1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:1-2 NASB
Now, we do have an obligation when we return to the Lord, and that is to, you know, STOP SINNING.
It is not being foolhardy or presumptive to return to the Lord with our sin and say “Please forgive me! I have sinned against You. Have mercy on me, a sinner.”
That is good and right and perfect. It is what the Lord wants us to do. He wants to shower us with love and forgiveness. He longs to restore us and have us close to Him.
However, what we can’t, mustn’t do is stay in our sin. We must not say “Well, God will forgive me. So basically I am covered if I continue in xyz.”
That is just ridiculous. And another trick of the enemy.
Do we have grace? Yes.
Does God forgive us even when we mess up more than once? Yes.
Does God know when we are just using grace to “pay the tab” then choosing our sin again? Yes.
His grace is not our license to choose sin over Him. It would be like someone deliberately wrecking your car because your insurance will cover it. The first wreck, you would probably brush off as one of those things that happen. Eventually, though, you will understand when that person is being deliberately careless and not caring enough about you and what you gave to them.
The Lord calls us to repent, which actually doesn’t mean “feel really bad about it” but means “turn away from”.
So let’s not be jerks. Let us FREELY go to the Lord with our sins, but then be DILIGENT to try to keep from sinning again. That glorifies both the love of God and His righteousness.
The Intellectual Christian 