Do You Agree That This Is Repentance?
What does it mean to repent of one's sins? The Greek word for repent is metanoesate. It means to change one's mind for better. To amend with abhorrence of one's past sins. One word that I want to zoom in on that was previously stated is the word abhorrence. It means to be disgusted with the sins that you had done in the past. You should despise those sins, so much so that it causes you to turn from them and turn to God.
Romans 12:2," And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
This scripture shows us that we should not be conformed to this world. In other words, we should not allow ourselves to be made in the image of the world. It is true that there is only one potter, and we are the clay, but as corrupt as the human nature is, we can make anything a potter to form us. Therefore if one can make the world his potter, then what kind of image would that potter form his masterpiece? The answer to that is sin.
Galatians 5:19-21," Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The scriptures say that he who is a friend of this world is the enemy of the God. He is a consuming fire, and he will destroy his adversaries. According to the book of Hebrews,
It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Without Christ, falling into Gods hands is truly a horrific thing to experience. You want to fall into Gods hands redeemed by the blood of Jesus so that God can lavish his love on you, and show you his grace. Allow yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Philippians 4:8," Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
We can have a mind full of peace and security when we dwell of think on these things. When our minds are at peace, we are at peace, and we will be able to live in peace. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus. Let Christ take over your mind, and let him perform the work of conforming you in his image.
The bible states that we should love the Lord our God with all our being. We should treat our bodies as temples of Gods Holy Spirit. Love the Lord because out of the heart comes the issues of life. If the Lord is in your heart, the issues that comes out of your heart will be good and full of God.
Proverbs 23:7," For as he thinks within himself, so is he. He says to you eat and drink! But his heart is not with you."
Your heart is the real you. What you do shows the condition of your heart. Jesus reveals more of this in great detail.
Mark 7:15, 20-23," There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. And he was saying that which proceeds out of the man, this is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
From the heart all these come. These are what makes you unclean. When you think unclean, you do unclean; therefore you are unclean. Man looks on the outside, God looks on the heart. In the book of Genesis, It is stated that God became angry with humanity because every thought of their heart was consistently wicked.
Everything that the people done was evil. Since their heart was evil, they were evil, for they would do what is evil. Therefore God destroyed them all except Noah and his family, for Noah was a righteous man, and he and his family were spared from Gods wrath. I tell you the truth, even in Gods wrath, there is still mercy, The prophet Ezekiel revealed this mercy toward us.
Ezekiel 18:21-23, 31-32," But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all my statues and practices, justice, and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord, rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares of the Lord God. Therefore, repent and live."
God, in his loving and concerning nature asked Israel a question,"Why will you die"? The Lord makes it clear that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The Lord is not a God who sits on his throne waiting to throw someone in hell. He is a God that looks to redeem you from sin and bring you close to him. Repent and live.... this is what the Lord says and wants. He asks humanity as a whole the same question," Why will you die? He does not want us to die, but to live forever.
Let's take a look at verse 31,"cast away all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a clean heart and a new spirit. When David confessed his sin of adultery in Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. We can ask God for the same thing when we are in the act of repentance. It truly pleases God to see us repent and come to faith in him. Do not make God do to you what he does not take pleasure in doing. He does not want to punish humans because eternal torment was not prepared for us.
Matthew 25:41," Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels."
Humans were originally created to walk with God, to experience his love, and to enjoy dominion over all the earth. It will grieve Christ to have to cast someone into eternal darkness with the horrific phrase," Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you." Those who practice sin will be told to depart from the Lord Jesus forever. We should give thanks to God for his extreme patience toward humanity.
2 Peter 3:9," The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance."
God does not want anyone to perish. He wants humans to live and come to repentance. His patience is just so precious. He is willing to give us all of him if we just come to him in true repentance.
Romans 2:4," Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
We see that his kindness leads to repentance. Think about this. The Lord in all his sovereignty could take us out at anytime, yet in his loving kindness he is willing to save us forever through his son Jesus. There are people in this world who are destroying their bodies. They came near death many times over, but there is a reason why God hasn't taken their life. He wants them to see and experience his kindness that leads to repentance.
According to the bible, there are two types of sorrows:
2 Corinthians 7:10," For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but sorrow of the world produces death."
We see that there is the sorrow of that leads to repentance, and there is the sorrow that leads to death. When you have a true abhorrence of you sins and turn from them, you will have Godly sorrow. You will never return to your former sins. You will have become a new creature in Jesus. You put your old self to death, and produced a new man. But the sorrow of the world is sin.
Romans 6:23," For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Sin is what gives birth to the death of our bodies, and our souls. The bible says the soul that sins shall die. Sin brings the wrath of God on the sons of disobedience. Sin has to be punished, and its not allowed in Gods kingdom.
His eyes are too holy to even look upon sin, and it will not be in his holy presence. The bible states that God hates sin as well as the sinner. Now before I move ahead, I want to make something clear. Christians used to be sinners, but not anymore. The word "sinner" has to do with practicing sin. But how is this so?
1 John 3:9," No one who is born of God practices sin, because his seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
As you can see, no believer in Christ practices sin. This is not saying that Christians don't sin, because we do sin and are not perfect. The bible says he who says he is without sin is a liar, and the truth is not in him, and he also makes God out to be a liar. In truth, there is no such thing as a homosexual Christian, murderous Christian, or adulterous Christian. Those who practices these things are no Christians at all.
Now lets move on about God hating. Someone asked me this," How can God hate, I thought he was love"? While it is true that God loves, you cannot exclude the other side of God. People have a tendency of just looking at God is love, but they purposely don't want to see the fact that God is wrathful, avenging, and just, and a judge. Read the below scriptures carefully and slowly.
Psalm 5:5," The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all who do iniquity."
Psalm 11:5," The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence his soul hates."
Hosea 9:15," All their evil is at Gigal; indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds. I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels."
Psalm 45:7," You have loved righteousness and hates wickedness; therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows."
God hates all those who practice sin. For God has said in Malachi:
Malachi 1:2-3," I have loved you says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Declares the Lord, yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hates Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness."
God loved Jacob, but hated his brother Esau. The Lord also says he has mercy and compassion on whomever he wants. But understand that God's hate is different than man's hate. How is this so? Man hates out of selfishness and evil, and the stain of sin. God hates out of his perfect nature. God does not and cannot sin.
Therefore he hates sin and those who practice it. Its stated in the bible that God is a jealous God, why is that? It is because people want to worship false gods that does not even exist, and God does not like that. It is the same thing as worshiping non existence, when you have the living God to worship. He hates that, and he hates those who practice idol worship.
Sin is a stench in Gods nostrils; it stinks horribly to him. Soon he will have to take out the trash. Do not be apart of the trash he will have to take out in the future. God can hate and love at the same time. He loved us and sent his son Jesus. Whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. How can one reject such wonderful salvation of the Lord.
Many people like to use the argument that God only hates in the Old testament, but now we are under the New Testament. That's a nice try, but little did they know that Gods nature does not change for anything or anyone. If God hated in the OT he still hates in the NT, For it is stated in Malachi that God changes not.
I tell you the truth. If God had not hate in the OT, but only love, no one would argue that, and God would carry that love over in the NT, but humans just cannot see the whole of God. As I made clear earlier, just because God hates sinners, does not mean he does not love them and withhold Jesus from them. God sent Jesus to die for them and them only, for the righteous does not need a savior.
I tell you, you do not want to get on Gods bad side, for he is angry with the wicked everyday. He laughs at them according to the book of psalm, because he knows that their day is coming for them to be destroyed. Please know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the father without going through Jesus FIRST. God is so willing to lavish his love on all of mankind, but they have to come through Jesus to experience that lavishness.
Now what about those who are of false repentance? The scriptures make it clear.
Matthew 7:21-23," 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 will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform miracles? And then I will say to them, I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness."
Titus 1:16," They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed."
1 John 1:6," If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
1 John 2:3-4," by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. The one who says I have come to know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
No human can fool God, for he is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap. Those who say they know God, yet does not follow his
commandments, has made God a liar, and the truth is not in him. There are thousands of people who call themselves Christians, but they are unrepentant at heart.
They don't have love for people, or for God. Jesus said," You people honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me." They are worshiping the Lord in vain. We must follow the Lords commandments.
Matthew 22:37, 39," And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." The second is like, you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
When you do these two, you sum up the Law that is in the Old testament. If you love God, you will not worship other gods, or you would not murder. If you love your neighbor you would not take his or her spouse. You would not murder them. When you follow these laws it justifies your faith. Faith without works is dead.
For how can you say I have faith and not have works to justify it? And how can you have works and don't have the right faith to prove it? Doing these commandments is a process. You have to grow in them so you can become mature. If you lack love for people, ask God to give you love for them. If you lack a little love for God, ask him to give you love for him. He knows that we are dust, and is weak. He will help us if we come to him by faith.
Let's take a look at some great men of the bible who sinned, and then demonstrated true repentance. Lets start off with the God chaser himself.... David. He was a man after Gods own heart. He sought the very being of God. He sung and wrote about the Lords love, kindness, truth, laws, and his hate towards sinners, and their sin. Yet David had some weaknesses. He was a man of war, and a murderer.
I tell you the truth, thank God for mercy, because even though David sinned the way he did, God knew him intimately, and as a friend. In fact. The book of acts makes it clear that God looked over the ignorance of mankind back in the OT, now he calls all men to repent. Its not saying that God didnt care for other mens repentance, but it was for the mere fact that Messiah had no come yet. Thank God for Jesus. Lets get back to David. Now the sin that caused David to write psalm 51 was the sin of adultery with Bathsheba.
He was on the roof of his palace when he saw Bathsheba cleaning herself. The keyword to address is the word "looked". This triggered the lust of the eyes. David sent for her, and he had sex with her. His action to the look was the lust of the flesh. David perceived the sin, and he acted upon it.David had done evil in the sight of the Lord, but God did not take his life. He took the life of the child that Bathsheba bore to him. God said he would cause evil to rise up in David's own household. David felt so terrible because of this. He knew what he had to do before it got any worse than it had already been, and that was to repent.
In Psalm 51:10, he asked the Lord to create in him a clean heart, to restore the joy of salvation and to not take the Holy Spirit away from him. Notice that David asked God to create in him a clean heart. For it is the heart that brings forth the issues of life. Sin is conceived in the heart before it comes out into deeds or words. But again, under all of David's sorrows, there was still that pursuit of Gods precious heart. I tell you the truth, that's the way to a good life.
Next, we have the man that said," wretched man that I am." His name was Paul. He persecuted the church of God, and had many killed who followed "the way"... Jesus Christ. Paul had stephen stoned to death, and he showed no mercy. But little did Paul knew, the very church he wanted to murder and destroy, he became apart of it.
After the stoning of Stephen, Paul went on his way to Damascus to complete the mission of destroying the Christians and the church. He was accompanied by fellow partners, when all of a sudden, Paul saw a bright light. He heard a voice that said,"Saul, Saul... why are you persecuting me"? Keep in mind that the bible makes it clear that those who contend with the people of God, they contend with God himself.
Now Paul was blinded, and was commanded to go see Ananias so he can heal him of the blindness. After Paul completed that mission, he was full of the Holy Spirit and started to proclaim the way, the truth, and the life—Jesus Christ. The former blasphemer, persecutor, and violent aggressor had been given mercy because he acted ignorantly in unbelief.
Thank God for Paul. We can learn from these two men of God. When they sinned, they truly repented and God restored them. They grew in their faith and became stronger than ever because of the trials.
CONCLUSION
Jesus truly reveals God fatherly love in Luke 15. He showed us the father in the parable of the prodigal son. One of the father's sons left home to go roll around with the pigs of the world. He realized that that life was not for him; so he returned to his father's house in true repentance.
When the father saw his son, the father's heart filled with compassion and he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. The son confessed to his father, and the father told his servants to pick out the best robe and put it on him. They killed a calf and celebrated. That's a great father to have, and that is a picture of the heavenly father.
To have a God like this is just awesome. Angels rejoice when they see humans repent of their sins and turn to God. He is so good. When our parents abandon us, he will take care of us. Come and see this wonderful father. He is waiting for you. Do not accept his eternal punishment. Its not meant for you. Come and taste that the Lord is good. REPENT AND LIVE!!
Romans 12:2," And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
This scripture shows us that we should not be conformed to this world. In other words, we should not allow ourselves to be made in the image of the world. It is true that there is only one potter, and we are the clay, but as corrupt as the human nature is, we can make anything a potter to form us. Therefore if one can make the world his potter, then what kind of image would that potter form his masterpiece? The answer to that is sin.
Galatians 5:19-21," Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The scriptures say that he who is a friend of this world is the enemy of the God. He is a consuming fire, and he will destroy his adversaries. According to the book of Hebrews,
It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Without Christ, falling into Gods hands is truly a horrific thing to experience. You want to fall into Gods hands redeemed by the blood of Jesus so that God can lavish his love on you, and show you his grace. Allow yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Philippians 4:8," Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
We can have a mind full of peace and security when we dwell of think on these things. When our minds are at peace, we are at peace, and we will be able to live in peace. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus. Let Christ take over your mind, and let him perform the work of conforming you in his image.
The bible states that we should love the Lord our God with all our being. We should treat our bodies as temples of Gods Holy Spirit. Love the Lord because out of the heart comes the issues of life. If the Lord is in your heart, the issues that comes out of your heart will be good and full of God.
Proverbs 23:7," For as he thinks within himself, so is he. He says to you eat and drink! But his heart is not with you."
Your heart is the real you. What you do shows the condition of your heart. Jesus reveals more of this in great detail.
Mark 7:15, 20-23," There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. And he was saying that which proceeds out of the man, this is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
From the heart all these come. These are what makes you unclean. When you think unclean, you do unclean; therefore you are unclean. Man looks on the outside, God looks on the heart. In the book of Genesis, It is stated that God became angry with humanity because every thought of their heart was consistently wicked.
Everything that the people done was evil. Since their heart was evil, they were evil, for they would do what is evil. Therefore God destroyed them all except Noah and his family, for Noah was a righteous man, and he and his family were spared from Gods wrath. I tell you the truth, even in Gods wrath, there is still mercy, The prophet Ezekiel revealed this mercy toward us.
Ezekiel 18:21-23, 31-32," But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all my statues and practices, justice, and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord, rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares of the Lord God. Therefore, repent and live."
God, in his loving and concerning nature asked Israel a question,"Why will you die"? The Lord makes it clear that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The Lord is not a God who sits on his throne waiting to throw someone in hell. He is a God that looks to redeem you from sin and bring you close to him. Repent and live.... this is what the Lord says and wants. He asks humanity as a whole the same question," Why will you die? He does not want us to die, but to live forever.
Let's take a look at verse 31,"cast away all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a clean heart and a new spirit. When David confessed his sin of adultery in Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. We can ask God for the same thing when we are in the act of repentance. It truly pleases God to see us repent and come to faith in him. Do not make God do to you what he does not take pleasure in doing. He does not want to punish humans because eternal torment was not prepared for us.
Matthew 25:41," Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels."
Humans were originally created to walk with God, to experience his love, and to enjoy dominion over all the earth. It will grieve Christ to have to cast someone into eternal darkness with the horrific phrase," Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you." Those who practice sin will be told to depart from the Lord Jesus forever. We should give thanks to God for his extreme patience toward humanity.
2 Peter 3:9," The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance."
God does not want anyone to perish. He wants humans to live and come to repentance. His patience is just so precious. He is willing to give us all of him if we just come to him in true repentance.
Romans 2:4," Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
We see that his kindness leads to repentance. Think about this. The Lord in all his sovereignty could take us out at anytime, yet in his loving kindness he is willing to save us forever through his son Jesus. There are people in this world who are destroying their bodies. They came near death many times over, but there is a reason why God hasn't taken their life. He wants them to see and experience his kindness that leads to repentance.
According to the bible, there are two types of sorrows:
2 Corinthians 7:10," For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but sorrow of the world produces death."
We see that there is the sorrow of that leads to repentance, and there is the sorrow that leads to death. When you have a true abhorrence of you sins and turn from them, you will have Godly sorrow. You will never return to your former sins. You will have become a new creature in Jesus. You put your old self to death, and produced a new man. But the sorrow of the world is sin.
Romans 6:23," For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Sin is what gives birth to the death of our bodies, and our souls. The bible says the soul that sins shall die. Sin brings the wrath of God on the sons of disobedience. Sin has to be punished, and its not allowed in Gods kingdom.
His eyes are too holy to even look upon sin, and it will not be in his holy presence. The bible states that God hates sin as well as the sinner. Now before I move ahead, I want to make something clear. Christians used to be sinners, but not anymore. The word "sinner" has to do with practicing sin. But how is this so?
1 John 3:9," No one who is born of God practices sin, because his seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
As you can see, no believer in Christ practices sin. This is not saying that Christians don't sin, because we do sin and are not perfect. The bible says he who says he is without sin is a liar, and the truth is not in him, and he also makes God out to be a liar. In truth, there is no such thing as a homosexual Christian, murderous Christian, or adulterous Christian. Those who practices these things are no Christians at all.
Now lets move on about God hating. Someone asked me this," How can God hate, I thought he was love"? While it is true that God loves, you cannot exclude the other side of God. People have a tendency of just looking at God is love, but they purposely don't want to see the fact that God is wrathful, avenging, and just, and a judge. Read the below scriptures carefully and slowly.
Psalm 5:5," The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all who do iniquity."
Psalm 11:5," The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence his soul hates."
Hosea 9:15," All their evil is at Gigal; indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds. I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels."
Psalm 45:7," You have loved righteousness and hates wickedness; therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows."
God hates all those who practice sin. For God has said in Malachi:
Malachi 1:2-3," I have loved you says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Declares the Lord, yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hates Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness."
God loved Jacob, but hated his brother Esau. The Lord also says he has mercy and compassion on whomever he wants. But understand that God's hate is different than man's hate. How is this so? Man hates out of selfishness and evil, and the stain of sin. God hates out of his perfect nature. God does not and cannot sin.
Therefore he hates sin and those who practice it. Its stated in the bible that God is a jealous God, why is that? It is because people want to worship false gods that does not even exist, and God does not like that. It is the same thing as worshiping non existence, when you have the living God to worship. He hates that, and he hates those who practice idol worship.
Sin is a stench in Gods nostrils; it stinks horribly to him. Soon he will have to take out the trash. Do not be apart of the trash he will have to take out in the future. God can hate and love at the same time. He loved us and sent his son Jesus. Whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. How can one reject such wonderful salvation of the Lord.
Many people like to use the argument that God only hates in the Old testament, but now we are under the New Testament. That's a nice try, but little did they know that Gods nature does not change for anything or anyone. If God hated in the OT he still hates in the NT, For it is stated in Malachi that God changes not.
I tell you the truth. If God had not hate in the OT, but only love, no one would argue that, and God would carry that love over in the NT, but humans just cannot see the whole of God. As I made clear earlier, just because God hates sinners, does not mean he does not love them and withhold Jesus from them. God sent Jesus to die for them and them only, for the righteous does not need a savior.
I tell you, you do not want to get on Gods bad side, for he is angry with the wicked everyday. He laughs at them according to the book of psalm, because he knows that their day is coming for them to be destroyed. Please know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the father without going through Jesus FIRST. God is so willing to lavish his love on all of mankind, but they have to come through Jesus to experience that lavishness.
Now what about those who are of false repentance? The scriptures make it clear.
Matthew 7:21-23," 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 will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform miracles? And then I will say to them, I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness."
Titus 1:16," They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed."
1 John 1:6," If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
1 John 2:3-4," by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. The one who says I have come to know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
No human can fool God, for he is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap. Those who say they know God, yet does not follow his
commandments, has made God a liar, and the truth is not in him. There are thousands of people who call themselves Christians, but they are unrepentant at heart.
They don't have love for people, or for God. Jesus said," You people honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me." They are worshiping the Lord in vain. We must follow the Lords commandments.
Matthew 22:37, 39," And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." The second is like, you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
When you do these two, you sum up the Law that is in the Old testament. If you love God, you will not worship other gods, or you would not murder. If you love your neighbor you would not take his or her spouse. You would not murder them. When you follow these laws it justifies your faith. Faith without works is dead.
For how can you say I have faith and not have works to justify it? And how can you have works and don't have the right faith to prove it? Doing these commandments is a process. You have to grow in them so you can become mature. If you lack love for people, ask God to give you love for them. If you lack a little love for God, ask him to give you love for him. He knows that we are dust, and is weak. He will help us if we come to him by faith.
Let's take a look at some great men of the bible who sinned, and then demonstrated true repentance. Lets start off with the God chaser himself.... David. He was a man after Gods own heart. He sought the very being of God. He sung and wrote about the Lords love, kindness, truth, laws, and his hate towards sinners, and their sin. Yet David had some weaknesses. He was a man of war, and a murderer.
I tell you the truth, thank God for mercy, because even though David sinned the way he did, God knew him intimately, and as a friend. In fact. The book of acts makes it clear that God looked over the ignorance of mankind back in the OT, now he calls all men to repent. Its not saying that God didnt care for other mens repentance, but it was for the mere fact that Messiah had no come yet. Thank God for Jesus. Lets get back to David. Now the sin that caused David to write psalm 51 was the sin of adultery with Bathsheba.
He was on the roof of his palace when he saw Bathsheba cleaning herself. The keyword to address is the word "looked". This triggered the lust of the eyes. David sent for her, and he had sex with her. His action to the look was the lust of the flesh. David perceived the sin, and he acted upon it.David had done evil in the sight of the Lord, but God did not take his life. He took the life of the child that Bathsheba bore to him. God said he would cause evil to rise up in David's own household. David felt so terrible because of this. He knew what he had to do before it got any worse than it had already been, and that was to repent.
In Psalm 51:10, he asked the Lord to create in him a clean heart, to restore the joy of salvation and to not take the Holy Spirit away from him. Notice that David asked God to create in him a clean heart. For it is the heart that brings forth the issues of life. Sin is conceived in the heart before it comes out into deeds or words. But again, under all of David's sorrows, there was still that pursuit of Gods precious heart. I tell you the truth, that's the way to a good life.
Next, we have the man that said," wretched man that I am." His name was Paul. He persecuted the church of God, and had many killed who followed "the way"... Jesus Christ. Paul had stephen stoned to death, and he showed no mercy. But little did Paul knew, the very church he wanted to murder and destroy, he became apart of it.
After the stoning of Stephen, Paul went on his way to Damascus to complete the mission of destroying the Christians and the church. He was accompanied by fellow partners, when all of a sudden, Paul saw a bright light. He heard a voice that said,"Saul, Saul... why are you persecuting me"? Keep in mind that the bible makes it clear that those who contend with the people of God, they contend with God himself.
Now Paul was blinded, and was commanded to go see Ananias so he can heal him of the blindness. After Paul completed that mission, he was full of the Holy Spirit and started to proclaim the way, the truth, and the life—Jesus Christ. The former blasphemer, persecutor, and violent aggressor had been given mercy because he acted ignorantly in unbelief.
Thank God for Paul. We can learn from these two men of God. When they sinned, they truly repented and God restored them. They grew in their faith and became stronger than ever because of the trials.
CONCLUSION
Jesus truly reveals God fatherly love in Luke 15. He showed us the father in the parable of the prodigal son. One of the father's sons left home to go roll around with the pigs of the world. He realized that that life was not for him; so he returned to his father's house in true repentance.
When the father saw his son, the father's heart filled with compassion and he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. The son confessed to his father, and the father told his servants to pick out the best robe and put it on him. They killed a calf and celebrated. That's a great father to have, and that is a picture of the heavenly father.
To have a God like this is just awesome. Angels rejoice when they see humans repent of their sins and turn to God. He is so good. When our parents abandon us, he will take care of us. Come and see this wonderful father. He is waiting for you. Do not accept his eternal punishment. Its not meant for you. Come and taste that the Lord is good. REPENT AND LIVE!!
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Permalink Reply by James Pierce on
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repentance is bliss
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