G
gideons300
Guest
I have done a bit of study on old revivals and almost without fail, at least until our "revivals" of the modern era, they centered on repentance for sins committed as believers, sins that, although paid for, have not been confessed, or even acknowledged. Our hearts have gotten hardened to them.
The danger of letting sin remain in the heart of believers is two fold. First, after falling victim to the same sin again and again, our faith erodes that Jesus is even changing us at all and following on its heels is a feeling that our repentance is becoming less and less genuine over time to the point it hardens our heart. Tears are fewer and fewer, the horror of still sinning after receiving the Holy Spirit becomes more a mild annoyance at ourselves, then just a sigh as we resign ourselves to the truth we believe that since we are only human, why fight what we cannot ever gain complete victory. At that point, our faith is so wounded that we cling to grace for salvation alone, because we feel powerless to stand against the attacks of satan, or the myriad of accusations he flings at us day in and day out.
At some point the danger increases. Here, the believer is tempted to fall again his or her "Achilles heel" sins, but there is no resistance at all. There is simply resignation and a dangerous temptation to use grace to cover up a heart where the battle against evil has ceased. A truce has been arrived at by the new us and the flesh that wants to kick loose every now and then, and the part of us that wants God says:
" Look, I will accept you in my life under these controlled circumstances, IF you allow me to not feel condemned and to go to church and serve God as best I can."
It is a pact we ought to flee from, but I myself tried to adopt it. Unfortunately, my sin was so disgusting, so easily outwardly identifiable as evil, that I was unable to ever shut out the shouts of self condemnation. But for many, the enemy offers us freedom from FEELING guilty and here is what that thought looks like.
"I know I am only human, and no one is perfect. Thank God I am forgiven no matter what I do. So if I sin again, it is no big deal because I will just confess it (after I do it) and get forgiveness later. I really do not want to sin (after having fallen to it for the 172nd time) and God knows my heart so....here I go anyway."
Ring anybody's bell? Do we not see? This is turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. License to sin. We are not resisting unto blood. We are free of any blood, no eyes plucked out, both hands functioning quite well.
Martin Luther split from the mother chuch and much of it was over the selling of "indulgences". Back then, rich folks would buy indulgences, pre-paid sin licenses, so that they could sin guilt free and avoid the hassle of repentance and confession. Although that shocks us, we have done worse. Not only do we think the thought above, we do not even pre-pay for the privelidge, we look to God and tell him to put it on Jesus's tab!
What will the ultimate revival look like? It will be massive repentance, especially our unbelief that is limiting the Holy one of Israel in our lives, followed by teaching on how to put on the armor of God and wield our shields of faith so that when we are tempted to sin, we actually stand against it as new creatures in Christ, victorious, and overcome the attacks of satan by coupling the blood of the lamb WITH our testimony as to who we are in Christ.... light in the Lord!
Unfortunately, our limited view of what salvation is does not yet include salvation from the hand of the one who hates us, and from the sin he tempts us with. We do not believe that we have been delivered from the power of sin, but rather just its penalty.
So we hear the same message again and again, that Jesus loves us and forgives us and that He died for us, all true. But at some point, as sin still is allowed to run rampant inside our hearts, we let our hearts get hardened because of the deceitfulness of those sins, and slip into an unbelief of the promises of God altogether. Our walls of protection are now down, and satan can come in any time he wants to, tempt us and all we have to fight is our "resolve", which we all should know is simply not enough.
Every true revival of Christians is based upon the inner knowledge that many of us have squashed down that God wants us holy, victorious. We think that if we ignore the word sin and "concentrate on Jesus" we will be fine. The sad fact is that by doing so, we are being ignorant of satan's devices, and it really does not matter then what we concentrate on....sin is still our bedfellow. Not tlking about it might make us feel better, but that is just the point. God longs for us to acknowledge our sins, to come before Him broken and needy of deliverance from the clutches of Romans 7.
What do you call it when God's children discover this truth. On its heels will come revival. It is time we lit our lamps and started arguing against sin, rather than being satan's messangers to promote that for a believer it is not dangerous at all. Any who suggests such a thing had best examine exactly which side they are on.
Blessings,
Gideon
The danger of letting sin remain in the heart of believers is two fold. First, after falling victim to the same sin again and again, our faith erodes that Jesus is even changing us at all and following on its heels is a feeling that our repentance is becoming less and less genuine over time to the point it hardens our heart. Tears are fewer and fewer, the horror of still sinning after receiving the Holy Spirit becomes more a mild annoyance at ourselves, then just a sigh as we resign ourselves to the truth we believe that since we are only human, why fight what we cannot ever gain complete victory. At that point, our faith is so wounded that we cling to grace for salvation alone, because we feel powerless to stand against the attacks of satan, or the myriad of accusations he flings at us day in and day out.
At some point the danger increases. Here, the believer is tempted to fall again his or her "Achilles heel" sins, but there is no resistance at all. There is simply resignation and a dangerous temptation to use grace to cover up a heart where the battle against evil has ceased. A truce has been arrived at by the new us and the flesh that wants to kick loose every now and then, and the part of us that wants God says:
" Look, I will accept you in my life under these controlled circumstances, IF you allow me to not feel condemned and to go to church and serve God as best I can."
It is a pact we ought to flee from, but I myself tried to adopt it. Unfortunately, my sin was so disgusting, so easily outwardly identifiable as evil, that I was unable to ever shut out the shouts of self condemnation. But for many, the enemy offers us freedom from FEELING guilty and here is what that thought looks like.
"I know I am only human, and no one is perfect. Thank God I am forgiven no matter what I do. So if I sin again, it is no big deal because I will just confess it (after I do it) and get forgiveness later. I really do not want to sin (after having fallen to it for the 172nd time) and God knows my heart so....here I go anyway."
Ring anybody's bell? Do we not see? This is turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. License to sin. We are not resisting unto blood. We are free of any blood, no eyes plucked out, both hands functioning quite well.
Martin Luther split from the mother chuch and much of it was over the selling of "indulgences". Back then, rich folks would buy indulgences, pre-paid sin licenses, so that they could sin guilt free and avoid the hassle of repentance and confession. Although that shocks us, we have done worse. Not only do we think the thought above, we do not even pre-pay for the privelidge, we look to God and tell him to put it on Jesus's tab!
What will the ultimate revival look like? It will be massive repentance, especially our unbelief that is limiting the Holy one of Israel in our lives, followed by teaching on how to put on the armor of God and wield our shields of faith so that when we are tempted to sin, we actually stand against it as new creatures in Christ, victorious, and overcome the attacks of satan by coupling the blood of the lamb WITH our testimony as to who we are in Christ.... light in the Lord!
Unfortunately, our limited view of what salvation is does not yet include salvation from the hand of the one who hates us, and from the sin he tempts us with. We do not believe that we have been delivered from the power of sin, but rather just its penalty.
So we hear the same message again and again, that Jesus loves us and forgives us and that He died for us, all true. But at some point, as sin still is allowed to run rampant inside our hearts, we let our hearts get hardened because of the deceitfulness of those sins, and slip into an unbelief of the promises of God altogether. Our walls of protection are now down, and satan can come in any time he wants to, tempt us and all we have to fight is our "resolve", which we all should know is simply not enough.
Every true revival of Christians is based upon the inner knowledge that many of us have squashed down that God wants us holy, victorious. We think that if we ignore the word sin and "concentrate on Jesus" we will be fine. The sad fact is that by doing so, we are being ignorant of satan's devices, and it really does not matter then what we concentrate on....sin is still our bedfellow. Not tlking about it might make us feel better, but that is just the point. God longs for us to acknowledge our sins, to come before Him broken and needy of deliverance from the clutches of Romans 7.
What do you call it when God's children discover this truth. On its heels will come revival. It is time we lit our lamps and started arguing against sin, rather than being satan's messangers to promote that for a believer it is not dangerous at all. Any who suggests such a thing had best examine exactly which side they are on.
Blessings,
Gideon
