Philippians 4:4-9

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near.

6 Do not [e]be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

9 As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

Qualities of Christ in Believers

No one works up the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is the character qualities of the Holy Spirit that God does in us when we become born again. The "fruit" is singular because it is a package deal when we receive the Holy Spirit, the fruit is in Him.

If someone does not have the fruit they do not have the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 7:18-20 "…18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.…"

The fruit of the Spirit are not works. Even ungodly people can have good works but they will not have the fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit are character qualities only the Holy Spirit has, they are as follows;

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law."

This fruit can only be discerned with Spiritual eyes because non-believers can appear to have it but it is not genuine. Non-believers attempt to be seen as good people often faking qualities, but the qualities are superficial and do not last through difficulties.

When the fruit in someone is genuine it will be present all the time in every situation. The fruit is not subject to circumstances and is steady and deeply rooted all the time.

When a believer momentarily and temporarily slips out of the character of Christ they hate it, confess it, and begin again to obey the Holy Spirit.

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."

Hardened Hearts

Unconfessed sin destroys a person, not because of the guilt but because the refusal to repent causes hardness of heart which in turn brings trials in life because of the hardness.

Refusal to pay attention to one's conscience when guilty over sin will bring a hard heart that at some point can never be softened again.

 
Romans 2:5
"But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed."

Psalm 34:18
"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."

Pride prevents an offender from admitting their sin against another person and God. The stronger the pride, the more resistance to confess the harder the heart becomes.
God will either break a person with a hard heart through many very difficult experiences or He will turn them over to their hard heart never to be able to be cleansed from it.

 
Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
It is only through confession of sin to God and to the one offended that the offender can be softened to begin growing again. Those who will not confess do not grow but worse yet they regress, becoming harder than before.

 
Ephesians 4:18
"They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart."

Daniel 5:20
"But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him."

The prideful unrepentant heart always loses in the long run.

One God One Way

Forgiveness in Christ

We do not see anywhere in the bible where God commands us to forgive ourselves. This idea was born out of secular psychology but has no basis in Scripture.

However, we do see that God wants us to trust Him that our sins have been expunged when we have confessed to be cleansed.

If we continue to walk in guilt, remaining subject to others who want to pretend we have not been forgiven, then we are not believing God when He said this;

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."

If we remain guilty in our hearts over past forgiven sins then we are effectively not believing what God told us.

Also, if we have a sense of guilt when others accuse us of past forgiven sins then we are also not believing God. In this case, people hold more sway over us than God does.

Here's a possible response to anyone who would hold past forgiven sins against us, that are not being repeated;

"Yes, I did that, it was wicked and thankfully I confessed it to God and those I harmed, I have been cleansed having moved on to better things, Christ in

me has healed me."

If we remain in those sins claiming to have been forgiven then we were never repentant and were unconcerned about being cleansed. Words mean nothing unless backed up by a changed life. We do not change ourselves, it is Christ Who changes us in response to our desire to become like Him.

Many people are claiming to be "Christians" but nothing has changed in their lives. They remain arrogant, self-righteous, disobedient to God, and resistant to correction. These people were never born again, they were never changed by Christ into a new creation, the evidence is their continual rebellion against Him, His principles, and other believers.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!"

Ephesians 4:17-31 "17 So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds,

18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

22 that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old ]self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

23 and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

24 and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."

"25 Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another.

26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

28 The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need.

29 Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.

32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

One last thought, anyone who wants to keep you laden down with the guilt of past forgiven sins does not love you, has no interest in the glory of regeneration in Christ. Their father is the devil, he has one purpose, which is to accuse the brethren and diminish our walk through continual accusation.

Get away from these sort of people, they want you to feel debilitating guilt for your past sins because they remain in their own guilt and sin that has not been forgiven.

Hallelujah, when we confess our sins, desire to be cleansed God will do it. Then we will carry on in us to grow us in holiness. The victory is His all we have to do is submit to Him.

Like

Comment

Share

Group Think, the New Normal

When there is "group rejection" it is usually associated with one person, the rejected one does not do or say the things the group likes. There is a "group think" that rejects anyone who is not just like them.

This is becoming more common, the expectations that everyone must think the same way and do the same things in order to be loved is growing because of the last days 2 Timothy mentality.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult ("ragingly insane" is the proper rendering for the word difficult or "perilous") times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. 6 For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith.

9 But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres."

The more we grow in the Lord, loving Him above everyone and everything else the more we will be rejected by the world.

John 15:18-25

Disciples’ Relation to the World

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also.

21 But all these things they will do to you on account of My Name, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23 The one who hates Me hates My Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me for no reason.’"

Refusing to Confess Leads to Spiritual Death

So many "Christians" today refuse to call sin what it is, therefore they are influencing others to enjoy sin too. The apostasy is growing because of the refusal of pretenders to self-reflect according to the Word of God.

2 Timothy 4:3

"3 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,"

1 Corinthians 11:30-32 "…30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.…"

Matthew 7:21-23
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"