Romans 10:9-11
"9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
When we believe and God changes us into a new creation, our desires completely change. The sin we used to love we now hate and the righteousness we used to have contempt for, we now love.
2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
Psalm 97:10
"Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked."
We do not have to be commanded to hate evil when we become born again, we automatically hate it through our new nature that is controlled by Christ. We can still sin, but we are grieved when we do, the Holy Spirit within us causes us grief when we disobey God. That sin is of the flesh not of the Spirit. Our flesh is still dead and we must battle it continually, the more we battle the flesh, the greater God works in our life and the less the struggle becomes.
Galatians 5:17-25
"17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,[a] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Those who walk with God and have been changed will fall occasionally but they will not practice a lifestyle of sinfulness and they will grow in holiness, every sin they confess will be cleansed from them.
Ephesians 4:30
"Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, because we belong to Christ, He pleads for us to the Father.
1 John 2:1
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;"
God was speaking to believers in 1 John, non-believers do not have an advocate with the Father, they are at the mercy of the devil.
No child of God will continue in sin, the Holy Spirit will bring grief and torment to our soul until we confess it and ask for cleansing.
1 John 5:18
"We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him."
If someone keeps on sinning, defends their sin and is hostile to the Word of God, even though they call themselves "Christian", could not have ever been born again, they have only played the role in the flesh because there is no conviction of sin. These people are pretenders, those who want the protection of God without loving Him. Often the motivation for these pretenders is the safety of the church gathering and companionship, as soon as they are challenged about their sin, they will run away or they will become born again from the challenge.
Matthews 15:8
"'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME."
God assures us in His Word that when we believe He does all the rest of the work of saving, changing and keeping us until He comes for us. He also warns those who think they can pretend to believe without any desire to love or obey God, that those who do this have never been born again. God will not save someone who merely wants to use God to get out of trouble. He will save only those who have been broken over their sinfulness and desire to be changed by Christ. When we have been changed, we fall in love with Christ, He is what we think about continually, every action is measured by His desires and principles.
Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
Lawlessness is in the heart, even someone who seems to do and say all the right things can be a candidate for the fires of hell, because they didn't want to be changed, they only wanted to appear good to others, they never believed in Christ for saving grace, they thought they could gain heaven on their own merits. They are even proud of their good deeds never giving Christ the glory for them because their life is not about Christ, but about self.
It is only possible to gain heaven through the spilt blood of Christ covering our sin, His sacrifice alone saves.
Ephesians 2:1-10
"1 You were dead in your transgressions and sins
2 in which you once lived following the age of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient.
3 All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
9 it is not from works, so no one may boast.
10 For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them."
Our good deeds will not save us, only trusting Christ and what He did on our behalf will save us, then He cleanses us and keeps us until He comes for us.
Anyone who is working to gain salvation or working to keep it, cannot be born again, they must learn to place their trust in Christ alone, knowing their efforts are nothing in the sight of God.
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