Rediscover the Gospel

Jesus – The Imprint of the Father

Hebrews 1:1–3 (NKJV) 1God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;3who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

In the past, God spoke through prophets to the fathers of the people of Israel, but now in these last times from the birth of Jesus onward, He has spoken to us through His Son. Matthew 5:17 tells us that Jesus fulfilled the Law and the prophets (that is, all the prophecies of the Old Testament), and Luke 16:16 tells us that the Law and the prophets continued until John.

Matthew 5:17 (NKJV) 17“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Luke 16:16 (NKJV) 16“ The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.

So, we will have to re-evaluate the so-called references to the end times that we find in the books of the prophets like Ezekiel and Daniel because they cannot be referring to the end times since they were all fulfilled in Jesus. The prophets spoke to the people of Israel about Jesus and His first coming, not about the end times and the second coming of Jesus.

Jesus is the last revelation, and the Law, the prophets, and all the Old Testament must be interpreted through the lens of Jesus because He is the imprint of the Father’s person. The Law and all the apparent severity of God in the Old Testament must be seen within the nature of the person of Jesus. Jesus fulfilled all the Law and yet His message was one of “extravagant” love and restoration. For example, when He was confronted by the Pharisees with the woman caught in adultery, according to the Law she had to be stoned to death, but Jesus, because of His love, found a way to save her from death without breaking the Law. Then Adam and Eve could have been left to die eternally after eating from the forbidden tree because that’s just what God said would happen. But God, because of His infinite love, found a way (although it was a very costly way) to save mankind from eternal death without breaking His own Word. Moreover, the fact that little children were drawn to Jesus and loved to be in His presence speaks volumes about the kind of person Jesus was, Who represented the very nature of the Father Himself. Children intuitively sense when a person is full of love toward them.

When did Jesus usually get angry or upset during His life? Only when He came in contact with the Pharisees and Sadducees, those who preached a God harsh with sin, those who always preached sin and sanctification. This does not mean that Jesus downplayed the seriousness of sin and the need for sanctification, but He simply prioritized love for the person and their restoration instead of punishment.

When we want to discuss something more delicate with a person (especially correction), don’t we prefer to talk face to face rather than in writing? Why? Because we want that person to feel from our voice the attitude with which we say those words, the emotions emanating, etc. In writing, the person can interpret what I said according to their state of mind at the time and through analogies with other, usually negative, experiences they had in the past. In writing, the person reading may have all sorts of unfounded suspicions, doubts, or preconceptions. In the same way, God first sent the Law in writing to His chosen people. Through it, the people of Israel developed in their minds and hearts an image of God as a harsh and strict God in relation to humankind. But then God sent His Son, Jesus, to correct the distorted view people had of God because of the Law of Moses. But most people have never corrected it or find it very difficult to do so.

Usually, we as humans are quick to forget the good things that happen to us and what God has done and is doing for us. When the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they used to quickly forget all that God had done for them when they were dealing with God’s discipline. We also tend to focus on God’s curses in Deuteronomy chapter 28 for example, but we don’t see God’s blessing in the same chapter. We get fixated on God’s so-called harshness and lose sight of His goodness and love. Have you ever thought that maybe God had no right to step in and remove the curses? From the way He loves people that He gave absolutely everything for them, I believe that if He could, He would have never included any curse on man. He was not the One who cursed, but automatically if the people did not choose life, they came out from under His protection.

The natural human tendency is always towards Law, harshness,  and asceticism because of man’s need to do something to be righteous. There is an almost irresistible attraction to self-righteousness. But we will never be in the wrong if we “exaggerate” in the direction of love, acceptance, and restoration when it comes to people as persons and not necessarily to their way of living which can be more or less divine.

Many Christians seem to fear too much grace. They feel that if they give people too much grace, they will live in sin even more. But it is exactly the opposite. Most Christians don’t realize how hard it really is to live in super-grace, or hyper-grace, if I may say so. You just need to seriously try to see if and how long you can maintain a mental attitude in which you always see yourself loved by God and as being His favorite even when you sin? You won’t be able to because of the conscience that God has put in us to warn us when we are wrong, but which no longer tells us that our sins have already been erased. The conscience and the devil are part of a very loyal and faithful accusing police force, always on duty, especially when you are preparing to do a ministry for God.

A sin repeated for years will not soften your conscience until you feel nothing. If by any chance your conscience no longer feels anything, the devil will take care to fill the void and continue with accusations and condemnation because you are a child of God. We feel good when we are legalistic as if we are taking God’s side, and we think that He will perhaps be more merciful to us and our weaknesses if we preach sin and repentance loudly to others.

Jesus is the radiance of the Father’s glory (the pinnacle of the Father’s nature) and the imprint of His person. The word “imprint” comes from the Greek charakter which means engraving or carving tool, imprint or print. Everything Jesus said after His baptism in the Jordan was EXACTLY what God the Father meant. Can we say the same about the Old Testament prophets who were not even born again? Not. Perhaps Samuel came the closest to Jesus because none of his words, the Bible says, fell to the ground, but were fulfilled. But Samuel was not exactly God, the Father. Similarly, the prophet Elijah came very close, but then we see him complaining and lamenting about Jezebel.

Do you agree with me that Jesus had good and correct teaching doctrines? What do we do then if those doctrines of Jesus do not match the doctrines being preached today by people who are actually pastors or have been to seminary and are even born again? Jesus did not have Bible schools and degrees, which does not mean that schools are not good; in fact they are recommended. Schools have their important place. But who do we take into account?

John 14:6–10 (NKJV) 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.7“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?10Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

Many of us have the impression that Jesus is softer, closer to us humans, more loving and empathetic than the Father, whom we usually see as harsher and detached. And yet Jesus tells us that He is exactly the Father, and in John 16:27 Jesus says that the Father Himself loves us:

John 16:27 (NKJV) 27for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.

In verse 10 of the passage above (John 14:6-10), let’s notice how Jesus calls the words He s

In this message are described the oldest tricks used by the devil to deceive Christians into believing something that is not true or not believing what is true.

Introduction

There was a king of the Moabites named Balak and the children of Israel had just defeated the Amorites and were on their way to Moab. And the Moabites were afraid. So, Balak, the king of Moab calls Balaam, a man who had contact with the spirit world, to curse Israel. But Balaam could not curse them even though he tried several times and from different places.

Numbers 23:16–20 (NKJV)16Then the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”17So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”18Then he took up his oracle and said: “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor!19“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?20Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

What did God speak through the Balaam’s mouth? That God is not like man to ever lie. Sometimes we humans lie, either on purpose to get out of a situation, or by mistake because we thought it was the truth. But God does not lie even by mistake. He doesn’t say, “Hey, I’ve been here for so long that it slipped my mind when I said that.” Not so with God at all.

A very polished way of preaching, but very subtle and false, is this: “No matter what happens, we know that God is faithful.” Please, allow me tell you what is encapsulated in this statement, something that is not explicitly said, but is implicitly intended: “Whether God will do what He has promised or not, He remains faithful.”

All Christians claim that God is faithful until it comes down to something specific where they need proof that it works. As long as it is spoken in general, all agree that the Word of God is true. But when we need something specific from the Word to be fulfilled in our lives, we shy away with statements like: “Well, you can never really know anything for sure.” We say He is faithful because the Bible says so, and there is no way we can be born-again Christians unless we affirm it as the Bible does. But we find out if we really believe that He is faithful when we are faced with something that He has said and has not yet manifested in our lives.

Outside the church, we know exactly what the words mean. But in the church of Christ, it’s as if “the smoke and the glory of God overshadow us to such an extent” that words no longer mean anything. I hope you get the irony. For example, if someone outside the church takes a loan from the bank and, at some point, he stops paying the installments, he will be considered “unfaithful” by the bank, no matter how the economy and situations change. Why? Because that someone promised and signed a loan agreement with the bank that he would return the money regardless of changes in the country’s economy and world’s economy or in his financial situation.

When it comes to God, we think completely differently without realizing it: “Well, God is God, even if He doesn’t do exactly what He said, He is still faithful. He doesn’t have to do everything he said, but He’s still faithful.” And so, we shroud everything in a cloud of ungodly mystery and ambiguity, even demonic I might say. And we bring into the scheme all the pompous theological words to gain more credibility in our unbiblical claims, such as: “Well, God in His sovereignty may have decided to do something different in a certain situation than what He said in the Word.” And then the common people will tend to say: “I don’t really understand anything this man wants to say, but he certainly knows more than I do because he went to the seminary. So, I’ll believe what he says. ”

 

The Definition of Faithfulness

“God is always faithful” means that He will always do what He said He would do and He has already done what He said He would do.

A simple definition of faithfulness would be this: “When you speak and promise something, you also do it.” God is always true to His Word. Faithfulness is not something like: you say one thing, and then if another idea comes to you, you do something else and still remain faithful. No, that’s a lie. Verse 20 of the passage above says that once God has blessed something or someone, that blessing cannot be reversed. The blessing is irreversible.

 

God’s Faithfulness in Salvation

God said in Psalms 103:2-3,

Psalm 103:2–3 (NKJV)2Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:3Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.

Did God say that? Will He do that? Yes, of course.

Has He forgiven all our sins even if we have done some very bad things or are still doing them? Yeah, sure. He has forgiven all our past, present, and future sins. How do we know this? Because He said so. Did He heal all our physical ailments? Yes, of course. How do we know this? Because He just said so in the passage above. But many Christians hold back when it comes to healing.

As long as you don’t have to see something tangible (like for example in the area of ​​forgiveness of sins), God is faithful. But when it comes to something visible (like physical healing), He is no longer faithful. We take no chances, because if nothing happens, then all eyes are on us. We are afraid.

If someone receives Jesus in his heart, we lead him in the prayer of repentance. And if after a week that person comes and tells us: “I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I feel like I’m no longer saved” we probably ask him: “Well, why do you feel that way?” To which the person responds, “I just don’t feel like God has forgiven me.” What do we usually respond as Christians at that time? “Well, I don’t know what to say, maybe He hasn’t forgiven you, who knows?” NO, not at all. But we will tell him: “You don’t have to live by feelings. The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 that if we make Him Lord, we will be saved. We live by faith and not by sight or feeling. We all have these feelings from time to time, but you don’t have to dwell on them. These feelings must be ignored.”

But what do we do when we get to financial blessing or healing, and we don’t feel healed? Instead of saying: “I don’t go by what I feel, but by what the Word of God says” – we say something like: “I trust God. He knows better what is good for me.” Now we are saying something different from what God said.

In Luke 5:17-26, we see Jesus again as in Psalms 103:2-3, putting the forgiveness of sins on a par with physical healing:

Luke 5:17–26 (NKJV)17Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.18Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.19And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.20When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”21And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”22But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?23Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?24But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”25Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.26And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

Basically, what Jesus is saying here is that neither forgiving sins nor healing someone is an easy thing. Both are very hard to do. But in order to demonstrate that He has the power and authority to forgive sins (a thing that could not be tangibly proven in itself), Jesus heals the sick man (a tangible thing). In this way, Jesus shows that just as God’s will for people is to forgive their sins and for this, He was going to give His life on the cross, in the same way, His will is to heal them physically. Therefore, physical healing was also included in the sacrifice on the cross along with the forgiveness of sins.

 

Like Children

Jesus says in Matthew 18:3 that unless we become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. What is the characteristic of the chi

THE BELIEVER'S SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY

The Three Realms

There are 3 realms in which believers are involved:

1. The physical, visible, and earthly realm (or the first heaven) – world governments, political structures, all systems and cultures belong to this realm.
2. The spiritual, invisible, and demonic realm (or the second heaven) – here we have demonic spiritual authorities that are behind the authority structures, cultures and systems of the earth. They have authority over and influence the physical realm. This does not mean that we have to become super aware of the devil and believe that there is a demon under every rock.
3. The spiritual, invisible, and godly realm (or the third heaven) – here is the throne of God along with all the angels and the angelic hierarchy structures.

 

The Right Approach to Spiritual Warfare
When talking about spiritual warfare and spiritual authority, many Christians say that we need to know the spiritual principalities we are dealing with and the ranks in the demonic world (demons of lesser power and authority, demons of greater authority, etc.). They say you must know your enemy well before engaging in spiritual warfare. And we all probably have examples of people making strange intercessions for cities involving all kinds of material symbols. These people start their teaching from the premise of “knowing your adversary” and focus heavily on the demonic world. But this is the wrong approach for born-again Christians. Yes, you should know your enemy, but before that, you need to know 3 things:

1. Who you really are in Christ
2. To Whom you belong
3. What you possess or what you have

The true spiritual battle of the believer is fought between the two ears (that is, in the mind), not directly with demonic spiritual forces. Yes, you must know your opponent, but only in relation to those 3 things you must know and assimilate as your normal reality deep in your heart. Any teaching about authority and spiritual warfare must begin with these 3 concepts and their assimilation at the level of the subconscious mind. Let’s read Ephesians 6:12:

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Here the apostle Paul speaks in detail about the demonic principalities and hierarchies. But let us notice in which chapter of the book of Ephesians this verse is found. It’s in chapter 6 of the book which is the last chapter of Ephesians. In verse 10 of the same chapter, Paul uses the expression: “Finally, brothers…” or “Furthermore, brothers…” or “Finally, brothers… ” This is not the first thing Paul teaches the Ephesians about spiritual warfare. Let’s also read Ephesians 1:19-23 to see where Paul begins his discussion of authority and spiritual warfare:

Ephesians 1:19–23 (NKJV)19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

As you see, Paul begins in Ephesians chapter 1 by talking about the boundless greatness of God’s power that raised Christ and placed Him at the right hand of God’s power, giving him a rank of authority far above any other spiritual authority in the heavenly places. Paul then continues the discussion of spiritual warfare in Ephesians chapter 2, stating that ALL that Christ has (that is, his sphere of authority) we believers also have:

Ephesians 2:6 (NKJV)6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Another extraordinary thing we can see in Ephesians 1:22 is that ALL things are under the feet of Christ FOR THE CHURCH. Christ is made up of Jesus (the Head) and the Church (His body). It is an indestructible and indivisible unitary whole. Ephesians 5:30 tells us that we are bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. If all things are under the feet of Christ, and the Church is His body, what does this mean for us believers? It means that all things are also under our feet.

So, Paul begins in Ephesians chapters 1 and 2 to describe the authority and power of Christ and us, the Church, and then in chapter 3 verse 10, he describes the purpose of this conferment of authority, that of ruling over the second realm:

Ephesians 3:10 (NKJV)10 to the intent that NOW the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (meaning from the second realm).

Likewise, 1 John 3:8 describes the purpose of Christ’s manifestation in us, that of destroying the works of the evil one:

1 John 3:8 (NKJV)8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Only at the end of the book of Ephesians does Paul introduce the believers to the subject of spiritual warfare. So, what we need to know is: who we are, who we belong to, and what we have. Only when you know these things and live permanently with this awareness (when you don’t struggle to convince yourself) can you start talking about spiritual warfare.

 

What Are the Heavenly Places?

What are these heavenly places in terms of location? Notice that it is not the heavenly place (or God’s heaven), but the heavenly places. We have already seen in Ephesians 6:12 that demonic spirits are also in heavenly places. But now these spirits along with the devil were cast down to earth (Ezekiel 28:17; Isaiah 14:2; Luke 10:18). If the devil is also on earth and in the heavenly places and in the second invisible realm, this means that the earth together with the second invisible realm are part of the heavenly places. Then in Ephesians 2:6 we see that we also have the same rank of authority as Christ in the heavenly places now, but we are located on earth and not with the throne of God in the third realm. This is further evidence that the earth is part of the heavenly places. But according to Ephesians 1:20, it seems that God’s heaven or the third spiritual realm is also in the heavenly places.

In Isaiah 66:1 and Acts 7:49, we see that heaven (or the third heaven) is God’s throne, and the earth is His footstool, which is another indication that the third heaven and the earth are somehow together:

Isaiah 66:1 (NKJV)1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?

Putting Ephesians 1:19-23, 2:6, and 6:12 together, we can conclude that the heavenly places include all 3 realms. The heavenly places represent all that is around us visible and invisible. And in that common space or dimension, everything is under our feet (under our command) in Christ. In terms of authority and rank, God’s heaven is the highest, followed by the demonic realm, and then the earthly realm. For example, in the building of a business company (which would represent the heavenly places), the CEO of the company and the cleaning person may be geographically located in the same building. But their ranks of authority differ significantly. All these 3 realms are interconnected. They intertwine and occupy the same space. When Ephesians 1:21 says “far above,” it is not referring to the physical location of God’s heaven (the third heaven), but to the level of authority.

Introduction

Today, I would like to talk about a very exciting topic and of much interest among Christians and that is, how to hear God’s voice. In spite of an abundance of Christian materials and sermons available today, many believers still struggle to hear God’s voice and have a genuine desire to know how God speaks to His people in the New Testament. In our discussion today, I will try to provide answers to 5 questions: „Why Do We Need to Hear God? Does God speak today to all born-again believers or only to certain people who are more holy or chosen by Him? How does God speak? How can we discern God’s voice from all the other voices and What can we do to learn faster to hear God’s voice?”

 

Why Do We Need to Hear God?
Some believers may wonder why they should ever hear God’s voice in their lives. How would it help them? Is hearing God’s voice something of vital importance that deserves our attention, time, and effort, or is it just a good skill to have in any event? Well, there are many great benefits to hearing God’s voice. First, it will protect you from many harmful decisions, situations, people, or things that might try to come into your life. Second, it will help you see many opportunities and open doors for you to be blessed and be a blessing for other people. Third, it will direct your steps to your destiny and calling on this earth, so that you will fulfill as much as possible of what God has planned for you and your life. Fourth, it will encourage you and strengthen you in your spirit and your faith in those moments when you will feel weak or discouraged. Hearing God is vital to a life of continuous glory, victory, success, peace, joy, health, well-being, and prosperity here on earth.

 

To Whom Does God Speak?

In the New Testament, God wants to speak and speaks to all born-again believers. This is different from the Old Testament, where God spoke only to certain people chosen by Him. You may ask, Why is that? Things are this way because in the Old Testament all people were under the authority of darkness. Jesus had not died yet on the cross and the Holy Spirit was not yet dwelling in human beings in a permanent way. The Holy Spirit was given from time to time to certain people for specific and temporary tasks and in partial measures. In other words, the Holy Spirit would come and go. However, in the New Testament, the Spirit of God has been sent on the inside of believers to be in them and with them forever. We see this in John 14:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 6:19:

 

John 14:16–17 (NKJV)16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

God always speaks to all believers in Christ and that is something normal. That should be a daily normality for Christians and not something abnormal happening from time to time in some very special anointed moments. Every believer in Christ has the ability to hear God. God wants to speak to us much more than we are ready to hear Him. In fact, He speaks much more than we hear. Look at what John 10:27, John 14:26, John 16:13 tell us about hearing God’s voice:

John 10:27 (NKJV)27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.John 14:26 (NKJV)26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.John 16:13 (NKJV)13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

Christ’s sheep hear and recognize His voice. The Holy Spirit in us will teach us all things, guide us in all truth, and announce to us certain things from the future. These are not all stipulated in the Bible, but the Holy Spirit will speak them directly to us.

Moving forward, another important thing is that it’s not enough to know God speaks and that it is normal for believers to hear Him. We must also search to hear His voice, be preoccupied for it, and we must tune our minds to the right spiritual frequency, the same way we search for a radio channel until we find the right frequency. As long as you can live without hearing God’s voice, you will continue to do so. But it will not be to your advantage. In Jeremiah 29:11-13, God speaks to His people through the prophet Jeremiah the following:

Jeremiah 29:11–13 (NKJV)11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

We need to take time to quiet our minds and reduce the volume of all the other voices to a minimum so that we can hear that still small voice of Him. We need to disconnect frequently from the daily noise and meditate on who we are in Christ, where we are going, what we are doing, how we are doing things and why we are doing them and so on. We need to make a habit of meditating on God’s Word. I was once test-driving a new car and, while we were driving, I could hear the noise of the wind quite loud from outside,  even with the windows closed. And that was one of the things that I was looking for in the next new car: to hear as less noise as possible from outside. I asked the lady who was doing the test-drive with us why we could hear the noise from outside, since this was a new car. She replied with a very serious face, “Well, you know, if you turn on the music louder, you will not hear any wind noise from outside.” I couldn’t tell if she was joking or being serious when she said that. I didn’t even know how to react to such reply. The point is that, as long we have other louder voices in our lives, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to hear God’s voice. And in our day and age, the voices have multiplied exponentially: the internet and social media, smart phones, digital media entertainment, and all kinds of gadgets. And as believers, we now have to be even more intentional in hearing God’s voice than ever before, if we really want to hear Him. And withdrawing from the daily activities should not be very difficult or complicated. I am not talking here about something super spiritual, where you take some special longer time aside in silence and away of everyone, although such times are recommended when it’s possible. But most of us have a lot of activities and work and we have to somehow integrate this habit into our daily routine, so that it flows naturally. It doesn’t always have to be a special time, but in your mind you need to be sensitive, you need to take a step back often and think about things, situations, analyze, hear a sermon, ask yourself questions, meditate on the Word, things like that. And this can be done very naturally when you drive a car, when you are in public transportation, when you have a break from work, when you prepare food, etc.

 

How Does God Speak?

The first way God speaks to His sons and daughters is through His Word or the Word of Christ.

 

Through the Word of God

We cannot expect to hear God’s voice so much in specific ways until we know very well what He has already spoken in His Word. We need to spend time in His Word. When I talk about the Word of Christ, I am not referring to refreshing our minds with what God expects from us morally speaking, but to learning from the Word who we are in Christ, what is our identity as a new creation, what inheritance we have received, what are our rights and responsibilities in the spiritual realm, how the spiritual world and spiritual laws work, what is the heart of God, His ways of doing things, His nature, His character, His perspectives on things, and His values. Being continuously in the Word is not hard. We just need to form a consistent habit of reading the Word personally, of listening to Bible teaching and sermons, and of memorizing verses that apply to the new creation.

The more Word we have in us, the more we will become one in thought and heart with God. We will know what to do in many situations even without receiving a special word from

The Power of the Lord’s Supper

Introduction

Let’s first read the famous passage on the Lord’s Supper from 1 Corinthians 11:17-34:

 

1 Corinthians 11:17–34 (NKJV) 

17 Now in giving these instructions I don’t praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 

18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 

19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 

20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it’s not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 

21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 

22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I don’t praise you. 

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 

24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 

25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 

30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 

32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 

33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 

34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come. 

 

Many Christians interpret the passage above in the following way: “Before I take the Lord’s Supper, I need to examine myself very carefully, check for any unconfessed sins in my life and confess them all. Then I can partake of the Lord’s Supper. This is the worthy manner of taking the Lord’s Supper. Otherwise, if I take it with any unconfessed sin, I might lose my salvation, I might lose the blessings of God, or God might punish me with sickness or even death. And I will not be able to come to God and ask Him to heal me, because I did it with my own hands. So, if I feel too unworthy on occasions, it’s better not to partake of the Lord’s Supper in order not to be punished by God.” This is how many believers read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and they treat the Lord’s Supper as something very sacred and dreadful, that can be partaken of only if they have been completely honest about their lives with God and made sure they confessed every sin they know before Him. Otherwise, God will strike them with sickness and curse. Because of the fear of punishment, many believers refrain from partaking of the Lord’s Supper for long periods of time. Overall, most believers consider the Lord’s Supper to be something similar to the bitter water from Numbers 5:16-28, that women suspected of adultery had to drink to prove their innocence. If those women were dishonest and guilty and drank that water, their bellies would swell, their thighs would rot, and they would become a curse among their people. This is the mentality with which most Christians approach the Communion. However, this interpretation and practice of the Lord’s Supper are far from the truth and rob believers of its precious benefits that Jesus intended when He initiated it.

 

The Necessity of Innocent Blood

Let’s analyze the passage carefully in its context. First, the expression “unworthy manner” from verses 27 and 29 doesn’t refer to the worthiness of the person taking the Lord’s Supper, but to the worthiness of the manner in which the person partakes, the worthiness of the way, or the method. We can never become worthy to partake of the Lord’s Supper through something that we do, no matter what we do, not even through confession of sins, because the only thing that could pay for our sins and could make us worthy is  innocent blood, as seen in Hebrews 9:22:

 

Hebrews 9:22 (NKJV) 

22 And according to the Law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. 

 

Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, and not without confession of sins. Our blood is guilty and tainted by Adam’s sin that was transmitted to us when we were physically born on this earth. The only person that had innocent blood was Jesus Christ, the last Adam, because He didn’t have an earthly father. The Holy Spirit conceived Him, Jesus had blameless blood, and He kept His blood innocent throughout His life by fulfilling all the Law of Moses and by not sinning even once. He was without spot when He reached the moment of the cross:

 

1 Peter 1:18–19 (NKJV) 

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 

 

Why could only innocent blood remove sins? Because the soul of a human being is in the blood. That is what Leviticus 17:11 tells us:

 

Leviticus 17:11 (NKJV) 

11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it’s the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

 

The word “life” in the expression “the life of the flesh is in the blood” is the Hebrew “Nephesh,” which translates into “soul, living being, self, or person.” So, you have been made worthy once and for all by Christ’s blood and sacrifice, and nothing else. Period! You are always worthy to partake of the Communion  because of Jesus’ innocent blood and not because of your confession. Your righteousness and worthiness are Christ. However, there is also a proper and worthy manner of partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

 

 

What Does It Mean “In a Worthy Manner?”

Taking the Communion in a worthy manner means to assign to it a mental significance when you take it, to think about what it means from God’s perspective, and remember the One Who established it. It’s not just eating some food and drinking. We see this concept reiterated three times in the passage about Communion: 

(1) In verses 17 to 22, Paul rebukes the Corinthians for eating their meals without waiting for the others, for getting drunk, for not remembering Christ, and for believing that that was the Lord’s Supper; 

(2) In verses 24 and 25, Paul quotes Jesus and says that when we take the Lord’s Supper, we need to remember Him; 

(3) In verse 28, Paul mentions that there is an examination and evaluation of ourselves that needs to take place before taking the Lord’s Supper.

 

To summarize, taking the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner means two things: (1) to remember Christ in the right way, and (2) to evaluate ourselves in the right way. What does it mean to remember Christ in the right way and evaluate ourselves in the right way? In verse 24, Jesus says that His body was broken for us, was judged for us, and in our place. The broken bread is a representation of Christ’s body being torn apart for us, and He says we should always do this in remembrance of Him and of what He did for us. This is the correct remembrance or discernment of the Lord’s body, mentioned in verse 29, and the appropriate evaluation (or judgment) of ourselves. It’s a matter of where we place the guilt and the judgment of our sins: either on Jesus’ body, or on us. In the same manner, Paul instructs us to take the wine (v. 25), which is a representation of Jesus’ shed blood.

 

Every time we take Communion (v. 26), we proclaim the Lord’s death (or the Lord’s judgment) until He comes back. In other words, if we proclaim the Lord’s judgment over our sins, then we also proclaim our freedom, healing, victory, righteousness, prosperity, joy, and peace. We evaluate and judge ourselves, or consider ourselves as righteous, healed, and free. The proclamation of His death is a proclamation of our life.

 

Taking the Lord’s Supper in an UNWORTHY MAN

The Power of the Lord’s Supper

Introduction

Let’s first read the famous passage on the Lord’s Supper from 1 Corinthians 11:17-34:

 

1 Corinthians 11:17–34 (NKJV) 

17 Now in giving these instructions I don’t praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 

18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 

19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 

20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it’s not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 

21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 

22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I don’t praise you. 

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 

24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 

25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 

30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 

32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 

33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 

34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come. 

 

Many Christians interpret the passage above in the following way: “Before I take the Lord’s Supper, I need to examine myself very carefully, check for any unconfessed sins in my life and confess them all. Then I can partake of the Lord’s Supper. This is the worthy manner of taking the Lord’s Supper. Otherwise, if I take it with any unconfessed sin, I might lose my salvation, I might lose the blessings of God, or God might punish me with sickness or even death. And I will not be able to come to God and ask Him to heal me, because I did it with my own hands. So, if I feel too unworthy on occasions, it’s better not to partake of the Lord’s Supper in order not to be punished by God.” This is how many believers read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and they treat the Lord’s Supper as something very sacred and dreadful, that can be partaken of only if they have been completely honest about their lives with God and made sure they confessed every sin they know before Him. Otherwise, God will strike them with sickness and curse. Because of the fear of punishment, many believers refrain from partaking of the Lord’s Supper for long periods of time. Overall, most believers consider the Lord’s Supper to be something similar to the bitter water from Numbers 5:16-28, that women suspected of adultery had to drink to prove their innocence. If those women were dishonest and guilty and drank that water, their bellies would swell, their thighs would rot, and they would become a curse among their people. This is the mentality with which most Christians approach the Communion. However, this interpretation and practice of the Lord’s Supper are far from the truth and rob believers of its precious benefits that Jesus intended when He initiated it.

 

The Necessity of Innocent Blood

Let’s analyze the passage carefully in its context. First, the expression “unworthy manner” from verses 27 and 29 doesn’t refer to the worthiness of the person taking the Lord’s Supper, but to the worthiness of the manner in which the person partakes, the worthiness of the way, or the method. We can never become worthy to partake of the Lord’s Supper through something that we do, no matter what we do, not even through confession of sins, because the only thing that could pay for our sins and could make us worthy is  innocent blood, as seen in Hebrews 9:22:

 

Hebrews 9:22 (NKJV) 

22 And according to the Law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. 

 

Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, and not without confession of sins. Our blood is guilty and tainted by Adam’s sin that was transmitted to us when we were physically born on this earth. The only person that had innocent blood was Jesus Christ, the last Adam, because He didn’t have an earthly father. The Holy Spirit conceived Him, Jesus had blameless blood, and He kept His blood innocent throughout His life by fulfilling all the Law of Moses and by not sinning even once. He was without spot when He reached the moment of the cross:

 

1 Peter 1:18–19 (NKJV) 

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 

 

Why could only innocent blood remove sins? Because the soul of a human being is in the blood. That is what Leviticus 17:11 tells us:

 

Leviticus 17:11 (NKJV) 

11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it’s the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

 

The word “life” in the expression “the life of the flesh is in the blood” is the Hebrew “Nephesh,” which translates into “soul, living being, self, or person.” So, you have been made worthy once and for all by Christ’s blood and sacrifice, and nothing else. Period! You are always worthy to partake of the Communion  because of Jesus’ innocent blood and not because of your confession. Your righteousness and worthiness are Christ. However, there is also a proper and worthy manner of partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

 

 

What Does It Mean “In a Worthy Manner?”

Taking the Communion in a worthy manner means to assign to it a mental significance when you take it, to think about what it means from God’s perspective, and remember the One Who established it. It’s not just eating some food and drinking. We see this concept reiterated three times in the passage about Communion: 

(1) In verses 17 to 22, Paul rebukes the Corinthians for eating their meals without waiting for the others, for getting drunk, for not remembering Christ, and for believing that that was the Lord’s Supper; 

(2) In verses 24 and 25, Paul quotes Jesus and says that when we take the Lord’s Supper, we need to remember Him; 

(3) In verse 28, Paul mentions that there is an examination and evaluation of ourselves that needs to take place before taking the Lord’s Supper.

 

To summarize, taking the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner means two things: (1) to remember Christ in the right way, and (2) to evaluate ourselves in the right way. What does it mean to remember Christ in the right way and evaluate ourselves in the right way? In verse 24, Jesus says that His body was broken for us, was judged for us, and in our place. The broken bread is a representation of Christ’s body being torn apart for us, and He says we should always do this in remembrance of Him and of what He did for us. This is the correct remembrance or discernment of the Lord’s body, mentioned in verse 29, and the appropriate evaluation (or judgment) of ourselves. It’s a matter of where we place the guilt and the judgment of our sins: either on Jesus’ body, or on us. In the same manner, Paul instructs us to take the wine (v. 25), which is a representation of Jesus’ shed blood.

 

Every time we take Communion (v. 26), we proclaim the Lord’s death (or the Lord’s judgment) until He comes back. In other words, if we proclaim the Lord’s judgment over our sins, then we also proclaim our freedom, healing, victory, righteousness, prosperity, joy, and peace. We evaluate and judge ourselves, or consider ourselves as righteous, healed, and free. The proclamation of His death is a proclamation of our life.

 

Taking

Objections to One-Time Confession

Some might say, “But what about what Isaiah said in chapter 59 verse 2 that our sins put a separation wall between us and God, that they hide His face from us and that He will not hear us? Doesn’t that mean that we come out of fellowship with God and that we need to confess our sins to Him in order for Him to hear us again?” No, it doesn’t. Isaiah lived before the cross, Jesus had not paid for his sins yet, and Isaiah was not a new creation in Christ. Indeed, during his time and during the Old Covenant period, people’s sins created a separation wall between them and God, and God didn’t hear them until they humbled themselves before God, and brought the animal sacrifices for atonement. However, Christ is our eternal sacrifice that has cleansed us from all sin once and for all. So, in the New Testament, our sinful deeds don’t put a separation wall between us and God anymore. God doesn’t hide His face from us, and He always hears us, no matter what we did wrong. 

 

”But what about Proverbs 28:13, where King Solomon says:

 

Proverbs 28:13 (NKJV) 

13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”?

 

The same explanation given for Isaiah’s case is relevant here as well. King Solomon needed the mercy of God and his prosperity depended on his obedience to the Law, because he was walking in darkness. His sins had not been removed yet. All the people of the Old Testament relied on the mercy of God for their blessing and prosperity. Until Christ would come, God overlooked temporarily their sins when they obeyed the Law or brought the animal sacrifices. However, in the New Testament, the new creation has become prosperity (2 Corinthians 8:9) without any qualification, because of Christ’s righteousness, and believers have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). Believers in Christ don’t have sins to cover or confess anymore, because they were all taken away at the cross. 

 

“But what about King David when he lamented in Psalm 32:1-5 and Psalm 38:18 about his sins and confessed them? Shouldn’t we follow his example?” Let’s read those passages. 

 

Psalm 32:1–5 (NKJV) 

1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 

2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord doesn’t impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 

3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. 

4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. 

5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I haven’t hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. 

 

Psalm 38:18 (NASB95) 

18 For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. 

 

If we look carefully at the first two verses of Psalm 32, we will notice that King David prophesied by the Spirit about the time when people’s transgressions will be forgiven and the Lord will not impute iniquity to them anymore. He rejoiced looking ahead at the days we are living now. However, in his time, he had to confess his sins to the Lord to receive mercy and he probably confessed more in the hope of saving his son from the death punishment. And even though King David confessed his sins many times and asked for forgiveness from God, his confession and tears were not the ones which atoned for his sin. David still had to bring sacrifices to atone for his sins according to the Law. 

 

Finally, “what about the Lord’s prayer from Luke 11:2-4 or Matthew 6:9-13, where Jesus tells us to ask the Father to forgive our sins? Isn’t He telling us to confess our sins to God?” Let’s read the Lord’s prayer passage in Luke:

 

Luke 11:2–4 (NKJV) 

2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 

4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” 

 

If we take a close look at the Lord’s prayer in the light of the Gospel, we will quickly notice that the Lord’s prayer is an Old Testament prayer and not a New Testament one. First, we need to realize that the disciples who asked Jesus to teach them how to pray were Jews, accustomed with the Law and the Torah. Second, Jesus hadn’t died yet on the cross in order to establish a prayer model according to the new creation era and He couldn’t disclose yet the plan God had through the cross, otherwise the devil would have never crucified Him. At that moment in time, Jesus was still in the Old Testament period. The transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant had not been made yet. For example, He said in verse 2 to pray that God’s Kingdom would come on earth. That was the longing and the prayer of all Old Testament prophets, that the Kingdom of God would come. This was supposed to happen when Messiah would come. At that point in time, this kind of prayer made sense because the Kingdom had not come yet. However, we see later in Romans 14:17, as well as in other places, that Jesus brought the Kingdom on earth, especially after the cross, although not in its full visible manifestation yet: 

 

Mark 1:14–15 (NKJV) 

14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 

15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” 

 

Luke 17:20–21 (NKJV) 

20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 

21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” 

 

Romans 14:17 (NKJV) 

17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

 

Then in Luke 11:3, Jesus told His disciples to ask the Father for the daily bread. However, we see later in Ephesians 1:3 and 2 Peter 1:3 that God has already blessed believers with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places and everything pertaining to life and godliness. At the end of the prayer, Jesus instructs the disciples to ask the Father to deliver them from the evil one. That made sense before the cross, because all people were in the domain of darkness and under the authority of the devil and they needed God to intervene and help them. However, later, Colossians 1:13 says that believers have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of His beloved Son. Moreover, Ephesians 2:6 and 1:20-23 shows that believers have the same rank and authority of the right hand of the Father as Jesus Christ, and their authority in Christ is far above all rule, authority, power and lordship. The new creations don’t need to pray for deliverance from the evil one, because they have already been delivered from him.

 

Similarly, the prayer for forgiveness of sins, conditioned by their forgiveness of others was an Old Testament prayer. In the Old Testament, the people of God had to repeatedly bring sacrifices and ask for forgiveness of their sins. However, even this Old Testament prayer of asking for forgiveness of sins was not a confession of individual specific sins, but a general one of all sins. The Greek word used here is again Hamartia, in plural form, depicting the totality of all sin in the life of that person as nature or deeds, and not as specific known sinful actions. 

 

After all this teaching about confession of sins, you might be wondering yourself: “So what am I supposed to do then when I sin? Should I confess my sin to God or not? How do I continue to relate to Him?”

 

 

What to Do When We Sinned

If we are honest with ourselves, most of the times, we don’t feel condemned about every little sin that we did or about sins that we are not aware of, like Martin Luther. Usually, there are specific sins that the devil or our conscience bring to our minds and condemn us with, sinful behaviors and attitudes that we’ve probably repeated many times and were unable yet to overcome. Those are the times when we feel the need to say something to God about our sins before we can move on. On one hand, we feel condemned about those sins and unworthy to approach God. On the other hand, we know that all our sins have been removed forever, and this creates a real conflict inside of us. This inner conflict is also fueled by the fact that we still live in a fallen world, where forgiveness of someone depends on the other person apologizing first and making the first step towards reconciliation. Our minds are programmed to think that way and to transfer by analogy the same kind of interaction to the relationship between God and us.

 

Before I provide a practical solution to this inner conflict and to the question

Confession of Sins in 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:5–2:1 (NKJV) 

5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 

6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and don’t practice the truth. 

7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

10 If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 

1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 

 

 

The question we should ask ourselves about 1 John 1:9 is this: Is this verse addressing believers or unbelievers? In the context of everything we have seen so far, this passage cannot be addressed to believers in Christ because, it it refers to believers, then it undermines the whole Gospel. If all our past, present, and future sins have been forgiven, there is nothing else to forgive. If we became righteous at the moment of salvation, then there is no more unrighteousness to be cleansed of. We cannot say that we have been cleansed of all sin and that we are still being cleansed, both in the same time. When Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, He said to Peter in John 13:10:

 

John 13:10 (NKJV) 

10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 

 

Based on this verse, many Christians wrongly conclude that, as born-again believers, they are completely washed and clean in a sense, but they still need to wash “their feet” by asking for forgiveness for the sins they do. Such a conclusion is inconsistent with what Jesus did on the cross, and it has nothing to do with the context of the washing of feet, which was about servanthood to each other. 

 

Coming back to 1 John 1:9, this Scripture was written to a congregation of believers, but it was meant for unbelievers, and we will see why. We see this kind of address in the epistle of Romans as well, which was written mainly to believers. However, we find Romans 10:9-10 addressing the unbelievers who might have been in the church among believers, and tells them how to be saved. Moreover, in our churches today, preachers usually use the expression “brothers and sisters” to address a congregation, but not all in the congregation may be true brothers and sisters. Some can be just nominal Christians while others can be  unbelievers altogether. In the same way, especially the first chapter of 1 John was written to the church as a whole, but it addresses a certain context and a certain issue of the day, that was happening in the church, and that was Gnosticism. 

 

Gnosticism comes from the Greek word “gnosis,” which means knowledge or insight. We know from church history that near the end of the first century, and in the early second century, proto-Gnosticism, specifically Docetism, arose within the church. Docetism was the doctrine that Jesus Christ didn’t come in the flesh, that He didn’t have a physical body, and that therefore His sufferings were only apparent. In later years, this developed into a theological system known as Gnosticism. By the middle of the second century, this philosophy blossomed into full expression and its advocates were producing their own gospels and epistles, of which the Gospel of Thomas and Gospel of Judas are some examples. John appears to have anticipated Gnosticism’s development and threat to the health of the church and he wrote 1 John to counteract its influence. 

 

Gnosticism blended Greek dualism with Eastern mysticism. It adopted the dualistic view that only the nonmaterial, or the spiritual, was good while anything material was evil. Along with this, came Eastern mysticism’s focus on a secret spiritual knowledge reserved only for the chosen few. The Gnostics were trying to fellowship with believers in the church and that’s how their ideas and thoughts infiltrated Christianity. They were saying things like the following: “It’s great that you are a Christian, it’s great that you are acquainted with Jesus Christ, but now let me lead you into a deeper knowledge of some deep spiritual truths that will secretly unlock more meaning and purpose for you.” As I already mentioned briefly, two primary beliefs marked the Gnostics concerning Christ and Christianity and these were what John was concerned about. First, Gnostics didn’t believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh or having a physical body. Second, they didn’t believe that sin was real at the spiritual level, so they were ultimately sin deniers or deniers of the sin nature transmitted from Adam to all people at the spirit level. Here is why they reasoned that sin was not real in the human spirit. Gnostics believed that any sort of sins or appetites, be it sexual sins or other addictions, occurred only in the physical world. However, they thought they were living at a spiritual level, and not a physical one, because of the secret deeper knowledge they thought they possessed. As such, anything that happened in the physical realm was less important and it was even considered a fabrication of reality, an illusion, because reality happened at the spiritual level where sin didn’t exist. That is why Gnostics believed Jesus didn’t have a physical body. It would have been too low, too base for Jesus to be tight to a physical body, so Jesus had to be purely spiritual according to Gnostics. 

 

Therefore, the uncharacteristic opening of the first chapter of 1 John shows clearly that the initial address was not meant for believers but for Gnostics, who didn’t believe that Jesus came in the flesh. There was no greeting to believers, unlike what we find in John’s second and third epistles. Instead, the apostle John opens up his first epistle with a direct address to the serious heresy of Gnostics:

 

1 John 1:1 (NKJV) 

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life. 

 

Later in chapter 4, John mentions that anyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God and has the spirit of Antichrist, again counteracting the Gnostic heresy:

 

1 John 4:1-3 (NKJV)

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 

3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

 

John emphasizes that Jesus had indeed come in the flesh, because John, himself, and his fellow disciples had heard, seen, and touched Jesus. Why was it so vitally important the fact that Jesus came in the flesh? Why any spirit confessing the opposite was called the spirit of Antichrist? If Jesus hadn’t had a physical body, then He wouldn’t have been a real Son of Man. And if He hadn’t been fully man, then He could not have identified with humans and pay the penalty of their sins, and ultimately He would not have been the Christ, the Messiah the Savior. Denying Jesus’ physical body was the same thing as denying Him as Christ, as the Messiah. Then in verse 9 of chapter 1, John attacks the second heresy of Gnosticism – the sin denial – and attempts to compel the Gnostics to acknowledge and confess their sins, so that God would forgive them and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. It’s only in chapter 2 of John’s first epistle that we see the phrase “my little children” for the first time, implying that from this chapter onwards, the apostle John will be addressing believers. 

 

Now, let’s go through each verse of the context of 1 John 1:9 and explain it. 1 John 1:5 says that “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” There are only two realms or kingdoms in which people can be located: in the LIGHT (the saved) or in DARKNESS (the lost). The following verse says that, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and don’t practice the truth.” The Gnostics were great at claiming that they were also saved, but in reality, they were still in the realm of darkness because of their wrong beliefs. They were lying both to themselves and others without even being aware of it, and were not living the truth. Consequently, in verse 7, John tells them, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Many Christians interpret “walking in the light” as walking “according” to the light or “up” to

Confession of Sins

Romans 8:1 says this:

 

Romans 8:1 (NKJV) 

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 

 

Many Christians read the above passage and again they add in their mind, without even realizing, the following: “Yes, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus [as long as they don’t have any unconfessed sins in their lives].” However, that is not true. As we will see from the Bible, confession of sins doesn’t constitute the basis, or the condition of MAINTAINING salvation. Once believers are justified by faith, they have peace with God forever:

 

Romans 5:1 (NKJV) 

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

If maintaining justification or salvation depends on believers’ confession of sins (either of all sins or even only the known sins), then the most loving thing that God, the Father, can do for believers is to take them to heaven immediately after they are saved. This way believers are not in danger of ever losing their salvation by missing even one unconfessed sin. When believers confess their sins, can they be sure they confessed everything? Do they have enough time to confess everything? 

 

For Martin Luther, confession of sins was a daily discipline. Sometimes, he confessed for as long as six hours at a time! He took it to the highest extreme. Luther was asked on one occasion, “Do you love God?” to which he answered, “Do I love God? Sometimes I hate Him.” How could someone say such a thing? Only  someone tormented by his sin could come to such a conclusion. Luther confessed for hours. He would review regularly the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins and the greatest Scriptural fear he had was breaking the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). He would also review often the Sermon on the Mount and question whether he could faithfully live according to its principles. The scenes of judgment in the Book of Revelation haunted him as well. R.C. Sproul explains with more details what used to happen in those times in this way, “Confession was a regular part of the monastic life. The other brothers came regularly to their confessors and said, ‘Father, I have sinned. Last night I stayed up after ‘lights out’ and read my Bible with a candle’ or, ‘Yesterday at lunchtime I coveted Brother Philip’s potato salad.’ (How much trouble can a monk get into in a monastery?) The father Confessor would hear the confession, grant priestly absolution, and then assign a small penance to be performed. That was it! The whole process took only a few minutes. Not so with Brother Luther. He was not satisfied with a brief recitation of his sins. He wanted to make sure that no sin in his life was left unconfessed. He entered the confessional and stayed up for hours every day.” Luther’s reason for confession was his fright about God’s judgment. He thought God was offended by his sins, but God was not offended because of Christ’s sacrifice. Luther lived in daily fear of the immediate judgment of God on his life. He said on one occasion, “If I could believe that God was not angry with me, I would stand on my head for joy.” That’s how much he became distressed with the enormity of his own sins and his inability to satisfy a righteous God. 

 

Luther confessed every sin. He hated his sin. In fact, because of his obsession with confession, Luther was even deemed crazy. Some monks believed he had deep sexual struggles, because only that kind of sins would bother a monk so much that he would confess as much as he did. The monks thought Luther was on the verge of a psychotic episode or breakdown. His heavy doses of confession caused even physical pain and suffering to him. He developed digestive difficulties (e.g., kidney stones and gallstones) due to the anxiety caused by his battle with sin. No particular sins distressed him. It was his overall corrupt nature –“What can I do to win a gracious God? Oh my sin, my sin, what shall I do with my sin?”

 

Today, maybe Christians don’t take confession of sins to such extremes like Luther, although they should, if they were really serious about it. However, they still go through a similar relative torment like Luther and always feel unworthy before God. The Israelites in the Old Testament had a Day of Atonement once a year when they would confess their sins and put them all on a goat - a scapegoat called Azazel - and then they would send that goat in the wilderness. Can anyone imagine a few million Jews taking the time to confess all their sins from that past year to the priests? The whole process would have taken a few years to end and the priests would be exhausted or die of exhaustion. Did the people confess their sins like believers do today? Of course not. Whenever people brought animals for sin offerings, would the priests examine the people of their sins, or the animal for sacrifice, which had to be spotless and without any defect? The animal, of course. The priest would examine the sacrifice and not the person bringing it, because the whole reason for why anyone would bring a sin offering was that they sinned. No need for further examination. 

 

Similarly, when John the Baptist baptized people in water at the river Jordan, the Bible says that people would come to him and confess their sins. They would not start confessing every little sin to John in the water. In both of these two described cases, confession of sins meant acknowledging that they had sinned before God, and believing that He forgave or covered all their sins. This is what born-again believers do, once and for all, at the moment of their salvation. Think about the criminal on the cross, who had a multitude of sins, which he didn’t confess. He just asked Jesus to remember him when He would go into His kingdom and Jesus promised him that He would take him to heaven. Why would God be interested in hearing about every dirty and filthy sin of ours? He knows and sees plenty of it, everything is open in His sight, He already knows everything, and He already paid for all sins through Jesus’ sacrifice. 

 

The truth is that, even if we think that we have a sincere and pertinent reason for confessing our sins, we actually do it because we cannot forgive ourselves and because of our self-righteousness. We are trying to show God that we are not that bad, that we can do something to fix the wrong and become again worthy before Him to receive His blessings, and to have Him move with power in our lives. Does confession of sins really help us in not sinning anymore? As you probably noticed in your own practice, most of the times, it doesn’t. You confess the sin and then you do it again most of the times, because that confession in itself keeps you in the cycle of sinning, by making you focus on the sin and on your inability to overcome it, and not on Jesus. 

 

Now, let’s look at confession of sins from a different angle. When people do something wrong to us, should we expect them to ask for forgiveness first in order to forgive them? According to the Bible, no, not at all. We should forgive people no matter what they do, and even about 490 times a day. If God requires that of us, wouldn’t He much more treat us the same way? Yes, He would. He has already removed all our sins, without waiting for our detailed confession of every sin. We confessed once that we were sinners and that we needed Jesus’ sacrifice to cleanse us, and this was enough for Him. Apparently, the sacrifice of Jesus is not enough for us. We feel the need of crying and making penance for every sin repeatedly. An even more concerning question is this: What happens if a believer suddenly dies with unconfessed sins? Is he not saved anymore? Does he go to hell after living a lifetime with God? Sadly, many Christians and even leaders think that these believers would go to hell. In order to alleviate such a terrifying conclusion, they say that, in reality, not many believers will be in that situation, because God will ”orchestrate” their death in such a way that most Christians would die with all their sins confessed. Are you ready to believe something that doesn’t even have a biblical support, rather than believing that all your sins have been removed and that, no matter when and how you die, you go to heaven? Such an assumption would mean that believers are saved completely and permanently only at the end of their lives, and even then, only if they confessed all sins. This conclusion is not biblical. 

 

Now, if we look carefully in the New Testament, we can easily notice that Jesus, in all His life on earth, never mentioned confession of sins, not even when He initiated the Communion (or the Lord’s Supper) in the upper room with His disciples. He didn’t tell them to take a few minutes to examine themselves of their sins, make sure they confessed everything, and then partake of the bread and the wine, or not partake at all, if their sin is too heavy. Furthermore, we can see apostle Paul speaking in so much detail about salvation, justification, and sanctification in all of his doctrinal epistles (Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Timothy, etc.), but never mentioning anything about confessing sins. How could Paul forget altogether to mention such an “important” aspect of confession of sins as a condition to maintain salvation? Of course, he didn’t forget. In fact, he didn’t write anything about it intentionally. In his le