 | Teaching:
'Laying the Right Foundation Part 5' |
| Jesus Christ is Lord!
Andrew Shreeve Ministries
Partner Letter – July 2009
‘Bringing good tidings, publishing peace and salvation’
(Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15)
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| Contents
- Welcome
- Resources
- Teaching – “Laying the Right Foundation – Part 5”
- Itinerary
| Welcome
| Greetings in the almighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I pray for the power and anointing of the Lord to come upon you, to walk into His perfect will for your life.
I have recently made a successful and fruitful trip into Laos. A Christian in Laos told me that she was afraid to remove her Buddhist idols from her home, for fear of what the evil spirits may do to her. Stronger Christians removed the idols for her, and destroyed them. She said she felt free once they were gone. A Buddhist man, who was very sick, said the reason he did not want to accept Jesus Christ was for fear of what the spirits would do to him if he gave total allegiance to Jesus, and also that his family may persecute him.
We are praying and planning how we can help free the millions of people in Laos who are in the spiritual prison house: I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images (Isaiah 42:6-8).
In His grace,
Andrew | Resources
| View 29 short videos (each less than ten minutes) by Andrew. Go to: www.andrewshreeve.org homepage or, www.youtube.com and type in the search box; AndrewJShreeve, and click search.
Listen to anointed audio teachings: 28 messages in English, 6 in Spanish, 3 in Mandarin, 2 in Urdu, 6 in Vietnamese, 5 in Burmese and 2 in Tamil. Go to the www.andrewshreeve.org home page – Audio Messages. The audio teaching may be freely downloaded. We are working on adding more free audio teaching, in multiple languages.
Study 17 short written teachings. Go to: www.andrewshreeve.org click on the icon, ‘Teaching’. For 78 more written teachings, click on the icon, ‘Partner Letters’. You may freely copy and print the teachings for easier study.
| Laying the Right Foundation – Part 5
Copyright © Andrew J. Shreeve 2009
| This month we are going to lay another extremely important foundation which is: having the assurance that we will go to heaven when we die. There is much wrong teaching about this subject. So and so has written a book saying, some Christians are going to hell, and a prominent pastor endorses the book, and people believe the doctrine in the book because they trust the word of man. Another writer said; God showed me a vision, taking me to heaven and hell, so that I could warn Christians they are going to hell if they don’t straighten up! These sorts of teachings make many Christians afraid and uncertain about their eternal destiny, resulting in no assurance about whether they will go to heaven or hell when they die. They think there is some doubt about their eternal destiny, because someone says; if Christians sin and don’t repent before they die they will end up in hell.
Let’s examine the idea that if a Christian sins and does not repent before they die they will go to hell. The relevant question we must ask is: is the crux, or basis, of whether a Christian will go to heaven or hell their sin, and whether they have, or have not, repented of that sin? The answer to this question is a resolute no! Sin, and the repentance and confession of sin, is an incorrect basis as to whether a born again Christian will go to heaven or hell. Faith in Jesus has already justified us before God, not continued repentance of sin. The Scripture does not repeatedly say: you are justified by repentance, but it does repeatedly say you are justified by faith. The Scripture clearly teaches that faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has remitted all our sins, and justified us before God. Take the time to study the following references concerning this issue: (Romans 3:22, 24-25, 28, 4:3, 5:1, 9, 18, 21, 10:9-10, 2 Corinthians 5:19, 21, Galatians 2:16, 21, 3:2, 5:4, 6, 6:15, Ephesians 2:8, Philippians 3:9, Colossians 2:13, Hebrews 8:12, 9:28, 10:10, 12, 17-19, 22, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 2:2, 5:11-13).
If as some mistakenly teach, repentance of sin is what merits the born again Christian eternal life, what sins must we repent of to ensure we escape the flames of hell: adultery, stealing, lying, anger, un-forgiveness, idolatry, covetousness, lust, strife, bitterness, selfishness and the list can be endless? If we look from God’s holy point of view, without the blood of Christ, every sin, small and large, is worthy of eternal separation from Him. So, if repentance of sin is the key issue concerning eternal life, we are all condemned to hell unless we get repentance and confession of sins 100% right. The problem is; we are incapable of getting confession and repentance of sin 100% perfectly right all the time. If repentance and confession of sin is what we trust in to escape hell, we have missed the Gospel of justification by faith, and the power of the finished work of the blood of Christ!
Take the example of a godly pastor, who has served the Lord in the ministry for 40 years without any ‘major’ sins. The pastor goes into a shop and is ripped off by the shop owner with a dodgy product. The pastor becomes angry, and uncharacteristically loses his cool. He walks out of the shop holding bitterness, un-forgiveness and anger in his heart, and as he walks across the road is knocked over and killed by a speeding car. Make no mistake; this godly pastor was in sin, and he had not repented of that sin before he died. The question is; will God send this pastor the heaven, or hell?
Well according to the ‘you must repent’ doctrine, this pastor would end up in hell, as he died with unrepentant sin in his heart. Now let me add at this point, I believe in repentance. Firstly we need to repent, to change direction and accept Jesus as our Lord, to become born again into God’s kingdom. Secondly, as Christians, when we sin we should feel the offence this brings to the Holy Spirit, and we should repent of the sin and restore our fellowship with the Lord. But the issue is; does our eternal destiny hinge on the need for our continual confession and repentance of our daily sins?
1 John 1:8 says; “if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So if we all have sin to some measure, repentance of sin is something we should all be doing quite frequently. And then there are the sins we are unaware of, the small imperfections in our thinking and reactions to daily circumstances. These many sins we may never specifically repent of. To say we have to specifically repent of and confess every sin to avoid hell is actually an impossible task. If our eternal life depended upon it, we would be spending all our time asking for forgiveness to ensure we are secure ‘up to the minute’. This is bondage and nonsense!
It is clear that if you hold to the “I must repent of every sin, or I will go to hell” doctrine, you have no assurance of eternal life. You will live in uncertainty, fear, doubt, and insecurity, even if you are trying your best to be a good Christian. For many years as a Christian I felt a little insecure as to whether I would really make it to heaven. I knew I was not perfect, and I wondered if God would accept me when I died. It was very tormenting!
Well I thank the Lord I found the assurance of the truth that God accepts me based on my faith in Christ. It is faith that justifies me before God, not repeated confession of sin: therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). I now know, without any doubt that God will accept me into heaven based on faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus has dealt with the sin issue. He has remitted all my sins, past, present and future (Hebrews 10:14). I am accepted in the beloved! What a joyous freedom to know we don’t have to fear whether or not we have repented enough. Yes, I do repent, I repented yesterday. But the repentance was based on sorrow that I have done the wrong thing against God and others. I want to clear all that up with the Lord so I can be intimate with Him and there is nothing between us. My repentance is not based on a fear that God will reject me. Rather, on a reverence for God (Proverbs 1:7), and a desire to be clean and holy in my heart, so I can see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). But even with my sins and imperfections, I now never waver in my faith. I know in my heart that my faith in Jesus’ blood has forever dealt with all my sins, unto my eternal justification.
Pray with me; “Lord I thank you that Jesus has taken away all my sins. I thank you for the assurance of your Word which says; if I believe on Jesus I have eternal life (John 3:16). Lord, I know I will never be perfect on this earth, but I know I am your child through faith in Christ. I know that Jesus’ blood was shed so that I could be acceptable to you, by grace, through faith. I remove all thought that you will reject me because of my sins. I know Jesus’ blood has fully paid the penalty for all my sins. I hold to my faith in Jesus regardless of how many times I fail. Jesus you will forever be my Saviour and Lord. I will forever be in gratitude for your mercy and grace, in Jesus Christ name; Amen!” |
Itinerary
(For security, some aspects of this itinerary maybe undisclosed. The itinerary is subject to change without notice).
23 June – 14 July 09 Laos 31 July Home Group Teaching, Penang, Malaysia 2 August Church Meeting, Penang, Malaysia 6 August Australia | | | | | | | | ANDREW SHREEVE MINISTRIES
‘Bringing good tidings, publishing peace and salvation’ (Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15) | |
