How Do I Test the Spirits?

By R. Michel Lankford

 

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1 (NASB)

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This Blog Will Discuss:

• We are expressly told not to believe every spirit, but instead we are to test every spirit (1 John 4:1)
• Truth is not merely a belief, truth is a Person (John 14:6)
• Not everything done in Jesus’ name bears His approval, so we must put what we hear to the tests to make sure it is of God (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21).
• Scripture provides at least 8 Biblical tests we can use to discern truth from error, but it is our responsibility to practice and use them.
•  Supplementary Information: The Rehearsals which Almighty God instituted in order to commemorate Christ's death, burial, resurrection, as well as to prepare for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.

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Key Scriptures: John 18:38; 1 John 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 Matthew 7:15-20;

Very soon, we will be entering the season of Unleavened Bread, the Passover and First Fruits. These are the authentic festivals or rehearsals for the wedding supper of the lamb which Almighty God instituted to point to what Messiah would accomplish through His death, burial and resurrection. If you wish to learn more about these things, look at some of the links which are included at the end of this study.

In the process of Christ's trials, There were a couple of interchanges between Governor Pontius Pilate and the Messiah. Pontius Pilate is trying to be astute and avoid a political firestorm that could ignite a riot. So he asks Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answers his question with another question. Basically, are you asking because you're curious or did someone put you up to it? Jesus goes on to describe the idea that his kingdom is Not an earthly political one but an eternal heavenly one. We pick up this exchange at John 18:36:

John 18:36-37 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Then Pontius Pilate asks what I consider to be one of the greatest questions:

 

What is truth (John 18:38)?

There are countless people in our world today who are asking the same question. Some are walking in darkness; others are truly seeking after the light. Those of us who have crossed the line of faith and have come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have come to realize that the truth is not a belief. The truth is not an idea. It's not a concept. Truth is a person. His name is Jesus Christ. Those of us who have accepted Jesus who is the Christ as Lord and Savior understand that he is the way the truth and the life and that the only way we can be in right Fellowship with God the Father is through Him (John 14:6). Truth is a person. His name is Jesus the Christ. Well, that was easy… not quite.

Oh, I wish I could tell you that with the understanding of the great truths of Who Jesus Is, and what He did, every question and confusion is erased, but unfortunately that is not the case. Yes, Jesus Is the Truth, but unfortunately not everything that is done in His name honestly reflects His desires, His teachings, or His character.

I wish that I could sincerely tell you that you can go into any church, and that aside from very rare exceptions, everyone there authentically wants to please God, is rightly dividing Scripture, where everyone is using their spiritual gifts with cautious respect for God, and the unselfish desire to see their neighbor built up until they succeed. That's the way it's supposed to be, and I wish I could tell you that that's the way it is, but it's not. The truth is that in my experience there is an overwhelming lack of maturity and discipline in the church at large.

The truth is that sometimes sermons and messages are given with the manipulation motive, a financial motive or control motives. Sometimes words of knowledge are filtered through our own emotional or mental garbage, and sometimes what we feel lead to say and do in Christ's name, may not be Christ centered or approved. Since only about a third of Americans claiming to be born again actually read their Bible on a regular basis, our theological basis for believing we've heard from God can be way off the mark sometimes.

Unfortunately, one of the difficulties of living in the last days is that both preachers and congregations are facing a greater temptation than ever to let go of sound doctrine, but Scripture warned that this is what would happen (2 Timothy 4:3). That’s why we are told not to believe every spirit, but to thoroughly put everything to the test, hold on firmly to what is good and abstain from every form of evil (1 John 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).

Unfortunately, not everything we are told in God or Christ's name is truly the word of God. Not every sermon, prophecy, word of knowledge or teaching we are presented with will be a true reflection of God's heart or God's truth and character. Knowing that is all well and good, but it left me with a struggle.

How do I know what to accept and what not to accept? It's good to know that I have the right and responsibility to test everything and hold fast to that which is good (1Thessalonians 5:20-21), but that statement presumes that I will know and perceive what is good when I see it. Let's face it, in a world where we are presented with all kinds of ungodly ideas, how do I keep from getting good and evil confused? How do I make sure that I don't believe every spirit, but I do believe and obey the Holy Spirit? How do I make sure in a practical way that I do hold fast to that which is good, but successfully abstain from every form of evil?

 

 

8 Biblical Tests to Discern Truth vs. Error

Since Almighty God requires us not to believe every spirit , but to test the spirits to see if they are of God, then it obviously stands to reason that God would provide some secure methods by which we could fulfill such a command.  In other words, God does not make a command without giving us the method by which we can obey Him .  I believe that Scripture provides eight Biblically solid tests to help us to properly assess what we hear, and to evaluate it correctly. They are as follows:

The Fruit Test- (Genesis 1:11; Matthew 7:15-20; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; John 16:9) - The fruit test is the one that I use most often. The reason is that it applies one of the oldest spiritual laws in Scripture. "Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation , plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in Them"; and it was so. (Genesis 1:11). Now, there is no doubt that this is talking about physical plants in creation. You don't plant seeds from oranges and get Apple trees. You don't plant peaches and get lemons. The same is true about character. If God is really working or talking through someone by way of a sermon, teaching, prophecy, or word of knowledge, it will never violate God's character, His nature, His commands or His promises. If you hear someone speaking in God's name saying anything that violates any of these characteristics, he or she is not speaking from God, period! The other reason that I use this test most often is because it is the test that Jesus Christ Himself said we should use:

Matthew 7:15-16 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

The bottom line is that it any sermon, presentation, teaching, prophecy or word of knowledge is not consistent with the fruit of God's character; then it is not Him. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 So, we must question: Is what I’m hearing agreeable with the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the character of God’s love? Is it spurring me and empowering me to turn away from sin and to pursue love and holiness before God? If it is, then it is sound and reliable. If it’s not then don’t follow it.

The Jesus Character Test- (1 John 4:2-3; John 14:6,21; Matthew 7:24-25)-Is what I am being taught or presented truly consistent with who Jesus is, what Jesus did, what Jesus said, taught, or commanded? If so, you can take it to the bank. If not, then you are proceeding on dangerous presumption.

The Commandments Test (Deut.6:5,10:12; Matthew 7:12, 22:35-40)- Is what I’m being told or taught directing me to love and put God first with all my heart soul mind and strength, and to treat others with the kind of love and consideration that I would like for myself?

The Weight of Biblical Evidence Test (Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15, Matthew 18:16 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:26-28) Scripture tells us that out of two or three witnesses every truth or fact is established. This test simply means that the more number of biblical writers God used to say the same thing, the stronger and more secure and solid your doctrinal position. Let’s take just the principle we’re addressing right now for example. God used Moses, Matthew, Jesus, Paul, and the writer of Hebrews to tell us that every fact needs to be established through multiple witnesses. With this many proofs, the weight of biblical evidence supports that position. All Scripture is good and profitable (2 Timothy 3:16-17), you are simply much less likely to get the wrong idea, or draw the wrong conclusions if you can confirm a particular position from multiple sources in Scripture.

The True Wisdom Test- (James 3:13-18) Is what I’m being taught or presented unquestioningly and obviously pure, then peaceable & gentle? Is it easy to be entreated? In this case that means is it persuading me to seek and pursue godliness? Is it full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and without hypocrisy? If what I'm being taught misses any of these things it's not from heaven above.

The Ambitions Test- (James 3:17; Philippians 2:3)-Most people who fall into teaching falsely do so because they have an ulterior motive or agenda. Sometimes they’re even unaware of it themselves. Sometimes they have so convinced themselves that they’re acting for the greater good, that they have compromised truth along the way. When you hear something that sounds a little off, ask yourself, “is there ambition here? Is there competition, combativeness or strife, an I’ve just got to win attitude? Is there bitterness here? Is there confusion in this teaching or presentation? When you see any of these things, be extremely leery and cautious of what you’ve been told. Scripture says that every other evil enters through these gateways. It’s demonic.

The Balance & Moderation Test- (2 Timothy 4:5; Titus 2:2, 2:5-6; 1 Peter 1:13, 4:7, 5:8).-If you look at these references in the Greek, they all urge us to be “sober minded” i.e. moderate, temperate, balanced, and self-controlled. So important is this idea that in the original languages being moderate or temperate is considered the same as being in one’s right mind or sound judgment. Does this teaching, presentation or word of knowledge I’m getting consider all of Scripture and Godly characteristics, or does it focus on one or two that seem to fit my theory at the exclusion or overshadowing of the others? Extremism in almost all cases is dangerous. Watch out for it.

The Peace Test- John 14:27; James 3:18; Romans 14:19- This is the test that many people who teach on God’s leading use the most. Ironically enough, it’s the one I recommend you use the least. Why? It’s way too subjective. The premise of this test is that God through the Holy Spirit will put a check or caution feeling inside your spirit and you’ll see a lack of peace about a particular situation. Let me point out first that God absolutely will, and does do such things; however this presupposes that we understand the difference between God’s true peace and merely a lack of conflict. For example, all of us have the ability to deny or deceive ourselves about our sin at some point or other. Just because I don’t feel convicted about something over which I am in denial, this doesn’t mean that God stopped caring about it. Likewise, just because I’m feeling a lack of peace, some internal pain or a struggle inside with what I’m being told, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t God just because I don’t feel peaceful about it at that moment. The peace test presupposes that my conscience is accurately calibrated to God’s highest desires. Since it’s easy to fall into situations where my conscience and desires are not so calibrated, I recommend you only use the peace test after you’ve thoroughly applied the others.

 

 

The Ultimate Protection from Deception

Now we have some real grassroots biblical tests that we can use to evaluate what we are being told. With practice, evaluating things in this manner will become more natural. There is one other scriptural method that will help us become more “deception proof or deception resistant.”

We must practice doing the Word of God. I know it sounds basic, but not DOING the word of God is one of, if not the biggest gateways to deception:

James 1:21-27

This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:19-27 (NASB)

The same principle is taught again in Hebrews 5:12-14.

The point is that true spiritual maturity and discernment only comes from regularly hearing and practicing, or  doing the word of God. We should be taking in the word of God regularly. In the process of taking in God’s word however, we should be diligent to prayerfully seek God to make action plans to put what we read and hear into practice. We should then write those in a journal and share those action plans with someone that we trust to keep us accountable for actually following through with those godly action plans.

Beloved in Christ, I sincerely hope that you will truly practice using these eight fundamental biblical tests whenever you are being presented something in God's name. If you practice this until you become proficient, you will become much stronger, more discerning and much less likely to be deceived and manipulated into error. May God bless and maintain you on the straight and narrow path that produces everlasting life. May you all be among the few who successfully find it and persevere in walking that path until you are ultimately brought home into Eternal Bliss. Amen.

Brother Michel Lankford

 

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PostScript:

 

At the beginning of this study  I made a very provocative statement. I mentioned  that we will  soon be entering the season of Unleavened Bread, the Passover and First Fruits. These are the authentic festivals or rehearsals for the wedding supper of the lamb which Almighty God instituted to point to what Messiah would accomplish through His death, burial and resurrection.   that's a pretty provocative statement  for those who are used to thinking that  Christmas  Ishtar  and Sunday worship  have done away with those things.   At the beginning of this study I  also Promised you that I would be offering  you the resources where you could learn more  about why I said  such a thing

What should we be Celebrating According to God?

None of the pagan feasts accurately testified to Jesus Christ. All of the biblical feast which God appointed point the way to Messiah. They described what Messiah would do for the Jew. To the believer, they testify to what Jesus Christ the Messiah accomplished and also look to what He will accomplish in the future. Please take a look at these videos which explains these things far more easily than I can:

How The Feasts Coincide Exactly with the life of Jesus Christ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYRWx-m3pws&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duW3RWKatek&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEulQJmdbfA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2o3FIfwEFg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIlzNAZmhGk&feature=related

The Day Jesus died and rose

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-nDpFnN8zs&feature=related>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9dgnvb3g9g&feature=related>

Elshadai Ministries Explains the Feasts of God and the Messiah

(These are Great and detailed)

http://www.elshaddaiministries.us/audio/feasts/2006springdvd.html

http://www.elshaddaiministries.us/audio/feasts/2006yomteruahdvd.html

http://www.elshaddaiministries.us/audio/feasts/2006yomkippurdvd.html

http://www.elshaddaiministries.us/audio/feasts/2006succotdvd.html

http://www.elshaddaiministries.us/video/eclipsevideo.html

The Spring Feasts of the LORD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MekYgnoBOYY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYDGqxIi5Y4&feature=related

The Fall Festivals of The LORD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M83qUqhAwQ4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAFAFBbwgcs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqJnkBfihP0&feature=related

Hebrew Calendar, Feasts & The Menorah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taqpkihUYeg>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GERq-bwr6Ms&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sniz1gbdJjE&feature=related

 

For the first two centuries of the church, believers in Jesus from diverse backgrounds stayed together and refused to compromise, even to save their lives. Now we are not even under persecution, and yet we annually compromise with the world and the Babylonian religious system as we try to commemorate the two most monumental events in human history. We claim to honor God and celebrate him, but we compromised with pagan emperors to do it. What's more, we actually displaced and removed the feasts and festivals which God did establish an institute in order to make room for these pagan counterfeits. There is simply no way that God is honored by it, especially when He offers true biblical alternatives and we refuse to respect them. It's disobedience. It's rebellion. It's putting our love of pleasure and tradition ahead of loving God, and Jesus warned us against it:

Mark 7:1-9 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' "For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. (Mark 7:1-9 NKJV)

We must beware that we do not fall into the same snare

God Be With You,

Brother Michel Lankford

Is It Grace, Or a Disgrace?

By Brother Michel Lankford

The first principle of authentic Christian discipleship is that we must choose to look at and define any key words, concepts principles and ideas the way that God Himself looks at them and defines them in His Word.

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This Blog Will Discuss:

• If I’m Saved by Grace, then why do I need to bother learning to obey God and Jesus Christ? 
• Salvation is free, but maturity is not free
• The real goal of Christianity is not fire insurance, it's character.
• Obedience and real Grace are partners, NOT Enemies 
• Some questions every believer should ask themselves
• Grace vs. Disgrace

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Why Must I Learn to Obey??

It almost never fails. Whenever I talk to up and coming disciples about the need to obey God and Jesus Christ, the question almost always arises. "Aren't we saved by grace?" "If I'm saved by the grace of God, then why does it matter whether I really work to obey God and Jesus Christ, or whether I don't?" If you make us focus on what God and Jesus Christ commanded us to obey, then aren't you trying to be justified by your works? In such a case, aren't you really denying Jesus Christ and trying to become righteous by your own efforts?
On the surface, that sounds like a thoroughly logical argument, but in reality it's completely backwards. We must beware (Proverbs 16:25). We have to be careful to avoid analyzing biblical truth with the carnal mind. To say that we should never consider or work on obeying God better because we are under grace, is a lot like saying, the only reason I have a job is so that I can retire. No, there are a lot of reasons you have a job. It fulfills a lot of necessary things on your way to retirement. Having a job can teach you to be productive and prevents you from being idle. It earns you money to meet your daily needs and to support your family, and it gives you the opportunity to model your Christian faith to a larger segment of the population than just your own four walls. Those are just a few of the reasons why you work.
Let's look at it another way. To say that we should never consider or work on obeying God better because we are under grace, is a lot like saying, the only reason that loving parents train a child to obey them is to cause them to become part of the family in which the child lives. To the best of my understanding, that's completely backwards. A child doesn't become part of the family because he or she obeys. He or she is trained to obey because they already are part of the family. To the best of my understanding, in most cases, a child who is either born or adopted into the family is absolutely loved, treasured and accepted into that family long before they can really obey anything at all. A newborn can barely hold its own head up without support. They even need help to belch, for pity's sake. Yet they are dearly loved, wanted accepted and highly valued in the family nonetheless. They did not do anything except to be born or adopted into the family, and yet they are loved and accepted. This is a picture of salvation by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).
As cherished as they are, a child who is thoroughly loved, nurtured and cuddled, must still grow up into maturity and productive adulthood. They will need love, affection, and nurturing throughout the process. They will also need to learn to obey. They will need education, correction and even discipline when they go astray from what they are supposed to be learning. Why? We need those things so that we can develop character such as self-control, which will help us to make Godly decisions that will be a blessing to us and society in the long run.

 

Salvation is FREE, Maturity is NOT

We have received the gift of salvation through what Jesus Christ accomplished by virtue of His miraculous conception, birth, sinless life, His Substitutionary death on the cross for our sake, and His glorious resurrection from the dead. We are adopted into the family of God when we believe these things and ask God to save us. The goal of human life is not merely to belong to the family. That happens when you are born or adopted into it. The goal of the Christian life is not merely to be born again. That happens when you accept Jesus Christ. God has given us a free gift, free for the asking.
The goal of life is not merely to be born. That is the beginning. The goal of the Christian life is not merely to be born again. This too is merely the beginning. No, the goal of the physical life is to become a healthy, productive, mature adult. Likewise, the goal of the spiritual life is to become a healthy, mature productive citizen of the kingdom of God. In order to become an adult in either the physical or supernatural realm, we must learn character and self-restraint so we can make better decisions that will be a blessing to us and others. In order to do that successfully, we must learn to live under our parents guidance and rules.
Let's say that we had an 80-year-old man who was physically and mentally healthy in almost every respect. However, let's say that the maximum he accomplished in his life was to become an adopted member of his family, but he maintained the exact same character and emotional reactions and behaviors that he had when he first arrived into the family. Would you consider this man's life a success, or a failure? Of coarse, he would have to be considered a failure who wasted his life, because he did not use the opportunities he was given to grow emotionally or to grow in character or behavior. All he accomplished in his life was that he became a member of the family that adopted him. God did not create us to merely be born, suck up oxygen, give off carbon dioxide, consume resources, give off waste and die. Such a life would be a waste. The reason that God instituted the family was to produce Godly offspring; or generations of people who would know and walk with God (Malachi 2:15). The reason that God saves us through His Son Jesus Christ is not merely that we would escape hell and gain heaven.

Real Christianity Is Not Merely Fire Insurance

The reason God adopted us into His family, and sealed our adoption in Christ's own blood is so that we could grow up "....until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. "(Ephesians 4:13-16) NASB  The Goal of the Christian life is to grow up until we reflect the character, attitudes and behaviors of God and Jesus Christ. That is why we must learn to obey God and Jesus the Christ.
In the blog entry dated March 9, 2011 " How Do You Know You are Truly Born Again? We discussed the seven fold evidence of being born again (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
The proof that one is truly being changed by God from the inside out, is that they obey God (Ezekiel 36:27). We do not obey God in order to get saved. On the contrary. We come under God's rules, direction, guidance, correction and discipline because we already are saved and adopted into God's family. Our obedience to God merely demonstrates the proper respect that a loving and grateful child has for their Parent
So, according to Ezekiel 36:25-27, the evidence of being truly regenerated by God and born-again into a new creation is that God cleanses us from all uncleanness, He delivers us from all forms of idolatry so that we will worship only God, He gives us a brand-new heart, and puts His Holy Spirit in us. The result of all this is that it will cause us to desire and to be able to keep God's judgments and do them. The real fruit of being born again is that we obey God. Jesus Christ essentially said the same thing:

John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21 NKJV) ¹

We MUST Ask Ourselves Some Tough Questions

The ultimate questions in light of this truth are, "Do I love God?" "Do I love His Son Jesus Christ?" Do I want to understand the truths of God? Do I want Christ to disclose Himself to me more clearly? If The answer to any of those questions is truly, "Yes," then possessing and keeping God's and Christ's' commands is going to be something that I sincerely want to learn to do correctly, because those things only happen when I possess and keep His commandments.
The second question is do you want to become a friend of God's and Jesus Christ? If your answer is yes, I want to be God's friend or I want Christ to consider me His friend, then obeying Christ's commands becomes a truly important priority for you:

John 15:14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (John 15:14 NKJV)

Some people refuse to follow God, or even refuse to consider it because they consider themselves much too intelligent for that sort of thing. They believe themselves to be much to enlightened to need and follow God. Scripture speaks directly to people who think this way:

Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7 NASB) ² 

Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. (Proverbs 26:12 HCSB) ³

The third set of questions is do I consider myself to be an enlightened person? Do I really want to be an enlightened person? Do I want to prevent self-delusion and do I want to protect myself from deception? If the answer is yes to those questions, then obeying God and Christ's commands is absolutely essential:
Jesus is the light of the world (see John 1:1-12; John 8:12). So, the plain fact is that if a person genuinely wants to be enlightened, then they will seek after and follow Jesus Christ, because He Is the source of all true enlightenment. Anybody who claims to have wisdom and enlightenment while atAt e same time they discredit, disapprove or disobey God and Jesus Christ is either self deceived, or they are purposely lying, because one cannot truly be enlightened and walk in opposition to the source of truth and light at the same time.
People who are genuinely enlightened will walk with the Light. If I claim to be enlightened, but I walk in a lifestyle of disobedience to His Words, then I am deceiving myself:

James 1:21-22 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. (James 1:21-22 NASB)

1 John 1:5-10 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:5-10 NASB)

Grace And Obedience are Partners NOT Enemies

If obedience to God and His commands is the real evidence and a natural byproduct of being born again, then where does grace come into play? It's a real fair question, but some of the confusion occurs when we incorrectly define the term grace, and then we put the value of 'good works' in the wrong place.
It's important to remember that our own good works will never be sufficient to cause, increase, guarantee or secure our salvation and our entry into heaven. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God died on the cross and rose again to pay for the forgiveness of our sins and to ensure our salvation. Our good works can never cause salvation, but at the same time, if genuine salvation truly has taken place inside of us, then salvation will cause us to do good works according to what God says is pleasing to Him. That is why Jesus specifically said that only those who do the will of God will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21), because if you are truly born-again and saved in Christ Jesus, then doing the will of God, will become the way that you do life.
Part of the confusion also stems from the fact that in our modern and postmodern day the concept of grace has been redefined, or rather mis-defined. When many of us think about grace, we think almost exclusively about God's undeserved or unmerited favor, or we might think of cute little acronyms like God's Righteousness at Christ's Expense. While those ideas are certainly true, if we stop there we will not have a truly complete definition of biblical grace. If we stop at those explanations, we can leave people with the idea that the grace of God is exclusively about forgiving us when we mess up, or we might misinterpret God as one who exclusively blesses us with gifts we do not deserve, and in so doing we paint a mistaken portrait of God as some divine Santa Claus. Yes God forgives us when we sin (provided we recognize our sin as sin, and confess it as sin; John 1:8-9).
At the same time, Scripture reveals a vital component of God's grace which is not often taught, and therefore it is frequently overlooked. One of the components that God includes in His Real Grace is that He gives us the desire and the ability to do what is right. Authentic Biblical Grace includes the God-given power and ability to turn away from what God says is wrong, and to agree with and obey what God says is right. Anybody who is not walking through their daily life in such a way cannot possibly be walking in God's true Biblical Grace:

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 ESV) ⁴

Beloved, whenever God works inside the human being to accomplish a particular result, that is the ultimate definition of Grace. According to the Scripture passage, what will happen inside the human being when God is working in a person? When God is truly working inside a person, He will cause us to "will." This means that our desire and choices will be motivated to agree with what pleases God and we will be able to choose accordingly. He doesn't stop there. It also says that when God is really working inside a person, He will also empower us to successfully accomplish and do what pleases God.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10 (NASB)

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:2-4 (NASB)

Grace vs Disgrace

So here are the real million-dollar questions:

Am I noticing that I have a gradually but progressively increasing desire and willingness to agree with God, to agree with is written word and to agree with His principles?
Am I noticing that I have a gradually but progressively increasing ability to follow through, and that I am more and more able to successfully obey the Word according to what pleases God?
If I can honestly and truly say that I'm noticing that those two things are gradually and progressively increasing inside of me, then I can rightly say that I am living in the grace of God, because that is what God's grace will do inside a person.

If on the other hand I find myself frequently making excuses for my sin, or I don't feel any real desire or urgency to apply God's word in order to overcome sinful habits, or if I do not notice any sort of increasing desire or ability to do what pleases God, but instead I continually rationalize giving into my own desires, while claiming that it's okay because I'm under grace, and God will take care of it in the end; such a mindset is dangerous and deceptive. A person who adopts and remains in that mindset and lifestyle is clearly not living in God's Biblical definition of Grace. Such an attitude, mindset and lifestyle of behavior is actually a disgrace to grace, because God's true Grace simply does not function in that manner.

Prayer: Almighty God Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ Messiah, Lord Holy Spirit; have mercy upon me according to Your unfailing love. Thank You for giving me the grace to believe and receive the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank You for giving me Your precious words. Through them You provide me with everything I need for life and godliness. Thank You that through Your Grace, I can and do receive forgiveness when I realize that I'm sinning and that I am falling short of Your best desires and intentions for my life. I admit to You that I stand in constant need of those great blessings.
At The same time, as I look intently into Your Word, I also recognize that we have often misunderstood and misrepresented Your Grace in the modern church. Your Grace was never intended to disguise, to excuse, or to help us rationalize sinful self-indulgence. Your grace was never intended to be used in such a manner that would allow people to remain comfortable while they stayed defeated in sinful and destructive behaviors. Part of Your authentic Grace includes Your Divine Power working in us to desire, to choose, and to successfully do what is right and pleasing to You. Part of Your Grace includes The God-given ability to turn away from evil, and to overcome it by choosing and doing what God says is good. Anything less than this is not a true representation of Your Grace. Forgive us and help us to repent from ever misrepresenting Your grace again. Instead, please mercifully fill me and every person who is calling upon Your name with the true and biblical definition of that term. Help us to receive, to walk in, to exemplify and to declare the full definition of Your Grace, so that by believing and receiving it, we will successfully submit to God, overcome evil and do good. In Jesus Christ's name, amen
Thank you so much for joining me. God be with you. I hope to see you next time.
Brother Michel Lankford

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1. Scriptures designated (NKJV) are taken from: The New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, used by permission. All rights reserved.
2. All Scriptures which are designated (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
3.  All Scriptures designated (HCSB) are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible,Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003.
4. All Scriptures which are designated (ESV) are taken from the The holy Bible, The English Standard Version copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved

How Do You Know You are Truly Born Again?

The sevenfold evidence of being born again
By Brother Michel Lankford 
 

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This Blog Will Discuss:

• You can tell that a tree is healthy by the fruit it produces (Matthew 7:15-20)
• What Messiah's disciples believe
• Why Messiah's disciples believe 
• The  Sevenfold fruits and byproducts of being truly born-again

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How do you know when an apple tree is truly prospering? Well, you know that an apple tree is successful and prospering, when the tree is healthy, and it produces a healthy and abundant crop of apples on  a regular basis. How do you know when a Christian is truly healthy and prospering? You will know the believer and Messiah is healthy and prospering when he or she is noticeably and progressively thinking, desiring, believing, speaking and doing those things that agree with Jesus, the Christ and Messiah sent by Almighty God. This is how we recognize the true prophet, the true teachers, and the true disciples of Messiah (See Matthew 7:15-20).
As up-and-coming disciples and followers of God through Jesus Christ, it is good to periodically review the fundamentals so that we become more strongly established in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul believed and practiced this principle of review with the people that he was serving. He did so because it was additional security for them (Philippians 3:1).

 

 

What Do we believe?

The basic precept of Christianity is that as Christians we believe that Jesus of Nazareth who is born of the Virgin Mary is in fact the Son of God. He is the Messiah promised to the Jewish people. He lived a sinless life. He died on the cross to take the punishment that our own specific and particular sins deserve. Through the power of the Holy Spirit God resurrected Him from the dead. Now there are Scriptures which attest to all these things. Some are veiled inferences in the Hebrew Scriptures while others are clearly unfolded for us in the fulfillment Scriptures also known as the New Testament. I have mentioned many of the Scripture references in other studies, so I will not detail them again, but the collection of these beliefs which I have just mentioned are known as The Gospel, (The Good News). Biblically, one must believe the gospel of who Jesus is and what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection in order to be saved and go to heaven. (John 3:36; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 2:8).

 

Why do we believe it?

The gospel life is a life of faith, but it is not blind faith. So then on what basis do we believe the gospel? Disciples and God followers believe the gospel because the prophets foretold it, the Hebrew Scriptures foreshadowed it, Jesus fulfilled it, the apostles and others personally witnessed it and proclaimed it, we received and obeyed it, and we have seen our lives transformed by it. That is why we believe it.

 

Why do we study and practice Christ's commands?

If we are saved by grace through faith, and not by our own works (Ephesians 2:8-9), then why do we need to learn and practice Christ's commands? Aren't we just saved by believing in Jesus Christ? The answer is both yes and no.
Here is why I say this. You see, it is an aberration of modern-day psychology that we could "believe" a certain way, and then practice life in an opposite way. In biblical terminology, if one truly believes something, then one will live in agreement with that belief. In biblical terms, if you truly believe Jesus Christ, then you will think in agreement with Jesus Christ and progressively live in agreement with Jesus Christ. When a genuine believer encounter something in their character or lifestyle that disagrees or come short of what Christ desires, they are deliberate about bringing it to Christ and they are committed to thoroughly correcting the situation. So from the biblical perspective the proof that we truly believe Jesus is established when we obey Jesus. From the biblical point of view, if you do not live a lifestyle of obedience to Jesus Christ, then you don't really believe Him.

 

 

The Fruits of Being Born Again

Jesus said that we must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3,7). In the same chapter we see that Jesus expected the religious leaders to understand the concept of spiritual rebirth (John 3:10), because even though the term is not specifically mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, the idea is described in the Hebrew Scriptures (Deuteronomy 30:6; Psalm 51:15-17; Ezekiel 36:25-27). The Hebrew Scriptures give a specific description of what will happen inside a person if they are genuinely regenerated by God (a.k.a. born-again).
Here is what the Scriptures say will occur inside a person if they are truly regenerated by God and born-again:
1. God will clean us up from every form of uncleanness (Ezekiel 36:25).
2. God will cleanse us from all forms of idolatry; meaning that we will be devoted to serving and worshiping Almighty God alone. We will not accept any false worship and we will refuse to worship anything other than God (Ezekiel 36:25).
3. God will give us a brand-new heart, and a brand-new spirit. He will remove the old hard heart of stone and put in a soft heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26; cf. Deuteronomy 30:6).
4. He will take out the old human spirit, and give us His Spirit in its place (Ezekiel 36:25). So how do we know that the Holy Spirit is really living inside a person? Scripture answers that very clearly.

a. When the Holy Spirit is truly living and working inside a person they will be convicted (convinced and agree with God concerning what God considers sin and righteousness, and they will agree with His Judgments (John 16:8-11).

b. When the Holy Spirit is truly living inside a person, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). So they will highly value and esteem Truth. They will love the light As part of this, the Holy Spirit will lead people to Jesus Christ Who Is the truth (John 14:6; John 15:26).

c. When the Holy Spirit is truly living inside a person, He will remind us of everything that Jesus said, taught, and commanded (John 14:26).

d. Scripture tells us that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we will receive power to become His Witnesses (Acts 1:8). The New Testament Greek word for witnesses in this verse more accurately translates as martyrs. So what it is really saying is that when the Holy Spirit is really living inside a person they will have the power both to live and if necessary to die for the truth and their testimony of God and Jesus Christ.

e. When the Holy Spirit is honestly living inside of a person the fruit and character of the Holy Spirit will become more and more increasingly evident in the person's character. In other words their character, attitude and way of life will agree more and more with the fruit and character of the Holy Spirit; which is Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV).

Jesus Christ Himself said that it is by the fruit of love that we would recognize who and what is true by its fruit (see Matthew 7:15-20; John 13:35).
So now we know what the evidence is that the Holy Spirit is really living inside of a person according to Jesus. What is the ultimate byproduct of this renewal? Does Scripture tell us what the ultimate result that this internal transformation will cause? Sure it does. Ezekiel 36:25-27 described what being born again would actually look like in the life of a believer and it also described what would happen once the transformation rightly took place.
5. The largest fruit and evidence of being really born again is that we obey God (Ezekiel 36:27).

The Conclusion
There is perhaps no more critical question to ask oneself then, "Am I truly born-again?" You might think to yourself, am I being unfaithful to God and Jesus Christ by even asking the question? The answer to that is no. Scripture expressly requires us to scrutinize and examine ourselves and make certain that we are in the faith. That is our responsibility, (2 Corinthians 13:5). Jesus said that we would be able to recognize who and what people are by the fruit of the character and behavior that comes out of their lives (See Matthew 7:15-20). That doesn't mean that the Christian will never fall short of God's best and highest standards for our lives, but it does mean that the genuine believer treats missing the mark of God's standards extremely seriously. Their sin bothers them. They are eager to cooperate with God and to get rid of it. As surely as the healthy apple tree produces a regular supply of apples, as surely as banana trees produce bananas, so too does the Christian who is reborn of the Holy Spirit, and who has been planted by the River of the living water of God's Word.
1. The truly born-again person will have a growing appetite for the word of God (Psalm 1:1-3; 1 Peter 2:2)
2.  The truly born-again person will have a growing hunger and thirst for righteousness, and what pleases God (Matthew 6:5; Matthew 6:33)
3.  The truly born-again person will notice that God is actively cleaning them up from all that God considers unclean (Ezekiel 36:25)
4.  The truly born-again person will notice that they have an ever-increasing desire to separate themselves from everything that God considers idolatry (Ezekiel 36:25)
5.  The truly born-again person will notice that they have a brand-new heart and new desires (Ezekiel 36:26; Deuteronomy 30:6).
6.  The truly born-again person will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift from God (Ezekiel 36:27), with the following evidences:They will be convicted and agree with God concerning sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11). They will be led into the truth of Jesus Christ who is the truth (John 14:6; John 14:26; John 15:26). They will know God and His Son Jesus Christ (John 17:3). The Holy Spirit produces the fruit and byproduct of his presence in their lives (Galatians 5:22-23). They will be given God's power to live by, to proclaim, and if necessary even die for the faith of God and Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8; Revelation 12:11).
7. The truly born-again person will notice that they have an increasing ability and desire to obey God, and keep His ordinances (Ezekiel 36:27; Philippians 2:13).
Beloved, if you have believed and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and if you are seeing this sevenfold change in your life happening and increasing on a regular basis, then you can be absolutely secure in the fact that you are born again and saved and healthy in Jesus Christ. If on the other hand you are not seeing this kind of growth in the tree of your life on a regular basis, then you are either not born-again, or you are certainly not healthy. In either case, whether you are not truly born-again, not healthy or not growing in your salvation, this is a serious spiritual crisis which you must address. You must prayerfully seek and pursue God's healing until you are certain of your salvation, and you are seeing the fruit thereof.

Closing Prayer

Almighty God, I come to you through Your Son the Messiah, Jesus Christ. I long to be your child. I beseech You to make me truly born-again by Your Holy Spirit. Save me by Your unfailing love, through the compassion and sacrifice of Jesus Christ Your Son, who died to take the punishment my own sins deserve. Graciously work within me and produce in me the sevenfold evidence of being born again. Mercifully produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit within me in great abundance, and help me to more completely submit to You and cooperate with You, so that I will not hinder or resist Your work of grace in my life. Transform me completely into a genuine child of Yours, who always brings joy and delight to the heart of God. Grant that I will not be ashamed, but that You will be able to gladly receive me into Your kingdom on the last day. Amen.

Lord, Help Me Repent Correctly

  By brother Michel Lankford

 
The first principle of authentic Christian discipleship is that we must choose to look at and define any key words, concepts principles and ideas the way that God Himself looks at them and defines them in His Word.

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This Blog Will Discuss:

• Messiah's first public command is to REPENT  (Matthew 4:17) .
• What It Really Means to MAKE Disciples (Matthew 28:18-20)
• What does it mean to repent biblically?
• Messiah gives some clear scriptural models of repentance.
• How do I repent successfully?

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Jesus Christ said: ...."Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17 (NASB)

Those of you who know me are aware that I have been working on a book that meticulously gives practical advice on how to obey everything that Jesus Christ commanded in the New Testament. That project is still underway, but this teaching series is an undergirding support for that book. Why am I writing and giving instructions on how to obey everything that Jesus Christ commanded in the New Testament? I'm doing it because I'm obeying principle number one of authentic Christian discipleship.
If I am going to be involved in authentic Christian disciple making, then I MUST define making disciples in the same manner that Jesus has defined the term, and Jesus specifically says that making disciples requires teaching people how to obey everything that Jesus commanded; (Matthew 28:18-20).
Folks, that is The Great Commission. It is the foundation of all genuine Christian ministry. If I do not make it a practice to teach people how to obey everything that Christ commanded, then I am failing to fulfill the Great Commission, and I am not really making disciples at all. Again, I'm applying Christ's definition of the term disciple making, I believe what He says, and I am taking Him seriously.
The reason that I took a sidebar into this study series was because as I continued to do my research through sources such as articles from Christianity Today Magazine, Barna Research Institute, various websites among others, together with one-on-one discussions with believers, I began to notice an alarming pattern that clearly indicates that even churchgoing people who consider themselves born-again seem to be more influenced by American business models, mass marketing practices, popular culture, and psychology.
Modern-day Christians are clearly not placing a nearly high enough value on the things that Jesus Christ said, taught, demonstrated and commanded. I know from my own personal experience that obeying what Christ commanded always works, (when I do it), but one cannot obey Christ successfully unless one first learns to value what Christ said, and unless we see the need to obey Him. That is something we are clearly losing in modern-day Christendom, and we must regain it, because we cannot overcome our weaknesses without obeying Christ, and we cannot successfully obey Christ without first valuing what Christ commanded, and then making obedience to Christ our highest priority.
The seven key things to remember which are listed in the blog for Saturday, March 5, 2011 gives us the basic spiritual, doctrinal and mental framework that we need to equip us to successfully obey Christ in any and all of the Commandments that Jesus Christ gave in the New Testament, but they are particularly essential in equipping us to successfully obey Christ's very first public command:

 

What Does It Mean to Repent?

 
In the original biblical language, the word repent is metanoeô. It most precisely means to change one's mind, one's purpose, and to change one's direction away from sin and toward pleasing God. So as you can see, true biblical repentance begins with changing one's mind away from sin, and toward what pleases God; which as we have already stated is also the same thing that is required in order to make a biblical confession of sin so that we can be forgiven. In effect we are told to fall out of agreement with our sin, change our minds, and come into agreement with God. So once again having the right mindset is crucial, because you cannot confess unless you agree with God about what sin is and then speak as God does, and you can't repent without changing your mind, so that two concepts are incredibly closely linked. Changing our minds to agree with God is foundational. Without it we cannot confess, we cannot repent, and we cannot walk with God. That's why it's the first principle of Christian discipleship.
Beloved, I'm not writing all this stuff just to be cute and keep you busy until a better opportunity comes along. This is God's best and greatest idea. Nothing better is coming along. If you want to walk with God, you have to let God change your mind so that you will agree with Him, because you cannot walk with Him otherwise, (Amos 3:3; Romans 12:1-2; Romans 8:5-8; Philippians 2:5).

 

 

Change Your Purpose Away from Sin and toward What Pleases God:

The word repent, or metanoeô also refers specifically to changing my purpose and my intentions away from sin and toward what pleases God. Changing my purpose is a direct function of my own personal will. If I'm going to metanoeô, or repent successfully, I must make a personal choice of my will to turn away from my sin and toward what pleases God. Even more important, to change my purpose in this context also means that I must newly purpose to evaluate circumstances and make my choices and decisions away from sin and toward what pleases God. To change my purpose is a radical change in the way that I make my decisions. If I don't change my purpose in this manner, then I did not authentically repent.

 

 

Change Your Direction Away from Sin and toward What Pleases God:

If we have truly and authentically changed our mind and changed our purpose away from sin and toward what pleases God, then with a little bit of practice, our life's direction and behaviors will grow to match our new repentant mindset and purpose. It will probably take practice to change old habits, but if we have truly repented, our lifestyle will progressively change so that our life’s direction and behaviors will turn away from sin and toward what pleases God. If our life's direction doesn't progressively turn away from sin and toward what pleases God, then we really did not change our mind or our purpose. In such a case, we didn't repent, and we are still dead in our trespasses and sins. If we do not repent we will perish (Luke 13:1-9). Repentance is not really an option, it's a must.

 

 

Some Scriptural Models of Repentance

Jesus gives two very clear examples of repentance in His teachings. One would be Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).  He was a tax collector for the occupying Roman army.  He sold out his own people Israel for his own comfort and profit.  What's more it was common practice for tax collectors in those days to collect more than was required and keep the surplus for themselves.  So he was getting very rich by stealing from and oppressing his own people.  That's definitely NOT LOVE.  In any event he repented and acted consistently with that repentance. This brought the blessings and salvation of God on Zaccheaus and his entire household,(Luke 19:8-10).
Another good example comes from the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-25).  You can read the story for yourself, but you can clearly see that Scripture says "he came to himself." (v.17).  Later it demonstrates that the prodigal son acted consistently with his new mindset by going home (v20).
It's also noteworthy that there is such a thing as false or negative repentance.  This can be described as what happens when one tries to modify one's behavior without first having a real change of mind or heart.  Probably the best Scriptural example of this would be Lot's wife.  You can see the full account of what I mean in Genesis 19:1-26.  She was walking away from Sodom whom God was judging for its severe wickedness, but Lot's wife looked back and was destroyed.  The reality was that her feet were walking away from Sodom but her heart and mind were still there in Sodom.  That brought the judgment of God and destroyed her. It's also worth noting that our Lord would later command us to "Remember Lot's wife"  (Luke 17:32). So, one of the first things we have to learn about repentance is that it's serious business.  Jesus tells us to remember Lot's wife so that we will learn from her bad example and not repeat her mistakes (see Romans 15:4). 

 

 

How Do I Repent Successfully??

So how do we successfully repent? First, I must point out that each individual has their own unique God-given makeup, so the particular details of how to repent will be something that God fine-tunes in each of us individually as we walk with Him.  With that having been said, there are some key universal elements that are absolutely required for true repentance:
a) We must first recognize sin as being sinful.  We must recognize and agree with God that our sinful behavior is in fact sin. Ask God for the courage and grace to recognize your sin the way that He sees it. 
b) We must have a genuine change of heart and mind. Ask God to truly gradually and progressively change your heart and mind so that you will love God and his righteousness with all your heart soul mind and strength.  Moreover, ask God to help you to truly hate and be repulsed by sin.
c) We must make a U-turn away from sin and walk in God's direction. Stay open to the Holy Spirit and God's word.  These are the tools that God uses to bring us to repentance.  When God reveals your sinful desires, thoughts motives and actions, remember God loves you.  He's not trying to hurt you.  He took the hurt your sin deserves on the cross. He only shows our sin to us so that we will recognize that, repent of it and come to him for help.  So while it is tempting to become resistant when God reveals our sin to us, we must remain open.  We must admit our sin.  We must accept the forgiveness that God purchased for us through His Son Jesus the Christ.  We must agree and confess what God says concerning our sin, and we must purpose and plan to walk in a totally new and God honoring direction in that part of our lives. Together you and God must form an action plan to help you walk in a different manner than you have previously walked in that area of your life. 
Sometimes it is helpful to get in touch with an older brother or sister (make sure that they are reliable and a discrete individual).  Let them know how you are trying to repent and ask for their prayer support.  Then walk in your new God-given direction and don't look back fondly at that part of your old life. Other New Testament verses commanding us to repent can be found in:
Matthew 3:2 Matthew 3:8 Mark 1:15 Luke 3:8 Acts 2:38 Acts 3:19 Acts 8:22 Acts 17:30 Revelation 2:5; Revelation 2:16; Revelation 3:3
 
Beloved, I sincerely hope that you have found this Bible study to be helpful and informative. I sincerely believe that if we learn to look at and do define sin, righteousness, confession and repentance (along with every other key term), the way that God does, we will be well underway to walking as successful disciples who overcome the sinful world through our life changing faith in Jesus the Christ.

Remember:
Agreeing with God's standards when it comes to defining things God's way is absolutely critical because one cannot recognize sin (missing the mark of God's highest standards), unless we understand what those standards truly are. Biblically, sin is anything that we desire say or do which is outside the target of love, outside of trusting God, outside of obeying God, or outside of purposely glorifying God.
Remember that God will NOT adjust any of His standards or remove the consequences of sin to suit our personal preferences or comfort.
Remember that according to God's word, the consequences of sin are; Broken relationship with God and other people, bondage, slavery or captivity, death, and ultimately hell and eternal separation from God and His Love. Therefore, it is IMPERATIVE that we radically deal with sin.
Remember In order to overcome sin through Jesus Christ, we must confess and repent. To biblically confess means, "To speak as one," or to speak the same thing. So to confess our sin means that we say what God says about what we did, and how it violates God's standards. Unless we do that, we didn't really confess. However, when we do Biblically confess, God promises to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Remember that to biblically repent means to change one's mind, to change one's purpose and to change one's direction away from sin and toward pleasing Almighty God.
If we keep these concepts firmly in mind, then we have laid a solid platform on which we can cooperate with God to build a lifestyle of discipleship for ourselves and our families. Thank you for studying the word with me. May God bless you as you continue to cooperate with God, to repent, and to grow up as a delightful child to Him. Thank you so much for the privilege of allowing me to help you with that.
May God bless and strengthen you, as you set your mind and purpose toward what pleases God and His Precious Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Brother Michel Lankford

True Confessions

By Brother R. Michel Lankford
 

The Third Principle of authentic Christian discipleship is that God's word contains many great promises. Most of God's promises contain qualifiers and conditions which reflect God's character. To receive the promises, we must obey the conditions in a manner that reflects God's character.

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This Blog Will Discuss:

• The Gospel of Salvation.
• Sin left untreated is a 100% terminal disease.
• Sin has a threefold treatment; believe, confess, and repent. It hasn't changed.
• God promises that he will forgive the believer who confesses their sin (1 John 1:9), but we must confess as God defines the term.
• What is a Genuine Biblical Confession? 
• How do I make a biblical confession of sin?

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How Do I Deal with Sin?

So now we know that God has specific standards of right and wrong. We know that God does not want people tampering or adjusting the standards God has set to suit our own preferences, because it makes it harder for people to know and find God. We know that the fourfold standard of God's righteousness is Love, Faith, Obedience, and doing everything we do on purpose to Glorify God. We know that missing the mark of God's highest standards is called sin. We also know that just as God has specific standards for righteousness, there are also specific consequences for sin which include; broken relationship with God and our fellow human beings, slavery and captivity, death, and finally, hell and eternal torment. Any single one of these consequences would be absolutely dreadful, and any person with an ounce of good sense would want to avoid any and all of these consequences.
So the most logical question then is how do we deal with sin? We must believe and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's because Jesus Christ made the only atoning sacrifice that God will accept to forgive our sins (1 John 2:2; 4:10). After we've accepted Christ, whenever we do happen to sin, we must confess our sin, and then repent. Today we focus on true biblical confession, and next time we will focus on how to biblically repent.

 

We Must Accept, Submit to and Confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

If a person has not yet received the free gift of salvation by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they must begin by believing the Gospel and accepting God's free gift of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. How is this done? We must first believe that humanity is not basically good but is basically sinful and needs God's salvation. We must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Most High God. We must believe that Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, completely obedient to Almighty God the Father. He voluntarily died on the cross to take the punishment that each of our own personal sins deserve. God physically resurrected Jesus Christ His Son from the dead. We must believe all of these things which Scripture collectively calls the Gospel. Once we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we must consent to allow Jesus Christ to take His rightful place as the leader, Lord and boss of our lives. When we do that, God promises to save us, (Romans 10:9-10, 13; cf. John 3:36; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; 1 John 1:8; John 3:16-17; Luke 19:10; 1 Timothy 1:15; 4:10; Hebrews 4:15; Matthew 27:39-64; John 20:1-10; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; John 6:37; Romans 10:13).
There are tons of other biblical passages both old and New Testament which confirm all of these, but you get the idea. Once we have accepted and submitted to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then whenever we discover that we have sinned and come short of God's highest standards; we must first confess, and then repent.

 

We Must Confess Our Sins to be Forgiven: (This Is Critical, Please  Do Not Skip)

Everything we have studied so far has been leading up to this key concept, so I beg you to please pay close attention. God makes a great number of terrific promises in the Scriptures. Here's one of his very best:
1 John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9 (NKJV)
Did you catch the great promises that God made in His word? God promises to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. those are terrific promises. By the same token, did you notice that these awesome promises of God also come with a particular proviso or condition? Please look at the first underlined phrase again: "If we confess our sins..." So please take notice. We receive God's gift of salvation when we confess and believe Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10). We receive forgiveness of sins whenever we confess our sins (1 John 1:9). If we do not confess we will not be saved, and if we do not confess our sins we cannot be forgiven. With so much of our relationship with God and our eternal life depending on the word "confess," would it not be infinitely worthwhile to learn how God's word defines the term confess and for us to make certain to apply this properly?

 

How God's Word Defines "Confess"

In the original Greek Biblical language the word confess is "homologeô" which most precisely means to be of one mind, and to speak the same thing.
So this means that in order to properly confess something I have to come into mental agreement (to be of one mind or of mental accord) with God about a particular subject, and then I have to speak the same thing that God says about that subject. If I don't come into agreement with God mentally and at the same time, if I don't agree with God verbally about a particular thing, then I really did not biblically confess, and if I do not biblically confess I cannot be saved or forgiven. Getting this right makes the difference between life or death; salvation or condemnation; heaven or hell. Folks, it doesn't get more critical than learning to confess properly.
This is why the first principle of discipleship is that we must learn to define all key terms the way that God defines them. It's so that we will train our minds to think in agreement and in accord with God and His Word. This is why we have been spending so much time meticulously defining sin, its consequences, and defining righteousness in the way that God does. It was all to make certain that we could be in mental agreement with God, so then we could speak as God speaks. We will then be saved and forgiven according to His promises.

 

How to Make a Biblical Confession of Sin

Now that we know the meaning of a biblical confession, I thought it would be advantageous to look at how to make a biblical confession of sin in such a manner that applies the biblical definition of that term. I will begin by first laying out the procedure step-by-step and then giving a real-life example. This is a lot like learning one's multiplication tables, or learning to ride a bicycle, or learning to tie our shoes. When we first start learning these things, it feels tedious trying to develop the mental and physical coordination and learning the proper steps necessary in the right order so that you can succeed, but once they are properly learned, doing them successfully becomes second nature and almost automatic to us, and we have learned a skill that will benefit us for a lifetime. The same principle holds true with learning how to apply a biblical confession of sin. Learning its step-by-step may at first seem tedious, but the benefit of learning to do it correctly has eternal value, so it is well worth the extra effort.
So how do we confess sin? Please do not forget that a proper confession of sin means to be of one mind with God, and to speak the same thing God says concerning my sin. So I must come into agreement with God mentally and then speak in agreement with God verbally concerning my sin, otherwise I did not biblically confess. Keeping all that in mind, here is the dynamic of a biblical confession of sin:
1. Acknowledge God and His true standards concerning this situation.
2. Specifically admit whatever it was that you desired, thought, said, or did, which came short or missed the mark of God's highest standard, and if you can, also acknowledge exactly in what manner it was that what you did came short of God's highest standards.
3. Ask God to forgive you. Now you have completed a biblical confession of sin, but the next step I recommend will lay the groundwork for effective repentance which we will talk about next time, but if you begin doing this at the same time you confess your sins, the work of repentance will already be well underway.
4. Consider and then verbally acknowledge how you could have responded correctly to the situation instead of doing what you did.
Now, let's take those dynamics and put them into a simple, real-life scenario. Let's say that you got into an argument with a friend whom you normally love for example but on this occasion, you behaved badly. You had thoughts and desires that you should not have, and you said things that you definitely shouldn't have, which hurt their feelings. You have already committed your life to Jesus Christ, and you know you behaved badly because the Holy Spirit is convicting you and reminding you of God's and Christ's Word (John 14:26), and so you should be convicted when you come short of it (John 16:8-11). As a child of God, how would you make a true Biblical confession of sin in this type of scenario? By all rights the biblical confession should look something like this:

Acknowledge God's True Standards:

"Almighty God Heavenly Father. Have mercy upon me in the name of Jesus. You heard and saw the argument that I just had with my friend. The truth is, my friend is every bit as important, precious, and valuable to You as I am, and so I had no business thinking the way I thought or speaking to them the way that I did, because according to Your standards, everything I desire, think, say, and do, should be done according to love, faith, obedience and honoring You.

Specifically Admit What You Did, and Specifically How You Can See that You in Fact Missed God's Mark:

"I know I missed the mark of Your standard because, when I thought________, and when I said, "______, __________, and ___________________, I wasn't being patient, I wasn't being kind and I wasn't being gentle. So I was not thinking, talking or walking in love when I did that, (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). I also wasn't thinking towards, or talking to my friend in the same manner that I would want to be treated (Matthew 7:12), so there again, I missed the mark of love. You also say that I can be angry, but do not sin (Ephesians 4:26). I definitely missed that one too.

Ask God to Forgive You:

"Papa God, I definitely missed the mark of your highest standard here, and I ask you please to forgive me."
At this point you would have completed a true and biblical confession of sin, but if you wanted to be a proactive disciple and lay the groundwork for a solid repentance, or prepare yourself to do better next time, it would be very beneficial to add the following step:

Consider and Acknowledge Some Ways You Could Have Responded Differently then You Did:

"Papa God, I should have admitted to my friend I was struggling with what they were saying. I could've said something like, 'Look, I understand you feel very strongly about this. Right now I can't see it that way, but I want to respect what you're saying. I just feel very differently. Can we delay this conversation until I have a chance to pray and get my heart right because I want to respond correctly and I don't want to sin?"
Notice how you're examining and preparing ways to respond correctly and avoid sinning in the future.
God bless you, and thank you very much  for allowing me the privilege of supporting your walk of faith.
Brother R. Michel Lankford

Sin Has Real Consequences

By Brother Michel Lankford

The Second principle of authentic Christian discipleship is When God says something he means it. Believe Him and always take God seriously.

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This Blog Will Discuss:

• Review: We Must agree with God in order to walk with God.
• Review: Discipleship is about growing into agreement with God's opinion. We shouldn't expect God to change to suit us.
• Review: God’s definition of Sin: Anything that misses the mark of God’s Standards.
• Today: Do not be deceived: Sin Has Real Consequences
• A wake-up call  to modern-day Christendom

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The Review:

Two people cannot walk together unless they come into agreement (Amos 3:3) If we do not choose to look at things the way God defines them, we cannot agree with or walk with God successfully and we will continue to lose our way.
Remember Something is sin, when God and Jesus Christ says it is sin. Something is Righteous only when God calls it righteous.
Discipleship is about growing into agreement with God's opinion, not expecting God to adjust Himself or His standards to suit our own personal preferences. He is God, we are not.
On February 22, 2011 of this study blog; we discussed God's true definitions of the concept of sin. The original Greek New Testament language, the word for sin is “hamartia.” It is a Greek archery term meaning to miss the mark; meaning to miss the center or bull's-eye. Plainly speaking, anything that misses the mark of God's highest and best desires for our lives is sin.
Since God defines sin as missing the mark, then this of course means that God does indeed have specific standards of right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness, because it would be impossible to miss the standard if a standard did not exist.
God pronounces woeful judgment on any society or people who try to redefine, adjust or undermine His standards concerning right and wrong:

Isaiah 5:20-24 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 5:20-24 NKJV).

If you will kindly remember, we spent a great deal of time describing what God bull's-eye mark of excellence is, and what it looks like to miss that mark. If you need to, please feel free to review lesson one of this series, "What Is Sin?" Please feel free to review it as often as you would find it beneficial. Please remember that according to God's word, there is a fourfold standard of righteousness, and anything that comes short of that standard is by definition sin. Please remember what sin is according to God:
1. Sin is anything that misses the bull's-eye mark of Godly Love (Matthew 22:34-40; Matthew 7:12; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Galatians 5:22-25).
2. Sin is anything that misses the bull's-eye mark of faith; anything not done in a motive of trusting or believing God is sin (Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11:1,6; Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Romans 14:23b).
3. Sin is anything that misses the bull's-eye mark of obeying God. The fact is that if you are truly loving God and believing God, the natural progressive outgrowth of this is that you will obey God. Anything that does not obey God is sin (Matthew 7:21; John 3:36; John 14:21; John 15:14; Ezekiel 36:26-27; Matthew 12:46-49).
4. Sin is anything that misses the bull's-eye of intentionally honoring God. (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17-23).
So please remember: Everything that we desire, everything that we pursue, everything that we say and all that we do must be done in love, in faith, in obedience to God and with the full purpose of honoring and glorifying God. By God's definition of the term, anything that falls short of these standards is sin.

Sin Has Real Consequences

Just like we know that there are four broad categories of righteousness; (Loving God and our neighbor, believing God, obeying God, and doing everything we do on purpose to glorify God), we can measure what we do against those standards and we know whether we are hitting the mark of God's standards or missing it; so, there are also four broad biblical consequences of sin. There are different shades and nuances of course, but in general, the four biblical consequences of sin are that it breaks relationships between us and God, and between us and our fellow human beings; Sin leads to captivity in bondage; Sin leads to death; and Sin leads to hell.
1. Sin breaks Fellowship with God and our fellow human beings. It makes those relationships infinitely more difficult (Exodus 33:3 Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; Psalm 95:7-11; Proverbs 15:8-9, 29; Matthew 5:21-26). Sin hardens our heart so we cannot hear God anymore. That's why God has to give us a totally new heart when we are born again. (Matthew 13:4, 19; Ezekiel 36:25-26; Deuteronomy 30:6)
2. Sin leads to captivity, slavery and bondage. Sin leads us captive into deception (Hebrews 3:13; Isaiah 44:20; Matthew 8:31-34; Romans 6:16; 7:11; 7:14; 7:25; Ephesians 4:22).
3. Sin leads to death (1 Chronicles 10:13; Proverbs 11:19; Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 5:12; James 1:13-15; Romans 6:23).
4. Sin leads to Hell and eternal torment (Matthew 25:41; ; Matthew 13:42; Matthew 24:41; Matthew 25:30; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 14:9-11; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8
Missing God's highest standards is called sin, and just as God is serious about not tampering with His definitions of key principles and concepts, He is equally serious about making sure that people do not misrepresent the real consequences of missing God's true standards.
Sin is real, and consequences of missing the mark of God's standards is equally real, and extremely severe. That is why it's so extremely critical to overcome and destroy sin out of our lives, before it destroys us. If we do not keep the serious consequences of our sin in mind, we won't be in much of a hurry to get rid of it, and the consequences will be unfathomably detrimental.
 

A wake-up call to modern-day Christendom

For decades in America we had preachers who did nothing but preach hellfire and brimstone in every sermon in almost every conversation. In so doing, they often neglected the love, the grace, the compassion, and kindness of God which leads people to repentance (Romans 2:4). The problem is that in modern times, we now have gone to the opposite and equally dangerous extreme. In an effort to avoid becoming a hellfire and damnation preacher, we have avoided confronting issues of sin and punishment altogether. We have left many people with the extremely mistaken impression that since Jesus came, died, and rose again, that somehow Almighty God, doesn't really care how we live any longer.  
 
There are many in modern Christendom who `take the approach that since God is love (1 John 4:8), and since He has demonstrated that love through sending His Son ( John 3:16-17), and since out of love Jesus Christ died for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), they wrongfully assume that God's opinion about sin has changed. 
Yes, God loves us. Yes, Jesus Christ came to die in order to save us. Yes Jesus died and God raised Him from the dead. Yes, forgiveness of sins and salvation is available to those who believe and accept the Lordship of Jesus the Messiah over their lives. The only thing that fundamentally changed was how God deals with sin after Jesus died, but His opinion about sin did not change. Let us not make any mistake about this.
God still hates sin as much as He ever did. I will say it again. God still hates sin as much as He ever did. Do not be deceived. Do not mistake God's gracious kindness as though it were weakness. Although we often hear it preached that grace is not a license to sin, I'm sorry to say that in my own experiences with many diverse congregations as well as with individual believers, many of them function as though the grace of God were in fact a license to sin, while professing otherwise. This is dangerous,  (Jude 1:4). How do I know this?
My individual experiences would be too many to recount, but the two biggest ways you can tell when congregations and individuals are turning the grace of God into a license to sin, his how they respond when you bring an issue of sin to their attention. I'm talking about situations with congregations an individual believers where you know that there is real sin in the camp. You bring it to their attention, you show it to them in the Scriptures, and the reaction we get will be that they immediately pull out the grace card, and not the repentance card. When addressing individuals, the response you get will usually be, "Well, since I am free in Jesus Christ, I can still do ___; ___; and ___; because I'm under grace. I will still get to heaven. I hear very little concern from people about whether or not they are pleasing God!
When dealing with whole congregations, the attitude is similar. "Well, we are under grace, and we do not want to go back under the law. Besides, we do not want to risk offending the seeker or the young believer." Really?
What I rarely hear is a real call for repentance anymore. It seems that American Christendom is more worried about not offending the individual, and that very few people are being trained to be concerned about not offending God, and in His own house to boot!
I'm going to say this once, and the people who claim to be in God's service had better hear me well. As ministers I don't believe we need to go out of our way to unnecessarily offend anyone.  However, if we are going to be faithful ministers of God and Jesus Christ, it is about time that we become a whole lot more concerned about what offends The Holy, Almighty and living God of Heaven, then we do about trying to avoid offending the seeker, the sinner, or the unruly believer! This is His household, it's NOT our ministry. If something offends the LORD, it had better start offending us. If something delights the LORD, we better start developing an appetite for it, and delighting in it ourselves. Otherwise we will find ourselves being judged as unfaithful servants and unrighteous stewards of His words.  That is not where any minister of the gospel should wish to find himself.
The bottom line: is American Christendom needs to return to a holy reverential respectful fear of the Lord, without neglecting love and mercy. We need to understand both and not merely pay lip service to either one.
Without a healthy fear of the Lord, we can't truly begin to know anything at all (Proverbs 1:7).
We all want to teach about the love mercy and grace of God, but in modern times we have forgotten some very important precepts:
The devil is at work in the world. Part of what the enemy is doing is blinding the minds of unbelievers, trying to convince them that they don't really NEED the Savior (2 Corinthians 4:4). To achieve this objective, part of the worldly belief being spread throughout the world is that people are 'basically good.'
To those of us who know and love truth, and can clearly observe human nature in action, we know that this is a lie. Nonetheless, it's what is taught in the marketplace of ideas on almost every stage. According to many of the worldly sages out there, all we have to do is learn to tap into 'our own innate goodness,' and we'll gradually evolve into a better human being, so to speak. I would call that a pile of fertilizer, but that lie can't even rise to the level of fertilizer. At least with a good pile of fertilizer you can grow roses or vegetables. Nothing grows from such a lie except death and destruction (Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Isaiah 64:6; Proverbs 12:15; Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25; Matthew 15:18-20; Mark 7:20-23; Romans 3:10-20).
Part of the problem is that for decades modern-day Christendom has allowed pop psychology and worldly culture to define truth for the churches, instead of Scripture. Beloved, we are not basically good. On the contrary, the truth is that we are basically and fundamentally wicked, and we NEED and must have the Redeemer. Do not be deceived. Do not let your loved ones be deceived.
No matter what our background, whether we come from a traditional church, a nondenominational congregation, a Messianic /Torah Observant /Whole Covenant or other parachurch gathering etc. God's standards do not change, and they will not change. Basically, I'm just trying to make sure that I address every possible contingent, myself included. We are called to love Almighty God YHWH, with our whole heart soul mind and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37-40).
We are further commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, and in every respect to treat and behave toward them, just as we ourselves would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12).
If I cooperate with Almighty God, and let Him transform me to the point where I effectually walk in fulfilling these six verses of Scripture, then I would be fulfilling the entire Torah, The Prophets, the Gospels and the teachings of the apostles.
If on the other hand, I neglect or fail to obey these six verses, then in such a case, I would be guilty of violating the entire Torah, the whole of the prophets, all the Gospels, and all the apostolic teachings. in such a case I would be guilty of sin, and worthy of death, worthy of God's wrath, and worthy of eternal torment. That is the truth of the whole situation. I NEED the Savior.
The forgotten principle: Here is the secret that is almost entirely forgotten by modern-day Christendom. It is not until I understand what is sin in God's eyes that I discern my crucial need for the Savior. Human pride cannot believe it needs redemption until we understand sin.
Until I see what God's standards are and learn to compare my inner man and outward behavior to His Standards, I won't understand or even believe that I truly need saving.
Until I learned to respect what God standards are; until I learn that missing those standards is sin;
Until and unless I learn that it is my own sinfulness that separates me from the Most High and Holy God;
Until I learn that it is my sin that enslaves me into the bad habits and bondage I can't seem to break; until I learn and believe that all death is the result of sin;
and until I understand that the true result of sin will be in eternity spent separated from God's love and eternal agony;
Until I understand that God is so righteous that no sin can dwell in His presence, and so His innocent blameless Son took the punishment I deserved, so that I could repent and be restored into right standing with God;
Until I appreciate the real nature and weightiness of sin, I cannot understand or receive the grace of God, because I wouldn't really believe how desperately I need it.
Yes, I need God to save me from all the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Yes, I need God to save me from all the filthiness and defilement of the world (James 1:27).
Yes, I need God to save me that I will not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41).
 

Conclusion/Closing Prayer:

I desperately need God's continuing salvation and rescue from each one and all of these things. As much as I need rescue from all of these things, I need Almighty God and Jesus Christ, to save me from myself, and I need Him to do it on a constant basis. I also need God to save me from the righteous wrath and righteous punishment my sins deserve, and that is the simple fact of the matter.
That is why I cry out:
Almighty God and Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me and save me in every aspect of my life and being. I need the Savior. I have failed to love You with my whole being. I have failed to always believe You in all things. I have failed to perfectly obey You in all things. I have failed to purposely and intentionally glorify You with all the things that I have thought, desired, said and done. I have sinned. I have missed the mark of Your highest standards. In missing the standards, I have violated Your entire Scripture.
As such, I am worthy of Your judgment. I am worthy of death and hell.
Thank you for promising to save everyone who calls on Your Name (Romans 10:13; John 6:37).
Thank You for giving me the grace to recognize and confess my sins, because you promise that when I confess, You will forgive me, and cleanse me of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Thank You God for sending Messiah. Thank you Jesus for taking the punishment I deserved on my behalf.
Thank you God, for raising him from the dead. Thank you Jesus that you are seated at the right hand of THE MAJESTY, praying for me, and all who seek to walk as Your people.
I ask you now to wash and cover me in the precious sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Mercifully wash my sins away in that sacrifice. Circumcise my heart (Deuteronomy 30:6), and make mea true member of Your household. 
Mercifully give me the grace to find sin  and iniquity as repugnant as You do.  Please transform my heart with Your love, and give me grace to delight in the things that bring joy and delight to Your heart.  Help me to seek and to do what pleases You.  Help me to recognize, to repent, and to return to you quickly when I fall short of Your true standards, because they are the only standards that really count. please grant this according to Your unfailing love, through your son and Messiah Jesus of Nazareth , the Christ; Amen
Brother Michel Lankford