Will He Make It?

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
(James 1:7 – ESV)

Can a "saved" individual spend his life submitting to his old man, and have hope of spending eternity with the Father?

If that “saved” person was actually saved then obviously the answer is yes, but the question is if this so called “saved” person is really saved at all.

These are age-old questions in Christianity, regarding the matter of degree. Where is the line, if any, to be drawn regarding sanctification? Is someone who never even sets foot in a church once, who never gives up any of his old life of sin, a genuine, born again Christian? If the answer is no, where do we draw the line? Is it up to us anyway, and if not, do we just let anyone into our church fellowship, even the stubbornly and defiantly unrepentant person who says they are a believer? Perhaps it might be more suitable for us to ask what degree does the light of Christ need to shine from a person in order to reveal that the Light is actually within a person?

Now to get back to the originally worded question, I imagine he could, but he wouldn't have any earthly assurance. This might be akin to a drunk who makes it, but all his works in terms of rewards are as nothing. He makes it on God's grace alone like the rest of us, but since he didn't live a sanctified life, he forfeits blessings on earth and rewards in heaven, and his assurance was shaken while here in this life, perhaps. It is a good question, and one in which I fear too many rest on some "decision" earlier in life.

Perhaps there are some who never realize the release from the shackles of sin at all in this life and will still make it to heaven. I believe it certainly is possible. To do justice to the question however, we must look at the full picture. We don't know for sure how many might be like this, and there are going to be more that are the other way around. They lead bad lives that don’t reflect the light of Christ to any visible degree, and yet they think they will be in heaven based on some “decision” that “they” made earlier in life. They were only fooling themselves. They need to ask the real question, “If you didn’t like who God was and want to love Christ, and by extension want to live a life pleasing to God on earth, why in the world would you want to have to live that life in heaven?”

So the answer to the original question or any similarly worded question is this. In theory, yes, some will make it, but in practice, many won’t.