Let me ask you a direct question to help you see what that idea really implies:
“Will Jesus have to keep dying for me every single time I sin?”
In ancient Israel, whenever someone sinned, they had to bring a sin offering—a male goat, bull, or sheep (Leviticus 4)—to make atonement for that specific sin.
But now, because Jesus died once for all, when God sees you sin, He looks at the blood of His Son and passes over that sin.
Or think of it this way:
Would you keep buying your son an expensive gift (grace) if he repeatedly stepped on it, disrespected it, and showed no appreciation?
How many times would you go back to the shop, spend your hard-earned money, and replace it—knowing he’ll just do the same thing again?
Does Grace Have Limits?
Let’s go straight to Scripture.
…so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21)
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2)
If you truly claim to be saved by grace through Jesus Christ, then you are called to follow in His footsteps.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
You cannot loudly proclaim you are saved while secretly living in sin.
That is not what Christ demands. He calls those who want to share in His glory to take up their cross.
Are you really alive in Christ if you are not dead to sin?
You who preach holiness—do you sin?
You who teach others—do you first teach yourself?
Some of you confused people are the very reason people mock Christians. You live the opposite of what you preach.
If you proclaim righteousness through Christ but remain in sin, aren’t you a hypocrite?
You offer people food you yourself cannot eat.
You want Jesus as your Savior but not as your Master.
Isn’t that foolishness?
God calls us to be His people and Him our God. We submit to His authority. We conform to Him—it is not the other way around. If we are sheep, He is the Shepherd.
Why then do some of you narrow-mindedly misquote Scripture and read it backwards?
Did God call us to sin more, or to turn away from it?
Justified by Works?
The one who claims to be saved by grace has to have works that justify—support—the claim.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-16)
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (James 2:24)
Works complement faith—they do not contradict it.
Those who appear pure on the outside but are like whitewashed graves inside—how far you are from the truth.
You are like a tree cut twice: roots and fruit both gone. You have fallen twice.
How can you claim to be saved by faith yet live in continuous sin with no sense of conviction?
From the days of John the Baptist, the message has been clear:
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. (Matthew 3:2)
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
Jesus came straight from the wilderness and began His ministry with that very theme—repentance.
How much more important should repentance be to you as a believer?
In the old times under the law, most prophets preached repentance above all else.
Israel was eventually cast out of the Promised Land because they refused to repent from their sinful ways and follow God with all their heart and body.
You are justified by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
But how can your faith grow if you do not let the Holy Spirit work in you? You are the temple of the Lord.
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:28-29)
Yes—the primary “work” Jesus points to is believing in Him.
The works we manifest are the fruit of the Holy Spirit working within us. They serve as proof of living faith.
If we produced works in our own strength, grace would no longer be a free gift—it would become a wage.
Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. (Romans 4:4)
Why does the Holy Spirit do the work, not us?
…not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:9-10)
Notice: “prepared in advance.”
God created us in the beginning through Adam and rested on the seventh day.
Jesus Himself existed from the beginning (though manifested later).
In the same way, we were already “prepared” in God’s plan, even though we come into existence now. (This is a bigger topic for another time.)
That is why Paul says God works in us to produce righteousness—the finished work of Jesus.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)
Do you see it? “It is God who works in you.”
The same Paul who wrote “not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:9) also wrote that God works in us (Philippians 2:13).
How can the same man contradict himself? Can the Holy Spirit contradict Himself?
No—Paul’s words complement each other perfectly.
Beware of the deception Jude warned about:
I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4 NLT)
Jesus calls us to be like Him: to die to sin and live by the Spirit.
The entire book of Jude is a strong warning against those who twist grace into a license for immorality and defile sound doctrine.
Be on guard. Do not pollute righteousness with backward thinking.
Conclusion
All who believe are forgiven through grace in Christ Jesus.
But never mistake grace for a free license to keep sinning.
A time will come when unfruitful trees are cut down.
Remember when Jesus cursed the fig tree that had leaves but no fruit—He was hungry, yet it bore nothing, and it withered.
That same fate awaits those who continue in sin while claiming justification by grace.
We are called to die to the world and live a new life in Christ.
If you want to cling to your old ways of sin while still claiming to share in Christ’s glory—isn’t that hypocrisy?
You want the reward without doing what it takes to live in it fully.
You may fool others (and even yourself) for a while, but in time you will be cut off twice—uprooted at the roots and stripped of any fruitful branches.
Won’t you end up worse off than those who never believed?
That aside, here is what Jesus made available for you through grace- The whole gift uncovered in detail here…
