A person cannot be both faithful and continue to practice evil. Romans 6:16 (NLT), “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”
We are still living in our fallen, human bodies, so we will sin. Romans 7:18, 25 (ESV), 18 “For I (Paul) know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. … 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God (love) with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
However, we do not continue to practice sin or evil. 1 John 3:9-10 (NIV), 9 “No one who is born (Greek word is “begotten”) of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born (begotten) of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child…”
As Christians daily walk with God, sin will actually grieve our hearts. We will have a guilty conscience and feel a separation from our loving, Heavenly Father. We immediately seek to remedy our problem with 1 John 1:9 (NIV), “If we (believers) confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
The purifying will come with disciplines. Hebrews 12:5-6 (CSB), 5 “And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord's discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, 6 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives.”
If a spirit-begotten, true Christian does not submit to God’s disciplines, he hardens his heart to sin. He will go into second death at the end of his present earthly life.
However, most believers practice righteousness but have not made a covenant with God to do only God’s will. Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV), 1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren (believers in Jesus), by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
These dear believers, who belong to the household of faith, have not been spirit-begotten. Consequently, they will receive a human resurrection and will be taught righteousness. They will be on trial for everlasting life during Christ’s 1,000 year reign.
