Jesus died to set us free from sin, not to free us to be able to sin. There are many false doctrines that abound today that say that we can do what we want and still have everlasting life, but I am here to tell you that we cannot go back and live in wilful sin and expect to still enter in at the pearly gates, we must endure til the end if we are going to be saved, and that involves denying ourselves and taking up our cross.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Matthew 24:13)
It is a disgrace that we have preachers teaching that people can go on living in sin and still go to heaven. It is a false and damnable doctrine that is not supported by the Bible. On the contrary, the Bible tells us that those who were once enlightened, if they fall away can never again be brought to repentance. (Hebrews 6:4-6) This is a clear indication that GOD will not spare those who have already received His Holy Spirit if they continue to live in wilful disobedience, He will cast them off into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Esau was cast away by the LORD in this manner after selling his birthright for a morsel of food to Jacob. He was after that never able to reach repentance though he sought it with tears. There was also the case where Saul became reprobate and lost the Holy Spirit as a result of his disobeying the LORD. You might be thinking, ‘This is The Old Testament, what has it got to do with us and The New Covenant?’ Well, Jesus himself tells us that if we love Him we will follow His commandments, (John 14:15) and that only those who endure until the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:13) The premise that believers can lose their salvation is not only an Old Testament principle we are still expected to fear GOD and obey His commandments. Our salvation is not just a one-and-done event, it is a continual walk with Christ where we must persevere in our faith in Jesus and steer clear of sin. We cannot simply rely on a past event where we were ‘saved’ and place all our hopes of salvation in this moment: we have to endure til the end.
We have so many Christians with false assurance in this day and age. They go on living in a riotous fashion, looking no different to the world and think just because they said a sinner’s prayer twenty years ago that they are on their way to heaven. The Apostle Paul tells us that idolators, drunkards, fornicators and other sinners of the flesh will by no means enter the kingdom of GOD. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) This could not be any clearer so if you are still doing any of these things and you die without repenting then this is sure evidence that you are not part of the elect and will not enter the Kingdom of GOD. If it were that easy that you just say a sinner’s prayer then do as you like then Jesus would not have told us in His word that the way is narrow and that FEW will make it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Salvation is not just something that happens to us; we have our role to play in it in that we must continue to believe and follow Christ, having fellowship with Him and obeying His voice. If we ‘fall away’ as Hebrews 6:4-6 says it will at some point of GOD’s choosing become impossible for us to repent and we like Esau will find ourselves shut out from the kingdom of GOD, not a party to any of his promises and faced with the prospect of everlasting torment in hell. I do not sugar coat things here at Spirit Refinery. I am here to tell you how you are to be saved, not to give you a pat on the back and make you feel good about a life of sin. It is a crime to give people false assurance about their salvation and I for one fear GOD way too much to take the chance of not preparing those I minister to with all the knowledge that GOD has blessed me with, lest I be judged myself.
The word of the LORD says in Ezekiel 3:18-21 that if we do not warn people when we know they are in sin, we are guilty of their crimes ourself and will suffer the punishment; but if we do warn them, giving them all the information that we know then their sins will fall on their own head. This is why I do my best to tell everyone that this false doctrine that you can live wilfully in sin for the whole of your life and still saunter into heaven is a lie from the pit of hell. We can choose to succumb to the flesh, the world and the devil or we can choose to follow Jesus Christ and get all his promises and everlasting life alongside GOD, His heavenly angels and the LORD Jesus. We do not get to have the best of both worlds here, enjoying the pleasures of sin but at the same time having fellowship with GOD. Sin kills fellowship with GOD. He cannot bare to look at a single sin, that is why we must repent of our sin and live holy as the LORD Jesus is holy – then and only then will we find that we will find ourselves admitted to the wedding feast of the Lamb.
The Church has decided to follow the whims of the crowd instead of the commandments of GOD and is more concerned with not offending anyone than they are with the salvation of their congregations. The gospel of the LORD Jesus is offensive, it can and will offend people, that is a given. Salvation is not for everyone; not everyone is willing to pay the price. Jesus did the work to make salvation available to us but we must also pay a price ourselves to receive the salvation, and that price is denying ourselves, picking up our cross and following Jesus even when our flesh does not want to; even when we would rather find sweet oblivion at the bottom of a bottle or take comfort in the arms of a lover whom we are not married to. We must reckon ourselves dead to sin, as we have in fact died, having been buried and resurrected again with Christ Jesus as new creations who have dominion over sin. Yes, we will still be tempted but the sin now has no power over us; we instead have the power to refuse it. I am not saying here we need to live a complete sinless existence to be saved. GOD knows we are going to slip up. It is about heart posture. We have to regard sin as the abominable and dangerous creature that she is, not something that we can play with or have one foot in and one foot out of. Sin should be kept at arms length or as far away from us as we can possibly keep it, and we must call upon the LORD everyday to deliver us from temptation.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray in this way in the Lord’s prayer knowing that temptation would be a part of our everyday lives. Even Jesus himself was tempted to sin in all the ways that we are, but He sinned not. We are not the LORD Jesus but still we are expected to be holy. We have to thirst for righteous and keep His words in our heart that we might not sin against Him. Call upon Jesus to come into that temptation, invite Him into the trials you are facing and ask Him to deliver you. He will surely do this for His servant who He sees is in the correct heart posture, trying his or her best to live a life that is holy and that glorifies the Father. These souls who fear the LORD are the ones who Jesus calls his sheep. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him, and it is they who are the believers who will never be snatched out of His hand, who will endure til the end and who will ultimately be saved. Praise GOD.
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