Often on TV, Jean and I have seen people proclaim that they are Christians, that “my faith is very important to me,” and talk openly about Jesus, but they say these things while they are living in overt, unrepentant sexual sin. Hopefully, that’s not you. But if it is, then you probably aren’t saved, and, unless you repent, you will be lost forever.
I suspect that at my writing, you probably aren’t saved if you’re living in overt, unrepentant sexual sin, will baffle and/or upset many people. But the Bible is clear about this. Consider Ephesians 5:3, 5-6: “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness[i] must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints…. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
That’s clear, right? If you are sexually immoral you will have “no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ” and this is why “the wrath of God comes.”
But I’ve Prayed “The Sinner’s Prayer”?
But, some will protest that they believe in Jesus and that they have prayed the sinner’s prayer, so that means they are saved. No. It does not. Those are what Paul called, “empty words.” As I’ve posted previously, the sinner’s prayer never has saved anyone, Faith that doesn’t result in a change of behavior isn’t a saving faith. The problem is that a false gospel has been preached, one of easy-believism, or non-Lordship salvation (Jesus doesn’t have to be your Lord but you can still be saved if you believe), and so many Christians don’t realize that they can’t go on living in sin.
Have I Forgotten about the Reformation?
Some may protest I appear to have forgotten about the Reformation, that what I’m talking about is works righteousness. No. I am not. We are indeed saved by grace alone through faith alone. But there is a reformation maxim that I’ve always liked: “faith alone saves but the faith that saves is not alone.” Here are the first three of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses that began the Reformation in earnest:
- When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
- This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
- Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.
Notice that Luther said that you aren’t repenting at all unless it is changing your behavior. This makes sense because people live what they sincerely believe and if you sincerely believe that Jesus really is the Lord who died for our sins and was raised from the dead, and sexual practices outside of what the Lord ordains are sinful, then you will take steps to not do those things.
But I Struggle with Sin
Christians have told me that they struggle with sin. Exactly!! In fact, that they “struggle” is evidence that they are true Christians. What I’m talking about are people who know what God commands—sexual chastity—but aren’t taking any steps to change. Let me encourage those who struggle with sin. I realize in this lust ladened world that there are many opportunities to sin and that temptation abounds. For crying out loud, most of us have an adult bookstore on our laps (more about that in tomorrow’s post)! But, again, I’m not talking about the person who lapses into sin and then sincerely repents and seeks to do better. I’m talking about “Christians” who are not trying to not sin. I’m talking about people who download porn, tell God they’re sorry for lusting after it, but then don’t delete the porn from their computers because they want to view it later. I’m talking about people who call themselves Christians who are “shacking up” and have no intention to change. This is unrepentant sexual sin and if you’re doing those kinds of things then you probably aren’t saved. Repentance means you will actually try to stop sinning.
A Christian Is Someone Who Has Decided to Stop Sinning
There are only two possibilities for a person who responds to Jesus: you can choose to stop sinning or you can choose not to stop sinning. True Christians are those who choose to stop sinning. Now, obviously, I’m not saying that true Christians don’t often sin—if that were the case, then I’m not a Christian. What I’m talking about are those who call themselves Christians but have decided to willfully, unrepentantly, go on living in sexual sin.
Why I Said Probably Aren’t Saved
The reason I said those who live in overt, unrepentant sexual sin probably aren’t saved—as opposed to simply saying “aren’t saved”—is because, upon reading this (or hearing a similar exhortation elsewhere), someone may repent and delete the porn, or get accountable, or stop shacking up, and so on. This is what I’m hoping for in writing this post!
So, if you call yourself a Christian, but you’re living in unrepentant sexual sin, you probably aren’t saved. But you can repent! If you’re struggling with sin, tomorrow I’ll publish a related post: “A Sure-Fire Way to Stop Looking at Porn.”
[i] Peter T. O’Brien explains about the word covetous (greed) that “Paul moves from the acts of immorality or uncleanness to their inner spring—’greed’, that insatiable desire to have more, even the coveting of someone else’s body for selfish gratification.” Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, PNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 360.
Thanks for writing this. When i’m Out evangelizing in the night-club/tourist district of a local beach town I meet “Christians” as they call themselves who are drunk, smoking pot and arguing “God made Pot!!” Living together, openly homosexual “God is love! He doesn’t judge us so neither should you!” And etc. I’m glad you took the time to write what the Bible says about this.
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I’m scared of eternal suffering because I often sexually lust and know verses that say those who don’t consistently live how God commands will suffer forever. As much as I like sexual stimulation and sin to try to satisfy that desire, I’m confident enough that that’s willful sin, not just struggling with it but to affraid to admit I’m not saved. Why do people make a distinction of wilful sin and only sinning sometimes because of sin nature, even though you have to will it to do it? I keep wondering if me just not thinking about what tempts me and constantly doing it again is me trying to do what only God can do, or if I’m just using that as an excuse to keep sinning. I feel fear when I realize more than usual that I need to stop this sin. All I ever do is last a little longer sometimes, then go back to doing it. I most often sexually lust every two days, and sometimes only stop for four. I constantly read of christians only doing that because of our sin nature, but not willingly doing it. I’ve always been confused how people stop wanting to lust. I just don’t think of it sometimes, and wonder if I’m simply not continuing to stop because I hate God, or if I need a desire that replaces it. I also think me not having a replacement desire is evidence I’m not saved. I’m afraid of not having that stimulation whenever I can ever again and that I have to quit it. My only motivation to ever obey God was fear of eternal suffering and other uncertainties it exaggerates when I masturbate.
I’ve never felt like I love God, only what he made, and that I hope will all be part of restored creation. Many have believed the sea, day and night cycles being no more in revelation is literal, and that Jesus’s answer to the Sadducees question about a case of levirate marriage means marriage in general and sex desire will be gone forever. Other parts of the bible and details even in those texts have convinced me these interpretations are false, but I wonder if I’m saved because so many Christians are satisfied by just the thought of a restored relationship with God and other saved people that they don’t care if He gets rid of anything that was part of creation before human sin.
I’ve always hated that more sexual interest has been shown for women than men too because I like the feeling of sexual arousal so much I really wish the desire wasn’t so one sided most of the time. There’s been more revealing clothes for women for the same occasions than what men wear and significantly more sexualization of depictions of women in media than of men. Many women don’t find the same areas on the male body as arousing as the ones most men find most attractive on women. I’ve seen many studies and many women online say that they need emotional stimulation to feel sexual. And more people find female features more attractive than male so much that even many heterosexual women like seeing sexualized depictions of their gender. They say it’s because they like the thought of being sexually desired more than they feel that desire for men. I’m not supposed to want anyone to lust, and am sure if both genders had expressed about the same amount of sex desire for the opposite gender as often, I’d be more encouraged to want sexual purity. I feel like I’m missing something I would very much enjoy about women. I also hate that many studies have found a greater correlation with more testosterone than estrogen with more sex desire. It’s because, even though women need some testosterone, that being what gives males our distinguishing features makes it seem like sex desire needing mostly testosterone would make that more of a male than female quality. This is also why I’m conflicted about how attractive musculature looks on women to me, so long as they don’t have a male looking frame. I find it unnattractive that much of what gives women a different body shape is fat, even though i know they need more of it. It’s because fat isn’t part of what makes a stable body structure, so it feels to me like something besides the body itself being shaped that way. This is all stuff I hate about women and wonder if that’s also hatred of God since I hate something he approves of. It’s because of all that, that I don’t care to have a girlfriend or wife anymore. I’ve been single my whole life and am 32 years old and became disillusioned from my denial of these things I didn’t want to believe about women in about the first week of May in 2023.
I also hate that women and God have used words meant to specify males to refer to anyone. It feels to me like treating what’s associated with males as being more applicable to both genders than females. I hate that husbands automatically have more authority than wives just because of gender. I hate the unequal treatment of gender. I don’t know how I’m supposed to hate everything God hates and want everything he wants. It’s stuff like this why I’ve always been missing a lot of joy.
Read my post: https://clayjones.net/2011/06/so-youve-sinned-again-and-again/