Grace 03
Grace Series #3
Abusing Grace
By Bill Denton
Introduction
A. We've been talking about grace, and grace is amazing
1. It is the undeserved, unmerited favor of God
2. It is something freely given to us by God, something motivated by God's love for
us and his deep desire to redeem us from sin's condemning grip
3. It is specifically centered in Jesus Christ, his sacrifice on the cross, his willing death,
the blood he shed -- all done by the perfect lamb of God that our sins might be
forgiven
4. Grace is not something we accomplish, it is not a product of our performance level,
but instead reveals the extent of our failings and inability to remove our sin problem
5. As the song tells us, grace is amazing -- it's sweet sound declares that sin-stained
wretches can find salvation
B. Because we're saved by God's grace, and not by our own devices, then salvation is a sure
thing, secured by the perfect blood of Jesus
1. Romans 8:31-39 (Listen to this passage declaring the sureness of salvation in Christ)
31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NASB95
2. Grace does not leave a person twisting in the wind, dangling at the end of a rope, or
in any way wondering whether or not they have been saved from their sins
1. But it does so by asking us to turn away from ourselves, away from any
shoddy righteousness of our own, and to turn to the full, pure, total
righteousness of Jesus
2. Only in Jesus can salvation be sure -- it can never be sure if we try to justify
ourselves by our own actions
C. But here is a surprising thing about grace - it can be abused
1. It is shocking to think that anyone who receives something so altogether wonderful
as grace would or could abuse it, but one thing is clear from the biblical record --
Christians do abuse grace
2. Today I want us to think together about this problem and together commit that we
will not abuse grace, but learn instead to live our calling in Jesus Christ
I. We Can Abuse Grace Despite Good Intentions
A. One of those good intentions is similar to that of Pharisees -- want to do God's will
1. Matthew 16:6-12
6And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” 8But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? 9“Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? 10“Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? 11“How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. NASB95
2. Matthew 23:1-5
1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. 4“They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. 5“But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. NASB95
3. What had happened to the Pharisees?
1. Their teaching lost focus
a. they had developed a system that "built fences" around the Law
b. the fences were designed to keep people closer to the Law, in effect,
to create boundaries beyond which it was spiritually dangerous to go
c. frankly, all that makes pretty good sense - the problem is that when
taken to extremes, it violates the effort itself
d. the fence itself can become the focus instead of the command of God
1) Mark 7:5-8
5The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” 6And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 7‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ 8“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” NASB95
2) to the Pharisees, their traditions became more important than
God's word and God's will
B. What happens is that for all practical purposes, we lost sight of God's actual will for us, and
we end up with nothing more than another list of human-designed rules and regulations by
which we try to please God -- a system that is doomed to failure, being more difficult than
anyone can achieve
II. We Can Abuse Grace With A Warped Attitude Toward Sin
A. This was one of the problems plaguing the church at Rome
1. Romans 6:1-6
1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; NASB95
2. Some evidently thought that grace made it unnecessary to be concerned about how
to live one's life, and that sin actually magnified grace by calling for more and more
of it to be applied to one's life
a. Paul effectively said, "That doesn't make any sense at all!"
b. in fact, if we were to read chapters 6 - 8 of Romans, we would discover that
Paul believed the proper response to God's grace is an ever increasing
life of sanctification - a holy lifestyle, ever growing away from sin and closer
to God
3. Consider the following:
a. Romans 6:14-18
14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. NASB95
b. Titus 2:11-14
11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. NASB95
B. There are plenty of Christians whose approach to life is much like those Romans
1. They practice sin with an abandon you would otherwise expect of pagans
a. they are filled with selfishness and self-centeredness
b. they lie easily and often, they deceive others, and act dishonestly
c. they practice all sorts of immoral behaviors
d. cheating, stealing, and taking advantage of other people's weaknesses is
common in their business practices
2. And to make it even worse, they feel no guilt, no remorse, no responsibility before
God because to them, grace will take care of it all
C. Don't abuse grace like this, for scripture makes it clear that grace is designed to lead to a
life more in line with God's will, not further from it
Conclusion
A. Let's make sure that both our intentions and our attitude toward sin harmonize with grace
1. Hebrews 12:14-17
14Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; 16that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. NASB95
2. Such passages out to sober us and cause us never to regard God's grace as some
minor, insignificant thing but rather we need to see it as the huge thing it is
1. Grace tells us that we are an undeserving people who could never earn God's
favor
2. Still, moved by love, God chose to bless us through Jesus Christ, to save us
from our sins, give us eternal life, bring us into fellowship with him
3. Let grace draw you closer to God, to know him better, to please him fully
B. Invitation