-16/Matt. 4:4/2 Pet. 1:21), states that it was his intention to write to them concerning their “common salvation.” However, having learned that some in the church were teaching false doctrines, Jude was compelled to tell them that they must “contend for the faith once delivered to them” by the apostles of the Lord. God’s “beloved” had been taught God’s Truth; these men were trying to change that Truth. In verse four Jude warns that these “ministers of righteousness” operating under the power and direction of the “angel of light” (1 Cor. 11:13-15) were leading them astray concerning God’s grace. These “ungodly,” “condemned” men had crept into the church unawares and were turning the Lord’s grace into lasciviousness–a license to sin. These Satan-directed, Satan empowered men were telling the people that, because of God’s grace, they could SIN AND GET AWAY WITH IT. I was told this by a former missionary. Another former missionary told me that it was “… just too much trouble to obey God.” These two “sinners saved by grace” were convinced that God’s grace made obedience to Him unnecessary. In reality, these missionaries and billions of other SSBG “know” beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only is obedience unnecessary, it is IMPOSSIBLE due to the miraculous implantation of Adam’s sin seed into mankind’s spiritual DNA.

Before we end the discussion of what grace is not, let us focus on some of Jude’s words that are deliberately overlooked in that they must be searched for, found and, through much striving, believed and acted upon. In verse four the apostle states that when grace is used as a license to sin, the sinner is guilty of “denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” SINNERS SAVED BY GRACE DENY THAT GOD AND CHRIST ARE THE LORDS OF THEIR LIVES. The following is Biblical Truth every true saint knows: WHERE THE GODHEAD DOES NOT RULE, SATAN DOES. When grace is used as an excuse to break God’s Law–sin (1 Jn. 3:4)–the sinner separates himself from the Lord (Isa. 59:2) which creates a vacuum in the life of the “saved sinner.” Such a spiritual vacuum is automatically filled. Satan fills it. EVERYONE HAS A LORD WHOM THEY OBEY AND SERVE. One’s sins or one’s righteousness determine one’s ruler. L.J.