One God One Way

Forgiveness in Christ

We do not see anywhere in the bible where God commands us to forgive ourselves. This idea was born out of secular psychology but has no basis in Scripture.

However, we do see that God wants us to trust Him that our sins have been expunged when we have confessed to be cleansed.

If we continue to walk in guilt, remaining subject to others who want to pretend we have not been forgiven, then we are not believing God when He said this;

1 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."

If we remain guilty in our hearts over past forgiven sins then we are effectively not believing what God told us.

Also, if we have a sense of guilt when others accuse us of past forgiven sins then we are also not believing God. In this case, people hold more sway over us than God does.

Here's a possible response to anyone who would hold past forgiven sins against us, that are not being repeated;

"Yes, I did that, it was wicked and thankfully I confessed it to God and those I harmed, I have been cleansed having moved on to better things, Christ in

me has healed me."

If we remain in those sins claiming to have been forgiven then we were never repentant and were unconcerned about being cleansed. Words mean nothing unless backed up by a changed life. We do not change ourselves, it is Christ Who changes us in response to our desire to become like Him.

Many people are claiming to be "Christians" but nothing has changed in their lives. They remain arrogant, self-righteous, disobedient to God, and resistant to correction. These people were never born again, they were never changed by Christ into a new creation, the evidence is their continual rebellion against Him, His principles, and other believers.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!"

Ephesians 4:17-31 "17 So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds,

18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

22 that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old ]self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

23 and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

24 and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."

"25 Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another.

26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

28 The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need.

29 Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.

32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

One last thought, anyone who wants to keep you laden down with the guilt of past forgiven sins does not love you, has no interest in the glory of regeneration in Christ. Their father is the devil, he has one purpose, which is to accuse the brethren and diminish our walk through continual accusation.

Get away from these sort of people, they want you to feel debilitating guilt for your past sins because they remain in their own guilt and sin that has not been forgiven.

Hallelujah, when we confess our sins, desire to be cleansed God will do it. Then we will carry on in us to grow us in holiness. The victory is His all we have to do is submit to Him.

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Group Think, the New Normal

When there is "group rejection" it is usually associated with one person, the rejected one does not do or say the things the group likes. There is a "group think" that rejects anyone who is not just like them.

This is becoming more common, the expectations that everyone must think the same way and do the same things in order to be loved is growing because of the last days 2 Timothy mentality.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult ("ragingly insane" is the proper rendering for the word difficult or "perilous") times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. 6 For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith.

9 But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres."

The more we grow in the Lord, loving Him above everyone and everything else the more we will be rejected by the world.

John 15:18-25

Disciples’ Relation to the World

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also.

21 But all these things they will do to you on account of My Name, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23 The one who hates Me hates My Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me for no reason.’"

Refusing to Confess Leads to Spiritual Death

So many "Christians" today refuse to call sin what it is, therefore they are influencing others to enjoy sin too. The apostasy is growing because of the refusal of pretenders to self-reflect according to the Word of God.

2 Timothy 4:3

"3 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,"

1 Corinthians 11:30-32 "…30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.…"

Matthew 7:21-23
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

The Don't Judge Mantra is Growing Me Weary

Growing Weary of the "don't judge" mantra as a means of shutting down proper and beneficial instruction.

This is now the "go-to" mantra to keep others from correcting what is clearly a wrong focus or attitude.

The "don't judge" mantra, seems to be used in everything now to keep people from instructing others.

I will no longer let anyone get away with the mentality that we are not to judge anything or speak definitively while instructing our brothers and sisters in proper decorum or attitudes.

2 Timothy 4:2-3 " 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction.

3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.…"

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

In the matter of clothing at the worship gathering, I must add a little more to my previous post.

Do you, do we, have different kinds of clothing in our closets? Do we have dress clothes to wear to funerals and weddings? Do we have work clothes we put on to dig in the garden? Do we have casual clothes that are tidy and clean to go to visit a friend?

Why do we all have different clothing for different purposes? We have these different clothing styles because different occasions call for different clothing. We dress differently depending on what event or visit we are attending. So why have so many young people chosen the ratting-looking jeans to wear to worship? I suggest that this clothing is a clue as to the inner heart of the one who wears them. The total lack of respect for God and for others is clearly evident. Especially when we see these same people wearing nice clothing to the office party, the weddings, the funerals and the office parties.

The disrespect for God's Word, for rules, for authority is closely tied to these lazy attitudes about clothing styles.

It is disrespectful to come to a wedding in torn and ratty-looking jeans, doing this would make the wearer stand out, distracting from the special party. In order to show respect in attending a wedding, a funeral or a special occasion we put on something more special in deference to those in attendance.

The same disrespectful attitude that is seen nearly everywhere now is reflected in the clothing. Our inner heart cannot be different from our outer choices.

The excuse that someone might be poor in a country such as ours is simply a red herring, it is not reality. Everyone has something decent and respectful to wear to worship, they just choose not to wear it.

The casual mentality about worship is reflected in the disrespectful tone we see in many gatherings today. The worship is superficial and flippant therefore so is the clothing style, it a sign of these end times of overall disrespect for everyone and everything.

The music, the clothing, the events, and much more are evidence we are living in the end days when everyone does what is right in their own eyes and refuses to listen to wise instruction.

2 Timothy 4:3

"3 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,"

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Romans 12:1

"I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

The lie that appearances do not matter at all has been around since the 1970's when the hippy generation influenced the thinking of the church.

Nothing can happen on the inside of us without reflecting on the outside. A lazy attitude about appearance and grooming is a dead giveaway of a lazy mentality toward the ways of God.

Don't come to fight to defend lazy dress codes, just pray that the Lord will give you a heart of diligence in all things, that we please Him and not ourselves. Pray that we will not base our dress code on what everyone else is doing but on what God is saying to us.

My challenge is not to think more about clothing, those who defend ratty clothing as a style for church gathering are too focused on clothes and fitting in. To prepare yourselves for worship will lead us to want to be diligent in ALL that we do and wear.

The Parable of the Sower

A Question on the Words; "Trial" or "Tribulation"

A question was posed to me in a comment, that question was "how do I know when I am going through a trial or a tribulation." My answer was the following;

Unbelievers go through trials and tribulations as well as believers.

Matthew 5:45 "so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

Definition of trial: "Examination by a test; experiment; as in chemistry and metallurgy."

Definition of tribulation: "a cause of great trouble or suffering."

Trials are events that test us, with believers a test shows us ourselves so that we will confess to be cleansed causing a spiritual growth spurt. God already knows what we are but in order for us to become aware of our flaws and sinful heart attitudes, we must see our own responses and reactions in the midst of a trial. This is when the real us emerges when we are being tested.

Tribulation is more severe testing to show us our weaknesses and to strengthen us through the experience.

Romans 8:28 "28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

Trials and tribulation are common in life for everyone. Those who are unsaved are allowed to encounter them to learn their need to repent and trust in Christ. For the believer, they are for leading us to confession to be cleansed for growing in holiness.

1 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."

The Great Tribulation is for the purpose of bringing the Jews back to God. God began with the Jews, abandoned them to go on to the Gentiles and will return to the Jews during the Great Tribulation.

Two-thirds of the Jews will be destroyed and the one-third remaining will trust in Christ and take the gospel to the rest of the world toward the end of the tribulation.

The nation of Israel will remain a nation the entire time, God will fight for her in miraculous ways without the help of any other country of the world. The Lord wants the world to see the miracles. Israel will be saved trusting in Christ because of those miraculous protections for the remaining one-third.

Some Jews will be martyred during this time with the promise of great reward in heaven for having died for Christ and His gospel.

The key here is it doesn't really matter what we are going through, when we hang onto Christ He will go through with us if we are believers, but those who are not born again will have no help from Him unless they confess their sinfulness and trust in Christ.

Isaiah 1:15-16 " 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 16 Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!…"

Matthew 7:21-23

"“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

There are many people in these last days who believe they are good people going to heaven who were not good but only thought they were good. God said no one is good without Him.

Good people are not going to heaven, only forgiven people who trust in Christ by faith will go to heaven.

When we trust in what Christ did for us on that cross, dying to pay the penalty for our sin, He will change us into an entirely different person, we no longer think the same way we did before, we are a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new [a]creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

Ephesians 2:10

"10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Those who have become born again no longer think the same way they did before, they no longer walk a sinful lifestyle anymore. They are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a guarantee of their inheritance, they are signed, sealed, and delivered.

Ephesians 1:13-15 "…13 And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory. 15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,…"

Ephesians 2:5-6 "…5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, "

1 Peter 4

Keep Fervent in Your Love

4 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human lusts, but for the will of God.

3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of indecent behavior, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries.

4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excesses of debauchery, and they slander you;

5 but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as people, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God."

Hallelujah!