My friend,
I've always wanted to ask this question.
If I acknowledge Christ as my saviour, I mean really really sincerely acknowledge Christ - am I saved?
What if I go around afterwards and kill, rape, steal, fornicate, show my parents disrespect, swear, spend all my family's money on beer and women, etc.?
But while doing all this I still really really really believe Christ is my saviour - am I still saved?
Because if that's all it takes then why does anyone have to be good?
Why would anyone want to do good deeds?
Why would we want to feed the hunger, give water to the thirsty, visit the sick and imprisoned?
Why would we want to love one another?
Because if I'm saved - what does it matter?
Let's put it this way...If you surrender to Christ and ask Him to save you, He will...
What if I go around afterwards and kill, rape, steal, fornicate, show my parents disrespect, swear, spend all my family's money on beer and women, etc.?
But while doing all this I still really really really believe Christ is my saviour - am I still saved?
Because if that's all it takes then why does anyone have to be good?
Here's where we make the mistake...You (we) can't be good...
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
And that is precisely why Jesus died on the Cross...To be our sacrifice because we will never be good enough to merit salvation on our own...
So then; do we continue to sin??? Of course we do...We can't help it...And it's a constant struggle...Even the Apostle Paul had that struggle
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Study that whole chapter for a clear understanding...
So then how do we keep our salvation after we sin???
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
We are not under the law...We are covered by grace...So you might ask how does that work???
We are made in God's image...Like the Trinity, we have a body, a soul and a spirit...When we got saved, we went thru a 'spiritual' circumcism...
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Phi 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
A saved man can't trust his flesh...It's full of sin...We worship God from the spirit, heart...
Phi 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
And what's this mean???
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
I just threw this one in to see if anyone could get the connection...
But anyway, so what's happens then when one continues to sin??? Heb. chapter 10 tells you that God will discipline you...He won't disown you or kick you out of His family for we are his children...But he may beat and whip you all the way to Heaven...
Why would anyone want to do good deeds? Why would we want to feed the hunger, give water to the thirsty, visit the sick and imprisoned? Because if I'm saved - what does it matter?
Doing these things will result in rewards in Heaven...But let's not forget, un-saved people do these things all the time...