The doctrine of surpassing grace

1. Definition:

a) Surpassing grace refers to the special blessings and rewards belonging to the supergrace believer in eternity.

b) In eternity past under the divine decrees God designed for every believer two special blessing paragraphs — SG² and SG³.

c) SG² paragraph contains spiritual and temporal blessings for the mature believer.

d) The spiritual blessings include occupation with Christ, sharing God’s happiness or +H, inner resources of resident doctrine for adversity and testing, dying grace.

e) Temporal blessings include wealth, promotion, success, prosperity — social, economic, sexual, material, technical, and leadership dynamics.

f) The second paragraph of special blessing is SG³, the surpassing grace paragraph for blessings and rewards in eternity.

g) For the believer who seizes and holds the high ground of supergrace there is special rewards and blessings in eternity. These rewards and blessings are above and beyond the normal blessings of heaven.

2. A specific surpassing grace blessing is Abraham’s eternal city or the new Jerusalem. In supergrace Abraham anticipated this city — Hebrews 11:9,10. In dying grace Abraham and his progeny embraced the city — Hebrews 11:13.

3. Crowns are used to designate surpassing grace rewards for eternity. The first of these is the crown of life — James 1:12. This crown of life means the believer constantly loving God is the one who has followed the colours to the high ground of the supergrace life and has maintained occupation with the person of Christ. You maintain it by constant, persistent, consistent positive volition toward doctrine. Once the believer has attained the high ground of supergrace he must seize and hold. Seizing and holding is taking in doctrine every day of your life in spite of distractions. There are many tests, many pressures, to drive the believer off the high ground into reversionism. Continued positive volition toward doctrine, persistence in the daily function of GAP, holding the high ground until physical death, is a guarantee of dying grace and SG³. And in SG³ you have as one part of your SG³ paragraph a crown of life. Therefore, holding supergrace until death the believer attains both dying grace and surpassing grace, and in surpassing grace the crown of life. The crown of life is an eternal reward. Once the believer reaches supergrace status he is challenged, he is tested to hold his ground. But by holding he goes from the best things in life to a permanent change of station which is better than the best and includes a crown — Revelation 2:10.

The second crown in the scripture is the crown of glory — 1 Peter 5:4. Peter is writing to pastor-teachers, so this is a very specialised thing for those who have the gift of communication.

Philippians 4:1 — “Therefore, my brethren, my loved ones, my deeply desired ones.” Paul is calling them that because he loves his congregation and he deeply desires one thing for them, that they will come and listen. So he is not throwing some sentimental nonsense at them, he is showing the respect that a pastor-teacher must inevitably have for anyone who is faithful in coming under his ministry. You cannot help but respect people when they are faithful under all circumstances. “Deeply desired ones means he desires their continued faithfulness, they are his sheep and he knows that by their persistence in coming under all circumstances that they have something glorious in time, something better in dying, something better than the best in death. “ … my happiness” — Paul recognises, as all pastor-teachers do that their happiness is in the faithful part of their congregation, and that faithful part is their victory crown. Who gets the crown? “My brethren,” the loved ones, the deeply desired ones. They become his victory crown, but don’t misunderstand, he isn’t getting the crown here, they are getting the crown. They get the crown of life. “ … in this way” — doctrine resident in the soul of the supergrace believer — keep on being stabilised” — it takes stability to get there —”by the Lord, ones worthy of love.”

1 Thessalonians 2:19 — “For who is our hope, or happiness, or crown of exaltation? Is it not you “— So Paul has a crown of exaltation — “in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” There will be an administration of crowns for those who have an SG³, and Paul says that his happiness, his crown of exaltation, will be the members of his congregation who after the Rapture at the judgement seat of Christ will receive SG³ paragraphs. This verse implies that the pastor has a crown of glory but it is really those in his congregation who are faithful to the teaching of the Word, and when any member of the congregation of a local church perseveres in the function of GAP that person will reach supergrace. The continuation of GAP after supergrace all the way to dying means that person will have dying grace and surpassing grace. The pastor’s job is to be faithful in teaching the Word under the ICE principle (Isagogics, Categories, Exegesis), and that member of the congregation who is positive will get on the high ground and stay there until the bridge. Once he gets to the bridge he doesn’t have to call the pastor to hold his hand, he walks over the golden bridge with his own salute at one end and his own embrace of SG³ on the other, and a pastor is not necessary. The pastor’s job to faithfully teach the Word of God, and as he faithfully teaches the Word of God it is that Bible doctrine that he communicates that is transferred to your soul, and it is doctrine resident in your soul that gives you your supergrace blessings in time and your surpassing grace blessings in eternity. Surpassing grace is a phenomenal thing, and the sad thing is that every pastor ought to know surpassing grace because it clues him in on his objectives. All of these verses say the same thing, the pastor is faithful and he winds up having a congregation all decorated forever under SG^3. 1 Thessalonians 2:19 implies that the pastor’s crown of glory is the surpassing grace blessings of his congregation.

Then in 1 Thessalonians 2:20 he says, “for you are our glory and happiness.” When any member of the congregation of a local church perseveres in the function of GAP that person will reach supergrace and continue to hold the high ground with the result that he will come to dying grace and have a ball!

The third crown in our study is the crown of righteousness

a) The crown of righteousness is a surpassing grace reward of eternity.

b) Whatever its specific form in eternity the principle of the crown of righteousness is obvious right now.

c) It is one thing to arrive at supergrace, it is another thing to stay there.

d) It is staying there which is in view in the crown of righteousness as well as Paul’s great statement in Philippians 3:12-14.

e) The crown related to sticking is a surpassing grace reward called the crown of righteousness — not your righteousness but the righteousness of God which emerges in the believer who seizes and holds the high ground. The crown of righteousness is a surpassing grace reward for all supergrace believers who seize and hold on the basis of the utilisation of the inner resources of doctrine and adding to these inner resources by continued positive volition.

f) By continued positive volition doctrine in the soul increases.

g) This increase forces a divine type righteousness to the surface as well as stabilising the inner life of the believer. When this increase meets death the result is dying grace on the one hand and the crown of righteousness on the other hand — 2 Timothy 4:7,8.

3. The key to surpassing grace blessing in eternity is pleasing God in time. There is no way to get SG³ by anything you do in eternity. SG³ and SG² are both obtained in time, and once you become aware of the fact that you have your SG² it is just a matter of hanging on to it until you die. So no one ever leaves this life without knowing that he has reward in eternity, blessing in eternity under SG³. No man ever died as a supergrace believer without having enough doctrinal common sense to know that on the other side he has some phenomenal things waiting for him. So that in effect no supergrace believer ever dies without the salute and the embrace.

The principle is, is accomplished by persistent positive volition toward Bible doctrine resulting in supergrace blessings in time, dying grace is transition (the transfer). Hebrews 11:5,6 tell us the story of this principle. Without doctrine resident in the soul it is impossible to please God. When one is occupied with God the perpetuation of supergrace in time by consistent positive volition toward doctrine he must be convinced by the inner resources of resident doctrine that He is — God as a source of blessing — and that He becomes a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him.

4. The judgement seat of Christ is the basis for the administration of SG³ to the royal family of God — 2 Corinthians 5:10. This says several things:—

a) The formal presentation of paragraph SG³ to the royal family occurs after the Rapture of the Church at the judgement seat of Christ.

b) The entire royal family of God, the Church Age believers, will at that time be in resurrection bodies ready for the total and eternal enjoyment of surpassing grace blessings. There is a relationship between the enjoyment of SG³ and resurrection. In a body of corruption you can enjoy SG² but in a body of resurrection you enjoy SG³.

c) There is one word in 2 Corinthians 5:10 that should be explained since it is mistranslated in the KJV — “evil.” The word is fauloj, a very very gutter type word for human excrement — “whether good or fauloj.”

d) The judgement seat of Christ eliminates any necessity for judging or maligning other believers, hence the surpassing grace of eternity demands the privacy of the priesthood in time so that each believer can live out his own life as unto the Lord — Romans 14:10-12.

James 1:25 — “But the one having looked intently [positive volition and concentration] into the perfect law of freedom [the Bible], and having persisted [in the function of GAP], the one having become not a hearer of oblivion” — a person who comes to Bible class but he gets so mad because he can’t stand exegesis, etc. — “but a doer of assigned occupation” — a believer advancing, following the colours to the high ground of supergrace — “this man shall be happy in the act of doing.” You can seize and hold the high ground for the rest of your life and be happy the whole time. Compare this to James 2:12,13 — “So keep speaking, and so keep doing [seizing and holding], as they who through the law who through the law of freedom [Bible doctrine] are about to receive judgement [evaluation, SG³].” There comes a time when it is possible to have judgement without mercy. “For judgement without mercy [grace] for those not having produced mercy [grace]” — not having produced supergrace, not having come to the point of dying grace. God judges without grace, and that means that in eternity any believer who fails to seize and to hold the high ground is going to be in heaven forever and ever, and get to look at the streets of gold and have all the “funsville” or whatever it is people have in heaven, but they are not going to have anything like what the supergace/surpassing grace believer has. In other words, when you come up to the judgement seat of Christ as you will after the Rapture, in your resurrection body, and you stand before the Lord, if you have not crossed that golden bridge you will be judged without mercy. That does not mean the lake of fire. It means that you lose SG³. And God is firm about it. There is a difference in eternity between those who have SG³ and those who do not — “and grace exalts judgement.” Note that the rewards at the judgement seat of Christ is called “judgement” in these verses and it is based on grace in action — supergrace in function. Therefore, the judgement seat of Christ is a time of gain or loss of SG³. 1 Corinthians 3:11-16 more or less teaches the same thing. Cf. Hebrews 6:7-12. “For the ground [the believer positive toward doctrine], having drunk the rain [the daily function of GAP] coming many times upon it [positive believers], and producing a harvest of crops [SG²] useable by them [by the Godhead] because of whom it [supergrace believer] is also cultivated [obtains blessing, supergrace plus surpassing grace], from the source of the God. But when it is growing thorns [minus SG²] and thistles [minus SG³] it becomes worthless, and near a curse [the sin unto death], whose end [the thorns] is for burning [loss of SG² and SG³]. But, beloved ones, we have been convinced of better things [G² and SG³] concerning you, and things attached to salvation, if also in this manner we keep communicating doctrine to you, and we do. For the God is not unjust to disregard your occupation [the pastors teaching the royal family], also the love which you yourselves [pastors] have demonstrated toward his person [the pastor occupied with Christ], having ministered [teaching of the Word] to the saints [royal family], and continue ministering [so that they can persist]. And we [pastor-teachers] continually desire each one of you [royal family in the congregation] individually to demonstrate the same devotion [to doctrine, advancing toward supergrace] toward the full assurance of the confidence in doctrine [SG²] until termination [dying grace leading to SG³]. Lest you become apathetic toward doctrine, but become imitators of them [supergrace heroes of Hebrews 11], the ones who through doctrine and persistence inherit the promises [SG³].”

There is a principle. The reversionistic believer can lose his supergrace blessings in time, his surpassing grace blessings in eternity, but this does not mean loss of salvation or loss of heaven — 2 Timothy 2:11-13. Entrance into phase one or salvation is a guarantee of entrance into heaven in eternity. “If we persist [seize and hold the high ground of supergrace] we shall also reign with him [SG³], but if we deny him [negative volition toward doctrine resulting in reversionism] he will also deny us [SG³].

The apostle Paul used the background Isthmus Games to dramatise the judgement seat of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 — “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run [all believers are running, i.e. living grace], but one receives the prize [SG³]. So run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes [in the Games] excerciseth self-discipline in all things. They do it to receive a perishable reward, but we an imperishable [SG³]. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without a goal; I fight in such a way as not to beat the air; I discipline my body, and keep it in training [physical exercise, comparable to consistent positive volition toward doctrine], lest having preached to others I myself should be disqualified [from SG³].”

Everything in the book of Hebrews revolves around the proper interpretation of history. The interpretation of history, Godward side, is based upon the angelic conflict and man created as an extension of it. This means that we must always be motivated by Bible doctrine in the soul as a part of the victory of the angelic conflict. In eternity past God was cognisant of history, every stage of history, your own personal birth and your life in this earth, the day you accepted Christ as saviour and entered into the plan of God. The first phase of the plan of God is saving grace, and under the principle of saving grace God provided everything necessary for salvation totally apart from any human ability. The motivation for providing this was Bible doctrine presented to you in the form of the gospel. No one has ever accepted Jesus Christ as saviour unless he was motivated by a certain specialised type of doctrine called the gospel. Whether you know it or not, the day you believed in Jesus Christ and you were born into the family of God you believed in Jesus Christ because of doctrine in your soul called the gospel, and that gospel was a reality to you through God the Holy Spirit. He made it real to you, and from that time on God designed the whole grace plan so that you would always be motivated by doctrine. If you are not motivated by doctrine you are nothing. There are five areas of grace from time to eternity. Only God can take an absolute factor like grace and insert time and keep it absolute. The gospel: You understand it, we have talked about the blood of Christ, it is toward sin, toward man, and toward God — redemption, sinward; reconciliation, manward; propitiation, Godward. All of that is accomplished by God and the whole thing is worked out by God. And here are we in time as variables in time and God hits us with His information — doctrine, specialised doctrine called the gospel. This is not a variable, it is an absolute. It cuts through the variable factor and reaches the soul though the ministry of the Holy Spirit (and someone who will give straight information). This is absolute information. One simple person filled with the Spirit giving the truth gives an absolute which cuts through the variables with this information which simply describes what He did about it, what the divine solution is — He has given to every person who will believe in Christ an eternal life without compromising His character. Doctrine is an absolute. The word pistij mistranslated “faith” in our passage means doctrine or what is believed. The first stage is salvation, saving grace, everything that God did for us in a moment of time, and we move immediately into a second stage — living grace. Living grace is divided into two absolutes. Absolute #1, you are alive. Why are you alive as a believer? Because it is God’s will for you to be alive, and since it is His will for you to be alive He sees to it that you will always have plenty of good air to breathe and food to eat. Absolute #2, under living grace God has provided a means to get more truth than you had when you accepted Christ. God wants you to have more doctrine than you had when you believed in Christ. God does not intend for you to feed like a sparrow! Therefore God has provided everything whereby you can feed on the Word of God. That is living grace. Why are we alive and what are we doing here? We are here to move forward to what God designed for us in eternity past, because long before the variables existed God took two paragraphs of solid, dogmatic, absolute blessing — SG², SG³ — and he designed them for you personally. And He said, “The day of give that to you that will be the day when I am glorified by your volition.” Because both of these special blessing paragraphs come through motivation from within, doctrinal motivation from within. You must be motivated from inside. And to reach that high ground under living grace we follow the colours, GAP it daily. Then when we seize and hold we have SG². Jesus Christ is glorified when He can give you the best. Therefore in time you can have the absolute — occupation with the person of Christ, resident doctrine to meet any exigency of life. You have a whole line in your paragraph on what you have — spiritual blessing, God’s +H. You have a second line filled with temporal blessings, the blessings of promotion, success, wealth, prosperity. And then you have a sentence on dying.