Jude 24
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”
As I sat in prayer this evening, I began going over my day. It didn’t take me long to come to the realization that although I’m a saint, I’m still a sinner. I sin in my thought life. I sin with my words. I sin in my actions. As I prayed, I thought about this verse in Jude and began to think about the first part in which we are told that He is able to keep us from falling. If you, like me, are a believer, then this comes as no surprise. God is able to do all things! If God is able to keep me from falling, why then do I continue to fall?
Certainly, by the shed blood of Christ, He indeed has kept me from falling into the eternal pit of hell. It is my belief that the Holy Spirit seals me and that nothing can separate me from the love of God. Saying this, I do not believe that this gives me a ticket to sin at no expense because I also believe that the Lord chastises His children as a loving Father in order to bring us back in line with His will.
Tonight however, in prayer, I found myself focusing on the daily stumbles that I have. The thought of getting back at somebody that has harmed me. Or maybe it’s a curse word that flowed from my mouth. Maybe, it was the joking and entering into conversation with coworkers that only focused on things of the world. Whatever it was, this action caused me to fall and this thought was displeasing to the Lord and in it’s simplest form, was an act of sin.
If God is able to keep me from falling, why do I continue to fall? The easy answer is to say that I have free will. Oops, there’s that old free will messing things up again. I must be honest, as I thought about it that was my first answer. I’m choosing to fall. I’m choosing to not call out to the Lord to rescue me. Choice. Free will.
That answer didn’t satisfy me however. The more I thought on this, the more I realized that it has to go deeper than that. I believe this because I want to be more like Jesus. I really do. When I accepted His virgin birth, His earthly ministry, His work on the cross unto death, and His resurrection, I gave my life to Him. I decided that I wanted to live for Jesus. That was my choice, my decision. If this is true, why then do I continue to sin?
Paul sums this concern up very well in his letter to the Romans and provides an answer as to why, we continue to sin. Paul writes, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.“[1]
Two times it is written, “…but sin that dwells within me.” The Spirit dwells inside of me so I ask, how can sin dwell within me? Let’s take a look at the beginning. “…God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.[2]…she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened…”[3]
Through one man sin did enter into mankind. We are fallen and sinful by our very nature. The hope we have is in Jesus Christ. The hope we have is that He will take us from glory to glory. As we study the Word and listen to the Word and absorb the Word, we will become more and more like Him.
It is a sad fact that we are going to continue sinning until the day Christ returns for His church. But John tells us in his epistle, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.[4] Have hope, for if we cry out to Him, He is able and more than willing to keep us from falling.
Praise the Lord for His Mightiness!
[1] Romans 7:15-20
[2] Genesis 3:3
[3] Genesis 3:6,7
[4] 1 John 1:9
3 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
what you wrote is true to a certain extent but there is a point to where if you keep on sining knowing its wrong you will not get forgiven..the bible says walk in the spirit so we dont fulfil the lust of the flesh..we’re supposed to live free from sin the bible says “how are we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?”..it also says “shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid” is what the scripture says…we’re supposed to live a holy life grace is no excuse for sin
Hey Ben,
Thank you for your comment. It’s always fun to see that people are reading our blogs! With that, I’d like to take some time to reply to you. You wrote:
“what you wrote is true to a certain extent but there is a point to where if you keep on sining knowing its wrong you will not get forgiven..the bible says walk in the spirit so we dont fulfil the lust of the flesh..we’re supposed to live free from sin the bible says “how are we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?”..it also says “shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid” is what the scripture says…we’re supposed to live a holy life grace is no excuse for sin”
In my blog I am writing in regards to a true believer, meaning a person that has accepted the free gift of Christ’s sacrifice for the washing of their sins. At the time of this conversion, a regeneration of the spirit must take place thus sealing the born again believer with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). It is my belief through study of the Word that once this process has taken place, NOTHING can ever pluck us from the Father’s hand (John 10:29) nor will He ever leave us (Hebrews 13:5). I also believe that although we are saved by grace, that we ARE NOT made perfect at this time. It is true that through JESUS we are made righteous and holy in the Father’s eyes, but 1 John is clear when he writes to believers that if we say we do not sin, then we make HIM a liar (1 John 1:10).
If a person continues on a path of willfully sinning, then my question to that person is this. Are you really truly saved? The path of WILLFULLY sinning and the path of sinning are different. There are times when, as a friend of mine says, he “fleshes out.” The difference is, he immedieately recognizes this as a fleshful moment and repents of it asking for a cleansing and thus restoring communion with God the Father. In Hebrews, we are told that when a believer sins, he will be chastised for his actions as a loving father would chastise his child, in love. If we are sinning and not being chastised, again, my question is, is that person truly saved (Hebrews 12:6-8)?
I also believe that if a true believer continues sinning in an area that he is truly repentive of yet continues to struggle, that if he becomes an embarrasement to God or his witness becomes void of use, then God will simply take him from this life and bring him home. Regardless, God’s glory will always be shown. In Romans, we are told to let our minds be transformed by God and to not be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2). In Corinthians, we are told that God will take us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). The process of becoming sinless will not be complete until we see Him as He is because we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). That day will only come when we are with Him in the heavens or when He returns while we are still living. Hopefully that clears up some of the things I discussed in my blog. May the Lord bless you my friend!
Interestingly, even for accountants
))))