Can We Enter the Kingdom of Heaven If We Frequently Commit Sins?
There are some brothers and sisters who think, “The Lord Jesus’ sin offering is effective forever. No matter what sin we commit, as long as we confess and repent to the Lord, then we can obtain the Lord’s forgiveness and ultimately we will enter the kingdom of heaven.” But is this view really correct? Is there a basis for this view in God’s words? According to this view, it seems as though, once we believe in the Lord, there is nothing to worry about no matter how we may sin, for the Lord will always forgive us and the Lord Jesus’ sin offering is effective forever. If this is true, then how can the following verses be explained? “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26–27). Besides, it is mentioned in Revelation, “Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). When the Lord returns, He will reward the good and punish the wicked depending on the actions and behavior of each individual. The Lord Jesus also prophesied that He will come in the last days to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and the good servants from the wicked servants, and whether we will ultimately go to heaven or hell in our belief in God is directly linked to whether or not we practice the Lord’s words and follow the Lord’s way. According to our views, however, it seems as though we’re saying that the Lord will forgive us whether we follow His way or not and regardless of the sins we commit. Wouldn’t that make the Lord Jesus’ words “to give every man according as his work shall be” meaningless? Because they cling to this kind of view, many brothers and sisters pay no attention to putting the Lord’s words into practice or following the Lord’s commandments. They even become more and more degenerate, they shun the Lord more and more, and they live in a state of sinning and confessing from which they cannot escape. Does it accord with God’s will to go on that way? God says, “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). “Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever” (John 8:34–35). The Bible also says, “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie” (Revelation 22:15). “For this you know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5). We can understand from this that God is holy and that His righteous disposition brooks no offense. If we can never cast off the shackles of sin and frequently knowingly commit sin, then God will detest and reject us for sinning and resisting Him. We will forever be unable to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Lord Jesus forgave us our sins, but what exactly is meant by “sins” here? Mostly, it means sinful deeds in violation of the laws and commandments of God and which go against God’s words. It was precisely because people were capable of violating God’s laws and commandments and of being condemned and punished by the laws that the Lord Jesus came to perform the work of redemption and was crucified for all mankind, taking upon Himself all our sins. Thereafter, as long as someone prayed in the Lord Jesus’ name, confessed and repented, then their sins were forgiven and they were no longer subject to the condemnation and punishments of the laws. God would also no longer regard that person as a sinner, and they would be able to pray to and call on God directly and enjoy God’s bounteous grace and blessings. This was the salvation people gained during the Age of Grace. Just as God’s words say, “At the time, Jesus’ work was the work to redeem all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer of sin, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins. Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin.” “For all that man may have been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it can only be considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with his transgressions. However, when man, who lives in a body of flesh, has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing his corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sinning and being forgiven. The majority of mankind sin in the day only to confess in the evening. This way, even though the sin offering is forever effective for man, it will not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has a corrupt disposition.”
We can understand from this passage that the work the Lord Jesus did in the Age of Grace was the work of redemption which only forgave the sins of man which violated the laws, and did not absolve man of his inner sinful nature. Under the control of our satanic, sinful nature, we are filled with all manner of satanic dispositions, such as arrogance, conceitedness, crookedness, deceitfulness, selfishness and ignobility. All the things we enjoy and live out are things that oppose God, and not one of them is compatible with God. Take our inner selfish and despicable disposition, for example. When we speak and act, we only ever do so by considering and making plans for our own interests, and we even suffer and expend ourselves in our faith in God just to get blessings. When everything is comfortable and easy in our environment and all is well at home, we thank God, but the moment we are struck by illness or adversity, we begin to blame God, and some people may even go so far as to abandon God. In our interactions with others, we live by our arrogant dispositions and we always want others to listen to what we have to say, but when others don’t listen to us, we become angry and reproach them. Because we have a malicious nature, we get jealous when we see someone better than us, and can even exclude them and attack them. These are just a few examples. It is evident that our inner satanic dispositions, such as arrogance, conceitedness, selfishness, greed, crookedness and deceitfulness are things deeper and more entrenched than sin, and they are the root cause of us committing sins and resisting God. If these satanic corrupt dispositions are left unresolved, then we will be capable of frequently sinning, resisting God and betraying God, until finally we won’t be able to enter the heavenly kingdom. Just as the Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
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