By Lou Coleman
“You fool!” Those are words I would never want to hear God say to me. Don’t you know that grace is God’s love which we do not deserve but yet are given? Grace is what keeps us alive [Ephesians 2:1-2]. What’s wrong with you? Prostituting God’s grace. Taking His goodness for granted. Without grace, you will burst Hell wide open [Romans 6:23]. God wants you to know that He will not allow you to become complacent or neglectful concerning Him. He will not allow you to take Him for granted. He does not take it lightly! Beware of taking God’s grace for granted!
Listen, when God learned of what Israel had done to His servants; when He learned of how Israel had over and over again, betrayed His love and taken His grace for granted, God became furious. His patience had been tested by His very own people – Israel. And so God’s wrath came upon Israel. God used the Roman armies to destroy Israel and its Temple. “What shall you say then? Shall you continue in sin, that grace may abound? If you understand what Paul has written in [Romans 6: 2, 15] …then you will cry out with him: “Certainly not! – It is not to be thought of! – Not at all! – May it never be! – Never!
I want you to know that Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are the “Blessings and Curses” chapters of the Bible. And in [verses 14-29 of Leviticus] God says, “But if you do not obey Me [take Me for granted and treat Me neglectfully], and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me [if you still take Me for granted and if you still neglect Me], then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. ‘Then, if you [still take Me for granted] and walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate. ‘And if by these things you [still take Me for granted] are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied. ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me [if you still are complacent and you continue to neglect Me and take Me for granted], but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. But, “If you turn your heart around; if you accept your guilt and change (repent), I will remember My covenant.
Let us not take God’s grace for granted! The Holy Spirit cries out for you who are Christians to take your Christian faith seriously, not to neglect it, not to take it for granted, and certainly not to despise it. You have been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. You have been baptized into Christ and called out of Satan’s kingdom and into the kingdom of Christ. Do not be deceived! Do not take God’s grace for granted!