Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls?
I have a hard time with passages like this, not because I disbelieve them but because I don’t fully understand them. Biblically if I practice any sin I deserve to die so the homosexual or the abortionist is no more unrighteous in God’s eyes than I am.
According to my understanding of Scripture all sin is equal in God’s eyes so I can’t see that these two specific sins are somehow judged as worse than all the others. Breaking the smallest commandment in the law is the same as breaking the whole law.
Even my human mind wants to separated sins, I can see how a person could be saved (confess with your mouth, believe in your heart, that’s all it takes) and still deceived into a homosexual lifestyle. I don’t know that I could see them continuing in it for any length of time before God deals with them about it but then I look at my life and I see sins that I still haven’t let go of and I know they’re wrong even if they aren’t homosexual behavior so I don’t have any stones to throw at a Christian that is bound in homosexual temptation and sin.
But the abortion issue I have problems with because I can’t see how anyone could profess Christ and say that’s OK but I know that Satan is an absolute master of deception and I wouldn’t want to underestimate him on any level.
Bottom line if I spend all my time worried about the speck in your eye I’m never going to be able to get the log out of mine
First, presenting scriptural truth
(Romans 1:32.."Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval (vote for) to those who practice them") is not having a log in ones eye, quite to the contrary for
those who understand scripture. Second, a person cannot be
saved & deceived at the same time, why else did the Lord command us to
"Repent" &
"Be not Deceived"? Confess with your mouth & believe in your heart is not all it takes to be saved. Bottom line here has nothing to do with logs & specks in anyone's eye and pointing an ignorant proverbial finger. Bottom line here has everything to do with
REPENTANCE.
It is true that there are numerous Bible verses that speak of the promise of salvation, with no mention of repentance. These merely say to "believe" on Jesus Christ and you shall be saved (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9). However, the Bible makes it clear that God is holy and man is sinful, and that sin makes a separation between the two (Isaiah 59:1,2). Without repentance from sin, wicked men cannot have fellowship with a holy God. We are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) and until we forsake them through repentance, we cannot be made alive in Christ.
The Scriptures speak of "repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18). We turn from sin to the Savior. This is why Paul preached "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). The first public word Jesus preached was "repent" (Matthew 4:17). John the Baptist began his ministry the same way (Matthew 3:2). Jesus told His hearers that without repentance, they would perish (Luke 13:3).
If belief is all that is necessary for salvation, then the logical conclusion is that one need never repent. However, the Bible tells us that a false convert "believes" and yet is not saved (Luke 8:13); he remains a "worker of iniquity." Look at the warning of Scripture: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (1 John 1:6). The Scriptures also say, "He that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesses and forsakes them [repentance] shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). Jesus said that there was joy in heaven over one sinner who "repents" (Luke 15:10). If there is no repentance, there is no joy because there is no salvation.
When Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, he commanded his hearers to repent "for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Without repentance, there is no remission of sins; we are still under His wrath. Peter further said, "Repent . . . and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19). We cannot be "converted" unless we repent. God Himself "commands all men everywhere [leaving no exceptions] to repent" (Acts 17:30). Peter said a similar thing at Pentecost: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you" (Acts 2:38).
If repentance wasn’t necessary for salvation, why then did Jesus command that repentance be preached to all nations (Luke 24:47)? With so many Scriptures speaking of the necessity of repentance for salvation, one can only suspect that those who preach salvation without repentance are strangers to repentance themselves, and thus strangers to true conversion.
