Holy Living - The Rock of Offence

As the King of Kings, Jesus Christ is sovereign, His divine power has given His people everything necessary for eternal life and godliness. Because He is King, His people will earnestly desire to obey and serve Him in righteousness. However, most churches teach that all one needs to do is to believe and be saved and that this salvation does not have to be accompanied by good fruits. They incorrectly teach that one can still commit all sorts of ungodly sins, but still be considered a Christian as long as they made a ‘free-will’ decision to ‘accept’ Jesus. They further teach incorrectly that those Christians who are more holy will receive more rewards in heaven for their works here on the earth. They usually teach that salvation cannot be lost and therefore, there can be ‘carnal’ Christians that are indeed saved, but live like the world.

But, can a true Christian really continue in repetitive willful sin and not grow in holiness? Can someone be a true Christian, but not be a disciple of Jesus even though they ‘believed’ in Jesus? Can a person live like the world and still be a true Christian? Most churches today say ‘yes, yes, yes’ to these questions as long as one ‘accepted’ Jesus. But, the Bible clearly says ‘no, no, no’ to these questions. This truth becomes very offensive to the church because this truth tends to indicate that many in the church are not saved at all. The Bible presents many ‘proofs’ that indicate that holiness will be evident in the lives of Christians, who have not been saved by their own free-will, but by the will of God (e.g., John 1:12-13).

Holiness does not result in salvation, but rather salvation by the power of God will always result in Holiness (but not perfectly). All Christians have become new creatures in Christ, which results in them becoming more and more holy. They will not continue in repetitive willful sin any longer. Teaching that one can be saved, but still practice willful repetitive sin, is heresy (sometimes called ‘antinomianism’). In the flesh, Christians will still commit sin (1 John 1:8) since we are still in the flesh. However, because Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will convict and lead their spirit into increasing righteousness. The inclination to sin will fade away. Christians will be caused by the Holy Spirit to become victorious in the battle with sin (although never perfectly in the flesh). If one is a Christian, he or she will have victory over the flesh, which still wants to sin. It is the spirit that is saved, not the flesh. God’s Holy Spirit leads our spirits to become holier. Evidence of a person being saved can be seen in the 20 Holy Results of Being a Christian. Here are additional studies to consider to ensure that you understand this most important topic: