Extravagant Grace

Let’s take a short quiz…

True or False: The chief work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification is to make Christians more sin-free.

True or False: God could have made us instantly perfect at the first moment of our salvation.

True or False: You know you are maturing as a believer when you have less and less conflict with indwelling sin.

True or False: Because God hates sin, he is frustrated and disappointed in you every time you sin.

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Well, how did you do?

Let’s take the first question – is it the chief work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification to make Christians more sin-free?

I agree that the Holy Spirit is at work to free us from our persistent sins! But if that is his chief work, why has the church throughout the ages and throughout the world continued to struggle with so much sin and strife?

Could it be that the Holy Spirit is aiming for something even higher than to make Christians more sin-free? Could it be that the chief work of the Holy Spirit is “to make [us] more humble and dependent on Christ, more grateful for his sacrifice and more adoring of him as a wonderful Savior”? (Barbara Duguid).

So question number one, as worded, is false. The truth is, the Holy Spirit is aiming for something higher than simply making you and me more sin-free.

Now on to the second question – Could God have made us instantly perfect at the moment of our salvation? Absolutely!

Question number two: True.

Surely the God who created the universe out of nothing with a word can create a glorious, spotless, sin-free people for himself! God could’ve instantly translated us to heaven at the moment of our salvation. Or, he could’ve eradicated our sinful flesh immediately so that we walk through this fallen world as completely holy people, never succumbing to temptations, weaknesses, or moral failures.

But did God save us like that? No!

He made us a new creation, and he came and filled the “temple” of our personality with the glory of his Holy Spirit. But he also let indwelling sin remain, so that we will have to fight a lifelong battle, not in our own strength, but with blood, sweat, and tears inspired by the Spirit within us: “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Gal. 5:17).

So that brings us to question number three: Is less and less conflict with indwelling sin a mark of growing spiritual maturity?

Answer (in the words of former Moody president Joe Stowell): “No! No! A thousand times, No!”

It is much more realistic, healthy, and true to the Bible to recognize that conflict with sin will remain persistent, and often intense, until we finally cross over into Glory. We will “fight the good fight of faith” until our dying bed (1 Tim. 6:12). We will never reach a point when we can stop praying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13). John Newton was right: “The characteristic of the state of [the maturing believer] is conflict.”

Now, on to question number four – we know that God hates sin (and by his grace, we hate it too!), so does this mean that God is frustrated and disappointed in his children every time we sin? The answer to question number four is: False.

Yes, sin grieves his Holy Spirit. And no, God is not pleased or delighted in any way by our sin! But God knew that we would go on struggling with sin when he saved us – and He who loved us from before the foundation of the world does not love us any less when our weakness makes us vulnerable to sin – which is often. Think about it – if God is frustrated and disappointed in us every time we sin, wouldn’t that pretty much be his default disposition toward us? I mean, can you think of a week in your life in which you could say, “God must be really delighted in me this week, because I have not sinned once!”

The truth is, our souls are very sick, but we have a Great Physician who has promised to make us whole and is working in us every moment of every day. We are very weak, but we have a strong and perfect Champion who has won the battle against sin for us, and he now fights it with us. We are still prone to wander, but we have a Great Shepherd who always pursues us and brings us back, carrying us home in loving arms. We have a heavenly Father who would never let our sin and weakness remain in us if he did not plan to overrule it for our good and for his glory. We have a great and perfect High Priest advocating for us, praying for us, and holding on to us with a sure, steady, and loving hand. Praise God that nothing in all creation – and certainly nothing in us – can ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

These insights are prompted by a book I recently finished reading: Extravagant Grace, by Barbara Duguid. I’ve rarely read a book in which I felt so strongly that I wished every member of our church would read it for themselves – but this is such a book. I cannot commend it highly enough. Duguid will make you think. You may not agree with everything she says. She is bracingly honest about her own battles with indwelling sin. Yet she is audaciously bold in her confidence in God’s triumphant grace. While never excusing, condoning, or downplaying the evil of sin, Duguid aims to teach that God is completely sovereign over the sin of his children, and that he is always using our sin for our own good to teach us about ourselves and to show us more of his grace – which ultimately redounds to his greater glory.

Following her mentor, the 18th Century slave-trader who became a pastor, preacher, and hymn-writer of “Amazing Grace,” Duguid shows that while “I am a great sinner, Jesus Christ is a greater Savior.”

There is great wisdom and love in God’s plan to leave us for a little while to struggle in this sinful flesh of ours – for in the end, when we stand with the saints in glory, our song before the Throne of God and of the Lamb will be brighter, clearer, and stronger because of the struggle.

A great sinner, under the care of an infinitely greater Savior,

Pastor David Sunday