Confession Restores Our Relationship With God
“Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear” (Philippians 2:12).
[To keep sentences short, I will use the ‘he’ pronounce]. I recently had a conversation with a pastor friend of mine regarding the meaning of salvation. (I know this brother was trying to defend himself as he found himself in a compromising sinful position). Now, according to his understanding and a position which he vehemently defended is that God has saved us through Christ from all our past, present and future sins. Now in his own words, the pastor friend said that whatever sins we are going to commit in future has been covered by the Blood of the Lord Jesus. Well, we accept that but only on the basis that we repent from our wrong doings and without continuing in our sins (1 John 1:9; 3:6). What I mean is this, if a Christian followed the Lord and later became discouraged and follows the world or his own desires; he would have broken faith with God (Ezekiel 33:18; Hebrews 10:39) and in order to restore his relationship with God he will have to acknowledge his sins, repent and forsake his old ways (Proverbs 28:13).
Should We Continue Sinning Because We Are Once Saved?
Brethren, we should remember the Lord Jesus does NOT encourage Christians to sin after they received Him in their hearts as Lord and Saviour (John 8:11; Colossians 3:5-11). Why are we writing about this? Well, the Lord commanded me to write about this message and to share some of the things He taught us relating to people who practiced falsehood while being saved. Right in the beginning of this Ministry, the Lord gently rebuked us and warned us not to sin purposely because that is grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30-32).
As a repetition, many of us in this ministry including many others outside this ministry have had the opportunity of receiving first hand rebuke from the Lord for wilful sinning (Hebrews 10:26). There were people amongst us whom the Lord rebuked for wilful sinning almost daily. From the messages, we could sense the Lord’s anger and Charis who received the message from the Lord said she felt very frightened and she could feel the Thunder and echoing of the Lord’s Words deep inside her being (Hebrews 12:21) and when we shared the message with the individual(s) concerned we would also convey the tone of the Lord’s voice of being saddened and disappointed by our sin and wilful disobedience to Him (Ephesians 4:30; Genesis 6:6). Biblically, we know that the Lord has a very gentle spirit with an unquenchable love and compassion for people always willing to forgive (Matthew 11:29) but our sins is like a torment to Him.
In conclusion, we had a sister in our ministry who was in the habit of simply acting without faith and sinning purposely using the excuse, ‘God will understand’ and despite numerous rebukes from the Lord for repeatedly disobeying the Lord, the Lord issued a messages saying this sister was being used by the devil.
Do Not Provoke The Lord, Fear Him
Briefly, if we take heed to a warning from the scriptures or from the Lord and we repent and forsake that sin it pleases the Lord (1 John 1:9) however, if we repeat such sin stubbornly, there can be NO DOUBT we are in bondage and we obey the devil who is mightily at work in some of us (Ephesians 2:2). We should therefore not undermine God’s authority and His word by encouraging people to sin because they are ‘saved once and for all’. The Bible says we should work on our salvation daily (Philippians 2:12-13) as we acknowledge our wrong-doings before the Lord daily and why daily? We sin daily and if we should forgive our brothers or sisters seventy seven times seven a day does that not show we are in need of repenting? (1 John 1:8-9; Romans 3:10-12; Matthew 18:22). As Christians, we have the flesh or sinful nature and the devil to contend with daily (Romans 8:6-11; 1 Peter 5:8). Thus, we are not saved from evil yet as some say. If we had been we would not have to struggle against evil daily and ask the Lord to protect us against evil (Matthew 6: 13). Let us obey the Lord as we endure the trials and troubles of this present life and only after enduring and rejecting evil will we gain Heaven (Matthew 24:13).
If you would like to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and escape the snares of death, please get started by praying this
Gracious Peace
Brother Glenn
