Are You a Practicing Christian?

There is a religious craze on the rise in Christianity known as 'Christian Liberalism'.

This is a demonic spirituality that promotes salvation without repentance, thus a person is saved with their sins rather than from their sins.

The doctrinal belief is that an individual who's made a confession of sin and believe on the Lord Jesus doesn't necessarily have to live a life separated from sin because their belief in Christ being Lord will bring them into eternal life no matter how they live.

This great misconception in Christianity is that what one once believed, you will always believe.  And that to profess something is the same as believing.  Is that a profession made ages ago somehow constitute what you believe today?

I would like to challenge those who embrace such belief to consider a few bible facts. 

First – John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins to the Lord, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".

In order for us to walk in a day by day intimate fellowship with God, through Christ Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, we must be broken to the fact we are sinners and confess.  The sins commission, sins of omission, the sins of submission, sinful thoughts, sinful acts, secret sins, public sins, willful and deliberate sins.

We must bring these sins out in the open before the Lord and take the side that God has about sin and of our own willingness, forsake those sins.  This is what true confession and believing on the Lord Jesus is that brings us into eternal life.  Proverbs 28:13 says, "Tell us those who cover their sins won't last, but the person who confesses and forsake their sins will have the divine favor of God".

Let me ask a question.  When a man gets into the shower and washes his dirty body with soap when he gets out of the shower, is he now clean?

Then, that's how it is with God.  When we confess our sins and turn from them God doesn't just show divine favor and forgive us of the sins, He through his Son washes away the filth and stench that sin caused in our lives.

Now let me ask, "Does a clean person get into a filthy tub of water and sit in it after getting out of it?"  To be cleansed from all unrighteousness means just that.  We are washed clean by the blood of Jesus from every filthy unrighteous thing we've ever done.

The next process after cleansing is putting the unrighteous way we once lived to death.  Colossians 3 starting with verse 5 says," Put to death what ever belongs to your earthly nature:  sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed which are idolatry."  This speaks very clearly of the believer's standing and state.

Our standing is that we have died (become Godly broken).  Our state is that we recognize that in Christ we are dead to our sins.

What should be carefully noted is the scripture tells the believer to kill the sinful ways of their past, not that God will take them away.  Look at what the apostle tells the believer to put to death.

The scripture doesn't say don't worry about those sins but put them to death.  And we have record of other scriptures that tell us to destroy the works of our flesh, not have salvation living yet in our sins.

We see II Corinthians 5:17 tell us if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.  The old way of living is passed away and all things in his life are now new. 

Listen, when we escape the defiled pollutions of this world through the knowledge that we've come to have in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then turn around and get right back entangled into the sinfulness God delivered us from.  Then, we're going to be in a worse state than what we were before…. (II Peter 2:20).

It's easy to tell a man how much Jesus loves him and encourage him or her to follow Christ.  But, there's more that comes with a verbal confession and believing on the Lord Jesus.  There is the fact that we are required to live a life after the character of Christ.  I don't mean this in the sense of reading a bible or praying every day even though they are important.

I mean this in the sense that we live a life that doesn't bring shame to the name of Jesus that turns others off from coming to Christ.

The bible tells us to walk in the Spirit of God and we won't fulfill sinful lust of our flesh like gambling – cussing – telling or listening to foul jokes or conversations of sexual sinfulness.  As Christians we realize lust of the flesh resist against the authority of the Holy Spirit.  And make no mistake, the Holy Spirit will never submit to the demonic authority of the flesh… (Galatians 5: 16-18).

Examine your heart and ask yourself today, "Am I a practicing Christian or am I practicing Christian liberalism which is to have some form of salvation with my sins than to be saved from my sins.