Is there a time when a Christian should judge?

“When to be Judging”
Pastor Caspar McCloud – The Upper Room 2009

I am thinking we really should make a sign to hang out front which says: “Salvation guaranteed or your sins cheerful refunded”.

Papa God we thank you this day and want to rejoice in it. The devil did not make this day; this is the day that you Papa God have made so we want to rejoice and be glad in it.

We thank you for eternal life and ask that you help us keep our eternal perspective at all times. We are in awe of you and all that you do for us, that you even made us in your image and likeness. To you who created all things, all planets, and universes. We are so grateful and thankful that you allow us to partner with you like this today and that we can be joint heirs with Christ, covered by his precious blood. Thank you that our sins are blotted out and you choose to throw them in the sea of forgetfulness; that you choose to see us as saints and as your adopted children through our faith in Christ.

In your Word are all the answers and we ask that you help us know the truth that will make us free that will heal us and restore us in your sight. Help us today to study and learn what you want us to know. Help us to understand and accept we do not have to know everything there is to know, that we can simply trust you and not have to lean on our own understanding. That we can simply obey you and know you are taking care of us and every detail of our lives. Because you love us and we are your people and we love you.

Thank you that we can come boldly anytime of day into your throne room and make our request known to you. You are full of mercy grace and love.

That signs and wonders will follow us as we follow after you.

We can watch and pray always that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and we can stand before you Lord before the Son of Man.

We invite you Holy Spirit to come now and teach us and take us over. We invite you Lord to have your way with us now. I ask Lord you meet us here just where we are now, and that you bring your almighty healing hand to touch each person where their need is. We ask that blessings overtake us and chase us down in Jesus of Nazareth’s name. Amen.

As believers we have been taught we should not judge anyone, so is there ever a time we should judge someone beside that someday we will be judging angels?
Jesus tells us this in Matthew 7 which we often call the “Sermon on the Mount” even though it is unlikely it was actually a sermon. From studying many years now, I believe the early church and synagogue was more like what we are trying to do here. Having the freedom to have the whole body involved and open for group participation and that everyone comes together and has something to share. If we get it wrong what better place to have a Bible study on the spot.

So often today the way people do church seems to have veered away from the 1st century model that we were given a look at in the Bible. As men took advantage of political gains in the churches to be had, we drifted away from being a pro active group of believers, healing the sick, and casting out devils in the name of Jesus. We’ve become a passive audience listening to a some trained professional with PhD after their name give a three to five point “feel good, tickle my ear sermon”, and still nothing much is happening. We are still not seeing that many people get really freed, healed, and delivered as much and often as we are instructed to do.

John 14:12-14 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

You can ask anything as long as it lines up with the Word. We are here asking our Lord to move mightily in our lives everyday and teach us a more excellent way than we had before. That we see signs and wonders and miracles follow us everywhere we go just as the early church experienced, because Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. (Hebrews 13:8)

He is still in the miracle business of restoring lives, healing his people, and leading them into salvation. Otherwise you would not be here today.

The first time we hear about the “Sermon on the Mount” seems to come from Saint Augustine in A.D 395. It gained popularity as the professional Christians took over more and more control of the church. Which makes me wonder what happened to the priesthood of believers?

I Peter 2:1-10 “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

The word “people” is a translation of “laos” from which we get the term “laity”. But the Bible tell us all of God’s laity are priests. It seems many church leaders over the years did not want to let that one out of the bag. The royal priesthood is composed entirely of the laity of God. In other words God’s laity is his clergy. The word “clergy” is from “kleros” which means “heritage.” This is the word used in
I Peter 5:3 “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.”

Where the elders, or bishops are instructed not to lord it over God’s heritage. The heritage is equated with the flock of God. We are all equal here; we have one intercessor and that is the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We are not here trying to align ourselves to the religious patterns and pagan ideas that came into churches after Constantine in the 4th century AD. Constantine did not practice Biblical Christianity but rather he adopted a religious system which was in essence something from the pagans; something from the Old Testament; something new and something blue. He married paganism with some Jewish synagogue-style worship patterns.

The Roman Catholic Church embraced it and went on to canonize the Constantine system. Then Brother Luther came along to upset their monopoly game and got an intense reform going. Revamping the content and helping people understand the Gospel message a bit better but leaving the basic structure of the church remarkably untouched. More movements came along trying to find their way back to basic first century churches, but unfortunately we all see through a dark glass and none of us seem to get it just right. Thank God for his mercy, grace, and love.
So there are Pastors and Shepherds. I asked our brother Michael who grew up in Germany a while back what they call Pastors in Germany. I was relieved to find that they do not call them German Shepherds. Just joking!

Pastors are still a necessary part of the whole team, but a pastor cannot fulfill more than a part of the whole task of equipping the saints for the ministry. If you are a believer you are in the ministry whether you like it or not.

We need all the gifts to be operational. We need apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers. We need everyone to be an ambassador of Christ. We need to be working together, not arguing with each other. Why should it be said that Christians are the only army that shoots itself or shoots its wounded?

Jeremiah 3:15 “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

Ephesians 2:18-22 “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”

I am sent to help you learn a better way, because we are aware now that there are spirits of accusations that attack all believers along with a host of other foul spirits. One of the first things we need to establish is to know when to judge and when not to judge; that we do not fall prey to a spirit of being critical and judgmental of others for what we are struggling with.

We read in Matthew 7:1-5
1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

In other words, the Lord Jesus is telling us if we judge others the way we judge them will come back and be used against us spiritually and in the natural. What happens in the spiritual affects the natural. It all starts with a thought. Someone or something has to think it and not every thought you have is your own. Therefore think about what you are thinking about because Papa God will judge us the way we judge others. That certainly makes me want to be more forgiving all the time.
As soon as you start forgiving you enter into holiness.

Romans 2:1-3 “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?”

Have you noticed how some people like to dress up in their “religious spirits”, and because they often know what is right according to the Bible they are out to prove you wrong? They try to build themselves up by putting you down. This sounds like those Jewish leaders who could not see who Jesus Christ of Nazareth was because they were so stuck in their laws. So often the ones, who are judging you, also accuse you without knowing enough information to properly make such a judgment.
Romans 14:1-13 “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.(don’t get into dispute with them)
2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. (If they want to eat a Daniel diet let them be.)
3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. (God is the one who gives him breath not you.)
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”

Over in 1 Corinthians Paul tells us a remarkable thing. He talks about the fact that he is not conscious of anything against himself. He understands that he is covered in the precious blood of Jesus. He is not aware of anything he did wrong, yet it does not justify him or prove him righteous.
1 Corinthians 4:1-5 “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

Now James tells us that we should not speak evil against anyone in the family of God because that person is also a friend of Jesus. Do you want to stand before the Lord as we are all going to give him an account of what we did here and tell him why you spoke against someone he loves; someone who is his friend? I think too many Christians do that on a daily basis. They enter into and agree with a spirit of Gossip instead of agreeing with the Holy Spirit.

James 4:11-12 “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”

Jesus tells us in John 15:14 “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
Now there are some Scriptures that advocate times we are to judge. Otherwise we would all be so tolerant that anything goes. We would have utter chaos here and be lost without a standard to measure what is truth and what is a lie.

John 7:24 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
Obeying the commandment to rest on the Sabbath day is subordinate to the law of mercy, love, and grace. It also means to call it like it is.
For example over in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

(Notice here Paul is saying he has already judged this situation and needs the Corinthians to endorse his judgment call. Then he advocates a very stern judgment indeed that this man be handed over to Satan and that at some point when he has had enough maybe he will repent before it is too late.)

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (A little sin is an open door to more sin.)
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
(If you are truly a born again child of God act like one.)
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (Walk in holiness all the time and be quick to repent should you stumble.)
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
(Do not fellowship with people who are a bad influence should they take you down with them.)
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
(This is saying we are not responsible to judge unbelievers. Just as we are not responsible for someone’s diseases or responsible if they are healed after we minister and pray for them. We have enough to do just keeping ourselves from those who would try and lead us astray. We are required here to judge our fellow believers.)
13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”

Over in 1 Corinthians 6:1-7 “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?”

Saint Paul is telling us here that it just plain wrong for a Christian to sue or take to court a fellow Christian. We should be able to settle things between us as believers.

Now the rules here still apply. I know first hand that even ministers I greatly admire and that should know better, still fall into worldly ways at times instead of applying and appropriating the way the Bible instructs in this. When we do not follow God’s ways we are following doctrines of devils and the Lord would not have us fellowship with devils. Let us consider:

Matthew 18:15-17 “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.”

This is not optional. If there is a dispute between believers then we need to go to the person alone and try and settle it. If they refuse then we are to take one or two people with us, not 15 people. If they still refuse to settle the issues only then should we take it before the fellowship and let everyone know that we tried to settle this and the person in question does not want peace between us. At that point we are to treat them as an unbeliever. That means you still love them and you pray the Lord will speak to them and convict them. He will in His perfect timing.

Do we have a paradox here? I do not mean a husband and wife doctor team. Just joking! To judge or not to judge is not even the real question. Simply stated judging is a part of rules Papa God has established here himself.

It seems there can be a difference between judging and ruling in earthly governments, but not in God’s government. Here on this planet God has appointed men as judges. We first find that in the Bible in the Book of Judges. Israel’s rulers were its judges; you could not appeal to a higher court. Most of the time the King was also the judge and his judgment was final. Interestingly in Dakes KJV Bible the Hebrew word “elohim’, is used of earthly judges who represent God.
Psalm 82:1-8 “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.”

Papa God is still the center and takes his proper place in divine council; “in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:” In Psalm 82 he lets us understand that the description of being “gods” does not apply to the entire human race, rather to the judges who were ruling.

Verse 2 says, “How long will ye judge unjustly …?” Again this is a reference to the judges at the current state who were ruling unjustly. These judges were showing favoritism to people who were manifesting a wicked spirit and they were not helping those who needed their help. This was an ongoing problem with power corrupting.

This Psalms proceeds in verses 3-5 about the wicked manner of ruling as judges. In verse 6 God says, “Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”

Who is the “all of you”? This appears that it is in reference to the unjust rulers, not the entire human race. It appears Papa God was comparing the rulers to himself in the sense of the action of ruling and not their nature. Verse 7 is evidence that it is not speaking of the nature. It says, “But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”

When God says of these rulers, “But ye shall die like men, …” he is emphasizing that they are but mere humans and not anything divine. Case settled. They are simply representatives of God because he put them in that position as rulers.

They were supposed to take action in ruling and punishing the law breakers as God does the same over the entire universe. The only difference is that these judges were ruling over a specific territory here. Verse 8 concludes with comparing the preceding verses of their ruling and God’s ultimate ruling as judge, “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.”

God judges the earth; the so called “gods” are judging their land. In effect the Psalmist is really saying we have not had justice from human judges, so please Lord come and reassert your right as God Almighty because we need you the righteous judge on all the earth. So much for all those New Agers who say we are “little gods” but that is where they probably nicked the idea from in Psalm 82.
Over in Exodus 7:1 “And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god (little g) to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”

John 10:34-35 “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
(little g)
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;”

We can safely conclude that scripture does not contradict itself.

Acts 23:5 “Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.”
We must always examine the context of the surrounding verses to understand its true meaning. But here are some more places you might want to study up on later.

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”

1 Corinthians 8:4 “…and that there is none other God but one.”
Galatians 3:20 “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.”
1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

The scriptures explicitly teach that there is only one Papa God, one begotten son Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and one Holy Spirit. The fact is that we cannot be “gods” since there is only one of those and we will never be him. Lucifer tried that and it did not work out very well for him as he fell to earth like lighting. There is no contradiction in the scriptures, yet you know there are people who fuse over these things. But truly if we are made in his image and likeness and the Lord said it that should settle it.

Papa God did not reproduce Adam or Eve. He made them; created them. The image of God is imprinted in our soul/spirit. He gave us the ability to think and reason and have the capacity to do well; to know right from wrong. Our job here on earth is to learn to think more like he does everyday putting on the mindset of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.”

There are times we are required to judge. For example over in
Exodus 22:7-9 “ If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief be found, let him pay double.
8 If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbor’s goods.
9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor.”

The Old Testament is for our instruction in righteousness. What about judging spiritual gifts and manifestations? What about judging false prophets and messiahs?
1 Corinthians 12:1-3 “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”
Saint Paul is saying to us deaf and dumb idols are not able to help you. Those evil spirits can indwell humans and speak out of their vocal chords, and we need to be able to discern and judge who is addressing us. Is it the Holy Spirit or and evil spirit? An evil Spirit cannot say that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is their Lord. That is one way we are to test the spirits; by challenging it to reveal its attitude toward the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus himself asked the spirits in the man to identify who they were before he cast them into a herd of two thousand swine. He did not engage them in conversation, he made them go. He threw them out and cast them away. This is what we are called to do in his name.
All of us have some places where we are not 100% holy; some place where we have not given the Lord our complete submission. Let’s just be honest here. We need to identify those places so we can come clean before the Living God and get right with him. Before we come to commune with the Lord he tells us if we would only judge ourselves here we would not be judged.

1 Corinthians 11:28-31 “ But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”

All of us have fallen short of his glory so the only thing we can do is come before him and ask his forgiveness and forgive all those including ourselves who have sinned against us. Just let it go and receive the Lord’s forgiveness.

As ministers, we have met so many people that believe that when they are born again they are fully converted and that when they sin they are already covered in the blood of Christ so there is no need to ask for forgiveness ever again.

Audiences are stunned when asked this question, “After you got saved and Papa God has forgiven you of all your sins and washed you clean from all unrighteousness, how many sins did you go continue in?” If I forgave you of something and you went and did something against me, even the same thing, don’t you think I would like you to come to me and ask for forgiveness so that we can make our peace together? How much more does the Lord want that from his kids? As soon as you enter into a place of forgiveness you have entered into a place of holiness before the Living God who loves you.

He is forgiving when we appropriate that forgiveness to our lives. We are to forgive all others on a daily basis. In fact the Lord told us to forgive 7×70 and that is forgiving every minute of the day. Who taught you that once you’re saved you do not ever have to ask the Lord for forgiveness again? He is a real being with real feelings and the Bible says you can grieve the Holy Spirit. So if we sin along the path of holiness we are traveling we need to go back and ask the Lord to forgive us again.

I hear some say, “But I’m covered by his grace.” The Bible says that we shouldn’t sin just because we are under grace.

Romans 6:15 “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”

Many stay stuck in their “yucky stinking thinking stuff” because they believe this lie. Are you stuck as a Christian? There is such a thing as unbelieving believers. That is what we are talking about here. Not just those who have never heard the good news, but those who heard the good news for salvation but somehow got off track; perhaps began listening to false teaching.

Are we totally saved and sanctified the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior? I have said often that John 8:31-32 tells us “if” you are going to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. But it might make you a bit mad at first when you realize you have followed some lie for such a long time. It goes against what the religious leaders have taught you.

I do not see any where in the Bible that once you are saved you are totally sanctified for the rest of your life. Unless you decide to never sin again and really obey the word. Being born again gives us the power to become the sons and daughters of God, by faith.

John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

We are “becoming” sons of God, once you “believe” on his name. That is only the beginning. Salvation is appropriated by faith. If we “are” saved and sanctified the minute we received Jesus, why would we need faith? We are “being” saved day by day. Let’s take a look what Revelation says about those who don’t follow the Lord.

Revelation 3:5 “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”

Our names can be blotted out! Now, don’t get into fear. The simplicity of the gospel is this. When you sin, confess it! You are immediately restored and are “overcoming” the world. So take your peace. It’s when we continue in the mind-set that we don’t need to confess that people get into trouble. They begin to doubt their salvation and they begin to fear God in the wrong way. When you have taken all your sins and weaknesses to the Lord, you are “becoming” sons and daughters. You are “being” saved and sanctified every step of the way.

Once we are converted and born again, we receive the power to overcome evil, whereas before we were lost in the world’s way of thinking. We might have even have had a consciousness of right and wrong, but without being born again in Christ Jesus we don’t qualify under his protection plan. We do not have the power to overcome the darkness and evil of this present world without him in us to do it.

But after we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to sanctify us daily with the washing of his word. He is able to reprogram our thinking so we begin to think and act and do more as he would have us do.

John 16:13-14 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Ephesians 5:26 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”

We get to over-write those old thoughts and programming the devil taught us and taught our generations. We get to renew our mind and transform our character more everyday into the image Papa God had in mind for us before the foundations of the world were even laid.

Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

So often people really misunderstand what happened at the cross. The work of the cross was finished by Jesus through his obedience to the Father. But we are also told to pick up our crosses and follow after him.

Philippians 2:8 “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

The work of the cross in our day-to-day life must be finished by our obedience to Christ by being a doer of the Word; by following all his commandments.

2 Corinthians 10:6 “And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”
If we say we love Jesus then we must obey him and do as he has commanded us to do.

John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Notice this is a New Testament scripture. If we were free from keeping commandments, what is he talking about here? Many don’t even pay attention to the Old Testament because they believe they are living in grace. Grace to them means that they can do anything without condition. That is not what I read here! Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

What is the first and foremost commandment? To know God is one God, to love him, ourselves, and others. That is the gospel in a nutshell.

Mark 12:29-31 “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel ; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

Of course there are people who seem they simply don’t want to obey the Lord but rather follow the lies of the devil. Old Pharaoh was a good example of that and the Lord let him have it his way. Pharaoh hardened his heart against the Lord. That was a major mistake. He feared the people more than he feared God. Don’t be afraid of what men can do to you, but rather what the Living God can do if you do not line up with his commandments.

Matthew 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

We also have church meetings full of people who want to follow God but don’t understand how. Again most people who claim to be Christian do not actually read their Bibles. So often they are getting instructions from some leader in the church who uses a modern translation that has obscured the real meaning. That is the ingredient for heresy. That is why we prefer to use the old KJV Bible, which lines up nicely with the ancient manuscripts. That would be a good place to start understanding how to obey the Lord; just start reading the Bible.

If you work for a company, would it make good sense if you would ever like to be promoted to learn what the boss likes and does not like so you can do what is pleasing in his sight? How much more sense does it make to please the living God?

Proverbs 16:7 “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

So many families seem to dress up in religion a certain way which is very intense programming. Often times that kind of programming of our long-term memory comes from generations of family members who simply did not understand. They do not understand that rules of engagement and the invisible war we fight each day against a real invisible army.

Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
We hope that you have made a decision to re-affirm your relationship with him, or meet him for the first time. We want to rejoice with you, pray with you and so please tell us about it.

Papa God we pray together in one accord according to your will that we forgive everyone who has ever sinned against us and we ask that you bless them that they be saved and converted. That you do not lay up those charges that they committed against us, but forgive them because they knew not what they were doing.

We ask that you help us walk out of every trap and affliction that the enemy has brought to us and that you help us to be a doer of your Word always and that we are blessed and victorious in our everyday activities until we go be with you in Glory. That we bring the truth of the Gospel to all people we meet and encounter. That you use us to help heal the sick, deaf, lame, and blind, and to raise the dead as you decide.
To you be all the glory forever and ever.

Thank you for making us free and that signs and wonders follow us always as we follow after you; that we are able to forgive ourselves and accept your forgiveness and walk in your freedom; that we are able to love you and everyone else and do as you have commanded us; that we may be accounted worthy to escape the things that shall come upon this world.

We pray that you bless everyone here and their loved ones. Thank you that we can trust you always with every detail of our lives.

We ask that you either convert our leaders or bring us godly leaders to turn our country and this world back to you; that we repent of our sins and those sins in our generation all the way back to Adam; that our enemies are scattered and not able to complete their assignments and we cancel those assignments in your holy name.

Papa God help us and protect us now and always in Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s name, amen.

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