Grace Is Not A Free Ticket

“What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” (Ro 6:15 AV)

This seems like a simple enough concept to which we would all agree.  In essence, Paul is asking if we would continue in sin because we know God’s grace will forgive it all.   The context is salvation itself.  If we know we are forgiven in Christ for all that we do or fail to do, will we continue that way because we know God’s grace covers it all?  Putting it another way, if we are saved and secure, what would stop us from living a life of sin?  What is the deterrent?  I get asked every once in a while if someone is saved and guaranteed a home in heaven, what would stop that person from committing murder?  Would he still go to heaven?  Hypothetically, the answer is  ‘yes’.  However, when we are saved our nature changes.  We are not likely to commit a serious crime such as first-degree murder while we are walking in faith and obedience to God.  But I want to look at this from a similar, but slightly different angle.

Many years ago, there was a small child who attended our Sunday school class, VBS, and Junior Church. His mother brought him.  His father was into eastern religions of meditation and the like.  This young man was a terror.  No one wanted him in their class.  The poor mother could do very little because she had no support at home.  He was constantly running afoul of whatever authority figure he might be under.  One Saturday morning, I went over to meet his father.  I intended to witness of the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ to him in hope that he would accept Christ.  We spent about an hour talking about the word of God and absolutes. During this time, their son was out of control.  Dad never stepped in.  In fact, Dad made one excuse after another.   It reminds me of an episode of Everyone Loves Raymond.  Ray and Deb entertained a friend of their twins. This kid was a complete monster.  This kid’s parents didn't want to face reality. In the second to last scene, these two parents made excuses for this young man and the scene ends with their son kicking his own father in the shins. 

Delayed chastisement can give us the false idea that God does not care.  Or, that His grace is something to which we can flee without any consequences for our choices.  What I wondered is how much of what we do to displease God is founded on the idea that God’s mercy is unfailing and that no matter what we do, He will forgive.  We know He will.  He has promised to.  Forgiveness is only a confession away.  We know this.  Hopefully, we strive against sin because this pleases God.  Rather than fall back on the guarantee of grace and forgiveness, the mature thing to do is to see the standard of Christlikeness and run that race until we drop in exhaustion.  An immature child falls back on his parent’s kindness.  A mature child is sensitive to his parent’s feelings and does what he or she can to please them.  This should be our goal.