Being Holy: Repentance Series

Last week, we talked a little about holiness, and the need to be holy as Christians, because we are under the watchful eye of the world. I have been inspired to speak for a few weeks about Being Holy, and how we can achieve it in this New Year.

Holiness is not optional for a Christian. In the Scripture that we read this morning, God issues a command that all Christians be holy. Holiness is to characterize everything we do. It is not something that we can think of as a “bright idea,” but it is something that we must endeavor to work toward. This Sunday, we will examine Repentance as part of Being Holy.

REPENTANCE TO SALVATION

In Matthew 3:2, John the Baptist preached that the people needed to “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” After His baptism, Jesus’ first sermon in Mark says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” In his sermon on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Repentance and faith are linked in Scripture. Repentance means turning from one’s sin, and faith is turning to God. They are like opposite sides of the same coin. That is why both are linked to conversion.

Before we can even think of being holy, we must be born again. In order to be born again, we must realize that our sinful nature keeps us spiritually separated from God. We are born sinful creatures with a desire to sin. We want to please ourselves, and not God. The Bible says that “none is righteous, no not one.” “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

We must realize that our sinful desires and nature separate us from God. God hates sin and we must never forget this. If it weren’t for sin, He would not have had to send His only and dearly loved Son to die in our place. His hatred of sin is so great He sacrificed His Son to redeem us. His love for us is so immense that He didn’t hesitate to do so.

Genuine salvation is wrapped up with a need for repentance. We must realize that sin is so wicked and evil that it breaks our hearts, and we hate our sin as much as God does. We must feel deep sorrow for our worldly ways that fly in the face of God. It is then that we can call Jesus our Lord and Savior. We must first admit that we need Him for salvation, decide that we are deserving of God punishment for our sin, and accept His free, graceful gift of salvation.

REPENTANCE AFTER SALVATION

Peter’s words in this epistle from which we have read are written to people of the faith in Asia Minor. They are intended for Christians. As born again children of God, we are included in this group. And through the inspiration of the Holy Spirt, we are commanded to be holy. And the first part of living holy is rekindling our attitude about repentance.

Do we still have the same attitude about sin that we once used to? Does the sin that we commit in our daily lives still break our hearts like it once used to? Do our shortcomings cause us to be truly repentant, or have we lost the sensitivity of our actions? Maybe we don’t have that same sorrow. Maybe that is part of the reason that we don’t see more souls coming to God. Maybe this is part of our own deficiency in being holy.

Perhaps part of repentance after salvation entails our actions. Jesus said that if someone wants to follow Him, that person must deny himself. That means that we don’t go some places where we used to go. We don’t always associate with the same crowd we used to frequent. We have a change of attitude about many issues as we align our thinking to the way that God thinks. Yes, we have to be in this old world, but we don’t have to be part of it.

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul begs the church in Rome to “present your bodies a living sacrifice.” We need to sacrifice, put to death the old man. We must kill our old desires and attitudes. This action is “holy and pleasing” to God. But he doesn’t stop there. He reiterates that we should not be “conformed to this age.” Christians decide worldly behavior is off-limits for them. Our refusal to conform to this world’s values, however, must go even deeper than just behavior and customs; it must be firmly planted in our mind: “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”