That we are saved by grace through faith is a clearly taught truth set forth in the Word of God.  Paul put it like this:

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)
 ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

When Paul said that salvation was not of our own doing, he was not indicating that there is nothing for man to do to be saved.  The proof of this is in the statement he made itself.  Being saved by grace refers to God’s part, and being saved through faith refers to man’s part.  Faith is not something that God does for us, and there is not a single passage or principle in the Bible that suggests such.  Faith is a work that man does.  

John 6:28-29 (ESV)
²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

It is clear, by both the question asked and the answer given in the passage above, that the works of God refer to something that man does, and Jesus named believing as one of those works.  This in no way lessens the blessedness of God’s grace, nor does it devalue its importance and significance.  No one will ever get to heaven apart from the grace of God.  The great deeds that God did, including the sacrifice of His one and only Son, are the only reasons we have any chance of being saved and going to heaven.  We should all thank God every day for His amazing grace that made our redemption possible.

Sadly, the subject of God’s grace has been abused almost from the beginning.  We recently had a wonderful gospel meeting with Byrant Ballies from Savannah, Georgia, doing the speaking.  One thing he mentioned that immediately got my attention was that some are weaponizing grace.  I think that is a great way of describing what many are doing today, but the truth is, it is just a different way of saying what Jude warned disciples about in the first century.

Jude 4 (ESV)
⁴ For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude was describing those who taught doctrines about grace that gave people a license to sin.  Anyone who teaches something that makes sin okay, that is, that sinful behavior is going to go unpunished by God because of His grace, is weaponizing grace to do something that, in reality, it just will not do.  God never has and never will allow unrepentant sin to go unpunished, and any doctrine that says otherwise is perverting the grace of God.

The Calvinistic doctrine that teaches it is impossible to fall from grace is such a teaching.  I know that most who teach it are sincere and believe it is the truth, but the fact of the matter is, it weaponizes grace to allow, and even promote, sinful behavior.  There are thousands of people in the religious world today who think they are saved even though they are living in sin because they have been taught lies about the grace of God.

While we are, without question, saved by grace, we must be very careful that we do not make grace out to be something that it is not—a license to sin.  When people teach that we are saved by faith alone, they are, for all practical purposes, teaching that how we live does not matter.  Never forget that grace cannot do anything for a person determined to live in sin.  Those who teach it can are weaponizing God’s grace.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.