If salvation is received by not committing sins of the flesh, then you’re going to hell. We all are.
If receiving salvation means that you will no longer commit sins of the flesh, then you’re going to hell. We all are.
If eternal life depends on not being “characterized” by sins of the flesh, then you’re going to hell. We all are.
If eternal life depends on making sure you have repented of all your sins of the flesh, then you’re going to hell. We all are.
If salvation is received or maintained by obedience to commandments, then you’re going to hell. We all are.
So many christians are misled about what salvation is, how it is received, and how one knows he has received it; and a lot of christianity’s false teachings about salvation come from the lack of distinction among all the different words that have been conflated down to “sin” or “sins” in English translations of scripture.
There are several different words in the Greek that all got translated as “sin,” but they mean different things. Therefore, most christians cannot identify the difference between “sins (plural) NOT leading unto death,” and “the sin (singular) that leads unto death.”
There is only one sin that condemns: unbelief (John 3:18, Hebrews 3:19). But, that sin is not physical actions or thoughts. It is a singular spiritual condition into which all humans are born — it is having a dead spirit because of Adam’s sin.
Those who are believers in the Father’s eyes have RECEIVED saving belief—their human belief has been perfected, or completed, by the Holy Spirit. They have the Witness (Greek: “evidence”) in them, according to 1 John 5:10, and also Romans 8:9.
There is only one other spiritual condition, and that is not having saving belief—not having human belief that has been perfected, or completed, by the Holy Spirit. Those whom the Father sees as unbelievers do not have the Witness in them—they do not have the Holy Spirit.
Now, somebody can believe, and confess Messiah Yahoshua before others, but until he has received the covenant (Holy Spirit), he is not yet a believer in the Father’s eyes. He is still seen as an unbeliever. He may be on the path toward saving belief, but he does not yet have it until it has been given to him.
Those who have the Holy Spirit have received saving belief. They are eternally sealed by the covenant, and thus, they cannot ever be guilty of not having the Witness in them, which is the condition of unbelief. THAT is what 1 John 3:9 teaches. It has nothing to do with sins of the flesh, for all humans live in their corruptible (carnal) flesh. It means that one who has the Holy Spirit (a believer) can never be without the Holy Spirit (unbeliever).
One who teaches that at the moment someone believes, he is automatically saved, is a liar, and a false teacher, for Messiah Yahoshua said Himself in Luke 8:13 that some will believe with all joy for awhile, but will eventually fall away, because they have no root (they never receive the source of life, who is the Holy Spirit).
Believe in Messiah Yahoshua, confess Him before others (usually at personal or relational risk), and then await the giving of the covenant. When one has received the covenant, he will be told by the Holy Spirit that he has been made a child of Yah. THAT is salvation, and anything different from that is a counterfeit of true salvation—and, sadly, the counterfeit is what most of christianity teaches.
So, if going to heaven is based on successfully ceasing from all sins of the flesh, you will never make it, and you will go to hell. We all will.
For more information: Do Sinners Go to Heaven?