For those who are living in sin as noted in the verses above(Galatians 5:21 and I Corinthians 6:9-10)I can not reassure them as to their salvation and place in the Kingdom no matter what story they give me of walking an aisle, or praying a prayer, or raising a hand. I John gives us ways of being reassured of our salvation(I John 5:13)throughout the book, including if we are not continuing in sin(I John 3:4-10). Anyone living in sin as above needs to be treated as one that has not understood their sin and the holiness and grace of God. We approach them with love and humility, but we must approach them.

I believe that for those who persevere (a fruitful life), there is evidence of their faith or new life (James “faith without works is dead”, Mark 4:20 the “good soil”), and as they are persevering/living is step with the Spirit, we can comfort/reassure them with Scripture.

I can not say for sure who is saved or not, but if I see someone who appears as if they are lost, I need to approach them. Hopefully you do not bypass someone that appears lost in the desert, or at sea, or anywhere for that matter. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. We are now His body to let Him do the same through us. Jesus is not willing that any should be lost, wanting all to enjoy His Kingdom now and future.
As we sin as believers we break the enjoyment of that Kingdom fellowship, but thanks be to God we can confess and return to that enjoyment.

But I’d also like to add that each time we sin and fall (especially the sexual sins, eg porn – you know how enticing and captivating it can be) – our hearts become hardened and we become less sensitive to God’s voice.

If we allow ourselves to think that “once saved, always saved” – and that our ticket to heaven is secured regardless of number of times I sin … there is a REAL danger that our hearts will become so hardened towards God that one day, we may find ourselves rejecting God and embracing pleasures of the flesh … and hence lose our salvation (not because God reject us, but we reject God and chose the flesh instead)

We must be on our guard and ask God to fill our hearts with holiness … to hate sin as He does … to see the ugliness and horror of sin so that we will recoil from it … Flee from it!

Just my 2 cents.

In 1 Cor 6: 9-11, Paul is not only reminding the Corinthian saints (and Christians) of the grace of God that saved them from their sinful past (Eph 2:3) but is also exhorting them to avoid reverting back to that same vomit or mire. This also provides a ray of hope to an erring believer or children of believers to repent and turn back from their sins irrespective of their biological orientation of being ‘born this way’. The transforming power of the cross can change every drunkard(smoker), homosexual, adulterer and sinner from their sinful nature. By stating the sanctifying grace of Christ, Paul is emphatically ruling out every provision for the license to sin.

However, as followers of Christ we cannot judge a backslidden fellow believer lest we’ll be judged by the same standard and we cannot be an accuser of the brethren either. Parents can only hope and wait in the Lord for the return of their prodigals. When it comes to our own individual selves we are assured of the ‘not so cool’ disciplining (Heb 12:3-11) of our heavenly father in order to make us yield peaceful fruits of righteousness which is the kingdom of God (Rom 14:17)!

Being a believer is a continuous process of living “in the Spirit”, being “led by the Spirit” and only God knows the desires of the heart. More importantly, it is imperative that we have the ‘love of the Spirit.’

A believer will not have the “peace of God” while living in the flesh. However, I do know professing believers who have been living in sin, for a period of time and they have never repented.

The devil cannot take a true believer to hell, but he certainly does work on us to discredit our faith and testimony. Perhaps, we who are stronger in the faith should be more aware of helping those who are weak. Building up the faith and having the gift of encouragment and love.

May God burden our hearts to pray fervently for each other and for the lost.

Hmmm…

There are times that the plain sense of scripture seems to make no sense. In those cases we must look to other scripture to help us understand the truth of what the author, by the Spirit, is telling us.

In this case however, it does seem that Paul is stating that persons exibiting certain behaviors are not going to be part of the Kingdom. This sends off red flags in our minds. Why? Because of people: People that we have known, perhaps even ourselves. We think, “But that person is a Christian. And yet I’ve seen them engage in these “black list” behaviors. Therefore, the scriptures must mean something else.” I believe that if we look at salvation with our heart rather than our mind we may find an answer to this “dilema” that Paul raises.

Salvation? Saved from what? The answer can’t be shouted loud enough! SIN!! We are sinners, slaves to sin. The more that we understand the holiness of God, the more that we will fully appreciate what God has saved us from. It is this very truth that Paul is writing about. He is not giving a list of sins to avoid so that you will “make it into the Kingdom”. Instead, he is merely reminding his readers of sins that their culture was full of and that some of them had just come out of. Paul is not stating that believers will NEVER engage in these behaviors, but that they have been saved FROM sin and only saved people will be in the Kingdom. John echoes this sentiment when he writes in I John that true believers will not habitually sin. Christians still struggle with sin. But it IS a struggle. The key is that they will not HABITUALLY sin. David, a man after God’s own heart, struggled. But when faced with his sin, what did he do? He didn’t shrug off his sin. Instead he fell on his face and repented. This is the heart response of one who understands sin and God’s holiness.

The good news through all of this is that we CAN BE SAVED from sin. But remember that salvation from sin is progressive. Over time, our fight with sin changes.

One who is saved:

1) Has been saved from the penalty of sin (PAST)
2) Is saved from the power of sin (PRESENT)
3) Will be saved from the presence of sin (FUTURE)