Does the Freedom of Grace Lead to Sinful Living?

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More Lessons from the Book of Galatians — short video clips.

Highlights from the message 

Here’s what Paul begins addressing in Galatians 2, verses 17 to 21.  

If God does all of this for us, if He justifies us fully and finally, and we don’t have to worry about God ever judging us, won’t that make people live selfishly? And irresponsibly? 

Well, that’s what the religious teachers in Paul’s day were afraid of. They didn’t like all this grace talk because they thought people would get lazy and out of control.  The underlying fear is that grace leads to immorality and loose living…if you talk about grace too much, people will take advantage of it.  

Now let me warn you: If you choose to live that way, you won’t have to deal with condemnation from God [in your positional standing with Him]- that has been settled. “There is, therefore, now no condemnation” (Romans 8:1). But you will have to deal with whatever consequences come from your decisions.

Examples

You can talk bad about your boss without sacrificing an ounce of God’s acceptance because God’s acceptance of you is not based on how you talk about your boss. But you might lose your job.

You can cheat on your spouse with without losing one bit of God’s love because God’s love for you is not based on fidelity to your spouse. But you’ll probably lose your marriage and ruin your family.

So you’re free to sin without losing God’s favor (positionally), but you’re not free from the horizontal consequences [of your sin].

Grace Redefined?

Throughout history, the greatest attacks on grace have always come from inside the church… from inside the religious community. 

People have come to believe that this whole thing is about personal moral Improvement and grace just doesn’t possess the “teeth” to scare us into behaving well. So [they’ll say], let’s temper it, let’s mix it with some fear and guilt, let’s mix it with some conditionality.  

But the biggest thing that religion misses about grace is that grace is the only thing that can actually change a heart. 

[Keeping] the law, keeping the rules, may have the power to modify our behavior temporarily, but it does not have the power to change a heart. And the heart is always what God is after.

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About Tullian Tchividjian

Tullian is the pastor at The Sanctuary church in Jupiter, Florida. He is the grandson of the late evangelist Billy Graham and his wife Ruth Graham. Tullian pastored two churches in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, before planting The Sanctuary in Jupiter.  The Sanctuary is a non-denominational church proclaiming the boundless love of Jesus to a broken world.  Because of what Jesus has accomplished for us, The Sanctuary is a place to find love and laughter, hope and healing, acceptance and forgiveness, and mercy and help. Watch more of Pastor Tullian's messages on The Sanctuary's YouTube.channel.  Connect with the church on Facebook or online. Find Tulllian's books on Amazon.