Restoring grace (part II)

WHY DOESN'T GOD REJECT BELIEVERS WHEN WE SIN?

For five reasons. This is what grace is all about. 

1. Because His love is unconditional. 

God doesn't say, "I love you if..." you're good, perfect, whatever. He doesn't say, "I love you because..." He just says, "I love you ... period!"  Lamentations 3:22 says, “Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” God's compassion never ends. 

2. Because my salvation isn't based on my performance. 

God doesn't reject believers when they sin because my salvation isn't based on my performance. Romans 9:16 says “It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.” Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” 

3. Because Jesus has already taken my punishment. 

God doesn't reject me when I sin because Jesus has already taken my punishment. You cannot be punished for the same crime or sin twice. That punishment was already taken by Jesus on the cross. 

Punishment is retribution for the past. Discipline is correction for the future. God brings discipline in your life to correct you. 

4. Because Jesus understands my human weaknesses. 

Jesus is sympathetic to our weaknesses and faults. God doesn't get impatient with you. Hebrews 4:15 says it this way: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” 

5. Because God doesn't hold on to grudges. 

If you are a believer, God is not angry with you. All of the punishment was taken on the cross. Psalm 103:9-13 says “He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”

What should I do when I sin? One word: Return! Come back to Christ. It's that simple. Jeremiah 15:19 says, “Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.’” No matter what you've done God says in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”