From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: You know, Jesus said there's a broad road21 that leads to destruction, and there's a narrow road that leads to life. On either side of the narrow road, you have ditches, and you have the ditch of legalism on the right, and the ditch of license on the left. And today, we want to discuss license. The question, since Christians are not under law but under grace, as it says in Romans chapter 6, do we have a license to sin? Spoiler alert, no.

Guest (Male): There is grace in Christ, but that grace never exceeds his holiness. Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. In today's eye-opening message, he's going to help us discover three insightful truths about sin in the life of a believer and how we all must be on guard against the false doctrine of what is often referred to as hyper grace. The message today is from Pastor Jeff's exciting seven-lesson series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. And you can listen to any of these broadcasts you may have missed when you go to fromhishart.org.

Click the listen link. Now, though, open your Bible to Galatians chapter 5. Here's Pastor Jeff to begin the lesson today, a license to sin.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: You know, the word license is defined as the lawful granting of permission to do something that would otherwise not be legal or allowed. You know, we have to get a license to hunt. We have to get a license to fish. You have to have a license to practice medicine. You have to have a license to practice law. James Bond 007, he has a license to kill. Can you imagine? You get pulled over, you shot somebody, they're lying dead in the road, the cop comes, I have a license. I can do that. I have a license to kill.

Oh, I didn't know. You're 007. License to kill. Hey, does anyone you know have a license to sin? A license to sin. Did you know that in the early days of the church there were false teachers that came into the church, Gnostics and Docetists, that would come into the church and say, listen, because of the grace of God, you have the ability to do whatever you want. The Gnostics would say, listen, matter, your physical body is evil, and it will only be evil. Only the spirit is good. So, because matter is evil and the spirit is good, it doesn't matter what you do with your body.

So, you can sin all you want, and it doesn't matter. They were teaching basically to the church the damnable heresy of Gnosticism, of grace that had overrun its banks and was saying you have a license. As a Christian, you have a license to sin. That heresy is still alive today. You know, Jesus said there's a broad road that leads to destruction, and there's a narrow road that leads to life. Everybody starts out on the broad road because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But when we understand, we hear the gospel, we understand who Jesus is, that he's God in the flesh, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead.

When we do two things, repent, turn from sin and turn to the Savior, put our faith and trust in him, then we're saved and we're taking off taking off the broad road and we're put on the narrow road, the narrow road that leads to life. On either side of the narrow road, you have ditches. And you have the ditch of legalism on the right and the ditch of license on the left, a license to sin. Now, the narrow road is paved with grace and truth and the blood of Jesus. That's how we got on the narrow road through repentance and faith because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Now, Jesus came. He's full of grace and truth, and the narrow road is grace and truth. And we have to keep grace and truth in the proper balance because if you get to where truth is trumping grace, you have a major tendency to fall into the ditch of legalism, and everything in your relationship with God becomes keeping becomes rule keeping. And then you get sidelined into the ditch of legalism. But if grace starts to outshine and out trump truth, then you fall into the ditch of license where you say, well, it's just covered by grace, so I can do whatever I want to do.

I have, although they wouldn't say it like this, I have a license to sin. Well, we're going to see that neither one of those things are correct. Both of those things are heresies, and today we want to discuss license. The question, since Christians are not under law but under grace, as it says in Romans chapter 6, do we have a license to sin? Spoiler alert, no. All right, that's what we're going to talk about today. Galatians chapter 5, Walk by the Spirit is the title in my Bible of Galatians 5. But the first 12 verses are all about legalism, and then he shifts gears and he starts talking about license.

For you were called to freedom, brethren, verse 13, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Three truths I want us to look at this morning as we think about the question since Christians are under grace and not under law, do we have a license to sin?

Truth number one, the devil works hard to try and hinder your progress and my progress in the Christian life. Sometimes we get the idea that the devil works on the people on the broad road to keep them on the broad road so they don't ever respond to the gospel. And that is true. He does do that. He's as Paul said, he never ceases to make crooked the straight paths of the Lord. But we can get this false idea that once you trust Christ, you know, that 's the end of your problems, and the devil says, okay, I lost that soul to Jesus and I'm going to leave that person alone.

No, he doesn't leave you alone. Now, he says, okay, you're on the narrow road that leads to life. You're saved, and we believe in eternal security of those who are truly saved, but the devil wants to hinder your progress in the Christian life so that you're not a good witness for the Lord Jesus. And so he keeps working on you to get you into the ditch of legalism so that you quit growing or into the ditch of license so that you quit growing. Paul said in Galatians 5:7, you were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

To be hindered, it uses a a word that spoke about the Olympic Games, and it is a runner. And he said, you know, you were running well, but then someone cut in on you. Someone got into your lane and knocked you off your pace and hindered you from moving forward. That word hinder also means to thwart. It means it it was used as what an army would do when they would be fighting another army. They might destroy a road so that the pursuing army couldn't keep making progress. They would blow up the road, so to speak, so they couldn't come forward.

And Paul is saying, hey, you were doing really well, but then someone hindered you. Someone cut in on you. That's what the devil does. He works hard to try and hinder your progress, and the devil, as we talk about the ditch of license, the devil promotes a gospel of perverted grace. Jude said this, beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, man, I just want to write to you and encourage you. I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Why? For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who are long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons. And why are they ungodly? Because they turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. They pervert the grace of God, and they say the grace of God means you have a license to sin. That's not what the grace of God says, but they pervert the grace of God, and they turn it into this thing that it was never intended to be. As the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, they insult the spirit of grace by taking grace and turning it into an opportunity for the flesh.

The devil promotes a gospel of perverted grace, and the devil will always try to deceive us regarding sin. He's a deceiver. That's what he does. Jesus said he's a liar and the father of lies, and he is going to deceive regarding sin. You see that in the Garden of Eden. There was one command in the Garden of Eden. From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it. For in the day you eat of it, you will surely die.

One command. And what does the devil do? He comes and he deceives about that. You will not surely die, for God knows in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And so Eve ate and she gave to her husband with her, and he ate, and the eyes of both of them were open and sin was born into the world, and it brought devastation and destruction. The devil will always try to deceive us concerning sin. Now, the problem that we have with legalism is the devil says, hey, listen, don't get the idea that you can just accept God's grace and that's all you have to do.

No, you have to add your works. You have to add your sweat to God's grace in order to be acceptable to God. You have to earn your way. Lots of Christians on the performance treadmill thinking that if I don't perform, God's not going to love me. That's a lie of the devil. That's that's a deception from the devil to say the only way we can be right with God is if we're working for his favor. Now, the the ditch of license, well, what does that say? That says, hey, it doesn't matter what you do. God's grace covers you.

So, just live it up. Do whatever you want. That's the good news. And and present that to the population that, hey, there's good news in Jesus. He accepts you just as you are, and he has no requirements for you, and you can just live and and love God and just enjoy your relationship with God. That sounds good, but there's a lie in there. Just like it sounded good, if you eat of this fruit, your eyes will be open, you'll be like God, knowing good and evil. Well, well, yeah, I'd like to be like God. That would be great.

But he's a liar and the father of lies.

Guest (Male): You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve today, and it's part one of the lesson Beyond License to Sin from Pastor Jeff's seven-message series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. Pastor Jeff will return in just a moment. Now, you're likely in one of two groups who listen to the program each day on From His Heart. We often have a significant part of our audience listening each day who have never surrendered their hearts to Christ, never in repentance and faith asked Jesus into their life. But many have, and sometimes they forget what they were like before they asked Christ to come into their hearts.

The Apostle Paul never forgot who he had been before Christ saved him. He knew he had done nothing to deserve God's mercy. God's grace didn't simply forgive Paul for his past. Grace transformed him, strengthened him, and empowered him to spend the rest of his life serving the Savior that he once opposed. Would you like to feel that confidence, that peace, and experience the real, practical, and vibrant grace of God? Pastor Jeff will show you how in his series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. And this series of seven messages is our gift to you for your support this month of any amount.

Go to fromhishart.org to make your gift and receive this series in the format of your choice. Or you can call 866-40 Bible, 866-40 Bible. Thank you for joining with us to help share this good news of grace around the world. Now, let's get back to today's lesson, a license to sin, part one.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Hyper grace, have you ever heard that term hyper grace? That's when grace starts to trump everything else in the character of God. Churches all over the place now in America are buying into hyper grace. How do you know if you are listening to a hyper grace pastor or going to a hyper grace church? Here are some of the characteristics of a place like that. Number one, they suggest that it's never necessary for a Christian to confess their sins or ask forgiveness of God. Why? Well, you've already been forgiven, so you don't have to ask God for forgiveness.

1 John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Yeah, that's for an unbeliever. That's not for a believer because once you're a believer, God's already forgiven you. You never have to ask him for forgiveness again. Number two, there's no need for repentance once you're saved. Well, you've already repented, so you don't need to repent again, which is pretty interesting because you read in the book of the Revelation, the seven letters to the seven churches, five of the seven letters to the five churches, the five of those seven.

The Lord tells them point blank, repent or else I'm going to take your lampstand. I'm shutting down your church unless you repent. But the hyper grace guys said no need for repentance. Number three, the preachers never speak against sin. Number four, the lead pastor never takes a cultural stand for righteousness. Oh, we don't want to get political, so we're not going to talk about uh homosexuality, we're not going to talk about abortion, we're not going to talk about transgenderism, we're not going to talk about any of those issues because that would be too political. We just want to be a church for everybody.

And we don't have a lot of standards here. So, they never speak about sin, never take a cultural stand. The Old Testament is almost totally ignored. Why? Well, the Old Testament is the Old Covenant. It's the Old Law. We're not under that deal. We're under the New Covenant. We're under the New Law, so we don't need the Old Testament, so the thinking goes. Number six, people are allowed to teach and lead ministries who live immoral lives. Number seven, the lead pastor speaks often against the institutional church, telling you all the things about the institutional church that are wrong and and terrible.

Number eight, the lead pastor only preaches positive motivational messages. And number nine, key members of the church are regularly living sinful lives with impunity. Well, they never talk about it in their church as Joe Osteen says, he never even uses the word sin because he thinks that will make somebody feel uncomfortable, and people don't need to feel uncomfortable. They just need to feel good. I told you before, you go to the cancer doctor and you have cancer, and he says, well, I don't want to tell Jim he's got cancer that well, it won't make him feel good.

I'm just going to tell him he 's fine. I'm going to make him feel good. I'm going to give him a couple of sugar pills. Hey, if Jim has cancer, he needs to know he has cancer so he can get better, so he can deal with the cancer. If you don't tell him the truth, he's going to think he's fine and he's not fine and he's going to die and you could have intervened and kept him from death. So, the devil will always try to deceive us regarding sin. And remember this, the ones who practice sin are probably not saved.

Now, I didn't say that. That's what the Lord says in Galatians chapter 5. He talks about the deeds of the flesh. Verse 19, now the deeds of the flesh are evident, and then he gives a list of 15 things, and he adds one just for good measure and things like these. What does he say? Now, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have also forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, that doesn't say that those who have ever committed those things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. It's those who practice such things. If the the fruit of the flesh and the deeds of the flesh, if that characterizes your life day in, day out, weekend, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out, well, guess what? You've never been saved. Those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Terrible thing to have false hope that's not rooted in the truth. So, the devil works hard to try and hinder your progress and my progress and our progress to get us in.

If he can't get you in the ditch of legalism, he's going to try and get you in the ditch of license. Second truth, true Christian freedom is freedom to joyfully obey God. That's what it is. It it was for freedom, Galatians 5:1, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Verse 13, for you were called to freedom, brethren. Freedom from what? Freedom not to sin, freedom from sin. The Lord set us free from sin and guilt and shame so that we can live for Christ, just as we sang that song in Christ alone. No guilt in life, no fear in death.

This is the power of Christ in me. He has set us free to joyfully serve him and obey him in what he tells us to do. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments just as I have kept my father's commandments. You know, talk is cheap. You can say you love God, but the way you prove that you love God is that you obey the Lord. He who has my commandments and keeps them, Jesus said, he it is who loves me, and he who loves me shall be loved by my father, and I will love him and will disclose myself to him.

So, true freedom is freedom to joyfully obey the commands of God. Now, most of us in this room are familiar with the name Andy Stanley. Andy Stanley is a well-known pastor. He's the son of Charles Stanley, and Charles Stanley, who is pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia for many, many years, just recently retired. Andy has made some statements that are very alarming. He is a pastor of a large church, has a huge following, has written lots of books that people gobble up. But here are some of the statements that he made. Number one, participants in the New Covenant, that's Christians, are not required to obey any of the commandments found in the first part of their Bibles.

Thou shalt not obey the Ten Commandments. You are not accountable to the Ten Commandments. You are not accountable to the Jewish law. We are done with that. God has done something new. Well, that's kind of an alarming thing to say, but that's something that people loved to hear. You know, he's reaching out to a huge audience of people. And no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, we want you to come. Hey, I'm like that, too. I want people to come, but I'm not going to tell them what they want to hear. I'm going to tell them what they need to hear.

What they want to hear, the people coming in with cancer, so to speak, as we use that illustration, they want to hear they're fine. But what they need to hear is you have cancer and this is what you need to do or you're going to die with cancer. And so to tell people that, hey, you don't need to obey the Ten Commandments, we're done with that. That's a scary thing to say. He goes on to say this, first century church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish scriptures. Peter, James, and Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.

Unhitch from the Old Testament. Now, that is not a new thing. There was a second century heretic named Marcion, and Marcion said the same thing. He basically just took the Old Testament and said, we don't need that anymore. We're not under that anymore. So, everything is just New Testament. They go so far, some of these hyper grace guys, to say the Sermon on the Mount doesn't really apply to us. It's only the words of Jesus after the resurrection because anything before that is Old Covenant. We don't abide by the Old Covenant because we're not under law, we're under grace.

Hey, you mark it down, Christians never unhitch from the commands of God. That that's not what being a Christian is, to unhitch from the commands of God. Hey, I can just do whatever I want. That's why it says in verse 13, for you were called to freedom, brethren. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. The word for opportunity means a base of operations. It's a military term. Don't turn it into this base of operations to indulge the flesh. That's not what true freedom is. That's not what the Lord did when he saved you.

Guest (Male): Tomorrow on From His Heart's broadcast we'll continue right there after a short review, so make plans to be with us again then. There are many, many ways to listen to the From His Heart broadcast, but for likely most listening today, it's radio. Statistics show that more Americans tune into radio than any other platform. Ever since our very beginnings more than 21 years ago, From His Heart has been proclaiming real truth to serve our part of the Great Commission. It's a steady, strategic, and deeply personal way to speak truth into everyday lives, and hopefully your life today.

And we can do that all thanks to you. Looking ahead, we have plans already underway to expand our radio reach into additional markets, especially underserved rural regions and urban areas where gospel-centered teaching is scarce. And internationally this year into five different languages. And we want to thank you for your partnership to help us expand this ministry. When you give a gift this month, we'd like to just say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. Just imagine the difference your support can make. Call 866-40 Bible to make your gift today or go to fromhishart.org.

Well, today is done, but tomorrow promises to be an eye-opening one again as Pastor Jeff continues part two of the lesson A License to Sin. It's from the series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. Join us Wednesday when Pastor Jeff will open up God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from God's heart here on From His Heart.