Is the Grace Message a License to Sin?
Many of the people who view themselves as Law Keepers...adhering to the rule and regulation mentality for performance measuring to determine the quality of a person's spiritual life...accuse the Grace Message of giving people a license to sin because there is no regulatory performance measurement to adhere to, as if self proclaimed law keepers are immune to sinning. This is a gross misunderstanding of what the grace Message is. With all of the laws and rules that are out there. "NONE" is comparable to measuring up to the standard of Jesus Himself! The thing is, when people fail to live up to His standard He does not judge and condemn as the self-proclaimed law keepers in religion do, God loves, forgives and restores!
One thing that "Christians" have to realize is; no believer is immune from sin while living in the flesh no matter the spiritual plateau they think abiding by the Law and their positional position ranks them. But, we can take comfort and reassurance in knowing that as powerful as sin is, there is something more powerful than sin...the "GRACE" of God given to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. For Romans 5:20, tells us that where sin abounds, God’s grace abounds much more, meaning that it is because of grace that sin is forgiven. Sin cannot be overcome by getting back under the law that supposedly will keep you from sinning, until of course, you break the same or another rule. The question becomes, how do we overcome sin through grace in grace living?
While we live in the flesh every believer will fall into sin. No one is perfect. Proverbs 24:16 says, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” The question as a "believer" is not will I fall” but, “which way will I fall...backwards into law domination or forwards into grace forgiveness?” A person who falls backwards believes that when we fall into sin we fall into the judgment of an angry God and it is their duty to heap guilt on the sinning person, which is a pre-cross mentality. Therefore, that person draws back from God. A person who falls forward is one who knows they are falling into the arms of God’s mercy, grace and forgiveness, a post cross reality.
God has been misunderstood, not only by people in the old testament, but also by people who misunderstand the finished work of Christ sacrifice in our day, regarding how He reacts to sin. When God called out Adam after he fell, Adam assumed that God called him to judge him and so he ran and hid. But in fact God called him to reconcile him through the blood and this thread of redemption flows throughout scripture.
God continues to be misunderstood by and misrepresented to people who struggle with sin as believer. Religion has not created an environment where people can feel comfortable about confessing to failure, though the New Testament teaches that this is the norm. “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (Jas.5:16). When people do not feel safe to admit their weaknesses and failings they will live a life of pretence. Deceptive people develop defence mechanisms. But the believer's only true defence is Jesus, the Lamb of God and He waits with open arms and offers love, forgiveness and restoration.
When people sin their greatest need is not to be frightened by God’s anger, made to feel guilty or condemned to hell fire. They need to be drawn by His love. According to scripture, it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). When a believer sins they need God their Father like a hurting child needs their father. When a child hurts themselves the father doesn't get angry with the child and start shouting at him/her and making them feel guilty because they are hurt. He does not attack the child. He attacks the hurt and he will do what is in his power to mitigate that hurt.
Dealing with sin by grace is known by the direction you fall...forwards or backwards. When you fall into sin it is imperative that you fall forward. Be humbled and sorry by your sin, but not discouraged or guilt ridden by it.
Sin, for the believer is a choice. Through grace we have been freed from sins dominion (Rom.6:14). So we need to question ourselves as to why we choose to yield to it. We all have legitimate needs, and temptation is the enticement to have those needs met through illegitimate means instead of through Christ. Every temptation is a call to live independently of God and when we do we miss the mark and we sin. Therefore it is not keeping the rules that prevent us from sinning, it is not rule keeping that justifies us, it is keeping in tune with Jesus via His Holy Spirit.
An idol is anything we run to, instead of turning to Christ. It is a coping mechanism. and some people have made an idol out of the law. Israel had to crush their idols and transfer their trust to God. And so do we. We will turn from sin only as we learn to find our sufficiency in Christ and only in Christ!
One thing that "Christians" have to realize is; no believer is immune from sin while living in the flesh no matter the spiritual plateau they think abiding by the Law and their positional position ranks them. But, we can take comfort and reassurance in knowing that as powerful as sin is, there is something more powerful than sin...the "GRACE" of God given to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. For Romans 5:20, tells us that where sin abounds, God’s grace abounds much more, meaning that it is because of grace that sin is forgiven. Sin cannot be overcome by getting back under the law that supposedly will keep you from sinning, until of course, you break the same or another rule. The question becomes, how do we overcome sin through grace in grace living?
While we live in the flesh every believer will fall into sin. No one is perfect. Proverbs 24:16 says, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” The question as a "believer" is not will I fall” but, “which way will I fall...backwards into law domination or forwards into grace forgiveness?” A person who falls backwards believes that when we fall into sin we fall into the judgment of an angry God and it is their duty to heap guilt on the sinning person, which is a pre-cross mentality. Therefore, that person draws back from God. A person who falls forward is one who knows they are falling into the arms of God’s mercy, grace and forgiveness, a post cross reality.
God has been misunderstood, not only by people in the old testament, but also by people who misunderstand the finished work of Christ sacrifice in our day, regarding how He reacts to sin. When God called out Adam after he fell, Adam assumed that God called him to judge him and so he ran and hid. But in fact God called him to reconcile him through the blood and this thread of redemption flows throughout scripture.
God continues to be misunderstood by and misrepresented to people who struggle with sin as believer. Religion has not created an environment where people can feel comfortable about confessing to failure, though the New Testament teaches that this is the norm. “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (Jas.5:16). When people do not feel safe to admit their weaknesses and failings they will live a life of pretence. Deceptive people develop defence mechanisms. But the believer's only true defence is Jesus, the Lamb of God and He waits with open arms and offers love, forgiveness and restoration.
When people sin their greatest need is not to be frightened by God’s anger, made to feel guilty or condemned to hell fire. They need to be drawn by His love. According to scripture, it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). When a believer sins they need God their Father like a hurting child needs their father. When a child hurts themselves the father doesn't get angry with the child and start shouting at him/her and making them feel guilty because they are hurt. He does not attack the child. He attacks the hurt and he will do what is in his power to mitigate that hurt.
Dealing with sin by grace is known by the direction you fall...forwards or backwards. When you fall into sin it is imperative that you fall forward. Be humbled and sorry by your sin, but not discouraged or guilt ridden by it.
Sin, for the believer is a choice. Through grace we have been freed from sins dominion (Rom.6:14). So we need to question ourselves as to why we choose to yield to it. We all have legitimate needs, and temptation is the enticement to have those needs met through illegitimate means instead of through Christ. Every temptation is a call to live independently of God and when we do we miss the mark and we sin. Therefore it is not keeping the rules that prevent us from sinning, it is not rule keeping that justifies us, it is keeping in tune with Jesus via His Holy Spirit.
An idol is anything we run to, instead of turning to Christ. It is a coping mechanism. and some people have made an idol out of the law. Israel had to crush their idols and transfer their trust to God. And so do we. We will turn from sin only as we learn to find our sufficiency in Christ and only in Christ!
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