GROWING
IN GRACE
A Guide to True Discipleship
By Gary Ray Branscome
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. //
If you
continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the
truth,
and the truth will make you free. (John 10:27, John 8:31-32)
One thing that all of the
“discipleship” guides, lessons, or programs that I have looked at have
in
common is an emphasis on outward appearance that fails to deal with the
heart. Telling
new converts to attend church, pray and read their Bible is good
advice. But,
what good does it do if they see nothing wrong with some things the
Bible calls
sinful, or if they continue to rationalize their sins instead of
repenting of
them? Many new converts have a hard time recognizing their sins. I
pointed out
certain sins to one man only to have him say, “That isn’t sin that is
just
human nature”. I once asked a person who went to church regularly if
her church
taught salvation by grace through faith. In reply she said, “I don’t
know what
you are talking about”. Later I heard her tell a man – who was hurting
because
he had just gone through a divorce – that he ought to find someone to
shack up
with. And, when I said something she flipped it off by saying, “Sin is
sin” as
if premeditated and willful sin was no different than a slip of the
tongue that
one is immediately sorry for (Hebrews 10:26-31). By the way, the
difference between
those two sins is a matter hardening the heart. And, the problem is far
greater
than most people would like to believe (Proverbs 28:14). God will not tolerate willful sin (Hebrews 10:26-31).
Ray Comfort has published a number of
DVDs in which he asks various people if they think they are a good
person only
to have them invariably say, “Yes”. He then goes on to ask them if they
have
ever told a lie, taken something that did not belong to them, or looked
upon a
woman with lust: showing them that according to God’s Law they are
liars,
thieves, and adulterers. He then presents the way of salvation, and
some show
an interest. However, even if someone who thinks of himself as a good
person
admits his sin long enough to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer,” he is not
likely to stop
thinking of himself as a good person. On the contrary, he may well end
up thinking
that he is an even better person. And, that is the mindset of a
Pharisee. Therefore,
for him to grow spiritually he needs to stop excusing and turning a
blind eye
to his sins, and instead recognize, acknowledge, and be sorry for those
sins.
People who are blind to many of their
own sins need to realize that God has a different standard than they
do, and
His is the only standard that counts. In fact, His standard is so
strict that
even their most righteous acts are as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
Therefore,
to be truly “spiritual” they need to look at their sins, be sorry for
their
sins, and bring their thinking into accord with God’s Word (Romans
12:2). In
short, they need to know God’s Law, and how it applies to their lives.
Of course that is the last thing that Satan
wants them
to do. So in some cases, as soon as they start looking at their own
sins Satan
causes them to be beset with fears. They may fear that their sins are
too great
to be forgiven. They may fear that they will be condemned for some sin
they
forgot to confess. Or, they may fear that God is angry with them if
everything
is not going well in their life. Such people need to understand the
Gospel.
The gospel tells us that no sin is too great
to be
forgiven when it says, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”
(Romans
During the Middle Ages Satan used the lie,
“Only sins
that are confessed can be forgiven” to rob believers of the assurance
of
salvation. That lie is refuted by God’s promise, “Christ is the end of
the law
for righteousness to every one who believes” (Romans 10:4): As it is
written, “Abraham
believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness” (Romans
4:3). The
blood of Jesus Christ does not just cleanse us of those sins we
remember to
confess, but, “of all sin” (1John 1:7), including those sins long
forgotten
(Psalm
Moreover, if our sins are forgiven then we
should
never be troubled by the fear that God is angry with us just because
things are
not going right. As Job said, “Man is born to trouble, as the sparks
fly upward”
(Job 5:7). Instead, be assured that if you trust in Christ then, “All
things
work together for good for those who love God” (Romans
Getting back to those who are blind to their
own sins;
such people need to know what sin is, and how to recognize their sins.
They also
need to stop trying to cover up those sins with excuses, learn to be
sorry for
those sins, confess those sins to God, and look to Christ for
forgiveness (Proverbs
28:13). To that end, we need to learn what the names for various sins
mentioned
in the Bible mean.
Even though I learned as a child that Christ
condemned
the sin of pride, as a teenager I was blind to my own pride because I
thought
of pride as arrogance, rather than a denial of sin. In truth, all who
think too
highly of themselves are proud. As it is written, “I warn every one of
you, not
to think of yourself more highly than you ought; but think of yourself
soberly,
as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). Am I
saying
that we need to go around berating ourselves? Not at all! But, we
should be
able to honestly say with the Apostle Paul, “I know that nothing good
dwells in
me (that is, in my flesh,)” (Romans
It is not only important for
us to learn the difference between right and wrong, we also need to
stop
excusing sin, so that our heart can be soft and tender before God. And,
that
brings us to an important, yet often neglected, aspect of our walk with
Christ,
namely the need to train our conscience. Now, our conscience is that
inner
knowledge that tells us that something is wrong before we do it. In
contrast,
guilt is the condemnation that we may or may not feel if we transgress
that
knowledge. However, people often make the mistake of confusing
conscience with
guilt. And, having confused conscience with guilt they wrongly conclude
that
they can escape condemnation by rationalizing sin so that they no
longer feel
guilt. Nevertheless, that is not the way it
works. The very thing such people trust in, namely the excuses they use
to
justify sin, will condemn them on the Day of Judgment. For if they were
doing
right to begin with, they would not have to make up excuses to justify
what
they were doing.
God wants us to be sorry for
our sins, instead of making up excuses for them. He wants us to look to
Christ
for forgiveness instead of hoping that He does not notice. Yet, because
of the
deceitfulness of the human heart, people are far more likely to blind
themselves to their sins, make excuses for those sins, and convince
themselves
that what they have done is, “no big deal”.
Dealing With a Culture That Condones SIN
One of the problems that we have to
deal with in our society is the fact that our culture condones many
things that
the Bible condemns. This has always been the case, but Christians have
a
responsibility to condemn what the Bible condemns, and should never
lower their
standards to conform to the world (Romans 12:2). Less than one-hundred
years
ago, our culture condoned racism. One hundred years before that it
condoned
dueling. Today it condones the murder of babies, sex before marriage
and
homosexuality all of which are condemned by God in no uncertain terms
(Leviticus
20:13, 1Corinthians 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:5, 1Timothy 1:9-10,
1Corinthians 5:1-5,
Romans 1:26-32, Hebrews 10:26-31). In order for us to grow as
believers, we
need to change our thinking in order to bring it into accord with what
the
Bible says (2Corinthians 10:5).
As believers, it is important for us
to learn to examine ourselves, learn to recognize those aspects of our
behavior
that God’s Word condemns, and instead of excusing our sins and hoping
that God
does not notice, learn to condemn our own sins confessing those sins to
God
while looking to Christ for mercy. As it
is written, “He who excuses his sins will not prosper: but whoever
confesses
and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). See also,
1Corinthians
Another problem that Christians face
in our society is the fact that our schools and universities are rife
with
antichristian teaching. Sigmund Freud, who referred to himself as a
“God-hating
Jew,” is highly regarded by the world. Yet his advice to those who were
troubled by guilt was to keep on sinning until their conscience no
longer
bothered them. However, that is satanic advice. What Freud advised is what
the
Bible calls hardening the heart. And, those who harden their hearts as
he
advised, instead of repenting and looking to God for forgiveness, are
rejecting
God’s forgiveness. As it is written, “Blessed is the man who fears the
Lord at
all times: but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity”
(Proverbs
28:14). “Do not let fornication, any sort of uncleanness, or
covetousness, be
once named among you, as becomes saints; Nor should there be obscenity,
foolish
talk, or dirty jokes, which are not proper: but rather giving of
thanks. For
you know, that no immoral, or sexually impure person, or a covetous
man, who is
an idolater, has any inheritance in the
Christ said, “If you continue in my
word, you are truly my disciples” (John
Conclusion
In order to be true disciples of Christ we
need to
believe what the Bible says (Luke 24:25). Then, using the Bible as our
guide,
we need to interpret everything around us in the universe that God has
created
to agree with what God has revealed to us in the Bible (1Corinthians
10:5,
Isaiah