“If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
and is pregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
He makes a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
His mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.
I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.” (Psalms 7:12-17 ESV)
What does it mean to repent? It means to change one’s mind or purpose. It means to think differently after. It means to turn away from your sins and to turn to God by faith in Jesus Christ and to follow him in walks of obedience to him and to his commands. And it requires that we prove our repentance by our deeds. For if our repentance is genuine, we won’t keep on in deliberate and habitual sin, but we will change. And now we will walk in obedience to our Lord in holy living, in order to please God with our lives.
If our repentance is genuine, we will be led to the knowledge of the truth, we will come to our senses, and we will, by the grace of God, escape from the trap of the devil, who had before taken us captive to do his will. And we will follow Jesus Christ in obedience, resulting in salvation from bondage to sin and the hope of eternal life with God. For this change of mind should result in a change of behavior. We were walking in sin, but now we should be walking in obedience to our Lord in holy living, living to please him.
[Matt 3:8; Matt 4:17; Matt 11:20-21; Mk 1:15; Lu 5:32; Lu 13:3; Lu 24:47; Acts 3:19-20; Acts 8:22; Acts 17:29-31; Acts 19:18-20; Acts 20:21; Acts 26:18-20; Rom 2:4; 2 Co 7:8-10; 2 Co 12:21; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Thess 1:9-10; 2 Tim 2:24-26; 2 Pet 3:9; 1 Jn 1:5-10; Rev 2:5,16; Rev 3:3,19]
You can profess faith in Jesus Christ, but if you do not repent of your sins, i.e. if you do not forsake your sins and now follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, salvation from sin and eternal life with God are not yours to claim. For Jesus said not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. Many will stand before him on the day of judgment claiming all they did in his name, and he will say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” For they did not obey the Lord.
Sadly, this is not what is largely being taught today. The message that is permeating the church (or the false church) today in America is a very diluted and altered “gospel” message. For what they are teaching is that you can make a once-in-your-lifetime profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all your sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed you when you die, and it can’t be taken away from you. But no mention of the need to deny self, die daily to sin, and to obey our Lord.
But Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living for self and in sin, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience to his commands, then we have salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God, but provided that we continue in those walks of faith and obedience and that we do not return to walking in sin with no repentance.
And who are the wicked? They are all for whom wickedness is their practice. Evil is what they do as a matter of life course. They are led by hate and jealousy and bitterness and rivalry and unforgiveness and selfishness and pride, and with a desire to punish those who would confront them with their evil deeds and who would call them to repentance. And so they continue walking in sin and in sexual immorality and in telling lies and in justifying their sinful practices, and they don’t take responsibility for their own sins.
And some or many of them are those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. And some of them are pastors and elders and deacons in local fellowships of what are called “churches.” And some of them are teachers of the Scriptures. But they are those who conceive evil, and who plot evil on their beds, and who lie to cover up their adulteries, and who blame others for their sins. And so they adopt a very diluted gospel which lets them continue living in sin while still promising them salvation from sin and eternal life with God.
But we are to be those who honor the Lord with our lives, whose desire is for him to do his will. We are to be those who hunger and who thirst after righteousness and whose desire it is to want to please our Lord. We should be those who want to put sin to death in our lives and who want to walk in holiness and in righteousness and in moral purity, and who no longer have a desire to want to deliberately and habitually sin against the Lord. And we are to be those who choose to put these things into practice in our daily lives.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Tit 2:11-14; Eph 4:17-24]
A Believer’s Prayer
An Original Work / July 31, 2012
With my whole heart, Lord, I pray
To be Yours, and Yours always.
Lead me in Your truth today.
May I love You, and obey.
Lead me in Your righteousness.
When I sin, may I confess;
Bow before You when I pray;
Live for You and You always.
Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.
Life with You will never end.
You are with me through each day,
Giving love and peace always.
You will ne’er abandon me.
From my sin You set me free.
You died on that cruel tree,
So I’d live eternally.
Soon You’re coming back for me;
From this world to set me free;
Live with You eternally.
Oh, what joy that brings to me.
I will walk with You in white;
A pure bride, I’ve been made right
By the blood of Jesus Christ;
Pardoned by His sacrifice.
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