Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“For by grace are you saved through faith.”
Paul, in Ephesians 2:8
If a person is being “saved by grace”, as the saying goes, then that person is living a holy life. The grace of God is alive and strong; it gives strength for holiness, even “in the midst of a perverse generation.” God’s grace is active, not passive, and brings the power and light of God into our souls. Paul wrote, “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying worldly lusts, we should live holily, and soberly, and godly in this present world” (Tit. 2:11-12).
No one living in sin is living “holily, soberly, and godly in this present world”. That plain fact cannot be denied. A sinful person is not a holy person. The term, “godly” never appears in the Bible as a description of someone living a sinful life. There are many religious people who claim that they are “sinners being saved by God’s grace”, but that is impossible. No one who is sinning is being saved by God’s grace because sin is the very thing that the grace of God saves us from! “He who is sinning is of the Devil”, wrote John the apostle. But many Christian ministers teach that those who are sinning are of God, if they have faith in Jesus, because nobody in this life can cease from sin!
Isn’t it more reasonable simply to humble ourselves and agree with John? The pride of the flesh does not like to admit it, but the truth is that whoever is sinning is neither being saved by grace nor living by the faith of Christ but is following Satan’s lead, and they will be damned in the Final Judgment, regardless of whether they claim to have faith in Jesus or not.