We see in Acts 17:30,God commands all men everywhere to repent .Even Christ came to call sinners to repentance not the righteous. God call us to repent when we have forgotten and offended him and living in sin or in unrighteous ways.
There lots of people who do not want to repent truly and if they do, they do merely do lip service of repentance .They fail to acknowledge their sins. After their lip service they go right back and sin again. That is not true repentance.
There are also different kind of people who have enough pride who are not willing to look bad, will gladly say sorry” through lip service to save their image. They think if you just say sorry is repentance. This is not true repentance either.
There are few others who think that by saying formula of sinners prayer will save them without being genuinely REPENTED of their sins. Some false preachers say that you can gladly receive Christ without following Him or without obeying his commandments they strengthen the hands of evildoers, comforting them in their sin rather than calling them to repentance humble themselves to Turn from sin.
True repentance is that we must first acknowledge our sins or wrong doing in our heart and have sincere remorse or regret about one’s wrong doing. Then the Holy Spirit draws us to Jesus Christ by convicting us of sin which produces a life of holiness and righteousness that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus and the Apostles preached that man must repent and have a complete change of mind and heart in order to enter the Kingdom of God.
There are lots of scriptures which tell us that God wants us to repent.
2 Peter 3:9: God wants everyone to repent
Acts 17:30: God commands all people everywhere to repent
Acts 26:20: Paul preached repentance
Ezekiel 14:6: Repent and turn from all of your abominations
Ezekiel 18:30: Repent and turn from your transgressions
Ezekiel 33:11: God begs us to turn from our wicked ways
Isaiah 59:20: The Redeemer will come to those who repent
Job 34:33: Why do you refuse to repent?
Jeremiah 15:19; If you repent, I will restore you
Luke 13:3: Jesus said that you will perish unless you repent
Luke 15:10: There is rejoicing over one sinner who repents
Matthew 4:17: Jesus told people to repent
Matthew 3:2: John the Baptist preached repentance
Mark 1:15: Jesus said repent and live
Mark 6:12: The disciples preached that men should repent
Rev. 3:3: Obey and repent
Rev. 3:19: So be earnest and repent
Hosea 12:6: Turn to God
Excellent point. Genuine repentance is hard. Genuine repentance require change. Many want the blessing, but refuse to give the sacrifice. Well done. God bless...Paul Weaver
ReplyDeleteGreat Bible Study material Shaila. Repentance literally translates, "turn around" and go the other way. Yes, we MUST repent, othewise confession is really useless. Great work Shaila, as always my friend. You have a gift for writing about the Bible.
ReplyDeleteBlessings
Jack wellman
Truth, Shaila, bothers most people. I am astonished by a world of Christians that have bought into the concept of salvation without repentance, discipleship without cost, and Jesus without change. Moreso, are the Christians who have come to think that some form of work excuses them from obedience to God's written word. Perhaps this is because they think they are doing the saving, and they have no faith that God's word will accomplish all that it has been sent to accomplish. You have a sound understanding. Love with all your heart. This means love enough to speak truth even when it hurts. Not as a proud people, not as those who brag of their works and make assumptions as to the services of others, but as one who cares for the sinner with enough love to lead them to repentance. Thank you for this excellent article.
ReplyDeleteBy RM Harrington