All born-again believers sin, they are disciplined by God because they belong to God. Those who do not belong to God are bastard children and God does not discipline those.
Hebrews 125-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?" Hebrews 12:7-9 "…7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?…"
There would be no need for discipline of a born-again believer if they never sin. Not only do we sin but we hate it when we do and do not rest until we have confessed it to be cleansed of that sin. 1 John 1:9 was written for believers.
1 John 1:8-10 "…8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."
I fear for those believers who think they do not sin!!! We need to be apologizing to our spouses on a regular basis for snarky attitudes or for failing to see a need in them. There is no way to have a good marriage with someone so prideful they cannot admit they do wrong from time to time.
I also fear for marriages in which someone fell dramatically, even hating that they did, coming to ask forgiveness only to be met with arrogance saying things like; "how could you do such a thing." Anyone who acts like this toward a repentant person is sinning in their response to a broken heart.
Galatians 1:1-2 "1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry one another burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.…"
No born-again believer who sins will lose their salvation. God made them into a new creation, they can never go back to the old again. It was a work of God, not anything we do or did to earn it or to keep it.
Let me liken it to a butterfly as others have done before. In the cacoon lives a worm, it is in bondage to that cocoon. When the time is right the butterfly is fully developed and leaves the cocoon, that worm is now a butterfly and can never go back to being a worm again.
Since we cannot save ourselves, we cannot change ourselves and we cannot keep ourselves, the Holy Spirit comes into us giving all we need through His direction. He is the One the Father looks to in us and declares, "this one belongs to Christ."
John 6:37-38 "37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.…"
John 6:39
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.
John 6:65
Then Jesus said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has granted it to him."
John 10:28
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.
John 17:2
For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him.
John 17:6
I have revealed Your name to those You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
John 17:9
I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those You have given Me; for they are Yours.
John 17:24
Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Seems clear to me that when the Father looks at a born-again believer He accounts our sin to Christ, nothing of ourselves can save us.
However, and this is a big "however", Those who think they can sin freely, even boasting they can sin all they want and God just looks the other way, even defending their right to sin, have never been born again. Anyone born of God hates sin, even if they fall from weakness when temptation comes, they hate it, are convicted by the Holy Spirit Who lives in them, and eventually will confess that sin to be cleansed.
1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
Practicing a lifestyle of sin, justifying it, and defending it is evidence that the one who still loves their sin has never been born again.
Falling into sin is not evidence that we are not born-again, remaining in sin while enjoying it without conscience is evidence that someone has never trusted Christ and is probably a pretender. The church is full of these in our day of apostasy. Many preachers in the pulpits today fit into this category of pretenders.
There are many people today who want a "safe" religion but do not want Christ. They tend to believe things they wish to believe without regard to whether or not it is truth, as long as it makes them "feel" good they are all on board with it. Believe me, this is irrational at best, causing people to fight with others defending their "feelings" while scorning the truth, even worse scorning the people of God for daring to speak the truth.
To scorn the people of God who tell the truth is the same as attacking Christ because He lives in them and is guiding their speech and actions.
John 1:9-13 "9 This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God."
Do you want "religions" with its pomp and rituals that make you feel something good, or do you want Christ, willing to suffer for Him?
It's your choice and the choice you make will either send you to hell or to heaven with a Savior Who did it all for you and is preparing a place for you in heaven.
