Bible Studies

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The future forsaking (1) of the confessed sin will take place (if) as one spiritually matures, developing an increasingly stronger desire to express his or her love for the Lord through his or her obedience (2).

As one spiritually matures, he or she will have less and less of an interest or a desire for what the world (be it good or evil) has to offer, and more and more of an interest and a desire for the things of God. Note that Satan can use good things, as well as the bad, as the means to distract an advancing disciple in order to pull him or her away from the plan of God.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate (love less) his own father, mother, wife (husband), children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own (plans for his or her) life, he (or she) cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26 NASB2020 (parentheses mine).”

Luke 14: 26 is not promoting ill-feelings towards family members, but is calling for advancing disciples to prioritize their relationship with God, over their relationships with people, and to prioritize His plan over his or her own.
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When actual guilt is in view, the convicting pressure that one experiences is coming from God. The divine objective for applying such pressure is to lead the offender to confession, and to motivate him or her to forsake the confessed sin from that time forward (3). Once a sin has been confessed, the divinely-induced pressure is released.

Any remaining or new feelings of guilt come from another source.

It is then, or at some point in the future, that the diabolical and condemning pressure from the devil begins to materialize. His objective is to raise doubts as to our forgiveness, the security of our salvation, and our worthiness and ability to move forward in the plan of God.

Note that divine forgiveness does not mean forgiveness from the people we hurt, nor does it alleviate one’s accountability to the secular authorities if the sin amounts to a criminal offense, as well. Such things may or may not be among the consequences we suffer as we reap the crop from the seeds we have sown (4).

God always forgives; fallen Man may not. Prideful people can find it more difficult to forgive themselves than to forgive the ones who hurt them. Prideful people often live in denial of their own culpability. People under the influence (5) of an unforgiving spirit live in the past, unable to move on, carrying heavy baggage that God never intended for them to bear.

Those living in the past keep a list (6) of the sins and failures in which they and others have been involved. As long as such lists exist, we have not forgiven the ones whose sin and failures have hurt us, or we have not forgiven ourselves.

As long as such lists exist, we have not experienced the John 8: 32 freedom that divine forgiveness generates, and are easy targets for the devil’s darts of condemnation.

When we obey the command to forgive as God forgives, we avoid the consequences (7) for not having done so. When we forgive ourselves and others “as” (like) God has forgiven us, the matter is never brought up again. Refusing to forgive others is not worth the losses we will incur as a result of spending our lives out of fellowship with God.


“Burying the hatchet” does not prevent it from being dug up again. Until genuine forgiveness is given and or received, these lists have been placed on the back burner, only to be brought forward again, the next time there is negative interaction with the individual(s) involved, or a 2Cor.13: 5 self-examination takes place.

Just the mention of the name of people we have not forgiven, can bring up our list of sins and failures.

In order for us to make the right decisions, God the Holy Spirit will bring to our conscious minds all the applicable principles of doctrine that we (should) have stored away in our regenerated spirit (8) Titus 3: 5 ).

It’s one thing to have developed a well-read soul structure (10) from which we can accurately quote chapter and verse of Scripture, but it is when the accurate information in our soul structures become the convictions of our regenerated spirit, that we will move forward in the plan of God.

It is our regenerated spirit that is the new creation that we became in Christ (9). This new creation contends with the fallen sin nature that remains within us. Paul spoke of still dealing with this inner conflict nearly thirty years after he was born-again, nearing the end of his ministry (10). Not only does the sin nature remain, but keeps pace with whatever forward progress one may make along the road to spiritual maturity.

This conflict is on center stage in the realm of spiritual combat during the Church Age. The ongoing battle is over the correct interpretation and application of the Scripture.

One only needs to understand and apply two verses of Scripture (11) to be born-again. But to be an advancing disciple, much, much more Biblical knowledge (12) and it’s application (13) is required.

All born-again believers are assured of eternal security (14), but only advancing disciples will become all that God wants them to be here on Earth, and be rewarded for it in Heaven.

The devil, and those who do his bidding, can accurately quote Scripture (15). But  havinh been deceived themselves, when it comes to having the correct interpretation and application of the Scripture that they quote, they unwittingly become blind leaders of the blind (16) who follow their lead (17).

End of Part Three
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(1) John 8: 11) (2) John 14: 15 (3) 1John 1:9/John 8: 11 (4) Gal. 6 7 (5) 1Tim.4: 1 (6) 1Cor. 13: 5d (7) Matt. 6: 15 (8) Titus 3: 5 (9) 2Cor. 5: 17 (10) Rom. 7: 14-23 (11) John 3: 16, 18 (12) 2Pet. 3: 18 (13) James 1: 22 (14) Romans 8: 1 (15) Matt.4: 6 (16) Matt. 15: 14 (17) John 8: 44

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