Beauty of Repentance
Illustration – Affluenza
Under almost all circumstances, if a person receives a conviction for vehicular manslaughter, due to drunk driving, that person will receive a lengthy prison sentence. This was not the case, however, for 16 year old Ethan Couch, who is a young man from a wealthy family in the state of Texas. It was the decision of a rather liberal judge that the 16-year-old suffers from “affluenza,” and therefore should not be severely punished. Even though the teen was driving drunk and killed four people, the fact that his wealthy parents let him get away with anything and everything justified the decision not to send Couch to prison.
In a true ironic twist of logic the judge determined that because Couch’s parent never punished him it was sufficient reason for the court not to punish him. At least the judge decided not to punish Ethan Couch to any real extent; Ethan received probation. Ethan, however, just could not deal with having to follow the courts instruction and after a year or two he stopped responding to the probation officer. He appeared to have dropped off the radar shortly after a video emerged that allegedly showed him breaking parole by being at a party where alcohol was consumed. The boy who was never taught to obey just could not abide by the law even when very little was being asked of him.
It turns out that Ethan and his mother fled to Mexico and was living in the Pacific resort city of Puerto Vallarta. Eventually they were apprehended and now both the mother and her son are facing serious charges. It is even possible that Ethan, who is now 19, could be tried in adult court. If this happens, and he is found guilty, he will end up in prison. It would have been so much better for the boy to have acknowledge that what he did wrong, repent of his sins, and endured the mild punishment he was given. Instead, he was totally oblivious to the fact that he was wrong and that he needed to change the way he thinks and acts. He continued to live a sinful lifestyle and it will cost him dearly.
Repentance
It sounds as if, in today’s world, affluenza means if you have never repented in the past it is justification for not repenting today. This may very well stand in the liberal courts of man but it has absolutely no power in the court of God. Only the repentant person who has sought forgiveness through Jesus Christ will stand un-condemned in the court of God. In this biblical sense, the word ‘repent’ is a translation of the Greek word ‘metanoéō.’ Metanoéō is made up of two words: metá, which means "changed after being with" and noiéō, which means "think differently after" or "after a change of mind." Thus, biblically speaking, to repent is to experience a change in the way we think and act, after we have been exposed to the teachings of Jesus, which has shown us our current way is wrong in the eyes of God. In other words, in the court of man you are not required to repent, but in the court of God you are expected to regret your sin and labor to no longer think the same way regarding this particular sin.
The point in all of this is that “repentance” is not some ritual or simply saying, “I am sorry.” Repentance is a state of mind; and, repentance is the conviction to change ones way of life. John the Baptist, after chastising the Pharisees and Sadducees for their evil lifestyle, told them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. (Matthew 3:8) John was telling the Pharisees and Sadducees to live a life that is a product of their repenting. Please note, repenting does not do away with our sins. Repenting is the process that changes our minds so that our mind is in sync with God’s instructions, which brings us into a right relationship with God. It is because of our returning to this right relationship with Jesus that God can forgive us our sins. We could say that we understand the seriousness of sin (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3) and we develop a deep desire to be forgiven. (Psalm 51:1-3, Hebrews 9:14) It also means, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we are resolved to deny any attempt at justifying or excusing our actions. Furthermore, it means we are committed to changing our thoughts and actions in order to stop sinning (Matthew 3:8; Acts 26:19-20). It is true repentance that empowers our request for forgiveneness through Jesus Christ.
Affluenza denies the necessity of repentance, making it a warped and distorted logic straight out of the pits of hell. Even more insidious is the demon-spawned belief that a single repentance generates eternal absolution of sin; and thus, we will never have a need for future repentance. This ‘once saved always saved’ demonic myth totally destroys the validity of repentance in the minds of those who buy this snake oil. It is a heinous liar who would teach that we can live a life, which repeatedly produces deeds of the flesh, and still enter the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) The truth is, when we are saved we enter into a relationship with Jesus and we spend the rest of our lives developing and maturing this relationship. When sin enters our life it destroys this relationship with Jesus and when our relationship with Jesus is destroyed we are no longer worthy to enter the kingdom of God; thus, if we are to enter into the kingdom of God we must live a life, which is filled with repentance. It is like Paul told the Romans; we are in a perpetual battle with sin and this battle demands repeated repentance. (Romans 7:13-25)
We will sin
Another distorted logic, straight from the mind of Satan, is the belief that once we are born again we can never sin. If this were true then why did John write: ‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8) If once we are born again we can never sin then why did John write: ‘If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.’ (1 John 1:10) If once we are born again the sin in our life does not matter then why was Paul agonizing over the fact that he had sin in his life? (Romans 7:14-25) If once we are born again sin in our life becomes irrelevant, then why did the author of Hebrews write that it is God’s discipline that guides and strengthens us as we strive against sin. For that matter, if we have no sin then why should we need sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:4-17) We could continue referring to scripture, but the fact is that we have had, we now have, and we will have, sin in our lives and this sin separates us from Jesus Christ and without Jesus Christ we will never enter the kingdom of God.
Before we proceed beyond the fact that we have sin in our lives we need to briefly address a more sophisticated mixtures of this snake oil, where people are told that after they are born again sin only exists in the flesh and thus their spirit remains pure regardless of what their flesh does. If this were true then James would be a false teacher. James said we are tempted and when our lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. (James 1:14-15) Notice that James is focusing in on our passions resulting from strong feelings or desires, which transcends the physical into the ephemeral or spiritual. If this ‘one repentance is good enough’ myth were true, then sin would not bring forth death. Look at this based on what Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27-28) It was not what they did that made them sinners; they were sinners because of the condition of their spirits.
The fact is that we will sin; sin will separate us from our relationship with Jesus; and without a relationship with Jesus we cannot enter the kingdom of God. Only through a repentant heart can we seek forgiveness for this sin and be restored to a right relationship with Jesus.
God will forgive
We live in a fallen world that is ruled by Satan; and this makes it almost impossible for us not to sin, but it is by our choice that we adopt a lifestyle of sin. There is absolutely no questioning the fact that if an occasional sin does not fill us with guilt we will soon rationalize and justify this sin and it will become a way of life for us. On the other hand, if the occasional sin does fill us with guilt and if this guilt plagues our spirit we will be filled with remorse and we will acknowledge the reality of this sin in our life. Then we will be filled with remorse and we will want to eliminate this sin, which drives us to our Father seeking forgiveness. Through the love, which gave us Jesus Christ, God will certainly forgive the repentant person. While it is true that Satan can knock us down with sin, it is also true that through repentance God will forgive us our sins and restore our relationship with Jesus.
We know we will sin and we know God will forgive. John wrote: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2 ) John walked with Jesus and was a very strong apostle, who fully realized that we humans must be in a right relationship with Jesus if we are to enter into the kingdom of God. John also knew that we cannot maintain this relationship through human effort alone … we need God’s help and we can get God’s help. We have assurance that God will forgive because John wrote: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Conclusion - Unrepentance leads to eternal damnation
In today’s world, the affluenza defense may be accepted in a civil court of law, but it has absolutely no power in God’s court. Yes, we have an ironclad promise that God will forgive us our sins; but, God cannot forgive us if we are unrepentant. Remember, to repent means we change the way we think and act (sin), as soon as we realize our current way is wrong in the eyes of God. Paul told the Corinthians: “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) The fact that we have never repented of sin in the past is not justification for failing to repent today; affluenza is not defense before God. And, we should also realize repenting one time does not grant us a ‘free-from-guilt’ pass for future sins. It is only the actively repentant person who will stand un-condemned in the court of God.
It is by the grace of God that we have the power of repentance but that does not mean we are to continue in sin so that God’s grace of forgiveness may abound. Paul told the Romans that when we accepted Jesus as our Lord we were baptized into His death and we were raised into the newness of a Christian life. Thus, we are to live in the new Christian life and not the old sinful life, because the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:1-23) Therefore, if we are to avail ourselves of the free gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, we must remain in a right relationship with Jesus, and to remain in a right relationship with Jesus requires repentance. It is as the author of Hebrews wrote: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, …” (Hebrews 10:26) The point we are trying to make is that we have been saved by grace but this is not a universal gift. God’s grace belongs to those who have taken upon themselves Jesus as Lord and now constantly labor to remain obedient to all that He taught.
To remain obedient to Jesus means that we do not rationalize sin in our life; we do not justify sin in our life; and we do not make excuses for sin in our life. John wrote: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:8-10) Please note: we cannot be a child of God if we practice sin and if we are not a child of God we will not enter into the kingdom of God. In dealing with false teachers Peter wrote: “ … for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘A dog returns to its own vomit,’ and, ‘A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.’” (2 Peter 2:19-22) Most assuredly the blood of Jesus has the power to wash away our sins but there is nowhere in scripture that tells us this is a one time and forever washing ans we never have to seek God’s forgiveness again.
The most powerful call for repentance comes from the book of revelations. In the letter to the church at Sardis it is written: “But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:4-6) There are a lot of preachers who try to dismiss this passage of scripture but what has been written is what God has said. There is absolutely no way a person’s name got into the book of life unless they were once walking in a right relationship with Jesus. If we want to remain in that right relationship we need to remain repentant. In the letter to the church at Ephesus it is written: “Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:5) We all need to take heed to what is written. If we do not want to have our name erased from the book of life we need to constantly repent of our sins and strive to be obedient to all that Jesus taught. Repentance is a condition of the heart and it is not a one time event.
