Some folks said one could live in sins and still be saved by God’s grace. Is this true? Here is a conversation that talks of grace and destiny.
“No matter how wretched you are, if you are destined to be saved, you will be saved”.
“Could an un-repented sinner be saved?” Response: “Whether repented or not, if he is destined to be saved, the grace of God will save him”.
“It is the grace of God that will save, regardless of the individual sinful state”. The individual will be saved, no matter his wretchedness”.
Does the grace of God save in absence of obedience faith? What all these conversations and questions indicate are:
- Unrepented sinners will be saved, regardless of the evil he had done on earth.
- Some are destined to be saved, while some are destined to be lost, no matter how hard they tried to live according to God’s commandments.
- Is God selective in His scheme of redemption?
- What of Revelation 21:8?
- How just is the Lord in His selection process, if it is true that salvation is by selection? Is salvation by selection?
- Has man nothing to do in respect to his eternal salvation? Let us refer to this as Robotic Salvation or Robotic Eternal life.
But the Lord Jesus Christ said, “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Thus, repentance on the part of the sinners is required for salvation. You need to examine what you have wrongly been taught in the light of God’s word or consolidate your previous learning with additional facts based on copious Bible passages given below.
Grace saved and saves! (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace saved Noah (Genesis 6:8). But Noah’s salvation through grace is not in unrighteousness. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”. Grace is truly grace upon obedience to God’s commandments. In un-repented injustice and wickedness, there is no saving grace. Grace works with obedience faith. This is what grace working on obedient faith does: The inadequacy of man to self-save himself is aided by God’s grace to obtain eternal life.
God’s grace is sufficient to help man to turn away from sin. Paul in Romans 6:1-2 says: “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?” All the redeemed through obedience faith should not continue to sin and live in sin. They are redeemed from the worldly defilement and pollution to live for the Caller (1 Peter 2:9-10). God’s grace thrives on righteousness and obedient faith. Just as Noah found grace in God’s sight and he was saved. “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (Genesis 6:9-10).
“Perfect” in this passage means “complete” or “mature” according to God’s standard. Looking at it these ways, we gain more insight in reference to man and the Lord:
- It does not mean sinlessness (without sin) in reference to man. No man is sinless (Romans 3:9-18, 23).
- In reference to God, it means sinlessness. God has no sin! His Son Jesus Christ has no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 3:5).
If Noah partnered with corruption and all assorted evils, as did his contemporaries, do you think grace would save him?
- Why was it that grace did not save Noah’s contemporaries in their defilement and corrupted state?
- Is God partial for selecting only Noah to obtain His grace?
Partial God
“For there is no partiality with God” (Romans 2:11). The question to answer is this: Is God partial in His dealings with mankind? Moses, His servant was disallowed from entering the Promised Land. Why? Because God said no one who disobeyed Him amongst over 600,000 people who left the Egyptian bondage would enter into His rest, the Promised Land, Canaan (Exodus 12:37-38). This shows that God is not partial. Moses, though the meekest (humblest, Numbers 12:3) person, sinned against the Lord and was disallowed because of the water of Meribah from entering the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 20:13; 27:14).
The verdict of God on Moses depicts Him to be a righteous judge: “Because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow me in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel" (Numbers 32:51-52).
Was not Aaron, the High Priest and the elderly brother of Moses, prevented from entering Canaan? God was and is a just judge! “Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah” (Numbers 20:24). Aaron died without entering the Promised Land on Mount Hor (Numbers 20:22-29; Deuteronomy 32:50).
Man’s sins bring doom on him. God does not judge unjustly. Judgment and punishment are according to man’s ways and doings (Psalm 17:3; 62:12; 139:23; Jeremiah 11:20; 20:12; 32:19; Romans 8:27; 2:6). Prophet Jeremiah wrote: “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:10).
Apostle Paul penned that judgment is according to man’s ways and doings (Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10). Again, grace deals with insufficiency of man to earn salvation on His own. Grace helps man’s deficits to attain to perfection and to salvation. It was not by Noah’s perfection (sinlessness) that brought him salvation, but by God’s grace (unmerited favour). It was not by Noah’s superb knowledge and wisdom that he earned salvation from the flood, but by God’s unmerited favour (grace). “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11); yet, Noah out of the lot was saved because he did not join his contemporaries to do evils.
Noah, a man like us, did not join evildoers! “So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:12). Noah distanced himself from the evils of his era and he was rewarded. “He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded” (Proverbs 13:13).
God cannot overlook unrepented sins, therefore, quickly repent of your sins, so that sins will not be your ruin. “Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin” (Ezekiel 18:30). Jesus Christ wants all to repent of their sins before salvation (Luke 13:3, 5).
God cannot justify the guilty without genuine repentance. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
Isaiah wrote, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25). The grace of God provides what man’s efforts and works could not earn and provide. Turning the grace of God into a cloak for vice will not save. “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men ---as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honour all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king” (1 Peter 2:15-17).
“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe” (Deuteronomy 10:17).
Salvation: Not By Selection
Salvation is not by selection, but by obedient faith in Christ Jesus! God is not partial in His salvation plan through believing in Christ Jesus, repenting from sins, confessing Jesus as the Christ, Son of God and the Lord (John 13:13; 20:30-31) and from being baptized in water for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). The early Christians did this and were saved.
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). The “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” had been followed for man’s salvation. If we follow the same faith today, obedient faith, we will be saved. This is the “common salvation”, available to every person today to be saved through God’s grace. This is man’s part toward his salvation.
Has man nothing to do in respect to his eternal salvation? As seen, man has something to do regarding his salvation... obedient faith. Without something on his part, man’s salvation will be Robotic Salvation, and his eternal life will be Robotic Eternal life.
Revelation 21:8 indicates man’s part in the scheme of salvation: “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death”.
Unrepented sinners cannot be saved; each person will give account of what he or she had done on earth. There is no destiny regarding salvation, though this may exist in material possessions on earth. Let all liars stop lying. Let all sexually immoral person cease sexual immorality and live a holy and pure life. The grace of God will not cover the abominable, nor idolaters who refuse to repent of their sinful living. Therefore, no one is destined to be saved, while some other are destined to be lost. This will be tantamount to partiality. By your ways and doings, you will receive your just reward. The Lord’s judgment was and is according to everyone’s ways and doings (Ezekiel 33:20; Romans 14:10). The Jews heard the words of the Lord, “but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain” (Ezekiel 33:31). Will a man living in sins be saved by grace without turning from his evil ways? No!
Conclusion
James 2:17-24 says much: “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe --- and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only”.
Man’s part of objective faith is expected before God’s grace can save him. The scars of sins are numerous, indelible and ugly, but the grace of God is sufficient to assist man to be saved. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Noah was saved through the grace of God in righteousness, and not in worldly pollution of his days.