Thirty Things That Grace Cannot Do – Part IV
From The HeartPublish date: 09/01/2013
5. Grace cannot cancel the death penalty when saved men break the law.
Romans 6:16-23 says that you become the slaves of whatever you give yourselves to. You are either the slave of sin and lawlessness, or the slave of righteousness for holiness. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. If we continue to sin, we will certainly reap death, but if we yield and submit ourselves to righteousness, we will continue to reap eternal life. If we choose to sin and keep on sinning, God’s grace cannot keep us from the death penalty. But if we serve righteousness, then the devil cannot keep us from heaven and the presence of God.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors — not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:12-13 NKJV
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:26-29 NKJV
God is a loving heavenly Father, who wants us in heaven with Him, but the scripture says that if we decide to continue willfully sin, even after we have learned the truth, then there is no other sacrifice that will take away our sins. If we continue sinning, all that is left for us is a fearful time of waiting for the judgment and the raging fire that will destroy those who fight against God.
"Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die. Ezekiel 18:4 NKJV
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. 21 "But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. 23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord God, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live? 24 "But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die. Ezekiel 18:20-24 NKJV (See also Ezekiel 33:12-13)
When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. 19 But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. Ezekiel 33:18-19 NKJV
The soul who sins will die. This is God’s word of warning to all who would think that God tolerates, or allows, or even encourages sin. Some people have the unbiblical idea that because God is love, He will reward sin with eternal life and sinners with heaven. No! God sent Jesus as a sacrifice, to destroy sin and its power – not to put His stamp of approval on it. God’s grace is infinitely greater than sin, but grace can’t cancel the death penalty when men break God’s laws – whether they were previously saved or not.
6. Grace cannot make God a liar, who said every man that sins, must die.
Galatians 5:19-21 says that those who practice the works of the flesh - adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like - will NOT inherit the kingdom of God. And Galatians 6:7-8 NKJV says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NKJV
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Revelation 21:8 NIV
If God says that those who sin will die, then that is what WILL happen. Grace is not going to make God a liar by excusing sin or giving life to those who sow to the flesh. The law of seedtime and harvest works one hundred percent of the time. The harvest is a multiplication of whatever was sown. We need to give God’s grace an opportunity in our lives, by sowing to the spirit and obeying God’s word.