If you are living in a way that is contrary to God’s will, you must change, that is, if you want to be in fellowship with Him now, and go to heaven when Jesus comes back.  The Bible calls this repentance, and it is absolutely necessary if one wants to avoid the wrath of God.

Luke 13:3 (ESV)
³  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

To repent is to have a change of heart, and if it is true repentance, it always leads to a change of life.  When the Pharisees and Sadducees came out to hear John the Baptist preach, he told them, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8).  John was letting them know that they had to change.

The men and women of Corinth had to change when they obeyed the gospel.  Paul tells us of their past behavior that was unsuitable for citizenship in the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV)
⁹  Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰  nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The saints at Corinth gave these things up, and Paul wanted to make sure that they continued to do so.  If you engage in the kinds of things that Paul described in the passage above, you must change.  It does not matter if you believe in Jesus with mental assent, or how often you talk about God and thank Him for the physical blessings that you enjoy in life.  He will never tolerate the practice of sin.  If you want to go to heaven, you must change.

Some think they can obey the gospel and keep living the sinful life that they have in the past.  Evidently, there have always been some who think like this.  That is probably why Paul said, “Do not be deceived…”  Much of this kind of thinking today is driven by the “faith alone” doctrine that says all one has to do to be saved is believe.  I know that those who teach this theory (a theory that originates completely in the mind of man), do not mean to encourage sinful living, but it still does.  Do not be persuaded by it.  We must all give an account for the lives that we live.

2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV)
¹⁰  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Yes, if there is sin in your life, you must change.  Whether you have never obeyed the gospel, or you have allowed sin to creep back into your life since you obeyed it, you must change if you want to go to heaven.  You must stop the sin and start serving God appropriately.  As Ananias once asked Saul of Tarsus, “And now what are you waiting for?” (Acts 22:16).

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.