You will be damned if you live in sin!
(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)
1 John 2:3-4, "By this we know that we have come to know Him, IF we keep His commandments. The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
We preach salvation by grace alone, but we do not preach the salvation of those who still continue to live in sin. The children of God are a holy people, washed, purged, sanctified, and made zealous for good works. He who talks about faith, but has no works to prove that his faith is a living faith--is simply lying.
It is faith that saves us, not works--but the faith that saves us, always produces a holy life. God-given faith always renews the heart, changes the character, and influences the desires and motives.
One who merely professes to be a Christian, but lives continually in unrepentant sin, shows by his life that he is not a genuine believer. The New Testament consistently affirms that saving faith always produces holiness. (James 2:17; 1 John 2:3-6). Persistent, willful, unrepentant sin--demonstrates that one's profession is false.
No doubt about it, sirs. You may be baptized and re-baptized, you may attend to sacraments, and you may believe an orthodox creed; but you will be damned if you live in sin! You may become a deacon, or an elder, or a minister--but there is no salvation for any man who still harbors his sins. "The wages of sin is death"--death to professors as well as to non-professors. If you hug your sins in secret, and will not part with them--then God will reveal those sins in public, and condemn you according to the strict justice of His Word.
"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil ... No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God." 1 John 3:8-9
"They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and unfit for any good deed." Titus 1:16