by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n
Over the past few weeks, Shawn and I have spent Sunday mornings explaining how it is that we can know that we are heaven-bound for certain.\u00a0\u00a0We’ve seen that we can put our confidence in the powerful sacrifice of Jesus and in the perfect forgiveness of God.<\/p>\n
However, that doesn’t quiet the fears that many Christians have.\u00a0\u00a0They know what the law of God says.\u00a0\u00a0They know that God offers His people forgiveness of sins.\u00a0\u00a0However, they also know that it is possible for Christians to fall away, to become so entangled in sin that they find themselves outside of the grace of God.<\/p>\n
The problem is, though, that they don’t know where the falling-away line is.\u00a0\u00a0Are the sins that they hate and struggle with enough to eternally separate them from God?\u00a0\u00a0As a result, rather than living lives filled with hope and peace, they live lives filled with doubt and fear.<\/p>\n
That’s a sad place for any believer to be, but for most of us, I don’t think we belong there.\u00a0\u00a0The problem is that we don’t have a good understanding of God’s expectations for us, and that throws everything else off.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, we can know that we are heaven-bound for certain because God expects faithfulness, not perfection.<\/p>\n
I think most of us know that faithfulness is an important Biblical concept, but we often don’t realize how important it is or how deep it goes.\u00a0\u00a0To illustrate this, I want to look at the connection between faith and faithfulness.\u00a0\u00a0I’m not a preacher who likes to bring a lot of Greek into his sermons, but I think it’s important to do so here.\u00a0\u00a0In English, even though “faith” and “faithfulness” share a linguistic root, we look at them as related but different concepts.<\/p>\n
In Greek, that’s not the case.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, both “faith” and “faithfulness” in our Bibles are translations of the same Greek word,\u00a0pistis<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0“Believing” and “faithful” are both translations of the same word,\u00a0pistos<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0As a result, whenever you see faith in God or belief in God or anything like that in Scripture, it nearly always carries with it overtones of loyalty and faithfulness.\u00a0\u00a0There are only a few places in the New Testament where this is clearly not true, as when the demons in James 2 believe that God is one and tremble.\u00a0\u00a0Obviously, they aren’t being faithful!<\/p>\n However, remembering that this nuance of faithfulness is nearly always present can shed some new light on some familiar passages.\u00a0\u00a0Consider, for instance, one of the great faith-only proof texts, Romans 4:3-5.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, every translation that any of us uses will have “believed”, “believes”, and “faith”.\u00a0\u00a0However, we should also remember that it would be legitimate to translate this same passage with “was faithful”, “is faithful”, and “faithfulness”.<\/p>\n Now, I’m not saying that all those translators made a mistake here.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, I’m saying that they had to pick a single English word to fit, but no English word can capture the full meaning of the Greek, which is often true with translation.\u00a0\u00a0It’s accurate to say that Abraham’s faith was counted as righteousness, but it’s important to remember that this saving faith also involves loyalty and continuing trust and faithfulness.\u00a0\u00a0We’re not justified because we’re works-focused.\u00a0\u00a0We’re justified because we’re God-focused.<\/p>\n John adds some depth to this discussion of faithfulness with what he says about walking in the light.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Look at I John 1:5-10.\u00a0\u00a0This is a text built on “if” statements.\u00a0\u00a0Three of them are bad:\u00a0\u00a0“If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness<\/em>,” “If we say we have no sin<\/em>,” and “If we say we have not sinned<\/em>.”\u00a0\u00a0Those lead to various forms of spiritual doom.<\/p>\n The other two “if” statements are good:\u00a0\u00a0“If we walk in the light<\/em>” and “If we confess our sins<\/em>.”\u00a0\u00a0Both of those lead ultimately to righteousness and fellowship with God.<\/p>\n To me, this text is the perfect pick-me-up for Christians who are worried about the spiritual effect of their sins.\u00a0\u00a0Yes, sin is awful.\u00a0\u00a0Yes, we should hate it and strive never to sin.\u00a0\u00a0However, John is quite clear that for all of us, sin is going to be a fact of life for as long as we are alive.\u00a0\u00a0If we see sin in our lives, that’s actually a good thing.\u00a0\u00a0As John points out, if we say we have no sin, we are lying to ourselves and we are making God Himself out to be a liar.\u00a0\u00a0If we are convinced that we are sinless, that’s not a part of walking in the light.\u00a0\u00a0It’s a part of walking in the darkness!<\/p>\n Instead, it is walking in the light and confessing our sins that are inseparable.\u00a0\u00a0The first part of John’s description of walking in the light sounds ominous.\u00a0\u00a0I have to walk in the light as God is in the light.\u00a0\u00a0That means that I have to be perfect like God is perfect, right?<\/p>\n Wrong!\u00a0\u00a0As John tells us in the latter part of I John 1:7, one of the effects of walking in the light is that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.\u00a0\u00a0Absolutely every Christian who is walking in the light of God has sinned and is dependent on God for forgiveness.\u00a0\u00a0That’s what faithfulness looks like.\u00a0\u00a0Perfection, on the other hand, has never been part of God’s expectations for His people.<\/p>\n So. . . what’s the difference, then, between the Christian who is walking in the light and receiving forgiveness from God and the Christian who is walking in darkness and headed for disaster?\u00a0\u00a0John helps us understand this better with his discussion of the practice of sin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Consider I John 3:6-8.\u00a0\u00a0If you haven’t figured it out yet, I preach and teach from the English Standard Version, and this is one of the texts where I think the ESV is clearly better.<\/p>\n Many other translations will render the first part of I John 3:6 as “No one who abides in Him sins.<\/em>”\u00a0\u00a0I have two problems with that.\u00a0\u00a0First, it’s alarming.\u00a0\u00a0If I sin, does that mean that I don’t abide in Jesus?\u00a0\u00a0Second, it’s confusing.\u00a0\u00a0As we saw in the last point, John clearly teaches that faithful Christians do sin, so what’s all this about?<\/p>\n Instead, what John means, and what the ESV makes clearer, is that faithful Christians don’t practice sin.\u00a0\u00a0This is a whole lot different from sinning, period.\u00a0\u00a0Let me give you an illustration.\u00a0\u00a0Many moons ago, I went to law school and passed the Texas State Bar.\u00a0\u00a0I am a lawyer, and when it comes up, I will give people legal advice from time to time.<\/p>\n However, I don’t practice law.\u00a0\u00a0I work in this church building, not in a law office.\u00a0\u00a0I support my family by preaching, not by lawyering.\u00a0\u00a0I talk about God and His word every day, but weeks or months might pass before I consider a legal issue.\u00a0\u00a0The law is not a regular, habitual part of my life, so I don’t practice it.<\/p>\n This is the question that we need to use to evaluate ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0When it comes to the things of the spirit, what is my habit?\u00a0\u00a0What is my practice?\u00a0\u00a0Am I somebody who regularly strives to be righteous, with occasional sins mixed in there?\u00a0\u00a0Or, instead, am I somebody who regularly seeks after sin, with occasional righteousness mixed in there?<\/p>\n If the former, I belong to God.\u00a0\u00a0I am faithful.\u00a0\u00a0If the latter, I belong to the devil.\u00a0\u00a0I am faithless.\u00a0\u00a0If we are honest with ourselves, we will be able to tell where we stand.\u00a0\u00a0Faithfulness isn’t about one choice.\u00a0\u00a0It’s about our whole way of life.<\/p>\n The outcome of faithfulness is the preservation of the soul.\u00a0\u00a0Read with me from Hebrews 10:35-39.\u00a0\u00a0Once again, this is a text that calls us to take a 20,000-foot view of our lives.\u00a0\u00a0Rather than getting hung up on one bad incident or even one good incident, we need to ask what the overall course of our lives is.<\/p>\n There are two ways that the life of the Christian can go.\u00a0\u00a0We can be people who can hold on to our confidence in God, who endure, and who live by faith.\u00a0\u00a0On the other hand, we can be among those who let go of that confidence, who turn aside to something else, and who shrink back from following Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0In short, we are either choosing to be faithful, or we aren’t.\u00a0\u00a0Once again, in our heart of hearts, I think every one of us knows the truth about the manner of life we’ve chosen for ourselves.<\/p>\n The Hebrews writer is pretty clear about the outcome, too.\u00a0\u00a0On the downside, if we shrink back, we shrink back to destruction.\u00a0\u00a0This might seem particularly relevant to the struggle of the Hebrews against persecution, but I think that shrinking back is a much more general problem.\u00a0\u00a0Any time we sin, really, we are shrinking back from God’s call because we’re afraid of the consequences of obedience.\u00a0\u00a0We’ll miss out on something.\u00a0\u00a0In reality, though, a lifetime of shrinking back will lead us to miss out on an eternity with God.<\/p>\n The result of faithfulness is very different.\u00a0\u00a0If we live a life for God instead of for ourselves, we will preserve our souls.\u00a0This doesn’t mean that we will have a perfect record.\u00a0\u00a0We will only be perfected by the blood of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0However, it does mean that we will have been faithful, and if we are faithful, we are heaven-bound for certain.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Matthew W. Bassford Over the past few weeks, Shawn and I have spent Sunday mornings explaining how it is that we can know that we are heaven-bound for certain.\u00a0\u00a0We’ve seen that we can put our confidence in the powerful sacrifice of Jesus and in the perfect forgiveness of God. However, that doesn’t quiet the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[250,256,56,47],"class_list":["post-54634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-confidence","tag-faithful","tag-perfection","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-slap-in-gods-face-to-ask-for-forgiveness-since-jesus-already-died-to-forgive-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":54634,"position":0},"title":"Is it a slap in God’s face to ask for forgiveness since Jesus already died to forgive sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi minister, I've recently heard of the dispensation of grace and it's something I've never heard before. I've read and been told by those who teach it that it is basically a slap in God's face or rejecting the finished work in Christ to ask for forgiveness of God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84045,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-confess-every-lie-i-told\/","url_meta":{"origin":54634,"position":1},"title":"Do I need to confess every lie I told?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello sir, I have a question that I'm always confused by, and I would greatly appreciate your answer. I have sinned many times, years ago, against my husband, parents, family members, my friends, etc. There are many things I've done that I'm deeply ashamed and remorseful about. I lived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91168,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-john-419-make-us-blameless-at-judgment\/","url_meta":{"origin":54634,"position":2},"title":"Does I John 4:19 make us blameless at Judgment?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence (boldness) on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (I John 4:17). Does this verse make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55069,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/assurance-of-our-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":54634,"position":3},"title":"Assurance of Our Salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Sharp \"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87178,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-know-that-god-has-forgiven-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":54634,"position":4},"title":"How can I know that God has forgiven me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can I know that God has truly forgiven me?\u00a0And how can I be sure I'm now free to move forward without needing to return? Answer: Paul tells us that God cannot lie -- not will not lie, or sometimes doesn't lie, God is not capable of lying (Titus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91004,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/its-good-to-accept-gods-forgiveness-verbally\/","url_meta":{"origin":54634,"position":5},"title":"It’s Good to Accept God’s Forgiveness Verbally","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Henry via WordPoints.com \"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness\" (I John 1:9). Regarding our sins, we are grateful for two things. 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The Practice of Sin<\/h2>\n
The Preserving of the Soul<\/h2>\n