There is a kind of deception that has lured this generation into fervent deception. This generation thinks they understand Grace more than all the preceding generations by making it look like Grace only began to take fruit in the 21st century. The average Christian believes God would have smacked all of us dead like He used to do in the Old Testament had it not been for Grace. When Jesus died, we hadn’t sinned yet. Therefore, Jesus died for our past, present, and future sins. What I’ve just said is not necessarily false. It’s not even about what is being said. It’s about what it insinuates. Lies are 100% lies. Deception is a spectrum that can have as much as 99% truth and 1% lies.
We have reduced Grace to the message of sin in this generation. We don’t know Grace outside of the topic of sin anymore like other generations before us. Don’t get me wrong; God will forgive you for all your sins. God knows that. You know that. The devil knows that, and he will use it to his advantage. How many times have you casually sinned but didn’t fear because you knew Grace was available? One man said, “I prayed to God for a bike for so long, but He didn’t give it to me. So, I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness. ” That’s where the deception lies. This post is written out of love so we hate sin, never tolerate it or play around with it, thinking no harm is being caused because we would be forgiven. Let’s delve in;
Track Record
Jesus, when He became man, was touched with the feeling of our infirmities as Hebrews 4:15 says, yet without sin although He was in all points tempted as we are. That is His eternal track record. Yes, when you sin and God forgives you, your sins are blotted as if you never sinned. However, what you lost in all this sinning and being forgiven is the reward of obedience. Adam and Eve sinned and God forgave them. We never got to know what the reward for their obedience would be like. What we saw is the consequences of disobedience. Although they were forgiven, given grace by experiencing the law of substitution, and given clothing and a promise, a curse was still released. Although the Cross of Christ absorbs the sin and its accompanying curses, it does not offer us the lost reward for obedience.
The truth is that God will always reward obedience. Once you get to know what sin does, hate it. It sets you back several years, even. God can restore what you lost. What you lost is what you used to have before you sinned. However, there is something you never even got. It’s the reward of obedience. If you didn’t have it in the first place, it could not be restored. See, God will reward people’s track record. He will reward obedience. He will reward consistency. He will reward faithfulness. The question is, do you have a track record?
Spiritual Authority
There are places you will never reach in the realms of the Spirit with this kind of mindset. You will never know God beyond a certain level. Also, you will never be entrusted with a level of authority if you have not conquered your flesh. There are three major battles to fight and conquer; the flesh, the world and the devil. If you haven’t defeated the flesh, don’t think you’re any match for the spirit of the age and the god of this world. That is why the enemy wants you in this cycle of sin; Sin, repent, repeat. Once he has you there, you can never rise to the stature of your destiny. These are not even to be defeated once. It is continual warfare. A spiritual contention for the throne of your heart. That is why we are commanded to carry the cross daily.
If you have not defeated your “personal demons”, what makes you think you can overcome territorial demons? You haven’t won your personal battles and you want to take responsibility for people? You will subject them to the covering of the demons you haven’t defeated, for crying out loud. That is why pastors who haven’t overcome the spirit of lust have a synagogue of perpetual fornication and adultery. God will give you more grace to overcome but He will not give you grace to enter the next level as a sign of mercy. You fight battles at the level of your spiritual rank. If you are stuck in the same sin cycle, God will forgive you always but you are not growing. The enemy knows this and has done it to many people. You are just a statistic to him.
Future Judgement
The fact that God has forgiven you does not mean that there are no consequences. Galatians 6:7 says “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap”. The more you sin, the more grace abounds. What is the purpose of the abounding grace? So that you have a stronger force to overcome the sin because the more you feed sin, the more it grows. Forgiven sins do not mean no accountability. It will shock you to know that one day, God will hold you accountable for every single thing He gave you, including the abounding grace to overcome sin.
Listen to the words of Jesus: Matthew 11:21-22 NLT [21] “What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. [22] I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you.
More grace equals more responsibility. To whom much is given, much is expected. Some generations did more with little. To think God will expect little from us with what He has given us is a fallacy. God has standards. High standards. Even though He has long-suffering, one day the iniquities of the Amorities will be complete. To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Every sin has reparations even though it is forgiven. Selah!
1 Peter 4:17-18 NLT
[17] For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? [18] And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”
Hebrews 10:26-29 NLT
[26] Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. [27] There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. [28] For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. [29] Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.
…to be continued
