The concept of grace in salvation
is much misunderstood by believers, and I wanted to share a few thoughts
about it.
Most Christians have been wrongly taught
to think grace enables God to go against his holy
nature and to overlook sin. There are popular books circulating in
Christendom that sell like hotcakes that give this impression.
Does the believer "under grace" have the privilege to sin and
get away with it, while the unbeliever "under law" does not?
Does "grace" create two classes of sinners-one believing
class of sinners, and one unbelieving class?
Does the Bible teach that believers may continue in sin so that grace
may abound? Abound means to be present in great quantity. Sin is present
in great quantity unto death in the lives of unbelievers who walk after
the flesh and are "under the law". Grace "reigns through
righteousness" (Rom.5:21) unto eternal life in those who are under
grace.
So the answer is NO, grace does not abound towards those who
continue
in sin. God forbids that we continue in sin; grace will not abound
toward us if we do so. (See Romans 6:1,2)
This is the truth; why don't we believe it? Because of the
conditioning we've had through sermons, books and study bibles in which
the writer has expertly "wrested scripture" to the reader's destruction. We reason within ourselves that our sins are
automatically forgiven because of grace—even when
we refuse to "walk in the light as He is in the light." We reason that justification by faith
places our continued and abounding sin under the
grace of God, when the Scripture teaches that God forbids that if we
continue in sin grace will abound. (Rom. 6:1,2)
How many of these questions can we answer with "NO" and
still assume we are under grace and possess eternal life? Have we
reckoned ourselves to be dead unto sin? Have we reckoned ourselves to be
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord? Do we not allow sin to
reign in our mortal bodies? Do we yield ourselves daily unto God? Do we
not allow sin to have dominion (rule) over us? (The answer to this question
will let us know if we are under the law or under grace. See Romans.
6:14) Do we yield ourselves as servants to obedience unto righteousness?
Do we obey from the heart that form of doctrine delivered unto us
(from the Holy Bible)? Are we servants of righteousness unto holiness?
Are we free from (the dominion) of sin? Are we servants to God having fruit
unto holiness and the end everlasting life?
"Yes" answers show how truly powerful saving grace really
is! Grace is very strong...stronger than sin! " Moreover the law
entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound: That even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans
5:20, 21
In the life of the believer saved by grace, Grace, which reigns
through righteousness, abounds much more than sin! Grace doesn't
mean that the believer can willfully sin and have grace cover it --that
is a perversion of biblical truth, however popular this teaching may be
today. Grace does not mean that the believer can willfully sin and be
automatically forgiven while the unbeliever can sin willfully and reap
what he has sown by going to hell.
God is not mocked in the lives of
both believers and unbelievers:
Galatians 6:7,8 says,
" Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his
flesh shall reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the
Spirit reap life everlasting."
True believers have the grace
to sow to the Spirit but unbelievers do not have the grace to do this.
Believers can willfully choose to NOT sow to the Spirit, and instead sow
to the flesh. God does not force the believer to stand in his marvelous
grace. He does not force the believer to to stop continuing in sin even
though sin reigns unto death!
The believer is told in Scripture in no uncertain terms about what
grace is, and what grace is not, and the Lord does not want us to be
deceived about this because sin and grace are opposed to each other just
as law and grace are opposed to each other!
Grace means we have, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the
ability to serve righteousness instead of sin! But what about the
believer who does not want to reckon himself dead to sin? What about the
believer who allows sin to reign in his mortal body and obeys its lusts?
Is he under grace? No! God does not coerce our wills and he does not
treat us like robots. Sin must be daily put to death in the hearts and
minds and bodies of believers or else they cannot biblically conclude
they are under the grace of God. This is a daily decision to sow to the
Spirit and not the flesh, and Christians who refuse to commit to this life of holiness
and abiding in Christ can "believe" as hard and as fervently
as they want, but if they won't believe and obey what God said about
"the grace of God that bringeth salvation"-Titus 2:11- they
will not possess it.
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