Sunday, October 23, 2022

Confession is the Way to Cleansing through Christ

Did you know it is blasphemy against God to claim to be a Christian but not be interested in His Word, the Bible? Using God's name and His word as a manipulation to impress others is a sin and evidence that there has never been a born-again experience.
The idea that "I'm not so bad because I am like everyone else is a backslidden and lukewarm mentality. We do not compare ourselves with others, we compare ourselves with Christ leaving us feeling like nothing to be proud of.
Revelation 3:15-16
15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."
God wants us to be either hot, on fire for Him, or cool, a refreshing drink of cold water. Both of these things are for God in a very good way, refreshing the saints and paying close attention to God's Word so that we would live as Christ lived.
2 Corinthians 10:12
"12 For we do not presume to rank or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they have no understanding."
When we compare ourselves to Jesus Christ we have reason to feel humble and ashamed. At no time in our Christian walk can we claim to have arrived at the perfection of Jesus Christ. We are growing in holiness only in proportion to how often we confess to be cleansed. Those who never confess their sins will not grow until they do.
Many people are busy impressing others with a fake persona to appear spiritual who remain weak and beggarly because they are more invested in "appearing" holy than in actually becoming holy.
Deuteronomy 23:14
"Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.:
Our holiness comes from God not from what we do with ourselves. We must confess sin, and obey the Holy Spirit, and then we will grow in holiness.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9
Notice the "IF", it is only if we confess that God will forgive and cleanse us from that sin we confess. Those who will not confess will not be cleansed or forgiven.

Adrian Rogers: 5 Ways to Draw Closer to Jesus (#2089)