Joseph Prince’s Cheap Grace Vs Jesus Christ’s Costly Grace (Subtitle: Joseph Prince Implied that Jesus Lied) – By Rev George Ong (Dated 17 Dec 2021)
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, NCCS office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
One obvious difference that stands out between the teachings of the Lord Jesus and that of Joseph Prince is that while Jesus preaches costly grace, Joseph Prince preaches cheap grace. And it is this difference that separates between what is true grace from what is false.
In ‘Grace Revolution’, Pages 12-13, Joseph Prince wrote,
“Follow me now, I want you to catch a beautiful picture of God’s grace. The good news is that Jesus didn’t stop there. He preached the Sermon on the Mount and then He came down. Spiritually speaking, if the King had stayed on the mountain, there would have been no redemption for us. Are you getting this? If Jesus had stayed high up in heaven and decreed God’s holy standards from there, there would have been no hope and no redemption for us.
But all praise and glory to the King Who chose to come down from heaven to this earth! He came down the mountain. He came down into suffering, crying, and dying humanity. At the foot of the mountain we see how He met a man with leprosy, a picture of you and me before we were washed clean by His precious blood. Imagine: an unclean sinner, standing before the King of kings. There was no way the standards of the Sermon on the Mount could have saved him. There was no way the pristine and perfect standards of God’s holy commandments could have saved us. The King knew that and that’s why He came down to where we were.”
Joseph Prince sees grace only where he wants to see it, that is, when Jesus came down from the mountain. I’m not saying he is necessarily wrong. Yes, Jesus coming down from the mountain to minister to the needy by healing a man of leprosy in Matthew 8:1-3, is indeed a picture of grace:
Matthew 8:1-3 NIV
1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
But Jesus up on the Mount is an even greater depiction of grace. So, why does Joseph Prince not see it? Isn’t it strange that if Joseph Prince could catch a display of grace for healing by Jesus down in the plains, why did he miss the more significant manifestation of a greater grace for salvation by the same Jesus up on the Mount?
Joseph Prince, needs to answer a pertinent question – where is the evidence of saving grace down in the plains in this particular instance of Matthew 8:1-3? Though the man with leprosy was healed by Jesus down in the plains, it wasn’t even recorded that he was saved. So how could the man experience saving grace when Jesus, who merely healed him, didn’t even preach the gospel of redemption to him (which Jesus did up on the Mount)?
Though there was no saving grace down in the plains as the man with leprosy was only healed, but wasn’t saved, Joseph Prince falsely implies and testifies that there was. On the other hand, though there was saving grace up on the Mount, Joseph Prince stubbornly denies and refuses to acknowledge it.
Why?
The reason is, Joseph Prince is ardently against costly grace that was preached by Jesus up on the Mount. Costly grace was clearly preached by Jesus in Matthew 5:10 and Matthew 7:21, when He came to announce the way of salvation and how we could enter the kingdom of God:
Matthew 5:10 NIV
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 7:21 NIV
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Yes, grace was evident because Jesus provided hope for sinners by announcing that the way of salvation is to enter God’s kingdom. But at the same time, it was costly because salvation involved persecution in Matthew 5:10 and obedience in Matthew 7:21.
And though costly grace was clearly preached by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Joseph Prince refuses to acknowledge it. This is because Joseph Prince is only looking for cheap grace – the cheap ‘feel-good’ grace of an ‘all-benefit-no-cost’ salvation.
Do you wish to know the open secret as to why Joseph Prince’s church has grown to past 30,000 people and the wide reach of his sermons all over the world? One of the key reasons is simply that Joseph Prince keeps preaching on cheap grace:
the cheap grace of ‘God-will-always-bless-you’,
the cheap grace of ‘God-will-never-get-angry-with-you’,
the cheap grace of ‘God-will-always-be-pleased-with-you’,
the cheap grace of ‘you-have-no-more-sins-to-confess’,
the cheap grace of ‘you-have-no-more-laws-to-obey’,
the cheap grace of ‘you-will-never-suffer-like-Job-did’,
the cheap grace of ‘you-will-never-be-a-martyr’,
the cheap grace of, ‘you-will-always-be-healthy-and-young-as-you-partake-the-Holy-Communion-as-many-times-as-you-take-medicine’,
the cheap grace of ‘God-will-always-protect-you-from-Covid-19-as-no-virus-can-come-near-you’, and
the cheap grace of you-will-be-very-wealthy-as-Abraham-was.
And no wonder, besides the sheep, the multitudes of goats, who are looking for cheap grace and feel-good religion, have all come queuing up and knocking at Joseph Prince’s church door.
Friends, be warned that the cheap grace that Joseph Prince preaches is markedly different from the costly grace of the Lord Jesus. Be warned that the cheap grace of Joseph Prince wouldn’t gain you the salvation that is eternal but only the costly grace of Jesus would. This is because cheap grace is nothing but the glorified term for counterfeit grace.
But Jesus never preaches cheap grace as Joseph Prince always does because His kingdom has no place for goats. That is why Jesus always preaches costly grace. And costly grace would automatically sieve out all the goats as there is nothing that could chase them away faster than costly grace.
Bringing in the crowds is never the concern of Jesus. Jesus is not in the numbers game, like the preachers of today are. He wants the right people to be on His team. He is looking for sheep, who are prepared to pay the price for costly grace. And goats, who are looking for cheap grace will have no place in His kingdom.
The costly grace that Jesus preaches permeates the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:19-20 and Matthew 7:13-14 are just two more examples.
The grace that Jesus preaches in Matthew 5:19-20 is costly because it involves the need to obey God’s law. But if you refuse to obey the law or command (after you are saved) because you find it too costly, and you want it cheap, then the kingdom of heaven is not yours to claim:
Matthew 5:19-20 NCV
19 “Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches other people not to obey that command will be the least important in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys the commands and teaches other people to obey them will be great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 I tell you that if you are no more obedient than the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The grace that Jesus preaches in Matthew 7:13-14 is costly because it includes the requirement to take the narrow and difficult road. But if you reject Christ’s offer because you want it cheap, and take the broad and easy road, instead of entering into life, you would be headed for destruction:
Matthew 7:13-14 NIV
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Jesus had clearly given us hope in the Sermon on the Mount by assuring us that if we obey His conditions, not only could we avoid hell (Matt 5:22, 29-30), but we would also inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3-12, 7:21) and even have the privilege to be great in His kingdom (Matt 5:19).
The costly grace of Jesus was not only seen in the Sermon on the Mount but throughout His ministry in the scriptures.
Jesus tells one who wants to be His disciple that He has nowhere to lay His head:
Luke 9:57-58 NIV
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
He tells another to give up everything he has or he won’t stand a chance to be His disciple:
Luke 14:33 NIV
33 “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”
He tells yet another that he must deny himself and take up the cross (NIV) – meaning he must be willing even to give up his life (NCV) to follow Christ:
Matthew 16:24 NIV
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24 NCV
24 Then Jesus said to his followers, “If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing even to give up their lives to follow me.”
During the days of Jesus, the cross was an instrument of death. The cross was used to execute criminals. So what Jesus is referring to when He said that we are to take up the cross in Matthew 16:24, is total commitment to Him, even unto death.
Indeed,
“The Joseph Prince gospel offers a wonderful plan for your life; the Jesus Christ gospel offers a possible end to your life.” (Matt 16:24; Lk 14:26,27,33) (George Ong)
That’s the difference between the cheap grace of Joseph Prince and the costly grace of Jesus Christ.
And we ought to remember that,
“Just because our salvation has cost Christ everything, it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t cost us anything.” (George Ong)
“Many preachers would readily preach on the first half of the truth that salvation is free, but few would dare to preach on the second half of it that salvation is at the same time costly.” (George Ong)
Next, Joseph Prince wrote,
“… if the King had stayed on the mountain, there would have been no redemption for us.”
“There was no way the standards of the Sermon on the Mount could have saved him. There was no way the pristine and perfect standards of God’s holy commandments could have saved us.”
Do you know what Joseph Prince is implying?
Prince is implying that Jesus had wasted all His time and effort preaching the Gospel in the Sermon on the Mount because the Gospel that Jesus preached is one that couldn’t save.
Prince has literally done away with and totally invalidated the salvation message that Jesus came to proclaim to us in the Sermon on the Mount. He is accusing Jesus of not preaching the redemptive gospel and not giving us hope when Christ has already taught them so clearly up on the mountain.
But how could it be possible that the Gospel Jesus preached in the Sermon on the Mount be one that couldn’t save? If the Gospel preached by Jesus, who is God Himself, doesn’t save, then you and I are in serious trouble.
On the contrary, Jesus Himself provided concrete evidence up on the Mount that if you embrace His costly grace, you will enter the kingdom of heaven:
Didn’t Jesus teach from the mountain that those who are poor in spirit, pure in heart and persecuted, etc,
will inherit the kingdom of heaven? (Matt 5:3-12)
Didn’t Jesus teach from the mountain that those who enter the narrow gate and walk the narrow way
will find life eternal? (Matt 7:14)
Didn’t Jesus teach from the mountain that those who do the will of the Father
will enter the kingdom of heaven? (Matt 7:21)
If that is not salvation hope and redemption, what is? Are these not concrete evidence that the Gospel that Jesus preached up on the Mount is one that could really save?
Yet, despite such irrefutable evidence that Jesus had provided, Joseph Prince chose to repudiate them. He chose to mock Jesus by stating that the salvation message that Jesus preached is one that could not save. This is the kind of man who has the reckless abandon to cancel out the teachings of none other than Jesus, who is God Himself.
Joseph Prince wrote that you cannot have redemption according to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, but Jesus categorically stated that if you embrace His costly grace, you will enter the kingdom of heaven.
Both cannot be telling the truth at the same time. If one is speaking the truth, the other is lying. Does anyone dare to accuse Jesus of lying?
So, who is lying? – Joseph Prince!
Who is implying that Jesus was lying? – Joseph Prince!
What is the real crux of the matter?
It is this – that because Joseph Prince prizes his cheap grace doctrine more than even Jesus, he plainly refuses to acknowledge the costly grace that Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount.
If Joseph Prince has flatly rejected the costly gospel message of Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith, how can he claim to possess true saving faith?
If Joseph Prince has repudiated the costly gospel message of Jesus, how can he claim to represent Jesus as the true preacher of the Gospel?
If Joseph Prince has contradicted and denigrated Jesus’ salvation message of costly grace, how can he claim to be preaching the Jesus of the Bible?
Friends, be warned that the cheap grace that Joseph Prince preaches is markedly different from the costly grace of Jesus.
Be warned that the gospel that Joseph Prince preaches is a false Gospel because it is another Gospel.
Be warned that the Jesus that Joseph Prince preaches is not the Jesus of the Bible, but the Jesus that Joseph Prince has concocted in his own imagination.
When Joseph Prince said,
“… if the King had stayed on the mountain, there would have been no redemption for us.”
“There was no way the pristine and perfect standards of God’s holy commandments could have saved us,”
he is not only lying but he is also implying that Jesus lied.
Joseph Prince is implying that Jesus lied
when he said the Sermon on the Mount could not save us,
despite the fact that Jesus teaches that those who are poor in spirit, pure in heart and persecuted, etc,
will inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3-12).
Joseph Prince is implying that Jesus lied
when he said the Sermon on the Mount could not save us,
despite the fact that Jesus teaches that those who walk the narrow way
will find life eternal (Matt 7:14).
Joseph Prince is implying that Jesus lied
when he said the Sermon on the Mount could not save us,
despite the fact that Jesus teaches that those who do the will of the Father
will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 7:21).
How can the National Council of Churches of Singapore and New Creation Church continue to remain silent at Joseph Prince, who not only lied, but who even dares to imply that Jesus, who is God Himself, had lied?
How can Joseph Prince who has the unholy audacity to imply the Lord Jesus had lied, not be a heretic?
Finally, let me bring in Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a man of God whose Bible exposition is in a class of its own. In Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, he wrote,
“There is nothing that so leads to the gospel and its grace as the Sermon on the Mount.”
“Do not say it has nothing to do with us. Why, it has everything to do with us! If only all of us were living the Sermon on the Mount, men would know that there is dynamic in the Christian gospel; they would know that this is a live thing; they would not go for anything else.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, like Jesus, recognised that the Sermon on the Mount is the Gospel of grace, as opposed to Joseph Prince, who denigrated it.
In the same book, in relation to Matthew 7:24-27, Martyn Lloyd-Jones also wrote,
“How can I know whether I am a `wise’ man or a `foolish’ man? Again let me start with a few simple negatives. One of the best tests is this. Do you resent this Sermon on the Mount? Do you dislike it? Do you object to hearing preaching on it? If you do, you are a `foolish’ person. The foolish person always dislikes the Sermon on the Mount when it is presented as it is, in all its parts. Do you feel it is making things impossible for you? Do you become annoyed at its standard? Do you say it is quite impossible? Do you say, ‘It is grim, this preaching is grim, it is making everything hopeless’? Is that your reaction to it? It is always the reaction of the false believer. He is impatient with the Sermon on the Mount; he resents being examined, he hates being examined because it makes him feel uncomfortable. The true Christian is entirely different; he does not resent it, as we shall see. He does not resent the condemnation of the Sermon on the Mount, and he never defends himself against it. We can put it like this. We know that we betray ourselves by our idle remarks, and we can often tell a man by his immediate reaction. We are all so subtle and clever, that when we take second thoughts and begin to think about a thing, we are a little more guarded and careful in what we say. What really shows what we are is our instinctive answer, our immediate reaction. And if our reaction to the Sermon on the Mount is one of resentment, if we feel it is hard and difficult and makes things impossible, and that it is not the nice sort of Christianity we thought it was, we are not true believers.”
“Those who have really understood what righteousness means never object to the fact that the gospel ‘makes it too easy’; they realize that apart from it they would be left entirely without hope, utterly lost. ‘Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling’- is the statement of everyone who has truly seen the position. Therefore, to object to the gospel because it ‘makes things too easy’, or to object to it because it makes things too difficult, is just virtually to confess that we are not Christians at all. The Christian is one who admits that the statements and the demands of the gospel are impossible, but thanks God that the gospel does the impossible for us and gives us salvation as a free gift.”
What Martyn Lloyd-Jones had written is what I have been alluding to in this article – that the Gospel is not only free for us but costly on us.
After reading what Martyn Lloyd-Jones had written, now compare that with what Joseph Prince wrote,
“Spiritually speaking, if the King had stayed on the mountain, there would have been no redemption for us. Are you getting this? If Jesus had stayed high up in heaven and decreed God’s holy standards from there, there would have been no hope and no redemption for us.”
“There was no way the standards of the Sermon on the Mount could have saved him. There was no way the pristine and perfect standards of God’s holy commandments could have saved us.”
You would have realised by now that the view of Martyn Lloyd-Jones regarding the Sermon on the Mount is diametrically opposed to that of Joseph Prince.
Joseph Prince has gone on record to say many times in his books and sermon videos that it is impossible for us to obey the Sermon in the Mount, and he even resents and makes fun of it.
According to what Martyn Lloyd Jones had written, Joseph Prince is clearly a false believer.
How can a false believer who preaches the false gospel, and even denigrates and makes fun of the gospel in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus, who is God Himself, preaches, not be a heretic?
Rev George Ong
The High Price of Cheap Grace – By Peter Tsukahira
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, NCCS office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
Rev George Ong’s Opening Comments:
If you listen to Peter Tsukahira’s (who is no stranger to Pastors and older Christians) short exhortation on YouTube, you will discover that what he said about cheap grace, closely resembles the law and grace teachings of Joseph Prince.
Please click here https://youtu.be/dBcnU8LuDlE to listen to an 8-minute YouTube video clip of what Peter Tsukahira has to say:
Most of what Peter Tsukahira said are transcribed here:
“The old message of cheap grace is having a resurgence today, particularly among newer believers, who do not have the experience or have been acquainted with its sad history nor its downside and potential cost.
Cheap grace is a message that lowers the standards of God’s laws and cast scorn on the value of divine law as the way God governs His eternal kingdom.
Preachers have this message tell us that the Old Testament is all about law but the New Testament is about grace and the love of God, and we have to choose between the two. In forcing us towards this false choice, we are told that law means legalism, judgement and condemnation but grace is all about love and mercy.
This message of cheap grace says that Jesus pays the entire price for all your sins, once and for all, therefore you are forever freed from the requirements of God’s law by the free gift of grace.
What’s wrong with that? Didn’t Jesus die to give us His salvation as a free gift? Doesn’t the New Testament teach that we are justified, which means made righteous by God by faith in Him? Yes, that’s true.
But if we stop listening to God here without allowing Him to complete what He has to say, we’re in danger of coming to the wrong conclusions about His purpose in saving us by grace. It’s God’s moral requirements in His laws that define sin and convict us as sinners. Without God’s laws, there’s no need for grace at all.
If God has high standards, then we need great grace to be declared by Him as righteous. But if God has low standards, then His grace does not need to be that amazing or precious. Any message that overtly or subtlely by suggestion, reduces the requirements of God’s laws cheapens grace.
One fact about human nature is that we all love finding bargains, like the crowd swarming to a half-price sale at a shopping mall. A Pastor or teacher, who cheapens grace, will find at least, initially a lot of people are interested in attending his church. However, they may not be very interested in becoming disciples.
The Bible teaches that mercy triumphs over judgement. That’s true but mercy never replaces judgement. Mercy only has real value when you know you deserve judgement. We receive mercy as a free gift of God’s grace and we should appreciate it all the more because the Bible teaches that God always has and always will rule His kingdom by law.
What if there was a judge in a city who decided always and in every case to show mercy. Soon, every serial killer, rapist, child molester or professional gangster would be lining up outside that judge’s courtroom. No one would be punished. No one would be compelled to change and all would go free. Is that God’s kind of mercy or simply injustice?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian Pastor in Germany during the 1930s when Nazism was rising to power. In his book, ‘The Cost of Discipleship’, he makes the point that grace must always be the exception to the rule. It’s the king Himself who grants mercy solely as he desires. God’s mercy is not meant to be applied to everyone as a doctrine but as a gift given personally and individually by the king Himself to those who are in His Son. When God gives mercy, he does not nullify or change His own laws. And so the one who receives mercy must afterwards seek to remain hidden in Christ. This process is called sanctification and it results in discipleship.
Bonhoeffer pointed out that justification by faith means that God justifies the sinner but not the sin. When we fall into sin and turn to God through faith in Jesus, we receive grace to be forgiven and we are justified. God says, “You are okay now go and sin no more. He never says ‘Your sins are okay now, don’t worry about it anymore.”
The laws of God’s kingdom define His reign as a sovereign ruler. These laws give Christians moral authority and spiritual guidance to be personally changed and then to transform the nations and the cultures of the world. When God’s kingdom is preached, sins embedded deep in culture like corruption, abortion, racial prejudice and other social dysfunctions will yield to the power of His lawful reign. People are not only saved but also transformed by the gospel of the kingdom.
When Bonhoeffer served as a Pastor in Germany, that country was called the cradle of the Reformation and it was thought to be among the most Christian countries in Europe. However, the preaching of cheap grace had Christianized Germany and not transformed it. Lutheran Germans believed they were saved but they lack the moral authority and the personal integrity to resist Nazism. The devastation that resulted was the hidden cost of cheap grace.
When Jesus died on the cross for your sins and mine, the requirements of God’s laws did not change. What did change was that for the first time those requirements in God’s laws were satisfied by the atoning sacrifice of His own Son. Jesus was the only human to ever fully keep the laws of God. In doing so, He opened the way for us that by faith in Him and by abiding in Him, for without Him we can do nothing, we can be declared righteous by God. All this is given to us as a free gift of grace and we’re now enabled by that same amazing grace to pick up our own crosses and follow His example.”
Peter Tsukahira
Rev George Ong’s Closing Comments:
The main takeaway of Peter Tsukahira’s short exhortation is that cheap grace is one that throws out and devalues the laws of God.
As Peter Tsukahira puts it:
“Any message that overtly or subtlely by suggestion, reduces the requirements of God’s laws cheapens grace.”
This aptly describes the false teachings of Joseph Prince which makes a false dichotomy between law and grace. It is not law or grace, the false choice that Joseph Prince demands believers to make. But it is law and grace, both of which are required, whether we are under the Old Covenant or the New.
We are saved by grace, not to repudiate the law, but to obey the law. A doctrine that teaches that we are saved by the law, is not Christianity but legalism. Conversely, a doctrine that teaches that just because we are saved by grace, the law is obsolete, is not Christianity either but Antinomianism – the religion of Joseph Prince that is leading the masses to their graves.
Finally, the cheap grace of Joseph Prince, which does away with the law, is a false gospel that cannot save, whereas the costly grace of Jesus, which is the true Gospel that saves, empowers believers to obey the law.