Repent
When we are finally brought to real repentance, we mean business. We are ready -- in EVERY PHASE of our lives -- to say: "YES, Lord ... THY will be done." In REAL repentance, we have become completely SICK AND TIRED of our OWN selfish ways -- AS WELL AS THOSE OF THIS WORLD'S SOCIETY. We are truly SORRY for our mistakes and sins -- and we are MOST WILLING AND READY, through God's Spirit within us, to make a PERMANENT CHANGE. We are now ready to "turn around and go the other way" -- ALL the way -- GOD'S way!
Learning this great LESSON of our own helplessness, misery and inadequacy APART from God is the real PURPOSE of life! That is WHY God has permitted "THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD" to continue with all of its trials, tests and frustrations. Man must learn that he NEEDS God -- that he is INCOMPLETE and FRUSTRATED without a vital, personal fellowship with his Maker.
God, having taught us this GREAT LESSON, can then begin to FINISH His creation by placing within us His Holy Spirit -- His very nature and CHARACTER -- which will give us the spiritual POWER to overcome and hold down the selfish downward pulls of human nature. The Holy Spirit will also give us great joy and inward PEACE OF MIND. Yes, you were born INCOMPLETE -- in great NEED of personal contact with God through His Spirit. You need to face that fact squarely and -- asking God's guidance and help -- take ACTION on it!
The Turning Point
The time of repentance is the CRISIS in your life! It is the TURNING POINT in your entire destiny! Do not underestimate the importance of this matter. Repentance spells the difference between success and oblivion! It is only when you have become willing to totally SURRENDER your stubborn will to God that He will grant you His Spirit. And ONLY through the power of God's Spirit within you will you ever be able to KEEP your mind IN SUBJECTION to His will -- to overcome SELFISHNESS, VANITY and SIN.
Your WILLINGNESS IS the QUESTION! Your WILLINGNESS TO HELP build the kind of CHARACTER that God wants -- through constant surrender now, with the aid of God's Holy Spirit, to Him and His ways -- is the MOST IMPORTANT question in all of life!
Repentance Commanded Today.
1. Did Jesus -- knowing that the Holy Spirit of POWER was to be made available to all mankind immediately after His ascension into heaven -- command EVERYONE TO repent? Mat. 4:17.
2. And did the Holy Spirit come on the Day of Pentecost, just as Christ said it would? Acts 2:2, 4. And didn't Peter immediately proclaim how people could receive the POWER of the Holy Spirit with which to overcome their carnal natures? Acts 2:38. Is the condition of repentance again mentioned here? Notice the word REPENT. COMMENT: YOU won't find repentance an EASY thing to do.
Repentance is difficult! It goes AGAINST YOUR NATURE. It must and will completely "upset" your life -- until your life has been made RIGHT SIDE UP.
Understand! You began life totally selfish. You were all wrapped up -- in diapers and blankets -- AND IN SELF! Of course, you didn't realize it at the time. In fact, you didn't realize much of anything. CERTAINLY, you were beautiful in your parents' sight. But if anything made you uncomfortable, you immediately let out a squall. Whether it was a loose pin, a gas pain, wet diaper or hunger, you were ONLY concerned with yourself. And day or night, you wanted the WHOLE WORLD to know YOU were in pain!
Of course you've grown out of that now. Yet -- HAVE YOU? You're much more subtle now. You don't yell out in the middle of the night. You don't do the things babies do. You have changed your way of acting. But HAVE YOU changed your way of THINKING?
As a baby grows, one of the first things he or she learns is that its little world revolves around IT. Mother and Daddy literally RUN to serve it. The whole family adjusts its schedule to suit the demands of the little one. As the baby grows it becomes more and more habit-bound to obey its carnal nature. Now, narrow it down to you. As you grew up, you continued to be wrapped up in self. As a teen-ager, you were still greedy, selfish, subject to every whim that sprang from the desires of your physical flesh.
But now an interesting thing has happened! You learned it was frowned upon. Though still totally selfish and carnal -- still with your human nature -- you have learned to COVER UP. You no longer screamed out at hunger pangs or SHOWED every emotion. But you were still -- now more than ever -- all wrapped up in self.
Why We Need to Repent
"Sin," defines the Bible, "is the transgression of the Law" (I John 3:4. God says "the law is spiritual" (Rom. 7:14). And "the law is HOLY, JUST, and GOOD" (Rom. 7:12). And "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:10). Is there anything wrong with that? Of course not! And what is righteousness? "All thy COMMANDMENTS are RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Ps. 119:172). Righteousness is obedience to the living laws God has set IN MOTION. These Laws are ALIVE. They are eternal, immutable, and inexorable! (Ps. 111:7-8.
When we transgress them, there is a PENALTY. There is no escape from the penalty, unless we accept Christ's sacrifice as payment of that penalty in OUR STEAD.
The Law has been set in motion, and it is the most powerful, irresistible thing in the entire universe! Relentlessly, it moves on, always aiming its penalty without fail!
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Jesus did not do away with the Law. The Law did away with HIM -- with His physical, earthly life! Christ would have remained dead FOREVER, unless resurrected. It is only because God raised Him from the dead by a resurrection that He now lives! He didn't end the LAW -- no, the LAW ended His life! And it will end YOURS also, unless your sins are all on Jesus and covered by HIS shed blood!
But death is not the ONLY penalty of breaking God's Law. Not by any means! The penalty of broken law, HERE and NOW, is broken, frustrated lives, shattered hopes and hopeless dreams, unending misery, wretchedness, unhappiness and want!
Yes, the Law of God is GOOD! It is love! It is the way to peace, to happiness, to joy! Keep it, and you will be HAPPY. Break it, and you will suffer! THE LAW IS GOD'S GREATEST GIFT TO MANKIND -- given to make man happy, to lead him into the full abundant life, to PROTECT his happiness and lead him into eternal life!
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