How Bad Can A Christian Sin
“How bad can a Christian sin?”Christians continue to sin after they are saved – we will not be completely free from sin until we die or Jesus comes back. However, becoming a Christian results in a changed life
2 Corinthians 5:17This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!.
Galatians 5:19-21When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
A person will go from producing the acts of the flesh to displaying the fruits of the Spirit as the indwelling Holy Spirit has more and more control over his life.
Galatians 5:22-23, But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
This change does not happen instantly, but it does happen over time. If a person does not demonstrate a changed life, he/she is likely not a genuine believer. Christians can commit grievous sins. History is filled with Christians (or those who claim to be Christians) committing terrible crimes. Jesus died for these sins as well. All the more reason not to commit them!The Apostle Paul describes the kind of sinful lifestyles believers are saved from.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Verse 11 says, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Notice the word “were.” Believers used to be like the things listed in verses 9-10, but they are not like that any longer. Can a person who is an adulterer, drunkard, or homosexual, child abuser, etc. be saved? Yes. Is a person who lives a life of continual sin a believer? No. When we become Christians, our lives will change. Anyone who is living a sinful lifestyle and claims to be a Christian is either lying, is self-deceived, or really is a believer who is going to experience God’s judgment and discipline
Hebrews 12:5-11And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?[a] He said,
“My child,[] don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
The difference between a sinning unbeliever and a sinning believer is that one loves his sin while the other hates it. The believer who stumbles in his walk with the Lord regrets it, confesses it, wishes to never do it again and seeks to appropriate God’s power and grace to avoid it. He doesn’t consider how much he can sin and still be considered a Christian. Rather, he considers how he can avoid even the appearance of sin in the future.