Studying "Don't Let the Sins of Yesterday Keep You from Serving Jesus Today"

Evangelism:
The Time Is Now!

Section 4, Chapter 8

Don’t Let the Sins of Yesterday
Keep You From
Serving Jesus Today

Page 1 of 2 pages
Study Questions

What is the worse sin you have ever committed as a born again Christian? Some of you have committed the sin of sexual immorality in the past. Have you ever murdered someone as a Christian? What is the worse sin you have ever committed? King David as a believer committed both of the above sins. Yet despite this, God said about David that he was a man after His own heart who would do all his will.122

If David committed the sins mentioned above, then how could God make such a statement about David. Well, obviously it was not because David was the perfect believer or because he never blew it as grossly as is possible to blow it. God said this about David because no matter how bad he blew it, or how far at times he got away from God, he never stopped trying to live for God. David never allowed the sins of yesterday to keep him from doing the will of God today.

Some of you think your sins of the past are so bad that God can never forgive you or use your life again. But what does the Bible tell us about what became of David because of the grossness of his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba and killing her husband Uriah?123 First, David repented of his sin. After God pointed out to David through the prophet Nathan that his sins did not go unnoticed, David said, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan then said to David after he acknowledged his sin to God and man, "The Lord also has taken away your sin."124

God forgave David for his sins. God’s plan for David did not change. He was still called to be King over Israel. God did, however, still have to discipline David for his sin. Why? Because David had gotten lacks in his relationship with God. He started making decisions without seeking the counsel of God first.

Israel was at war at the time, but instead of David being with his men on the front, he was instead day-dreaming on the roof of his palace where he was open to Satan’s temptations. He had stopped seeking God about how he should be using his time and life. So, yes, God had to re-discipline David so he would only act out of God’s initiative and not his own. Only a man who only acts out of God’s initiative in obedience to God’s Word can rule God’s people justly. David had to learn to only use his time as God was leading him and be diligent in his service to God, but God’s plan for his life had not changed. God’s plan for David was still to be King over Israel.

Several years ago, 1975, God told me to do something with my life and I did not obey Him. I was a good Christian from appearance sake. I went to church, I read my Bible daily, I shared my faith with others whether they wanted to hear it or not, I wasn’t doing anything immoral, but I did not do at the time with my life what God wanted me to do. I disobeyed Him. The Prophet Samuel said as God’s spokesman that "Rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry."125 The Bible puts rebellion right up there with witchcraft, adultery, fornication and murder. Many Christians today try to convince themselves they are okay, I go to church and Sunday School. I pay my tithes regularly. The only thing they do not do is what God wants them to do with their lives.

That was the condition I was in. I was religious, but not doing with my life at the time what God was calling me to do. This is what Jesus was talking about when he said, "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven."126 During this time God asked me to do something in relation to where he wanted me to live at the time. He was asking me to move into an unpleasant situation. It wasn’t that I did not want to obey God, I just couldn’t get over some of the fears about it I was having at the time.

When I did not obey what God wanted me to do in this matter, everything in my life came to a stand still. I could not succeed in school no matter how hard I tried. I finally dropped out of school, borrowed some money and went into a gardening business.

I had had a gardening business before and had made good money at it, but what normally took me forty-five minutes to do was now taking me three hours and there was no logical reason for it. This went on for four months until I was deeper in the hole than when I started.

One day I was sitting in a restaurant eating lunch and reading the Bible when I read the following verse: As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.127 I prayed to myself, Jesus, what does this passage really mean? He answered back to me through the Holy Spirit,

Dale, when you confess your sin, not only do I forgive you for your sin, but I remove it infinitely before me so that the way I relate to you is just as if you had never committed the sin in the first place.

In other words, even though I had not obeyed him and temporarily this brought his will and plan for my life to a stand still, His will for my life did not change. What I needed to do was confess my disobedience and go back and do what he had called me to do. The Apostle Paul wrote about love in 1 Corinthians 13:5 that love "does not take into account a wrong suffered." In other words, God’s relating to us and His plan for our lives is not effected by offenses of the past when once confessed and repented of. God’s plan for our lives remains the same.

I came to realize that God loved me, that he forgave me and that He was just waiting for me to repent and do with my life what he was calling me to do. I did obey Him and go back and do what He had told me to do. Jesus, talking through the Apostle John, said,

"Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent." (Rev 3:2-3)

Some of you think that you have so blown it in the past that God can no longer use you or wants to use your life. God’s love for you never changes. It is a matter of you turning back to him. Because His plan for your life never changes, he is waiting for you to not only return to him, but to fulfill what he has called you to do in the first place. He is not interested in your failures of the past. I’ve got news for you. It won’t be the last time. He wants you to accept His forgiveness and to forgive yourself and to stop letting the sins of yesterday keep you from doing His will today. He loves you. Jesus was already punished for your sins. Every time you use your past failures as an excuse to not do God’s will today, you rob Jesus of what he suffered for you on the cross. Jesus loves you. He forgives you. He is waiting for you to return to Him so he can continue His plan and purpose for your life.

Confess Your Sins

How do you return to him? First, confess your sin or sins to Jesus and accept his forgiveness as an automatic fact according to 1 John 1:9 which states, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Resurrender to Jesus as Lord

Second, you then need to resurrender to Jesus as Lord, remake Him Lord of your life. Just pray:

Jesus, I resurrender the Lordship of my life to You and ask You to refill me with Your Holy Spirit, to retake control of my life and to continue to lead me into your will and plan for my life. By faith thank You that it is done according to Your promise to answer any prayer that is according to Your will, in Your name, Jesus, amen.

Accept that He has by faith, not by feelings, because He promises to answer any prayer that is according to His will, and according to Ephesians 5:18 and 1 John 5:14-15 it is His will that you allow Him to be Lord of your life.

Repent of Your Sins

Third, you need to repent of your sins and cry to Jesus for his deliverance from the power of these sins over your soul and flesh. You need to either stop doing what he doesn’t want you to do or go back and do what he has called you to do. You need to stop letting the sins of yesterday keep you from doing the will of God today. You need to stop using the sins of yesterday as an excuse to not do God’s will today. In light of God’s forgiveness, it is not an excuse according to His Word.

Secondly, You need to get down on Your knees and cry to Jesus for his deliverance from the power of these sins over your soul and flesh. Until the resurrection, our soul and flesh are still corrupted by sin and under the power of sin. You cannot overcome sins power through will power. This is because your will, your volition is your soul and your soul is under the power of sin. For this reason Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. The writer of 1 Chronicles and Psalms wrote, Seek Yehovah and His strength, seek His face continually (1 Chron 16:11, Ps 105:4). When you are having a repetitious problem with sin, you need to do more than just confess your sin and thank Jesus for his forgiveness, you need to also get down on your knees and cry to Him for His deliverance from the power of that sin over your soul and flesh. Jesus promises us in 2 Thessalonians 3:3 "But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one."

Depending on what your propensity to sin is, you will find that no matter how long you are a Christian, you will need to do this regularly. I have sin problems I have struggled with for as long as I have been a Christian: 34 years. I find that I need to at least once a week get down on my knees and cry out to Jesus for His deliverance from the power of these sins.

Remove Objects of Temptation

Fourth, remove any objects or things which tempted you and led you to sin in the first place. Demonic forces attach themselves to the unclean objects through which you were tempted to sin in the first place. The presence of these objects will keep you from having victory over sins confessed and repented of. Until the resurrection and transformation of our souls and bodies, the power of sin remains over us especially through these unclean objects. (Deut 7:25-26, 1 Cor 10:19-20, Exodus 32:19-20)

Some obvious examples of objects through which Satan has access to our souls and flesh are porno magazines, liquor, unclean videos and music CD’s, satanic cult games and books, astrology books and prediction charts, etcetera. What ever these objects are that relate to the weakness of your soul and flesh, stimulate and energize your soul and flesh to sin and keep you in bondage to those sins. You will have to pray and ask the Lord to make plain to you what these objects are. When you know, remove them. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:22, "Abstain from every form of evil." When Jesus returns to the earth, Peter in 2 Peter 3:10 tells us the first thing Jesus will do is burn up the earth and its works with fire,

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up."

This is because the works of godless men made in the earth encourage and stimulate man’s soul and flesh to draw away from God and to sin. Therefore, when Jesus returns, His first priority of importance is to remove these objects of stumbling from man and heaven’s presence. In light of this, Peter concludes in 2 Peter 3:11-12,

"Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!"

Command Unclean Spirits to Leave

Fifth, bind and command to leave any unclean spirits related to your sins confessed and repented of. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 10:8, "He who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks a hedge a serpent will bite him." Satan has no power over us other than the power we give him through sin. Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." We have problems with sin in certain areas because this is the propensity of our soul and flesh. Satan knows this and so he assigns demonic forces to hound, harass and tempt us in these areas of our soul and flesh. When we finally give into these demonic temptations and then surrender our soul and flesh to sin, it then results in the attachment of these unclean spirits who make sure we stay in bondage to these sins.

This is why, first, we need to cry to Jesus for his deliverance from the power of sin over our soul and flesh. But then, second, we need to also exercise our authority as believers to bind the unclean spirits which have attached themselves to us as a result of our sin and command them in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to leave and never come back. When you do this they have to leave because Jesus gave us complete authority over unclean spirits. Jesus said in Luke 10:19, "Behold, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and nothing shall injure you." However, this authority is only available to you if you have taken the first four steps of confessing your sins, resurrending to Jesus as Lord, and repenting of your sins with the help of Jesus Strength and power which includes cleansing your life of any objects through which Satan has tempted you to sin in the first place. James, the brother of Jesus, writes in the book of James 4:7-8,

"Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-souled."

To be completely free of demonic influence, harassment and control, You must sit down and write down every known sin of your past asking the Holy Spirit to help you remember; especially any involvement with the occult in the past; any sexual sins of the past; and any sins of inheritance, sins of your fathers which has led to demonic influence in your life through your blood line. You need to confess them to God one by one receiving God’s forgiveness and cleansing of them by faith through Jesus’ death and shed blood on the cross. The only basis for deliverance from oppression, harassment and possession is true repentance. Repentance involves one, confessing our sins to God; two, making right our wrongs confessed; and then, three, bringing forth fruit: continued changed behavior in keeping with repentance. This is the Bible’s meaning of repentance. See Matthew 3:1-12 and Luke 3:1-14. If you do not do this, you will have no authority over unclean spirits and they will not go away.

Once you have confessed and repented of your sins, the next step is to then verbally out loud denounce Satan in Jesus’ name in relation to any occult involvement however innocent. This would involve things like going to psychics or séances, using Ouija boards, having your fortune told, the practice of casting spells or incantations of any kind. These are all occult practices. If you have done any of these, these are doorways to demonic influence and even possession. You must confess them to God, apply Jesus’ blood and then verbally denounce Satan for each one of them.

Next, you need to then bind any unclean spirits related to each sin confessed and in Jesus’ name command them to be gone from you forever. You then by faith must accept that they are gone according to Jesus’ promise in Luke 10:19. You must accept this by faith, not as a feeling. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by appearance." God’s word is our authority, not what we feel. You must accept the truthfulness of God’s promises in His Word regardless of how you feel and believe by faith they are gone. Joshua wrote in Joshua 21:45 "Not one of the good promises which Yehovah had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass." Pray like this:

In Jesus’ name Satan I bind you, I bind you hindering forces, I bind you spirits of the prince of the air, I bind you evil forces; In Jesus’ name I bind you. . . (name the specific unclean spirits related to each sin confessed). I command you all to take your hands off of my life, off of my home, off of my family and everyone else who lives here, off of my place of employment and fellow employees. In Jesus’ name and His shed blood I command you to be gone forever! You shall not come back in Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s name, amen.

In the previous Chapter under the subtitle "How to Stay Free of Sin" I explain how to stay free of sin once it is confessed and repented of. You need to read this if you have not already. For a more in depth study of what we have just discussed about deliverance out of the occult, I strongly recommend and urge you to get and read Rebecca Brown’s book titled Becoming a Vessel of Honor.133