God knew that the teaching of His complete forgiveness of
our past, present and future sins would appear to be a license to give
Christians the OK from God to sin. That
is why He clearly addresses it showing the complete opposite. Let’s look at why the Gospel of Grace leads
us to live a righteous life instead of a sinful one.
God’s grace is
greater than the sins of any unbeliever. Romans 5:20-21 says, The
Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace
would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. God is clearly saying that His grace is greater than the sin of the most
despicable sinner so that he/she can be saved.
In 1Timothy 1:12-16 Paul shows this saying God saved him as the foremost
of sinners. His point was that if God
could save a persecutor of Christians to the point of giving hearty approval of
the murder of Stephen in Acts 8:1, He could save anyone.
God’s grace is
also greater than the sins of any Christian. No Christian can commit any sin Jesus did not
already forgive through the death of Jesus according to these Scriptures: Colossians 2:13, When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our
transgressions. Ephesians 1:7, In Him we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.
Ephesians 4:32, Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other,
just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Hebrew 8:12, “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins
no more.” Hebrews 10:12, But He,
having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand
of God. Hebrews 10:14, For by one offering He has perfected for all
time those who are sanctified.
Hebrew 10:17-18, “And their sins
and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is
forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
God knows that His complete forgiveness is going to appear
to mean that a Christian can just go out and sin because of grace. He answers why this is absolutely not true in
Romans 6:1-2, What shall we say then? Are
we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we
who died to sin still live in it?
God’s answer is that anyone who believes God’s forgiveness gives a
Christian permission to sin is dead wrong and doesn’t understand the Gospel
completely. The reason grace is not a
license to sin is that we died to sin and were made alive to Him. Romans 6 spends the remainder explaining what
this means. God tells how our old
nature, our sinful identity in Adam, which loved to sin, was once and for all
put to death with Jesus on the cross. He
shows clearly that we are no longer a slave of sin but of righteousness. In other words, a complete understanding of
grace will never lead the believer into sin but will give him/her the desire
and power to overcome it. Another way of
saying this is that our new nature, our identity in Christ, hates to sin and
desires to live a righteous life which glorifies God.
Neither I nor Grace Life International teach or believe that
God’s complete forgiveness is a license to sin.
To the contrary, we believe and teach that when the Gospel is understood
in its entirety, a person will see their sins more clearly and confess them to
God (meaning they are in agreement with God that they did not act like who they
are) being assured of their forgiveness by God through the blood of Jesus. We
also believe that God’s grace will lead a person to turn from sin and live a
righteous, holy life consistent with who they already are in Christ and Who
Christ is in them. That’s repentance
leading to real freedom. We see freedom from all kinds of sins happen every
week at GLI from believing the truth.
Truth sets people free.
Error keeps them in bondage.
Believe it! It's the Gospel.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
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