In reading God's Word we must seek help of God's Holy Spirit. We need to understand the context in which verses are written. It is always good compare scripture with scripture. There are many people who quote scripture in order to justify their stance.

God's Word can also be read like a story without any revelation from God's spirit. In I Corinthians 2:14 we read that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them them, because they are spiritually discerned." This is the way it was before I was born again I could read the Bible and would not change my heart. Now the scripture is alive, it convicts, encourages, strengthens and guides me.

Paul's letters

We read in apostle Peter's second letter (2 Peter 3:15,16), that many people were twisting Paul's letter to mean something other that what he had written. But he mentions this was for their own destruction. So we need to be discerning that we don't twist scripture or take heed to others who do. God's Word was mishandled and misquoted in the first century and it is still being done in the 21st century.

Misquoting of Scripture

We are not saved by merely reading the scriptures. There are a lot of people who read the Bible who are not born again. We know that the devil knows the Bible. In Luke 4:10, 11 the devil quotes scriptures to Jesus

"For it is written, He shall give his angels in charge over thee. And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest an any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."

This scripture is found in Psalm 91:11,12. If you read the whole chapter you can see how God shares his protection for those who are trusting in Him. (Psalm 91:14). The devil uses the same scripture that God meant for good, for evil. The devil asked Jesus to jump from the temple for the scriptures say the angels would protect him. The devil was quoting the scripture with a wrong intent but Jesus didn't take heed to what the devil said and neither should we.

Conviction vs. Condemnation

We must understand the distinction between conviction of the Holy Spirit and the accusation of the devil. In John 16:8 we read "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment", the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, He makes us aware of our sins in order that we would repent from our sins and receive His forgiveness. The devil accuses God's children day and night (Revelation 12:10). When we confess our sins to God and ask God to forgive us, He does (I John 1:9) but the enemy continues to try to accuse us and condemn us. We must trust what God's Word says over our feelings.

God warns us in many places in scripture so that we don't return back to our old lifestyle. We need to obey the warnings God has given us, at the same time we need to be careful that the enemy does not use the same Word God used as a warning for condemnation. In order that we don't fall in this danger we need to see God's heart when we read through scripture. There are verses in scripture the enemy tries to use to discourage and accuse believers. This particular article has been written to encourage those whom the enemy has been discouraging and accusing, so that they may turn from their sins and run to God for forgiveness, hope and encouragement. God has given us warnings in scripture so that after God has saved us from sin that we would return into a lifestyle of sin, where our hearts are hard and we don't turn to God in repentance.

One such warning is given in Hebrews 10:26
"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. "

This goes in parallel with the verses given in Hebrew 6:4-6, that talks about the person who after coming to know God's salvation and having tasted God's goodness and decides to turn back to the world that it is impossible for such a person to repent again and receive God's salvation again.

The above verses warns us to take sin seriously, that we don't choose to live sinfully. God's asks us not to live in sin, some of the verses are I John 3:6, I John 2:1, Romans 6:1. But sometimes when we fall into a sin and we confess our sin to the Lord, repent from our sin and receive God's forgiveness the enemy sometimes uses scriptures such Hebrews 10:26 to condemn us and tell us that there is no more hope.

When we have sinned, we need to repent and confess our sins to God (I John 1:9), we shouldn't say we haven't sinned, pretend that we didn't do anything wrong or blame someone else. We need to confess our sins and repent of it. God then forgives our sins and says He doesn't remember them any more (Hebrews 10:17).

God forgiveness is so precious, Jesus suffered and died to so that our sins could be forgiven. Some people however instead of being thankful to God for forgiving them of their sins, decide to continue to live in sin. They reason it out saying now that we can ask God to forgive us, so let's keep living in sin. Paul in Romans 6:1 says God forbid we should take God's grace in vain like that and continue to live in sin. God has saved us that we would not live for this world any longer (I Peter 4:2). In Hebrews 10:29, the continuation of Hebrews 10:26 talks about the people who take God's sacrifice, mercy and grace in vain. These are the people who don't value the price paid for their sins. These are those who don't want to repent from their sins but want to live in sin. They don't realize that God's mercy and kindness is meant to bring us closer to Him and for us to turn from our sins, not a license to sin! So Hebrews 10:26 is a warning to us so that we shouldn't misuse God's grace but rather to be grateful for what He has done for us and turn to Him with repentant hearts.

We must remember that when we have turned from our sins and asked God to forgive us that He forgives and doesn't condemn us. We must remember He justifies us and makes us as if we had never sinned.
In John 3:17 we read that God didn't send his Son into the world to condemn it but to save the world.
Once we start following the Lord somehow the enemy make us to believe that the Lord has changed His mind and now wants to try and find ways to condemn us. We should put our trust in God's word and not our feelings.
In Romans 8:34 "Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us."

If you have sinned and you are willing to repent (turn from you sin), confess your sins to God, He is ready and willing to forgive you of your sins.

If you are reading this and you feel that you are living a sinful lifestyle and you don't want to turn from your sins, God's Word warns of the seriousness of sin and it's consequences. And I persuade you that you would consider your ways and turn from your sin for there is a day when you will have to give account of your entire life before God. (Hebrews 9:27)
2 Corinthians 5:11 - "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;"