False Assertions About Sin Part 3.

"The Faith Of Christ Does Not Demand We Stop Sinning To Be Acceptable To God."

The gospel of salvation in the name of Jesus, right from it's commencement at Pentecost had always emphasised repentance for the remission(pardon/forgiveness and freedom from sin). Acts 2:38

As the saviour could not obtain/secure the remission of sins for us without the shedding of his blood, we cannot receive the remission of sins in his name(secured/obtained for us in his name), without repentance. Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:22.

Every true faith in the message of Jesus as the only saviour and as the only name by which men can be saved from their sins, goes with repentance of sins. Luke 24:47; Acts 3:19; 20:21.

The meaning of the name 'Jesus' is he that saves from sins, the saviour of mankind. Matthew 1:21; Acts 4:12.

If we are yet to be saved from our sins, then we have not allowed the name 'Jesus' to live up to it's true meaning in our lives. 

What opened the door to every evil, sorrow, pain and misery in the human race is sin; if the love of money is the root of all evil, then sin is the ground in and on which that root of all evil, grows and thrives/expresses itself unto death. Jesus came to save us from that sinking ground of sin, where thorns, thistles and every conceivable evil grows unto death.

Every true repentance goes with a heart feeling of compunction/regret, shame and abhorrence/detest of sins committed in the past. It is this feeling of disgust and shame that compels us to forsake our sins; and all these happens to a heart that's truly convicted by the HolySpirit. The scripture thus calls it godly sorrow/grief, and it is what leads to true repentance and salvation. Please see 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 and John 16:7-8.

The fruit/evidence of true/genuine repentance is thus the forsaking of sins which is compelled by godly sorrow wrought in a heart convicted of sin by the HolySpirit. 

There is no true conversion or regeneration without this vital work of the HolySpirit in the heart; there is no true obedience of faith, no true heart response to the faith of Christ without this sanctifying work of the HolySpirit in the heart; working in the sinful heart a godly sorrow which wroughts irritation, retribution, vexation against sin in the soul, and a cleansing/purifying desire/zeal to live unto God in true holiness. Acts 15:7-9; 1 Peter 1:2, 22-23; Titus 3:4-5.

In the light of all these, the assertion that the faith of Christ does not demand we stop sinning to be acceptable to God, stands nowhere but in the wisdom of men which is contrary to what the scripture teaches. 

It is a cunningly devised fable which sounds like the truth of the grace in Christ while contradicting it. 

The faith and grace in Christ demands repentance and forsaking of sins for us to be accepted of God, and it works to that end, through the power of the HolySpirit, to bring about true repentance and conversion in the hearts of those who truly believe. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 thus says "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Ephesians 1:6 also speaks of "the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he made us accepted in the beloved."

The same book of Ephesians however, shows the kind of bride church Jesus is coming for; a church without spot, wrinkle, blemish or any such thing. Anything short of that cannot be acceptable to him such as to be presented to him. The faith and grace that makes us accepted in the beloved, expects us also at the end of the day to be presented holy and without blame before him in love. This will be the only proof that we lived up to the faith and grace, and did not receive the grace in vain or fail to live up to it. Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:21-23; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13.

1 Corinthians 6:1-2 "We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Hebrews 12:14-17 "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the Grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."

Let's never think that the Lord will accept and present to himself a bride whose garments are spotted with sin. Ephesians 5:27.

Grace does not take away the righteous demands of the holy God, it does not lower the standards of God but enables us to live up to it as it has already been met in Christ whom we have come to believe and trust in.

Yes Christ was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him; also Christ is made unto us righteousness, sanctification etc. yet scriptures speak of the righteousness of the saints which we must attain in our walk/conformity to Christ in order to be made ready for the marriage supper. 

It is the peacable fruit of righteousness we're expected to bear on account of his righteousness; it is the proof/evidence that we truly yielded and responded to the grace of his righteousness, thus it is granted to us to be arrayed in it as a fine linen and as a crown which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give us on that day, at the marriage supper of the lamb. 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Revelation 19:7-9; 2 Timothy 4:8.