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Hello, Matt Bennett here. Welcome to the Bennett Broadcast episode 12 on Conditional Grace.
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Think about what could change and improve your life, maybe more than anything besides
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becoming a Christian. And that is understanding what conditional grace is. Many Christians
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do not receive everything the Lord would have for them because this is not understood.
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It's not even a phrase that's used very much, but understanding this phrase and seeing
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where it is in the scriptures, the concept of it and then applying to your life can possibly
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benefit and change your life more than anything else besides becoming a Christian. Again,
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thank you for watching the Bennett Broadcast. These are designed to help you grow in your
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love and devotion to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to be an instrument of His grace
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in your family, in your community, and in the nation that we might see revival. We're taking
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a bunch of themes from the scriptures and looking in particular, how they affect revival, how to
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bring outpourings of a spirit, how to bring radical change to your own life and to friends, family,
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and the nation in every way. And this is the subject of conditional grace and it will change your
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life as it's understood and internalized. So this is essential for all Christians wanting to
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understand and know God and love him wholeheartedly. And we need to come to the Lord and understand
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him as he is and not just how we think he should be. And this is very critical. And the scriptures
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are here for this. They help us to understand as we do a deep dive, look at the passages,
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look at examples. We can understand the Lord as he is and how and why would we want him to know
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him in another way. We want to know him as he is and not some caricature of him. But in every age,
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every season of the church caricatures can arise. Some cases it might be a caricature where God is
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unloving and all he is is a taskmaster or something like that. And that's completely false.
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Another age is other aspects of who he is. What he is like and come to the fore that aren't quite
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accurate. And so the Lord's given us the scripture so that we can understand and take it in and
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know him as he is that we might walk with him, love him, know him, honor him and in every way. So
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let me start with this question for you for you to consider. Here it is, it's sad. There is nothing
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you can do to gain favor with God through your own efforts. Now think about that and consider that.
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Let me say it again. There's nothing you can do to gain favor with God through your own efforts.
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Do you agree or you do you disagree? I could slightly change the phrasing of this and it would
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change the answer yes or no, whether this is true or false. Just by slightly changing a few words
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in this. So the subtlety and the distinction is very important to know that we may walk with the
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Lord, please him and honor him. Let's look. This will become plain as we get into the passages.
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And as we consider the subject of conditional grace, I thought I would start with a quote from
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a famous reformed teacher. He teaches about this subject as well as other subjects in his book
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Future Grace. And Dr. Piper says this. He says, I know that for many people, the very term
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conditional grace sounds like a contradiction like dry water or short sky scraper. That is not
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entirely bad because in fact, not all grace is conditional. Some of it's unconditional. And not all
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that is conditional is conditional in the same way. Now this will be more apparent and be a
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easier to understand as we go through these next number of minutes in this Bennett broadcast and
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it will change your life as you understand it. I put him here at the beginning because I think it
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could be thought that well, if you're reformed and you don't believe in conditional grace,
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but conditional grace is everywhere in the Bible and all Christians should believe in it. And deep
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down, all Christians do believe in it, but it has to be explained and distinct brought to
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indistinction to unconditional grace. So I'm bringing here now a verse or a couple of verses that
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are used so often in revival. People quote this Old Testament versus a lot and it's a good
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passage to quote. There are others that can be quoted Old and New Testament, but this one
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is used a lot for good reasons. And you'll see here that it lays out conditions before the Lord will
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respond and pouring out his spirit. So this is second Chronicles 7, 13 to 15. Now listen to the
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first part, which is the conditions they have to be met. And then you'll see it's indistinction
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versus the second part, which is what we call revival. And that is God responding and wonderful
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and beautiful way, supernatural in our lives and community. So second Chronicles 7, 13 to 15
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says when I shut up the heaven so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land
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or sin pestilence among the people. Okay, here we go. If my people who are called by my name humble
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themselves and pray and seek my face in turn from their wicked ways. So these are the conditions
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says then this is the response. Then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal
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their land. That's revival. That is the Lord coming and working profoundly in our midst.
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Now my eyes will be open in my ears. It tends to the prayer that is made in this place. So the
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following sentence he says, this is real. I'm listening. I'm waiting. Are you going to do these
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things? Because if we do, he'll do his part. We got to do our part and then the Lord will do his
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part. This is a great example of conditional grace. So the first part again is and this lists a
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lot of the aspect. This doesn't list everything. What it means to seek the Lord, but it lists like
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four of the main ways or three of the main ways. We got to humble ourselves and we do that often
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with fasting, pray, we got to repent of our sins, turn from our wicked ways, obey the Lord,
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take in the scriptures, radically seek him. And another been a broadcast. I go more in depth than
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what it means to seek him and it's seven main dimensions. But when we do that, then the Lord
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does respond to us. And here he forgives sin, heals her land, and the new covenant he pours out
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a spirit and extraordinary measure much more than the old covenant, the Lord responds much more.
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It's not that the concept of conditional grace doesn't apply in the New Testament. It says that
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now we have more grace because of Jesus Christ because he's gone through. He destroyed the
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barrier between us and God no longer. I do sacrifices have to be made only once per year by the
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high priest, but the veil was ripped in the temple. And because of the blood of Jesus, we have
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greater access to him and him to us in this way. So when the New Testament, this is all the more
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true for us, more grace is given more than ever. And we see this all throughout the book of Acts
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and in Christian history. So let's look at a definition of what grace is. Grace is receiving
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something as a gift or a favor, not because it's owed or it's merited or it's earned. So what's
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the difference between unmerited grace and merited grace? Well, that's a trick question because
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there is no such thing as merited grace. Grace means a favor or a gift. It's not something you can
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merit or earn. And to call it merited grace makes no sense or even unmerited grace. You can say
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that to emphasize it, but it's you don't have to because inherent to the term grace is the concept
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of unmerited. It's like saying a free gift. Well, all gifts are free. That's what a gift is.
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But if you want to emphasize that you might put the word free there before it.
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So if that's the case, then what's this language about unconditional grace and conditional grace?
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If all grace is free and that is unmerited, then not given because it's owed. What is this? What is
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the distinction between conditional? Because there is both conditional and unconditional grace.
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Now, this is a great quote from Dallas Wallard, a who passed away not too long ago, 2013,
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professor of philosophy at USC has written a lot of respected Christian books. He says,
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this grace is opposed to earning, not opposed to effort. This will come out here more fully
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and explain conditional grace. You do have to put effort in at some level.
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So let's look at unconditional grace. And that is a grace given favor benefit of blessing
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where no conditions need to be met. So an example is God creating the universe and creating life.
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You did not, I did not, none of us did anything to meet conditions or met any conditions with this
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God just did it. It's an unconditional benefit that we have in our lives. Secondly,
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what about the gift of community? We, this passage in Genesis 2, 18 references Adam and Eve.
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But people in general, as we think about friends and families and people we come across,
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we get all the benefits of this. But this is something that God has given to us. We didn't
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meet any conditions for this. God's created many people in the world apart from anything that we
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did. Another example is the rising of the sun and the rain. This is referenced in Matthew 5,
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45. And Jesus says, God does this all the time. He brings rain on communities and plants grow and
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you get prosperity. Or the sun rises and makes plants grow and you get it's warmth and heat. These
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are all things that God just gives to humanity. Another example is his patience and forbearance.
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In Romans 2, 4 it says God's patience leads to repentance. This is not something we
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merited or any conditions that we met either, but he just gives it. Also the offering of Christ
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sacrifice Romans 5, 8 says he gave it to us and we're enemies of God. So the offering is just an
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unconditional grace that he's given us. That God's given us through our Lord Jesus Christ. So these
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are all examples of unconditional grace, but not all grace is unconditional, some is conditional.
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And if we think that all grace is unconditional, then it leads to an entitlement mindset or some
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misunderstandings about God and who he is. Because he's put forth in the scriptures,
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old covenant and new covenant, a lot and a lot of examples of conditional grace, which we'll
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be getting to, but we need to explain what it is first. All right, conditional grace.
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This is grace, gifts that we give where conditions need to be met. Now we're going to get into some
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examples in the Bible, but let's look at a few just examples from everyday life. So the first
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example I want to give is imagine a scenario where a kid is in his early 20s. Maybe he's recently
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married. He really needs a job. Perhaps he's got a baby on the way and he needs a job to pay
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for the family. So jobs are scarce. It's an economic downturn. His uncle, let's say, runs a big
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company, a warehouse and company or shipping business. And so the son goes or the nephew goes to
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him and says, hey, I really need a job. Now tons of people are wanting this job. A lot of people
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qualified worked in the industry forever. But the uncle has compassion on him and says, okay,
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look, even though you're not qualified, you've never done this before. And I got a hundred people
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for every open job. I'm going to give it to you. But you got to be there down at the docks,
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starting at 6 a.m. Or else I'm going to give the job to somebody else. Somebody's waiting.
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So the next morning, this nephew, he's elated. He goes down there and he sits at 6 a.m.
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And he gets a job and he's there every day at 6 a.m. Now, did he merit or earn that job?
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No, he was given it to him. He was even unqualified for it. But did the condition have to be met?
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Yeah, he had to be down there at 6 a.m. And if he wasn't there at 6 a.m., he's not getting the job.
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So that's an example of a conditional grace. It's a gift, but conditions have to be met.
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And so these incidents, they happen all the time in our lives. We don't use the term conditional
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grace, but that's what's going on here. Now, let me give another example. You think of a parent
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dealing with a child and the child wants something. They want a piece of candy or an extra
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dessert or something like that. And the parent will say, say, please, and I'll give it to you.
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And the child says, please, and then the parent gives it to the child. Well, a condition had to be
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met. And the parent is wanting to teach the child polite manner. So he puts forth a condition.
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Now, did the child earn it? Well, no, they didn't go and get a job and pay for the dessert or whatever
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it was, but they needed to meet a condition before it was given to them. Now, let me give a third
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example. You think about getting a coupon or seeing a coupon, 50% off on this product in a store.
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But there's a condition written on it that the coupon has to be presented in person to the cash
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year in the store. And that might be written right there on the coupon. And often these
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conditions are written on these things. So you go to the store and you present it to them.
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Now, if you go to the store and you don't have the coupon and you don't present it to them there,
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then you don't get the gift or the 50% off as set. That's a condition of getting this free gift
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or this 50% off a gift that's being given to you as a promotion in some sense. So all these are
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examples of gifts free things that you're getting, but conditions are being met. Now, maybe right
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now your mind, the wheels are turning and thinking about the scriptures. I hope it is as you think
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about this in terms of your own spiritual life, because this is not understood and practiced much
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in the West today in the American church, then so many miss out on what the Lord wants to give us.
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So thinking a conditional grace is an unconditional grace leads to passivity and failure to
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meet the conditions. If we think that everything that the Lord wants to give us is going to be given
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no matter what and no conditions need to be met, well, think about that. That changes your behavior
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and then if it changes your behavior, then you don't get it. So if the child said, oh, it doesn't
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matter that I say, please, well, then he's not going to get what the parent, maybe once in a while,
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the parent might give it anyway, but in general, they may not be getting it. Saying with all these
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examples that I gave here and all of these are the conditions aren't met most of the time, then
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they're not going to get the gift. You can think of once in a while an unusual situation where it
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might happen anyway, but not consistently. And this is what happens in our spiritual lives all the
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time. And this is why this subject is so incredibly important. Now, there are so many examples
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and the New Testament about conditional grace working on just scan over a few, go a few of them
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in detail, but you can't swing a cap throughout the New Testament and not see all these examples.
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It's virtually every few verses, not even just every chapter. It's all over the place in the Bible.
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And once you see and know this term, you'll see it everywhere. We're going to go to some of these
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more in depth, but an overview is that we receive rewards when we pray fast and give with the right
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motives. It says in Matthew, when we ask you can knock, we get benefits. When all things work
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together for good for those who are called by him, when we walk with the Lord, salvation itself
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is a conditional gift. Its offer is unconditional, but if we don't believe and repent of our sins,
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we do not get the gift of salvation. We get rewards when we seek him. That's an example. God draws
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close to us when we draw close to him. God forgives us when we confess our sins. It says in
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1 John 1, on and on. Let's look at a few of these more in detail. So let's take Luke 11, 9 to 13.
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Now, this is about prayer and as this is understood and we ramp up our prayer lives, things change
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in our lives. It says here, and I tell you ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find
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knocking will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and the
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one who knocks will be open. What Father among you if a Son asks for a fish will instead of a fish
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give him a serpent or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion. If then you or evil know
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how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy
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Spirit to those who ask him? So here Jesus is teaching on prayer. They specifically asked him,
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Lord teaches about prayer and so we can know that this is something that doesn't naturally occur
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to us apart from the Lord's direct teaching and hear what he's teaching is repetitiveness
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and continuation in prayer and that it yields more of the Holy Spirit's operation in our lives.
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That is incredibly important. So do we want to be repetitive in our prayers? Absolutely.
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Pray for something morning, noon and night. Remember Hannah and the Old Testament. She kept praying
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for a son and the Lord heard and answered. This is true in many cases. Many examples where people
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kept coming before the Lord kept coming. He delights in it. He loves it. This is who he is and how he
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operates. We need to understand him as he is. I remember years ago reading a book and this person
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changed their view later on. But in the book, they said, oh, I thought I needed to beg God for things
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or keep coming. But then I realized he's just asking by faith. And I just need to ask God once and
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then just believe that he's given it to me and move on with my life. Sound is so good. And when I read
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this, gosh, 30, 35 years ago, I wasn't sure what to do with it. My understanding of this wasn't
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very clear. I respected this person, but I was just confused by it. And as I've dug in a
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scripture, was realized, no, that's a misunderstanding. The Lord loves it. Loves it when we keep coming
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before him, asking, seeking and knocking. It makes a difference in our lives. Okay, here's another
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example. John 15, 45 and 9 through 11 says, abide in me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit
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by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You
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are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for a part
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for me. You can do nothing. That continues in verse 9. As the Father has loved me so I've loved you,
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abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my
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Father's commandments and abide in his love, these things I've spoken to you, that my joy might
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be in you and that your joy may be full. So this is an important passage and what's being made
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plain here is that if we keep the commandments of God, then by definition, we are abiding in Jesus,
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abiding as he's abiding in the Father and then comes fruitfulness in our lives, then comes joy
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in our lives as we're abiding in him. So this is really key to understand. Now, unfortunately,
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this is taught in many circles in the wrong way. The way this is taught, maybe you've heard this
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in some places is that justice fruit doesn't need to do anything. It just sits there on the vine and
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it just automatically comes. Same with us and we just need to believe that the fruit's coming.
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That's not what this is teaching. The context makes it clear. It is specifically saying you do need
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to do certain things. You do need to meet conditions. If you don't have the level of joy in your life,
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that the Lord that you feels represented here, then examine yourself. Are you obeying the Lord in
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all things? There's a good chance that you are not, which is why you're not having the joy that the
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Lord wants for you. It's a very critical that we understand this passage and what Jesus is
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wanting to teach to us. This is a conditional grace. He will give us joy, but we got to meet the
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conditions of faithful obedience just as Jesus did with the Father. I'm very critical.
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All right. More examples here from James. There's so many in the New Testament. I'm just
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given skipping over a few two. So this goes deep. James 15 says, if any of you lacks wisdom,
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let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach. So if you want to wisdom, then you
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need to ask. And James 42, it says, you have not because you ask not. There's a lot of benefits
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that you do not have in your life, grace, that you do not have because you have not asked or if
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you're not asked repeatedly. That is a fact. That's true. Every Christian so much grace. We do not
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have simply because we've never asked or not asked with enough rapidity and perhaps humbling
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ourselves. Here's another passage. Hebrews 11. And without faith, it is impossible to please them
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whoever would draw near to God, must believe that exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
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So he's a rewarder of those who seek him. And if you want to please him, then we must draw
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near to God. So we've got to understand what it means to draw near to God. And that's the same
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concept of seeking him, humbling ourselves, praying, repenting of our sins, and obeying him moment
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by moment. Then we receive blessings. All right. Here's another example in Galatians. Galatians
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6, 7 to 10 on reaping and sowing. Maybe you've heard this concept before. It says, do not be deceived.
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God has not mocked for whatever one sowed. That will he also reap for the one who sows to his own
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flesh. Well, from the flesh reap corruption for the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit
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reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we
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do not give up. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those
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who are the household of faith. So here the Apostle Paul is giving a motivation for why we should
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persist in doing good. There's a lot of motivations. A one is at a gratitude. That's not what's
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mentioned here, but that's a good motivation gratitude to the Lord. Here, the motivation is that
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you will get benefit. You will reap in due season. You will receive good things. You receive
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blessings if you do not grow weary in doing good. And you know what? I need to hear that. We all need
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as Christians to hear it is why it's in the Bible. This is a profound motivation that's everywhere
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throughout the New Testament and Old Testament that good things come when we persist in doing what's
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pleasing and honoring to the Lord and every way. All right, here's another example. I think this is
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the last one I have for this. I think you're getting the idea, but it's good just to hit so many
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of them. This is from 1 Peter 3.7. It says, likewise husbands live with your wives in an understanding
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way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of
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life. So that your prayers may not be hindered. So catch that last part there. So that your prayers may
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not be hindered. What Peter is saying here is that of husbands are not living with their wives in
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an understanding way and showing honor to their wife, then prayers are hindered. So if you are
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married and as a man and if you feel your prayers are hindered, then consider this. This might be why
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you're not your prayers are not being answered the way you would like them to be answered. Now I
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think it's fair to say this would apply the other way as well from women to men and all sorts of
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other situations. If we're not treating people the way the Lord wants us to treat them, then
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it can hinder our prayers. So this is a conditional grace. The grace is the Lord is doing things
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hearing our prayers and responding. He's not obligated, but conditions are put upon it and that is
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we need to be treating other people with kindness and respect. All right, so how
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this impacts our daily lives? So many Christians do not have with the Bible promises,
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not because God does not want to give it, but because they are unaware of the conditions
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or they don't meet the conditions he sat down. Both of those, sometimes we're just simply unaware
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that conditions the Lord is waiting or we know what they are, but we're not meeting them.
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And that is profound. This has to be understood. If there's anything in your life that you're
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wishing and wanting, search the scriptures. Are there conditions around it? Look at it and take
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it in deep and take it seriously. The new covenant, I mentioned this earlier on, but the new covenant
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does not cancel the doctrine of conditional grace. Some can think that. I think about one Christian
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years ago said to a friend of mine, and this is astounding, but it's looking at these examples
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in the Old Testament through the book of First and Second Chronicles. A lot of times the kings would
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have troubles and problems, and an enemy would be coming at them, and then the king would call
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a fast, call a time of repentance and seek in the Lord, and then the Lord would deliver them.
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And it's really beautiful. And so what this Christian teacher said completely false was,
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hey, isn't that great that we're in the new covenant now? Because Jesus has done all this for us.
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So we just need to sit back and rest. Rest in Jesus was the mindset completely false,
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un-Christian, not true. There is a difference in the covenants. The difference is because of the
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blood of Jesus, we receive more grace than ever. We get far more benefits, the outpourings of the
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spirit and the presence of God. They didn't have the level we have this under the new covenant.
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It's amazing. It's incredible and strength to live a devout life. It didn't get nearly as much
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in the Old Covenant. So there are a lot of benefits. There's other benefits to authority over
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evil spirits and other such things. But the doctrine of conditional grace still stands as you
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can see through all these examples in the New Testament. And we could spend all day going through
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them. They're everywhere. Open your Bible and read about five verses and you'll see examples
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of conditional grace. Now, how does this impact revival? So when there's little power of God
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transforming a community, the question that should be asked is, are Christians not the non-believers,
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but the believers meeting the conditions for outpourings of the spirit of God? That's the question
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we should be asking. Instead, too many Christians today, we shrug our shoulders, declared that God
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has simply decided he doesn't want to provide that kind of grace, that kind of move of his at this
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time. They'll say he's sovereign and he is, he is sovereign. But he's also a promise keeper.
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God keeps his promises. And when we meet the conditions, then he does his part. But it never
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be said that the conditions he's put down are met by us and he won't do it. I mean, think about
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salvation. Will we ever say someone, oh, I know you're dependent of your sins, put your faith in
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Christ, but I don't know if God's really going to forgive your sins. Of course he does. He
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keeps his promises. And same thing with the promise of outpourings of a spirit. How much more does
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he give to the Holy Spirit? Those who ask, as we draw near to him, then he will do extraordinary
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and wonderful things in our communities. And so if we're not seeing in our communities,
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what we think he would like to do, or maybe we've seen it other times and ages, then most likely,
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we aren't meeting the conditions. And we aren't meeting the conditions. And other parts of the
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world, people are meeting the conditions in Africa, Asia, South America, and some places,
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because they have a level and depth of repentance, prayer, fasting, obedience. That's very uncommon
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for Christians today. And what we need to do is to realign ourselves and say we got to meet the
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conditions of God because we don't set the conditions. If we just say, oh, I prayed for one minute
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today, oh, oops, shrugged my shoulder, I guess that's God doesn't want to bring revival, doesn't
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want to change society or do things. I'll just kind of move along then. That's it. No, that's not the
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pattern you see in the Bible. In the Bible, you see people praying and fasting for days, for weeks.
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You also see this example, perhaps even requirement of Christians, believers praying every
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morning and every night, for like 30 minutes to an hour. Is that typical of Christians today?
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Christians fasted Wednesdays and Fridays and in the time of the new covenant in the first
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century. Is that done today? In times of great revival in America history, that's what Christians
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did. There will be no revival. There is no outpouring of the spirit until we meet the conditions.
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We can talk all day about it. We can declare it. We can say it's here. We can fool ourselves,
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or we can say, Lord, forgive us, help us understand from the scriptures what the
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conditions are so that then we can meet them. This is what a Christian does and that's why there's
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been an explosion, a fantastic Christian activity all around the world because these people seek the
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Lord with great energy and great devotion. And by the grace of God, we can do it too. It might seem
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overwhelming at first as you increase your own devotional life, but the Lord will help you.
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And if you're in ministry yourself, you can up it and call other people to seek the face of God.
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Take a day or a couple days to seek the face of God fast for it longer than just a Wednesday or
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Friday. But for many days, if you go to christianunion.org slash seven keys, you'll see all of this
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laid out in detail in 20 videos explaining it all in depth. And if you want to help with this movement,
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go to christianunion.org slash cornerstone and become a cornerstone partner to help get this
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message out to as many people as possible across the United States because we need to change
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and our behavior and our effort and seeking the Lord. So let's go way back to the beginning of this.
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One of the first, I think the first question put before and see how we would respond to this.
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Here's the statement. There's nothing you can do to gain favor with the God through your own efforts.
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Yes, absolutely. There are ways you can gain favor and get grace from God by humbling yourself,
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by repenting, by drawing near, by treating your wife well, by all sorts of conditions that we've
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gone through. It's all throughout the New Testament to please him. So of course, we can do things,
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we can put in effort to get that way. This is not a popular message today. There's a lot of
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misunderstanding. Let's look at again, this quote by Dallas Wallard. Grace is opposed to earning
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not opposed to effort. Every bit of effort you've ever put in and drawing close to the Lord. He sees
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he remembers. He responds. He blesses you for it. It's very, very meaningful to him. So
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may that always be remembered. I want to say a prayer and wrap up this Bennett broadcast and
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might be worth listening to this again. It takes time for these concepts to go deep. It's just not
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taught very much. Let me say a prayer. So Father, we love you and praise you. Thank you, Lord,
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for your unconditional grace. Lord, thank you for your conditional grace. And may we all understand
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this in a deeper, profound way. And may we meet all the conditions that are put forth in the
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scriptures to please you so that you will respond and shower even more grace on us in every way.
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Lord, we need you. We love you. We want revival in our families, in our cities, in our churches,
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in the nation. Help us, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for watching this
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episode of the Bennett broadcast. Lord, bless you and take care.
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Hello, Matt Bennett here. Welcome to the Bennett Broadcast episode 12 on Conditional Grace.
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Think about what could change and improve your life, maybe more than anything besides
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becoming a Christian. And that is understanding what conditional grace is. Many Christians
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do not receive everything the Lord would have for them because this is not understood.
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It's not even a phrase that's used very much, but understanding this phrase and seeing
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where it is in the scriptures, the concept of it and then applying to your life can possibly
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benefit and change your life more than anything else besides becoming a Christian. Again,
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thank you for watching the Bennett Broadcast. These are designed to help you grow in your
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love and devotion to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to be an instrument of His grace
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in your family, in your community, and in the nation that we might see revival. We're taking
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a bunch of themes from the scriptures and looking in particular, how they affect revival, how to
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bring outpourings of a spirit, how to bring radical change to your own life and to friends, family,
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and the nation in every way. And this is the subject of conditional grace and it will change your
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life as it's understood and internalized. So this is essential for all Christians wanting to
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understand and know God and love him wholeheartedly. And we need to come to the Lord and understand
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him as he is and not just how we think he should be. And this is very critical. And the scriptures
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are here for this. They help us to understand as we do a deep dive, look at the passages,
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look at examples. We can understand the Lord as he is and how and why would we want him to know
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him in another way. We want to know him as he is and not some caricature of him. But in every age,
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every season of the church caricatures can arise. Some cases it might be a caricature where God is
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unloving and all he is is a taskmaster or something like that. And that's completely false.
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Another age is other aspects of who he is. What he is like and come to the fore that aren't quite
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accurate. And so the Lord's given us the scripture so that we can understand and take it in and
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know him as he is that we might walk with him, love him, know him, honor him and in every way. So
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let me start with this question for you for you to consider. Here it is, it's sad. There is nothing
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you can do to gain favor with God through your own efforts. Now think about that and consider that.
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Let me say it again. There's nothing you can do to gain favor with God through your own efforts.
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Do you agree or you do you disagree? I could slightly change the phrasing of this and it would
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change the answer yes or no, whether this is true or false. Just by slightly changing a few words
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in this. So the subtlety and the distinction is very important to know that we may walk with the
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Lord, please him and honor him. Let's look. This will become plain as we get into the passages.
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And as we consider the subject of conditional grace, I thought I would start with a quote from
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a famous reformed teacher. He teaches about this subject as well as other subjects in his book
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Future Grace. And Dr. Piper says this. He says, I know that for many people, the very term
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conditional grace sounds like a contradiction like dry water or short sky scraper. That is not
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entirely bad because in fact, not all grace is conditional. Some of it's unconditional. And not all
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that is conditional is conditional in the same way. Now this will be more apparent and be a
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easier to understand as we go through these next number of minutes in this Bennett broadcast and
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it will change your life as you understand it. I put him here at the beginning because I think it
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could be thought that well, if you're reformed and you don't believe in conditional grace,
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but conditional grace is everywhere in the Bible and all Christians should believe in it. And deep
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down, all Christians do believe in it, but it has to be explained and distinct brought to
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indistinction to unconditional grace. So I'm bringing here now a verse or a couple of verses that
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are used so often in revival. People quote this Old Testament versus a lot and it's a good
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passage to quote. There are others that can be quoted Old and New Testament, but this one
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is used a lot for good reasons. And you'll see here that it lays out conditions before the Lord will
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respond and pouring out his spirit. So this is second Chronicles 7, 13 to 15. Now listen to the
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first part, which is the conditions they have to be met. And then you'll see it's indistinction
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versus the second part, which is what we call revival. And that is God responding and wonderful
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and beautiful way, supernatural in our lives and community. So second Chronicles 7, 13 to 15
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says when I shut up the heaven so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land
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or sin pestilence among the people. Okay, here we go. If my people who are called by my name humble
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themselves and pray and seek my face in turn from their wicked ways. So these are the conditions
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says then this is the response. Then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal
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their land. That's revival. That is the Lord coming and working profoundly in our midst.
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Now my eyes will be open in my ears. It tends to the prayer that is made in this place. So the
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following sentence he says, this is real. I'm listening. I'm waiting. Are you going to do these
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things? Because if we do, he'll do his part. We got to do our part and then the Lord will do his
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part. This is a great example of conditional grace. So the first part again is and this lists a
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lot of the aspect. This doesn't list everything. What it means to seek the Lord, but it lists like
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four of the main ways or three of the main ways. We got to humble ourselves and we do that often
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with fasting, pray, we got to repent of our sins, turn from our wicked ways, obey the Lord,
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take in the scriptures, radically seek him. And another been a broadcast. I go more in depth than
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what it means to seek him and it's seven main dimensions. But when we do that, then the Lord
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does respond to us. And here he forgives sin, heals her land, and the new covenant he pours out
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a spirit and extraordinary measure much more than the old covenant, the Lord responds much more.
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It's not that the concept of conditional grace doesn't apply in the New Testament. It says that
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now we have more grace because of Jesus Christ because he's gone through. He destroyed the
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barrier between us and God no longer. I do sacrifices have to be made only once per year by the
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high priest, but the veil was ripped in the temple. And because of the blood of Jesus, we have
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greater access to him and him to us in this way. So when the New Testament, this is all the more
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true for us, more grace is given more than ever. And we see this all throughout the book of Acts
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and in Christian history. So let's look at a definition of what grace is. Grace is receiving
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something as a gift or a favor, not because it's owed or it's merited or it's earned. So what's
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the difference between unmerited grace and merited grace? Well, that's a trick question because
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there is no such thing as merited grace. Grace means a favor or a gift. It's not something you can
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merit or earn. And to call it merited grace makes no sense or even unmerited grace. You can say
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that to emphasize it, but it's you don't have to because inherent to the term grace is the concept
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of unmerited. It's like saying a free gift. Well, all gifts are free. That's what a gift is.
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But if you want to emphasize that you might put the word free there before it.
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So if that's the case, then what's this language about unconditional grace and conditional grace?
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If all grace is free and that is unmerited, then not given because it's owed. What is this? What is
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the distinction between conditional? Because there is both conditional and unconditional grace.
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Now, this is a great quote from Dallas Wallard, a who passed away not too long ago, 2013,
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professor of philosophy at USC has written a lot of respected Christian books. He says,
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this grace is opposed to earning, not opposed to effort. This will come out here more fully
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and explain conditional grace. You do have to put effort in at some level.
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So let's look at unconditional grace. And that is a grace given favor benefit of blessing
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where no conditions need to be met. So an example is God creating the universe and creating life.
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You did not, I did not, none of us did anything to meet conditions or met any conditions with this
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God just did it. It's an unconditional benefit that we have in our lives. Secondly,
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what about the gift of community? We, this passage in Genesis 2, 18 references Adam and Eve.
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But people in general, as we think about friends and families and people we come across,
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we get all the benefits of this. But this is something that God has given to us. We didn't
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meet any conditions for this. God's created many people in the world apart from anything that we
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did. Another example is the rising of the sun and the rain. This is referenced in Matthew 5,
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45. And Jesus says, God does this all the time. He brings rain on communities and plants grow and
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you get prosperity. Or the sun rises and makes plants grow and you get it's warmth and heat. These
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are all things that God just gives to humanity. Another example is his patience and forbearance.
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In Romans 2, 4 it says God's patience leads to repentance. This is not something we
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merited or any conditions that we met either, but he just gives it. Also the offering of Christ
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sacrifice Romans 5, 8 says he gave it to us and we're enemies of God. So the offering is just an
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unconditional grace that he's given us. That God's given us through our Lord Jesus Christ. So these
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are all examples of unconditional grace, but not all grace is unconditional, some is conditional.
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And if we think that all grace is unconditional, then it leads to an entitlement mindset or some
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misunderstandings about God and who he is. Because he's put forth in the scriptures,
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old covenant and new covenant, a lot and a lot of examples of conditional grace, which we'll
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be getting to, but we need to explain what it is first. All right, conditional grace.
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This is grace, gifts that we give where conditions need to be met. Now we're going to get into some
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examples in the Bible, but let's look at a few just examples from everyday life. So the first
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example I want to give is imagine a scenario where a kid is in his early 20s. Maybe he's recently
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married. He really needs a job. Perhaps he's got a baby on the way and he needs a job to pay
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for the family. So jobs are scarce. It's an economic downturn. His uncle, let's say, runs a big
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company, a warehouse and company or shipping business. And so the son goes or the nephew goes to
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him and says, hey, I really need a job. Now tons of people are wanting this job. A lot of people
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qualified worked in the industry forever. But the uncle has compassion on him and says, okay,
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look, even though you're not qualified, you've never done this before. And I got a hundred people
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for every open job. I'm going to give it to you. But you got to be there down at the docks,
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starting at 6 a.m. Or else I'm going to give the job to somebody else. Somebody's waiting.
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So the next morning, this nephew, he's elated. He goes down there and he sits at 6 a.m.
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And he gets a job and he's there every day at 6 a.m. Now, did he merit or earn that job?
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No, he was given it to him. He was even unqualified for it. But did the condition have to be met?
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Yeah, he had to be down there at 6 a.m. And if he wasn't there at 6 a.m., he's not getting the job.
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So that's an example of a conditional grace. It's a gift, but conditions have to be met.
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And so these incidents, they happen all the time in our lives. We don't use the term conditional
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grace, but that's what's going on here. Now, let me give another example. You think of a parent
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dealing with a child and the child wants something. They want a piece of candy or an extra
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dessert or something like that. And the parent will say, say, please, and I'll give it to you.
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And the child says, please, and then the parent gives it to the child. Well, a condition had to be
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met. And the parent is wanting to teach the child polite manner. So he puts forth a condition.
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Now, did the child earn it? Well, no, they didn't go and get a job and pay for the dessert or whatever
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it was, but they needed to meet a condition before it was given to them. Now, let me give a third
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example. You think about getting a coupon or seeing a coupon, 50% off on this product in a store.
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But there's a condition written on it that the coupon has to be presented in person to the cash
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year in the store. And that might be written right there on the coupon. And often these
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conditions are written on these things. So you go to the store and you present it to them.
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Now, if you go to the store and you don't have the coupon and you don't present it to them there,
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then you don't get the gift or the 50% off as set. That's a condition of getting this free gift
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or this 50% off a gift that's being given to you as a promotion in some sense. So all these are
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examples of gifts free things that you're getting, but conditions are being met. Now, maybe right
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now your mind, the wheels are turning and thinking about the scriptures. I hope it is as you think
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about this in terms of your own spiritual life, because this is not understood and practiced much
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in the West today in the American church, then so many miss out on what the Lord wants to give us.
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So thinking a conditional grace is an unconditional grace leads to passivity and failure to
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meet the conditions. If we think that everything that the Lord wants to give us is going to be given
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no matter what and no conditions need to be met, well, think about that. That changes your behavior
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and then if it changes your behavior, then you don't get it. So if the child said, oh, it doesn't
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matter that I say, please, well, then he's not going to get what the parent, maybe once in a while,
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the parent might give it anyway, but in general, they may not be getting it. Saying with all these
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examples that I gave here and all of these are the conditions aren't met most of the time, then
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they're not going to get the gift. You can think of once in a while an unusual situation where it
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might happen anyway, but not consistently. And this is what happens in our spiritual lives all the
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time. And this is why this subject is so incredibly important. Now, there are so many examples
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and the New Testament about conditional grace working on just scan over a few, go a few of them
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in detail, but you can't swing a cap throughout the New Testament and not see all these examples.
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It's virtually every few verses, not even just every chapter. It's all over the place in the Bible.
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And once you see and know this term, you'll see it everywhere. We're going to go to some of these
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more in depth, but an overview is that we receive rewards when we pray fast and give with the right
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motives. It says in Matthew, when we ask you can knock, we get benefits. When all things work
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together for good for those who are called by him, when we walk with the Lord, salvation itself
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is a conditional gift. Its offer is unconditional, but if we don't believe and repent of our sins,
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we do not get the gift of salvation. We get rewards when we seek him. That's an example. God draws
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close to us when we draw close to him. God forgives us when we confess our sins. It says in
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1 John 1, on and on. Let's look at a few of these more in detail. So let's take Luke 11, 9 to 13.
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Now, this is about prayer and as this is understood and we ramp up our prayer lives, things change
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in our lives. It says here, and I tell you ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find
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knocking will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and the
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one who knocks will be open. What Father among you if a Son asks for a fish will instead of a fish
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give him a serpent or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion. If then you or evil know
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how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy
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Spirit to those who ask him? So here Jesus is teaching on prayer. They specifically asked him,
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Lord teaches about prayer and so we can know that this is something that doesn't naturally occur
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to us apart from the Lord's direct teaching and hear what he's teaching is repetitiveness
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and continuation in prayer and that it yields more of the Holy Spirit's operation in our lives.
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That is incredibly important. So do we want to be repetitive in our prayers? Absolutely.
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Pray for something morning, noon and night. Remember Hannah and the Old Testament. She kept praying
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for a son and the Lord heard and answered. This is true in many cases. Many examples where people
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kept coming before the Lord kept coming. He delights in it. He loves it. This is who he is and how he
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operates. We need to understand him as he is. I remember years ago reading a book and this person
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changed their view later on. But in the book, they said, oh, I thought I needed to beg God for things
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or keep coming. But then I realized he's just asking by faith. And I just need to ask God once and
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then just believe that he's given it to me and move on with my life. Sound is so good. And when I read
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this, gosh, 30, 35 years ago, I wasn't sure what to do with it. My understanding of this wasn't
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very clear. I respected this person, but I was just confused by it. And as I've dug in a
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scripture, was realized, no, that's a misunderstanding. The Lord loves it. Loves it when we keep coming
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before him, asking, seeking and knocking. It makes a difference in our lives. Okay, here's another
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example. John 15, 45 and 9 through 11 says, abide in me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit
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by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You
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are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for a part
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for me. You can do nothing. That continues in verse 9. As the Father has loved me so I've loved you,
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abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my
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Father's commandments and abide in his love, these things I've spoken to you, that my joy might
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be in you and that your joy may be full. So this is an important passage and what's being made
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plain here is that if we keep the commandments of God, then by definition, we are abiding in Jesus,
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abiding as he's abiding in the Father and then comes fruitfulness in our lives, then comes joy
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in our lives as we're abiding in him. So this is really key to understand. Now, unfortunately,
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this is taught in many circles in the wrong way. The way this is taught, maybe you've heard this
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in some places is that justice fruit doesn't need to do anything. It just sits there on the vine and
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it just automatically comes. Same with us and we just need to believe that the fruit's coming.
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That's not what this is teaching. The context makes it clear. It is specifically saying you do need
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to do certain things. You do need to meet conditions. If you don't have the level of joy in your life,
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that the Lord that you feels represented here, then examine yourself. Are you obeying the Lord in
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all things? There's a good chance that you are not, which is why you're not having the joy that the
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Lord wants for you. It's a very critical that we understand this passage and what Jesus is
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wanting to teach to us. This is a conditional grace. He will give us joy, but we got to meet the
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conditions of faithful obedience just as Jesus did with the Father. I'm very critical.
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All right. More examples here from James. There's so many in the New Testament. I'm just
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given skipping over a few two. So this goes deep. James 15 says, if any of you lacks wisdom,
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let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach. So if you want to wisdom, then you
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need to ask. And James 42, it says, you have not because you ask not. There's a lot of benefits
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that you do not have in your life, grace, that you do not have because you have not asked or if
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you're not asked repeatedly. That is a fact. That's true. Every Christian so much grace. We do not
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have simply because we've never asked or not asked with enough rapidity and perhaps humbling
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ourselves. Here's another passage. Hebrews 11. And without faith, it is impossible to please them
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whoever would draw near to God, must believe that exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
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So he's a rewarder of those who seek him. And if you want to please him, then we must draw
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near to God. So we've got to understand what it means to draw near to God. And that's the same
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concept of seeking him, humbling ourselves, praying, repenting of our sins, and obeying him moment
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by moment. Then we receive blessings. All right. Here's another example in Galatians. Galatians
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6, 7 to 10 on reaping and sowing. Maybe you've heard this concept before. It says, do not be deceived.
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God has not mocked for whatever one sowed. That will he also reap for the one who sows to his own
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flesh. Well, from the flesh reap corruption for the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit
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reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we
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do not give up. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those
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who are the household of faith. So here the Apostle Paul is giving a motivation for why we should
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persist in doing good. There's a lot of motivations. A one is at a gratitude. That's not what's
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mentioned here, but that's a good motivation gratitude to the Lord. Here, the motivation is that
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you will get benefit. You will reap in due season. You will receive good things. You receive
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blessings if you do not grow weary in doing good. And you know what? I need to hear that. We all need
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as Christians to hear it is why it's in the Bible. This is a profound motivation that's everywhere
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throughout the New Testament and Old Testament that good things come when we persist in doing what's
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pleasing and honoring to the Lord and every way. All right, here's another example. I think this is
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the last one I have for this. I think you're getting the idea, but it's good just to hit so many
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of them. This is from 1 Peter 3.7. It says, likewise husbands live with your wives in an understanding
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way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of
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life. So that your prayers may not be hindered. So catch that last part there. So that your prayers may
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not be hindered. What Peter is saying here is that of husbands are not living with their wives in
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an understanding way and showing honor to their wife, then prayers are hindered. So if you are
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married and as a man and if you feel your prayers are hindered, then consider this. This might be why
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you're not your prayers are not being answered the way you would like them to be answered. Now I
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think it's fair to say this would apply the other way as well from women to men and all sorts of
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other situations. If we're not treating people the way the Lord wants us to treat them, then
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it can hinder our prayers. So this is a conditional grace. The grace is the Lord is doing things
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hearing our prayers and responding. He's not obligated, but conditions are put upon it and that is
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we need to be treating other people with kindness and respect. All right, so how
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this impacts our daily lives? So many Christians do not have with the Bible promises,
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not because God does not want to give it, but because they are unaware of the conditions
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or they don't meet the conditions he sat down. Both of those, sometimes we're just simply unaware
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that conditions the Lord is waiting or we know what they are, but we're not meeting them.
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And that is profound. This has to be understood. If there's anything in your life that you're
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wishing and wanting, search the scriptures. Are there conditions around it? Look at it and take
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it in deep and take it seriously. The new covenant, I mentioned this earlier on, but the new covenant
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does not cancel the doctrine of conditional grace. Some can think that. I think about one Christian
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years ago said to a friend of mine, and this is astounding, but it's looking at these examples
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in the Old Testament through the book of First and Second Chronicles. A lot of times the kings would
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have troubles and problems, and an enemy would be coming at them, and then the king would call
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a fast, call a time of repentance and seek in the Lord, and then the Lord would deliver them.
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And it's really beautiful. And so what this Christian teacher said completely false was,
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hey, isn't that great that we're in the new covenant now? Because Jesus has done all this for us.
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So we just need to sit back and rest. Rest in Jesus was the mindset completely false,
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un-Christian, not true. There is a difference in the covenants. The difference is because of the
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blood of Jesus, we receive more grace than ever. We get far more benefits, the outpourings of the
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spirit and the presence of God. They didn't have the level we have this under the new covenant.
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It's amazing. It's incredible and strength to live a devout life. It didn't get nearly as much
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in the Old Covenant. So there are a lot of benefits. There's other benefits to authority over
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evil spirits and other such things. But the doctrine of conditional grace still stands as you
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can see through all these examples in the New Testament. And we could spend all day going through
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them. They're everywhere. Open your Bible and read about five verses and you'll see examples
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of conditional grace. Now, how does this impact revival? So when there's little power of God
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transforming a community, the question that should be asked is, are Christians not the non-believers,
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but the believers meeting the conditions for outpourings of the spirit of God? That's the question
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we should be asking. Instead, too many Christians today, we shrug our shoulders, declared that God
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has simply decided he doesn't want to provide that kind of grace, that kind of move of his at this
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time. They'll say he's sovereign and he is, he is sovereign. But he's also a promise keeper.
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God keeps his promises. And when we meet the conditions, then he does his part. But it never
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be said that the conditions he's put down are met by us and he won't do it. I mean, think about
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salvation. Will we ever say someone, oh, I know you're dependent of your sins, put your faith in
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Christ, but I don't know if God's really going to forgive your sins. Of course he does. He
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keeps his promises. And same thing with the promise of outpourings of a spirit. How much more does
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he give to the Holy Spirit? Those who ask, as we draw near to him, then he will do extraordinary
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and wonderful things in our communities. And so if we're not seeing in our communities,
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what we think he would like to do, or maybe we've seen it other times and ages, then most likely,
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we aren't meeting the conditions. And we aren't meeting the conditions. And other parts of the
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world, people are meeting the conditions in Africa, Asia, South America, and some places,
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because they have a level and depth of repentance, prayer, fasting, obedience. That's very uncommon
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for Christians today. And what we need to do is to realign ourselves and say we got to meet the
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conditions of God because we don't set the conditions. If we just say, oh, I prayed for one minute
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today, oh, oops, shrugged my shoulder, I guess that's God doesn't want to bring revival, doesn't
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want to change society or do things. I'll just kind of move along then. That's it. No, that's not the
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pattern you see in the Bible. In the Bible, you see people praying and fasting for days, for weeks.
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You also see this example, perhaps even requirement of Christians, believers praying every
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morning and every night, for like 30 minutes to an hour. Is that typical of Christians today?
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Christians fasted Wednesdays and Fridays and in the time of the new covenant in the first
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century. Is that done today? In times of great revival in America history, that's what Christians
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did. There will be no revival. There is no outpouring of the spirit until we meet the conditions.
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We can talk all day about it. We can declare it. We can say it's here. We can fool ourselves,
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or we can say, Lord, forgive us, help us understand from the scriptures what the
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conditions are so that then we can meet them. This is what a Christian does and that's why there's
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been an explosion, a fantastic Christian activity all around the world because these people seek the
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Lord with great energy and great devotion. And by the grace of God, we can do it too. It might seem
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overwhelming at first as you increase your own devotional life, but the Lord will help you.
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And if you're in ministry yourself, you can up it and call other people to seek the face of God.
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Take a day or a couple days to seek the face of God fast for it longer than just a Wednesday or
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Friday. But for many days, if you go to christianunion.org slash seven keys, you'll see all of this
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laid out in detail in 20 videos explaining it all in depth. And if you want to help with this movement,
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go to christianunion.org slash cornerstone and become a cornerstone partner to help get this
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message out to as many people as possible across the United States because we need to change
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and our behavior and our effort and seeking the Lord. So let's go way back to the beginning of this.
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One of the first, I think the first question put before and see how we would respond to this.
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Here's the statement. There's nothing you can do to gain favor with the God through your own efforts.
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Yes, absolutely. There are ways you can gain favor and get grace from God by humbling yourself,
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by repenting, by drawing near, by treating your wife well, by all sorts of conditions that we've
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gone through. It's all throughout the New Testament to please him. So of course, we can do things,
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we can put in effort to get that way. This is not a popular message today. There's a lot of
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misunderstanding. Let's look at again, this quote by Dallas Wallard. Grace is opposed to earning
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not opposed to effort. Every bit of effort you've ever put in and drawing close to the Lord. He sees
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he remembers. He responds. He blesses you for it. It's very, very meaningful to him. So
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may that always be remembered. I want to say a prayer and wrap up this Bennett broadcast and
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might be worth listening to this again. It takes time for these concepts to go deep. It's just not
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taught very much. Let me say a prayer. So Father, we love you and praise you. Thank you, Lord,
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for your unconditional grace. Lord, thank you for your conditional grace. And may we all understand
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this in a deeper, profound way. And may we meet all the conditions that are put forth in the
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scriptures to please you so that you will respond and shower even more grace on us in every way.
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Lord, we need you. We love you. We want revival in our families, in our cities, in our churches,
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in the nation. Help us, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for watching this
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episode of the Bennett broadcast. Lord, bless you and take care.
