The more we confess with each mess up (sin) the more we grow in holiness and the less we mess up (sin). We are weak sometimes but hate that we offend God.
There is a saying; "we are not sinless but we sin less" after we are born again. There is a sad thing with some people who are full of pride and think they are working their way to heaven by their own goodness. Of course, we know they have a much higher opinion of themselves than God has of them. Those who believe they are superior to others are lying to themselves and to God. No one deserves to be saved, we all deserve death, every single one. No one is righteous except Christ Who lives in those who have trusted in Him.
The person who believes they are better than others is in a much worse place than a sinner who has confessed to be cleansed by Christ. No matter how big the sin is, it is forgiven and forgotten by God but the superior-minded person remains in their sin, even unsaved and going to hell.
No one can come to Christ to be changed by Him if they are not broken over their sinfulness. There are many people who attend church gatherings week after week who believe they are living righteously but in fact, are not even born again.
Revelation 3:16-18 “16 So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.”
Romans 7:23-25
23 But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin."
As born-again believers, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our salvation. However, we are trapped in this body of death, this sinful flesh that we must battle constantly.
Ephesians 1:13-14
13 In Him, ]you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise,
14 who is the first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."
We are either giving in to the flesh or we are obeying the Holy Spirit.
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?…"
We will not see perfection in ourselves until God takes us home where all things are made new. Notice when we die our bodies do not go to heaven. This is because they are corrupted by sin but our Spirit has been changed by Christ into a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17
“17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
When we worship we worship in Spirit and in Truth because our bodies are dead in its corruption. Our Spirit is willing but our flesh is weak.
Romans 8
Deliverance from Bondage
8 Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
John 4:23 “23 But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
That time is now, the church age in which believers have been given the Holy Spirit Who worships on our behalf as we pray in the flesh, He prays to the Father for us so that the prayer is in the Father’s will. "
Romans 8:34 “who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”
1 John 2:1 “2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
John 14:16 “16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,”
Our Helper is the Holy Spirit Who remains with us FOREVER.
Those who walk in rebellion against God’s Word claiming their sin is alright with God through justification in their circumstances, are not born again.
Born again believers are not perfect but they do not practice a lifestyle of rebellion against God’s Word.
Here is how we can discern an authentically born again believer;
The born again believer hates sin, when they mess up they confess to be cleansed and are growing in holiness.
1 John 3:5-7…5 But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.”
There is a difference between one who defends sin and remains in it and the one who defends righteousness and confesses when they sin in order to be cleansed.
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.”
God will not cleanse from sin the one who refuses to admit they are sinning. He will not force anyone to confess and He will not give to the unrepentant sinner the grace and blessings He extends to His children.
Believers who will not obey God, walking in their flesh rather than in the Holy Spirit will see loss when they arrive at their eternal home.
1 Corinthians 3:14-16 “14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?.”
May each one reading this evaluate ourselves to see if we are in the faith. May we all seek to please God and not ourselves. May we humble ourselves enough to ask God to show us where we fail and cleanse us from that failure.
Everyone who claims to be born again is not above praying this prayer or so free from sin they can count themselves as having arrived at perfection.
If we want to grow in holiness the Holy Spirit will reveal areas of weakness, if someone does not want to evaluate themselves God will leaven them in their sinful state and growing worse as their heart is hardened. Do not be this person!
No comments:
Post a Comment