Responding to Grace
11/18/25 Bible Thought (1 John 2)
Those who are justified should never seek to justify their sin.
After the apostle John made it clear at the outset of his writing that believers still have sin in the present, not just in the past (1 Jn. 1:8-10), he then clarifies that this should not lead to reckless, sinful living:
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:1-2).
There is a clear expectation that while sin is still a present reality in the life of the believer and we will not be perfected until glory, we likewise should never use that knowledge as a license for sin.
As the apostle Paul wrote in another place:
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means!” (Rom. 6:1-2a).
Literally he says, “May this never happen!”
Believers should never presume upon the grace of God. Instead, God’s grace is meant to lead us to repentance (see Rom. 2:4).
That is, when we see how kind, gracious, patient, and merciful our God is we should come to Him with genuinely sorry and repentant hearts. Knowing God is gracious should never lead us to abusing that grace and treating our Savior like a doormat.
However, we will still fail at times. With this, there is good news: we have an advocate.
Jesus Christ, like a good lawyer, pleads our case. Yet, He doesn’t plead our case based upon our own merits but based upon His. For He is the propitiation, the wrath-bearing sacrifice that has made atonement for our sins (1 Jn. 2:2).
If Jesus’ plead our case based upon what we bring to the table, then we would be toast. Our record cries out, “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!”
Yet, when we put our trust in Christ, we take His sinless record upon us and our record of debts are nailed to His cross (Col. 2:14). Paul explained this divine transfer in these terms:
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Christ got the death sentence that we deserved so that we can receive the freedom of eternal life by a gift of grace we could never earn or deserve.
Let us then respond by showing our love for God through obedience. Truly, our love for God is made perfect or complete when we keep His commandments (1 Jn. 2:5). To love God is to obey God.
For all He has done for me in saving me, bringing me into His family, and giving me a seat at the table, how could I respond by treating my sin flippantly as if it doesn’t matter? How could I abuse His grace as a license for sinful behavior? I would essentially be as one spitting on, beating, and mocking the Savior as He made His ascent to Golgotha’s hill.
I may fall at times, but the righteous man gets back up again (see Pro. 24:16). Even if we falter, we don’t remain fallen. We come to Him to find the forgiveness He freely offers and then, by His grace, we change.
Challenge for Today:
Do I ever consider sin lightly and not realize the gravity of it? It was my sin that put Jesus on the cross, and therefore I must crucify my fleshly desires in order to walk in a God-pleasing way.