- Now, this is a very important question,
and it really comes from statements
primarily in the book of Hebrews,
which indicate a kind of willful abandon
to the ways of the world,
I mean, turning from Christ,
turning from His atonement
as has been emphasized in the book of Hebrews,
turning from what Christ has done for you
to just living life as I want to,
on my own, with total disregard for the things of Christ.
And really, what it does raise, this question,
is an issue that involves two parts,
two aspects of biblical teaching
that have to be brought together.
On the one hand,
biblical teaching that indicates that
when we put faith in Christ,
if it's genuine, saving faith,
that we are saved, and nothing can change that.
It's sometimes called the doctrine of eternal security.
We have a security for eternity of knowing
that if we truly are God's saved people,
we truly have come to Christ in faith,
that we will be His forever and ever.
I mean,
you think of Jesus in John 6 where He says,
"All that the Father gives to me
"will come to me, and I will raise them up on the last day."
He doesn't say, you know,
"Well, y'know, 90% of them will get there.
"But, y'know, we're going to lose some in the process."
No, He indicates anyone who the Father gives to Him
will come to Him.
And of course,
they can only come to Him because the Father draws them.
That's also in John 6.
So it indicates that, indeed, those who are truly saved,
who are drawn by the Father,
who come to Christ in faith will be raised up by Christ
and will be with Him forever in heaven.
I mean, just so many passages.
Philippians 1:6.
"He who began a good work in you will perfect it
"until the day of Christ Jesus."
I Thessalonians 5:23 and 24.
"May the God of peace sanctify you entirely.
"May your spirit, soul,
"and body be preserved complete
"at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Faithful is He who called you who will bring it to pass."
And on and on, I mean, just a number of places
where we could go to see the teaching of eternal security.
Romans 8,
"Who will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?
"Nothing can separate us."
So on the one hand, we have that biblical teaching,
but on the other hand,
we have biblical teaching that indicates
you must persevere in the faith to be saved in the end.
I mean, notice sometime the letters to the seven churches
in Revelation two and three, chapters two and three,
each one of those letters ends with,
"the one who endures to the end will..."
and then how the author talks about our salvation
is described variously.
"Will inherit the crown," or "will enter the kingdom,"
or things like that.
But it's the one who endures to the end.
So you have to persevere to be saved.
Some people take that latter idea to indicate
we lose our salvation,
but I don't think that's what the Bible indicates
in light of the first point,
that "once saved, always saved."
So you put the two together.
I love this text in Colossians 1,
where I think the two are brought together.
"Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind,
"engaged in evil deeds."
I mean, even there you know right away
that if that's the way you were,
that in Christ you're not that way anymore, right?
So it indicates that your life changes
when you come to Christ.
And indeed, so there must be this obedience,
and this works of righteousness,
and ongoing faith that is a part
of what it means to be a Christian,
or you're not truly saved, right?
Okay, that's implied, but keep reading.
"Although you were formerly alienated,
"hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
"yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body
"through death in order to present you before Him holy,
"and blameless, and beyond reproach."
I mean, goodness, will you be saved utterly?
Will you be saved and made holy and blameless in the end?
Yes, absolutely.
But then look at verse 23.
"If indeed you continue in the faith,
"firmly established, and steadfast,
"not moved away from the hope of the Gospel
"that you have heard,
"which was proclaimed in all of creation under heaven,
"in which I Paul was made a minister.
"If indeed you continue in the faith."
So, indeed, here's how I put it together,
is that all those who truly, savingly believe in Christ,
will necessarily be saved.
But all those who truly,
savingly believe in Christ
will also necessarily continue believing, right?
So initial saving faith is a living reality.
It's not a one time action that takes place
and then it's over.
"Okay, I put my faith in Christ.
"I'm done with that, let's move on.
"And now I can go back with living my life
"the way I want to live it."
Oh, no.
That's not saving faith.
Saving faith is a living reality,
and what indicates that it is true is that it continues.
"If you continue in the faith," right?
So indeed, this life of faith,
this life of trusting God,
this life of obeying Christ,
this life of turning away from sin,
and endeavoring by God's grace,
and by His spirit, and through His word,
to grow to become more like Christ.
All of this marks the true Christian life.
And without that, no obedience,
no ongoing faith,
no care about what Christ thinks,
without that,
you would draw the conclusion it is doubtful
that the person's profession of faith was actually real.
So, here's a question.
Is there a category in the Bible for professing faith
that is not genuine faith?
And there is.
Let me show you just a couple verses.
One of them is in Titus 1, at the very end of the chapter.
Titus 1:16.
He's speaking to obviously of these unbelievers.
He says in verse 15, "They're defiled,
"to them nothing is pure.
"Their mind and their conscience are defiled."
Verse 16, "They profess to know God,
"but by their deeds, they deny Him,
"being detestable, and disobedient,
"and worthless for any good deed."
So yes, here's a case,
a biblical example of profession of faith
that is not genuine.
"They profess to know God but by their deeds they deny Him."
Or another one is in 1 Corinthians 15,
where Paul reminds them at the beginning of the chapter
of the Gospel,
and he says this.
"Now I have made known to you brethren
"the Gospel which I preach to you which you have received,
"in which you stand, by which you are saved
"if you hold fast the word which I preach to you,
"unless you believed in vain."
So there can be false profession of faith,
there can be false expressions of faith, right?
That as you see here,
"unless you believed in vain."
Well, what constitutes vain belief?
Look at the context.
"By which you are saved if you hold fast
"the word that I preach to you."
So, what's the mark of genuine, initial, saving faith?
Ongoing faith, ongoing trust,
ongoing longing to obey,
ongoing longing to grow in holiness and the like.
Now, we just have to be careful here,
the idea of willful sinning raises in peoples' minds
the idea that just anytime they sin,
because they do consciously decide to sin when they do sin,
that any sin that they do would bring,
would call into question whether they're saved or not.
And I don't think that's the case.
I think 1 John indicates this,
that if your pattern of life,
if your practice is one of disregard of Christ,
and you are giving yourself sort of wholly and fully
into a life of wanton sin,
then that is totally inconsistent with what it means
to be a Christian.
But on the other hand,
we have to realize Christian people sin.
There's nothing in the New Testament that would indicate
a kind of sinless perfection in this life.
So when I say things like ongoing faith,
ongoing trust, growth in obedience,
I don't mean we ever attain a place where we never sin
anymore in this life.
Impossible in this life.
And Paul makes that so very clear by the,
in Galatians 5, again,
"The Spirit wars against the flesh,
"and the flesh against the Spirit."
And so indeed, we always face this reality that we will sin.
1 John begins this way, right?
"If anyone says he has no sin," present tense,
"he's a liar, and the truth is not in him."
So there is a difference, I think,
between the sinning that we experience
in the normal Christian life
and a kind of wanton disregard of Christ
that is involved in willful sinning.
This is not sinless obedience,
but it is growing obedience.
A growing faith, and hope, and trust, and obedience,
and works of righteousness, service to God,
that is the outworking of the Spirit's work
within our hearts.
So, does it matter how we live?
Can works of righteousness,
do they matter in the Christian life?
Indeed, they do.
And does willful sinning,
is that something that we should be alarmed about?
Yes, it is.
Not that we will never cease from sinning,
but nonetheless, to disregard Christ,
and to just go my own way,
and sin willfully,
just with a total abandon,
and really reject everything that I had once affirmed
as a Christian.
I think this is a very fearful thing.
So, may God help us to realize that willful sinning,
it is a warning to us that we are straying away
from the path,
and may indicate that we were never saved,
as opposed to turning back,
and believing that the life that God has called us to
is the life of our true joy,
and our true happiness is found there,
and to give ourselves to Christ and His ways.
- [Narrator] Thanks for watching "Honest Answers".
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