I’ve borrowed my title from a music artist who in the 1980’s recorded an album by that name. It really wasn’t anything to do with the Christian gospel, but the tension between those two words provides perfect summary of a profound truth in an extremely succinct form. The twenty-first century evangelical world preaches grace-and so it should-but unfortunately fails to preach the other half of the message.
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The danger of leaning on grace and liberty is in thinking that how I live doesn’t matter, and it seems that there’s now a dearth-a lack-of teaching and seeking holiness and obedience in the Church. Jesus Christ came to save us-to deliver us- into a holy life, not to give us a ticket to heaven while we go our own way anyway. Biblical Scripture is abundantly clear that how we live our lives matters. Take this statement from one of John’s letters as an example:
“We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:3-6).
There’s a question often asked regarding salvation which is, ‘Can you lose it?” Many differing answers are given. Mine is this: “No you cannot lose it, but you can give it away”. It’s true that Jesus Christ said of his disciples, “No-one can snatch them out of my hand”, and there is no power in heaven or earth which can loose God’s hand from His children. He is the Master of souls and of eternity. Once a person steps over that line into the family of God and the body of Christ, nothing can break the bonds-not death, not persecution, not sickness or pain. This is the message of Paul in chapter eight of Romans. “Who shall separate us from the love of God?” he asks rhetorically.
Many Christians insist that since you can’t earn your salvation-and you can’t-neither can you lose it by falling out of fellowship or by sinning. You may be ashamed before Christ at his coming, but you will still be in the family of God, and you will still have your place in heaven. But what about the many, many Scripture passages which suggest otherwise? The very chapter of Paul’s epistle which tells us that salvation is a gift of God through faith alone also tells us that salvation is to take us out of sin and into a godly life:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
The very book which addresses our freedom from law also tells us that how we live makes all the difference:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7 KJV).
We could sweep away any suggestion that such passages refer to anyone who once named the name of Christ, but herein is the danger. The mere possibility that how a person lives has a bearing on his or her eternal destiny should be enough to make us pause and think very carefully in accordance with the words of God.
Someone close to me once preached the name of Jesus Christ. He would witness to others and tell them the gospel. However, after several serious setbacks in life he rejected his faith-decades ago-and now claims to be an atheist. He will not listen to any word about God or Jesus Christ. What, then, will happen to him when he passes from this world? Will God take him to heaven anyway, because of the profession he made many years ago? Will he go to the heaven he does not believe in and does not want to go to? Will heaven be filled with people who have turned their backs on Christ and denied him? Some will say that he “was never really saved at all”. Perhaps so, but what about you and I? Were we ever really saved at all? Where is the evidence of our faith?
James held this point up so clearly that Martin Luther wanted to remove his letter from the canon of Scripture, because it says many things like this:
“But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds’. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:18-19).
Demons believe in Jesus and Satan believes in Jesus, but they will end up in the abyss. Jesus Christ spent his earthly ministry teaching, telling parables and telling people to repent of their sins. He was our example. Why did he bother if all he needed to say was, “Say a prayer which includes my name and you will go to heaven”?
No one step of disobedience or struggling with faith and trust will disqualify a believer from the salvation of God which is one hundred percent a gift of God’s grace: God is full of mercy and patience. However, the pattern of a person’s life; their profession and their words demonstrate whether they have genuine faith or not. We are indeed saved by grace through faith alone, and nothing we can do could make us good enough for God. The Calvinists have that part right: we cannot please a perfect God apart from the grace and mercy of God through the sacrifice of His son. However, the evidence that we really do have that faith is in how we live, how we treat one another, and whether we live in holiness before our Creator.
Eternal security speaks of God’s power to save. It does not give us license to live according to our old nature:
“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Hebrews 12:14-15).
