Thursday, December 3, 2020
The Conviction of Sin is Necessary for Salvation
Amen!!! God says that no child of God "keeps on sinning", the Holy Spirit is within them to convict them of their sin, it's an ugly feeling that we want to get rid of through confessing to be cleansed.
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."
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?…"
Hebrews 12:7-9 "…7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?…"
In our day the adult children do not respect and honor their parents which is the reason we see so much dishonor and mistreatment of the elderly at the hand of narcissistic adult children. These children are training their own children to disrespect the grandparents by their example of disrespect in conversation and neglect of the elderly.
It is no wonder we are observing so much distasteful dishonor and disrespect in our day. There was a day only one generation ago in which an adult child never talked back to their elders. They respected them, even if they disagreed they were careful to treat them honorably and lovingly knowing how much God despised those who were insolent toward their elders.
To treat disrespectfully those much older than us is to treat God the same way. When an adult child cannot be respectful to their parents then their "religion" of Christianity is a sham, they have no more respect for God than they do their parents.
We know this because of the way in which they twist the Bible to fit their own desires. They snatch verses out of context to make them say what they want to believe without caring what God actually meant by His Words. They also give themselves excuses as to why their parents deserve to be treated with contempt and angst.
The angst we see in the actions, words and ultimately the hearts of those who are disrespectful is a clear indication of what they think of God. One cannot separate ones attitude toward God and their attitudes toward parents.
Do not be fooled, those who are disrespectful as a matter of course toward those they do not like are by their very character disrespectful people. A respectful kind person is this way to everyone, even with those who disagree with them. Kind people treat all people the same way. They do not do as the narcissist does in choosing to be friendly to those they wish to impress and mean to those they think are beneath them.
To the born-again believer, all people should be treated with respect. Those who treat some with respect and others with disdain are demonstrating their own arrogant superior attitude as though they never needed salvation through Christ. Some have never confessed their sinfulness, they have believed a lie in their own mind that they were good enough to enter heaven on their own merit. These are those who are most likely not saved.
When we know that we had to confess to be cleansed and saved, we are not harsh with others, we never consider ourselves better than anyone else. It is only the grace of Christ that saved us, not of ourselves one bit.
Ephesians 2:8-9
"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Some people boast without saying a word, through their superior attitude and dismissiveness they demonstrate they are better than others. Shame on them, no one can claim they were never sinful. Those who believe they are better will exclude those they think are beneath them, they will mock them, gossip against them, and even devise in their minds ideas that are not true to justify the ill-treatment of their target. This is wicked and evidence that the one who has such a character cannot possess the fruit of the Spirit of God.
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."
When someone has this fruit from the Holy Spirit they don't have to try to be good, they love it and it comes naturally to them. When they mess up they hate it, so messing up is uncommon for them. They love righteousness, whereas those who are narcissists love their sin, remain in it and feel no conviction of their sin.
Do you feel convicted and ugly when you have sinned? I hope so, this is what drives a person toward confession to be cleansed as God says in 1 John 1:9. Those who do confess to be cleansed will grow in holiness, the sin will diminish continually until there is only left the temptation of the mind that needs to be dealt with quickly before it becomes an action.
The temptation is from the flesh and the devil, we must fight it in prayer, it is not the sin. The sin is indulging the evil thoughts and ideas a few seconds longer than the initial thought. When we repent before these thoughts become actions or ongoing attitudes we will not be treating anyone in ungodly ways.
Let the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit dwell in you richly, listen to His voice and you will not be living a lifestyle justifying sin.
Hebrews 10:26
"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,"
Willful justification of sin is evidence that the one doing it is not born again, they are living a pretense of Christianity but never having trusted in Christ for salvation.
Many people in our day have joined the Christian club but were not changed into a new creation by Christ. They came in the back door proud of their own goodness, this is a sure way to hell. These people need to repent, confess their sinfulness and trust in Christ.
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