Repentance

A WONDERFUL GOD who created all things, the ground you walk on, the air you are now breathing, the blood flowing through your brain and lungs, the food you need to eat, and everything good you can think of, desires to stare into your eyes and speak to you intimately, and to know your love. He is all powerful, and all knowing but there are still three things He cannot do.... He cannot lie, He cannot die,... and He cannot make you love Him. He will not touch that precious decision of yours. He desires the geniuses of your love. If He made you love Him it is not love to Him.

It is a big decision to become a man or woman of God. You want to start a relationship with God that is greater than any you’ve ever had. You want to give your all to Him and show Him you mean business; you want to repent.

I was attending a Full Gospel Businessmen’s meeting in 1993, basically a convention for ministers. The meeting was filled with hundreds of preachers from around the globe, two thousand at least, every one of all nationalities wearing suits and carrying Bibles. The keynote speaker was late, so the host introduced a man who said he had a daughter that was a prophetess and she had a word for everyone. He said she was only ten years old but she hears from God better than himself. Then she came up the steps to the podium, a small girl, with long braided hair and a fearless, serious face. She grabbed the microphone and with a soft voice said, “God said for me to tell you all to repent, He will remove His glory if you do not repent.” Preachers everywhere began to weep. I wept. It was so heavy with the Presence of God in that place. Because all the preachers made aware of their sins by God, were brought back to their first Love, away from religion, away from their pride, back to where they began with God, with nothing. This is what we need, nothing but God, and this is what repentance is all about.

What is at the essence of repentance? Conviction of sin. I said conviction of sin, not guilt. Conviction is persuasion of sin, but is not the same as condemnation. Repentance only happens at the conviction of sin, not condemnation. Condemnation of the Law holds people in guilt. Something that needs to be, if the person is proud of sin thinking they need no forgiveness from God. Conviction however, takes place when we feel loved by the person we have wronged. People change in heart at conviction because of unconditional love. Condemnation or guilt comes at accusation. Conviction comes at forgiveness and free acceptance.

Example: Next time someone wrongs you badly and they know it, love them. Conviction will come over them producing changes in their heart toward you. This is why people repent at the love of God, because He loves us while we are still in sin. When we feel and know this fact, it produces a change. We love Him because He first loved us. Again, only love and open forgiveness brings conviction; only conviction brings repentance or change. The goodness of God leads us to change our ways.

A brother asked me, “I know this guy who smokes crack all week then I see him in Church praising God and crying and carrying on. How can he do that? How can he be a Christian and be smoking crack?” The answer to this is so simple it eludes us. The Church is a hospital for those with sin. When a saved person sins, it’s like he stabs himself in the leg with a knife. He will limp in pain back to the Lord his healer. If he were spiritually dead he would feel no pain. He could sin over and over again with no conscience of it because he is spiritually dead. But a born again person is spiritually alive to God and gets wounded by sin. He will always come limping back to Jesus because he cannot bear the pain of sin at great length. Church really is a spiritual hospital. We should always welcome sinners and make them feel wanted in the house of God; and be slow to judge Christians who struggle with sins. For the most part, people who come down on others are too light on themselves. It is nearly impossible for them not to see in others the bad they know about themselves. Someone who is accusing has forgotten or never experienced God’s mercy for themselves. If we will produce repentance in people we must love them when they are down. When they are unrepentant.

Repentance is not gathering up enough will power to say no to sin. God says in His Word, “I will take out your stony heart and will give you an heart of flesh.” A heart of flesh, what does it mean? It means this: Flesh is sensitive to the touch. Flesh bleeds when it is cut. Flesh is alive. God says, “You have a heart of stone toward Me, a dead heart without feeling. I will give you a new heart. I will give you a heart that is sensitive to my touch, that feels My Presence. A heart that bleeds when sin touches it, one that is alive to Me. A living heart that hungers for nourishment of the Word. A heart that needs My healing touch when sin wounds it. I will take out your stony heart and give you an heart of flesh.

And how do we get the heart of flesh? This happens when we say yes to Jesus. A simple yes. Not a tangle with sin that takes us deeper to guilt, but an absolute surrender to the Lord. The simple “yes to Jesus” brings the free gift of salvation, and a continued “yes to Jesus” will bring complete freedom from the flesh and sin, the new heart God has promised. Never say no to God. If you are not experiencing freedom, you are not saying YES to Jesus.

Some in the church are bold to say that sin will send a Christian to Hell. Do not dare belittle The Cross of Christ. It makes the accomplishment of the cross smaller and smaller in our eye's the more we judge a Christians salvation by their deeds instead of by what Jesus did. How small is the cross to you? The free gift of salvation does not allow sin to send Christians to Hell [Eph 2:8-9]. The Bible says God saved us by taking away the Laws for righteousness:

“Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to all that believe” Rom 10:4.

"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances...". Eph 2:15-16

"But now Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." Heb 8:6-13

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Gal 2:16

What this means is that the Law still exists, yet because of Jesus Sacrifice, Christians are not saved or condemned by the Laws of God! It is by Grace through faith, and a miracle takes place in the heart. We receive Christ's righteousness as a free gift. What this means is that we are so sinful in our minds and bodies that in Christ He had to abolish the Law to save us! It is definitely good news. This is what happened at the cross: READ CAREFULLY

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances [the Laws] that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.." Col 2:13-14.

Notice it says that God blotted out and took away the ordinances that were against us. It does not say that He just forgave us of breaking His ordinances, but that He got rid of the ordinances altogether! The Law was nailed to His cross.

How many times have Christians been told by even well meaning preachers that God is going to hold them up to legal judgment in order to be saved in the end. But what would God have to use to judge us? His Laws and ordinances that we have broken, that's right. But we just read over and over that for Christians, God made an end of, abolished, blotted out, vanished away, took out of the way, and nailed to His cross, the Law of Commandments. Nobody must become "good enough" or "earn" to be born again, it is a free gift. And according to the Bible, no Christian must stay "good enough" or "earn as you go" to remain born again, as if the cross was not enough to save you [stay with me], that is the good news, that Christians are truly saved, even from themselves. Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do".

But that is not saying the same for non-christians, unbelievers. Why is repentance required at all? The Law of God was not given for nothing. If your not a Christian, the Bible says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." It takes giving up the sin you love the most to humble yourself and submit to His Lordship over your life. It's just the plain truth. Why? Because if you are not submitted to Christ and the sin you love the most keeps you from coming before God, then you need to realize that the Law was made for you (1 Tim 1:9).

"Knowing this, that the Law is not made for a righteous man [Christians submitted to God], but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers.., for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine"

Don't be angry at Christians saying you need forgiveness, because Jesus said you are condemned already:

"He that believeth on Me is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already... And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:18-19

Repentance for a Christian is different than for an unbeliever, just as a child who has a loving Father is loved even in the face of disobedience. But until the child has a loving Heavenly Father, he cannot claim this blessing. Jesus said, "you must be born again" (John 3:3). You must make God your Father.

Make the decision to live right and give your entire life to God. It is the kind of quality decision that is final and not confusing. God is not a cheap thrill to test your life on. He must have the kind of reverence that is higher than any earthly ruler. He is the Lord God that made the heavens and the earth and all that in them is. He will see the genuineness of your heart when you choose to serve Him. Remember, you are not proving anything to Him or paying for anything by giving up the sin you love the most. You are showing that you are giving your life, not just words. Faith shows itself to God in repentance.

Upon reception, the eternal life you receive in your spirit you'll know can never be earned, even with a thousand perfectly lived lives. If after one is born again and loves the Lord, he then is tempted and falls into sin and sins are committed in the body, salvation sends those sins to the cross [Eph 2:8-9], and the Spirit within will always draw to the Lord for reconciliation and fellowship. Your faith will save you in the end.

God saved Christians by taking away the Laws for righteousness. The Bible says it is of faith that it might be by grace, not works; but it takes the kind of faith that will act upon itself. If the faith you have does not act out, it is not faith enough to draw the grace of God. If you cannot submit to God enough in the beginning to act upon His commandments, then you do not have saving faith.

Demons believe in God and tremble.

Two Forms of Righteousness

Well then [someone will ask], "why are we told to ask forgiveness when we sin? If the Law is abolished for salvation for Christians, why must we still be forgiven daily?" The answer the Bible gives is that we still have our own righteousness which is of the Law in our flesh, because it [our flesh] has not yet been redeemed, it must therefore be regulated by the Law; but in the Spirit we are redeemed! We are saved by His Righteousness through faith. The free gift is His Righteousness for the remission of sins [Phil 3:9-10; Rom 3:25-26]. His Righteousness has nothing to do with our performance before God. It is His very own Righteousness as a gift to us. We do not obey God to be made right spiritually; we are made right spiritually in order to obey God.

So here is what we have: our relationship with God is in His Righteousness, but our fellowship with God, being in these bodies is governed by our own. Our fellowship with God can be troubled, and often is, but not our relationship. This means that His Righteousness by His blood secures our salvation and guarantee’s access to fellowship [John 6:37; Eph 2:18; Heb 4:14-16; Rom 5:2]. But our other righteousness is by the Law that we constantly fall from; it can effect our fellowship with God. This is why we need His Righteousness, the first Righteousness for relationship and access to God [Eph 2:18]. We can fall from fellowship, but not from relationship.

But you say, "where in the Bible does it say there are two forms of righteousness?" It is all over the Word, but lets just look at one verse:

"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Romans 10:3-4

Notice the two forms of righteousness spoken of in the verse; one is trying from acts of the flesh to be made right in the spirit, and the other is already right in the Spirit. One is God's Righteousness and the other is mans. Always remember, mans righteousness is very important to God, but only after the new birth, because it is in the flesh and cannot be perfect because of the unredeemed and sinful nature of the flesh. Mans righteousness after the new birth will draw the man closer to fellowship with God only because it aligns the mind to be spiritual as opposed to carnal, and will leave no excuse to the Law for a stumbling block. The less the carnal mind has to accuse the man, the more it appears to him that his righteousness is fellowshipping well with God's Righteousness. This frees up the will to seek the Lord and to press in without the fear of rejection.

1 John 1:9 declares that because we have access through His Righteousness, He will cleans us from the unrighteousness of the Law [the flesh sin] any time we ask! Because we have spiritual relationship as dear children, we can have fellowship. "Why then does the Holy Spirit grieve when I sin if my spiritual life is in His Righteousness?" Because you are getting into the flesh, the carnal mind effecting your fellowship with God, plain and simple. Your mind has turned away from your spirit to your flesh. A child of God has a spirit that has been re-born. Your reborn spirit now has nothing to do with the flesh and the carnal mind [Rom 8:1-10]; and since you cannot fellowship with God in the flesh, He will wait for you right where you left Him...., hurt by your decision of course, in your spirit, or heart. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit;” that is, there is no more fear of abandonment, or there should not be [ Jude 24; Phil 1:6; Jer 32:40; 1 Thess 5:23-24; Rom 11:29]. The greatest confidence a Christian has, is that the Lord will never leave them or forsake them. This is why the sin of a believer produces conviction, because the Lord never leaves or forsakes His own.

Some think that walking in the Spirit is acting like you live on clouds hearing voices all day. No, walking in the Spirit is letting the Word of God lead you instead of your flesh. To walk in the Spirit, one must walk by faith; walking by faith in God's Word, for the just shall live by faith in God.

Knowing that we do not trust our own righteousness any longer, we trust ONLY His Righteousness secured by His Cross, there can be nothing but confidence. Nothing but confidence because He has done it all. There is nothing that we must do to merit Heaven save to love and trust the Lord. His Blood was the payment for our entire life. Whether a person's life were sinful or holy ... it is ONLY by the Blood of Jesus that any man passes through the gates of glory. We will not walk through the gates with our own righteousness..., it will be with His. Romans says... "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh [the Law, or, self righteousness], but after the Spirit [by faith, His Righteousness]”

The Bible says that unbelief is not a weakness, but sin. It is the true sin, the first sin. The sin we are born with in relation to Adam (Heb 3:12). To be saved, the first fruit of the flesh must be cast off, and that bad fruit is unbelief. Simply choose to believe the gospel enough to repent, pray to God confessing Jesus as Lord, and you will be born again into the Family of God. The Bible is clear that salvation is by grace through faith; not of works, lest any man can boast. The fellowship of God however, may lead you to die a thousand deaths as you draw closer and closer [Luke 9:23; 1 Cor 15:31]. Don't worry about this. The great desire to know God and to love Him in greater dimensions will make everything of the flesh easy to give up, and seemingly meaningless.

Even strong Christians that believe the gospel, if and when struggling with sin in their lives, there is a continuous falling away in their minds and a temptation to judge salvation after the flesh, or after the Law. If this error continues, when they are well repented again, the same Christian will then judge their brothers who stumble into sin, and not be as merciful as the Lord.

The key is to remain in the Word about whom we are to God as His Children. Even if we yield to the tempter and sin, God is still our Father. If you fall, get up, dust off, and walk by faith! We don't live on the ground.

We cannot judge the salvation of others based on their struggle with sin. To pick someone up when they've fallen means that you'll have to bear some of their weight. It may mean covering their sin and making them feel godly still in the face their rebellious acts. When a Christian falls, simply telling them to "get up!" is not helping them up. Enduring long with them is a way of bearing their weight and helping them up. Being slow to judge, realizing they are saved by faith, not by works.

What about the book of James: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?” The “faith” that James speaks of [if the verse is read in context] is the faith of devils and demons. This is witnessed by the fact that he equates this "faith" by this statement in the same passage: "You say you have faith? The demons also have faith, and tremble." Demons do not TRUST in the Lord. They have a dead faith that simply believes that God exists. They do not have a “trust” or "confidence" that God is gracious or that God will save them. There are however many Christians who stumble with sin but do trust in the Lord Jesus and His Blood to save them when they die. These are saved according to the scriptures, for the work of true faith will confess Jesus name before men and associate with Him [Rom 10:9-10]. “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” [Matt 10:32]. And never forget the sad fate of the extremely religious leaders in Jesus time that believed on Him: “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” John 12:42-43.

To know the Lord, you are going to have to give up the sin you love the most. However, repentance is not a struggle to stop sinning. It is a decision to seek God. Many struggle to stop sinning thinking they are impressing God, yet they never seek Him in worship and prayer. The first syllable in the word repent “re” is from the word “return,” and the second syllable “pent” means the very top of things and describes the top of things, such as “penthouse.” It is a “pent”-house because it’s at the highest place, such as a roof. Or some call the top of a mountain the “pentacle” of the mountain, because it is at the very top. To “Re-pent” means to “return” to the “very top,” or, return to the Most High God, and this is done with child-like faith, not an attitude of impressing God with good deeds. When we seek God, sin ceases. Repentance then has nothing to do with a struggle to stop sinning. Repentance is seeking God and nothing more.

It is the most wonderful thing. We are saved by grace through faith, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man can boast. If Christ paid the full and final price for salvation at the cross, then we are not received on the basis of our merit. As one preacher says, “if heaven comes by merit, then you would stay out, and your dog would go in.”

Only an over-inflated ego could assume we can attain by good works the perfection required for heaven. Most Christians openly deny they think this way, but they show true their thoughts when they judge others. Before you judge others remember, you are not so great. We always endeavor to make people think we are as great as our dog thinks we are.

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you, and the rest of your life will change. Live like you've been died for.