Can we preach too much grace???

The book of Jeremiah is not something you will hear preached as a matter of course in these wayward times. I took our congregation, page by page, through the book a number of years ago. The warnings of Jeremiah are many and just as applicable today as they were then. The knee-jerk reaction of our current Christian culture --myself included-- is to ascribe the rampant evil of the day to the unbelief of the culture at large.  A cursory reading of Jeremiah seems to say something quite different. Rather than excoriating "they, them and those," this prophet points the accusing finger at those uniquely called the Children of God. 

"Amend your ways and deeds and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’" (Jeremiah 7:4)

The Temple worship had become so casually understood as to the depth of meaning of what took place, that the redemptive pictures and promises of hope in the coming Savior were trampled underfoot. The result was as flippant, thoughtless, and robotic attendance becoming the be-all, end-all, of the measure of saving faith; of true faith.

Putting it in today's parlance, it would be akin to the staunch priority of making sure one is in attendance at church every Sunday, come Hell or high water, clutching their weekly attendance badge as their security and definition of what it means to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart..." As long as one meets their self-determined "religious requirement," they can quite literally live the rest of the hours of their week however they see fit. 

Sadly, today the "art" of exhortation is too often omitted in the preacher's task for fear of offending and--gasp--someone leaves the church. So with gushing words of affirmation, week in and week out, the self-satisfied "Christian" walks out every Sunday feeling like they are God's gift to the world.

"“Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?"  (Jeremiah 7:8-10)

What follows in the rest of Jeremiah ought to put the fear into anyone who is putting their confidence in their "walk of faithfulness" as determined on an individual basis. 

The balance:  The God of the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament.  He has not changed for He is unchanging. It is certainly true that no one is secure before a Holy, sin-hating God, except the one who IS PUTTING their confidence in the imputed righteousness of the Savior. Notice I did not say, "....who HAS PUT their confidence in the imputed righteousness of the Savior. 

Saving faith is not a punctilliar--once in the past action--but an active, continuous action that is moment by moment. The reformers understood this as "perseverance of the saints." In other words it is not the one who has believed in the past, but the one who has believed, is believing and will believe... And lest this be misunderstood as a self-generated, strength of grip, fortitude, this continuing in faith is purely by the magnanimous grace of the One who has called out the Redeemed. 

"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."  (John 10:28-29)

Understood on balance, a little more fire and brimstone could be vital to the health of the Church. For  "...God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"  (Romans 2:4)