What if a person, already a believer, sins and dies without having the (chance) to repent? What happens to him? Let us look at the scriptures.
A) Sins Committed After Conversion
Revelation 21: 8 says,
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.”
Galatians 5: 19 – 21 says,
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God”.
Hebrews 6:4-6
“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace.”
Every sin is re-crucifying Christ.
Hebrew 10: 26 – 31
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “It is Mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, ” The Lord will judge His people. ” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10:
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. “
Ephesians 5:5-7:
“For this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.”
If you believe and go on sinning, you will go to the lake of fire. Actually your sin says that you have never really believed. The devil has deceived people to think that they can say they have believed and live as they like. Faith in Jesus is not words. It is radical transformation.
Eternal life is knowing God. When you stop knowing Him, you stop having eternal life.
If you have not separated yourself from sin permanently, your service is an abomination. You cannot serve God.
The Bible says – work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Every second, walk with fear else you sin and perish. When you have a choice to sin or not to sin, just know that if you sin, you go to hell. If you sin, you go to hell.
Was the rich young ruler saved? He refused the conditions of Jesus and perished.
When you have sin before you, you have an opportunity to go to hell if you commit it. If you want to go to hell, commit it.
When you confront sin, you have a new opportunity to choose whether you want salvation or destruction. Revelation 21:27 says,
“Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life”. Revelation 22:14-15
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have a right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practise magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
The dogs – those who return to their vomit, to their old life. Those who practice falsehood.
The New Covenant is the covenant of holiness. That is why the One who comes to dwell in the believer is the Holy Spirit. He cannot dwell where there is sin. He is the Spirit of holiness. Anyone who does not hate sin with all of his heart will perish.
To know whether you are a child of God, see whether you hate sin with all of your heart. If not, you are lost. If you don’t hate sin with all your heart, then you are lost. Know it.
B) The Mark of True Conversion
When the blood covers your sin, it does not cover sins that will be committed in the future. If you want to re-crucify the son of God, there remains no more sacrifice for you.
If you are really converted, all of your being will burn against sin. If you think that you can sin here and there, then come and repent, then you have never been converted. What you call conversion is counterfeit.
In counterfeit conversion, the person did not hate all the sins of his past during his conversion.
Secondly, nothing really happened deeply, he never saw the horror of his sin. He has not seen the horror of God’s Son dying. The gospel for such is a mere story, not a deep reality.
Hebrews 12:4 says,
“…In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”
What Hebrews is saying is that the normal believer will rather shed his blood than sin. For the normal believer, he will rather die than sin. If you prefer to sin rather than die, you are counterfeit. Maybe you need to ask God to reveal to you what conversion yours is. In true conversion, there is a total hatred of:
• sin,
• self,
• the world,
• the things of the world,
• independence from God.
When you see Jesus dying on the cross, and you commit another sin so as to pierce Him once more – you are not totally separated from sin because your conversion is counterfeit.
Pray that the hatred of sin will be born in your heart so that you will rather die than sin. That you would rather be poor than sin and die. Sin may not mature fast, but it will surely mature.
Until you have dealt with sin, you can go nowhere. You cannot know genuine conversion without a genuine abandonment of sin. Are you deceived to think that you have believed even if you sin? In Egypt the blood saved the Israelites. But those who rebelled all died in the desert. If you are not living in a moment by moment hatred of sin, and fearing else the wrath of God falls on you, you may be lost. You confessed a lie. He cannot have saved you.
As you deal with your sin book ask, “Is mine a genuine conversion or it is a counterfeit conversion?” The first part of holiness is the hatred of sin.
I keep saying, one mark of genuine conversion is a total hatred of sin. You know it is what crucified Jesus – you cannot re-crucify Him.