freedfromsin

hello Marnie, a real Christian knows when they sin, period. Scripture says; Jam 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin. we are not going to be held accountable for things we do not know about. That is why scripture says; Rom 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law Once we are saved we are no longer in a falllen condition. 2Cr 5:17 Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. As for sinning every day. If a person is a believer (saved) and sins every day they have a real spiritual problem. There is no reason for a believer to sin daily. Yes we may sin from time to time, but it should not be a daily thing.

Carrie dear, You stay focused in God's light, and you will also find that as you get older that it becomes easier to go without sinning, provided you do as God commands us to. Sure , we will fail occassionally, but know that you must immediately get right on track. Also, you will find that when God does gives you the grace because of your faith, to leave your cross, after HE brings you through the experience and lesson that HE wants us to experience, you may lose THAT particular "cross" but don't be surprised and be prepared for satan to have something lurking in your future soon behind the first "cross." I don't mean by any sense of the word that I support or condone, "backsliding" by any means of the word. But God does know man's nature, and even though it should not be an excuse, we do have "repentence." And we should all know the definition of that term....."RE" meaning "over" or "again" Hello MeCajunboy, you are incorrect about the leters "RE". They do not mean over or again. "Re" is a Latin word meaning "about", as in the title of the important medieval book De re metallica. Repentance comes from "penitence" which means to hold regret with change.

I wlll pray for you, however how did you get 100% out of that article?

I believe that we are now nearly full blown in what one could call the Laodicean age. Sadly the church today no longer understands what repentance is from a biblical standpoint. We have come up with man made doctrines that negates the word of God. One that comes to mind is the doctrine of backsliding. It sounds so good and so many have adopted it but it is so deadly and deceitful. In the New testament no one is ever called a backslider. That term was used exclusively for Israel as a nation and every time it is used in the Old Testament it is being directed at the nation, and saying that they are lost. It never means that they are saved and not living the life, but only that they are a people (nation) who has turned from how past generations have followed the Lord and now they do not follow, thus they are backslidden and lost. The church today is like this! Yes many claim to know Him but their hearts are far from Him. Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity In 1 John we are told the following; 1Jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. The Greek here in this passage is saying that once a person is saved they never again return to the practice of sin. The daily life of the true Christian is one of obedience and surrender towards their Lord. Yes we might sin in any given moment during any day, but it will not be the practice of a true believer to sin. The scripture goes on and says; 1Jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Notice that it is impossible for a true believer to return to sin, (backslide as many call it). The seed of God remains and keeps us from returning to sin as a lifestyle. One good way to judge if we are a true Christian is to heed the words of the Master. Jhn 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. Jhn 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Jhn 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. The truth is that if we are not of those who are commandment keepers we do not love the Lord and we are not saved. This is not about sinless perfection, but about a heart that is surrendered to the Lord in such a way that we want and seek every aspect of His will on a moment by moment bases. We are saved by grace through faith, but we are changed unto good works. Let us be warned and not deceived; 1Cr 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 1Cr 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Often times in speaking to someone about this I tell them that a true believer will shock those around them if the believer sins because it is out of character for a Christian to sin. More then this, for a true believer to sin it will shock even themselves. Our sin will bring not only conviction, but a mindset of "how could I say that or how could do that. We will be shocked by our own sin regardless of the severity, IF we are saved, and be led to swiftly confess it and forsake it. Repentance is just about a lost doctrine today in our churches, and sadly if it is mentioned it is not explained clearly. True biblical repentance is the spirit of total surrender to God in Christ. In other words we turn to God with all our hearts. Scripture says this; Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Repentance is not 50% or 75% or 99%. It is not true biblical repentance until we surrender all. We even sing a song about this, "I surrender all". At the point of true repentance we then take that heart, that spirit, and place it on the Son, Jesus Christ, and faith is born, and we are saved. From that point on we are kept in that state and never turn from it as scripture says, for if we turn we were never saved. 1Jo 2:18

With all the problems in the world this short video is much refreshing. *Edit*

My brother's keeper. How far does this go? In the area of modesty how far does this go. Are to we take all precautions or just a few or none at all?. What constitutes modesty and why should we be responsible for anothers eyes and thoughts?

This may sound shocking but yes. The first time was no good since the person was not saved according to scripture. 1John 2:19 Surely you can't be implying that a sinner saved by grace cannot sin again. I am not implying anything. I am simply pointing out scripture. Once a person has been saved they do not return to practicing sin. 1John 3:9-11 The false doctrine of backslidden as taught today is not biblical. I deal with this on my web page.

I would say that it would be acceptable to sue for monetary reasons that have been or might be experienced. In other words for any loss, but not for revenge.

This may sound shocking but yes. The first time was no good since the person was not saved according to scripture. 1John 2:19

1John 2:19 and 3:9-11. These verses make salvation loss impossible. Those who leave were nerver saved.

YES YES YES - OBVIOUSLY SOME SINS CAUSE MORE HARM THAN OTHERS BUT THEY ALL LEAD TO THE SAME PLACE WITHOUT REPENTANCE... DOES GOD FORGIVE ALL OF THEM EQUALLY IF ONE REPENTS AND ASKS FOR FORGIVENESS? i THINK - YES. WE NEED TO BE COGNIZANT OF THIS. DO WE AS CHRISTIANS AND AS A SOCIETY NEED TO REACT DIFFERENTLY TO MURDER VS HATE - YES YES BUT JESUS SAID IF YOU HATE (SOMETHING LIKE THIS) YOU HAVE MURDERED. THE PROBLEM LIES IN HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND BOTH AS AN INDIVIDAUL OR AS A SOCIETY. DEATH PENALTY; 10 YEARS TO LIFE --- I SUGGEST WE SEEK THE LORD CAREFULLY ON THIS ONE. I KNOW PEOPLE WHO WOULD CONDEMN YOU ETERNALLY FOR DIVORCE - OTHERS DON'T WANT THE DEATH PENALTY... GREAT - WE ARE FREE TO CHOOSE AND EXPRESS OUR THOUGHTS BUT THE FINAL FINALFINAL JUDGE IS THE LORDS. I SUGGEST WE MOVE CAREFULLY PASSING OUR JUDGEMENT; SEEK THE HOLY SPIRIT AND DO WHAT HE LEADS US TO DO RATHER THAN ASSUMING OUR GREAT INTELLIGENCE IS GREATER THAN HIS. IS IT VENIAL OF MORTAL BIG OR SMALL HARMFUL OR NOT ....GOOD QUESTIONS BOTTOM LINE LET US AS HIS FOLLOWERS BE LIGHT AND SALT AND BRING LOVE (AND REPROOF - MY PASTOR JUST CAME IN AND SUGGESTED THIS - i AGEE )RATHER THAN CONDEMNATION TO THOSE IN SIN... NUF SED hello Pbob, I am not trying to be smart here but by your last statement I don't think that you would like the way that Jesus dealt with those who lived in sin while He was here presching. Jesus was open to anyone who was willing to listen. (Ears to hear), but He was also very clear with to those who decided that they could continue in their sin.. Let me ask you something. At what point in your dealing with a homosexual do you explain to them that they are in sin and that to be saved thhey have to repent? I ask because I too hhave dealt with themm. One more question. I asked this before but never saw an answer. About how many are coming to Christ that you deal with the way that you do it. About what percentage?

Even though the Bible tells Christians not to sue Christians, you have an exception that God was most certainly not thinking of when He inspired the penning of the scripture. Had He been thinking, with exceptions such as this, He would have assuredly inspired the Bible worded differently. You have to be kidding!

3- I didn't see how anyone who was put in prison and therefore left with no way to earn money, was expected to "pay every penny". That is the point! You cannot pay. That is the idea of hell. You go there and cannot evever get out.

hello Nat, I think that you are confusing the scripture. The passage in question from the start was about getting personally reimbursed for a lose from another Christian due to their error. However under the criminal code we have every responsibility to inform authorities of a crime. What you brought us about the RCC is simply a crime that they have perpetrated on society. It will not go unpunished, but we still are obligated to obey. What another does is not to have any bearing on what we do.

Homosexuality is not gay, nor is the person in it. It is sad that we compromise the term to appease the sinner. It is possible to use the correct term and do so in love. Also ALL homosexual acts are choice. No one EVER has to commit the act of homosexuality any more then any one has to commit the act of the heterosexual.

So what is classified as criminal? I would have thought theft was criminal. Theft is criminal. I diid try and turn my sisutation into the authorities, but because of how involved it was they turned a blind eye. As for recovering my lose I did as scripture commands and had to drop it and forgave him,,

Hello Nat, the truth is that we are not take another believer to court for any reason. We are to take it before the church. The sad thing is that today the church is so dead and out of step with God's word that there are very few that follow or teach this principle. That leaves us with forgiveness and taking the loss. You asked about the term trivial in your post. Trivial is probably not the best tranlsation. It makes is sound like there are things you can sue about and things that are trivial and you take them to the church. The word is best translated smallest or least matters. The idea is that things of this world are least or small in comparrision to what we will be judging one day; 1Cr 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? So the command is not to take a believer to court, but before the church. If that is impossible then I suggest that you forgive the debt. Now one more thing. This is not speaking of criminal justice. We are to turn in or surrender any evidence that we may have torwards anyone who breaks our criminal laws. Then those in authority can do their jobs that God has ordained. I can testafy to this. I once had a man who was my financial advisor who claimed to be a Christian. He worked for a large investment firm. Over a period of time not knowing too me he was buying and seeling my investments to make the commissions and lost nearly 100,000 dolors of my retirement. I had signed a document giving him the authority to do my investing, but he abused it for personal gain. I confronted him and he told me to sue him. I could not. i asked him if he would consent to taking to the church and he refused. We attended different churches. So i simply accepted the loss and moved my account. Sometimes following the Lord costs us. God bless.

Hello PBob, while I am not at this point in total agreement with your methods or advice on how to deal with the homosexual I am open to hear what you are saying and weighing it with scripture and what I feel that I am hearing from the Lord. My question is this; Using your method how many or perhaps what percent of those you speak with convert? I am not looking for perfect stats, just some idea of success. God bless

Hello Sierra, you are corrcet. Forgiveness does not necesarily mean that the person who wronged you is to immediately be re-instated to their former place in anothers life or even their own life. Sometimes there needs to be time for that person to prove themselves before any reconcilliation can take place, and sometimes it never happens. Forgiveness only means that we are not holding the person to account for what they have done., and can be on a brotherly friendship type of grounds with them if they permit.

Hello acrdcaptor, you wrote; Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. This is another great scripture to prove what 1John says. The Hebrew passage is so very good I am glad thhat you brought it up. The letter of hebrews is titled that way because the writer is writing to Hebrews, (jews). The letter has baciclly three purposes. One is to get the Jew who it totally un-informed about messiah to see the truth and repent. Another is for the fence setter. He has heard and believes, but has not surrendered to Jesus perhaps because of fear of being cut off. The last type of person it is dealing with is the Jew who has heard, everything there is and still rejects. Most likely out of stuborness. This last person is left with a strong warning. The passage states this; For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;. This passage is not dealing with an individual who comes to Christ and falls away. Notice it uses the word "those". The passage is dealing with Jews. It is speaking of a particular group of jews. It is those Jews who have been made aware (enlihghtened) of the Messiah.. It is those Jews who have had some type of tase of the heavenly gift. (notice they do not eat of it, just tase it). They were mmade partakers of the Holy Ghost as a people. Again this is not about an individual. They have tased the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. This has happened many times as God dellivered the Jews from many things. Just look at the exodus. Now with all this revelation that they had and if they still reject messiah look at whhat they are told; For [it is] impossible If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; The Spirit crafted this very carefully. It isays if thhey fall away it is impossible to renew them to again to repentance. It odes not says if they fall away it is impossible to repentance. The difference is that they never repented. This is dealing with those jews who had heard and seen it all and still were rejecting messiah. The warning is that if they do thhis they can never be renewed to a point where they can come to repentance because there is nothing else to show or tell then except to crucify Jesus again. If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [him] to an open shame Keep in mind for those who claim thhat this is speaking about losing ones salvation, but it is not, they have to accept thhat it says it is impossible to renew them again. in other words if you could llose it you cannnot get it back. However this is not the case. The passage is saying whhat i have said and it not speaking about a true Christian.

Hello cardcaptor, Let me deal with this one passage that you gave; Ezekiel 18:24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die This is a VERY goood passage to prove the point in 1John; A person for a season looks right with God. Then they turn away to sin. They prove that they were never saved. It agrees with 1john. No loss of salvation here.

Hello Tom, You asked; "I guess that if one is finding themselves stuck in sin, by your statements, then they are not really saved, even if they profess they are." The terms "stuck in sin" can carry a lot of meanings, however let me deal with it a little. First let's accept scripture; 1Jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. The Greek is dealing with the practice of sin. In other words it is the practice of the person to sin. It is no surprise to see or hear them sin. They even do it with joy many times. A child of God never gets joy out of their sin. Yes is may bring momentary pleasure, but not joy. That is lost with sin and only returns with confession and forsaking the sin. The person who claims salvation but is realy is because of their practice. That does not mean that they have to be the worst person on earth or sin great sins. it simply means that their practice is to sin rather then not sin. It is not a 50/40 thing either. I run into people who profess to be saved and yet they daily practice prophanity. I am not shocked and neither are they. The reason is that they practice it and never got saved. True bellevers are convicted even for the smallest of sins and they are simply not able to practice them. Yes we may fail in a given moment on any given day, but we do not practice it. It is not our habbit to sin. The reason is stated; 1John 3 for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God Now let me deal with this a little further. Let's say that we have a real believer. And like most of us they have to deal with some very difficult sins. This person may have a particular sin in their life that they are truly striving to overcome. They hate the sin, they confess it should it happen, and they will have victory in time. But keep in mind even in this it is not somethig that they practice. It is simply something that they have not learned how to overcome in every situation. The main thing is that they are confessing it and striving to overcome it. That is the difference between a person who sins by practice and is lost and a person who sins by ocassion and is saved. I think that one of the biggest problems that we have today is false doctriine. The church has manufactured doctrine that overides the word of God and one that comes to mind is the doctrine of backsliding. To most peoples surprised there is no such thing for the believer. No place in the New testament is anyone called a backslider. The Old testamment uses the term but never for an individual. only israel as a nation is the term used and in those times Israel as a nation is lost. I deal with this a little more on my web page. How many times have we heard someone claim to be a backslider. The sad thing is that they probably are from a biblical standpoint. They are lost if they return to sin. I have had people tell me "well I am a Christian but I am not following the Lord right now. The truth is if they are not following the Lord they are not saved nor were they ever. The bible says this; Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. This passage in the Greek is of a sort where it is saying that once this starts, at salvation, it never ends. They start to follow and never stop. Even if they sin they confess it with regret and strive not to do it again. This is one that is being led of the Spirit. Our daily minute by minute life is one thta is led by the Spirit. Yes we will fail at times, but it is not our practice.

Hello Natt, very good question! The bible says this. Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. So if you think about it holdiing onto unforgiveness is like taking vengence. We are hoping that the person will get theirs. However if we are going to be as our Lord and love them we ahould pray for them so that they do not fall into the hands of an angry God. Also the forgivenss is for us. Holding unforgiveness only hurts the holder, not the one it is against. So yes I would suggest hhat we forgive, but keep in mind that this does not release them from God's wrath. only their repentance will do that. Forgive them and pray for them.

Actually I can know. The bible teaches so. however there is a bigger problem here and that is understanding repentance. Repentance is not simply turning from sin, but it is turning to God with all our hearts. Jeremiah 29:13. many come but not with alll thheir hearts and they get something short of true salvation. It is a state that we enter into. Also repenntance is not something that we do in a moment and take back some time later. It is a repentance not repented of. (2Corinthians 7:10)yes many come and look like believers for a season and then leave, but according to scripture they were never saved to begin with. 1Jo 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Youmentioned free will. For a true believer his free will is to get saved and stay saved. The problem is that we cannot keep ourselves saved. So God has devised a plan where we can never lose it. This is the difference between the creation and the new birth. Adam could falll, but the saved are saved for eternity. We come to Him as beggers and He makes us sons by putting His Holy Spirit in us and scripture says that this is what keeps us from sinning. 1Jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. So you see here we have two simple verses that lock all doors from anyone losing their salvation. If they come and profess and then leave they were never saved. if they come and are real then the Spirit remains so that they cannot return to sin. Door closed which is what i need and every other believer because there is no hope of me or anyone saving themselves or keeping themselves saved. How do you know that? What if someone is saved once, choosed to repent and ask forgiveness, but later backslides and never comes back to Christ? Will they still be saved? I don't think so. We aren't locked into salvation.....we still have free will. God will not let go of us, but we can let go of him and harden our hearts not to hear the Holyspirit convicting us of our sin. We still need to confess and repent, right?

We are sinners by nature and choice. Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 1Cr 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].