May I see your license please?

“For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign Lord.” (Jude 1:4)

In John 1:29, John the Baptist said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Thank heaven that Jesus Christ came into the world to take away our sin so we could live free from its hold not for us to continue to live in it. I was raised in a particular denomination that helped program me to think that because I had whispered the name of Jesus as a young boy I could live as I wanted and have no eternal consequence of that. In essence; I was given a license to sin! Many people claim to know Jesus Christ but by their actions deny him! “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” (Titus 1:16)

I John 3:5-6 says, “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”

After coming to know Jesus Christ on August 30th, 1997 I realized I wasn’t living by grace but abusing it! God didn’t give me a license to sin but through his son Jesus gave me a license to be forgiven, set free, and live free from it! I heard someone say once, “Sin doesn’t bother Jesus it bothers people.” After shuttering in my spirit I thought to myself, “It bothered him so much he got on a cross!” Thank goodness he did!

“But when he (John the Baptist) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:7-10)

We read above about a group of people who said one thing and yet lived another! We are told to produce fruit in keeping with repentance!

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (I. John 2:1)

As we see above it is willed that we not sin but as you and I both know we are human. But because we are born-again we have the power to repent! We are not to willfully continue to live in it (sin). Jesus Christ is our perfect sacrifice that takes away not only our sin, but the sin of the world! Thank you Jesus for laying down your life for us! May we honor you not just with lip service, but with our lives! Your name be praised!