To answer this question, let’s have a short throwback to last week’s post on the gospel. We explained that salvation is not the work of man but of God. This means that Jesus died to cleanse us of our sins. For the reason of this sacrifice, we are no longer slaves or powerless to sin. The spirit of God in you is powerful enough to overcome any temptation. Romans 6:14 confirms that ‘For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law but under grace’. Therefore, the man who has believed the gospel is no longer a servant or slave to sin as he has been delivered from sin. Nevertheless, if the believer is found living in habitual sin after being saved…Here are some of the implications of living in such a way.
One of the major effects of living a life of sin after you have been saved is that it will hinder your communication with God. This has nothing to do with God deciding to stop speaking to you but as a human being, you will start to feel unworthy of being in His presence. You will begin to feel guilty and this will give the enemy a loophole to start whispering these thoughts into your mind of how unworthy you are which is far from the truth because you are worthy in the sight of God.
In some cases, you find such Christian absconding from the gathering of believers. You start to feel like you shouldn’t be there. You begin to see yourself as filthy and your relationship with other believers also starts to decline because you start to feel so condemned that the accusation of the enemy lives rent-free in your head and you start to withdraw from the gathering of other believers 2 Corinthians 2:11 (KJV).
There are also earthly consequences for your actions, whether by law or by man, you will have to live through the punishment or consequences of your action. This has nothing to do with God’s love for you. 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 (KJV). There are consequences for every choice made. Though many try to shy away from the consequences of their actions, they are indeed responsible for them. In the long run, such a Christian might have to suffer the consequences of such acts or wrongdoings. Again, this isn’t God punishing you for sins as Jesus bore the punishment for sins already. Rather, it is the consequence of your action or the choices earlier made.
Living in sin takes you deeper and deeper into sin and this makes it easier for the enemy to make its way into your mind and your heart. This is why it is important to live like Jesus because your actions as a believer affect other believers. By rejecting sin you are serving as a good example to other believers 1 Timothy 4:12 (KJV). Romans 6:1-2 ‘God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?’. Sin is like poison and should be rejected as such by the believer. You can reject it because you are not under the bondage of sin. It makes you a potential threat and a bad example to other believers around you. Such is the case of the brother that was living in open sin in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul had to instruct that he should be put away else it spreads across the church.
Walking in sin after you are saved also blurs your spiritual sight. This is not because God is not showing you things but because you start to have little or no discernment because what sin does is that it defiles. It blinds one’s sight to the truth of God’s Word, thereby hindering spiritual growth. You start to rationalise or justify your action or sin and this is an example of having a blurred spiritual sight. The believer who lives habitually in sin hardly sees clearly and suffers a blurred spiritual sight.
Hence, as a believer, there is no reason why you should continue in sin. Remember: How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Till next time,
Walk in the power you have over sin as a son of The Son