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| Volume 24 Number 10 October 2022 |
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| Volume 24 Number 10 October 2022 |
Page 16 |
Louis Rushmore, Editor
Hi pastor. Kindly may u leads me to christ. Am Muslim who needed salvation. Crying for salvation via u. What can I do to be get saved. Rply sir. Isaac
Thank you for your interest in becoming a Christian, a child of God. It would be helpful to know where in the world you are and how you came to contact me. Nevertheless, please note the abbreviated information that will put becoming a Christian into perspective for you. Essentially, the basics are as follows.
I have also added you to the free, monthly email reminder list for notification when a new edition of Gospel Gazette Online (www.GospelGazette.com) is available. That website also has many hundreds of religious articles in its Archive and well over 100 titles of books and editions of the magazine The Voice of Truth International in PDF format, at no charge or free, in its Digital Library. I hope this helps, and I look forward to your further correspondence.
What If I Sin after
Becoming a Christian?
Louis Rushmore
“What if I sin after becoming a Christian?” someone asked. It is not a matter if one may sin after becoming a Christian, but instead, every Christian sometimes commits sins. Notice what the inspired apostle John penned to Christians in the first century. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. …If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10 NKJV). I have only encountered one Christian in my 50+ years of preaching who claimed – adamantly–he never commits sins as a Christian. That assertion was sinful since it directly contradicted the Holy Word of God, as just noted.
Unrighteous people major in unrighteousness and minor in righteous – sometimes. Christians major in righteousness and, regrettably, minor in unrighteousness or sin. Even good moral people who are not Christians are unrighteous as long as they do not obey the Gospel of Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; 1 Peter 4:17).
Just as there was a remedy for sin before one became a Christian – to obey the Gospel of Christ (Mark 16:15-16) by acting out the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3-5) – there is also a remedy for sin after one becomes a Christian. Turning to the apostle John once more and in the same context, we discover, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. …If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7, 9).
Forgiveness for the sins of Christians is available it we purposely practice Christianity, though sometimes we may falter. Sins of which we are not aware are forgiven as we continue to walk in the light of God’s Word to the best of our abilities. Further, sins of which we are aware are forgiven upon our acknowledgment and repentance of them – through prayer as privately or as publicly as one’s sins are known (Acts 8:22).
Salvation is not a license to sin, as the apostle Paul made clear to Christians in Rome. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). Christians are not perfect, but they have been forgiven of their past sins when they obeyed the Gospel (Romans 3:25), and they are forgiven of subsequent sins when they repent and pray about them.