The Beauty Of Repentance

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.