Can I be a christian who keeps on sinnning?
1 John 1:5-10 ESV
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
If asked, many people would be able to resite the verse John 3:16, but is “believing in Him” enough to obtain salvation and right standing with God or have we emptied the true value of the word “believe”? After all so many people claim to believe in a god, some even claim the name of Jesus, but when it comes down to it their belief is in a very different god than the God of the Bible. James 2:19 tells us that even the demons believe --- and they tremble, which is more than most people do. It is sad to see people who are more afraid of a spider on the wall than they are of the Sovereign God of the universe. I am pleading with you to examine yourself in light of this text. Jesus clearly says in Mathew 7:21 "Not every one who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven". In our subjuct text John is going to confront three misconceptions about salvation among those who claim the name of Jesus. I will adress only one of them in this lesson and will come back to the other two in the next lesson.
The first misconception is that you can met Jesus and still continue on in habitual unrepentant sin. These people have conceived in their minds that they have had their heaven ticket punched and they are free to live life however they please because the bill has been paid. These are people who with one hand reach for heaven and with the other they have a firm grasp on the earth with no intentions of letting go. They are unwilling to leave behind their sins. So they compartmentalize God and they pick and choose which aspects of their life he is free to be Lord over and shut him out of the areas that they themselves want lordship over. Romans 6:1-2 says "Are we to continue on in our sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" The Book of James elaborates further, saying that you can not be friends with God and with the world. Those who live that way he calls double minded and says they are unstable in all their ways.
The truth is that saved people are a growing and changed people. Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." It is not that we are saved by our obedience, but that when Christ in his mercy saved us he made us a new creation with new desires and we want to obey him out of love for him. This does not mean that we will never sin. This means that a christian and sin will occasionally meet but they will never marry. We are dead to our sin now of which the wages were our death. However the blood of Christ pays this bebt for us removing the barrier of sin that creates enmity between us and God and us and others. We are now back in rightful fellowship with one-another.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
If asked, many people would be able to resite the verse John 3:16, but is “believing in Him” enough to obtain salvation and right standing with God or have we emptied the true value of the word “believe”? After all so many people claim to believe in a god, some even claim the name of Jesus, but when it comes down to it their belief is in a very different god than the God of the Bible. James 2:19 tells us that even the demons believe --- and they tremble, which is more than most people do. It is sad to see people who are more afraid of a spider on the wall than they are of the Sovereign God of the universe. I am pleading with you to examine yourself in light of this text. Jesus clearly says in Mathew 7:21 "Not every one who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven". In our subjuct text John is going to confront three misconceptions about salvation among those who claim the name of Jesus. I will adress only one of them in this lesson and will come back to the other two in the next lesson.
The first misconception is that you can met Jesus and still continue on in habitual unrepentant sin. These people have conceived in their minds that they have had their heaven ticket punched and they are free to live life however they please because the bill has been paid. These are people who with one hand reach for heaven and with the other they have a firm grasp on the earth with no intentions of letting go. They are unwilling to leave behind their sins. So they compartmentalize God and they pick and choose which aspects of their life he is free to be Lord over and shut him out of the areas that they themselves want lordship over. Romans 6:1-2 says "Are we to continue on in our sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" The Book of James elaborates further, saying that you can not be friends with God and with the world. Those who live that way he calls double minded and says they are unstable in all their ways.
The truth is that saved people are a growing and changed people. Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." It is not that we are saved by our obedience, but that when Christ in his mercy saved us he made us a new creation with new desires and we want to obey him out of love for him. This does not mean that we will never sin. This means that a christian and sin will occasionally meet but they will never marry. We are dead to our sin now of which the wages were our death. However the blood of Christ pays this bebt for us removing the barrier of sin that creates enmity between us and God and us and others. We are now back in rightful fellowship with one-another.