Misconception #7: God's Grace Never Runs Out on the Unbeliever

The seventh and final misconception in this series is that the grace of God in the life of the unbeliever never runs out — that a person can presume upon God indefinitely, putting off repentance forever, secure in the idea that grace will always be there waiting. To answer it, we have to look at how serious God’s gracious work in the unbelieving heart really is.

The misconception: grace toward the unbeliever never runs out

First, we must see that grace is essential for anyone to be saved at all:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

Titus 2:11 (NKJV)

For salvation to come into a person’s heart and be received, there must be the grace of God — what some call the prevenient grace of God at work in the heart of the unbeliever, drawing them. But here is the sobering part: grace can be resisted. Paul describes God’s gracious dealings — though the word “grace” is not used, these are exactly what grace looks like:

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Romans 2:4-5 (NKJV)

God’s goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering are His grace toward the unbeliever — and it is only that grace that brings a person to repentance. But a hard, impenitent heart can despise it. Many people have thought too lightly of God, and His grace ran out for them; they did not get another chance.

A heart that grows harder

The danger is that the heart hardens over time the longer a person resists. Each refusal makes the next call harder to hear:

…having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness…

Ephesians 4:18-19 (NKJV)

A heart can grow so callous that it can no longer hear God’s word at all. Scripture warns that a person can be “broken without remedy”:

He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Proverbs 29:1 (NKJV)

When God sent judgment upon Israel, He first sent prophet after prophet after prophet — but they reached a point where it was enough, where they were broken without remedy, where there was no more word they could hear. And prophetically, this is happening today, day after day. The grace of God is running out on people who have created another god in their own image so they can carry on as unbelievers undisturbed. This is why Paul urges believers not to receive God’s grace in vain — and the warning applies just as urgently to the lost.

Do not sin away your grace

As one person put it: don’t sin away your grace. Every time God convicts us, shows us something, offers forgiveness, we must not misuse or presume upon that grace. It would make all of us pause to realize we are not given an unlimited supply. For the unbeliever especially, the call is not to play games with the grace of God, because it can run out — and it has, for many who told themselves God does not judge, that Jesus was just a harmless figure, until their fate was eternally sealed.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews 10:31 (NKJV)

This concludes our series on common misconceptions of the faith — seven beliefs that sound reasonable but do not hold up to the Word of God. May the Lord give us discernment to know the truth, and the courage to walk in it.

🎥 Watch the full message: Misconception #7 — God’s Grace Never Runs Out on the Unbeliever

Part of the Misconceptions of the Faith series.