Isn’t habitual sin a sign that someone isn’t really saved? The bad news is “yes”; the good news is “no.”

One of the issues that plagues the assurance of believers is habitual sin. “How could a Christian do what I do and really be saved?” is the question many times asked by heart-searching assurance-seekers. They tie themselves in endless knots, evaluating and reevaluating their past and present sins to see if they really “got it” when they trusted Christ.

Sometimes these knots are tightened by well-meaning preachers who make unhelpful statements like, “If you live like X, then you’re not saved!” Passages intended to test a believer’s victory are used to test a believer’s salvation, and the knot gets tighter still.

These overwhelming waves of doubt do nothing to bring you closer to God. In fact, you feel like God is a million miles away. “Maybe that’s because I’m not saved,” you conclude. And yet, you trusted Christ the best you knew years ago. And yet, the fruit that is supposed to be there, isn’t. “Maybe I didn’t do it right. Maybe I didn’t mean it. Maybe I didn’t understand enough.”

Sound familiar? If so, I hope I can be an encouragement to you.

God wants you to know that you’re saved! But not only that, God wants you to live it, too!

Know It

In the book of Romans, after spending four chapters explaining and clarifying the gospel, Paul says,

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:1–2

What Paul is saying here is that if you’ve trusted Christ to save you, on God’s record books you’re righteous—not guilty, but righteous. Furthermore, you’re not God’s enemy anymore—you’re at peace with Him. In fact, it’s like you’re standing ankle-deep on the beach of an ocean full of God’s supernatural blessings that you’ve only just begun to experience. You can stand there now jubilant and confident that your future is settled and that you are accepted.

As exciting as that last paragraph is, some trapped in the fog of despair stopped reading it at the word if. Their eyes may have continued tracking through the rest of the words, but their minds got caught on if. “That’s what I don’t know!” they think. “I don’t know if I’m saved, so how can I ‘rejoice in hope’ of anything?!” They are so concerned about the if that they totally missed the how.

It is this “blanking out” that robs Christians of assurance and consequently of any peace, help, and joy in their Christian experience. For a chapter and a half, Paul has been driving home how an unbeliever becomes a believer, by faith! It is by counting on the finished work of Christ alone that a lost sinner becomes a rescued saint. When anyone trusts Christ to rescue him, He does! It’s done. Over. Finished. Completed. You’ve got it!

Really, the question that should settle the matter of assurance should not be “Am I like that?”, but “Have I done that?”! Have you trusted Christ to save you? If so, He did!

Live It

And now for the other side of the coin. God didn’t save you so that you could wallow in sin for the rest of your life. In the next chapter, Paul said,

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Romans 6:1–2

Paul was concerned that God’s simple plan of salvation might give some people an idea that was simply wrong. “Let’s trust Christ and then live it up!” Pauls sharp reply was, “May no one ever think that way!” God saved you to set you free from sin, not to cut you loose into it. When you got saved, God set the table for a feast of righteousness, so don’t pig out at the kiddy table of wickedness!

That’s not to say that it is impossible for a Christian to sin—or even to sin a lot—but that was never God’s intention. God wants you to live righteously. He set you up in Christ so you could live righteously, so DO IT!

There is a lot more that could be said about this chapter, but my point is this. Having sinful habits doesn’t prove that you’re lost, but it does prove that you’re missing out on something incredible—victory. As we saw earlier, if you’re saved, you are standing ankle-deep in an ocean of God’s grace; don’t die of thirst. Bend your knee in humility, scoop up some grace by faith, and walk in Christ’s victory!