REPENTANCE NEEDED?
If we are not loving with God’s Love, we are spiritually dead.
“If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.”. 1 John 3:14
All Christians have God’s Love within them, but not all Christians are willing to set themselves aside and become a free-flowing stream of Divine Love.
* “I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” Revelation 21:6
The longer I walk with Jesus, the more I am convinced that repentance is not
just for sinners, but also for believers.
It is not simply a one-time thing, but something God’s people are called to do until Jesus returns.
Every Christian who maintains a repentant attitude brings upon his life God’s special attention.
Indeed, repentance opens up something to us that nothing else can.
* If we walk before the Lord with a repentant heart, we will be inundated with incredible blessings!
A repentant heart is soft, tender and pliable, is and easily molded by the Holy
Spirit. It responds to and acts upon godly reproof.
The number-one characteristic of a repentant heart is a readiness to
acknowledge GUILT.
* It is a willingness to accept blame for wrongdoing, to say,
“I am the one, Lord. I have sinned!”
If there is no admitting to sin, there can be no repentance:
“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. ” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
“God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, and shouts in our pains.” -C.S. Lewis
If you are not willing to acknowledge you are never wrong, you are saying you don’t need to repent.
Before Pilate released Jesus into the hands of murderous priests and elders, he wanted the world to know it wasn’t his fault. He called for a basin of water,
dipped his hands into it and declared himself innocent of Christ’s blood before
the angry mob:
“When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was
made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it” (Matthew 27:24).
The phrase, “See ye to it” here means, “Make sure you all know my hands are
clean. I have done nothing wrong and I am clean from all guilt.”
Pilate’s hands were not clean, of course; he was about to hand over the Son of
God to murderers. This kind of thinking shuts a person off from any possibility
of repentance.
* Had a prophet approached Pilate the next day, preaching, “Repent
or perish!” the ruler would have been aghast. “Who, me?” he would have asked.
“I’ve done nothing wrong. How can I repent when I haven’t sinned?”
John writes: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us. . . . If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a
liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10).
Repentance: 3 movements
1) Change of Mind:
* Pause and reflect on your life Ps 145:8-9. Be slow to anger. Have compassion in all like what our God is like. God is a God of love.
2) Change of Heart:
* Do not just deny any wrongdoing. Repentance requires humility and contribution. Accept responsibility. Integrity.
3) Change of Life:
* Changed minds and hearts lead to change in our life.
Repentance is costly.
‘Costly Grace’ it calls us to discipleship to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly to God because it cost Him the life of His Son.
Biblical discipleship must affect the way we live our lives– So that we do not repeat our sin or wrongdoing.
Repentance:
1. Dictionary meaning: to regret, resolve not to continue wrongdoing.
2. OT: Turning away from sin to righteousness, from idolatry to true true worship from sin to moral behaviour.
3. NT: Change of mind and change of behaviour.
U-turn is a good vision of what Repentance looks like:
Biblically the word repent has to do with making a deliberate decision from sin, idolatry or moral wrongdoing.
*When we do wrong and God shows us our sin it leads us to repentance through Jesus.
* I will be thankful for the Godly sorrow that I encounter because it does lead to salvation.
Father, thank you for correcting my character even when it hurts. Lord help me see and be truly sorrow for my mistakes and not blame other people or circumstance…… And I ask You Jesus for forgiveness… This way, by faith, I know I will change my life….It may hurt but it leads to healing!
Psalms 139:23 Search me, OGod, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Amen