MP3 Download Course
By Jeremy Lopez and Wayne Sutton
God’s grace is amazing, abounding, powerful, and freely given through the Sacrifice and High Cost of Love on Calvary! Yet, grace misunderstood, misused, or reduced can lose its impact, potency, and potential in our lives. Our salvation is not determined by the kindness others show us, but by our personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Human kindness should never be mistaken for the acceptance or affirmation of every choice we make or the lifestyle we choose.
Grace does not eliminate truth, and kindness does not cancel consequences.
Sin still carries consequences. Choices matter. God has established moral laws, biblical laws, natural laws, and human laws. Violating them, personally or corporately, always produces the fruit of sin, either sooner or later.
Grace was never given to justify sin, but to transform lives.
I endeavor to show genuine care, concern, kindness, and generosity to those I encounter. But kindness does not require agreement with another person’s decisions or personal choices. Rather, it is meant to be a tangible expression of Christ’s love. Jesus Himself was full of grace and truth (John 1:14). As Matthew 5:16 reminds us, we are to let our light shine in such a way that others see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
At the same time, we must resist the temptation to bring God’s holiness down to our level. We do not enter His presence casually. We come to be changed, from the inside-out.
When we lower God’s standards to accommodate our preferences, we risk profaning what is holy.
The High Cost of Love and Grace
The grace of God came at an immeasurable cost poured out on Calvary. Hebrews 10 delivers one of Scripture’s most sobering warnings:
“If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…How much worse punishment do you suppose will be deserved by the one who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26–29)
Grace is trampled when we treat Christ’s sacrifice as ordinary or common, when we claim grace while justifying compromise. This is not only a personal insult to the high cost of God’s love, but a growing corporate danger within the Church.
Years ago, I wrote:
“A gradual desensitization permits us to accept things once thought profane and obscene as now acceptable, even commonplace. People pick and choose what is right and wrong for them, often according to their own personal preferences and feelings.” (Doug Stringer, July 7, 2009)
That warning has only intensified with time. What once shocked our consciences is now normalized. What once called for repentance is now defended as personal freedom.
Divine Warnings in Uncertain and Stormy Times
Excitement and momentum may carry us for a season, but storms demand roots. Windsurfing and speedboating through life may be exhilarating; but when the winds of crisis and shaking intensify, we must be anchored in God’s Word, His presence, and His wisdom.
God is calling His Church to prepare and to become an ark of refuge in troubled times.
By aligning ourselves with His kingdom principles, we can be positioned to help others rather than be swept away ourselves.
How can we settle into complacency while so many remain shipwrecked in despair? How can we sit comfortably on the shores of comfort and ease while the world cries out for hope?
Noah faced similar days marked by corruption and moral decay. Hebrews 11:7 tells us he was divinely warned of things not yet seen and responded with godly fear. He prepared an ark, and in doing so, saved his household.
Obedience in dark times still matters.
Lessons from the Book of Hebrews: Avoiding Spiritual Shipwreck
The Book of Hebrews repeatedly exhorts believers to stand firm and finish well. Like the many warnings given to the Titanic before its tragic shipwreck, Hebrews offers divine warnings meant to spare us from personal and corporate collapse.
Among them are ten common hindrances to revival:
1. Negligence
2. Hardening of heart
3. Unbelief
4. Prayerlessness
5. Dullness of hearing
6. Discouragement
7. Unforgiveness and bitterness
8. Refusing God’s voice
9. Failure to hate sin
10. Insulting the Spirit of grace
Nearly every believer desires transformation, yet these subtle dangers often stand in the way.
Leonard Ravenhill observed: “Revival tarries because we are often content without it. We fear the cost. We resist disruption. Yet the Christian life can only be lived God’s way and that way requires surrender.”
The days of cosmetic Christianity are ending. Lukewarm, Laodicean faith is being exposed. We must choose whether we will be devoted or complacent, hot or cold.
A Call to Courage and Compassion
Scripture tells us everything that can be shaken will be shaken (Hebrews 12:25–29). Shakings often lead to disappointment and discouragement, and, if we are not vigilant, they can also lead to compromise. But these moments are meant to drive us to prayer, not to retreat from it.
We are living in a time of open doors and fierce opposition. Paul wrote, “A great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9).
This is not a time to hide in comfort or retreat into our holy huddles.
George MacLeod, the famed Scottish preacher, rightly declared:
“I simply argue that the cross be raised again, in the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church… Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles but…at a crossroad…where cynics talk smut and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died, and that is what He died about…and that is what church people ought to be about.”
We are called to stand in the gap between the living and the perishing.
Grace that Empowers Transformation
God gives grace not to excuse sin, but to overcome it. When we yield our will, mind, and body to Him, grace empowers us to live holy and compassionate lives in dark and difficult times.
We profane grace when we want God’s blessings without yielding to His lordship, when we build our own thresholds (meaning our own kingdom and plans) rather than surrender to His.
Anytime we build our own threshold or doorpost alongside God’s, we are not adding to His Kingdom, we are creating a counterfeit. Ezekiel 43 warns us not to place our threshold beside His, for doing so creates enmity between God and us. These “abominations” are not just outward sins, they are heart attitudes that replace God’s standards with our own.
In doing so, we reject His holiness while justifying our version of righteousness.
Holiness is not a religious list of rules. Nor is grace a license to do whatever feels right in our own eyes. True holiness—birthed from intimacy with Jesus—is not external piety but an inward surrender and consecration to the purposes of God. That is what will distinguish the Church in an age of compromise.
And just as dangerous as abusing grace is withholding it from others. Grace received must become grace extended.
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11-14)
The hour is urgent. The harvest is ripe. The sirens are sounding.
As Winkey Pratney writes:
“When God finds someone with courage to pray, preach, and live a life of holiness and compassion, He can literally change the face of a nation.”
During times of crisis, courage and cowardice both emerge. Character shines brightest under pressure.
The question remains, will we trample grace or will we let it transform us?
Doug Stringer
