Skip to main content

Repentance


Here is God’s wonderful provision for salvation and its rejection in the same verse:

"For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
'In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.'
But you were unwilling." (Isaiah 30:15)

"The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts." (Revelation 9:20-21)


People do not repent even though judgment happens on the earth.

Here is a means to get people to repent:

"Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." (II Timothy 2:23-26)

Here is another means of getting repentance:

"Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh." (Jude 21-23)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ripe for Harvest: Prepared to Give an Answer

As you read through the book of Acts, look at every conversion, and see what happened right before it: what was said, who said it. The situations are the same today.     A long time ago, my duty in the Officer’s Christian Fellowship was the east coast of the United States. I went to an officer’s office at Fort Lee, VA, and stayed overnight, then I went on to Norfolk and Fort Bragg.    Forty years later, I was no longer on the staff of OCF, but I had to go to Denver. While I was in Denver, I checked in at the OCF offices. There was the same Air Force officer I had met in Fort Lee, retired now, a colonel. I had stayed in his house when he was a first lieutenant. He asked me, “Do you know what happened when you stayed overnight?” I said, “No, I just remember staying in your home.” He said, “You led the next-door neighbor to Christ.” I had no memory of it.    Ten years after that, I was speaking at a banquet at the Hotel Salisbury, and who was th...

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a...

Christian Wives are Commanded to Respect their Husbands

In the last few weeks I have had separate conversations with three teenage boys, all of whom were raised in evangelical homes. During the conversations I asked each of them where they wanted to be in ten years, professionally, spiritually, and maritally. As I remember they all wanted to be in computers; they all wanted to be Godly and they all wanted to be married. Good answers. What kind of a woman did they want to marry? Each of them wanted to marry a woman who was more Godly than he was. Asked about how they planned to be Godly in ten years, I found none of them wanted to read the Bible, obey their parents and one of them was profane and it did not bother his conscience. I drew their attention that Christian wives are commanded to respect their husband. They also want to respect their husbands. That is also one of their considerations for a prospective husband. Normally they want to marry a man who is older, taller, smarter and if she is a Christian wants him to be Godlier than she...