GROWN MAN

"I kneel down, as low as I can. I'm not fit to entertain you." That's exactly where sexual sin takes us, isn't it? You don't feel fit to even look up at Jesus, let alone have him over to your place to talk. You've got so many things to tell Him, but the thorns...well, you're just a wretch, so what does it matter?

You muse, "I've not only seen a grown man cry, I've been that man." You've wept for your sins and cursed your sins, wishing like crazy you "did not have them." But you did and you do, and they're not going away on their own.

So in final desperation, you take a shot and cry out to Jesus anyhow, throwing yourself on His mercy. Jesus, every last offense I'm laying down, cause I know your cross of mercy covers them all! "The deal is done." You've been "turned loose from a fate that once ensnared" you, and relieved of that fear that your sins had once guaranteed you. Once again, you find the Bible true:

Repentance and rest are your salvation....
Isaiah 30:15

But remember, repentance and rest are just the beginning of your "salvation," the first in a series of choices that you must make. You may have stopped the fears and tears and changed your fate, but your work isn't over, and neither is God's.

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 according to his good purpose.
Philippians 2:12-13

Let me ask you a question: Have you really laid down every last offense if you keep committing the same offenses? Answer: No, not really. You've stopped short. You've laid them down emotionally, sure. But what of the havoc these offenses keep wreaking in your life and in your intimacy with Christ? You've begun to lay down every last offense, but your "salvation" won't be completely worked out in your life until your sexual sin is gone. You can't just lay them down emotionally: Hey, His mercy is free, so I am free. I'm not going to worry about any of this anymore. His blood covers it all anyway, so why get my shorts in a knot over what I do or don't do? I choose to be free from all that worry.

Your problem is that this isn't the only choice you're called to make. Of course "the deal is done" when it comes to liberty...that's yours already, and that liberty comes when you choose to trust Jesus with your life. But what about your obedience? That deal isn't remotely done, at least not in practice in your day to day life:

Naturally, He'll forgive you whenever you miss His mark and, yes, it's true that His love for you won't change if you stumble and fall. This is the age of grace, after all.

But that doesn't make this the age of racing around and letting your eyes and heart take you wherever you want to go. Stopping short of His standards will stop you short of His dreams for you, and His grace can't do anything about that.
Tactics, page 132

The apostle Paul always kept a remarkable balance between the doctrines of repentance and grace and the practice of those doctrines, because that's the vision God laid out for Him in Heaven. Both were always preached together, side by side, and neither was complete without the other. Listen to Paul's own words:

"So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.
Acts 26:20

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:1

Your definition of mercy and grace does not match up with God's if it stops at mere forgiveness. For God, mercy always includes restoration, and repentance and grace has not completed its work in your life until you've chosen to stop sinning, as well. The apostles John and Peter agreed with Paul, as did John the Baptist:

We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin;
1 John 5:13a

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives....So then, dear friends,...make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
2 Peter 3:11,14

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'
Matthew 3:8-9

It makes no more sense for you to say, I'm safe...I'm a Christian, than it did for the Jews to say, I'm safe...Abraham's my father. God not only expects fruit in keeping with repentance, He gave you everything you need to produce it. As far as God is concerned, that's the only kind of liberty worth talking about.

When it comes to God's mercy, we must never, ever separate "forgiveness" from "restoration." The Father didn't stop short with mere forgiveness. He sent Jesus so that we could be restored completely. So that we, too, could have the mind of Christ when it comes to obedience, and so that we, too, could have a close relationship with our Father again.

God's grace doesn't just deliver peace. It delivers power. The power to choose holiness. The power to lay down not just the tears of sin, but gripping snare of sin. God's grace didn't just commute your sentence and throw open the jailhouse doors for you. It also delivered the wealth and power and position necessary to live abundantly and obediently on the outside.

Jesus had the authority to say "your sins are forgiven" and "neither do I condemn you." But He also had the authority to expect those who were forgiven to "go and sin no more." And to back us up, He went straight to the cross to make sure we had the power to do so:

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 1:3-4

Christ never stopped short for you, so don't accept His forgiveness and then stop short on Him, choosing to live however you want. By all means, lay down your fears and tears and all the jeers of the enemy, as the song Grown Man tells you to. But go on to steer clear of the peers who tell you that this is all the further you need to go.

If you want to be a grown man, you must take that first step: Admit the ruin. You may not immediately feel heroic yet, spiritually speaking. You may not even rate "cool" yet-you're "just a wretch." But you are reborn by the love of Christ.

The deal is done practically before you ask. His cross and blood does cover it all. Lay down every last offense, and then get off the fence and climb down on His side of the field in your actions.

Whether you are a wandering son heading back home again, or a newborn babe in Christ, the power of sin has been replaced by His divine power in your life. Listen closely and follow Paul, the one who taught us so much about God's promises and our liberty in Christ:

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence from God.
2 Corinthians 7:1

The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Romans 13:11-14