Grace versus Sin

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (Titus 2: 11 – 13)

I have many ministry friends who believe, nay, preach, that addressing sin in a believer is a contradiction of terms. Simply speaking, talking about or against sin in a believer is the greatest sin, like the judging most proponents of a defeated (calling it victorious) Christian life parrot.

They believe addressing sin in a believer means that one has fallen from grace.

But what is grace? It is simply what joins a sinner to God into a relationship.

Is it possible that I can be joined to a holy God and remain in sin?

Grace is my means of accessing not just God’s pardon but also His nature. I therefore MUST start becoming like Him and completely unlike who I was.

The door to grace begins with NO. We cannot access grace before we deal with the issues grace is taking us from. We say NO before we can say YES to God and His call.

Let us start from far.

Abraham had to say NO to all his security to access God’s promise when he responded to His call. Isaac had to say NO to logic and commonsense to harvest a hundredfold in a drought.

And of course we know Moses had to say NO to being a prince in Egypt to be able to be used of God to lead Israel from Egypt.

Why do people fear making any commitment to Christ? Simply because they fear and are not ready to deal with the NOs they will encounter. No wonder they say that salvation will deny them all the fun, and for good reason.

You must deal with NO before you can access the YES. Only after squaring with the NO can you access the power to carry out the YES.

God cannot give you power over something you have not repudiated. And grace is what He released to do that.

That God receives us the way we are is not in doubt. That He does not hold us accountable to change is deceptive theology.

Zacchaeus is one good example.

Jesus invites Himself for lunch in this sinner’s house. It is as they fellowship that he discovers that he had to do something that was the probable reason for his climbing that tree in the first place.

When did he access grace? Was it when he gave half his wealth to the poor? Of course not.

He accessed it when he went seeking Jesus. But the evidence came out when he said NO to his earlier lifestyle. Probably that is why he went out to seek Jesus so desperately.

Grace is allergic to sin just as sin is allergic to grace. We therefore can’t walk and live in sin if God’s grace is in us.

Rahab was a harlot. It was as a harlot that she accessed grace. But she stopped being a harlot once she accessed grace.

And it was the same with all the other worshipers we see in the Bible.

Incidentally, that is what disqualified Ishmael and Esau as they took grace for granted.  

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9: 13, 14)

Grace changes us from inside. That is why sin has no place in a believer’s life, unless they have not accessed grace.

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (Matthew 3:8)

We cannot claim grace if the fruit we bear is unable to give the evidence of our repentance.

Otherwise we are simply imposters using grace as our prop. We are feeding off a false grace to make us comfortable in our sin. Or have we forgotten this?

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2Corinthians 5:17)

Things can never remain the same when they are renewed.

Like I have always said you cannot resurrect something that is not dead. You therefore cannot have any trace of death on something that has been revived.

Christ’s salvation, which is what grace offers, gives us life when we were dead in sins.

Is it possible, then, to continue with our past life of sin?

Let me close with these verses

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (1John 3: 3 – 6)

Of course I know of the battles we wage as grace seeks to make an abode in us like we see in Romans 7. But we are always winning since grace carries with it the power of its source.

I hope we understand each other (direct translation from Swahili)