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Serious question though: What is the fine line between how many sins you can commit after you have asked Jesus into your heart to be your savious? I have sinned many times since becoming a Christian for the simple fact that I am flawed. I don't think that means that I'm not saved anymore, or wasn't ever saved, or am going to hell. Jen Jen, please tell me what you make of this.
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Honestly, I don't believe there is a fine line between how many sins you can commit after you have asked Jesus into your heart. If that was the case, people would be sitting up going, "Hmmmm,
.....lemme see, well.....I have 8 more sins that I can commit before God gets fed up. Let me use them wisely...
" No, seriously, I just don't think it works like that. God judges us each individually and the bible says that Jesus will come like a thief in the night:
***Matthew 24
42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.***
I don't see any contradictions in the Word at all. Firstly when it says that Jesus saves us from our sins...that means the innate sin that every man is born with (what we inherited from Adam), and the penalty of that sin is death. So basically Jesus saves us from the death penalty. Now when the bible says that he who continues to sin never knew God, it's saying that if you claim that your sinful self died, and you are saved through Jesus, why would you continue embracing the thing that He saved us from? If someone saves your life, would you repay him by doing something that makes him unhappy? Wouldn't you be trying to please that person? It's the same way with God. So I think that's what Paul was saying is that you aren't acknowledging that Jesus even saved you if you continue on with sinning.
Being a Christian does not mean that we have diplomatic immunity...meaning we can continue to commit crimes and have no punishment for those crimes.
My fiance were struggling with fornication for a while, we decided to pray together and repent of our sin. When it became really difficult to abstain, we decided to fast one day a week, so that we were sacrificing our bodies to God and not lusting with each other. That first week after fasting, it's like we didn't really have the desire to have sex anymore. It seemed like things got so much easier to wait until the wedding day. And to me, it will make that day all the more special. God is good!! And a just God, if we would just follow His word.
Check out this article I got from a Christian newsletter that I subscribe to:
Have you died? We will all die one day physically. But, have you died before then? If you are a Christian, then you have already died. "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live ks as a contribution to your salvation, but you rely completely and totally on Christ's sacrifice, then you have died to sin. You have died through the identification with Christ on the Cross because as a Christian, you are "in Christ." "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus," (Rom. 6:11). Also, see Rom. 8:1-2, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."
Death in the Bible is not the cessation of existence. It is separation. Physical death does not mean we stop existing; we continue on in the next life. Spiritual death means separation from God, eternally. Therefore, your death to sin is your separation from it. It is the separation from the power it has to damn you and to rule over you. It also means that because you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you have the power to resist sin where before you did not.
Yes, we still sin. Yes, we still struggle. But our struggle against sin proves that we are not dead in our sins. Instead we are alive in Christ. Only those who are alive struggle for life and we Christians certainly struggle for our life in Christ apart from sin. So, take courage and consolation by knowing that your struggle for holiness is pleasing to God and is also a sign of your salvation, something bought for by Jesus did on the cross.
Therefore, you are not to live in sin. You are not to live in fornication. You are not to live in compromise. You are not to live as though the grace of God will take care of your sins in such a way as to say that it is okay to sin just a little, or just a little more. No. You are dead to sin and are not to live after the ways of the flesh. You are not to compromise our Christian walk. You are to stand for righteousness. If you are a Christian and you claim the name of Christ, then walk in righteousness. Walk in the manner that Jesus walked. Stand for truth and stand against sin. "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy,'” (1 Pet. 1:14-16).
