Obedience in Christ

Jesus commands obedience and repentance. The book of Acts commands obedience and repentance. The Epistles command obedience and repentance. Revelation commands obedience and repentance. The fact that a single act is not the source of our justification is irrelevant. Good works are a necessary part of our life in Christ, and we fool ourselves if we think we do not need to do them. The Christian must live a holy life. He must live the way God has called him to live. The idea that one can sin freely as a Christian, and without repentance, is as anti-biblical and anti-Gospel as you could imagine. A Christian who sins without shame refutes his own faith. He denies his faith. He denies that Christ does what He says He does. A born again soul must live like one born again. If not, then no one in the world has a real reason to believe he is actually a Christian.

Some churches today like to teach that you can be born again, then end up sinning shamelessly for many years, and choose to dedicate your life to Christ later one day. This is a complete lie. A person who is born again is ALSO dedicated to Christ. That is the nature of the new birth. We are a new creation and God will be our God and we will be His people. (Jeremiah 31:33) We live in the newness of Christ’s life. It may be true there is a learning process, but that learning process is actually uphill. It involves actively seeking the good we should desire on our heart. It means hating and staying away from the sins and temptations which could rob us of our goal. It means sorrow and repentance when we sin. That’s an upward climb. The idea that a born again soul can flat-line for years is in great conflict with Scripture. For the Bible teaches that good fruit comes from a good tree. Bad fruit comes from a bad tree. A good tree cannot put forth bad fruit. A bad tree cannot put forth good fruit. (Matthew 7:16-20) The Christian who thinks he can flat-line and sin without repentance for years is not a Christian. His fruit is not Christian. His fruit is the fruit of the damned. The lost. It is bad fruit from a bad tree. The REAL Christian is already dedicated to the Savior, even if it takes some time to learn and grow. He is already doing that.

For those Christians who like to imagine their own sins as very small things, not like murder and rape, remember that is a false and overly convenient categorizing of sin. It is not just murderers who die and end up for eternity in hell. The Bible says that liars do not enter the kingdom of heaven. It says that fornicators and adulterers and sodomites do not enter. It says those practicing idolatry, drunkenness and other sins are not going where Christians end up going. There is no rest for the wicked. The Christian life should not just be free of murder. God forbid. It should be as stainless as our persistence and hard work can make it. Paul spoke about how he pressed into perfection, although he had not attained it. (Philippians 3:12) So should we. Don’t forget, the same arguments the Christian make about how he can be saved and sin freely can likewise be made by the murderer, rapist or pedophile. Anyone can play that game. I’ll just do evil for now, and I’ll dedicate my life to Christ later. Well, you could die tomorrow. How about that? And God says if you do, you are not entering into His kingdom. To believe in God is also to obey God. Any Christian who doesn’t know that needs to pick up his Bible again and read it through. You’re not going to miss it.

Note: These portions have been edited, but not necessarily a final edit, so the book version may be slightly different.