A Just Man Falleth Seven Times, Yet Riseth Up Again

Proverbs 24:16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”

I love this quaint passage of Scripture from the Old Testament. l am reminded of this Bible verse every time I fail as a Christian. The inspired Holy Bible acknowledges that failure is a normal part of living the Christian life. I love what the Apostle Paul said here...

2nd Corinthians 10:5-6, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”

Carefully notice where Paul said to “REVENGE ALL DISOBEDIENCE”! That means when we fail as believers (and we all do continually one way or another), we should be upset with our sinful, nature, and purpose in our heart of hearts that we won't ever make that mistake or commit that particular sin again.

David in the Old Testament commit the horrible sins of pride, lust, adultery, deception, murder and trying to hide the tremendous wickedness he had done. Since David in his pride refused to repent for his evils, God needed to send Nathan the prophet to confront David for his evil deeds, and to pronounce judgment upon him, which would last a lifetime. The Devil's always pays with counterfeit money. All of Satan's apples have worms. Sin at first thrills, but in the latter it always kills. Sin in the beginning fascinates, but in the end it assassinates.

Proverbs 24:16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” To “fall” refers to our sins. There is no such thing as a “good Christian.” We are all wretched sinners. Psalms 106:6, “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.” If we want to please the Lord our God, then we need to stop saying: “He has sinned” and “She has sinned” and start saying truthfully, “We have sinned.” I am the biggest sinner I know, and if you're right with God you should feel the same about yourself (Luke 5:8).

A Christian will fall into the clutches of sin again and again and again. No matter how much we may resolve in our heart never to sin again, we will sin again, before the sun goes down, and likely before the end of the minute. We all falter in of sin, because we are still stuck in this fleshly mortal body. Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Let's not deceive ourselves dear reader, we are all wicked sinners!

The $64,000 question is: Have your sins been washed away by the precious blood of the Lamb, so that you will 'DIE IN THE LORD' someday (Revelation 14:13); or are you headed for Hell forever when you 'DIE IN YOUR SINS' (John 8:24)? My sins have been washed by the precious blood of Jesus. What saith the Scripture? ...

1st Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

I wrote this blog to encourage you dear friend. Over the past 24 years of my website ministry (since 2002), I have received innumerable emails from discouraged Christians who cannot overcome their sinful bad habits and constant temptations. Many of them have been lied to by false prophets; such as, Ray Comfort, Paul Washer, John MacArthur, Pensacola Christian College, Charles, Lawson, Bob Jones University, Jeff Redlin, Sam Gipp, Steve Pettit, Chuck Phelps, Marty Herron, Billy and Franklin Graham, Bobby and Brad Moffett, Albert Mohler, Faith Baptist Bible College, William P, Grady, Peter S. Ruckman, Josh Thompson, Bible Baptist Church in Pensacola, John Hagee, Charles Stanley, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, Kirk Cameron, William Lane Craig, Adrian Rogers, John K. Jenkins, Jack Chick and his toxic Chick Tracts and other deceivers who pervert the Gospel of free grace, teaching instead that to be saved you must first be willing to turn away from a habit of sinning.

So, if you continue living a lifestyle of sinning, all of those damnable heretics will falsely say that you've never truly been “born again” (John 3:1-7), because you've never repented. The big problem is that all of them have a WRONG concept of what it means to “repent” in the Holy Bible. Whereas the Greek verb for “repent” (metanoeo) in Mark 1:15b (“repent ye, and believe the gospel”) simply means “to think differently,” the aforementioned illegitimate preachers errantly teach that Bible repentance means to be willing to forsake your sinful behavior, turn from your sinning, which is “works” (Jonah 3:10).

Dear reader, I can tell you will all confidence on the authority of the inspired Holy Scripture, that you will never go to Hell because of your sins; if you do end up in the Lake of Fire, you'll go to Hell for one reason and one reason only, and that is if you reject Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins. God never sent anyone to Hell who didn't choose to go there, by refusing to receive His free gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life, through faith alone in the death, burial and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus. Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

If you have been born again by faith alone in the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ, then you are forever saved. ONC SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED is 100% biblical, regardless of how much sin may be in your life as a child of God. Since you weren't saved by doing good works, you can never become lost against by doing bad works. Jesus said that the only work of God to be saved is to BELIEVE ON JESUS (John 6:28-29). John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Faith in Jesus is the only path to Heaven!

If you are one of God's children, then you WILL fall, again and again. But the big difference between the saved sinner and the unsaved heathen sinner, is that the saved man is TRYING to please God, even though he fails often. Whereas the heathen unsaved man couldn't care less about living for God, a believer who is right with God does. The heathen man has no Holy Spirit conviction because he doesn't know God, but a child of God does have the Holy Spirit indwelling him or her (Romans 8:9; 1st Corinthians 3:16-17; 1st John 3:24).

So, please don't beat yourself up too bad up when you fail, because we all fail God in life. That doesn't mean you were never born again, it just means that you're priorities in life were wrong at the time you sinned again. When a man's lust for the flesh becomes a higher priority in his life than his love for God, dangerous things start to happen. The prisons today are full of sinful men and women who got their priorities mixed up. I believe that is what the Scripture means in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

I have let the Lord down and disappointed Him more times than I can remember. I have often wished that I could live my life over, knowing what I know now. I guarantee you that if King David in the Old Testament could have returned to live another life on earth, with the knowledge he acquired from the mistakes and sins of his first life, he would never have commit adultery with Bathsheba and ruthlessly murdered her husband to hide David's wickedness.

Whatever sins, failures and mistakes you've made in your past, rise up oh child of God and know that Jesus' blood covers all sins! Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” If you have trusted Christ as your personal Savior, then your sins have been forever washed away by the blood. 1st Corinthians 6:11b, “but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” Amen and amen!

The true redeemed child of God (who trusts in a free grace Gospel) KNOWS and REJOICES that his or her name is recorded in Heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life (Luke 10:20). Please don't let any hellbound Calvinist false teacher tell you that you're not saved just because you still have unconfessed and unforsaken sins in your life. If that were true every one of us would split Hell wide open when we breathe our last breath on earth. Thank God for the blood of Jesus, I've been born again! Hallelujah, I'm saved, saved, saved!

If you are a born again child of God, you will never achieve sinless perfection (despite what the wacky Methodists teach). In this earthly lifetime there is no such thing as Sinless Perfection. Only Jesus Christ was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). All that God asks of you dear saint of God is that you KEEP TRYING to please Him (Revelation 4:11; Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Proverbs 24:16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” You and I will falter in our walk as believers. I hate when I stumble. I don't want to continue living in sin. I hate my faults and weaknesses. But through God's grace I am strong. Remember, we don't grow in strength as saints, we grow in grace (2nd Peter 3:18). Galatians 2:20 teaches that we do not live the Christian life. That's correct. Jesus lives the Christian life through us, as we walk by faith. 2nd Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”