“Grace Abounds!”

LET ME GET RIGHT to the point. We have not been given grace so we can keep on sinning! Among other things, God’s grace is aggressive forgiveness. No matter the sin, grace abounds. No matter when in your life you seek salvation through Christ, grace abounds. When it’s sin against grace, grace wins. But, none of this means we can continue in sin. The number of individuals who profess Christ as Savior and Lord but continue in habitual sin is staggering. Some believers wrongly think it is appropriate to carry on in sin because God is glorified when grace abounds. This is irrational thinking; habitual sin ruins a believer’s spiritual growth. Sin begets more sin, but thank God that grace abounds for forgiveness of sins, and it gives us the power to overcome sin.

Habitual sin is defined as the practice of sinning over and over without remorse. Repeated sinning hardens our hearts for true repentance. Of course, temptation is prolific in our lives, but sin must never become an unchallenged habit. Paul often taught on the need for righteousness, contrasting it with the ungodliness of men (see Rom. 1:16-18). Martin Luther said, “Sin, in the Scripture, means not only the outward works of the body, but all the activities that move men to the outward works, namely, the inmost heart, will all its powers”¹ [emphasis added]. Accordingly, habitual sin is a behavioral choice. John adamantly states, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). We should walk in victory over sin.

Do you willingly sin? Are you held captive by habitual sin?

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “…if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment” (Heb. 10:26). Show of hands. How many of you are confused about this verse? I thought we cannot lose our salvation? Verses 26 and 27 are talking about willfully sinning and refusing to repent. The hard truth of this passage is that deliberately sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth likely indicates you are not be a genuine believer of the gospel. A footnote in the ESV Study Bible says, “…these are people who have never genuinely embraced the gospel in a way that has resulted in a life of faith, obedience, and the bearing of fruit.”²

Hebrews teaches us that genuine believers in Christ know by faith that their hearts have been washed clean of evil through His death and resurrection.

What punishment do you think is adequate for those who claim to be Christians, yet trample the Son of God underfoot and profane the blood by which they have been sanctified? How should God respond to believers who outrage the Spirit of grace through unrepentant sinning? Speaking from the heart, at times I have questioned my salvation. Pornography ripped a hole in my heart and quenched the Holy Spirit. I sat, night after night, binging on sexual images, seeking fulfillment of fleshly pleasure. Pornography had become a kind of drug to me. I was addicted. As I continued in sin, I feared eternal damnation. I often sinned on purpose, knowing better. Worse, at times I did not seem to care that I was sinning. Indeed, this was an indication that my heart was not aligned with God.

Pornography is one of the most prominent habitual sins in the life of Christians today. I believe pornography is a form of prostitution. Typically, pornography uses actors who are paid to portray sexual behavior intended to arouse the viewer of the pornography. Prostitutes are paid to provide a sexual service, which is intended to arouse the individual engaging with the prostitute. Paul said, “Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her” (1 Cor. 6:15b-16). The word “prostitute” in the Greek is πόρνοι (pornoi), literally translated “sexually immoral.” Did you catch that? Pornoi! Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:27-28)[emphasis added].

Go, and Sin No More

God’s grace is shown by his aggressive and perpetual forgiveness. This means that His grace is sufficient for each one of us no matter our past behavior. Whenever it is sin versus grace, grace wins every time. Yet, we are not given grace in order to keep on sinning. Instead, grace gives us the power to overcome sin. When repeated sin becomes an unchallenged habit, our hearts are hardened to the things of God. Part of the process of overcoming habitual sin is to change the habits that facilitate it. The only way to effectively defeat sin is to confess it to God and forsake it. Forsaking sin goes beyond confessing and resolving not to repeat it. To “forsake” something requires a fundamental change in attitude and behavior toward that thing. We were once slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to righteousness. We must forsake our sinful lives and chase after the righteousness of Christ.

Steven Barto, BS Psy, ThM

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references contained herein are from the English Standard Version (ESV).

References
¹ Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954), xv.
² ESV Study Bible, Lane T. Dennis, editor (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 2378.