Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of Scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Learning to walk in the Christian Life is learning to go and sin no more. Some might claim to repent, but they never truly repent unto salvation. There is a worldly form of sorrow and then there is a Godly sorrow. The two of these are greatly different from each other. Without Godly sorrow, they cannot overcome the sinful nature, and will remain in a state of impenitence. Rather than having a heart that is moved by their miscreant behavior, it becomes hardened because of sin. Genuine repentance is having deep regret and remorse for something wrong that you have done towards God or others. It is to possess heartfelt contrition, which causes you to acknowledge your faults, and strive to completely overcome them. Genuine repentance from dead works can only take place when you are filled with Godly sorrow. It is a sorrow that leads to a changed heart, a changed mind, and a changed life.
2 Corinthians 7 ⁸ For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
⁹ Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
¹⁰ For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
God will resist the proud, and in order to find forgiveness it requires humility. Pride often manifests itself in arrogant laughter, rather than tears of sorrow for what they have done. The Apostle James warned the church about their need for genuine contrition before God.
James 4 ⁶ But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. ⁹ Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
When the heart is soft, it will open up and weep in God’s sight. This is the way that the humble publican felt when he cried out to God for mercy. He was so upset about what he had done that he was pounding himself on the chest in anguish.
Luke 18 ¹⁰ Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. ¹² I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. ¹³ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
“For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.” Psalms 38:18
There were many religious leaders coming out to see John the Baptist, but he warned them of their impenitent hearts. He called them a bunch of snakes because they were trying to appear religious, but lacked genuine repentance in their hearts. They claimed to be the children of Abraham, but their lives didn’t represent the type of life that Abraham lived.
Matthew 3 ¹ In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, ² And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
³ For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. ⁴ And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
⁶ And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: ⁹ And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. ¹⁰ And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. ¹¹ I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: ¹² Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Jesus warned some cities about their spiritual pride and their refusal to repent.
Luke 10 ¹³ Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴ But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. ¹⁵ And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.
Nineveh is another example of Godly sorrow. When Jonah preached about the destruction of the city, people fasted and cried mightily unto God, and He delivered them from punishment.
Jonah 3 ⁴ And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
⁵ So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. ⁶ For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: ⁸ But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
⁹ Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? ¹⁰ And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
The Apostle Paul preached that if people were going to repent, they needed to bring forth good works, showing by their actions that they were turning away from sin to do the will of God.
Acts 26 ¹⁹ Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: ²⁰ But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
To eventually become an overcomer and obtain the kingdom of heaven, we must go through a complete transformation and rebirth through faith in Christ Jesus. It requires a contrite heart, and a conscience that weighs heavy with the error of your deeds. It is to humbly recognize your own foolishness, and wholeheartedly seek to amend your ways. God doesn’t want people to perish, He wants us to become new creatures, and it all begins by…..
……. Sorrowing unto Repentance
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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