Confess and Renounce Your Sins Promptly

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9—NIV)

The Apostle John has written to us so we shall stop our sinning.

My dear children, I write this to you so you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (I John 3:1—NIV)

Then John tells us what to do when we sin. We are to confess our sins to Christ. This does not mean we just list them, it means we confess, denounce, and renounce them with all vigor. We turn aside from them. We declare them fit only for the Lake of Fire.

When we do this, God forgives us immediately. Then He either delivers us at once or else He sets in motion the machinery that will result in our being cleansed from all unrighteousness. All unrighteousness!

One of the first "Christian" principles I encountered when I went to Bible school is that as long as we are in this world we have to sin. One would look long and hard in the New Testament to find a passage that says we are doomed to sin while living in the world.

In fact, the Bible teaches the opposite.

Paul warns us in the sixth chapter of Romans that if we choose to be the slave of sin we shall die spiritually. "The wages of sin is death."

Then He proceeds in the eighth chapter to advise us that we owe our sinful nature nothing that we should live according to its lusts and appetites. In fact, if we live according to our sinful nature, Paul teaches, we will die spiritually.

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, (Romans 8:13—NIV)

Now it is true that each Christian has in his or her personality a sinful nature. But the Books of Romans, Hebrews, and First John, in particular, warn us that if we keep on living in our sinful nature we shall reap corruption, not salvation. God’s grace in Christ is given to us so that we might be able to overcome our sinful nature.

Current Christian teaching announces that this is not the case. But it is! Christians have departed from the Word of God!

Man is God’s throne. We shall judge not only other people but the angels as well. We were created as God’s response to the rebellion on the part of His angels.

As such we have the power of judgment. The moral judgments a Christian makes are of the greatest importance.

Two armies fight the battles of the Lord. The army of angels and the army of people. The angels do the actual fighting. The people are the judges, to the extent Christ is living in them.

Now, when the Spirit of God points out an unscriptural behavior in our personality, it is of extreme importance how we respond. If we justify the behavior it remains in us, in spite of our belief that somehow something will be done about it.

If we, instead, confess the behavior as evil, its proper home being the Lake of Fire, God will honor that judgment. He will bind that spirit and hand it over for sentencing.

When we confess and renounce our sins we are judging them in the spirit realm. When we do not do this we are judging them to be acceptable to God. Since the Lake of Fire maintains authority over all sin, whether or not the sin dwells in a Christian, and we have not denounced them as unfit for the Kingdom of God, when the Day of Judgment arrives we ourselves will be hurled into the Lake of Fire whether or not we name of name of the Lord Jesus.

There shall be no sin in the Kingdom of God. If the Spirit of God points out sin in our life, and we do not judge it as unworthy of the Kingdom, then we have judged ourselves unworthy of the Kingdom.

This is the doctrine of eternal judgment mentioned in the sixth chapter of the Book of Hebrews.

We are not to be careless about confessing our sins. One reason Hitler was as successful as he proved to be in conducting war was his doctrine of "Lightning War." While other countries of Europe were thinking about what to do, Hitler moved with blinding speed.

This is the way we are to conduct spiritual warfare. The moment God shows us something is wrong in our life we are to go to the Lord immediately. We are to conduct lightning war against it. That little sin has the potential of removing our crown from us.

The Christian churches of today are dwelling in the Twenty-third Psalm. We need to move over to the Twenty-fourth Psalm and learn about the Lord, strong and mighty in battle We must open the doors of our personality to Christ and learn spiritual warfare from Him.

Moses is dead, so to speak. Joshua is ready to lead us across Jordan and into our inheritance. This Christ will do in the darkest of the hours that lie ahead of us. But we must not be as indecisive generals but move swiftly, diligently as Christ leads us. The enemy is cunning but he is no match for Christ. However, the enemy laughs at the inept practices of many of the Christian churches. They are dwelling in silliness and foolishness, jumping up and down next to their pews in preparation for an unscriptural "rapture." The enemy has nothing to fear from them.

We must come to understand, we Christians, that the enemy does not fear us. The enemy fears only the Lord Jesus Christ. As long as Satan can keep us occupied with our church programs he is safe. He will keep us interested in these if he can.

But when a believer chooses to lay down his own life, to judge his behavior as evil when the Spirit so leads, to bear his cross after the Master, it is then that Hell is terrified. For when Jesus comes on the scene the demons scream in terror.

How different church history would have been had the believers spent time with the Lord, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, learning to live in and by the Lord Jesus. If this had been true I do not believe any cathedrals would have been constructed (except in the hearts of the saints). But I think the history of the world would have been changed for the better.

I believe the Lord Jesus is preparing the young people of today to be shining lights during the spiritual darkness that is approaching. We must teach them how to live righteously, how to be holy, how to obey God sternly. For without actual righteousness and holiness of behavior, and stern obedience to God, the Lord Jesus cannot work His wonderful works.

The revivals of the past have brought us this far. Now we need to concentrate on following Jesus into the battle of the ages. It is a new day. Saul’s armor is useless. It is time to hear from the Spirit of God what we are to do.

If they will follow the ten guidelines we are presenting in this booklet I think the youth will have a better chance of standing when the floods of ungodliness wash away the foolishness that goes on today in the Christian churches.

If we are to survive in the coming days we must set aside a place and time for prayer, and we must do this each day without fail.

If we are to survive in the future we must make a practice of studying the Word of God and meditating in it.

If we are to be victorious when the rebellious spiritual lords are forced into the earth we must have all that we are and possess in the hands of God. Our treasures must be safe in Heaven.

If we are to bear a triumphant witness of Jesus Christ when Satan openly manifests his person to people on the earth we must be living in and by Christ. Our church affiliation will not mean much in that hour or terror. We must be standing on the Rock!

If we are to serve God during the night when no man can work we must put on each day the whole armor of God, not neglecting any piece.

If we are to help those around us when people are dying by the thousands we must be living not only on the earth, where the chaotic conditions are, but in the heavenlies at the right hand of God where all is peace, joy, and total victory.

If we are to survive spiritually during the coming days we must make a practice of confessing our sins clearly and promptly, as the Holy Spirit leads us into battle. We must master the art of "lightning war."

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