- 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". Don't forget to subscribe. (music)
