The Immature Christian Struggling in Sin vs. The False Convert Reveling in Sin

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It's important to know the difference between the immature Christian who is still struggling in sinv s. the false convert who is still reveling in sin.  This is because some people have gotten saved and are expecting themselves to be 100% sinless, they expect to achieve instant perfection and they can doubt their salvation if they fall into sin.  Now can a Christian live sinless?  The answer is really no because when you read Romans 7:14-25, even the greatest missionary Paul was not spared from sin.  Romans 3:1 addresses the younger Christians who needed some help so God sent Paul.  They were already saved but they were just starting to live for Christ.  While they were already living righteous lives but no Christian is 100% righteous while on Earth.

When I talk about the false convert reveling in sin, we should address the reality of people who claim to be saved but they are living like devils.  It's a problem that some people today preach salvation without sanctification and only appeal to 1 Corinthians 6:11 to justify their sinful living without understanding it.  Some people preach salvation by grace through faith but fail to address Titus 2:11-14 and Ephesians 2:10 where God's grace teaches its beneficiaries righteous living.  That is, if you are truly saved then even if you are immature, there ought to be signs of salvation showing every now and then.  That kind of teaching where decisionism and easy prayerism converts are said to be saved just because at one moment they signed a decision card or prayed a prayer but they never understood the Gospel.

To address some issues, we do have to present this fact.  Not all Christians today are maturing on schedule but they are still maturing.  Fruit bearing happens but it's inconsistent.  Performance assessment says, "Yes he's a Christian but... he's still in need of more prayer, fellowship and everything needed to make him grow."  The false convert reveling in sin however is different.  These people tend to sing like, "I am now free of the law and I may live as I please." and they live like devils.  If God has saved the person, He is certainly going to sanctify the person in their daily growth.  Though Christian maturity is never fast and easy but it is certain to grow.  Christian growth may have its ups and downs, Christians may backslide but they can never completely or totally fall away.  It would also be impossible for a Christian to live so much as they please, as sinfully as they can because Hebrews 12:5-6 gives this warning and assurance.  A warning to Christians that if they sin, God will not fail to chastise them.  An assurance because chastising by God is assurance that even if you sin, you will not be cast out and that it proves you are His, He does not want you to live in sin because He loves you.  As for the false convert, God could care less letting them sin to their own destruction until he or she becomes a true convert.

While an immature Christian may have some compromises like they may compromise with sin (and even Christians can stupidly yoke with unbelievers like Jehoshaphat to Ahab or have inappropriate media, sin privately because they are ashamed of it and struggle with it because old habits die hard) but the false convert reveling in sin can be differentiated.  I think the best example might be Jehoshaphat vs. Ahab.  During Ahab's encounter with Elijah, you might think he was converted to the worship of the true God from Baal worship.  The later encounter between Ahab and Jehoshaphat proved that he was a false convert.  During this rather foolish and immature move by Jehoshaphat, Ahab brought 400 false prophets who might have been other false prophets besides Jezebel's prophets of Baal who were slain.  When Micaiah the true prophet warned of the folly, Ahab had the former locked up.  Jehoshaphat though he was foolish enough to go to war with Ahab, though the prophet Jehu later criticized him for his stupid actions, still showed that overall he was still a man of God.


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