Can Anyone Get to Heaven?
Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
KJV
See Galatians 5:19-21. These are troubling verses. It might be concluded that everyone has committed at least one of these sins. If so, does this teach that we cannot go to Heaven? Does it teach saved people who are guilty cannot reign in the Millennium Age? If so, what happens to them? Moses killed and David was conspiracy to murder. David coveted and committed adultery. Moses became angry at times. Lot and Noah got drunk. Galatians 6:1 says to restore a fallen brother and this comes just after these problem verses. Discuss and come to a conclusion as to the teachings of these verses.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 that God comforts the believer so that the believer may comfort others in the same position or undergoing the same problems. The church is comprised of those who have committed "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings" (5:19-21). But, those in the church have found their forgiveness in Christ and are now "walking in the Spirit." They understand the emotions, consequences, and difficulties of the particular sins involved in a given situation. They are able to lend support, comfort, and advice to the fallen brother and bring him or her back into fellowship with God.
Notice two other important constraints upon this restoration. First, the restoration is to be undertaken in the "spirit of meekness." This is a fruit of the Spirit. It is only as we walk in the Spirit and allow Christ to live in and through us that we are able to help restore a fallen brother. Gentleness or meekness denotes a spirit of tenderness, consideration, love, and forbearance. The restoration is not accomplished with harshness or the spirit of conceit or pride. Only by restoring one in the love of Christ and the walk of the Spirit will such restoration be successful.
Second, it is necessary that the spiritual brother remain walking in Christ throughout this ordeal, always remaining on guard for himself "lest [he] also be tempted." No one is immune from sin. All may fall. The fall of the heroes of the Bible listed in this question demonstrates this fact. Likewise, an examination of everyone’s life will show the accuracy of the warning. As a believer restores the fallen brother, so too, he must continually be "considering" himself. But if the believer is walking in the Spirit and allowing Christ to live within him, why is it necessary to consider this warning? Why do strong believers such as Moses and David fall?
It is easy to state that all may fall into temptation, but the clearer point to draw from these verses concerns the use of the word
To walk seems easy to us as we grow older. However, we all stub our toes on cracks in the pavement and lose our step over small pebbles or stones. As little children, we learned to walk by trial and error. We fell when we placed our foot down on the ground incorrectly. Likewise, our spiritual walk is by trial and error. The major pebbles on the ground are pride, distraction, and self-conceit. As we learn to walk, we start to believe we can run over all of the stones and gravel. Yet, this is simply not true. We all stumble and fall in our spiritual walk just as we did in our physical walk. Walking in the spirit is a learning process, the process we call sanctification.No matter how much we study our Bibles, still we encounter temptations, hopefully drawing upon the power of the Spirit, we are learning by trial and error. The real lesson to take away from Moses, David, Lot and Noah is that we will fall. We will need others to help restore us. We will be called upon to restore others. We must learn to depend upon the Holy Spirit by exercising our communion with God. When we fail to cry out for help, we fall. This is the trial and error of walking in the Spirit. This is the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit.
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