Pure Grace: The Life Changing Power of Uncontaminated Grace

Besides the Bible itself there are few books that have recently inspired me towards a movement of the heart. One such book was Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge and now I can say Pure Grace by Pastor Clark Whitten must be added to the list.While Beautiful Outlaw offers a glimpse at the personality of Jesus thereby drawing one closer to God. Pure Grace is a glimpse at the Gospels in a way that defies my understanding. Full Grace - Revealed Grace - a glimpse at the heart and work of God made flesh, finishing His creation narrative.What arrested my attention was the authors no holes barred calling out of the protestant church and our version of the Gospel leavened with the law. I relate and for the longest time I grew into faith with the idea that I was saved through grace and then had to work out my salvation over time. We called this sanctification. "I am justified, I am being sanctified, and I will be glorified" - Right terms wrongly used.My idea of sanctification was that as I grow in faith and sin less or ask for forgiveness more I become more Holy in the eyes of God. This idea carried over into a belief that what I do actually has an effect on how God sees me. Over many years of following Christ I figured out how wrong I was. Mostly because I am less than perfect - all the time. How discouraging.My faith life was a roller coaster ride of highs and lows depending on my strength to perfect my flesh.Imagine the shock of discovering what the full work of Christ has accomplished for me. Imagine, if you will, discovering that Christ has fulfilled all of the law. That when Jesus declared it is finished - he meant it. That means that the day I accepted Christ into my heart and fully committed my life to Him I became justified, sanctified and glorified. (in God's eyes anyway.) It has to be that way because God can not live in a dirty house.If, through faith, Christ dwells in me what does that say about me? (and about you?)Clarks full revelation of grace forces me, in a good way, to live my life differently. Not out of obligation rather inspired by love.Understanding God's grace gives me the chance to live in freedom and perhaps taste the abundant life Jesus offers. No I will not run out and sin because it doesn't matter. It does - there are worldly consequences to sin. As the saying goes, garbage in garage out. However, armed with the full revelation of Christ's work I can sense my "wanter" as Clark says, changing. I don't want to sin. so much has been given me on the cross.What I want is to walk stronger with God and love my neighbors more deeply. Like my Heavenly Father has done for me.Pure Grace is not easily summarized in a 600 word book review. However, I will say this. That this book was a joy to read and worth every minute I spent engaging with it. I am sure that the ideas Clark presented will take years for me to digest. My recommendation, a must read.

In his book, "Pure Grace: The Life Changing Power of Uncontaminated Grace," Clark Whitten presents a gospel paradigm shift for all believers and introduces the extravagant grace of Christ to those who are yet to meet Him. It is wonderful and refreshing Truth especially for those not fully experiencing the true freedom of Christian life. The substance of the book directly challenges much of mainstream Christianity's "take" on the gospel. Can we let go of our interminable behavior modification obsession and truly trust the Creator of the Universe living inside us to love the world and accomplish His purposes through us? Like Adam and Eve in the garden we are often still tempted towards independent (though "Christian") actions through fleshly self-effort. This is NOT the good news! Although I believe in sharing this news with gentle grace, I found Whitten's condemnation of those who stubbornly refuse to accept the full value of Christ's death and resurrection quite appropriate and perhaps a bit reminiscent of Paul's frustration with the Galatians.I confess that when I first heard the gospel presented in this way, I was very defensive. I could not see how it could possibly be that easy. Surely I had to do "my part." Too much love/grace might spoil a person and not hold them accountable to the high standards of Christianity. In the evenings, I would kneel at my bedside and go over my day with the Lord, pointing out all the things I had done wrong that day and trying to elicit the appropriate sorrow that would keep me from repeating those actions. I was living so defeated that I honestly didn't feel I had much hope to offer others. Thankfully, the Lord is patient, persistent and His kindness has led me to repentance (a change of mind). Today I enjoy my day with the Lord, resting in Him and experiencing Him "do His thing"... loving, blessing, renewing, encouraging others. It's not only a privilege, it's fun!As I read through this book, I felt like I was sitting down to a one-on-one bible study with a master teacher. Presented in a direct and easy to understand manner, the author shares his insights with a mixture of humor, transparency and sternness. It is an intelligent book that rightly divides between the Old and New Covenants and offers hope in the complete sufficiency of Christ. Life will never be the same once you begin living as if what He said were actually true - we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and we are deeply loved! I was thoroughly blessed by this book and would recommend it highly to anyone with a heart for (or even a curiosity towards) Jesus Christ. He is the most amazing and gracious Person I have ever met.

Excellent book. He successfully challenges a lot of what we in the church have embraced unthinkingly, with great zeal but producing very poor fruit. Although the author is at times very direct (my kinda guy!) it is a very welcome reminder that its all about Him and His finished works. That's it.I'm not sure that anyone reading this book will remain unchanged.

Great book! Clear definition of what grace truly is ... undiluted!!

I read this book because of research I undertook on Antinomianism. I was shocked by the paucity of its content. It is full of badly thought out theology and sweeping generalisations. The attitude of the author to other Christian leaders is sometimes appalling: he muses cruelly on whether Luther had a drink problem. He calls those who disagree with his views pedlars, accusing them of legalism and conducting behaviour modification and sin management businesses. Occasionally he expresses some really good biblical truths, but these are ruined by his bad hermeneutics and evident antinomian views. He states that he is antinomian and proud of it.