Have you ever met someone brilliant who just doesn't understand the gospel? Someone with multiple degrees who can quote philosophy, who has read hundreds of books, and yet, when you talk about Christ to them, they just look at you as if you are speaking nonsense? And then you meet someone else, perhaps they never finished high school or college, perhaps they can barely read, and they understand grace in a way that puts seminary graduates to shame? And then you ask yourself, how in the world does something like that happen?

Well, I have the answer, and that is what I am going to talk about today. So if you have ever wondered why some people see it and some people do not, or if you have ever worried that perhaps you do not understand enough yourself, well then this message is for you.

Welcome to the Pristine Grace Podcast. I am your host, Brandon Kraft, and I am glad you are here with me. This is a show where I discuss the gospel, Christian living, theology, and Bible subjects, and sometimes I will even venture into current events as the mood strikes me. If you are new to this channel, please take a moment to subscribe and check out my other videos and my website at pristinegrace.org.

To give you a little background about myself, I am a Christian writer and speaker and have been the operator of pristinegrace.org, a website for nearly 30 years now. And today we are going to talk about something I call Christ's School of Grace. And I want to start by reading a couple of verses from Luke chapter 24, verses 44 through 45. It says, "And He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.' Then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures."

Now, I want you to think about that for a moment. He opened their understanding, not just the book, not just the text, but their understanding. This is something you need to think about. So if you need to pause the video and get a cup of coffee or your favorite drink, please do so. I will be here when you return.

But let us return to the subject. What are we going to discuss today that is foundational? It is something that touches everything else in the Christian life. And it is something many people miss, even people who spend years in church. So let me read that verse again. Luke 24, verse 45. Christ, He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures.

Christ not only opens up the Scriptures for those of us who believe, but He also opens up our understanding of them. I want you to catch that. Both these things are necessary. The Scriptures can be opened. The book, your Bible, can be in front of you, and you can read the words. You can study the grammar. You can memorize entire chapters. But if your understanding is not opened, you are still in the dark. And many people can open up their Bible. That is not difficult. You just pick it up, you turn to a page, and you read it. But only one person alone can open up the understanding that must accompany it. And that person is Christ.

The Lord has been so good to us. He has given us many preachers and sermons that can bring the scriptures to our minds. And I thank God for faithful preaching, I really do. Good preaching is a gift. It is a means that the Lord uses. But only Christ can open our minds and our understanding so that we can truly believe the truth. And that gospel preacher may be able to instruct the ears of his hearers. That writer can put beautiful words to paper to teach his readers. He can explain the text. He can define the words. And he can outline the doctrine. But it is the Lord who instructs the heart. And that instruction will produce a love for the truth.

And I want to stay here for just a moment, because I think this is where a lot of confusion happens. We tend to think that if we just hear the right sermon, or read the right book, or get the explanation right, then we will finally understand. And yes, those things do matter, but they are not enough. They are not enough. You can sit under the most faithful preacher in the world and still walk away unchanged. You can read the most clear and biblical explanation of the Bible or of the gospel and still not believe it--not because the preaching was bad or because the explanation was unclear--but because your understanding has not been opened. And that is not something you can do for yourself. That is not something education can do for you. That is not something intelligence can do for you. That is something only Christ can do.

And I think we need to sit with that reality for a little bit here, because it runs counter to almost everything our culture teaches us. We live in a world that values education highly. We are told that if we obtain the right degree, read the right books, and attend the right lectures, then we can understand anything. We can master anything. And in many areas of life, that is partly true. We can learn mathematics. We can study history. We can learn history. We can study and learn science. But when it comes to the things of God, all of that breaks down. It all breaks down. And all of that falls short.

You know, I am amazed at how many intelligent people of profound education there are out there, including many I have met and interacted with on a regular basis, who are completely ignorant of the things of God. And I mean, I am truly amazed by that because I have met people with multiple degrees, master's degrees, doctorates, bachelors of science, people who can speak several languages, people who have read hundreds of books. These are the super intelligent people by nearly every measurement. And yet when it comes to the things of God, they are completely in the dark. They can discuss philosophy. They can debate ethics, politics. They are amazing scientists and engineers, doctors, lawyers. Some of them can analyze ancient texts. But you put the gospel in front of them, and they stumble. They mock it. And they dismiss it as foolishness. Not because they are not smart enough to understand the words, but quite simply, it is because their understanding has not been opened.

And then I look around and see His glorious kingdom all around me, all the many believers that I have met in this life of online ministry and the various churches that I attend, and just the fellowship that I have. And I realize that the most uneducated, according to the world's standards, often become the most skilled scholars under Christ's tutelage. We are talking about people who never went to seminary, people who maybe did not even finish high school or college. And yet, they understand the gospel in a way that puts many educated people to shame. How in the world does something like that happen? Well, I will tell you how it happens, why they miss the gospel. It happens because it is the Lord who reveals the mysteries of the eternal kingdom, not man, not education, not intelligence, not position, not class, but the Lord.

The carnal man is blinded to the truth. He is deaf. He cannot hear. And he has a veil over his heart. He cannot understand God's ways. And that is not just a little bit of confusion. That is total blindness, total deafness, a complete inability to see what is in front of him. And oh, I do feel for them, and I do not envy them in any way. They may have riches, they may have fame, but if they are blind to Christ, well, then they are poor and do not even know it. And I certainly cannot criticize the blind for being blind, although I know a lot of people who do. But these people, these unbelievers, they have my sympathy and my heart. It absolutely breaks for them.

Paul talks about this blindness in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Here he says, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." Notice Paul does not say the natural man struggles to know them. He does not say it is difficult for the unbeliever. He says the natural man cannot know the things of God. It is an impossibility. And apart from the Holy Spirit, apart from Christ opening their understanding, the gospel remains hidden.

And I want you to notice what Paul says there. These things are foolishness to the natural man. Not just confusing, not just difficult, but foolishness. He looks at the cross and he sees weakness. He looks at grace and he sees nonsense. He looks at the gospel and he sees nothing worth believing. The gospel does not appeal to his good senses. It is like showing a beautiful piece of art to someone who has never seen it. They cannot see it, nor can they enter into the experience in the way those of us with sight can.

And this blindness, this state of darkness in which they reside, that is the state of every single person before Christ opens their understanding. And that includes you. That includes me. That includes everyone who has ever believed. And I remember when I was that way. I remember being in that darkness. And I am sure you can remember that too, if you are a believer. We were all that way. Every single one of us. We were completely blind, but now we see. Now we see. The truth was a mystery to us. We were just ignorant about it. We did not understand. We could not understand. And no amount of effort on our part could have ever changed that.

Paul speaks to this condition in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 4. And there he says, "Blinded minds." That's what we're dealing with here--not just a little confusion, not just a little misunderstanding, but complete and utter blindness. "The God of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe." But the Lord, but the Lord, who is rich in mercy, He taught us through the Holy Spirit that the only place where we can learn is at His school of grace. And I like that phrase, "His school of grace," because that's exactly what it is. It's not a school where you earn your way in. It's not a school where the smartest students get the best grades. It's a school of grace, which means it's a school where everything is given freely, where everything is taught by the Teacher Himself, where no student can boast about their own abilities. Oh, there are schools that can teach people what they should believe. There are seminaries, there are Bible colleges, there are systematic theologies you can study. I've got bookshelves filled with systematic theology books, okay? And those things aren't bad. They can be helpful.

But they can only teach what you should believe. They can give you the information. They can give you the history. And they can give you definitions. And they can tell you that this is what Reformed theology teaches. This is what the Calvinists over there teach. And they can tell you what all the theological systems teach. They can tell you what the early church believed. And all of that can be useful. But knowing what you should believe is not the same thing as believing it. Knowing the right answers--that's not the same thing as having your understanding opened. You can pass every theology exam out there and still be lost in your sins. You can still know the Westminster Confession of Faith. You can know any other creed or confession backwards and forwards. You can be catechized, and you can still be a stranger to Christ.

And only our Lord can teach us how to believe and then enable us to believe. That is the difference. That is the line between knowledge and faith, between information and transformation, between knowing about God and knowing God. This is where I want to read another verse because it ties all this together so beautifully. 1 John chapter 5, verse 20, says, "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."

He has given us an understanding, not just information, not just facts, not just doctrine, but an understanding, a heart that comprehends, a mind that sees, a soul that knows. That we may know Him who is true, not just know about Him, but know Him, know Him. And that is the goal. That is what this is all about. Not accumulating information, not mastering a system, but knowing Christ. To repeat what John says, we are in Him who is true, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Notice how John connects those two things, knowing Christ and eternal life. They are not separate, and you cannot have one without the other. Eternal life is not just something that happens after you die. Eternal life is knowing Christ, even right now. If you know Christ right now, you are experiencing eternal life, because Christ Himself is eternal. Jesus Himself said that in John chapter 17, verse 3. It says, "And this is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

When we talk about Christ's school of grace, we are talking about the only place where eternal life is taught, the only place where sinners learn to know God, the only place where blind eyes are opened and deaf ears are unstopped. And here is what is so humbling about that. Here is the amazing thing that gets me. All right, you did not choose to enroll in that school. You did not even sign up for it. You did not fill out an application. Christ brought you there, and then He opened your understanding. Christ taught you, and Christ keeps you there from the beginning to the very end. It is all grace. And that is why it is His school of grace. Every part of it, every single moment of it, is a gift you did not earn and could not earn. It is grace that is not stained by your will or actions. It is pristine. It is grace alone and Christ alone. And that is why the name of this channel and my website is called Pristine Grace.

Pristine Grace is grace that does not require us to do anything in order to receive it. I think that is one of the hardest things for us to accept. We want to contribute something. We want to feel like we had a part in it. We want to say, "Well, at least I believed, at least I chose, at least I responded." But even that belief, even our response to the words of the gospel, was given to you. It was taught to you. It came from Christ opening your understanding in just one lesson in His school of grace. You did not believe your way into anything. I will tell you that right now. In fact, you were enrolled in His school of grace your entire life. You just did not even know it. But belief itself is the evidence that you have been graced by God, not the means by which you obtain that grace.

If you believe, it means that God loved you from before time began and then put you in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Christ, your teacher, your instructor, came into the world and performed all that was necessary to secure your education and your eternal life. Then he watched and directed your life as you were born and as you walked through life. Then he introduced himself to you and brought you to believe and rest in him. It is amazing for me to think about how we have been enrolled in this school without even knowing it. When we were born, our tuition had already been paid.

Paul tells us plainly in Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." That is when God chose us, not when we believed, not when we responded. Before the world even existed, we were chosen in Christ. Then Paul continues in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. He says, "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." Even the faith itself is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.

That means belief is not something you conjured up. It is not something you produced. It was given to you. And Paul says it again in Philippians chapter 1, verse 29. He says, "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. Unto you it is given to believe." Given! Not earned, not achieved, given. Belief itself is a gift from God to those He has chosen. And think about what Jesus said in John chapter 10, verses 26 and 27. He is speaking to some who did not believe, and He says to them, "But you believe not, because ye are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." You believe not because you are not of my sheep, He says. He does not say you are not my sheep because you do not believe. No, no, He says the exact opposite of that. He says you do not believe because you are not my sheep. Being a sheep comes first. Then comes belief. Being enrolled in Christ's school of grace comes first. And then we hear His voice. Then comes belief.

So, when did we become His sheep? That is a good question. Let us see what the Bible says about that.

2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 9 tells us, clearly. It says, "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world began." Before the world began. Grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time even started. That is when the tuition was paid. That is when we were enrolled, long before we ever drew our first breath.

Listen to what Jesus says in John chapter 6, verse 44. He says, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day." No man can come to Me except the Father draw him. That is absolute language. That is not, "It is difficult." That is not, "It is unlikely." That is, "No man can." It is impossible unless the Father draws you.

And then Jesus says again in John chapter six, verse 65: "And He said, 'Therefore I have said to you that no man can come to Me unless it were given to him of My Father.'" Coming to Christ is a gift. Understanding is a gift. Faith is a gift. All of it is a gift. It is grace.

And I am not saying that to discourage you. I am saying that to free you. Because if your understanding of the gospel depends on Christ and not on yourself, well, guess what? Here is the glorious news. You can rest. You can rest. You do not have to worry about whether you understood every doctrinal point correctly. You do not have to fear that maybe you missed something. Christ opened your understanding. It is open. If Christ taught you, you have learned. And if Christ gave you faith, you believe. And none of that depends on how smart you are, or how educated you are, or how much you have read, or how well you can explain it. It just depends on one thing: Him. It depends on Christ. And He is faithful.

Think about what that means for a moment. Think about it. Your salvation, your understanding, your faith--none of it rests on your shoulders. It is not up to you to maintain it. It is not up to you to keep it going or keep the flame alive. Christ is the one who began the work, and Christ is the one who will finish it.

I meet people sometimes who are terrified that they do not understand enough. They are afraid their faith is not strong enough, or they are worried that they have not learned enough. And my heart truly goes out to them, because I know that fear, because I felt it myself. I felt it here, deep inside.

But here's what I want to say to anyone listening who feels that way. If you are believing in Christ, even weakly, even with trembling, even with doubts and questions, that belief that you have came from somewhere and it did not come from you. It came from Christ opening your understanding. And if He opened it, He is not going to let it close. If He taught you, He is not going to unteach you. If He gave you life, He is not going to take it back. That is the beauty. That is the beauty of being in a school of grace. The teacher never gives up on his students. He never says, well, you are not just getting it. I am done with you. No, he never says that. He finishes what he starts every single time. Paul says it this way in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6. It says, "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." He will perform it. You do not perform it. You will not perform it. He will, and that is not a maybe. That is He will, not if you try hard enough. He will, because He is the one doing the work. You are not teaching yourself. You are being taught. And the teacher, he is perfect.

So if you are sitting there thinking, well, I still do not understand everything. I still have questions. I still struggle. Well, that is OK. That is normal. That is what students do, OK? They are still learning. Think about your kids in school, or when you were a kid in school. You did not know much. You had questions. You struggled. That is normal. Everybody goes through that. But the fact that you truly want to understand, the fact that you care about the truth, that is evidence that Christ has begun to open your understanding. Because the carnal man does not care about these things. The carnal man thinks this is foolishness.

You know, I receive YouTube comments calling me a weirdo or saying I sound like a creep. Well, I do not care. It is foolishness to them, and I understand where they are coming from. But to me, this is life. This is eternal life. And you feel the same way because you are here, you are listening, you are thinking, you are wrestling with the truth. And that did not come from you; that came from God.

And I have been thinking a lot lately about how this plays out in the day-to-day life of a believer. Because it is one thing to talk about Christ opening our understanding in the abstract. It is another thing to see how that actually works in real life. And what I have noticed, both in my own life and in the lives of other believers, is that this understanding grows. It deepens. Not because we are getting smarter, but because why? You know why. Christ continues to teach us.

And here is another great thing about the School of Grace. You are going to love this. You never graduate from it. You never graduate from the School of Grace. You do not reach a point where you say, "OK, I have learned everything I need to know. I am done." No, no, no. As long as you are alive, you are still a student. You are still learning. You are still being taught. And I love that, okay? That is a comfort to me. That is not a burden. Because it means Christ is still at work in me. And if you are still learning, that means Christ is still at work in you. Still opening your eyes to see things you did not see before. Still helping you understand things that were once mysterious to you.

And I look back at where I was five years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago, even six months ago, and I am amazed at how much deeper my understanding has grown in all that time. Not because I am smarter now, not because I have read more books, not because of anything I have done, but because Christ has continued to teach me, and He has given me wisdom. And I look forward to ten years from now and twenty years from now, that is if the Lord keeps me and I am still here on this earth. And I am going to look back at where I am today and see the same thing. I am going to see growth. I am going to see a greater understanding. I am going to have deepening faith. And it is not because of me, but because of Him. And that is what it means to be in His school of grace. You are always learning. You are always being taught. And the teacher, He never stops teaching. Now, I want to be clear about something. When I say that Christ opens our understanding, I am not saying that we become perfect in our knowledge. I am not saying that we suddenly understand every mystery of the Bible. And I am not saying that we never struggle, question, wonder, or stop dealing with sin.

What I am saying, though, is that Christ gives us what we need to know Him. He gives us what we need to believe, rest, and trust in Him. He gives us what we need to rest in His finished work. And guess what? That is enough. You do not need to understand every theological debate. You do not need to have an answer for every question. You do not need to be able to explain every difficult passage in Scripture. You just need to know one thing, and that is Christ. And if Christ has opened your understanding, you do. You have what you need.

There is a simplicity to this that I think we often miss. We make it so complicated; I know I have done so in my past. We think we need to master all these systems, frameworks, and arguments. Those things can be helpful; they really can. But they are not the foundation. The foundation is Christ, knowing Him, trusting Him, and resting in Him. This is something a child can do. It is something the most uneducated person can do because it is not about intelligence. It is about grace.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:25-26, "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." Hidden from the wise and prudent, revealed unto babes. That tells you everything you need to know about how this works. It is not about being smart. It is not about being educated. It is about being taught by Christ.

If you are sitting there thinking, "Well, I am not very smart. I do not have a lot of education. I struggle to understand things," let me tell you something. You are in good company. Most of the people Christ has taught throughout history were not the wise and prudent. They were the babes. They were the simple. They were foolish in the eyes of the world.

Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29. He says, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence."

That is why it works this way, so that no one can boast, so that no one can say, "Well, I figured it out. I earned it. I deserved it because I am smart." No, no, no, no, no. All glory belongs to God. And I want to close with this tonight. There are many schools in this world, many places where you can go to learn, and some of them are good. Some of them are helpful, but there is only one school. One school where you can learn to know God. Only one teacher who can open your understanding. And only one place where eternal life is found. And if you are in that school, if Christ has opened your understanding, then you are exactly where you need to be. You do not need to be smarter. You do not need to be more educated. You do not need to figure it all out on your own. You just need to keep sitting at his feet, keep listening to his voice, keep trusting his teaching because he is faithful to finish what he started.

Isaiah chapter 54, verse 13 says, "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children." Taught of the Lord. That is the promise. And great shall be the peace of thy children. And peace comes from being taught by Christ, not from figuring everything out, not from having all the answers, but from being taught by the Lord himself. And that is very good news.

But before I end this episode, let me leave you with one closing scripture. And it is one of my mom's favorites, as she is always quoting it to me. Whenever I call her up, she brings it up. Maybe half the time, or maybe even more. And I know she is probably watching this. So hi, Mom. I love you. And anyway, here is the passage.

Matthew 16, verses 13 through 17. When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I am? And they said, Some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, another is Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.

Consider that for a while. That is all I have for today. I hope this has been helpful. I hope it has given you something to think about. And if nothing else, I hope it has reminded you that your understanding, your faith, your knowledge of Christ, all of that is a gift. It is a gift from the greatest teacher there is.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I am happy to talk to you and answer any questions you may have. There is a link to my contact form in the description below. May grace and peace be with you. Goodbye.