“I Can Do What I Want and Still Be a Christian.” Oh, really?

CORRECTION: I had my tabs on my Bible software miscued. This was not Matthew Henry, but rather William MacDonald, from his Believer’s Bible Commentary, which I’ve recommended before here at TAE. Sorry for the incorrect information before. -AR

Commenting on John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” my favorite Bible commenter and pastor, Matthew Henry, has this to say:

Does this mean then that a person may be saved and then live the way he pleases? Can he be saved and then carry on in the sinful pleasures of this world? No, he no longer desires to do these things. He wants to follow the Shepherd. We do not live the Christian life in order to become a Christian or in order to retain our salvation. We live a Christian life because we are Christians. We desire to live a holy life, not out of fear of losing our salvation, but out of gratitude to the One who died for us. The doctrine of eternal security does not encourage careless living, but rather is a strong motive for holy living.

When it comes to your soul’s true status before God, do not be fooled by what your friends, or family, or even maybe your pastor says.  If they claim to be Christians, but their lives don’t look like they’ve been changed by God, don’t follow their examples. And especially don’t be fooled by your own heart!  (Remember, it is deceitfully wicked [Jer. 17:9] and not to be trusted.) What Matthew Henry is saying here is the truth.  He loved people enough to tell it and tell it plainly. And now, all I can do is borrow his words and pass them along in the same spirit of earnestness and love.

If you wrestle in this area, I beg you to listen what pastor Henry is saying. If you do not have a radically different desire to live a radically different life than you have in the past, then your life bears no evidence of a genuine conversion experience, a genuine spiritual rebirth.  If this describes your life right now, don’t hang suspended between heaven and hell here on earth thinking you are probably OK.  The truth is, you almost certainly aren’t.  Please get alone with God and your Bible and make sure you are saved!