Many people have a great, unfounded fear that the grace of God will lead to sinful living. They fear that if believers realize God doesn't judge them by works but by faith in Christ, they will run wild. "Wait a minute, Chuck!" they say. "You open the door like this and people are going to do all kinds of evil or horrible things and rationalize it by saying, His grace covers everything I do."'

This objection is not new. Paul's preaching of the gospel of grace among the Gentiles brought immediate protests from the Jews. They thought that given such liberty, the Gentiles would go crazy. Peter, too, could see the dangers of misinterpreting Paul's gospel, and in his epistle said, 'As our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (II Peter 3:15,16).

Unfortunately, there always have been those who take the Word of God and twist it from its context - to their own destruction. They take Paul's gospel as an excuse for a riotous life of sin. But the gospel can never be truly understood in that way.

You're Dead!

In Romans 5, Paul lays out our relationship with God through grace in strong, glorious terms. In verse 20 he states, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." In the first verse of the next chapter he imagines some people saying, "Well, then, let's go out and do a lot of sinning so that grace might much more abound. The abounding grace of God is wonderful. Let's give it a chance to really abound." Paul answers, in effect, "Perish the thought! How can we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?" (see Romans 6:2). His answer contains an important key to the Christian walk and experience.

Suppose I was caught robbing a bank. I am sent to jail and am put on trial. After many weeks, the jury comes in with a verdict: "We find him guilty." The judge then appoints the day when I am to be sentenced. I am looking at five to life because I used a gun and shot holes in the ceiling and scared the tellers silly. Finally, the day arrives that I am to appear before the judge for sentencing.

The law has done its job. It has apprehended and condemned the guilty. I go into court and the judge says, "Will the defendant please rise." I stand up, and he says, "The court finds you guilty and you are sentenced to spend five years to life in the state penitentiary." The news is so bad that I have a heart attack and die right on the spot.

Does the court keep my carcass in jail for five years? No. My death immediately sets me free from the condemnation of the law. My sentence has no more power over me because I am a dead man.

This is the point Paul makes about those of us who, through faith in Jesus Christ, have been justified before God and are now living under His glorious grace. We are no longer living after the flesh; our old self is dead. The law had sentenced us to death. The demands of the law were fulfilled when we became crucified with Christ. The old me and you were crucified. So if the old self is dead, then how can we be living any longer in sin? We are dead to that old life.

"I am crucified with Christ," writes Paul, "nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). We don't live an old, selfish life anymore. Our ego-centered days are over. No longer do we live after the flesh. We are now free from the law, our sinful nature, and our awful guilt because our old, guilty man was crucified with Jesus Christ. Now we walk after God by trusting in Jesus.

If You're Dead, Act Like It

The kind of faith that brings me a righteous standing before God is the kind of faith that manifests itself in the works of God. If I am still living in the filth and corruption of my old flesh - using the grace of God as a cloak for my lascivious way of life - then I am only deceiving myself. I am not really a child of God. James 2:26 says, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

A person who has been born of the Spirit of God will manifest it in his lifestyle. Jesus said, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great" (Luke 6:46-49).

The apostle John wrote, 'And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (I John 2:3,4). And twice in that same letter he adds that whoever is born of God cannot practice sin (see I John 3:9; 5:18). Do not frustrate the grace of God. Believe and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and walk in the newness of that relationship.

Love God and Do What You Will

At this point, some will ask, "Still, if our good works don't save us, what's to keep us from running around smoking, or carousing, or hanging out in seedy bars?" It's not that I can't do these things; I simply don't have the desire. The love of Christ constrains me to live a life that pleases Him. Having tasted the goodness of His love, I don't want to walk away from Him. I want to draw as close to Jesus as possible because I love Him and He loves me. I don't want to get involved in anything that would dishonor Him.

Ironically, I live a much straighter life under grace than I ever did under the law. Under a legal relationship I am always pressing the limits. I am always trying to ascertain whether specific actions are right or wrong. I am always looking for loop-holes. I rationalize and justify the things I am doing. I live to the legal limits, plus a little bit more.

God doesn't want to bind you with law; He wants to draw you to Himself with His love. This is the gospel of grace.

A love relationship with God is vastly different from that. No longer do I debate whether something is right or wrong. Rather, I find myself asking, "Is this pleasing to my Father? I love Him and want to please Him. He loves me so much that I don't want to hurt Him. Would my Father be pleased if I did this?" Sometimes even where the law is silent, my heart tells me God would be grieved if I carried out an activity I'm considering.

A loving relationship is what God is seeking with each of us. He doesn't want to bind you with a law. He wants to draw you with His love to Himself. This is the gospel of God's grace, the righteousness which God imputed to us apart from the law.

So many of us fail to understand that love is the only true motivation for goodness. Fear is never a primary, driving force in the Christian life. If we are good only because we are afraid to be bad, that is not true righteousness. We can have circumspect external conduct as a cover for all kinds of wrong and twisted motivations. If fear of consequences is the only thing that keeps us in check, we may merely be an example of evil under restraint. That isn't true goodness. True goodness is always and exclusively motivated by love. If our moral choices are based on fervent love and a desire to abstain from things that grieve the heart of God, we have discovered the true motive of righteousness.

The fruit of the Spirit is love. One of the outstanding characteristics of love is goodness. When we are conscious of love, we experience joy. When love takes hold of our lives, we know peace. The demonstration of love is always patience and longsuffering. The character of love is gentleness and kindness. The bottom line is that when the Spirit is producing His fruit in us, the need for burdensome externals like the law disappears. The law is fulfilled by love.

So we make a wonderful discovery: a righteous life is no longer a burden to us but a joy because we have a love relationship with Jesus.

A Lingering Problem

It is possible for us to know and experience the grace of God. We can live in the joy and peace of justification by faith in Jesus Christ and the confident assurance of our righteous standing before God in Him. This confidence comes through the knowledge that I was crucified with Christ. The life dominated by my flesh is dead and I now live a new life dominated by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. I have a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17). This is an incredibly liberating truth.

But I still have a problem. I am still in this body, and as long as I am in this state I am subject to the powerful forces of my bodily drives. Thus, there is warfare going on inside of me. The flesh brings. up his guns and begins to fire away. My flesh - my old man - is dead, and yet it's as if I have to carry this old carcass around with me. I'm like the partner of Sam McGee, living with "a corpse half hid that he couldn't get rid."

It's crucial to remember that Scripture makes an important distinction: My spirit is redeemed, but my body is not. That creates a tremendous conflict. Paul declared in Romans 8:22,23, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, [that is,] the redemption of our body." How often I groan and weep before God because of the weaknesses of my flesh.

After Jesus had prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, He came to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, "Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak' (Mark 14:37,38). No truer words were ever spoken. My spirit, indeed, is willing, but my flesh is weak. I groan and travail and I say, "Oh God, hasten the day when you deliver me from this body of corruption!" I am anxious to get rid of this old corpse.

In my moment of weakness, the Spirit raises up conviction and power and my mind is turned toward the Lord.

One day, we will all be liberated from our fallen nature. Scripture says, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:53-57).

In the meantime, all is not lost. In my moment of weakness, the Spirit raises up conviction and power and my mind is turned toward the Lord. I seek His help and His strength. I begin to experience His victory. I have found that I must rely daily upon the strength and power of Jesus Christ to live the life He wants me to live. There is no place where I can put my life in neutral and coast along. The minute I do, the flesh begins to rise up and usurp power and authority. I must keep my appetites subdued, or else they will rule over me. Paul wrote, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway [or disapproved]" (I Corinthians 9:27).

Now, if I am caught off guard and find myself again yielding to the flesh, does that mean I am no longer saved? Do I have to get saved all over again? No. I still believe in Jesus Christ. I still love the Lord and it is still my faith that is imputed to me for righteousness. It is precisely because of my faith and my new life in Christ that I cannot go on being dominated by my flesh.

Though I may fall into a pit for a time, I can't stay there. God won't let me stay in that state. He won't let me get by with some of the things that I might like to do that everybody else is doing. They may do it and get by with it, but I won't. He will see to it that I won't! If I try to follow worldly ways and do the things that the "life in the fast lane" crowd does, I am either going to fail at it, hate it, or get caught. Because He loves us and we are His children, we simply can't get by with sin like the world does.

Are There No Standards at All?

Someone may still be wondering, So if we are under grace, can we simply ignore God's standards of personal conduct? Not at all. In our new relationship, we have received the dynamic of God's power and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. In Christ we receive a new nature that longs to live in harmony with God's love and holiness. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we need no longer strain and strive to do what is right. This is what John meant when he wrote, "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome" (I John 5:3, NIV). God's presence within us empowers us to choose what is right and to refrain from evil.

Those who have read the classics are probably familiar with the story of Ulysses. During his travels, this ancient adventurer heard stories of the island of the sirens - deadly enchantresses who made such beautiful music that any sailors passing by would turn their ships toward shore and be dashed upon the rocks. No one had ever heard the song of these sirens and lived. This sounded like a worthy challenge to a daring man like Ulysses. He decided to become the first to hear this music and survive.

In order to achieve his goal, Ulysses put wax in the ears of his crew and instructed his men to tie him securely to the ship's mast. As they rowed past the island of the sirens, the seductive music began. Ulysses began to strain against the ropes, struggling to get loose so he could swim to shore. He cursed at his sailors to turn the boat toward the rocks, but the wax prevented them from hearing his cries. Ulysses continued to fight against his bonds until the ship moved out of range and into safety. Ulysses had heard the song of the sirens and lived - yet ever after he was haunted by the memory of the beguiling music.

Greek myths also tell of another ship that passed this island and yet survived. As its crew was being drawn by the deadly melody to disaster on the shoals, a gifted man on board named Orpheus grabbed a lyre and began to play. The music of Orpheus so far surpassed that of the sirens that the men turned away from the rocks and sailed to safety, enraptured by these new, exquisite melodies that gave life.

When we face the pull of temptation, most of us can relate to either Ulysses or Orpheus. For some, the siren song of the world has an almost irresistible attraction. They find themselves bound in place by the law, yet struggling against the rules when enticed by the power of the flesh. Their only hope is in the law that holds them back.

The joy of oneness in Christ far surpasses anything the world or the flesh can offer.

But there are those who have heard a new song - the music of heaven in their hearts. They discover that the love of Jesus Christ is so strong and satisfying that, although the world is still attractive, they gladly leave it behind so they may be powerfully drawn into His beautiful presence. They don't have to be tied or bound. They aren't struggling against restricting ropes. They have discovered the glory of walking with God in intimate fellowship.

The joy of such oneness in Christ far surpasses anything the world or the flesh can offer. The allure and attraction of sin has lost its power. Those who have discovered this kind of fulfillment don't need laws. Instead of slavishly following a regulation that says, "Now, don't bash your neighbor's head in!" they have no desire to do so because their heart has been touched by the love of God. They simply want to see their neighbor saved.

Just the other day, I saw this principle in action. As I was driving down a busy street near Calvary Chapel a car pulled in front of me, causing me to nearly lock up my breaks. The car was driven by a little, gray-haired old lady. She didn't see me or a number of others she nearly ran into. If the other drivers had not paid close attention, there would have been a terrible accident. She made so many foolish moves I found myself praying, "Lord, please help that little old lady get home safely." Those who know me will testify that my attitude of concern in that situation was nothing short of a miracle! It is glorious to be able to experience the changes brought about by our loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

A Constant Love

Because of Christ, we can experience true oneness with God. God isn't close to us one moment and distant the next. And even if we fail, even though we are still weak in so many areas, our righteous standing before God doesn't vary with our shifting attitudes or changing moods. Our relationship with God is steady and secure because it isn't based upon us or our performance. Our relationship is predicated upon the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. He took our sins upon Himself and died in our place to make our salvation by faith a reality. We can leave behind the mentality that says God only loves us when we are "good" and rejects us when we are bad.

I call my granddaughter on the phone quite often. I like to talk to her in the morning and ask her how things are going. Sometimes when I talk to her, she says, "I am a grouchy girl today, Grandpa." Do I love her less when she says that? She knows that she is out of sorts. But it doesn't alter my love for her one bit. Nor do I love her any more when she is a sweet little angel. I just love her. I love her grouchy and I love her sweet.

God looks at us the same way. When we are grouchy we are prone to think, God can't love me today. I don't even love myself. I am miserable. I don't want anyone around me. We are also prone to think God doesn't love us when we have failed. Not so! If our standing before God were based on our performance, it never would have been necessary for Jesus Christ to die.

When Jesus accounts our faith as righteousness, He gives us a beautiful, stable, loving relationship with Himself. We enjoy the kind of standing that says, "Come on in and sit down. Let Me help you; let Me strengthen you."

God loves you. You are so very dear to Him that He chose you and called you to be His eternally. That is why the grace of God does not lead to wild living. There's infinitely more joy to be had in the Savior than in sin.