This ought to cover it for you.
Mark 3:28-30
“Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin “— because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
They have the same opportunity as the woman taken in sin who was brought to Jesus.
He gave her an opportunity for repentance when he said go
thy way and sin no more.
If they repent and sin no more they will be forgiven.
Is salvation knowable?
A person can say “My heart tells me that I am right with Jesus and that I am saved,” but the Bilbe says “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?”
A person can then say “God is telling my heart that I am saved, but it could be the person’s wicked, deceitful heart deceiving them into thinking that it is God telling them that when it isn’t actually God telling them that they are saved, but its the fantasy out of their own heart.
Yes, there are many scriptures in the NT where the Apostles wrote to people to assure them of their salvation, but God was inspiring those apostles and knew that the people being written to were saved. That was then and they were writing to them. You have no assurance that those scriptures apply to you as they were writing to them then under the inspiration of God.
Define ‘saved’ as you mean it.........................
Billy Graham:
Q:
Is it possible for a Christian to live without sinning?
A:
Nowhere does the Bible say that a Christian in this life will ever be completely perfect—that is, free from all sin (1 John 1:8).
As long as we are on this earth, we will always struggle against temptation and sin. That is one reason Jesus taught His disciples to pray (in The Lord’s Prayer), “Forgive us our sins … And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Luke 11:4, Matthew 6:13).
Sometimes we sin by our actions; sometimes by our motives. Often we sin not because of what we do, but because of what we fail to do. For example, we fail to love or forgive others, or in other ways fail to do things we ought to do—and that is sin.
However, there are three important truths we need to repeat over and over to ourselves. First, just because we sin does not mean we are no longer God’s children. Our fellowship with God may be broken, but our relationship is not. Second, when we sin God stands ready to forgive us, and we need to turn to Him immediately.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Third, God wants to help us (through His Holy Spirit, who lives within every believer) to avoid sin in the future. “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16).
Thank God that you belong to Christ, and thank Him for His grace and forgiveness when you do sin—and for strength to overcome future temptation. “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1).
A brother asked Abba Sisoes, “What shall I do, abba, for I have fallen?” The old man said to him “Get up again.” The brother said, “I have got up again, but I have fallen again.” The old man said, “Get up again and again.” So the brother said, “How many times?” The old man said, “Until you are taken up either in virtue or in sin. For a man presents himself to judgement in the state in which he is found.”
The Christian life is a life of perpetual repentance. I also strongly suspect that many more will find themselves on the left hand on the Day of Judgement through my own besetting sins of wrath, self-esteem, and pride than through the more exotic forms lust.
The size of the sin doesn’t matter. Adam didn’t molest anyone and he was cast out. Therefore, under your example, in order to be saved one must not ever commit another sin. Never get angry with ones brother(murder, never look at another woman with lust (adultery) etc. Therefore, applying your train of thought means no one is ever saved. Therefore, Jesus wasted his time on the cross.
You sound like once you are a Christian you longer need the the Gospel and that you will never sin again..Christians need teh Gospel to hear they are forgiven.
Romans 6:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means!
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
Excellent article.
You infer that being “saved” means living a sin free life from that point forward. People sin regardless of their belief system, their desire to “do good”, and some even do it out of ignorance. Redemption through Christ is our salvation, and we will need it all the days of our lives.
These people had 19 children and invited a TV network into their lives. Warning bells? Red flags? Anyone?
Can someone who tells a lie be saved? Cheats on his taxes? Skips a worship service? Fails to feed the poor or visit someone in prison? The answer is that God forgives all sin that is repented of in the name of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Then, as Jesus always says, “Go and sin no more.”
We grade sins as being serious or simply “mistakes.” God does not. Sin is sin, all of them damnable, were it not for Jesus’s perfect life and death which has paid the punishment for all sinners. The only sin that will not be forgiven is the sin of unbelief, because the rejection of the gift of salvation through the death of God’s Son, Jesus, cuts such a sinner off from the mercy of God. Thank God you have forgiveness through the blood of Jesus.
2 At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group
4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger.
7 When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Neither, go by what God's preserved Word says.
Titus 3:5
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
I don't believe in a works salvation, I just believe in a salvation that works, if salvation is'nt working in a persons life, (i.e a changed life that is now seeking to please God, rather than seeking to please self)than that person does not have the salvation that is promised in God's preserved Word.
I find it interesting that so many cockroaches have come out of the woodwork (from another web site) and are sinless enough that they have no problems with casting the first stones.
And boy, are they hurling stones.
I often wonder, what sin did David do that he pleaded with God to forgive the sins of his youth.
Psalm 25:7
New International Version
Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.
1. There where homosexuals back in bible times, just like there are now.
2. There where early Christians that before they where Christians practiced homosexual behavior, but where baptized for the remission of sins, and repented of that homosexual behavior.
3. Christians should FLEE from immorality, a Christians body is a temple of the holy spirit. All Christians sin, and that sin is continually forgiven as forgiveness is asked for. But Christians should not sin for foregiveness to abound, the more a Christian sins, the more the heart is hardened.
How where they saved or washed?
1 Peter 3: 18-22
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.
Even Charlie Manson could be saved as long as there is sincere repentance and a sincere belief in Christ and his precepts. All Christians sin, like everybody else. Repentance requires a rejection of sin and a sincere desire and effort not to sin again. We won’t be perfect but a sincere effort is required. Thus repentance is a continuous lifelong process. This analysis is the same under either a Reformed or Arminian theology of salvation.
1. No revealed sin can be decreed by humans not to be sin.
2. Acknowledged personal sin must be fought against.
3. If not fought against but instead accepted, then one should question the validity of one’s salvation.