Thursday, July 18, 2024

Pretenders Among the Sheep

Revelation 3:5 "5 The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."
The reason I believe every person ever born had their name written in the book of life is because God said that He blots out those who do not trust in Christ.
There is no place in the Bible that tells us when our names were added to the book of life, they were there from the beginning.
Christ said that He wished that all would become born again but knew that most would not.
2 Peter 3:9 "9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance."
Revelation 3:5-6 "5 The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"
All those who are born again, changed into a new creation by Christ, will never turn back. They will endure to the end.
The only way to become born again is to confess your sinfulness and ask God to change you into a new creation. When He does this we no longer think the same way we used to think After salvation in Christ we hate sin and desire to please Him. We no longer depend upon ourselves to be good enough because we know we are not and never could be good enough to satisfy the Holy God.
If we fall because of our body of flesh which wars against the Spirit then God disciplines us to help us return to obedience.
Galatians 5:17-25
"17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"
1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.…"
Those who are ashamed of their sin and confess it to be cleansed are those who are born again. Those who rage at correction when they are offending God while defending their sin are not born again. These are those in the church who are pretenders, they are not teachable, refuse discipline and correction and display fits of rage when they have been chastised by believers.
Born-again believers do not struggle with admitting and confessing the sin, they are ashamed when they offend God and His people. They obey God when He said;
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Those who are pretenders are continually judging small matters against others while they treat disrespectfully anyone who will not bow to their way. They do not admit or confess their sins against others while they justify them.
Frequent disrespect and rage over disagreement are two very big clues that someone was never changed into a new creation by Christ.
When we speak of these things boldly we can expect the ragers and rebellious pretenders to become angry that we wrote them even if their name is never mentioned in the text, because they know who they are and what they do and that they are guilty. Because they do not have the Spirit of Christ and His Fruit, they can only do what their fleshly pride allows.
Galatians 5:22-23 " 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.…"
God said we will be able to discern those who belong to Him and those who do not.
Matthew 7:15-20
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
Next time someone tells you that you cannot know the heart of a person remind them that Christ lives in us and tells us what to look for. The fruit of the Spirit are spiritual character qualities of Christ that can be seen by all those who are born again. We cannot know if someone is going to become saved in the future but we can know what they are as they show us by their attitudes that lead to unkind and unloving deeds regularly.
1 John 2:29
"If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him."
1 John 3:6
"No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him."
So many have fallen for the lies of the devil to intimidate us from speaking the truth or discerning attitudes when we see them standing in front of us. We can know the heart of a man by their attitudes and their deeds. God said so and I believe Him.
Every time God has shown me something was off with someone I prayed to learn what it was and He told me every time. Eventually the "good deeds" were seen I could tell if they were manipulation or done out of obligation without love or if they were genuine coming from the heart. Do not dismiss the warnings of the Lord, you will know it si from Him.
John 10:27-28
"27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:"
We can hear the voice of God, that still small inkling from Him when He speaks to us, we can trust it.

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