Authentic born-again believers are ashamed of their sins when confronted. God says, no child of God continues in sinning. When we encounter a person who rages at us because we have confronted their sin we can suspect they are not born again.
The Holy Spirit in born-again believers convicts us of our sin until we confess it to be cleansed.
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.…"
There are those who do not do the big sins to protect their own reputation but live continually in a state of self-righteousness and arrogance as though they have never sinned. These people could not be authentic Christians while feeling comfortable in their demonically inspired pride.
An attitude of superiority while lacking all the fruit of the Spirit is a strong indication that a person like this was never born again. When believers have humbled themselves, crushed by the weight of their own sin to the point of weeping, could never feel superior to others, they know we all have sinned and must all be broken in repentance to be changed by Christ.
James 4:6-7
"Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
1 Peter 5:6 "6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,"
The fruit of the Spirit is lacking in most people who say they are Christians in our day. Pretenders outnumber authentically born-again believers, so much so that the remnant is very small, almost as in the days of Noah and Lot.
Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law."
Matthew 24:37-39
"37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.
38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be."
The faith upon the earth is so absent in our day that very few have it or even want to have it. Many people use phrases like "our prayers are with you", even non-believers but they never say who they are praying too, they think their good thoughts are prayer. It confuses baby Christians and pretenders think it is proper as they use the same phrases that are meaningless.
Luke 18:8
I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
May we all be continually self-reflecting to see if we are walking in the Holy Spirit deeply committed to the principles of His Word while asking Him to change anything in us that does not honor Him.
Every born-again believer should be growing in holiness and humility as we realize our worm-like state compared to the holiness of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment