If you are a Christ-follower you had positional forgiveness from the moment that you decided to follow Him. He died for all the sins that you have committed, are presently committing, and will ever commit. You are forgiven once and for all and you are a member of the family of God.
Even if you are in the family, can family relationships still get bent out of shape? You betcha and hence the importance of confession and asking for forgiveness - keeping short accounts as it were. This is relational forgiveness. The Biblical story of the Prodigal Son is a great illustration of this. The son who took his inheritance and went out to lead the wild life always remained the father's son, but their relationship was broken. When the son returned in humility and repentance, the father met him with open arms because his son was back. God is no different, which of course is the moral of the story. He desires relationship with us (amazing if you think about it) and rejoices when that relationship is restored.
In short, can you as a Christ-follower lose your membership in the family of God if you sin? Nope. Can you on the other hand lose your relationship with God if you sin? Yup, but only if you insist on walking away and doing things your way. Keep your accounts short with God and with others in your life - relationships are everything.
(A tip of the hat to Brian Condello, Assoc. Pastor, Salem Alliance Church, for whom the above was just an aside in a terrific sermon yesterday. It will be available as a podcast on the SAC website this week at http://salemalliance.org/ )
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