God's Grace: License and Power to "go and sin no more."

Believer, no amount of law-keeping or good works can make any righteous in God's sight. Isaiah 64:6 says of all the law-keeping and those "sacrifices and good deeds" that many wrongly think  makes God answer prayers:

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

But see how our heavenly Father sees we who believe in His Son Jesus Christ, all apart from keeping the Law or doing its works:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God." Romans 5:9.

All of this and much more through the blood of Jesus and without us keeping the Law.  No human striving aka "a menstrual rag" is involved after we got saved. This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour.

Many see this as a license to be lawless but God's word clearly says that it is not: God's word says receiving His abundance of grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ is THE Way to live in triumph over sin and death. His word tells us that His free gift leads to our being made righteous, even though we are guilty of many sins. See this in Romans 5-

16 “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.”

For the proud who deceive themselves by thinking that they can keep even an inch of the Law in order to earn anything from God, this Truth is very hard to swallow - just as it was for the Pharisees and teachers of religious law.

For all who see Christ as Saviour, even Saviour from sins, this is the Good News -just as it was for Zacchaeus, the woman that was caught in adultery and everyone else who freely received salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Believer, whosoever believes in Jesus is righteous in God's sight, "EVEN THOUGH WE ARE GUILTY OF MANY SINS." This in verse 16 above. God's word. This verse is what stumps many religious churchgoers. This verse also seems to be the only thing that people who shun the Gospel of Grace take from the whole counsel of God. Many stop here and throw the rest of the Gospel of Christ- Grace - away! But receiving this Truth is the only way to live in triumph over sin and death according to God's word.

Everyone who believes in Jesus gets to be transformed to live right by the power of the Holy Spirit. But antichrist pastors follow after the example of the religious Pharisees who rejected Christ by preaching dependence on human effort (the arm of flesh that will fail) in the bid to attain righteousness and salvation. We often forget that the Pharisees were not people who could not wait for their synagogue service to finish so that they could rush out to fornicate and break the Law. They were very strict with their observance of the Law, just like many pastors and churchgoers today; but Christ called them "brood of vipers." They could not enjoy Christ's freely-given salvation because of the very Law that they deceived themselves into believing that they could keep. They wanted to WORK to EARN the GIFT of eternal life. What happened to them is still happening to religious people who think they can keep and attempt to keep the Law that kills in order to be right with God today:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Galatians 5:4.

This does not make sense to the logical mind because "the message of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18). It is foolishness to people who think their puny efforts at keeping the Law counts one jot towards their right-standing with God: 

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18

Paul and the early Christians were also accused of preaching that it is okay to sin because of Grace; see this in Romans 3:7-8-

7 "But," someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights His truthfulness and brings Him more glory?” 8 And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned."

See the TPT: "7 So, if my lie brings into sharp contrast the brightness of God’s truth, and if my lie accentuates His glory, then why should I be condemned as a sinner? 8 Is it proper for us to sin, just so we can be forgiven? May it never be! Yet there are some who slander us and claim that is what we teach. They deserve to be condemned for even saying it!"

Paul goes on to say of God in verse 26-28 of the same chapter-

"26...for He himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

Like many religious churchgoers today, the religious people of Paul's time heard this and could not understand how a person could be righteous before God without obeying the law. So they falsely accused Paul of preaching that it is okay to be sinning anyhow because of Grace- the same is happening today.

Salvation in Christ entails believing that Christ was crucified for our sins and that He was raised from the dead. But what is the purpose of Christ's crucifixion and His resurrection? See this in Romans 4:25-

"who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous."

See the TPT- "Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!"

Christ was crucified because of our sins. God raised Him from the dead TO PROVE THAT we have been declared righteous. To believe that one's sins are still hanging unpaid somewhere or that one still has to do certain things like keep the Ten Commandments by human effort in order to be righteous before God is to deny the death and resurrection of Christ. This is to deny Christ! Antichrist. This is even very foolish - for a human being to think that he can keep a jot of God's Law by using the arm of flesh (human effort) that will fail when God Himself says man cannot: Paul said it well in Romans 7:18- 

“"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that will fail says:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law and resist temptation to commit sin by clenching my teeth and striving hard.”

Reminds one of Peter telling Jesus that He was wrong when He told him of his upcoming denials. Like Peter, what we have of our own human effort are good intentions. One popular song says "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." 

Believer, the arm of flesh (human effort at keeping the Law to suppress sinful passions) will fail and when it does, those suppressed sinful passions will explode in a volcanic eruption of sins that lead to death. See this explained in Romans 7:5. This is why the law was given: that sin might increase: 

"The law was given so that sin would increase. But where sin increased, God’s grace increased even more."

Try to keep the law in order to be godly and sin will have dominion: "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14. But many have this verse backwards.

Remember Peter seemed to be making good on his promise to not bear false witness (9th Commandment) against Jesus at first — he slashed off someone's ear when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane, ready to defend Christ. Then his circumstances changed and he sang a different tune…three times. Boasting in one's ability to keep the Law (boasting in the flesh aka human effort) gives Satan the opportunity to sift a person like wheat as he did Peter. You can bet Satan won't come to box such who boast in their useless arm of flesh with kid gloves.

Many among us don't yet realise that the reason why we are not committing particular sins is because God did not allow us to get tempted beyond what we can bear in those areas of our "strength." See 1 Corinthians 10:12-13:

"12 So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

If God lifted His restraining hand that restrains us from sins, we would all be wallowing in heinous sins by now.

Our success at doing the right thing has got nothing to do with our strong moral resolve or non-existent prowess at keeping the Ten Commandments for the purpose of morality after we got saved. Paul addressed this in Romans 1 where a group who “suppress the truth” of righteousness by faith (verses 16-19) devolved into sin after “God lifted off His restraining hand…” —

“24 This is why God lifted off His restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires…”

This is why Christ came: to save us from our sins. Believer, God our heavenly Father is fully satisfied with the payment that Christ made for our sins. Romans 5:9 says of how He sees we who believe:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Believer, see yourself as God sees you in Christ- righteous apart from works. This isn't something we do just for the sake of it. By seeing ourselves as our heavenly Father sees us in Christ, we are being transformed. As we continue to see ourselves through the mirror of God's Word (Christ Himself: Grace-personified) and not through the Law (which Romans 3:20 says was given to show us how sinful we are,) we are being transformed by His Spirit: 2 Corinthians 3:18-

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Only imperfect people need transformation. The one who can transform himself to "be like God" by will-power and human striving (arm of flesh) at obeying the Law does not need the Spirit of the Lord to transform him. With Christ as our righteousness, we are 100% righteous in the sight of God our Father (Romans 5:9) and "so lovely" to Jesus Christ our Shepherd-King (Song of Songs 1:5) - EVEN THOUGH WE ARE GUILTY OF MANY SINS. SEE THIS IN THE VERSE BELOW. In Christ, we have God's super-abounding Grace and His gift of righteousness by which we get to live in triumph over sin and death through Jesus Christ: Romans 5:16-17:

16 “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.”

GOD'S GRACE (JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF) IS NOT A LICENSE TO SIN. HE IS THE WAY TO LIVE IN TRIUMPH OVER SIN AND DEATH. WITHOUT HIM, WE WOULD ALL DEVOLVE INTO SIN AND DEATH. All earthly ills are "death begun." 

But many put the cart before the horse and think they are not sinning because they have some good in their fallen humanity. 

The spirit of the antichrist is not anti-God. In fact, it can be very religious, preaching strongly against sin from behind the pulpit and shouting the need for churchgoers to bear the fruit of godliness from the rooftops - like the Pharisees. This spirit focuses on the importance of striving for godliness/salvation from sin by human effort at keeping the Law and it knows just what it is doing- trying to cut believers off from Christ:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Galatians 5:4.

But this is what Christ came to do: Titus 2:14- "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

How can Christ who came to free us from every kind of sin use the same sins that he came to free us from as an excuse for not saving us from them? This is akin to an oncologist dad refusing to heal his own beloved child who has cancer...because the child has cancer. Only by receiving God's abundance of grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ do we get to live in triumph over sin and death and only through Jesus Christ.

Right believing always produces right living.