We are living in an age of grace since the day Christ Jesus gave Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind. People look at “grace” as a “free pass to sin”, and it is NOT. There’s not any of us who can claim to live a perfect sin-free life. If our actions don’t get us, our thoughts surely will. Are thoughts sin? They are if they are not in alignment with God’s will.

Why are we told in the Ten Commandments not to kill? Because thoughts of hate come before action. Why are we told not to steal? Again, we covet something that isn’t ours, so we think to just take it. We are told not to bear false witness against our neighbor. Thoughts come before speaking. We are commanded not to covet our neighbor’s house, his wife, his manservant or maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or ANYTHING that is our neighbors. Again, what happens first? Our thoughts. And they can lead to actions that cause us to sin. So when we hear “Grace is given”, we think, “Oh, boy, I don’t have to take control of my thoughts, because it doesn’t matter anymore, I have a free pass.”

Grace is for when we are doing our best to please God, and our human nature, being faulty and prone to sin, causes us to fall short of the mark. The Apostle Paul spoke extensively of grace versus our fallen human nature in Romans 7:5-25.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. note
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Many try to use the excuse that it is impossible not to sin, so why even bother trying, seeing God gives us grace. But what they fail to realize is that “grace” requires “repentance”, in other words, effort to turn away from sin and stop participating in it. But the word “repentance” is seldom preached today in any church. It seems we have a “New Gospel” that sin is ok because we can’t seem to stop sinning.

Jesus’ first sermon was REPENT!

It is written in Matthew 3:2, “And saying, REPENT ye: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And Matthew 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Jesus made it clear that “repentance” comes before “grace”, seeing that He preached repentance before going to the cross as our sacrifice, thereby bringing us grace. Our churches need to start preaching repentance again, but they’re afraid to do so, because quite frankly, people love their sins, else they wouldn’t have so much trouble giving them up. And when people stop coming to church, money stops coming in, and churches close. So the solution is to preach “grace, grace and more grace”, and stop preaching against sin. That fills churches, which means offering plates get filled, and churches grow.

The only problem with that is, souls die. And maybe one of those souls is YOUR SOUL!

You see, it is written in Ezekiel 18:4, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” And in Ezekiel 18:20-24 it is written,
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

Yes, I know, this is out of the Old Testament. But let me remind you, God said HE CHANGES NOT. He made the blood of Christ Jesus of Nazareth, Y’shua Messiah, as full payment for our sins for those who REPENT and turn from their sins. Grace is for when you slip up, grace is not for you to continue in your sins, refusing to give them up. Don’t let the devil deceive you. He told Eve in the Garden of Eden, “You shall NOT surely die.” Guess what? He lied. And if YOU fall for his words “you shall NOT surely die”, and continue in your sins, guess what? All the blood of Christ Jesus won’t save you. Grace won’t save you. You will die in your sins needlessly. For there is a cure for sin freely given to all that will use it.

Repent and ask Christ Jesus to forgive your sins. Then forsake your sins. That means STOP DOING THEM. No more excuses. It is written in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
For those who come to repentance, grace is applied. For those who don’t repent, no grace is applied. It’s as simple as that. There’s room for all at the altar of repentance, won’t you come now and be saved and healed and made whole?