Tag Archives: sin

Check Out Our Printable Wall Art and Other Items In Our Store! Save 50%! Use Code: Save50% Click Here!

Assurance of Salvation

The Bible says we can know we are saved.

1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

So we know we are saved if we have believed in Jesus.

Remember though believing in Jesus not only means to believe the facts about Him, but to commit and yield our lives to obeying Him. The word “believe” in the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance roots backwards twice to a word, which means “obey” (the word believe is Strong’s # 4100 in the Greek, which comes from # 4102, which comes from # 3982, which means obey and also yield).

The Bible says we know that we are saved because we keep God’s commandments.

1 John 3:24 “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

1John 2:3 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

This does not mean a Christian is completely sinless, but that they truly strive not to sin. To Learn what to do when you do sin see my post about 1 John 1:9. Furthermore, there are certain evil sins that a true Christian can never do like murder, rape, theft, hate God etc. To learn more about this please read my post “Sins A Christian Cannot Fall Into.”

Whether or not a person truly gets saved when they make their profession of Christ is determined by the quality of the “soil” meaning the pureness of their heart.

In the Parable of the Sower Jesus talks about a few groups of people who “believe,” but only one group truly gets saved: The ones who receive the word into good ground meaning they believe with a pure heart.

Mark 4:14 “The sower soweth the word.
15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.”

Jesus also said that only the pure in heart will see God.

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

The other 2 groups only received the gospel for selfish reasons. They only received it for their own benefit, so as soon as things got hard or they found something else that seemed more beneficial to them they abandoned Christ.

This is why we should never present the gospel to someone by saying something like “Say this prayer and all your problems will go away!”

The Christian life is a life of sacrifice not of self gratification!

Life is full of problems whether you are saved or not, and many times being saved can cause many problems, because the world hates you.

John 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.”

When a person comes to God for salvation, God can see the motives of their heart, and if it is not pure, He does not save them. A person must come to God in humbleness sacrificing their lives to obeying Him, not in greed demanding earthly things from Him!

The Bible says God gives believers eternal life.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

This means once we have it, we have it forever!

The Bible says no one can pluck us out of God’s hand.

John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
30 I and my Father are one.”

Notice it says His sheep follow him. A person can know that they are saved because they have believed the facts about Jesus and they have truly yielded their life as a sacrifice to Him.

More helpful posts:

1 John 1:9

“How to Overcome besetting Sins”

“How to have Victory Over Sin”

“Christians Will Not Get Away With Sin”

Sins of the Tongue

1 John 4:8b "...God is love"

The Bible says in Romans 15:2 “Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.”

To edify means to “build up” (see the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance with Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries #s 3619, 3624, and 1430 in the Greek dictionary).

Colossians 3:8 “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.”


The Bible also says in Ephesians 5:1-7 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor
foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words:
for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.”

Right in the midst of a list of terrible sins in Ephesians 5:1-7, God deals with some sins of the tongue, and says that people who do these sins so much that they are known to have a filthy mouth (be an unclean person) are not saved. It says they have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ.

In addition, God says that jesting (teasing, bullying, joking, picking on people, etc) is a sin. And then God says later that His wrath falls on people for these sins!


As Christians we are to love others, not bully them and hurt their feelings.


Some Christians have a wrong belief that people must be thick skinned, and that it is immature for a Christian to get their feelings hurt.


They get this by not understanding the proper definition of the word “offend” in Psalms 119:165 “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

This verse does not mean that a strong Christian will not get their feelings hurt. The word offend in this verse means “cause to sin.” (see the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance with Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries #s 4383, and 3782 in the Hebrew dictionary).


This verse simply means that a strong, mature Christian will never turn away from God for any reason.


The truth is, it is not immature to get your feelings hurt, it is immature, and a sin, to tease and bully someone and hurt their feelings. Even a child knows this!

Our speech should always be wrapped in thankfulness to God, and the purpose of everything we say is to be to edify the person we are speaking too.


Even if we have to correct someone, who is doing wrong, our goal should never be to hurt their feelings, but to build them up by pointing them to a higher relationship with God.


Although when you correct someone, their feelings are usually hurt, because no one likes to be corrected.


The Bible says in Luke 17:3 “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.”

Sometimes this kind of speech is necessary, but our goal should still be to build them up to a higher relationship with God, not hurt their feelings.

Jesus commands that we love others the same as He loves us.

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

Jesus does rebuke us when we sin, but it is for our good. He does not cuss us out or just tear us down, and He is quick to forgive us, when we repent.

Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

Hebrews 12:5-6″ And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

Hebrews 12:9-11 “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The word confess in 1 John 1:9 means to to assent, that is, covenant, acknowledge, and it means to promise (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Greek and Hebrew dictionaries # 3670 in the Greek). Furthermore it roots back to another word meaning to remove and work (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Greek and Hebrew dictionaries # 3670 in the Greek).

Therefore, confessing your sins means that you acknowledge that you have sinned and you promise God that you will work to not do the sin again.

Confession includes true repentance. It is not asking forgiveness, and then going and doing the sin again and then asking forgiveness again. That kind of confession does not cleanse you from sin.

You must promise God that you will work to stop doing the sin. Yes, the Holy Spirit helps us to overcome sin, but it still takes effort on our part too.


As Ephesians 5:1-7 shows, God takes sins of the tongue very seriously, so we need to always think before we say anything.

Cussing Is A Sin!

Stop Cussing

I have started hearing so-called Christians and even preachers saying that the Bible does not say anything against cussing. And these people are saying really filthy words that if I had ever said them my Mom would have washed my mouth out with soap and whipped me! I might have even been grounded too!

Some of these people are even saying that what is commonly considered as taking God’s Name in vain is ok, because it is not really God’s Name.

God has many names and that is one of them. We are not to take any of God’s names in vain!

The Bible says in Colossians 3:8 “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Christians are to have no filthy communication at all! So people who claim to be Christians and are saying filthy words had better repent!

Matthew 5:19 “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

1John 1:9

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is not confession for salvation, but to escape chastisement.

John wrote this to Christians, not lost people. He even included himself in verse 8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

John made it plain here that even though he was saved he still had sin that he needed to confess to God and be cleansed of at times.

What does it mean to confess your sins?

The word confess in 1 John 1:9 means to to assent, that is, covenant, acknowledge, and it means to promise (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Greek and Hebrew dictionaries # 3670 in the Greek). Furthermore it roots back to another word meaning to remove and work (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Greek and Hebrew dictionaries # 3670 in the Greek).

Therefore, confessing your sins means that you acknowledge that you have sinned and you promise God that you will work to not do the sin again.

Confession includes true repentance. It is not asking forgiveness, and then going and doing the sin again and then asking forgiveness again. That kind of confession does not cleanse you from sin.

You must promise God that you will work to stop doing the sin. Yes, the Holy Spirit helps us to overcome sin, but it still takes effort on our part too.

If we judge ourselves then God will not judge us.

1 Corinthians 11:31-32 “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”

1 John 1:9 is instructions for Christians on how to cleanse themselves from sin by confession (repentance) on a regular bases so that God does not chastise them. It is not instructions for lost people to escape hell.

Faith Without Works Is Dead!

Luke 13:3 "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Faith Without Works Is Dead!

The Bible says in James 2:17-26:

17 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

We are not saved by works, but if our faith does not cause us to obey God, then we are not saved.

Ephesians 2:8-10:

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

See we are not saved by works, but once we are saved we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

So, if we are truly saved, we will obey God and live a life of good works.

You cannot be saved just by believing the facts about Jesus.

The Bible says that even the devils believe the facts about Jesus, but yet they are not saved.

James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

So, What is the Proper belief need for salvation?

The word “believe” in Romans 10:9 in the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance roots backwards twice to a word, which means “obey” (the word believe is Strong’s # 4100 in the Greek, which comes from # 4102, which comes from # 3982, which means obey and also yield).

This shows that true faith is rooted in obedience.

Therefore, in order to fulfill the requirements of salvation in Romans 10:9 you must be fully persuaded in your mind of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done, and your heart must change from wanting to sin to wanting to obey God. This is an immediate change of your heart (meaning desire and will).

It means that you yield (submit) your will to God’s will.

When a person truly gets saved, they no longer have a complete free will to sin. The Holy Spirit will not allow them to fall into really evil sins like murder, bullying, adultery, racisism, homosexuality, any kind of theft, etc.

1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

Jesus said in Matthew 7:18 “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”

The word evil in Matthew 7:18 means hurtful, grievous, mischief, and malicious (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries # G4190). Therefore, a saved person is not capable of falling into any hurtful, grievous, mischief, and malicious sins like murder, rape, bullying, falsely accusing, stealing, alcoholism, drug addiction etc. A saved person cannot do any of those kinds of sins. The Holy Spirit will not allow them too!

To learn more about sins a saved person cannot do please go to http://shiningthelightministries.com/2021/05/12/sins-a-saved-person-cannot-fall-into/

If a person wants to hold onto their ability to commit any sin, then they are not saved!

The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

To diligently seek God includes surrendering your whole will to Him.

Also, Philip told the Ethiopian Eunuch that he had to believe in Jesus with all his heart. The word believe means to yield (Acts 8:37).

In order for a person to get saved they must yield their whole heart to Christ!

Therefore, God is not going to save someone who does not surrender their free will to Him!

That is repentance of sins, and it is required for you to receive forgiveness of your sins.

Luke 13:5 “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Ezekiel 18:23 “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?”

Ezekiel 18:23 agrees with 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

In addition, Matthew 9:13 says “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

You may still struggle with some sins like a short temper or saying bad words for awhile after you get saved, but you are going to be so convicted over your sin, when you mess up, that you are going to cry out to God to help you to change.

However, a saved person cannot be overtaken by any sin either.

They cannot live any kind of a sinful lifestyle. A saved person can fall into some sins, and they can struggle with some sins, but they cannot become addicted to any sin, or live a sinful lifestyle. And there are some evil sins like the ones mentioned before that they cannot even fall into. 

In addition, I am not saying that a person has to work for their salvation, nor do they have to stop doing their sins on their own before they get saved. I am not saying that they have to be afraid of doing any of those kinds of evil sins.

That is what Grace is for! Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us from falling that bad.

You don’t have to work at not doing those sins. When a person truly repents and makes a true commitment to Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit just comes in and makes it impossible for them to fall that bad. Therefore if they are a drug addict or an alcoholic, God will take the drug addiction or alcoholism away from them, when they truly get saved. They will never be able to do drugs or get drunk ever again. God will not let them!

This is the only way you can go to heaven.

If you have never done this please do it now. Here is a prayer that you can pray word for word or use as a guide to tell God that you believe the gospel, repent of your sins and ask Him to forgive you of your sins. You will not get saved just by praying this prayer, you must truly believe and repent with your heart.

The prayer does not save you. The decision to believe in Jesus and repent of your sins (submit your whole free will to God) is what saves you. The prayer just helps you tell God that you have made these decisions.

Here is the prayer:

“Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and bodily arose from the dead 3 days later to pay for my sins. I repent of my sins, and I yield my whole free will to you. Please forgive me of my sins and help me to obey you and live for you for now on. Please take me to heaven when my life on this earth is over. Thank you for saving me. In Christ Jesus name, Amen.”

Also, just because a Christian is capable of falling into certain lesser sins, does not mean that they get away with doing those sins either! Christians will not get away with any sin! They cannot lose their salvation and go to hell, but they can receive a harsh judgment. To learn more about this please go to http://shiningthelightministries.com/2021/01/05/christians-will-not-get-away-with-sin/

SHARE THIS

What It Means To Watch For Christ’s Return

Jesus Coming In The Clouds
Jesus Coming In The Clouds

The Bible says in Revelation 16:15 “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

Your garments become dirty by sin.

Jude 1:23 “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 

Therefore, we are to watch for Christ’s coming by being diligent to not sin and by quickly repenting wen we do sin.

The Consequences of not watching for Christ’s Return.

Revelation 16:15 “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

This mean that if we are committing a sin at Christ’s return, then Jesus will expose our sin to everyone and openly judge us for it. Everyone is going to know about it, we will lose rewards, and we will be ashamed.

Now, the Bible teaches that any sins we have repented of Jesus will not judge us for, nobody will ever know about them, and we will not be ashamed.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11:31 “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”

The Bible says in 1 John 4:17 that we can have boldness in the day of judgment.

Boldness is the exact opposite of shame.

Moreover, A true Christian cannot fall into really bad sins like adultery, murder, theft, bearing false witness against someone, drunkeness, or drug addiction, because the Holy Spirit will not allow them to fall that bad. He puts God’s love into our hearts and makes it impossible for us to commit the worst sins. Someone who falls into those kinds of sins has never been saved.

To learn more about this and other really bad sins that the Holy Spirit keeps true Christians from falling into, please go to http://shiningthelightministries.com/2021/05/12/sins-a-saved-person-cannot-fall-into/

However, A true Christian is capable of falling into sins like: impatience, crankiness, apathy, worry, gossip, pride unforgiveness, selfishness, leaving their first love (no longer seeing Jesus as their Dearest Friend. Meaning they are serving Him, but they see it as more of a Master/Servant Relationship instead of truly serving Him out of love like in a Dear Friendship. Revelation 2:4), etc.

For example, if Jesus comes back and you are arguing with your spouse over something that either does not matter or you are in the wrong, then you are not going to have time to repent before judgment. Jesus is going to openly expose that sin and judge you for it, everyone is going to know that you were arguing with your spouse, you are going to lose rewards, and you are going to be openly ashamed.

Therefore, we need to be watching for Christ’s return by being diligent to not sin and by quickly repenting when we do sin, so that we are not ashamed.

Christians Will Not Get Away With Sin

Jesus is the Lion And The Lamb

Christians Will Not Get Away With Sin -Shining The Light Ministries – Bible Study – Christians Will Not Get Away With Sin

Welcome to Shining the Light Ministries. This video shows that Christians Will Not Get Away With Sin.

Links mentioned in video:

Sins A Saved Person Cannot Fall Into
https://youtu.be/ne86lPQ1lZM

The Lord’s Supper
https://youtu.be/6GwGSMBga2E

Other helpful links:

How To Overcome Besetting Sins
https://youtu.be/gmqNkF54obY

How To Get To Heaven
https://youtu.be/_eDRhg-cnio

Not of Works:
http://shiningthelightministries.com/2022/10/14/not-of-works/

My Brother’s Testimony – Proof We Are The 2 Witnesses
http://shiningthelightministries.com/AquilaJordanTestimony.pdf