Thank You, Jesus

This prayer seemed appropriate to me after our study of repentance.

Dear Jesus –

You calmed the raging waters and walked upon the sea,

You healed the lepers, deaf and blind, and caused the blind to see.

Your miracles are endless – yet the greatest one to me

Is when I knelt repenting, you saved me; set me free.

You touched the hopeless sinner so filled with guilt and shame,

Infused me with assurance and made me whole again.

Thank you, for Grace unfailing, forgiveness – Love divine,

That took my sins and paid the price to make me wholly Thine.

                                                            Anna McCalpin

Repentance Means

If we were to ask what repentance is, we would probably be told that we should turn away from sin and live a more Godly life.  This is true, but the Bible makes it clearer than that.  In answer to what repentance is Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”  We are told to become a new person in 2 Corinthians 5:17.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!”

The Bible also has some definite requirements for what must be included in repentance.  They are as follows:

1. Faith  -  “The time has come,” he said.  “The kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news!”  Mark 1:15
2. Humility  -  “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”  James 4:10
3. Prayer  -  “Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord.”  Acts 8:22A
4. Sorrow for Sin  -  “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”  Job 42:6

Finally, the Bible makes it clear that we are to show that we are a repentant sinner by the deeds that we do.  In Matthew 3:8 John the Baptist says, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”  Paul repeats this same command in Acts 26:20B when he says, “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”

As you can see it is not easy to repent.  We can only begin and continue with a sincere heart and mind and do the very best we can.  When we stumble, we must confess our sin, repent, and continue on knowing that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and that He is with us every step of the way.

Can You Do It?

In Luke 13:3 Jesus makes it very clear that anyone who does not repent will perish.  But what does it mean to repent?  The dictionary defines the word repent as “to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life.”  Most pastors will also tell you that to repent means to turn away from sin.  So we say, “Okay, I’ll do that.”  But are you sure?  Let’s take a look at what sin really is.

Exodus 20:1-17 contains the record of The Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses.  I will not repeat them at this time, since everyone can read them.  I will, however, direct your attention to Matthew 5:17-18 where Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”  Jesus continues in Matthew 5 and says that anyone who becomes angry is subject to the same judgment as someone who has committed murder.  He also says that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery.  He continues explaining why it is impossible to gain salvation on our own.

In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus introduces The Greatest Commandment.  He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  I am very sure that no one, myself included, can say that no matter what happens we always put the needs and desires of the other person before our own.  This means that we have sinned and fall short of what God expects from us.

Finally, there are sins of commission and of omission.  Sins of commission occur when we do something that we shouldn’t.  Sins of omission occur when we don’t do something that we should, even if we do not realize that we should do it

The point is that it is impossible on our own to live a sin free life.  This is why we have Jesus; our Lord and our Savior.  He took onto Himself all of our sins, so that when we stand before God all God sees is a pure and sin free life.  But as I said last time, in order to gain salvation we must repent and do the very best we can to live a sin free life.  When we mess up, as we most assuredly will, we must confess our sins, repent, and keep trying.

Heaven or Hell - Are you sure?

This past week I had the opportunity to hear several people speak, who said they had turned their lives over to God and that they were now Christians.  On the surface this sounds wonderful, but as I listened I realized that something was terribly wrong and that these people were probably headed for hell, not Heaven.  You ask, “Why?  How could you say such a thing?”  The words that these people spoke indicated that they had missed a huge component of giving your life to Christ.  Repentance!

They understood that Jesus had suffered and died on the cross to save them from their sins.  They understood that God is love.  John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  The part that they missed is that God is also a jealous God.  “He is a holy God; he is a jealous God.  He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.”  Joshua 24:19

The life that we must live in order to have God’s forgiveness is one of repentance.  In Acts 2:38 Peter says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”  Peter speaks again in Acts 3:19.  “Repent, then, and turn to god, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus.”  Jesus says it very clearly and to the point in Luke 13:3 when He says, “I tell you. .unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

As we joyfully remember God’s love in sending Jesus to suffer and die in our place, we must also remember that God expects something from us.  It is not a free ride.  We must repent and do our very best to live the kind of life that Jesus taught and lived.  The two are a pair.  In the words of a long forgotten song, “You can’t have one without the other.”