He is our Choice and He Does all the Work!

We make the choice and He does all the work in us!

We have a choice, what we choose is on us without any excuses.

My state of mind does not depend on whether an offender is sorry or not. I remain a forgiving person when they are ready I am already ready.

Those who are ready for God's forgiveness will be repentant. They will be "contrite" as God puts it in His Word.

The word contrite means to be completely crushed, the condition that we must be in before God can transform us into a new creation.

Many "Christians" have never been transformed because they decided they wanted to be good enough in their own power according to their image to the world around them, having nothing to do with being changed on the inside.

A person can clean up their act on the outside while remaining dirty and unregenerate on the inside. Those who are led by the Spirit of God often can recognize those who are pretending.

Matthew 23:24-26 "…24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well."

Pretenders pay close attention to the outer man hoping to do the right things without attention to the inner man which desires to obey God's every Word. These pretenders are heavily dedicated to the traditions of men and resistant to the ways of God.

Mark 7:13 "13 Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

God said of the Pharisees and to the pretenders of our day the following;

Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘ These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”

If we are to be authentic born-again believers we must be completely broken inside over our sinfulness while desiring to be transformed by Christ. If the brokenness has not happened then there is no transformation and not salvation.

Romans 12:1-3 "1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. 3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.…"

When we have become born again we desire above all else to be cleansed by Christ and for that cleansing to continue to the end of our lives.

Too many people understand these principles and can even repeat them but have never been transformed, they have never been broken and are resistant to any correction according to the Bible.

Believers, pray for those who are caught up in cultural Christianity thinking they are good people who deserve to be saved, but have never been transformed. God said we will know them by their fruit.

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."

What is the fruit of the Spirit? It is the character qualities of Christ.

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."

The acts of goodness are not the fruit, they can be done to glorify self, it is the character qualities that produce acts that are genuine and led by Christ within the heart of the transformed believer.

Colossians 1:12-14 "…12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.…"

The gist of this message is that Christ is the One Who does all the work in us. He saves us when we want Him to, He changes us when we desire to be changed, He seals us with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a guarantee of our salvation, He continually cleanses us until we leave this earth and He takes us home when it is His timing. It's all Him all the time in everything.

We cannot take credit for anything in and of ourselves, all the glory and credit goes to God. Hallelujah!!!!

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