Without holiness, no one will see God. (Hebrews 12:14)
Saying a prayer doesn’t automatically bring salvation. Countless people pray a prayer of salvation yet afterwards their lives are still filled with habitual sin. Long after they are still lying, committing adultery and living immorally, I know because I was one of them. We have walked so widely off the path of truth of who God is that we as the church are believing that God is blind to unrepentant sin. He is not. Jesus didn’t die on the cross for us to continue in sin, He died to save us from our sins and in doing so we are now held to a higher standard of holiness because of His precious blood.
It is not that we never sin, for God’s word tells us that if we say we have no sin we are a liars, however those who truly know Jesus will walk in repentance out of love for Jesus and the honor of what He has done to save us. It can be argued that the book of Hebrews wasn’t written to Christians but to the Jews, so everything in this book is not for us. This is a great deception for the entire word of God is for correction, doctrine and reproof. Should we honestly believe that God’s grace ignores continual sin that is not repented for? God’s grace empowers us not to live in sin, for God’s word says,”if you steal, steal no more!” Jesus Himself told the woman caught in adultery,”Go and sin no more!” He didn’t say that you can leave now and continue doing the things you previously did.
There will be many tears of those who believed a lie in thinking that this life could be filled with compromise, partying and living like the world. The good news is that Jesus took our sins for us and paid the price for our eternity with God, but we need to receive that gift and walk in holiness before Him. Part of receiving that gift is turning our back on sin and fleeing from all immorality. We don’t have to get cleaned up to come to God, He accepts us just as we are, but once we come to Him, we need to allow His Spirit to mold us into the image of His Son and we must die to the flesh and its lusts. Holiness can only be produced through being in relationship with Jesus for He is our holiness.
1 Corinthians 6:9 tells us that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. If we choose to live in unrighteousness after knowing Jesus, there is no longer a sacrifice for our sins as stated in Hebrews 10:26. If we love Him, we will obey Him (John 14:23). It all comes down to love. As a parent, we wouldn’t allow our children to walk in ways that would cause death and disease to their lives, so why would God turn a blind eye when we would do the same? We also as humans don’t understand the entirety of love, but we do know that true love includes chastening, correction and at times severity. Romans 11:22 states “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.”
Get into God’s word and find out what He says. When you seek answers in God’s word, you will find the answer to the question, “what does God say?”
Always keep in mind that the conviction of God leads us to repent, it does not condemn us. We are saved by grace through faith, not of works. The holiness part is the fruit of how we live when we know Him. The evidence of our salvation is how we live our lives, that evidence doesn’t save us, it is just a sign that something truly wonderful has taken place in our lives when we met Jesus!
TMMC-The Teaching Ministry of Michael Cannatello
