Repentance is for You

The benefit of repentance is reconciliation. Whether that be between family members, friends or between you and God, a contrite heart is the first step in the process of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the fulcrum of the Christian message and the basis of a relationship with Jesus Christ. And as with any relationship, we all stumble from time to time and there is an ongoing repentance/forgiveness interplay that maintains our connection with God and dismantles the barriers that sin erects.

Today, Christianity is being inundated with false teachers whose errors are deeply egregious in their acceptance of sin when they reach out to sinners. The Christian church is called to reach out to the lost. However, to teach that Christians are not obligated to repent of their sins is contrary to the gospel and the will of God. God is love, but He is also holy and just. Therefore, He cannot tolerate sin. Jesus preached repentance (Matthew 4:17), John the Baptist preached repentance (Mark 1:4). The gospel is a gospel of repentance.

Christ’s church is to be holy. Jesus was quite upset when He saw the money changers and those selling doves at the temple, and He formed a whip and chased them all out, saying, “’My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers’” (Matthew 21:12-13). Can you imagine how He feels about gay marriages or transgender baptisms being performed? The apostle Paul wrote, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and a kind that even pagans do not tolerate. A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud!” (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Sexual immorality is not to be tolerated within Christ’s church.

Churches that perform and welcome gay marriages and celebrate baptisms for sex-change recipients to introduce their new names are doing a huge disservice to Christianity. By accepting the sin along with the sinner, these churches have accommodated sin and have become the enabler for sinners to continue to live their lives in sin. This is not the love of Christ at all and it is not showing love to others. It is the opposite of love when you provide the path that leads to the destruction of your followers in order to be perceived as welcoming, tolerant and inclusive.

Proponents of this theology scatter seeds that produce a shallow-rooted response in their followers. They may go to church and call themselves Christians, but there is no conviction in their beliefs or strength in their faith because of the misconception that God loves them just the way they are, therefore there is no need to change. They have been taught that they are good enough to make it to heaven, and they are satisfied with the low standard that has been set for them.

There seems to be a perception that being saved is akin to having a ticket into heaven. Once it is in your possession, you are home free, so to speak. But is that really what salvation is all about? Is it all about the believer getting in? Is it about the believer at all? This self-centeredness doesn’t translate into effective evangelization, bearing good fruit or accomplishing the work of Christ in an evil world.

Furthermore, our happiness pales to that of the rejoicing in heaven when sinners repent. The Bible says, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent,” Luke 15:7.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the fulfilling life that awaits those who completely surrender to Christ and receive salvation. The exuberance of an abundant life in Jesus Christ is incomparable, next to the temporal, material and physical pleasures of secular humanism, and those who teach that worldly values are acceptable to a holy God. As followers of Jesus, we are to identify as citizens of heaven, and that we are not to cherish earthly things (Philippians 3:19b-20). Preachers who teach that you can go on living without repentance simply have it wrong and teach a counterfeit Christianity. James 4:4 warns, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

As more and more “Christians” focus on a theology that over-exaggerates salvation by grace alone,(Ephesians 2:8), and claim that since you can’t earn salvation there is nothing you can do to lose it, much is indeed being lost. The rationale that repentance and good works aren’t crucial evidence for being saved, therefore a lack of repentance and good works doesn’t imply that faith is dead, is a blatant contradiction of scripture. It has been said that “real salvation is not you giving your life to Christ, but Christ giving His life to you.” But is that truly the point of the gospel? Is it every man for himself, grabbing Jesus’ cloak and hoping for a free ride into heaven, or is there something more to being a Christian?

Those who use Ephesians 2:8-9 as a crutch to endorse clinging to their sin, miss the context of the passage. While the verse says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast,” we must qualify this statement by adding the very next verse, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in” (Ephesians 2:10). We are to be new creations in Jesus Christ. Paul tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The fact that there is an entire generation of Christians living in acceptance of premarital sex is a case in point. They approve of sinful lifestyles, living their own lives in denial of sins such as cheating others, lying to authorities, drinking in excess and inevitably maintaining a materialistic existence that is indistinguishable from nonbelievers.

While no one may be able to snatch believers out of the hand of salvation, our wilful acts of sin without repentance can keep us from inheriting the kingdom of God. In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul writes, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The concise language of this passage of scripture cannot be misconstrued. Those who live lifestyles that indulge in these acts are obviously unrepentant and un-Christian.

Paul is writing to believers here and imploring them not to use their freedom from the Law of Moses to fall into a disregard for holy living. If he was writing to nonbelievers, his language would have been markedly different. He is emphasizing the underlying premise of faith and repentance as pillars of the Christian experience. He made similar remarks to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:21 where he said, “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”

In his epistle to the church at Ephesus, Paul reminds them, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). What Paul is illustrating is that unless believers are willing to leave their old lives and change the way they live to align with God’s righteousness and holiness, they cannot expect to be considered saved. Carnal Christians cannot enter the gates of heaven.

If repentance wasn’t God’s will, Jesus never would have preached it. If sin was God’s will, we wouldn’t require a Redeemer. Jesus said, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Turning from sin is requisite to denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily. Jesus’ words are clear in Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me.” Paul adds, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).

Rather than using “I’m human” as an excuse to walk in the flesh, true believers will use “I’m saved” as a reason to walk in the Spirit. We are the benefactors of repentance and obedience which result in clean consciences and the absence of barriers between us and God. It is we who profit from a purified heart that seeks to please God with holy living. Our lives are enriched when we share God’s love with others in wholesome ways. Christ set us free from bondage so why would we return to it?

John MaCarthur succinctly concludes, “As believers, we wage continual war against sin, always seeking to mortify it, never to dance with it.”