What Happens When A Christian Sins?
How thankful we are that a person who knows Christ, will never lose his or her salvation. The Bible is resplendent with verses to back up this truth. King David knew in the Old Testament that God was a promise-keeping, covenant-keeping Lord. He said, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips" (Psalm 89:30-34).
Jesus promised in the New Testament, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). So when a Christian sins he or she is never in jeopardy of losing salvation.
So then, what happens?
I. A Christian who sins loses the communicative function with God.
Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Prayers go unheeded when we embrace the sin that cost the Son of God His very life. If the phone line has been cut, you can have the nicest phone in Houston, but you’re not going to be talking to anyone. You can have the best computer money could buy from Dell, HP, Gateway, or Apple, but if you don’t have a server hooked up, you’re not going to email anyone.
Many Christians entertain sin in their life, go to church and are involved in spiritual activities, but they will get nowhere with God if sin has blocked the path of communication. Isaiah 59:2 reads, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." James 4:3 emphatically says, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."
The prayers of God’s people who knowingly and willingly sin against Him will “boomerang” in their face.
II. A Christian who sins loses direction.
The built-in spiritual radar provided by the Holy Spirit would malfunction and the sinning Christian will lose his or her way. Proverbs 3:6 says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
We shall be stumbling like a blind man on unfamiliar ground, if we hold fast to the sin that God hates. He will not provide the day-by-day instruction that we all need.
III. A Christian who sins will lose interest and understanding of the Bible.
I Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The Bible is a spiritual book. It must be read through the vision of a willingness to obey it, if it is to be understood.
When the carnal mind is at work, the Bible is not giving life, but rather death. Romans 8: 6 and 7 says, " For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Paul reiterated this when he said, "...for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (II Corinthians 3:6).
IV. A Christian who sins loses power with God.
Much like Samson of old, the power is taken and you’re not even aware of it: Judges 16:20 says, "And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him." “Wist not” is an archaic expression meaning “did not know” or he “was unaware.” We know that the Lord promised He would never leave us in the New Testament dispensation, however we lose the effect of His Spirit working mightily and effectually in our lives. "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30). "Quench not the Spirit" (I Thessalonians 5:19).
Even as the disciples of our Lord were powerless, those who have sinned against the Lord lose the ability to function with unction: Luke 9:40 says, “And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not.”
What a contrast to Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Sin strangles the strength from the Christian. Obedience paves the way for infilling and power!
V. A Christian who sins is set up for divine disciplinary action.
Hebrews 12: 6 and 11 says, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
Chastening from the Lord is as sure as the law of gravity, if we wander from the Lord and His will. Consider the passage we quoted from earlier, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes" (Psalm 89:30-32).
VI. A Christian who sins can come back to the place of blessing.
In the dedication of the Temple, God sent forth a brilliant, shining promise: “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place (II Chronicles 7:13-15).
I John 1:9 is still in the Book, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
- Pastor Pope -