i must say though ... I called t
he line of text and what it implied .. "sneaky ' i didn't call "
you ' sneaky .. HOWEVER ..
i note you addressed that one word ..and ignored the entire post ...
so here it is again .. see if you can get past the word sneaky and consider to content below it ..
...
now lets address that sneaky line in your post which has serious implication and should be clarified ...
you say "
I repent and the next several such offers to party or sin in some other way are rejected,..... and then your walking with god ..? - why only the next several offers .. why not all ? are you not free? (you are free if you have died in chrsit ) but are you then saying walking with God means leaving off walking with him and coming back to him then walking off again whenever you choose and your thinking that's somehow ok ?
please clarify . so we can see if we simple have misunderstanding .
if you had repented ..you would not be going back ..that reneging on repentance -its also called rebellion .It also displays that a person is not yet born of god .
you need to consider your speaking to some in this thread who have walked and talked the things you are saying, have been those drug addicts and those locked in the loathsomeness of sexual immorality and inappropriate content etc .. and have been born again and utterly left such things behind .so we KNOW what christ can do and we know we have to
fully surrender to him so that he can effect that transformation in us .. in short ,, we had to come to a place of true repentance .. we had to change our mind and flow Jesus and DO what HE SAYS .. not what our flesh says or desires . He came and he set us free and then he empowers us so we can .
If you think we can go back and walk in the sin he set us free from (ie - practice the sin we know to be sin ) and not be burned you are mistaken. that is a ear tickling sickly sweet modern day lie . so i sincerely hope that's not what your promoting .
we can do lots of good things but the lord jesus says of those who say but lord lord we did this and that .etc and he says to them ....
depart from me you workers of iniquity ,i do not know you . yes he points out the truth that they continued to do acts or sin ...works of unrighteousness ..workers of iniquity .
NO ,when you repent you dont "slip up" .....you grow up and you stand up and you stop practicing that sin...
Does that mean you stop that day and dont muck up ..IT SHOULD and WILL mean that if your smart . but nope ..sometimes it means you stop and then if you are an idiot like me .. you do it again because god was gracious in the past to you ... and then look out !!! for the lord will rebuke you and the weight of his displeasure will be heavy upon you and you will know with all your knowing that you are damned if he were not to forgive you .. and when he relents from his anger at you and forgives you .. you dont EVER want to experience that again and you flee even the thought of that sin from then on .. and you cease doing it .. you dont go back to it you dont want to and as his spirit lives in you ..you know you CANNOT continue in it .you know better and he know you know .
it is not matters of just theory i speak of but experiential knowledge .
1 john ch 3 is not a chapter read in many churches these days .. it is possible one of the most uncomfortable set of verses in the NT .
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
I have said it before and will say it again. Scripture can be debated back and forth till the very last day as to sin and whether or not one can truly be freed from its grasp. Even if the overwhelming weight of verses tell us that Jesus has actually delivered us from the actual power of darkness, there are at present millions of believers who can not find it in their heart to believe it.
I contend that there are two types of men found in what we call the church today. One is the man who, like all of us in our lives, have found self to be a strong force to overcome. Oh, we can all turn the other cheek up to a point, can't we? We all have the capacity to love. We love with
phileo love.... for friends, family, those who believe as we believe. But in all of us, there seems to be an anchor holding us back from truly being filled with
agape love.
Yet there IS a difference. The first type of man, despite his limitations, he longs to love.... to love God with all of his heart, and yes, he also longs to love others as he does himself, even those who may disagree with him, or even wish him harm. He is weary of being moved to tears at an especially powerful worship service, only to descend back into the old him, bound with very obvious limits to his capacity to love others, even those of his own church, even his family.
Likewise concerning sin, it is a universal disease, is it not? But this one type of man hates that he is so weak, so fleshly. He wants to do good, to resist temptation, but there seems no hope, no instruction as to how. Even if this man has concluded it is unavoidable, impossible, it still bothers him deep in his core, a never healing sore on his soul, that he cannot walk pleasing to the Lord.
There is another type of manning our churches. Like the first, he does not love as God commands. His love for both God and fellow man is held with the same iron anchor. As well, sin has this man bound in the very same manner.
On the surface, one cannot discern any shred of difference between the two. From all outer appearances, both may appear "good", yet both lack agape love on the inside. Each can make "a fair show in the flesh", and actually look like good men. Not that they all actually do. There are, in both instances, men who are so overcome, with anchors so weighty, that none would see these as good men at all. Some almost revel in their lack, but others are cursed (or is it a blessing) with a rebellious flesh and the total inability to be soothed by others saying there is no condemnation. They know the evil that grips them, they long to be free, but it seems hopeless.
Sin, the desire to rule oneself, and put oneself first, whether it be opinions deemed correct, or ones own comfort before seeing another ones basic needs met, is a universal ailment. None is free of the disease. In churches today, both of these types of men exist, side by side, worshiping together.
But there is a difference between the two. Imperceptible to man, but clear as day is from night to the God we serve. And what is this difference God sees in each one of us that we do not?
It is the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And that, brothers and sisters, ought to either fill us with great hope and assurance, or bring shivers of fear and impending judgment to the depths of our soul.
I have said it before, and will again to any who will listen. If a man is found overcome in sin and self, bound with hated limits to his ability to love others, or to obey God,
and it bothers him greatly, God will in these last days move heaven and earth to awaken him to the secret that has been buried and hidden from our eyes for over 1900 years.... the HOW of abiding in Him, where we can actually not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
But another, overcome in the very same manner, bound just as tightly, is one that has a name that he liveth, but make no mistake, he is a dead man walking. And it is our task in this present hour to look deep inside, and stare at what God clearly sees, the thoughts and intents of our hearts.
Are we Christians because we long for eternal life, or long to walk in the light as He is in the light? Is our goal heaven, or pleasing Him in all things? Are we so foolish to think a one time prayer will stop the judgment of God from falling upon our heads if we have zero desire to be brought into alignment with the goodness of God?
God does not wink at our sins. Every single one cost His beloved Son a moment in time on the cross, filled with excruciating pain and humiliation. He will, as we enter the valley of decision, decide if we hunger and thirst for righteousness and light or if we are simply deceiving and being deceived, wanting the benefits of God's mercy, yet with no desire in the least to please Him in our hearts.
Some will try to protect themselves, arming themselves with scriptures that attempts to assure themselves and others that all is well, regardless of their love for "just a little darkness". They will read the clear warnings given to us, and always figure a way to make it not say what it means or that it somehow applies to someone not named them.
Others, praise God, will, like Paul, finally see the depth of their lack, and admit that they truly are wretched men, bound men. They DO want the FREE INDEED Jesus promised us all. They long to stop committing sins. They long to love the Lord on Saturday nights just as they love Him on Sunday mornings. And do you know what? Their wish is about to be granted.
The wheat and tares have grown side by side, so intertwined that the entirety has a religious smack to it, ever since the grievous wolves entered into the flock after the death of Paul.cbut in these last days, there is a stirring, a stirring that will grow, as all are awakened by the light.
Some will be pulled by it into the freeing grace of God. Prostitutes, heroin addicts, soccer moms, laborers, all who love the light WILL come to it. The cost ? Self. And for these, what better news could there be? They get God in them in its place. As they awake, God will plant them on the highway of holiness that they had for a time thought was a myth. They WILL mount up with wings as eagles, and find that overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil is not only possible. It is our birthright and has been since the day we were born again.
Others, deceived and bound, religious but not righteous, will remain convinced that God's grace made loving the light no longer a requirement. Repentance? Obedience? Puffed up in their "revelation of the depths of grace", they will harden their hearts to the pull of the Spirit, for they are in no way desirous of losing their life. They want heaven, but would be miserable there, for there, righteousness reigns, not self.
The deception is real, and will only increase. So, what is the sum of the matter? What shall we do in light of these truths?
It is only this, answering one eternity altering question.
Which one am I?
