A wise person receives a chastisement or instruction as an opportunity to learn about themselves and grow spiritually and emotionally.
A prideful person takes a chastisement or instruction as a personal attack. There is no spiritual or emotional growth in the prideful person, only growing anger and resentment.
Proverbs 12:1-2 "1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. 2 The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.…"
Monday, September 3, 2018
Confess and Let God Deal with It
There will be those who attempt to deny that God has changed us. They want to intimidate us into silence by bringing up past sins or at least treating us with contempt because of our past sins, do not take this in to your soul
Those who would hold past sins against others must believe they have never sinned or they would not be so inclined as to accuse us of ours.
When we have been freed from the guilt of our past sins through confession and God's forgiveness, we no longer need to revisit those sins in our minds or listen to others who want to continually treat us as though there has been no change in us.
The devil uses wicked and unforgiven people to torment us with false guilt over something that no longer exists. Perhaps these people have not been forgiven and do not experience the joy of freedom from sin, therefore they must believe we are no better than they.
I have two encouragements, one for the believe and one for the non-believer who judges others based on past sin.
The first encouragement is for those who are believers and who have been cleansed of their sin. When we believe God, that He has cleansed us we no longer have to indulge in self pity or false guilt we can leave it where it belongs, that is in the past. We also have no obligation to keep in our lives those who wish to continually deny what Christ did in us. They will gossip, they will lie and they will treat us with contempt, but it can roll off like water off a ducks back. Remove yourselves from those who have nothing but destruction in mind for us through false guilt.
The second encouragement is for the lost person who holds sin against others. This person can be free from their sin too. They can confess their sin of self righteousness, pride and cruelty toward believers and become born again by asking the Lord to change them into a new creation. The one who accuses others of past forgiven sins remains in their sin until they confess it and are cleansed by Christ.
This is the good news for the unbeliever, they can be free of their damnable pride and thoughts of superiority simply by admitting what they are and asking to be cleansed.
Its all so very simple, the key is to just believe God.
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."
The key is that one must confess the sin and want it dealt with by Christ.
Those who would hold past sins against others must believe they have never sinned or they would not be so inclined as to accuse us of ours.
When we have been freed from the guilt of our past sins through confession and God's forgiveness, we no longer need to revisit those sins in our minds or listen to others who want to continually treat us as though there has been no change in us.
The devil uses wicked and unforgiven people to torment us with false guilt over something that no longer exists. Perhaps these people have not been forgiven and do not experience the joy of freedom from sin, therefore they must believe we are no better than they.
I have two encouragements, one for the believe and one for the non-believer who judges others based on past sin.
The first encouragement is for those who are believers and who have been cleansed of their sin. When we believe God, that He has cleansed us we no longer have to indulge in self pity or false guilt we can leave it where it belongs, that is in the past. We also have no obligation to keep in our lives those who wish to continually deny what Christ did in us. They will gossip, they will lie and they will treat us with contempt, but it can roll off like water off a ducks back. Remove yourselves from those who have nothing but destruction in mind for us through false guilt.
The second encouragement is for the lost person who holds sin against others. This person can be free from their sin too. They can confess their sin of self righteousness, pride and cruelty toward believers and become born again by asking the Lord to change them into a new creation. The one who accuses others of past forgiven sins remains in their sin until they confess it and are cleansed by Christ.
This is the good news for the unbeliever, they can be free of their damnable pride and thoughts of superiority simply by admitting what they are and asking to be cleansed.
Its all so very simple, the key is to just believe God.
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."
The key is that one must confess the sin and want it dealt with by Christ.
Frances Schaeffer's Thoughts on the Gospel Message
When Francis Schaeffer was asked how he would present the gospel to a stranger, this is what he said;
"I would spend 45-50 minutes on the negative to really show him his dilema----that is he is morally dead....then I'd take 10-15 minutes to preach the gospel."
"I believe that much of our evangelistic and personal work today is not clear simply because we are too anxious to get to the answer without having a man realize the real cause of his sickness, which is true moral guilt (and not just psytcho-logical guilt feelings) in the presence of God."
Dr. Francis Schaeffer.
In our day we have been indoctrinated to believe that we must get people to like us before we can delicately and carefully share a watered down and happy gospel. This could not be farther from the truth.
It is rational to believe based on Scripture that most people will be angered when they are told they are sinful and on their way to hell.
In our day we have been led to believe that if someone becomes angry or rages at us, we must have done something wrong. The idea that people get mad even when we did nothing wrong, has been lost.
We see people becoming enraged frequently these days over the smallest perceived slights. I say "perceived" because often there is no slight, only one that has been contrived in the mind of the one who rages.
If you have read many of my articles you would know that I believe strongly in the influence of devils in the minds of people. Not possession but influence into the minds of those who have no defense against him.
Most people today in this age of self worship are only interested in being loved and elevated by others. Because of this mentality we see people deeply offended by the smallest correction or disagreement. It is the need for self aggrandizement that causes people to be unable to hear anything but praise.
This love of self brings a false gospel of outward peace but no inner peace. It manages to flatter those who love themselves without any possibility of the necessary warnings God speaks about throughout His Word.
Ezekiel 3:17-19 "…17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. 18 If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die ,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 19 But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.…"
Mature and humble people are able to accept a disagreement or a chastisement and grow from it. It is the insecure self worshiper who cannot receive what might be best for them in the long term.
"I would spend 45-50 minutes on the negative to really show him his dilema----that is he is morally dead....then I'd take 10-15 minutes to preach the gospel."
"I believe that much of our evangelistic and personal work today is not clear simply because we are too anxious to get to the answer without having a man realize the real cause of his sickness, which is true moral guilt (and not just psytcho-logical guilt feelings) in the presence of God."
Dr. Francis Schaeffer.
In our day we have been indoctrinated to believe that we must get people to like us before we can delicately and carefully share a watered down and happy gospel. This could not be farther from the truth.
It is rational to believe based on Scripture that most people will be angered when they are told they are sinful and on their way to hell.
In our day we have been led to believe that if someone becomes angry or rages at us, we must have done something wrong. The idea that people get mad even when we did nothing wrong, has been lost.
We see people becoming enraged frequently these days over the smallest perceived slights. I say "perceived" because often there is no slight, only one that has been contrived in the mind of the one who rages.
If you have read many of my articles you would know that I believe strongly in the influence of devils in the minds of people. Not possession but influence into the minds of those who have no defense against him.
Most people today in this age of self worship are only interested in being loved and elevated by others. Because of this mentality we see people deeply offended by the smallest correction or disagreement. It is the need for self aggrandizement that causes people to be unable to hear anything but praise.
This love of self brings a false gospel of outward peace but no inner peace. It manages to flatter those who love themselves without any possibility of the necessary warnings God speaks about throughout His Word.
Ezekiel 3:17-19 "…17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. 18 If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die ,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 19 But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.…"
Mature and humble people are able to accept a disagreement or a chastisement and grow from it. It is the insecure self worshiper who cannot receive what might be best for them in the long term.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)