With so much preaching about grace being spread out – some people have turn the pendulum to the other extreme end. We would hear people preach that because of grace – I can sin. Not that they intentionally sin but now there is an excuse to sin because in the end I know I am forgiven. Some call that extreme grace while I would call it what it is… fooling yourselves.
I cannot make grace as an excuse to sin. I know for a fact that my sins are forgiven because of what Christ did for me on the cross. I know that I am now justified because of God’s work and not my work.
When it comes to us being Christ-like (sanctified) and living in the fruits of the Holy Spirit ( Galatians 5:22-23), then I also need God’s grace. Grace is not an excuse to sin rather a gift given to us by God so that we can live pure and holy lives. Please note: I did not say sinless but rather we see a process of change and transformation happening in our lives as we walk with God more and more.
Paul wrote in
Romans 6:22 (ESV)
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
Sin no longer has a hold on me. I have been set free from sin. I am now a slave of God and the result is that the fruit of my faith in Christ leads me to being sanctified.
Thus grace shows how wicked I am but at the same time grace changes me for the better as I am being sanctified in Christ.