The difference is not sin

The difference between a lost and saved man is not sin. Both sin. The difference is how they respond to sin in their life and how God responds to them after they sin.

1. The saved man sins more than wants to and when he sins it bothers him and eventually makes him miserable - Psa. 32

2. God responds to willful sin in the life of his child by chastening him which lost people are without - Heb. 12:5-10

3. Not all sin is visible or self-evident to others but it is evident to God and made evident to all His children. For example, outwardly a man may be spotless to the observers (Mt. 7:22) but inwardly dirty - 1 Tim. 1:15

4. The lost religious man is a man who either reinterprets God's standard of sin to a reduced level so he can live above it or a hypocrit.

5. The spiritual man knows he constantly falls short of the glory of God and sins more than he wants to and is quick to repent of specific sins.

6. The confidence of a saved man is not in himself or in his own personal sinlessness but in His Savior who is without sin.

7. Sin is a dispicable thing but it is also part of the pain that God uses to strengthen our faith and conform us more to the image of His Son.