“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. (Gen. 4:7a)
You cannot live in sin if you have called Jesus Christ Lord, for either you are not saved, or you will endure chastisement for a very long time, no Father gives good things to children who will not obey. These are not the rare occurrences we speak of here, those thoughts and acts that come upon us occasionally, the times when we of our own free will make a decision to follow the temptation to its conclusion, nor are they the instances when our emotions get the better of us, when we do not keep our bodies under subjection. (1 Cor. 9:27)
These are the sins that we decide to continue in because we have determined that the grace of God means favor without concern for the actions, that the Lord will continue to bless no matter how we conduct ourselves.
Many Evangelical churches, and I would presume to say all those religious organizations that have rebelled against the Lord by claiming works can lead us to salvation, will speak of the account in 1 Corinthians 11:30 where Paul spoke by the Spirit, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” The cults will extend that grace, in their own mistake, to suggest that by participating in the remembrance of the Lord’s supper, communion if you like, they are absolving themselves of any guilt before the Lord, while the Evangelicals will see it as a sin, one in context with that verse, yet will let the “smaller sins” not affect them as much. The solemnity of the occasion gives credence to the event, brings a type of reverence and fear into it, yet many other sins are simply “passed over” as expected by the human race.
I have asked this question before, and it is worth repeating, how long does a prodigal son need to stay in that life before one can conclude that he is not saved?
The faith that is based on works can live that life for the entirety of their time here on earth, for once they either eat the wafer and drink the wine, or simply ask for forgiveness (1 John 1:9) they can continue to wallow in the mire. The same is relative to those who have based their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ on their emotional state, by modifying the way they feel, they can simply forget that sin, or sins, that simply will not leave their lives. Both will, in time, simply expect the Almighty to understand, to forgive, to not pay any real attention to this part of their life that they refuse to recognize as sin against Him, they can forgive themselves and at the same time expect that the Lord has done the same, they have turned the act into an action expected by the Lord. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6)
If you are indeed born-again, and you have unrepented of sin in your life, do not expect any blessings, do not even expect your prayers to be heard until you repent, turn away from in tears and disgust, that sin that you cherish so much. When we continue in sin, and I will not judge here the length of time, we make a determinization within ourselves that God is less Holy than He is, that He will simply continue to love without punishment those children of His that will not obey.
That, my friends, is the epitome of foolishness, for the definition of a fool in the Scriptures is one who orders their life as if there is no God, and when we continue to live in sin when we know these truths, we are in danger of either great chastisement, or residing for eternity in a place that we did not expect to be in.
