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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