A License to Sin?
Pastor Darryl Bentley
Midland SDA Church
September 12, 2009
Homiletical Idea: Grace is often one of the most abused items in the church. Too often we have allowed sin to abound that we might be given more grace. Grace will be given in the amount needed to cover the extent of our sinfulness, but we should strive to bring our lives in harmony with the will of God at each opportunity.
Local Grace
Don’t’ raise your hands, but how many of you have been pulled over by local law enforcement in the last year? Unfortunately, I fit into that category myself. So far, I had had conversations with Midland County, Midland city, and Isabella County law enforcement officials. I am happy to report that not all of those interactions were a result of speeding. My previous vehicle had front tinted windows which is apparently illegal in Michigan and caught the eye of some watchful officers. I am even happier to report that none of the four traffic stops resulted in the issuing of a citation.
When the officers finished with me do you think that I stomped on the pedal and took off spinning tires and speeding away? Of course not. Had I kept my previous car I would have taken the tint off the front windows, and I can assure you that I am much more mindful of my rate of speed. In fact, not only did I not speed off, I carefully proceeded onward to my destination abundantly thankful for the grace that was given me. Each time I was stopped, I was in violation of the law. Each time I deserved a ticket, but each time the officer gave me a verbal warning. Each time they gave me grace. The officers in giving me grace, however; were not giving me a license to break the law. The officers were not giving me a license to sin.
What about Grace?
We within the church often talk about this concept of grace, but what is it really? Today I want us to take a brief look from the Bible as 1) to what grace is, 2) where it comes from, and 3) how we go about honoring that wonderful gift that the Lord longs to give us.
What is Grace?
Let’s look at our first question and seek to define what grace is. Grace is a concept that is found in both the Old and New Testaments. In the King James Version grace is mentioned 170 times throughout the Bible. Other translations have grace there about 131 times. Is there more grace in the KJV? No, not really. What we discover is that where the KJV uses the English word “grace”, other translations may use the word “favor” from the same Hebrew word. Let’s look at one example. In Genesis 6 we find the faithful Noah living out his days in honor to the Lord. Notice how the Bible reads.
**Read Genesis 6:5ff**
At first glance it may appear that Noah had done something that earned for himself God’s grace? The text reads that “Noah found grace”. It almost makes it seem like grace is something that if we diligently seek after we will somehow find it lying somewhere awaiting discovery. The New American Standard Bible presents the text saying “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord”. This almost sounds worse until you understand the full context of the passage.
Notice how the Bible reads a little further down in verse 9. Notice how the Bible says that “Noah was righteous and blameless and that he walked with God”. Without reading the context of the passage we can easily come away with a feeling that grace or favor with God is something that we, like Noah, can earn or find lying around somewhere. In reality grace is not something that we can earn at all. Grace is a result of walking with the Lord. Grace is something that comes to us from God as a free gift as we surrender our lives to Him.
Defining the Term
As we begin to see that grace comes from God we still need to define what it means. According to Princeton’s online dictionary, grace is “the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God”. The key words in this definition are “free” and “unmerited”. This conveys the understanding that grace is not something that we can earn. Rather it is something that God freely offers to all people. Grace according to both original Biblical languages is a gift given by God to those that He has created. It is a gift where He chooses to not condemn us for our sins, but rather to look beyond the sinfulness of our lives. He is able to look beyond our sin only within the context of us accepting the free gift of salvation that is offered through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
Basically we can say that grace is that which is extended to mankind that allows us to come into a right relationship with God through the merits of God alone. In other words, we cannot do anything righteous enough on our own to merit God’s favor. That grace or favor from God is given freely without the need for us to win it.
This grace is extended to us through the drawing and convicting power of the Holy Spirit. Although some faith groups teach that we cannot resist this drawing of God, we have the choice to decide whether or not we will accept the grace of God.
**Read Joshua 24:15- This passage teaches us that we must choose whom we will serve. It does not happen automatically. As the Holy Spirit draws upon the heart we must either accept or deny the invitation. Jesus said He stands at the door and knocks in Revelation 3:20. Each of these passages and many others throughout the Bible allow us to know that we have a choice to make. Once we choose Christ then grace is given to us instead of condemnation. But in that grace we are not given a license to sin.
Transition to the Text
Now while it is not my intent to present an exhaustive study on grace today, I hope that we are a bit clearer as to where grace comes from and how we get it.
Let us now turn to the application of this grace in the life of the believer. In Romans Paul is talking about this concept of grace. And it is within this discourse that he speaks out against abusing God’s wonderful gift. Notice how he brings it out in Romans 5.
**Read Romans 5:18.
It is here that Paul basically summarizes the concept of how sin entered the world and how sin was overcome. Essentially Adam was the vehicle by which sin came to the human race, and Christ was the vehicle by which sin was overcome. Some within Christendom assert that this text means that because we all became sinners automatically as a result of Adam’s fall, we inversely automatically become righteous because of what Christ did. This type of thinking is not Biblical and bypasses the act of choosing God that so clearly comes out in the rest of Scripture. We have to recognize that not everyone will be saved. Christ Himself reminds us in Matthew 7:13 that there is a broad path that leads to destruction and there are many that find it.
It is essential that we understand that although Adam brought sin to all, Christ brought salvation to all in the sense that it is available to all who will chose it. We see this punctuated by the next verse. Romans 5:19 speaks of how “many will be made righteous” not that they automatically are.
Increase in Transgression?
Verse 20 is also very interesting to me. What in the world can it mean that because of the Law transgression increased? Does it mean that the Law makes us sin or become more sinful? No, what Paul is saying here is that as knowledge of the will of God increases through the expression of the Law we come into a deeper realization of just how sinful we are. The more we realize how deeply sinful we are, the more we can then realize how awesome and abundant is the grace of God.
Sin to get more grace?
Paul then comes to the point where I really want to focus today. In Romans 6:1 he asks the question as to whether we should continue in sin so that grace may abound. He then uses the strongest negation in the Greek language. He says mh genoito. This phrase in the Greek literally means “absolutely not under any circumstances”. There is no way in the Greek to say it stronger than this and Paul uses this phrase 10 times when he speaks against sin and false teaching in the book of Romans.
Despite the fact that Paul teaches that we cannot continue in sin simply to have more grace there are many in the world that do this very thing. They think that because God has an abundance of grace it gives us the freedom to trample upon that grace and do as we please.
Easier to get forgiveness than permission
Much of the world lives and dies by the thought that is easier to get forgiveness than permission. While this may work in the dealings of men, this is not the way God’s system works. If God’s system worked this way then we would have a license to sin.
Once while I was a Literature Evangelist I was visiting with a lady who desperately wanted the books I had shown her. She felt the need to have the books to give her children solid Christian instruction, but she was afraid that her husband would be upset with her if she spent the money without his consent. It was apparent from her facial expressions that she was torn as to whether or not she should buy them. She was the spiritual leader in the home and her husband had little care for spiritual matters.
I then told her that she needed to make this decision because her husband did not care about such things. I then asked her, “How long is he likely to be angry if you went ahead and got the books?” She said, “Probably for only a few hours or so.” I proceeded to tell her that she should buy them and ask for forgiveness afterward because it was easier to get forgiveness than permission. She paused for a moment and then wrote me a check. Although I was very happy that she bought those books for her family, I pray that I did not cause division in her family.
Trampling on the Gift
When we consider this concept of grace that is freely given to all who will embrace it, it is my hope that we will recognize the sacredness of that grace. I hope that we will recognize that each time we continue in sin and trample upon God’s grace then we effectively spit upon the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf.
There is an illustration that I use in evangelism about an Army lieutenant in Vietnam who gave his life to save one of his Soldiers. While dragging his wounded Soldier back to the foxhole he was gunned down. The family of the lieutenant later invited the saved Soldier to their home for dinner. When the saved Soldier showed up he was obviously a little drunk and was very crude and crass during dinner. After he left their home spinning tires and throwing dust into the air, the family of the fallen lieutenant was deeply disappointed. They were saddened that their son had died to save such an ungrateful man.
Appeal & Wrap-up
I wonder how many of us do the very same thing to our Father whose Son died for us. If the world rejects Christ then that is their loss. If we who profess Christ continue in sin expecting to simply be covered by grace then we effectively issue ourselves a license to sin against God.
Instead of issuing ourselves this illegal license I challenge each of you today to rediscover death. Not death in the physical sense but death in the spiritual sense. In order for us to not trample on God’s grace we must surrender ourselves to Christ and be willing to die to sin. I am thankful that today we have Gail’s baptism as a reminder of how we need to die to sin and live within the safe keeping of God’s grace. May each of us today choose Christ and cast away any license to sin.