Is Grace Simply a License to Sin?

"Is Grace Simply a License to Sin?
This topic has presented itself in the form of numerous questions and statements in the past, such as the following:

• Does preaching Grace lead to a careless lifestyle?
• Won’t people run out and sin recklessly if they get too “deep” into the Grace message?
• We can not preach Grace to a new believer because they are not mature enough to be trusted with such freedom yet.
• Taking the Law off believers gives them a license to sin.

All these statements fly straight in the face of what the Bible teaches about Grace:

[Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age].

Firstly let us consider how Grace influences a person’s thinking. When we comprehend what the message of Grace is all about (how God pardoned the sins of the whole world (Heb 10:17), abolished the written code of the Law (Col 2:14), set people at liberty to live free from the fear of judgment and punishment (1 John 4:18), how believers are encouraged to have boldness when approaching God (Heb 10:19-21), that we can be confident that God will never be angry with us ever again (Isa 54:9-10) and many other truths like these), it is clear that a proper understanding of these matters will in fact NOT encourage a person to want to sin, but rather inspire such a person to be more thankful towards God for all He has done, to live a life worthy of the sacrifice made by Jesus and to deny ungodly conduct as stated in Tit 2:11-12 (above).

Mostly the arguments and questions against the Grace message, such as the ones we mentioned above, come from people who are not necessarily afraid that they themselves will be deceived into wanting to commit more sins, but their arguments are for other “weaker” Christians who in their opinion do not yet have the “maturity” to handle the responsibility that comes with such freedom. Therefore they encourage that the truth of the Grace message be taught with a healthy dose of Law mixed in to warn these “weak” Christians against the perils of sinning. How ironic isn’t it then that the Bible teaches us that sin doesn’t increase through Grace, but rather through the Law: [Rom 5:20 God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant] (NLT). Grace actually came in and removed the sins that were made more abundant through the Law!

So for someone to say that Grace is a license to sin, it simply serves to expose such a person’s ignorance to what Grace actually means and stands for. It reveals that they don’t understand that the power of the Holy Spirit inside a believer (reminding them of their complete 100% righteous standing before God) is an infinitely stronger empowerment for “good behaviour” than threatening someone with the Law. As a result the legalists can all relax and come to terms with the fact that the Holy Spirit can be trusted with the transforming work in the life of a believer: [Phil 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ]. Nobody appointed us as each other’s moral policemen, so how can we ever try to assume that function?

The truth is that Grace can never be reduced to an “acceptable” level to compensate for the insecurities of legalists. Due to the extreme nature of the Law, Grace needs to be preached in its purest form as well in order to free people from the poison of “works based” mindsets"

By Andre van der Merwe

Keep the Gospel simple - a response

Hi Anon

Thanks for the comments.

You said:

"when someone gets saved (not sure how u define this)...."

Act 11:13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter;
Act 11:14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.'
Salvation is by believing the Good News of Gods UNDESERVED Favor to you through Jesus Christ.
....Act 15:9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? ("Salvation" by works - Law ...or that requires works to be maintained year after year.)
Act 15:11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."


you said:

"thereby removing the power of sin and guaranteeing salvation.
2) therefore you cannot sin any longer
3) you cannot lose your ticket into heaven"

The power of sin is the Law (1 Cor 15:56)and we have died to the Law (Rom) so sin has lost its grip on us. BUT, we do certainly STILL SIN - as Im sure you would agree.
How does all this fit?
Well, clarity comes when we see that the "sin" that we have died to (Rom 6) is not the VERB of sin. It is the NOUN of sin.
Of the 37 times the word "sin" is mentioned in Romans, only 1 is a VERB but 36 times it is a NOUN, speaking of our POSITION IN SIN - not the actual ACT/behavior of sinning.
So believers are no longer "IN SIN", we are now "IN CHRIST".

Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

It is impossible to go on "IN SIN" (I think the NIV has "sinning"- verb here. That is wrong.) because we have died to that POSITION and are now seated IN CHRIST.
That’s why the ACT of sinning cannot place us back under the position of "a sinner", because we have supernaturally been translated from that kingdom into the kingdom of the Son He loves.
But the revelation of this truth will cause us to sin (verb) less because 'the Law stirs up the VERB', and when we realise we have been removed from under that Law, its power to cause us to Verb-sin is broken!! Praise GOD!!

Now, faith in the Gospel is what translates us from Sin into Christ. Any "verb-sin" (including unbelief) once you IN CHRIST has no power to alter the Covenant you are in with God because the Covenant is built on the blood of Jesus - not yours! Jesus represented you as "the Son of man", and was found to be PERFECT. You are now IN HIM!! We cant mess up our half of the covenant because JESUS is our half. That’s the Good News.

The Only outstanding sin (according to John 16) is the sin of UNBELIEF. But He is talking about "the World" - who are not yet saved.
So, the only outstanding sin is Unbelief UNTO Salvation - NOT unbelief within Salvation.
All the sins (verb) of the world have been paid for (1 John 2:2), except unbelief UNTO Salvation (Noun....in Adam). This still leaves the free will decision of man to Choose to respond to the Gospel.

Sometimes believers who are wrongly taught that God sends calamity upon them to teach them or for some greater good - (sickness, death of loved ones, car accidents..Etc), turn against God and want nothing to do with HIM (and rightly so.... who would want to worship a God who causes 4 year old kids to drown or kill parents in flaming car wrecks!!)

But the truth is that Satan has come to Rob, KILL, and destroy. If you are IN CHRIST, God is not holding your behavior - even acting in reaction in unbelief - against you.

However, Jesus and the Apostles do speak about weeds among the wheat (who look outwardly just like wheat in the early stages), and wolves in sheep clothing, and spy's of our freedom. Outwardly these individuals look just like "good" Christians, but time reveals that they are actually not. When they "reject" God, people create a theology that you can fall away or loose your Salvation, but you cant loose what you didn’t have in the first place!!

So how will you know if you are really saved?
Do you believe the Gospel? Yes, then you are IN CHRIST and are Saved.
Lets Keep the Gospel as it is - Simple!

Regards
Andrew

God Remembers Your Sins No More

Most of the Body of Christ believe that God is powerfull and can do the things He says. But how often we doubt this truth when it applies directly to our own sin and short falls. About our sins God said, "I will remember them NO MORE".
And then, when we begin to walk in the understanding of the NEW COVENANT that God himself has made an oath to not count our sins against us or be angry with us (Isa 54:9-10), he (the devil) condemns us for not being condemned!!
But when we realise that we have been given the "Gift of NO CONDEMNATION", we get to use the efforts of the devil to condemn us, as a reminder and turn it around and remind him that he is already condemned.


Hebrews 10:17
17… “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

"I don’t know about you, but I would say that Hebrews 10:17 is good news. God sees all our sins — past, present and future — and says, “Your sins I remember no more!” The words “no more” are a strong double negative in the original Greek text. In other words, God is saying, “Your sins I will by no means ever remember!”


Has God lowered His standards? No, He is still perfectly holy. He did remember all our sins — 2,000 years ago at the cross. Every sin which we have committed or will commit has been punished to the full in the body of Jesus Christ at the cross. That is why today, God remembers our sins no more. We should, therefore, not be sin-conscious.

Each time we fall into sin, God wants us to remember the cross and say, “Lord Jesus, you were sentenced for this sin I committed. You bore the judgment, so God will not judge me for this sin. You were condemned for this sin, so God will not condemn me for it.”

If you don’t look to the cross, you will become sin-conscious and you will walk around with a certain expectation of judgment. And that expectation of judgment will give the devil a chance to get you thinking that God has something against you because of your sin.

You must come to the place where you know and believe that all your sins are forgiven, that there is no sin that will ever disqualify you from God’s blessings, that there is no sin that will ever send you to hell, because you are forgiven and saved eternally.

Hebrews 10:12, 14 says, “But this Man [Jesus], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… For by one offering He has perfected forever those that are sanctified…”

You and I are perfected forever because of Jesus’ perfect work on the cross. We are perfected by God’s full acceptance and perfect delight in His Son’s work that has so glorified His holiness. Beloved, hear God say to you, “I will be merciful. Your sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

But Andrew, Gods word that MUST be fulfilled also says in Rom 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death,"
God is Righteous and His word MUST be accomplished.... right?
So the penalty for sin - even just one, is death and it MUST be Punished!!

Well, In absolute Righteous fulfillment of Gods word, Jesus died for all of our sin. Jesus takes our place in this fulfilment 2000 years ago.
Thats why the next half of that verse that is often left out of the quotation by people who preach "the wrath of God" to get people saved says:
"but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Praise God for His amazing Love. He came NOT to condemn, but to Save.


God Blessed You!!
Andrew