"And this is the condemnation [verdict], that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19, NKJV).
The sinner flatters himself too much to hate his own sin (cf. Psalm 36:2).
"... Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall" (Ez. 18:30, NIV).
"In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God" (Psalm 10:4, ESV). [God is in none of his thoughts!]
"Return [repent] ... Your sins have been your downfall" (Hos. 14:1, NIV).
"Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices" (Ezek. 36:31, NIV).
"Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts, Let him turn to the LORDS, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon" (Isaiah 55:7, NIV).
We must come to the end of ourselves, a spiritual wake-up call is in order, even have a mental breakdown of sorts in which we realize in a rude awakening the vileness of our own sin, and evil and stop blaming God for our problems--we are only reaping what we've sown or got what we deserve, and even less at that. When Peter realized his sin he said, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man." And Ovid said, "I see the better things and approve them, but I follow the worst." Even Paul said, "What a wretched man that I am..." (cf. Romans 7:24). "... [P]our out your heart like water in the presence of the LORD" (Lam. 2:19, NIV).
Man naturally believes he can do something for his salvation, some work that is pleasing to God, but he must try to stop saving himself, as it were, and accept salvation as a free gift of grace. He throws in the towel and upon the mercy of God: the only qualification for salvation is to admit you're not worthy of it. We cannot clean up our act or get our house in order--only the grace of God can change us! We are never good enough to be saved; we are bad enough to need salvation!
The sinner flatters himself too much to hate his own sin (cf. Psalm 36:2).
"... Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall" (Ez. 18:30, NIV).
"In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God" (Psalm 10:4, ESV). [God is in none of his thoughts!]
"Return [repent] ... Your sins have been your downfall" (Hos. 14:1, NIV).
"Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices" (Ezek. 36:31, NIV).
"Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts, Let him turn to the LORDS, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon" (Isaiah 55:7, NIV).
We must come to the end of ourselves, a spiritual wake-up call is in order, even have a mental breakdown of sorts in which we realize in a rude awakening the vileness of our own sin, and evil and stop blaming God for our problems--we are only reaping what we've sown or got what we deserve, and even less at that. When Peter realized his sin he said, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man." And Ovid said, "I see the better things and approve them, but I follow the worst." Even Paul said, "What a wretched man that I am..." (cf. Romans 7:24). "... [P]our out your heart like water in the presence of the LORD" (Lam. 2:19, NIV).
Man naturally believes he can do something for his salvation, some work that is pleasing to God, but he must try to stop saving himself, as it were, and accept salvation as a free gift of grace. He throws in the towel and upon the mercy of God: the only qualification for salvation is to admit you're not worthy of it. We cannot clean up our act or get our house in order--only the grace of God can change us! We are never good enough to be saved; we are bad enough to need salvation!
We cannot work ourselves up into a spirit of repentance or do any pre-salvation work, but must just throw ourselves upon the mercy of God and realize our destiny is ultimately in His control. We are literally "sinners in the hands of an angry God," according to Jonathan Edwards, and the Scripture says our foot shall slip in due time and our calamity is near if we don't repent (cf. Deut. 32:35).
Repentance, then, like faith, is the gift of God (cf. Acts 5:31, 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25)--for we can do nothing apart from Christ's work in us (cf. John 15:5 ). Caveat: "[Not] knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4, ESV). God transforms the hardened heart, turning it from a heart of stone to flesh (cf. Ezek. 36:26). God will then cause us to walk in His ways (cf. Ezek. 36:27). A changed life is the only evidence of salvation: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Cor. 5:10, ESV).
"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death" (2 Cor. 7:10, ESV). There is being sorry you got found out with your hand in the cookie jar and feeling sorrow and remorse enough to change your ways. David said, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Ps 51:17, ESV).
We must declare spiritual bankruptcy because the good news only comes after the bad news is accepted. C. S. Lewis said this catch-22: "We must see how bad we are to be good, and we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good." Thankfully, we are bad, but not as bad as we can be by virtue of the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit; we are as bad off as we can be, though, in our total depravity. Total depravity doesn't mean utter depravity; we are not as bad as possible. We are as completely depraved as possible, our whole being (intellect, emotions, and will) and we cannot be a little depraved no more than a woman can be a little pregnant!
We all have an inner conscience or moral compass that either accuses or excuses us (cf. Romans 2:15). It is good to feel bad about our sin (guilt is therapeutic) and we must realize we are bad--but not too bad to be saved. If sin were yellow, we'd be all yellow; there is no island of righteousness in our being--our wills, minds, and emotions are all evil, corrupt and depraved. Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God! (cf. Isaiah 45:24). We are born sinners and in sin: "We are not sinners because we sin, but sin because we are sinners" (theological axiom). The Anglicans express sin in their Anglican Book of Common Prayer as follows: "We have done those things we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things we ought to have done." That means they are sins of omission as well as of commission.
In true contrition, we own up to our wrongdoing, do an about-face, a 180-degree turn, or a U-turn from our sin. It's imperative to come clean, hiding nothing and openly admitting and confess all sin and remember that confession, or homologeo in Greek means to say the same thing as. It is progressive, in that it continues throughout the Christian experience and fellowship. We are not just afraid of hell, or regretting the results we have reaped, but want to change our life to please God and hate sin for what it is: an offense to God's nature. We feel we haven't just broken God's laws, but His heart. When we sin we don't break God's laws, they break us; and sin is only "pleasure for a season" (cf. Heb. 11:25). Contrition says goodbye to our former life without looking back, burning all the bridges to make it impossible to return.
We don't need to turn over a new leaf or make a New Year's resolution, but to repent of our sins and put Jesus in charge to change us from the inside out--i.e., make us new persons in Christ. We will then find forgiveness from what we've done and deliverance from what we are (justification and sanctification). In sum, we must renounce sin and not just feel sorry for its consequences and ask God to change us. Soli Deo Gloria!
Repentance, then, like faith, is the gift of God (cf. Acts 5:31, 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25)--for we can do nothing apart from Christ's work in us (cf. John 15:5 ). Caveat: "[Not] knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4, ESV). God transforms the hardened heart, turning it from a heart of stone to flesh (cf. Ezek. 36:26). God will then cause us to walk in His ways (cf. Ezek. 36:27). A changed life is the only evidence of salvation: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Cor. 5:10, ESV).
"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death" (2 Cor. 7:10, ESV). There is being sorry you got found out with your hand in the cookie jar and feeling sorrow and remorse enough to change your ways. David said, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Ps 51:17, ESV).
We must declare spiritual bankruptcy because the good news only comes after the bad news is accepted. C. S. Lewis said this catch-22: "We must see how bad we are to be good, and we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good." Thankfully, we are bad, but not as bad as we can be by virtue of the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit; we are as bad off as we can be, though, in our total depravity. Total depravity doesn't mean utter depravity; we are not as bad as possible. We are as completely depraved as possible, our whole being (intellect, emotions, and will) and we cannot be a little depraved no more than a woman can be a little pregnant!
We all have an inner conscience or moral compass that either accuses or excuses us (cf. Romans 2:15). It is good to feel bad about our sin (guilt is therapeutic) and we must realize we are bad--but not too bad to be saved. If sin were yellow, we'd be all yellow; there is no island of righteousness in our being--our wills, minds, and emotions are all evil, corrupt and depraved. Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God! (cf. Isaiah 45:24). We are born sinners and in sin: "We are not sinners because we sin, but sin because we are sinners" (theological axiom). The Anglicans express sin in their Anglican Book of Common Prayer as follows: "We have done those things we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things we ought to have done." That means they are sins of omission as well as of commission.
In true contrition, we own up to our wrongdoing, do an about-face, a 180-degree turn, or a U-turn from our sin. It's imperative to come clean, hiding nothing and openly admitting and confess all sin and remember that confession, or homologeo in Greek means to say the same thing as. It is progressive, in that it continues throughout the Christian experience and fellowship. We are not just afraid of hell, or regretting the results we have reaped, but want to change our life to please God and hate sin for what it is: an offense to God's nature. We feel we haven't just broken God's laws, but His heart. When we sin we don't break God's laws, they break us; and sin is only "pleasure for a season" (cf. Heb. 11:25). Contrition says goodbye to our former life without looking back, burning all the bridges to make it impossible to return.
We don't need to turn over a new leaf or make a New Year's resolution, but to repent of our sins and put Jesus in charge to change us from the inside out--i.e., make us new persons in Christ. We will then find forgiveness from what we've done and deliverance from what we are (justification and sanctification). In sum, we must renounce sin and not just feel sorry for its consequences and ask God to change us. Soli Deo Gloria!
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