Sin:  Does it cause you to question your salvation?

Another way of stating this is to ask—Does the presence of personal sin in your life ever cause you to wonder if you’re truly saved. I doubt there’s ever been a Christian who at some point in their life didn’t wonder about this. So, you’re not by yourself if you’ve had such thoughts.  We find in the Bible that even the great Apostle Paul thought about such things, realizing his own sinfulness and his own unworthiness of the blessings of salvation.

Romans 7:18-25

¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will [having a desire to do the right thing] is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

He clearly states that he had an ongoing desire to be obedient to God’s will, but he found it to seemingly be impossible to be perfectly consistent in this.

¹⁹ For the good that I would [THELO = desire] I do not: but the evil which I would [THELO = desire] not, that I do.

²⁰ Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Paul’s not shirking responsibility for his choices, but he’s stating that his sinful nature, despite his best efforts, often gets its way.

²¹ I find then a law [or principle], that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

²² For I delight in the law of God after the inward man [speaking of his new nature]:

²³ But I see another law in my members [speaking of his body], warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

²⁴ O wretched [TAlAIPOROS = distressed or miserable] man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Then he answers this pressing question—

²⁵ I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh [his sinful nature] the law of sin. [Emphasis added]

What we might call a one-verse summary of this paragraph is found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

Galatians 5:17

¹⁷ For the flesh  [one’s sinful nature] lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do [with perfect consistency] the things that ye would [THELO = desire]. [Emphasis added]

Of course, I’ve known people who tried to say that these passages are talking about unsaved people, not Christians.  But such is not the case!  Note Paul’s words at the beginning of his letter—

Galatians 1:2

² And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: [Emphasis added]

Paul is writing these things to saved believers in the churches of Galatia. These passages are talking about the experience of EVERY believer.  No exceptions!

As a believer grows spiritually through his intake and application of God’s word, he usually tends to become wiser and more consistent in his correct applications.  But no believer ever reaches anything even close to sinless perfection.  As I heard it put over fifty years ago, the closer one gets to a bright and shining light, the more one becomes aware of one’s need for a bath.  Also, the more one becomes aware of the virtues of Christ, the more one realizes how much more work he needs to do on his thinking and his decision-making.

Resisting temptation to sin is an ongoing activity for the progressing believer.  Does he fail in that? Yes! In fact, he can become so sinful that he thinks and acts just like unbelievers of one kind or another.  Note what Paul said to the believers in the Corinthian church.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

¹ And I, brethren [addressed to believers—brothers and sisters in Christ], could not speak unto you as unto spiritual [ones controlled by the Spirit of God], but as unto carnal [ones controlled by their sinful nature], even as unto babes in Christ.

² I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

³ For ye are yet carnal [controlled by your sinful nature]: for whereas [here’s the proof of it] there IS among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? [Emphasis added]

To “walk as men” is to do with living just like unbelievers.  Yes! Thinking and acting as unbelievers do.  By the way they were living, one could never tell if they were saved or not. But some would say—such a person doesn’t deserve salvation! Question:  Who of us ever deserved salvation?  Doesn’t the Bible tell us that salvation comes BY GRACE and THROUGH FAITH and NOT by our works?

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast. [Emphasis added]

Don’t the apostle Paul’s letters tell us that our works of righteousness have nothing to do with the attainment of our salvation?

Titus 3:5

⁵ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; [Emphasis added]

Isn’t all this spelled out in Paul’s letters so that there should be no misunderstanding about it?

Romans 4:4-5

⁴ Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

⁵ But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. [Emphasis added]

Passages of Scripture, as in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, or James, were all written to a people of another time, not us as members of what is called the Body of Christ.

James 1:1

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. [Emphasis added]

In former times and in the coming time of what is called the seven-year Tribulation period, the people of Israel are God’s people.  But today the body of those who are God’s people are said to be members of the Body of Christ.  Salvation comes to us now by grace and by faith alone.  Righteous works of ours have nothing to do with it.  If giving up sin completely had something to do with it or was a required part of it, none of us could ever be saved.  From cover to cover the Bible speaks of our sinfulness and our unworthiness of salvation.  King David was an adulterer and a murderer.  The apostle Paul had been a blasphemer, but like David, he was ultimately saved by the grace of God.  It was God and His grace that had saved Paul who was then known as Saul of Tarsus when he was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians to have them tried and executed.

1 Timothy 1:12-14

¹² And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me [Paul] faithful, putting me into the ministry;

¹³ Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

¹⁴ And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. [Emphasis added]

None of us will ever be able to rightly say we deserved salvation.

Isaiah 64:6

⁶ But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. [Emphasis added]

Romans 3:10

¹⁰ As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: [Emphasis added]

Romans 3:23

²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; [Emphasis added]

But apart from our understanding of Scripture [rightly divided] and the grace of God, our sins would drag us down into deep depression.  But, as believers in Christ, we have been freed of all condemnation.

Romans 8:1a

^1a There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, [Emphasis added]

As believers in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the sole basis for our salvation, we are no longer under the condemnation of God.  And because we are the beneficiaries of His grace, it should motivate us to serve Him. As believers in Christ, we’ve been made “free from sin” by grace.

Romans 6:14-18

¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

This means we’re no longer under the condemnation of the law that helps us see how sinful we all are and how much we need our Savior.

¹⁵ What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

¹⁶ Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

The end outcome for sinfulness is death.  It never serves to produce a good life.

¹⁷ But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, [as unbelievers we were completely dominated by it in one form or another] but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

These people had been presented with the gospel message, accepted it, and grown from the teaching they’d been given.

¹⁸ Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. [Emphasis added]

Living no longer under its domination they had become servants of righteousness.

We’ve been freed from sin as believers in the sense that we don’t have to live a life that’s dominated by it.  We’re free to serve the God who saved us.  We can still yield to sin, but we don’t have to do that.  We can choose to live like the servants to God that we are.

Romans 6:22

²² But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. [Emphasis added]

Romans 8:2

² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. [Emphasis added]

Again, believers have been “made free from the law of sin and death” because, in grace, Christ bore the complete penalty for all our sins.  However, we’ve not yet been made free of a sinful nature that’s constantly working to cause us to yield to it.  We are commanded not to yield to it.

Romans 6:12-13

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

There would be no need for such a command if we as believers were incapable of sin.

¹³ Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. [Emphasis added]

And exactly how do we do this? Answer: By learning God’s Word that is directed to us and resolving to work at living by it every day.  We all have what some have called “the decider of the soul.”  We’re free to use it to make good decisions, wise decisions or bad and foolish ones.  We simply don’t have to let the world, the flesh, and Satan dominate us in our decision-making.  That choice is ours to make.

Again, Galatians 5:17

¹⁷ For the flesh  [one’s sinful nature] lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do [with perfect consistency] the things that ye would [THELO = desire]. [Emphasis added]

So, what’s it going to be? What will you decide to do about this? Again, that choice is yours.  But it is one decision you’ll have to make every day of your life.  The temporal reward is the life that such will provide now, but the eternal reward is blessing like we’ve never known in this life.  Here’s the name of one of my other articles that I hope you’ll invest the time to read it and study it—

Rewards:  For what will God wish to reward you in eternity?

Paul’s epistles clearly tell us that there is nothing that will so help us to overcome sin and live pleasing to God as an understanding and an appreciation of what He has done for us in Christ. As we become occupied with these “things of the Spirit” we find ourselves “walking in the Spirit”, and as Galatians 5:16 says— “WALK IN THE SPIRIT, AND YE SHALL NOT FULFIL THE LUST OF THE FLESH”.

If we do these things, it will minimize those times when we or someone else may be caused to question our salvation because of the things we say or do.  We’re in no position to improve or eliminate our sinful nature, but we surely can minimize its effects on our decisions and live a wonderful and productive life serving our Lord.  Always remember—You’re not saved and Heaven-bound because you stopped sinning; you’re only Heaven-bound because you have accepted the Savior who did something about your sin problem.

Romans 6:23

²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Emphasis added]