Abundant Grace

I receive e-mails, phone calls and texts from people who say, "Pray for me I can't stop sinning." Let me share some great news with you today.

" ... Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NIV

Wow, Brad, is that the great news? Let me explain what some preach from this passage, GUILT!

Jesus says in Matthew 5:28 NIV,

"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

So, does this keep us out of heaven? Well, if you interpret the above passage with none of God's grace then yes. I know many drunkards, sexually immoral, slanderers, and swindlers who will be in heaven. Why?

Because of the last part of the passage above in 1 Corinthians 6:11, NIV:

"And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

No one can lead a perfect life after they become a believer. It is ONLY by God's grace that we are saved (see Ephesians 2:8-9).

When we get to heaven, it will not be of ANYTHING we did, but it will be in whom we put our faith and trust. He purchased what we could not. The more we rely on the Holy Spirit the less we will sin, but we will still sin till God calls us home. The sin we do cannot separate us from God, but the sin we do can make our lives miserable here on this earth. We can have dysfunctional families because of our sin. We can have all sorts of abuse from our sin and on and on. But that sin will never separate us from God when we have BY FAITH put our trust in the Lord.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 NIV

If people are constantly bringing up your sin, then they are the older prodigal brother who never loved the Father in the first place. Maybe today, if you are the prodigal older brother, you too may need to be broken into a thousand pieces like the younger brother. The younger brother only loved His Father when he was truly broken. Then, when he was broken, he saw that the Father did not condemn him or bring up his past, but loved him and gave him his inheritance back.

May the Lord bless you in a mighty way for helping us to help others. May we all feel like the younger brother who came over the last hill, and instead of experiencing shame we experience true love, redemption, joy, and hope for a glorious future. Please pray that many more would be written in the Lambs Book Of Life. Thank you again for helping us to keep on keepin' on.

Copyright © 2015 Brad Henry. Used by permission.