“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship)
“The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible, it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Letters and Papers from Prison — 1967; 1997)
“There remains an experience of incomparable value. We have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated — in short, from the perspective of those who suffer. Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behavior. Christians are called to compassion and to action.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Letters from Prison, p.16)
“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
“By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“I discovered later, and I’m still discovering right up to this moment, that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others…not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
“If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. … How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
“While we exert ourselves to grow beyond our humanity, to leave the human behind us, God becomes human; and we must recognize that God wills that we be human, real human beings. While we distinguish between pious and godless, good and evil, noble and base, God loves real people without distinction. ”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”
― Deitrich Bonhoeffer
“It is only because he became like us that we can become like him.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“Music (praise)… will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
― Deitrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
The Gracious LORD will Abundantly Pardon [podcast]
“Abundantly Pardon”
“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7
The repentant thief on the cross next to Jesus called Him “Lord” and simply asked, believed on Christ. Where is he now? “paradise” …
“Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 42 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:41-42
God’s pardon is paramount to being in paradise with Him and His saints. When we cry out to Him, the LORD will freely forgive us. That’s why He came and what He desires to do. Yet we must never forget that we shall reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-8). If we choose to sin, there will be dire consequences and while we can be forgiven, those results must be reaped.
How many people does God desire to perish? Not one (2 Peter 3:9).
Matthew 5:3, 6, 8
“Jeremiah’s message was never meant to leave the heart in despair. Every warning from God carried an invitation to return. The Lord does not expose empty religion to shame His people, but to heal them. Repentance is not the loss of hope, it is the beginning of hope. Christ still receives every soul that comes with humility, and He gives living faith where there was only habit, peace where there was only fear, and joy where there was only emptiness. The call remains the same today, to draw near to Him with a sincere heart, trusting that His mercy is always greater than our weakness.” Dan Blincoe
“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:6-10
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” Acts 3:19
“Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?” Joel 2:12-14
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Corinthians 13:5
YOUR PRAYER TO GOD: Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, please break me! Please crush me dear LORD. YOU are my Potter. Pour the water of Your Holy Spirit and Word upon this life You made and saved for Your glory, not mine. I love You Jesus! Let this heart be broken, contrite, and let tears flow from a poor and pure heart that hungers and thirsts after Your righteousness. In the name of my LORD Jesus, amen.
“God has a multitude of mercy (Psalm 5:7), is “plenteous in mercy” (Psalm 86:5), “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4), and has “abundant mercy” (1 Peter 1:3). Wow! And I need all of that! But the real test is since He gives me all that mercy, do I extend mercy to others? If I don’t show mercy to others I will not receive mercy from God. James 2:13.” Karen Cochran
FORGIVE “from your hearts” or go to hell. That’s your choice (Matthew 18:21-35).
It becomes easy to forgive when you look in the mirror honestly and see all your own sins (Mark 11:25-26). Repent now.
“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in SINCERITY and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.” Joshua 24:14
“God specializes in taking broken vessels and molding them, shaping them, and making them vessels of honor fit for His use!” Karen Cochran
Woman taken in the act of adultery. What about the man? Selective mercy, judgment?
Yes, we are to “Go, and sin no more” and yet “IF (not when) any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.” Right? We can confess our sin in repentance and be forgiven (1 John 1:6-2:2).
It seems, from the whole counsel of God’s Word, that Jesus is more likely saying “You are now forgiven, saved, and grace empowered and do not need to live in sin any longer.” Surely His mercy and grace didn’t “run out” the first time she was redeemed, rescued. God is a merciful God and YES He 100% requires that we repent whenever needed, re-turn to Him and confess all sin. Yet when we do, is He not merciful? See Lamentations 3:22-23; Psalms 51; 103:10-12; Luke 22:31-32, etc.
The point intended here is that the “Go and sin no more” seems to be isolated by some…. first Jesus forgives/redeems her as she was obviously repentant. Then He says “Go and sin no more.” Did that mean “You better not sin again or it’s over, no more mercy, no chance of you ever returning to Me!” OR, did He mean that she is now redeemed, is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and empowered by divine grace to live free from sin and so she no longer has to be under it’s dominion”? See Romans 6:14; Titus 2:11-12.
“She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” John 8:11
“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” Psalms 86:5
“But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” Psalms 86:15
HOW can God possibly use me to show His mercy to others if I am not walking in His mercy toward others?
IF YOU DEAL mercilessly with others, undiluted harsh judgment is coming upon your own life. That’s a divine promise:
“For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” James 2:13
Read that again. Memorize it.
YOU set the measure of the judgment/mercy coming upon your life from God by how you show such to others.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5
The Sins and Restoration of the Patriarchs [podcast]
Abraham, Moses, and David – Their Sin and God’s Restoration! “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Ecclesiastes 7:20 This fact doesn’t justify any sinning and yet, as the Word of God, must be factored in (Isaiah 28:16; Romans 6:1-2; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Timothy 2:15). “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Proverbs 20:9 Sinless perfectionism is a lie (1 John 1:7-2:2). “If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me […]
God is Ready to Forgive and Plenteous in Mercy [podcast]
“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” Psalms 86:5 God is… “good” “ready to forgive” “plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” Psalms 86:15 Our LORD is… “a God full of compassion” “gracious” “longsuffering” “plenteous in mercy and truth” “His Compassions Fail Not” “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not […]
The God Who Is Ready To Forgive [podcast]
“A GREAT WAY OFF” Luke 15:20 Luke 15 – 3 parables of that which was lost (SSS): — Lost Sheep — Lost Silver — Lost Son What is the overriding divine theme communicated in this beautiful Bible chapter? THE whole of Scripture testifies to the reality that the LORD delights to restore when we simply come to Him humbly, on His terms. “And he (the wayward son) arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed […]
“If God be For Us Who can be Against Us?” [podcast]
WHO is God truly “with”?
“And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lordis with you, while ye be with him; and IF YE SEEK HIM, he will be found of you; but IF ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” 2 Chronicles 15:2
What happens when one of His children deny Him?
“It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11-13
Those who reject Him shall be rejected by Him. OSAS/eternal security is a fairy tale espoused by the moral cowards who refuse to serve God on HIS stated terms – repentance, faith, true worship, obedience, holiness, the crucified life, etc.
“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.” Matthew 10:14-15
Persecution and the Disciple of Jesus
1 Peter 4
“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
Suffering as a Christian
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
Romans 8
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“Romans 8:29: For whom he did foreknow, etc. – “In this and the following verse the apostle shows how our calling is an argument that all things work together to advance our eternal happiness, by showing the several steps which the wisdom and goodness of God have settled, in order to complete our salvation. In order to this he first gives us, in this verse, the foundation and finishing, or the beginning and end, of the scheme of our redemption: For whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. To foreknow, here signifies to design before, or at the first forming of the scheme; to bestow the favor and privilege of being God’s people upon any set of men, Rom_11:2. This is the foundation or first step of our salvation; namely, the purpose and grace of God, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began, 2Ti_1:9. Then, he knew or favored us; for in this sense the word to know is taken in a great variety of places, both in the Old and New Testaments. And as he knew the Gentiles then, when the scheme was laid, and before any part of it was executed, consequently, in reference to the execution of this scheme, he foreknew us. This is the first step of our salvation, and the end or finishing of it is our conformity to the Son of God in eternal glory, Rom_8:17, which includes and supposes our moral conformity to him. When God knew us, at the forming of the Gospel scheme; or, when he intended to bestow on us the privilege of being his people; he then destinated or designed us to be conformed to the image of his Son; and, as he destinated or determined us then to this very high honor and happiness, he pre-destinated, fore-ordained, or pre-determined us to it. Thus we are to understand the foundation and finishing of the scheme of our salvation. The foundation is the foreknowledge, or gracious purpose of God; the finishing is our being joint heirs with Christ. Now, our calling or invitation (see on Rom_8:28 (note)) stands in connection with both these.” Adam Clarke
Hypocrisy, Persecutions, and Afflictions [podcast]
“True Christiany will cost a man favor of the world. He must be content to be thought ill of by man if he pleases God. He must count it no strange thing to be mocked, ridiculed, slandered, persecuted and even hated.” -J.C.Ryle If you don’t have people leaving you due to what you’re preaching, you’re not preaching the Gospel Christ’s preached. “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” John 6:66 Ministry work always comes with “much contention.” There is a devil and he has human agents. Jesus will settle every score, will […]
The Persecution Podcast [podcast]
“Think it not strange” in 1 Peter 4 simply means to not be surprised. If you love the LORD you will want to hear all He says in His Word, including the reality of persecutions for Christ’s sake (John 8:47). Any man posing as a leader among God’s people and isn’t preaching regularly on the reality of Christian persecution, is absolutely an ear-tickling wolf! Run! Part 1 Below Part 2 Below Part 3 Below Part 4 Below Sounds like our LORD is saying that WHATEVER, WHOEVER we lose in this life due to following Jesus, God […]
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” Psalms 27:4 This psalm epitomizes the worship-filled heart of the only man in HIS-story that the LORD declared is “a man after mine own heart.” David’s heart for the LORD is captured in this psalm for all of us to witness, to covet, to seek, and to do. “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man […]
The Book of Jonah Narrated [podcast]
Jonah has only 4 chapters, which makes it easy to outline the book chapter-by-chapter: God sends Jonah, Jonah disobeys (Jonah 1) God has compassion on Jonah (Jonah 2) Jonah preaches to Nineveh, Nineveh repents (Jonah 3) God has compassion on Nineveh, but Jonah does not and is upset (Jonah 4) Chapter 1 Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord 1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to […]
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”
“If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. … How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?”
