by Hansol An
Growing up, my understanding of God’s grace was somewhat skewed. I understood that God loved me and that he sent Jesus to die for me. I understood that as a result of what he did, I was supposed to stop doing bad things and only do good things. But if I did bad things it would be okay because God would forgive me. I presumed that God would always forgive me no matter how sinfully I lived. I could live as I wanted, ask God for forgiveness later, and be assured of my salvation. In essence, what I thought I had was a license to get away with all the ‘fun stuff’ and still get into heaven! In my arrogance I presumed that God needed to forgive me since I was following the system; sin, pray for forgiveness, be forgiven, repeat. Later, I realized that this understanding of God’s grace was incongruent with the gospel message as it cheapened God’s grace and took God for granted.
But there is nothing new under the sun. The Bible gives plenty of examples of people presuming upon God. In Numbers 14, Israel, being distraught over a bad report from the 10 spies, decides to disobey God and not enter into the Promised Land as God had commanded. When Moses tells them of God’s judgment because of their disobedience, they “repent”. Presuming that God would honor their admittance of sin, they decide to enter the land as originally instructed. But by then, God was not with them and they were defeated by their enemies.
In Jeremiah 7, the prophet Jeremiah is warning Judah that their idolatry will be judged by God and that they need to repent in order to be saved. But they made the Temple into “a den of robbers,” a safe haven from God’s judgment no matter how sinfully they lived. Judah presumed that God’s judgment would never extend to His own Temple and so they would be safe in Jerusalem.
This type of presumption upon the Lord can also be seen in the New Testament. In Matthew 3, John the Baptist calls out the Pharisees and Sadducees for their superficial religiosity and misplaced hope in their ancestry. John explains to them that their sinful hearts were not going to be overlooked simply because they were sons of Abraham. True decedents of Abraham need to share his extraordinary faith.
Paul warns the Romans not to presume upon God’s grace in Romans 2. He tells them that judging another person’s sins, while committing the same sins, invites God’s judgment upon the one who is judging. He goes on to explain that for them to “presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience” is the opposite of what God desires: repentance.
In all four examples we see people’s presuming upon God’s grace, using it as an excuse to sin rather than a motivation for true repentance. They were living in a form of cheap grace and continual sin which Paul addresses in Romans 6. In that chapter, Paul, anticipating the arguments from the religious establishment against salvation by grace alone, unequivocally denounces the idea that one can be saved and keep on living a sinful life. In verses 1 and 2 he states, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” And again in verse 15 he says, “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!”
The Bible is clear that we serve a loving, gracious and merciful God, but that doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want without consequence. In order to avoid the trap of presuming upon God’s grace, Christians must live a life that shows Christ to be Lord as well as Savior. Through Scripture we can know God and his will for us. Failing to show evidence of a changed heart through an obedient life will result in unwelcome consequences. Christ himself said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
The people in the above examples were not going to be saved by their admission of guilt, proximity to God’s house, birthright or misguided understanding of God’s kindness. True salvation comes from an accurate understanding of the cost required to save and the cost required to be saved. Those who are saved will exhibit a changed heart that loves God, which in turn results in a holy life (John 14:15).
