Presuming Upon God's Grace

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
-Romans 6:1-2

Have you ever heard a Christian flippantly say, "Oh I know this is wrong, but God's got me covered. He will forgive me!"

Perhaps you have even thought this yourself as you faced a temptation and yielded. "God will forgive me."

Yes, God is gracious, but does that give us an excuse to sin? Are we to give in to sin because we know that God's grace is going to cover us? No!

We are to consider ourselves dead to sin and if dead to sin, then we need not yield to it.

Here is another verse that speaks to this:

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. -Psalms 19:13

What are presumptuous sins? When we presume upon God's grace and forgiveness, go ahead and sin because we don't feel like fighting it, that is presumptuous sin. It is sin that doesn't happen in the spur of the moment, but rather it is deliberate disobedience.

What might classify as presumptuous sin? Here is a list off the top my head that is not exhaustive but will give you the idea:

* Revenge
* Stealing
* Adultery
* Viewing Pornography

Non-presumptuous sins would include the following and more:

* Saying things that shouldn't be said in the heat of the moment
* Sinful thoughts that pop into one's head that are repented of immediately and not entertained.

These are things that happen quickly and are not thought out. Just sinful reactions to the circumstances at hand.

We would recoil at the thought of a man having an affair with another woman because he figures his wife will forgive him for doing so. That is presuming upon her love.

We have a gracious, forgiving God. If we truly love and want to honor Him, we will not want to presume upon that grace and sin willfully against Him presumptuously.

So how are we to handle sins that seem to hold us captive that we keep going back to over and over again?

Stay tuned...I will continue this short series next time.