When we speak truth from the Bible, friends may scatter like roaches when the light comes on. Were they Really Friends?
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Confession and Forgiveness are Two Sides of the Same Coin
The reason so many people believe repentance is not necessary to be forgiven is because of the psychological teaching that says we should forgive someone who is not confessing their sin.
God never taught this, He does not forgive without confession or repentance (change of mind), nor does He expect us to do this.
A broken relationship to God is not mended unless there is confession and a desire to be cleansed. Neither is a relationship to others mended without confession of sin and a desire to never do it again.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God said "IF we confess", thats the phrase everyone wants to leave out. When one confesses then the offense can be forgotten. As long as the offense remains unconfessed the relationship remains broken.
Evil is empowered by lack of accountability, growing out of control for lack of consequences. We had to confess sinfulness to be born again and so should we continually be evaluating our actions to be cleansed as we walk through this life making mistakes.
Acting as though nothing happened to remain friendly is not a help to the sinner, its a hindrance. Perhaps people want to just "let things go" because they don't want anyone else requiring confession from them. Its all about self. We may want to just let things go because we want to have something to hold against someone at a later date.
Isaiah 26:10 "10 Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD."
When we have confessed something about our actions then God removes it, it is no longer counted against us. When someone comes to us to confess then we should be loving and accepting of their confession ready to forgive. From my own experience it is a relief and blessing to be forgiven, the debt no longer exists. The one who forgives ought to feel relief that the relationship has been reconciled. You see, everything is about the relationship reconciliation.
God wants His children to be reconciled and all ills mended and forgotten. In order for that to happen each party must obey God in the way God ordered things. Without one of these elements of confession and forgiveness, there is no reconciliation that is worth its salt. If the process does not happen correctly the offense can be brought up at a later time. However when we walk through the process in honesty, then the offended cannot ever bring it up again as anything against their friend.
Now, having said all that I feel a need to mention that once we have confessed and been forgiven we must believe God that it is over and never again allow false guilt from the devil to dominate us. From my own experience I know that the devil can keep bringing up passed confessed sin to torment us. And, sometimes he will cause us to fear that we still deserve punishment or that someone else will no longer love us.
Cast the devils thoughts from your mind. When we have confessed and we are forgiven then its over.
The devil doesn't want it to be over so he attempts to torture us day after day making us think we have no witness. Sometimes he will use people or even our own thoughts to keep us hurting over a passed forgiven sin. If there are "Christians" in our lives who want to pretend we are no different from before we were saved, then they must also be removed from our lies.
We all have a witness for Christ, no one is sinless and no sin is forever when it has been confessed and cleansed.
I actually had someone say to me many years ago, "what about the way you used to be?" This angry person hated that I had changed, that all my sins were forgiven and that I was a different person. Sadly this woman was a "Christian." I stated boldly and clearly I didn't care what happened before, what I am now is what matters."
This angry bitter woman liked it better when she could feel superior to me. The thought that I had been cleansed and forgiven was frustrating to her. Every sin that is confessed has no hold over us nor should any person who wants to throw up our past forgiven sins as an attack against us. The devil was using this woman to attack me in order to make me believe I was not a different person. The devil hates it when Christ cleanses!
The devil wants us to believe we should never speak the truths of the Bible because we have sinned. How utterly ridiculous is this!!!! All the apostles and everyone else too had sin they needed to confess to grow. Mary the mother of Jesus confessed her need for a Savior.
Only those who believe they are perfect and have never sinned would ever hold anyone's past forgiven sins against them. We have all had to confess and repent to be born again. And, we need continual cleansing as we seek holiness. God will bring to mind things we had forgotten or convict us quickly after a wrong attitude or action. That is the sign that we have the Holy Spirit and are seeking Christ for continual cleansing for the rest of our lives. Anyone who thinks they have arrived at perfection remains in their sin of pride.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 "1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread quickly and be held in honor, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not everyone holds to the faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one."
God never taught this, He does not forgive without confession or repentance (change of mind), nor does He expect us to do this.
A broken relationship to God is not mended unless there is confession and a desire to be cleansed. Neither is a relationship to others mended without confession of sin and a desire to never do it again.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God said "IF we confess", thats the phrase everyone wants to leave out. When one confesses then the offense can be forgotten. As long as the offense remains unconfessed the relationship remains broken.
Evil is empowered by lack of accountability, growing out of control for lack of consequences. We had to confess sinfulness to be born again and so should we continually be evaluating our actions to be cleansed as we walk through this life making mistakes.
Acting as though nothing happened to remain friendly is not a help to the sinner, its a hindrance. Perhaps people want to just "let things go" because they don't want anyone else requiring confession from them. Its all about self. We may want to just let things go because we want to have something to hold against someone at a later date.
Isaiah 26:10 "10 Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD."
When we have confessed something about our actions then God removes it, it is no longer counted against us. When someone comes to us to confess then we should be loving and accepting of their confession ready to forgive. From my own experience it is a relief and blessing to be forgiven, the debt no longer exists. The one who forgives ought to feel relief that the relationship has been reconciled. You see, everything is about the relationship reconciliation.
God wants His children to be reconciled and all ills mended and forgotten. In order for that to happen each party must obey God in the way God ordered things. Without one of these elements of confession and forgiveness, there is no reconciliation that is worth its salt. If the process does not happen correctly the offense can be brought up at a later time. However when we walk through the process in honesty, then the offended cannot ever bring it up again as anything against their friend.
Now, having said all that I feel a need to mention that once we have confessed and been forgiven we must believe God that it is over and never again allow false guilt from the devil to dominate us. From my own experience I know that the devil can keep bringing up passed confessed sin to torment us. And, sometimes he will cause us to fear that we still deserve punishment or that someone else will no longer love us.
Cast the devils thoughts from your mind. When we have confessed and we are forgiven then its over.
The devil doesn't want it to be over so he attempts to torture us day after day making us think we have no witness. Sometimes he will use people or even our own thoughts to keep us hurting over a passed forgiven sin. If there are "Christians" in our lives who want to pretend we are no different from before we were saved, then they must also be removed from our lies.
We all have a witness for Christ, no one is sinless and no sin is forever when it has been confessed and cleansed.
I actually had someone say to me many years ago, "what about the way you used to be?" This angry person hated that I had changed, that all my sins were forgiven and that I was a different person. Sadly this woman was a "Christian." I stated boldly and clearly I didn't care what happened before, what I am now is what matters."
This angry bitter woman liked it better when she could feel superior to me. The thought that I had been cleansed and forgiven was frustrating to her. Every sin that is confessed has no hold over us nor should any person who wants to throw up our past forgiven sins as an attack against us. The devil was using this woman to attack me in order to make me believe I was not a different person. The devil hates it when Christ cleanses!
The devil wants us to believe we should never speak the truths of the Bible because we have sinned. How utterly ridiculous is this!!!! All the apostles and everyone else too had sin they needed to confess to grow. Mary the mother of Jesus confessed her need for a Savior.
Only those who believe they are perfect and have never sinned would ever hold anyone's past forgiven sins against them. We have all had to confess and repent to be born again. And, we need continual cleansing as we seek holiness. God will bring to mind things we had forgotten or convict us quickly after a wrong attitude or action. That is the sign that we have the Holy Spirit and are seeking Christ for continual cleansing for the rest of our lives. Anyone who thinks they have arrived at perfection remains in their sin of pride.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 "1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread quickly and be held in honor, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not everyone holds to the faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one."
Do You Hear From the Holy Spirit?
Those who turn back were never born again in the first place. There are many pretenders in the church today, they have no desire for the word or Christ but are in the body.
1 John 2:19
"19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
We cannot base our beliefs on experiences we have seen. We must depend on the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide our thinking.
1 John 2:19
"19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
We cannot base our beliefs on experiences we have seen. We must depend on the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide our thinking.
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