In my last blog post I pointed out how Christians let the light of God’s love in us sparkle and shine showing how very different we are from the world around us and that we are also very different from who we were before we became Christians. I have found a couple of mega pastors who are teaching a doctrine that would interfere with our sparkle and even our purpose, It is the doctrine that when we believe in Christ for salvation all of our sins past, present and FUTURE are forgiven.
That teaching is a new twist on an old doctrine called “eternal security”. The Christians who I’ve known in the past who believe that old doctrine believe once you are saved by grace you are always saved for eternity. They simply say if a person drifts back into sin after accepting Christ as their savior, they weren’t really saved at all. Of course since no one except God and that person know if that is true or not it is impossible to prove one way or the other. This new form of that doctrine actually states that God not only forgives us for our past sins, but also forgives our FUTURE sins and covers them with the blood of Christ. So, if a Christian continues to fall into sin he or she is still fine because God has already forgiven those sins. There are several reasons that I cannot accept that doctrine which allows the light of our Christian witness to the world to be dimmed or even extinguished because we would no longer seem any different than the sinful world around us.
Even before His sacrifice on the cross Jesus demonstrated His power to forgive sins. On one of those occasions, He forgave the woman caught in adultery, but He didn’t tell her that her future sins were also forgiven. What He actually told her is “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:10-11) After Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, Peter wrote to Christian believers, “Now you must be holy as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy’. And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites He will judge or reward you according to what you do.” (I Peter 1:15-16) Did Peter get it wrong? Later, Paul wrote to a church of beliers about one of their members living in sin with his step-mother. Paul told them to expel him from the church, but to welcome him back with open arms once he repented and stopped his sinning What Paul didn’t write to them is that they shouldn’t worry about him because he is still one of them and his sin was already forgiven back when he became a follower of Christ. (See First Corinthians 5) Did Paul get it wrong? We know that Peter and Paul couldn’t get it wrong because the Bible is the infallible word of God.
In 68 years, the Holy Spirit within me has never prompted me that my sin is OK because it was forgiven back when I accepted Him into my heart at the age of eleven. If you think He is telling you that, you are listening to a different spirit. Instead of labelling my sin as previously forgiven, the Holy Spirit has warned me of sin and given me strength to overcome temptation more times than I can count. Trust the Holy Spirit to help you avoid sin as a child of God. He won’t ever guide you down the wrong road. Let your light continue to shine and sparkle brightly and continue to serve your God-given purpose with love and obedience.