The extent to which God was willing to sacrifice for us is almost beyond belief. He spared not His Son, watching Him suffer and die on an old rugged cross because He knew that was our only hope of redemption. In doing such, He showed just how much He loves us (Romans 5:8). What did we do to deserve such love? The answer is nothing. In fact, God loved us in spite of our actions. Paul said it was while we were God’s enemies that He sent His Son to reconcile us (Romans 5:10). Why did God sacrifice so much for such an unworthy people? It was simply a matter of grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). We should be thankful, not only for the presence of God’s grace, but for the power of His grace. In Romans 5:12-21, Paul emphasizes that grace is strong enough to take care of any sin, for grace is greater than sin. For years sin and death reigned on earth, but by the death of Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, the gift of righteousness was made available to man. Now man, by his obedience to the gospel (Romans 1:16), can be victorious over Satan and sin, and sit with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5-6). Truly, the grace of God is amazing.

What if our sins are too severe to be eradicated by the grace of God? There is no such thing. There is no sin that the grace of God cannot defeat. The blood provided by God’s grace, that is, the blood shed by Jesus for the forgiveness of man’s sins (Matthew 26:28), is sufficient to wash away any sin that a person has ever committed. Indeed, grace is greater than sin. That was the teaching of Paul in Romans 5. But Paul, being the perceptive teacher that he was, anticipated what the response to this teaching would be among many Christians. He knew that some would reason that because the grace of God could remove any sin, they should keep sinning and not worry about it. In fact, they would reason, the more we sin, the more God’s grace will abound, and the more God will be glorified. So, from that point of view, sin is actually a good thing. What a terrible way to think about sin. Paul’s response to that was, “God forbid.” He then went on to emphasize that we should stay as far away from sin as we can. Like a slave who has escaped his master, we are free only so long as we keep distance between ourselves and that master who is pursuing us (Romans 5:12-20).

Never should we think that we should continue in sin just to demonstrate how powerful the grace of God is. First is all, to think in such a way is disrespectful to God and demonstrates a lack of love for Him. To willfully sin as Christians is like crucifying Jesus all over again (Hebrews 6:6). We should already mourn the fact that Jesus had to die for us in the first place (Matthew 5:4). How can we now be so callous as to do that which we know brings Him much pain? Love just does not act like that. If you love Jesus, you will keep His commandments (John 14:15), not sin by transgressing them.

Second, to have the mindset that says, “I am going to keep on sinning,” is to risk the salvation of your soul. Do not believe any false teaching that indicates you cannot fall from grace. The Bible says that you can. Paul warned the brethren at Galatia about this, saying, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). No amount of explaining by false teachers can do away with the truth of this passage—you can fall from grace, and the one thing that can cause you to do so is sin. Sin separates a person from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), ending any fellowship that existed (1 John 1:5-7). Do not sin willfully! Stay as far from sin as you can. The grace of God can destroy any sin in your life; but, what the grace of God cannot do, is save a person who dies in sin. You can avoid that by making up your mind that you will not allow sin to reign in you (Romans 6:12).

As you wind down for the night, think on these things.