Those who go on and on the most about how their sins were not so bad are those who have never come to terms with their sinfulness.
They cannot possibly understand salvation through Jesus Christ if they never saw themselves as sinful human beings in need of salvation.
I have known many people like this in my lifetime. They were far too judgmental of the failures of others because they see themselves as superior to those who "didn't measure up."
Those who have never been broken over their own sinfulness cannot be born again. Self righteousness is when a person will not admit they are as bad as everyone else.
Romans 3:23
"23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
Romans 3:9-10 "9 What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."
Even the sins we see as tiny sins, a little gossip, taking a pen that didn't belong to us or even just looking down our nose at others is enough to keep a person out of heaven and thrown into hell.
Our God is the God of perfection, He cannot have in His presence any sin at all, not even those that we think are little. It isn't really about the sin itself as much as our sinful nature. Even the smallest sin is proof that we have a sinful nature. If our nature were not sinful we could not commit even the smallest of sin.
There is sin in the heart that may not even become an action that God counts against us as sin.
God says in His commandments that if we even so much as lust in our minds after someone we have committed the sin of adultery. If we hate someone we have committed the sin of murder. Every sin that is committed on the outside has its beginning and root in the heart before it is acted out.
Matthew 5:27-30
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;
28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
30 If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell."
It is the sinful nature that keeps people out of heaven and thrown into hell. When we confess to God that we have a sinful nature and are not able to be anything else, we can ask Him to change our nature so that we no longer operate in a lifestyle according to that sinful nature.
2 Corinthians 5:17
"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
When Christ makes us a new creation He comes to live in us. We no longer live continually according to the old nature. We battle that fleshly nature but our spirit is born again brand new. Christ in us begins the cleansing of our soul as He places lessons in our path to bring us into right thinking.
A born again believer should be growing in holiness all the time, not because they are trying so hard to be good but because Christ in them is leading them into change all the time. If someone hasn't changed in many years, remaining rebellious and justifying their sin then it is possible they have never been born again. Rather than trying to get them to understand pray for their soul that God would place in their path things that will cause them to see their need for Him.
Many of the people who remain rebellious know the Bible very well, they say many right things and make many right choices and are very proud about how much they think they know.
Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
Those who remain in pride thinking they are superior to others often believe they are saved and going to heaven, and yet they may not be after all.
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