Exposed!

[Christsfreeservant]

John 3:16 NASB

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”​

God the Father gave His only begotten Son Jesus Christ (God the Son) to death on a cross to die for our freedom from sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. In his death, thus, he put sin to death. For, Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. And, he died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us (2 Co. 5:15, 21).

But, he didn’t stay dead, praise the Lord! On the third day he was resurrected from the dead in victory over sin, Satan, hell and death, on our behalf. Amen! And, because he lives, we, too, can live in victory over sin and Satan, so that we are no longer enslaved to sin, but to righteousness.

If we want to have this freedom from the control of sin over our lives, and have new lives in Jesus Christ, and have eternal life with God, we must be believing (present tense) in Jesus Christ. For, belief in Jesus is not past tense only, but it is present tense, ongoing, and continuous until the end.

And, this believing in Jesus is also not just some emotional experience we have had or some intellectual assent to who Jesus is and was, and to what he did for us in dying on the cross for our sins. Believing in Jesus is a radical change in lifestyle. It is dying with him to the sins which once enslaved us, and allowing him to set us free from our addictions. And, it is walking with him in purity, love, compassion, faithfulness, and integrity – all in the power of God’s Holy Spirit and the working of God’s grace in changing us.

John 3:17-18 NASB

“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”​

Many people take v. 17 out of context to make it say that Jesus Christ never judges anyone, and so we shouldn’t, either. But, that is not true.

Jesus Christ, when he walked this earth, made judgments of people and actions and attitudes all the time. We need to read some of the words he spoke to his followers, and the words he often spoke to the Pharisees, and the words he spoke which were intended for all people, of all time. They were filled with judgments regarding sin and righteousness, and our relationship with him, and with regard to hell and eternal life with God.

He was very strong in his words with regard to what it takes for us to be one of his followers. He made it very clear that if we want to be one of his that we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience. He said that we can’t hold on to our old lives of sin, for if we do, we will die in our sins. And, he said that if we die with him to sin, then we will have eternal life.

So, if we want to be free from judgment, we need to be believing in him, dying daily to sin, denying self, and walking in obedience to his commands.

Yet, his is not saying we will be perfect or that we will never sin, but that sin should no longer be our master. It should no longer be what controls our lives, for Jesus set us free! So, we should walk in the freedom that Jesus has provided for those who would love and obey him. And, we need to give our all to Jesus, on his altar of sacrifice laid. We need to be fully surrendered to him, doing what he has called us to do, and yielding our lives to his control.

John 3:19-20 NASB

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”​

What this describes here are individuals who are in love with themselves, basically, whose covenant is not with God but with their own fleshly appetites. They are not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, but by their own filth and the lies they tell to cover up the filth (their sins).

Many of them are not without knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, though, for many who will not come into the light do make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. So, in order to protect the façade, outwardly they may make an appearance as though they love God, and that they have a relationship with Jesus Christ, while inwardly they are weighed down excessively with a burden of sin – immorality, lust, lewdness, and all sorts of wickedness.

In order to cover up their gross sinful addictions, they use flattery, smooth talk, charm, manipulation, jokes, allurement, and intimidation to deceive others and to keep them at arm’s length, hopefully, they think, to protect their addictions and the lies they tell to cover up their sins. If someone gets close to discovering the truth, they will attack like a roaring lion protecting his lair (den), while they hold tight to the lies to protect themselves.

These individuals are truly incapable of genuinely loving anyone else, although they will attempt to give the impression that they do love people. But it is self-serving, for they are in love with the lust of the flesh, and they will devour anyone who dares to interfere. So, they put on a façade, and they will smile and joke to make everyone laugh, but behind the smile is contempt and scorn for anyone, including God, who would try to stop them.

Some of them, in their attempts to prove that they are truly righteous before God, will act as though they are spiritually making progress, while they make a habit of delaying being honest, and delaying dealing with the sin and all the hatred that is in their hearts, too. They have hardened hearts which need to be plowed, dug up, and dealt with before Almighty God, but they keep putting that off, too.

They are two-faced, double-minded people who give the appearance of righteousness all the while what they are waiting for is not Jesus, but for any opportunities to feed their own bellies with the lusts of their flesh. They are users and abusers who will use anyone and everyone to get what they want, and again, if they feel threatened, will go on an all-out attack to stomp on the hearts of anyone who would try to help them get free. This is addiction.

For, they are in love with themselves and with their own godless and immoral appetites, which are enormous. They are weighed down with their sins, and unless they get down on their knees before Almighty God and truly let it all go, and walk with Jesus in victory over sin, they will never be free.

And, we must have our hearts guarded so that we are not led astray by their charm, flattery, smooth talk and deception, for our Lord wants us to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil (See: Rom. 16:17-20).

John 3:21 NASB

"But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”​

So, if this is where you are, pretending one thing on the outside, while you hide your secret sins and the lies you tell to cover them up, in order to protect yourself from the light exposing your nakedness, then I pray you will surrender your lives to Jesus Christ today, that you will repent of all sins, openly confess them, and allow Jesus to set you free, once and for all!

Living Water
An Original Work / November 21, 2013

Based off Various Scriptures

My people have forsaken Me,
Their Savior, who died on a tree;
Made idols, and they worshipped them;
So empty, they will ne’er fulfill.

Lord, You are the hope of Your chosen ones.
Those who turn away from You will be shamed;
The Spring of Living Water left behind.

Living Water satisfies.

The thirsty, let them come and drink;
Believe in Jesus as their King;
The gift of Jesus given them,
So they will never thirst again.

Indeed, the Living Water flows within.
It springs up like a fountain cleansing sin.
Eternal life in heaven promised them.

Living Water glorifies.

Oh people, won’t you come to Him?
Obey Him and repent of sin.
Let Jesus come and live within.
Surrender all your life to Him.

My people, won’t you turn your hearts to Me?
Forsake your idols and then you’ll be free.
Won’t you come now to Me on bended knee?

Living Water sanctifies.

Thursday, December 20, 2018, 12:00 a.m.

 

[Roidecoeur78]

What this describes here are individuals who are in love with themselves, basically, whose covenant is not with God but with their own fleshly appetites. They are not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, but by their own filth and the lies they tell to cover up the filth (their sins).

Many of them are not without knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, though, for many who will not come into the light do make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. So, in order to protect the façade, outwardly they may make an appearance as though they love God, and that they have a relationship with Jesus Christ, while inwardly they are weighed down excessively with a burden of sin – immorality, lust, lewdness, and all sorts of wickedness.

In order to cover up their gross sinful addictions, they use flattery, smooth talk, charm, manipulation, jokes, allurement, and intimidation to deceive others and to keep them at arm’s length, hopefully, they think, to protect their addictions and the lies they tell to cover up their sins. If someone gets close to discovering the truth, they will attack like a roaring lion protecting his lair (den), while they hold tight to the lies to protect themselves.

Completely agree with everything here, but I can only do that because I have been such as you and the scripture describes. Even as Paul says, "and such were some of you". But do you also allow that it takes age and experience for one to realize and admit the error of their ways? That Paul exhorts to "flee the lusts of youth" seems to point to us all having to live through those lusts and avoidance of the light. Is to turn and walk in the light repenting of and freely admitting all those sins and evils we were doing? If we are willing to admit the truth of our misdeeds in abhorrence of them, rather than "attacking like a roaring lion" is this an indication of a changed heart? Having lived in denial and rebellion a long time, and then losing nearly every worldly relationship and thing before I was able to see the truth of it, has left me wondering if there is any way back to walking in the light. Mostly because of the belief I abused the grace He was bestowing on me, so why would He allow me any more?

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Completely agree with everything here, but I can only do that because I have been such as you and the scripture describes. Even as Paul says, "and such were some of you". But do you also allow that it takes age and experience for one to realize and admit the error of their ways? That Paul exhorts to "flee the lusts of youth" seems to point to us all having to live through those lusts and avoidance of the light. Is to turn and walk in the light repenting of and freely admitting all those sins and evils we were doing? If we are willing to admit the truth of our misdeeds in abhorrence of them, rather than "attacking like a roaring lion" is this an indication of a changed heart? Having lived in denial and rebellion a long time, and then losing nearly every worldly relationship and thing before I was able to see the truth of it, has left me wondering if there is any way back to walking in the light. Mostly because of the belief I abused the grace He was bestowing on me, so why would He allow me any more?

Roidecoeur, Scripture makes no such allowances for sin. Jesus and his NT apostles gave no escape clause for the inexperienced or the young. We are all held to the same standard, no matter how old or how inexperienced we are. But, it does appear that those who are teachers of the Word will be considered more accountable.

When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are all to put sin to death, for if we don't, then we don't have eternal life with God. But, that isn't to say we will never sin again, but that sin should no longer have control over our lives. So, as we grow in Christ, we need to be reminded of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and that daily, by the Spirit, we need to be putting to death the deeds of our sinful flesh. And, this is why we have all these exhortations to Christians to flee temptation, and throw off what hinders and the sins which so easily entangle us, because we still live in flesh bodies, and we still are tempted to sin.

Scripture makes it real clear that if we live in sin, avoiding the light, and giving way to the lusts of our flesh, that we will not see God. We will not have eternal life. We will die in our sins and we will face judgment and the fires of hell, and we all need to take this very seriously. For, scripture teaches that we will all reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap decay (death), but if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:19-21).

Admitting sin is not necessarily any indication of a changed heart. For, a changed heart results in repentance, i.e. turning away from lifestyles of sinful practices to follow Jesus Christ in obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives. But, again, this is not saying we will all be perfect or that we will never sin again, but if we walk (live, conduct our lives) in sin, and not in the Spirit, we don't know God, and we don't have eternal life with God. And, these are not my words. This is what scripture teaches all throughout the New Testament. For, the Bible says if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of our flesh. We can't walk in the Spirit and in the flesh at the same time.

Is there a way back for you? Surely there is! It is the way of the cross. You have to repent (leave your life of sin behind you) and follow Jesus Christ in obedience, one day and one situation at a time, and if you fall, you repent and you get back up on your feet and you keep moving forward.

But, I will say here that many people are in a cycle of sin, repent, sin, repent, and the Bible says that is not true repentance, but it is worldly sorrow. For godly sorrow should lead to repentance that should be evident by a changed life that is daily putting to death the deeds of the flesh and is yielding to the control of the Holy Spirit. And, this is all because of God's grace, for not one of us can do this in our own flesh.

So, yes, God will continue to extend his grace until it is no longer an option for anyone because now his judgment has come, and many people will hear from him that day, "Depart from me. I never knew you." Because they thought they could just get by.

 

[Roidecoeur78]

Scripture makes it real clear that if we live in sin, avoiding the light, and giving way to the lusts of our flesh, that we will not see God.

Admitting sin is not necessarily any indication of a changed heart. For, a changed heart results in repentance, i.e. turning away from lifestyles of sinful practices to follow Jesus Christ in obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives.

But, I will say here that many people are in a cycle of sin, repent, sin, repent, and the Bible says that is not true repentance, but it is worldly sorrow.

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. I experienced the spiritual rebirth, but having all the fear and guilt erased from within my soul left me thinking there was nothing more to fear. Incidentally, I was born on April Fool's day, and as the proverbs state "God takes no pleasure in a fool".

Little by little I backslid into darkness, in a cycle of sin/repent/sin/repent (for ten years), until finally was in a place where I understood the full meaning of the parable of the unclean spirit. Until it seemed all effects of the baptism I had received were undone and all that was left was head knowledge and a hardened heart. Only a few months ago was I allowed to see the extent of my disobedience, and only then did I fear God and hate sin so much that I resolved turn away from it for good. But such would be in vain if I've quenched or insulted the HS, if I can't tell whether I'm able to truly repenting out of contrition or just fear of judgement. The concern would be that I might not be allowed back into the light, even though I might go through all the actions it will be my own futile attempts rather than through the HS.