The devil told Eve she could not trust God and that God was hiding the truth from her. He caused her to lose trust in God. This is one of his favored tactics, placing doubts in people to ruin relationships.
The best way to weaken people is to leave them alone with no support system. However, when we have Christ living in us we are never alone He knows the truth about us and He tells the truth to us about everything and everyone else.
Satan only has power over us if we let him. We don't have to let him, we can ignore his tactics and follow God's principles in the Bible. We can seek the Holy Spirit any time of the day or night and He will warn us or enlighten us.
James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.…"
John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you."
We know something is from God when it glorifies Him.
Friday, February 17, 2023
Confession and Forgiveness, Not What You Have Been Taught
Confession and forgiveness are for the reconciliation of the relationship. If one is absent then the relationship cannot be reconciled.
However, even if the relationship is not what it should be we can still "bless those who curse us", "do to them what we would like done to us", and "if they slap us we can turn and walk away or hug them." In other words, we must always act Christ-like no matter what others do, even if the relationship is not healed.
Luke 6:27-29 "27 But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well."
Matthew 5:44
"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"
Luke 6:35
"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked."
1 Peter 3:9
"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."
Treating people respectfully even if they treat us disrespectfully is not forgiveness, but it is obedience toward God and compassion toward people. They may do harm to us but we are not allowed to do harm to them. This is not forgiveness for reconciliation but it is accountability toward God.
Romans 12:19
"19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
So many people think they are forgiving someone who is not repentant making themselves feel better, but this is not Biblical, it is psychology.
The idea that we forgive for our own sake is a sentence taken out of context.
Matthew 6:14
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
Where in the Bible does it say that God forgives?
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Romans 12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
When we forgive the way God forgives we will forgive when someone confesses their offense to us. IF they do not then we are required to follow the other scriptures mentioned above, bless them, do not do revenge and if they persist in their sin God tells us to remove ourselves.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 "…12 What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”"
No One Can Pay for their Own Sinful Nature
Friday, February 17, 2023
No one can Pay for their Own Sinful Nature
It is silliness that declares the brutal death on the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was not enough and that fallen human beings who cannot be in the presence of God the Father would be able to help the work of Christ in salvation.
When Christ changes us into a new creation because we believe and trust in Him, we can never go back to the old again. It was a work of God that no man can undo. Christ merely gives us what we want when we repent and trust in Him. If someone does not want to be changed by Christ He will not change them into a new creation.
No one can make themselves acceptable enough to go to heaven that's why Christ had to die a brutal death to pay for our sinful nature, it's not just for sins, it's for our entire nature of sin. We cannot earn our way to heaven nor can we earn keeping it.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
2 Corinthians 5:17
"17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
Notice the "old is gone", it cannot come back.
When Christ changes us we are a completely different people, we don't think the same way anymore. We hate sin but are trapped in this body of sin so we have to battle it every day through the power of Christ. No child of God keeps on sinning, they confess to be cleansed.
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? 25Thanks 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.…"
1 John 3:9-10 "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.…"
If one of God's children sins He does not throw them away, He disciplines them to return to obedience.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5And 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.” 7Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
Those who sin willfully who are not sorry and even defend their sin have never been born again. They came in of their own power not the power of Christ. Their mindset is the same as it was before because Christ will not change anyone who doesn't want to be changed into a new creation by Him. These people thought they could make themselves acceptable to God, but they cannot no matter how good they think they are, they will never measure up to God's holiness.
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"
There are many if not most pretenders in the apostate church today who look just like the world because they are the world.
James 4:4 "4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. "
John 15:18-20 "18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. 20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.…"
No one can Pay for their Own Sinful Nature
It is silliness that declares the brutal death on the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was not enough and that fallen human beings who cannot be in the presence of God the Father would be able to help the work of Christ in salvation.
When Christ changes us into a new creation because we believe and trust in Him, we can never go back to the old again. It was a work of God that no man can undo. Christ merely gives us what we want when we repent and trust in Him. If someone does not want to be changed by Christ He will not change them into a new creation.
No one can make themselves acceptable enough to go to heaven that's why Christ had to die a brutal death to pay for our sinful nature, it's not just for sins, it's for our entire nature of sin. We cannot earn our way to heaven nor can we earn keeping it.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
2 Corinthians 5:17
"17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
Notice the "old is gone", it cannot come back.
When Christ changes us we are a completely different people, we don't think the same way anymore. We hate sin but are trapped in this body of sin so we have to battle it every day through the power of Christ. No child of God keeps on sinning, they confess to be cleansed.
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? 25Thanks 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.…"
1 John 3:9-10 "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.…"
If one of God's children sins He does not throw them away, He disciplines them to return to obedience.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5And 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.” 7Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
Those who sin willfully who are not sorry and even defend their sin have never been born again. They came in of their own power not the power of Christ. Their mindset is the same as it was before because Christ will not change anyone who doesn't want to be changed into a new creation by Him. These people thought they could make themselves acceptable to God, but they cannot no matter how good they think they are, they will never measure up to God's holiness.
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"
There are many if not most pretenders in the apostate church today who look just like the world because they are the world.
James 4:4 "4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. "
John 15:18-20 "18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. 20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.…"
Cultural Christianity is Deadly
We live in a Christian culture claiming they believe the Bible but violate so much of it that it is evidence they are not "Bible-believing."
When you quote the Bible to another Christian and their response is to defend their own ideas rather than go to prayer and Bible study we have a clue they are cherry pickers, choosing what they like and discarding what they don't like or what does not fit with the culture.
If someone says they believe the Bible then thy ought to be searching it at ever turn to make sure they were obeying it. When a question arises about an issue their first thought ought to be what God said about it or which principle applies to it.
And, true Bible believers would be praying as they read for the Holy Spirit to open their eyes to understanding. Many people read with the attitude of finding loopholes to justify what they want, without concern about what Christ meant. These people are not honest people desiring to know the heart of God to obey Him.
Anyone who says they believe the Bible ought to be reading it and knowing it so well that they can repeat a principle of God without having to look it up. If someone does not know they should be searching to find an answer with the help of the Holy Spirit.
John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"
Whatever we do in obedience to God WILL glorify Him.
Isaiah 11:2
"The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD."
John 14:17
"the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you."
John 14:26
"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."
Those who love their ignorance and cultural Christianity will use the Bible to suite themselves and they will not glorify Christ, only themselves.
1 Timothy 4:1
"Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,"
2 Timothy 4:3–4
"3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."
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