Did God forgive you and then promise you that your future sins would not keep you out of heaven? NO. HE DID NOT. Some deceived and deceiving preacher or teacher may have told you that, but God did not tell you that.
"BUT I AM SAVED BY GRACE." If your saving grace does not save you from sin and the power of sin and the pollution of sin, then you are not saved by the grace of God.
I hear (read) people praising God for being saved, but then they praise Satan (of course they don't realize it while they are doing it) by saying that they are just "old worms of the dust," or, "just a sinner saved by grace," or, "Praise God, I am not what a should be but thank God I am not what I use to be." They don't testify to victory over anger, lust, hatred, covetousness, deceitfulness. In fact, they testify that those things still cling to them and that those things still keep them from being the people that they should be for God. Then they go on to say that they are saved.
How about a murderer standing up and saying, "Bless God, I still kill people from time to time, but praise His Name, I don't kill as many folks as I use to kill." Would you shout, "Amen brother"?
How about a child molester testifying that he hardly ever rapes children anymore, since he has been saved.
How a bout a husband standing in front of a congregation and thanking God that salvation has reduced him down to only two or three trysts a year. Would you thank God for such marvelous grace?
Listen, if God can save the meanest and vilest of sinners from committing the most horrific of sins, then WHY O WHY can't He, why won't He save you from much less powerful sins?
CONFUSION ABOUT CONVICTION IS PART OF THE PROBLEM
I tell folks that there is REAL conviction for sin and there is FALSE conviction for sin.
When God convicts us of our sins, He puts His finger right where the transgression took place in our lives. He tells us what we did and what needs to be done for us to be delivered from it. We sense the pain of guilt and we know what we need to do to be delivered from our guilt.
When the devil "convicts" us our our sins, he jabs here and there and pokes us in various places, making us feel pain and a sense of false guilt, because there is no real sin. He makes us feel as if we have sinned against God, but that we cannot be delivered from sinning, which leads us to defeat further defeat. We move into the valley of failure, and never rise up to the mountain of deliverance.
Remember, the devil is the ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN. He is a liar. He makes us feel like we have sinned, even when we have not. He makes us feel like we cannot escape sin, although God promises to deliver us from our sins. The devil makes us think we are going to be be slaves of sin as long as we are in our mortal bodies, only to be delivered when we die.
BUT REMEMBER, DEATH IS NOT OUR FRIEND, IT IS OUR LAST ENEMY. God saves us in this present evil world, otherwise there is no Divine deliverance.
There is no salvation in that kind of experience. There is no joy in that. There is no victory in that. We need old time, God glorifying, sin hating, Satan conquering, Holy Spirit preaching and teaching that leads us out of darkness, rather than teaching us how to rejoice while we are still being held captive by Self, Sin and Satan.
Sinning religion has produced an avalanche of spiritual snowflakes, who melt away in defeat, even before they are tempted. Christians need to move into New Testament victory as we enter the coming days of red hot testing and trial. God is greater than any trouble we will face.
If a believer fails in the face of temptation, then there is restoration in Christ. We do not need to lay down in defeat, nor boldly and erroneously proclaim salvation, while we live in sin. Rise up o men of God.
There is no salvation in that kind of experience. There is no joy in that. There is no victory in that. We need old time, God glorifying, sin hating, Satan conquering, Holy Spirit preaching and teaching that leads us out of darkness, rather than teaching us how to rejoice while we are still being held captive by Self, Sin and Satan.
Sinning religion has produced an avalanche of spiritual snowflakes, who melt away in defeat, even before they are tempted. Christians need to move into New Testament victory as we enter the coming days of red hot testing and trial. God is greater than any trouble we will face.
If a believer fails in the face of temptation, then there is restoration in Christ. We do not need to lay down in defeat, nor boldly and erroneously proclaim salvation, while we live in sin. Rise up o men of God.
