If we are to tell people they can come as they are, in light of their open sinful lifestyle, isn’t it hiding something? Even though the Holy Spirit is

Hello Confidential

Your question seems to be
(1) Can a sinner come to Christ in a sinful condition?
(2) And be sincere about coming to Christ? If they do can they truly be saved?
(3) Are we guilty then of sanctioning their sinful ways whatever those sins may be?

Let’s start with can a sinner come to Christ in a sinful condition?

A. Can a sinner come to Christ in a sinful condition?
As I thought about your question four scriptural citations popped into my mind. They are:

The woman at the well
The Apostle Paul
Thief on the cross
The text that begins “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us”.

Behind your question may be the thought, “If a person comes to Christ they must be willing to give up their sin or they are not truly sincere about coming to Christ. And if not they could not truly become saved.”

That’s a good point. Let’s consider it.

1. Is turning from sin a requisite for coming to Christ?
The short answer to that is no. If it was none of us could ever become saved. Speaking to Christians John said:

If we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
----1 John 1:8

It is so easy to see the large sins that “Glare at us in neon lights” and say that person is not sincere. But what about the less glaring sins such as lying, gossiping, a critical spirit, lust, covetousness and things like that?

Suppose our salvation was tied to a person repenting of every and all types of sins do you honestly think anyone would be truly saved? It’s doubtful. After all we are sinners who come to the cross empty handed or we cannot come at all.

a. The woman at the well (John 4:4-26)
You will notice that this woman was in a sinful lifestyle when Christ came to her. Not only did she not cleanse herself of sin but Christ came to her.

If is was a prerequisite that a person have a heart fully conscious of his or her sinful state before they come to Christ then this text would not exist. Because she did not.

Neither did Paul.

b. Christ came to Paul when he hated Christ and Christians (Acts 9:1-16; 22:1-11)
These two passages are among several in which Paul tells that right in the midst of his killing, jailing and persecuting Christian’s Christ Came to him.

If it was a requirement to come to the cross ready to give up sin Paul would not have come to the cross. He hated the cross.

Christ came to him in the midst of his murderous ways.

4) He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,
"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5) "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied
6) "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
----Acts 9:4-6

c. The thief (s) on the cross (John 23:32-43)

What do we know about these two men who died on crosses with Christ? One on His right and one on His left?

We know only that they were criminals. Until that day neither had shown repentance by any deed. Yet Christ was available to them both.

You may argue that at the last the one thief had a sense of remorse about his sin. That may be so. Often when our mortality smacks us in the face we look at eternity much more carefully. But Christ reached out to him while he was yet a sinner. Not after he had it in his heart to change his ways.

This leads us to the final thought that popped into my mind.

d. Romans 5:8

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.”

2. Conclusion to the original question

“Is turning from sin a requisite for coming to Christ?The answer is no because you can’t adequately do so in the unregenerate state. Also Christ did not seem to follow that prescription in that He came to people who were in the midst of horrible sinning.

B. “Isn’t it wrong to let someone believe they can come to righteousness and still practice homosexuality?”

1. I take it that you are using the sexual sin of active homosexuality as an example of willful sinning. You could as easily have used heterosexual sex outside of marriage, spousal abuse, gluttony or stealing to make the point.

2. When a person comes to Christ we would want to think that at that moment in time their thinking should follow something along these lines:

“Now that I see that GOD exists and that all reality is framed by HIS existence it makes absolute and overwhelming sense to follow HIS ways in everything I think, do and live for”

Observationally and Scripturally wouldn’t you have to admit that is not the case? Has it been that way with you?

If we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
----1 John 1:8

This being true are we to say it is all right to sin in any way because all our sins are paid for and you will go to heaven anyway? Of course not. But for a different reason.

It matters what we do with our lives. The purpose of our lives is not about temporary pleasures that last for a few moments. The purpose of our lives is to do things that bring glory to GOD and last for eternity. (Matt 5:16; 6:19:21; Daniel 12:2-3)

In the same way, let your light shine before men,
that they may see your good deeds
and praise your Father in heaven.
----Matthew 5:16

2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake:
some to everlasting life,
others to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 Those who are wise [a] will shine like the brightness of the heavens,
and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.
----Daniel 12:2-3

C. “Or am I being sanctimonious?”

Just for fun I looked up the word sanctimonious on line using the Miriam Webster dictionary it defined it as follows, “hypocritically pious or devout.”

I appreciate what you asked about being sanctimonious. It tells me that you are honest and open to straightforward discussion that is Biblically underscored.

You seem to be devout but certainly not a hypocrite.

My hope is that I grasped your question as you meant it to be grasped and the answers were sufficient to shed light on the subject you broached.

Don
Romans 6:15-23