 At the end of 2007 Jesus birthed in me and my
wife Nenita's heart a message which eventually became our movie
What it
Means to Trust in God. To trust in God means to
trust in His Word. Or to put it another way: to trust in God’s Word
means to trust in God. Jesus said in John
8:47 "He who is of God hears the Words of God." Therefore
to be of God means to base what we do on His
Word the
Bible, not on our reason or our feelings. God’s word
tells us in 1
Corinthians 1:21 "For since
in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to
know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the
message preached to save those who believe."
What has happened to the church and government in
America? They are no longer basing what they say or believe on what
God’s Word states and believes. They are instead basing what they
believe on their reason, thus the reason for the late Francis A.
Schaeffer’s book titled
Escape from Reason.
About a month ago the Lord had me start going
over some basic discipleship principles in our church service. He
said to me
"Dale, if a minister teaches something but does
not show his authority for teaching it from My Word, he is asking
his congregation to trust in what he is saying and not in what my
Word is saying. When they do that they are committing idolatry. This
is because they are asking their congregation to trust in them
instead of in My Word."
In our
Church Service we have been
discussing basic discipleship principles. We have been discussing
how we know from the Word of God that when we come to God through
the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross we are
forgiven (Rom
5:8-9). Often times we will hear a minister or preacher or
teacher of God’s word state "If you ask God to forgive you, He will
forgive you for your confessed sins." What is the problem with this?
Well my first question to a person who makes this statement is
"Where in the Bible does it teach that if I ask God to forgive me
for a sin confessed that He will forgive me?" No one has ever been
able to produce a verse or passage in the Bible which teaches this.
What does God’s Word say is the condition for receiving God’s
forgiveness of sins confessed and repented of? First, there is no
other way to receive God's forgiveness for sins confessed and
repented of except through the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the
cross.
Romans 5:8-9
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ
died for us.
Much more then, having now been
justified by His
BLOOD
, we shall be saved
from the wrath of God through Him."
Second, when we come to God through Jesus' death
and shed blood on the cross, He promises us in
1 John 1:9
that
"If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness." No where in the Bible does God say
to ask for the forgiveness of sins we confess and repent of. What
He says in His word in
1 John 1:9
is that when we come to Him through the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross
for sins confessed and repented of that His forgiveness
of those sins is an INSTANT (snapping fingers!!!) automatic fact! This is not based on how we feel either. It is based
on God’s promise in
1 John 1:9 that the moment we confess and repent
of our sins His forgiveness is an automatic fact whether we feel
forgiven or not.
|
REPENTANCE
Repentance involves
1) confessing our sins to
God 2) Making right our
wrongs confessed 3) And
then bringing forth fruit, continued changed behavior in
keeping with Repentance.
(Matt 3:1-12, Luke 3:1-14) |
Years ago when I was young in the Lord and
learned this truth, I said to the Lord:
"Lord, Your word states that the minute we
confess and repent of our sins Your forgiveness is an automatic
fact. Why then do I still for days feel unforgiven and condemned?"
The Lord’s answer to me:
"Dale, what is true in your relationship with Me
is only what I say in My Word, and My Word states that the moment
you confess your sin you are forgiven.
Matthew 24:35 'Heaven and earth will pass away, but My
words shall not pass away.'
The reason you still feel
condemned and unforgiven is because you are condemning yourself and
the devil is condemning you. However, what is true in your
relationship with Me is only what I have said recorded in My Book
the Bible."
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."
I asked some people in my congregation that if
this is true then what happens if we tell a person that to be
forgiven of their sins they must ask God to forgive them? The
answers I got were that because it is not in God’s word, how then
will they know if God forgives them? They also said because it is
not in God’s word it will also open them up to be attacked by
spirits of unforgiveness and condemnation. Why? Because there is no
basis in the word of God for getting forgiven of our sins if we ask
God to forgive us. Satan can manipulate our feelings and make us
feel we are not forgiven. The end result is a person coming under
the condemnation of a lying spirit. Since they do not feel forgiven
Satan then goes on to accuse them that they are a failure in the
Christian walk. Why? Because they cannot stop sinning and cannot
gain God’s forgiveness by asking for it. The problem is that they
are basing God’s forgiveness on their asking for His forgiveness and
on how they feel instead of on what God states in His Word is the
basis for His forgiveness. God’s word states in
Romans
5:8-9 &
1 John 1:9 that the
only way we are forgiven for sins confessed and repented of is when
we come to Him through the death and shed blood of Jesus on the
cross and that when we do His
forgiveness is an INSTANT
automatic
fact!
whether we feel forgiven or not.
We show our faith in the promises of His Word to forgive us when we
confess and repent of our sins by thanking Him for forgiving us our
sins through the death and shed blood of Jesus on the cross. We
must accept by faith we are forgiven based on what His Word teaches,
not on how we feel. Feelings are an organ of the soul, our fallen
corrupt soul. The Bible teaches that we are not to place our trust
in what we feel. The Bible teaches that we are to only place our
faith and trust in What God says in His
Word the Bible. Jesus said in
John 17:17
"Sanctify them in the truth, Your Word is truth." God’s Word is
truth, not our feelings.
Because we regularly do evangelism on the field,
often times when we meet Christians who accepted Jesus as their Lord
and Savior in the past, they will say something like,
"I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior five
years ago. However, not long after I had this problem, a sin
problem, I could not get victory over. Eventually because I could
not stop committing this sin, I felt condemned and gave up walking
with Jesus."
What are they saying? They are saying that they
tried to live the Christian life in their own strength and failed.
Does the Bible teach us that we are required to live the Christian
life in the strength of the flesh? No. In fact the Bible teaches us
that it is impossible to live the Christian life through the
strength of the flesh:
Romans 8:6-8
"For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the
Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is
hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of
God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in
the flesh cannot please God."
We have our eyes on the flesh when we look to our
self and our own strength to overcome a problem in our life. God’s word teaches us that the flesh never did
obey God’s Law and that it never will. Paul expressed it this way in
Romans 7:14:
Romans 7:14 "For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into
bondage to sin."
Romans 7:15-19 "For that which I am doing, I do not
understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I
am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not
wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. So
now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For
I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the
wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the
good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I
do not wish."
Paul as a Christian expressed that his flesh was in
bondage to sin. John wrote in
1 John 1:8
"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the
truth is not in us." In case we did not get it, he repeats it in
1 John 1:10
"If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word
is not in us." The fact of the matter is that whether we like it or
not we all sin on a daily basis. Now God’s word does not give us
this truth to encourage us to sin, but so we will face ourselves
realistically. Yes, we are saved, have eternal life and will go to
heaven because we have Jesus living in us:
Colossians 1:27
"Christ in you, the hope of glory."
2 Corinthians 13:5
"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!
Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus
Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?"
1 John 5:11-12
"And the witness of God is this, that God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life;
he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life."
But whether we like it or not on this side of
Heaven we are still
sinners and whether we want to or not we will sin.
What then do we do when we sin? The moment we are
aware we have sinned we then need to exhale the bad air and inhale
the good air:
EXHALE according to God’s Promise:
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
After we confess and repent of our sins we then
need to by faith thank God for his forgiveness of those sins through
the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross according to
His promises in
Romans 5:8-9 and
1 John 1:9. This is not
blind faith but faith based on what God
has said and promised in His Word the Bible. What is true in our
relationship with God is what He says is true in His Word the Bible,
not on how we feel. We are walking by faith with God
when we base our relationship with Him on what His Word teaches, not
on what we feel.
INHALE according to God’s Command and Promise:
His Command:
Ephesians 5:18
"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be
filled with the Spirit."
His Promise:
1 John 5:14-15
"And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He
hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which
we have asked from Him."
After we have exhaled the bad air by confessing
our known sins and thanked God for His forgiveness according to
1
John 1:9, we then need to inhale the good air. We inhale the good
air according to God’s command in
Ephesians 5:18 which is to be
filled with His Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit
simply means to allow Jesus to be Lord of your life. When you sin
you retake control of your life. For that reason after you confess
your sin you need to ask Jesus to retake control of your life and
you do this by asking Him to refill you with His Holy Spirit
according to His command in
Ephesians 5:18 and according to His
promise to answer any prayer that is according to His will in
1 John
5:14-15.
How does this work? I am driving down the street
when suddenly I am cut off by another driver. Out of my mouth come
several choice words. I recognize I have sinned. I pray like this:
Jesus, I confess that what I just said is a
sin and will to repent of my known sin. Thank You for forgiving
these sins through the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the
cross and according to Your Promise in
1 John 1:9. I now ask You
according to Your command in
Ephesians 5:18
to refill me
with Your Holy Spirit, to retake control of my life and to continue
to lead me according to Your will and plan for my life. By faith thank You
that it is done according to Your promise in
1 John 5:14-15 to
answer any prayer that is according to Your will, in Your name,
Jesus, amen.
Now whether I feel refilled with the Holy Spirit
or not, I am refilled because Jesus promised in His word the Bible
to answer any prayer that is according to His will. Because that is
true, I can know by faith based on the promises of His Word that I
am refilled with the Holy Spirit whether I feel I am or not.
Now since the Apostle John has established that I
am a sinner according to
1 John 1:8 & 10,
I know, whether I want to or not, that on a daily basis in some
capacity I am going to sin. However, when I do I immediately confess
and repent of it, thank Jesus for His forgiveness through His death
and shed
blood on the Cross and promise in
1 John 1:9 and then ask Him to
refill me with His Holy Spirit, which is asking Him to retake
control of my life, and then thank Him it is done according to His
command in
Ephesians 5:18 and
Promise in
1 John 5:14-15 and go
on. Most days I have to
do this only a few times. some days a
hundred times. What is important is that I know that when I do
confess and acknowledge my sin to God His forgiveness is (snapping
my finger!!!) automatic! and that I stay filled with the Holy Spirit
and in communion with God moment by moment.
Now Jesus has given us these promises in His Word
concerning sin in our lives. Why? If we do not confess and repent of
known sin right away, what happens? First, the moment we sin we are
no long under the control of the Holy Spirit but are back and under
the control of our flesh. Second, we are no longer under the control
of the flesh and back under the control of the Holy Spirit the moment we confess and
repent of our sin and do what was instructed above. However, if we
sin and know we sin and do not immediately confess and repent of it, not only
are we now under the control of the flesh but also in the enemies camp and that means
we will become oppressed by unclean spirits. God only protects us
from Satan when we are walking in His Will. His will is that when we
sin we immediately confess it to Him as we have instructed above.
However, if we do not confess our sin the moment we are aware of it,
we do not have God's protection. God only Promises to protect those
who obey Him:
James 4:7
"Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from
you."
Because this is true we are then in the enemies
camp and become
oppressed by unclean spirits. We will then find that even though we
later do confess and repent of our sins and are immediately forgiven by God for those
sins confessed according to
1 John 1:9,
that because of the oppression of unclean spirits, we find that we cannot
seem to stop repeating the sin we just confessed. That is
because it is the unclean spirits which then incite and keep us in bondage to
that sin. What does that mean? It means that now not only do we need
to confess and repent of our sins and thank God for His forgiveness
according to
1 John 1:9, but now we also have to bind the unclean
spirits related and command them to leave in Jesus’ name. This is
why we need to instantly confess and repent of our sin the moment we
are aware of it and then instantly ask the Lord to refill us with
His Holy Spirit and retake control of our life. When we do that,
Satan cannot get a hold in our lives and we will stay clean of
unclean spirits. It is only when we refuse
to confess and repent of our sins instantly the moment we are aware
of them that we then come under the oppression of unclean spirits
related which then keep us in bondage to that sin.
What does the
Bible say? It says in
James 4:7
"Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from
you." We cannot keep from sinning, but we can immediately resubmit
ourselves to God by humbling ourselves and immediately acknowledging
our sin to Him so He can forgive us and keep us clean of unclean
spirits.
I have to laugh sometimes when a Christian says
to me "I don’t sin anymore." They mean this literally, that they are
without sin. What is wrong with this and what have they just done?
They have just sinned.
1 John 1:8
"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the
truth is not in us." The Bible states that we are sinners, so to say
we no longer sin is a lie and therefore a sin by just claiming it. I
then tell them they need to confess and repent of that sin so God
can forgive and cleanse them of that sin with Jesus' blood. What is the real sin here?
Pride! God states in His word:
James 4:6 "God battles-against
the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
I will never allow anyone to say to me Reverend Kruse.
They can call me Pastor Kruse and so I am, but only God is
Reverend and only Jesus is without sin. Jesus said about Himself:
John 14:30
"I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is
coming, and he has nothing in Me."
The Apostle Peter wrote about Jesus:
1 Peter 2:22
"Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth"
The Apostle John wrote about Jesus:
1 John 3:5 "And you know that He
appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin."
The Apostle Paul wrote about Jesus:
2 Corinthians 5:21 "He made Him
who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him."
A person who speaks from himself does not point
to God’s Word for the proof and truthfulness of what they are
saying. This is idolatry and is sin. No man is the answer to
anyone's problems: only Jesus and His Word is. The Bible is the
written Word of God, Jesus is the living Word of God.
The foundation and object of our
faith is God's Word the Bible, not our reason. Politician, if you
are not basing the laws you pass and governing God's people based on
His Word the Bible you are sinning and committing idolatry because
you are asking people to trust in you instead of in Jesus and His
Word the Bible. Repent
of your sin of idolatry and come back to King Jesus and humble
yourself before Him and base the Law on His Word the Bible, not your
reason. Only Jesus is without sin. We are not.
1 John 1:10
"If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word
is not in us." What is not in us? His Word. His Word is
truth.
John17:17 "Sanctify them in
the truth, Your Word is truth." Claimed Minister of the Gospel, if
you are not pointing people to the Bible as absolute truth, the
foundation of the Gospel, you are asking people to trust in you,
someone who cannot save anyone, and committing idolatry and sinning
and need to repent. Jesus' physical resurrection from the dead
proves the Bible is true and that you are a liar. The Bible teaches
that only Jesus is Savior and that only His Word the Bible is true.
The foundation of our faith is God's Word the Bible, not you. Repent
and point God's people back to the Bible as truth, not you. You cannot
save yourself and you cannot save anyone else either. Only Jesus is Savior.
Jesus said in
John17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth, Your Word is
truth."
John 2:22 "When therefore He
was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said
this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had
spoken."
Romans 10:17
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."
1 Peter 1:23 "For you-have-been-born-again
not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through
the living and abiding Word of God."
After we confess and repent of our sin and get
refilled with the Holy Spirit, how then do we get victory over the
sin confessed? Not in our strength, but through Jesus’ strength:
Ephesians 6:10
"Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might."
And in 1 Chronicles
16:11 &
Psalm 105:4
"Seek Yehovah and His strength; seek His face continually."
After we confess and repent of our sin we then
get victory over our sin by praying like this:
Jesus, I confess to You that I cannot overcome
my problems in my own strength and power and so by faith pray for
Your Holy Spirit grace, strength and power to overcome these
problems in my flesh. By faith thank You for hearing and answering
this prayer according to Your command in
Ephesians 6:10 and promise
in
1 John 5:14-15 in Your name Jesus, Amen.
Jesus does not command us to overcome our sin
problems in our strength, but through His strength. This is because
when we try to overcome our flesh by the flesh, we energize the
flesh. Paul tells us in
Romans 7:14
that the flesh is in bondage to sin. Therefore, when we energize the
flesh, we energize it to sin. So when we are
having a problem with sin the solution is not more will power, more
flesh power, but
more Holy Spirit power and we receive this when we ask Jesus for His
Holy Spirit grace, strength and power to over come a sin problem in
our lives. I pray like this:
Jesus, save me! Please save me from my self
and this sin in Your name Jesus. Thank you for Your promise in
Romans
10:13 "For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be
saved."
After praying this way I will find I am no longer
having a problem with that sin, but through Jesus' strength, not
mine. However, the Bible teaches that the flesh never did obey God’s
Law and it never will (Rom 8:6-8) so I can expect this problem to
creep up again some time in the future. When it does after I confess
and repent of the sin the moment I am aware of it, I will be back
again on my knees praying:
Jesus, save me! Please save me from my self
and this sin in Your name Jesus. Thank you for Your promise in
Romans
10:13 "For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be
saved."
He does and I go on. This is how we stay clean of
sin and unclean spirits and how we get victory over sin.
Zechariah 3:6
"‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My-Spirit,’ declares
Yehovah-of-hosts."
When you have a
spiritual problem the solution is to ask yourself "What does God's
Word say about this subject?" Find that answer and when you do and
apply it to your life, you will then be walking in the Holy Spirit.
We are walking in the Holy Spirit when what we do is according to
God's Word the Bible. The Bible is the foundation of our faith
and our instruction manual for the life God created for us and our
country, America, to have. Jesus said in
John 17:17 "Sanctify them in
the truth, Your Word is truth."
*Suggested Further Reading:
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