The process of repentance
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
I end up doing a lot of reading during my week, and I know of many things that come to my mind that we have not discussed on this blog site. While we may have danced around the issue of true repentance and sorrow for sin, we may not have made things personal enough to understand the need for a godly sorrow in repentance. I like something that I read just today from the writings of Billy Graham; he said "if your sorrow is because of certain consequences which have come on your family because of your sin, this is a remorse, not true repentance. If, on the other hand, you are grieved because you also send against God and his holy laws, then you are on the right road."
In the book of 2 Corinthians 7:10 "for godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repentant off; but the sorrow over the world works death." I heard of a pastor who had a small son who came to him and ask if he could give his life to Jesus. The boy was so young that the father thought that he might not understand fully what giving his life to God meant, told his son that he could do so when he got older, and send them off to bed. Not long after that the child reappeared asking the same question about giving his life to Jesus, and the father questioned the boy asking if he had ever broken any of the 10 Commandments? The young boy replied that "he didn't think that he had". The father thought for a moment, and then he ask how many lies had to be told before he thought he was a liar? When it was established that one lie made a person a liar, the child thought for a moment, then when he realized that he had lied, he broke down in on controllable tears. When the father then asked if he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart, the child cringed and shook his head because he was fearful now that he knew that he had send against God. The boy could now ask Jesus truthfully into his heart because he could be truthfully repentant with godly sorrow.
There are many people today who have made a decision for Christ. This is a decision made by the mind and not by the heart. We can intellectually sway someone to understand the truth about Jesus being the son of God, and we can even lead them to make a rational decision to follow after him, but we cannot leave that person to understand what true repentance is without them first understanding the consequences of their personal relationship with God. There are many people who have stood or sat in the back of the church that have at one time or the other raised their hand when someone asked them do you want to receive Jesus? That act alone is a decision made in your mind to seek after God but it does not mean that you have been repentant to God of your sin, nor does it mean that you now have a relationship with God. Instead of making a decision for Christ we should be seeking repentance with in the heart. The law of God has been created to lead us to conviction of our sin it is to train us to a knowledge of sin, pork how can anyone repentant if he does not know what sin is for his life? Without this repentance in our heart with God there is no salvation. Jesus said," unless you repent, you shall likewise perish" (Luke 13:3 )
I fear today that there are many in our churches who do not understand that salvation of the soul is not a resolution to change the way of life, but "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ". The modern concept of success in evangelism is to relate how any people "saved" (that is to say how many prayed the sinners prayer). We need to realize that this becomes just another way of controlling a corporate mentality of this world that says "no decisions, no success"mentally. The idea of our purpose in evangelism really has nothing to do with collecting souls for God. It does have to do with God's purpose for, and within our lives to share with others what God has done to change your's into new creatures that now fit into his kingdom. This has everything to do with giving God the glory, and nothing to do with our own part or control in the process. The Bible tells us that we so the good seed of the gospel, one sows and another reaps. If you faithfully sow the seed, someone will reap if you reap, it is because someone has so the seed in the past, but it is God who causes the seed to grow. If his hand is not on the person you are leading in prayer of committal, if there is not God a given repentance, then you will end up with stillbirth on your hands, and that is nothing to rejoice about. I want to take more time in digging into this issue of repentance with you this week. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
I end up doing a lot of reading during my week, and I know of many things that come to my mind that we have not discussed on this blog site. While we may have danced around the issue of true repentance and sorrow for sin, we may not have made things personal enough to understand the need for a godly sorrow in repentance. I like something that I read just today from the writings of Billy Graham; he said "if your sorrow is because of certain consequences which have come on your family because of your sin, this is a remorse, not true repentance. If, on the other hand, you are grieved because you also send against God and his holy laws, then you are on the right road."
In the book of 2 Corinthians 7:10 "for godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repentant off; but the sorrow over the world works death." I heard of a pastor who had a small son who came to him and ask if he could give his life to Jesus. The boy was so young that the father thought that he might not understand fully what giving his life to God meant, told his son that he could do so when he got older, and send them off to bed. Not long after that the child reappeared asking the same question about giving his life to Jesus, and the father questioned the boy asking if he had ever broken any of the 10 Commandments? The young boy replied that "he didn't think that he had". The father thought for a moment, and then he ask how many lies had to be told before he thought he was a liar? When it was established that one lie made a person a liar, the child thought for a moment, then when he realized that he had lied, he broke down in on controllable tears. When the father then asked if he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart, the child cringed and shook his head because he was fearful now that he knew that he had send against God. The boy could now ask Jesus truthfully into his heart because he could be truthfully repentant with godly sorrow.
There are many people today who have made a decision for Christ. This is a decision made by the mind and not by the heart. We can intellectually sway someone to understand the truth about Jesus being the son of God, and we can even lead them to make a rational decision to follow after him, but we cannot leave that person to understand what true repentance is without them first understanding the consequences of their personal relationship with God. There are many people who have stood or sat in the back of the church that have at one time or the other raised their hand when someone asked them do you want to receive Jesus? That act alone is a decision made in your mind to seek after God but it does not mean that you have been repentant to God of your sin, nor does it mean that you now have a relationship with God. Instead of making a decision for Christ we should be seeking repentance with in the heart. The law of God has been created to lead us to conviction of our sin it is to train us to a knowledge of sin, pork how can anyone repentant if he does not know what sin is for his life? Without this repentance in our heart with God there is no salvation. Jesus said," unless you repent, you shall likewise perish" (Luke 13:3 )
I fear today that there are many in our churches who do not understand that salvation of the soul is not a resolution to change the way of life, but "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ". The modern concept of success in evangelism is to relate how any people "saved" (that is to say how many prayed the sinners prayer). We need to realize that this becomes just another way of controlling a corporate mentality of this world that says "no decisions, no success"mentally. The idea of our purpose in evangelism really has nothing to do with collecting souls for God. It does have to do with God's purpose for, and within our lives to share with others what God has done to change your's into new creatures that now fit into his kingdom. This has everything to do with giving God the glory, and nothing to do with our own part or control in the process. The Bible tells us that we so the good seed of the gospel, one sows and another reaps. If you faithfully sow the seed, someone will reap if you reap, it is because someone has so the seed in the past, but it is God who causes the seed to grow. If his hand is not on the person you are leading in prayer of committal, if there is not God a given repentance, then you will end up with stillbirth on your hands, and that is nothing to rejoice about. I want to take more time in digging into this issue of repentance with you this week. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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