What is true saving grace?

[1Tonne]

Sadly, "d taylor" preaches a mixed-up gospel called Hyper Grace. While we are saved by grace through faith (not of our own works), his focus is simply on belief and that is it. He thinks that if someone believes in Jesus, they can continue in the most abhorrent sexual habitual sins (even criminal sins), and they are still saved. So, he thinks that there is no need to repent of sin. His understanding is based on verses in the book of John where Jesus talks about belief, but "d taylor" ignores the rest of the bible.
His understanding of belief is very narrow. What he misses is that if someone believes something, then they will act in accordance with that belief. Our beliefs shape the way we act. For example, if I told you that there is a land mine in the path, if you choose not to believe me, then you will walk straight into it. If you choose to believe me, then you will act accordingly and go around it. Likewise, those who truly believe in Jesus will choose not to continue in sin. Their desire will be to honour God. (I am not talking about sinless perfection either)
James 2:22-24 "Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?.......You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only."
So, someone who truly believes will choose to leave their sin. Someone who continues in sin does not love Him, and neither do they truly believe. (Though, they may fool themselves into thinking that they believe, but their actions speak otherwise)
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And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3:18-21

D Taylor also has an incorrect view of those in the darkness and those who are in the light. He believes that those who are in the darkness are also believers that are saved, but they have not brought their deeds into the light. The problem with this view is that there is no place in the bible that says that believers are in the darkness. It is simply a presumption and cannot be backed scriptually.

Those who walk in the light have fellowship with Him. So, they know Jesus and Jesus knows them.
Jesus is light and His sacrifice was for those who are in the light. His blood cleansed the people who are in the light whom He knew, but those who are in the darkness are not cleansed. It is stated His sacrifice for our sins was only for those in the light.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

A person who walks in the darkness does not know Jesus and Jesus does not know them. Jesus' sacrifice for sins on the cross was for those He knew. Not those He did not know.
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep." John 10:14:15
This verse shows that Jesus knows the people that He saves. He has fellowship with them, but He does not have fellowship with those who are in the darkness.

Those whom He does not know will be cast away from Him.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Who is in the Light and who is in the Darkness

1. Jesus as the Light​

• John 8:12 – Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
• John 1:4-5 – In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

2. Believers Are Children of Light​

• 1 Thessalonians 5:5 – For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
• Ephesians 5:8 – For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

3. Unbelievers Are in Darkness​

• 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 – And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
• John 3:19-20 – And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
• John 12:35-40 – So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.”

4. The Call to Walk in the Light​

• 1 John 1:5-7 – This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
• Colossians 1:13 – He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.

5. Spiritual Darkness and Judgment​

• Matthew 6:22-23 – The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
• Jude 1:13 – (Describing false teachers) "wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever."

It’s quite clear who is in the light and who is in the darkness. Nowhere does Scripture say that believers are in darkness—unless someone is seriously misinterpreting the text.

 

[Soyeong]

1Ti 2:3-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,​

In Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith.

In Titus 2:11-13, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so doing those works has absolutely nothing to do with trying to earn our salvation as the result, but rather God graciously teaching us to be a doer of those works is part of His gift of salvation.

Jesus saves us from our sin (Matthew 1:21) and it is by God's law that we have knowledge of what sin is (Romans 3:20), so him graciously teaching us to be a doer of it is intrinsically the way that he is giving us his gift of saving us from not being a doer of it. In Psalms 119:142, God's law is truth, so that is also the way that we come to the knowledge of the truth.

The way we see God influences our own lives, but also the lives of others. Our church has a food ministry that services the community's needs. I met a man a few weeks ago at the food bank, and when I asked him if he would like to go to church, he responded that he could not respond to a God who controls every aspect of life. I told him that I do not believe that God is a dictator who controls every aspect of our lives. Yet, how fervently do people present the false doctrine that God has controlled life to such an extent that he even forces many into damnation, through no evil of their own, but by His sovereign will or choice to destroy them.

A mizvot is a connection, so while someone can view it as God trying to control every aspect of our lives, it is correct to view it as God graciously teaching us how to connect with Him in every aspect of outlives. The goal of the law is not for God to be a dictator, but to teach us how to grow in an intimate relationship with Him by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits.