To the saints in Philippi Paul wrote of his, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ,” Philippians 1:6. Many people have asked, even recently, about what a Christian does with his or her sin after they’re born again. They have somehow come to see the gospel of the Lord as a mere fresh start that they can mess up again so badly that their latter end may become worse than the first. No true preacher believes that sin is ok. No pastor worth his salt believes one can lose salvation. The gospel’s surety does not produce loose living, but it should produce a people who know that their salvation is reserved in heaven despite all their sin.
One of the evidences of Christian life is a continual repentance for sin. 1 John 1:9 speaks of God’s continual forgiveness for our sin. It’s not just that we simply “repented” one day, it’s that we’re “repenting” today. Christians must be at war with their sin or it’s evidence that they’re just not being delivered from it. We should be different than we were before we were saved. Those of us who were born again later in life are ever more aware of just how much of a difference grace has made, but all Christians are to be progressively becoming more like the Bible says we should be both inwardly and outwardly. There is great comfort in seeing this holiness perfected in you in love. If you’re in Christ, be willing to ask those who know you and the Bible best if you’re growing in holiness. It’s a tough and humbling question to ask, but they’ll tell you.
Aside from this struggling and warring, Christians who fight the good fight with eager expectation of the end of their faith should remember great truths like what’s said above in Philippians 1:6. God is the author and finisher of your faith, Hebrews 12:2. He started the work in you. He made you born again. He will complete His work. He will glorify you if He has called you, Romans 8:30. God is omniscient. He knows your heart better than you do. He saved you knowing full well what He was getting, and all that you’d do after. He doesn’t give eternal life temporarily. Salvation is not performance based it’s grace based. Do you have cause to trust grace? Do you know the gospel? You must fight against your sin if you love Jesus, but assurance and strength for this fight comes from knowing that despite its numerous tactical defeats that it has already been won, Hebrews 10:14. Keep your eye fixed on Christ, saint. It is His righteousness upon which we can stand, not our own! Read, pray, fast, fight, and bear witness in love. God is more glorified in your struggles against sin today than if He were to remove you from them altogether or else He would have taken you to heaven already. In your daily fight you’re to remember the cross. In remembering the cross, the reason for all of life is realized. God is producing something from it all. He started it; He’ll finish it.
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