When A Child Of God Sins, Is He Out Of The Kingdom Or Church And Alienated Before The Judgment?
The doctrine that, "When a child of God sins he is out of the kingdom", is being taught by many gospel preachers. The first time I came across this teaching was some twenty-five years ago in Lake Charles, Louisiana; now it is cropping up again. It never did come from the Bible, but is the work of the evil one, hatched out in the minds of men. Some times one of the great minds among us will start teaching some false doctrine and many good, honest preachers will start teaching the same thing without any thought as to its soundness. (Big deal!) But, as we say in the oil field, let us run a few Scriptures by and see how they compare with this false teaching. If one can be put out of the kingdom before the judgment, then the Baptists are right in asking us if we have to be baptized again in order to get back into the kingdom once we fall from grace. No, we do not have to be re-baptized because we do not get out of the kingdom when we sin.
Brethren, we need to go back to the Bible and read Jno. 3:3-5 again. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom God." How many births do we find recorded in the Bible? You know there are just two; first the physical then the birth that Jesus was talking about which is the spiritual birth. The spiritual birth is something in addition to the birth that Nicodemus was talking about. In verse five, Jesus said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." There is no other way into the kingdom. This is why I know a child of God is not out of the kingdom; if one can get out of the kingdom, he would have to be baptized again in order to get back in. The Lord did not say a man needs to be born again and again and again, but required just one spiritual birth. God said, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." (Col. 1:13.)
Acts 2:47 teaches the Lord adds "to the church daily such as should be saved. We have gotten to the point where we have completely missed this addition on God's part but when we come to the marriage question we will fight a circle saw, and give it three licks to start, to show by the Scriptures that God adds together and man cannot sever this relationship. Why? Because God made the addition and not man, which is true. Paul teaches that a man (Christian) and his wife (a Christian) do not have to live together but they can never marry some one else because God added them together; they are still one. Christ allows divorce and remarriage only in the case of "fornication." (Matt. 19:9) Yes, God adds to the kingdom and man cannot take out; he did not put anyone in the kingdom. In the parable of the tares (Mt. 13:24-30, 36-42), the kingdom is likened to a man sowing good seed in his field. The wicked one sowed the tares. The servants wanted to separate the good from the bad but the Lord of the house said to let them alone until the time of the harvest when they would be separated, the bad burned, the good put in the barn. "So shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Verse 43: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
Now don't let someone tell you that the kingdom they shall be taken out of is the world and not the church. True, the seed were sown in the field which is the world but the church is in the world although not of the world. All we that are Christians are still in the world. Paul said (I Cor. 5:9-10) that in order for Christians to get away from fornicators, covetous, idolaters, etc. they would have to get out of the world. No, brethren, we are not in orbit as some seem to think. That is why some cannot see anything but the "UNIVERSAL CHURCH." True, we are called out, set aside, or marked, but we are still in the world and are not spiritual astronauts.
Read the parable of the "net" (Mt. 13:47-48). "Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." Let's read on through verses 49 and 50. "So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
In this parable the sea is the world where the net was cast. The gospel is preached to the world (aliens); we just cannot know the true ones in every case but the Lord can. I have never heard one of my brethren use the statement, "Turn them out of the church." We used that kind of talk when I belonged to the Baptist Church. But, I was taught better after I obeyed the gospel. Yes, we are going to stay in the kingdom until the judgment, then we will all be put in our proper places. Now, let's not overlook the teaching in this parable. The "net" is the kingdom, not the world. Goodspeed makes it plain in verse 47, "Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was let down into the sea, and inclosed fish of all kinds." Yes, all kinds are in the church and we cannot get them out. Some we can see and know but most we cannot know (II Thess. 3:6; I Tim. 6:5). Until the judgment we will all remain the sons of God, not aliens. I Tim. 5:24 shows that some sins are easily seen while others are not so easily recognized. But, the Lord knows and will take them out of the kingdom at the judgment. Some will argue that men are thrown back into alienation when they practice sin but not for just one or two sins. That is as bad as the Catholic's "venial" and "mortal" sins. And they use, or misuse, I Jno. 3:10 to prove that their God (Father) is the Devil. Then, if that be true, we would have to pray to the Devil to get forgiveness of our sins. But, the writer John tells us if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father (I John 2:1). I am thinking of another at this time, as we refer to him as "Simon the Sorcerer" (Acts 8:18-24). This man had only committed one sin and that is all he was told to repent of. "Repent of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." (Verse 22)What condition was he in? "For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity." Note, Simon asked that Peter pray for him that none of these things which he had spoken come upon him. Did he have a Father? If he did not have his Father he could not have prayed. Did the Father have a son? You know and I know Simon was still in the family of God; he was still in the kingdom. He was not an alien. When we sin, our relationship with the Father is bad; there can be two aspects to the relationship of a father and son. It may be good or it may be bad, BUT THE KINSHIP IS THE SAME. A father may disinherit his son but the son will still have a father and the father will still have a son. It does not make or cause him to be ILLEGITIMATE.
I have heard brethren preach on the conversion of Saul (Acts 9:17ff). Ananias said, "Brother Saul," etc. Then the preacher truly explains why Ananias called him "brother", because we know he was an alien and not a brother; he was a Jew just like Ananias was a Jew. Two men cannot be brothers unless they have the same father. I John 5:16; "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, etc." But, you will notice the man was still a brother. Again, II Thess. 3:14-15, "And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. (15) Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." (He is still our brother.) Also, I Cor. 5:9-10, "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company fornicators; (v. 10) Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. (11) But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one, no not to eat." I have heard brethren dodge this verse like a mule hit at with a blindbridle and say, "The man was not a brother, but was a so-called brother."
Goodspeed's translation makes it plain, "If any man that is known as a brother." Yes, a Christian may sin one time or a dozen times and be lost at the judgment but he will still be the son of the Father and in the kingdom. But, the Lord will take him out and he shall receive the reward he deserves.
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