Thursday, August 2, 2018

Does Sin Disqualify You?


Does Sin Disqualify You?

I appreciate the insights of many of today's Bible teachers. They build my faith and help me to make adjustments in my walk with Christ where I find myself falling short.

However, sometimes, in our attempts to comfort believers and reassure them of God's unconditional love, mercy, and grace for them and our desire to strengthen their faith, we might make statements that cannot be fully reconciled with Scripture. For example, I have heard some men, men who are otherwise excellent Bible teachers, make statements such as, "Sin does not disqualify you from God's kingdom."

This statement, left alone, falls quite short of the Bible's plain teaching on this subject. Note the following Scriptures:

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9, 10)

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:21)

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Eph. 5:5)

The writer of the book of Hebrews further states, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).

Now this is NOT to denigrate the good men who make statements such as, "Sin does not disqualify you from God's kingdom." I believe that what most of them are saying is that the SINCERE Christian who attempts to walk in the light of God's Word and who repents and seeks God's forgiveness when they do sin are never disqualified. This is is usually what most of them are saying and I am in 100 percent agreement on that fact (see 1 John 1:7-9). Furthermore, many of these wonderful men and women of God would point out the fact that their statement is not giving anyone a license to sin.

However, having been in the ministry for over 30 years and much of that being in some form of pastoral ministry, I have found that people have SELECTIVE HEARING. They will hear the part that they want to hear and sort of dismiss the rest. Some people only hear the part that says, "Sin does not disqualify you from God's kingdom" and use that as an excuse to indulge their flesh while believing that they will remain in the kingdom. This is known in most circles as "Once saved, always saved."

Hence, my blog post this morning is a warning to those who actually are looking for a license to sin while believing that they will still qualify for the kingdom. Do not be deceived. Scripture is clear that sin that is not repented of will indeed disqualify you.

On the other hand, for the sincere believer who loves Christ but, like the rest of us, stumbles on occasion and come short of God's glory, take comfort in the fact that, because you love the Lord and you always repent and seek His forgiveness, your sin does NOT disqualify you because it was washed away by the blood of Jesus the moment you told Him, "Lord, I'm sorry. I will never do that again." I believe that this is the best understanding of the statement, "Sin does not disqualify you from God's kingdom."


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