When They Say Repent
"...and
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name
to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47
In the present-day Church System repentance has come to mean
something entirely different than the Bible definition. When they
say ‘Repent’ (and many of them have eliminated
the word from their vocabulary) it suggests a ‘TRUSTING’ in some
kind of theological arrangement that fits into their systematic
understanding of Scripture. In reality, this is far removed from what
Jesus and the apostles preached for the remission of sins.
The solid foundation of following Christ is a departure from
sin. (2Tim. 2:19) Remove this fundamental premise from repentance and
you negate the entire process. Under present theology, man is born
a sinner having been imputed with the guilt of Adam and
thereby incapable of free will. Thus, this necessitates the creation
of ‘Doctrine’ to bring about his salvation apart
from any effort on his part. So repenting (if preached at all) means
an apology for ‘a nature’ you have no control
over. The best God can do is save you ‘in your sins’,
impute you with the righteousness and obedience of Jesus and then
pretend you’re no longer a vile sinner because you’re under
grace.
Given that you can't completely
abandon a 'nature' inherent in your flesh, a genuine
willingness to stop sinning is a valid aspect of salvation. As long
as you're in the process of 'emerging' from your
sins, even gradually, signifying a reduction in sin over time, this
qualifies as authentic salvation. Although to protest their
faulty theology, many preachers will say that the lack of
fruit-bearing translates into a false conversion. (Obvious
contradiction!) But the bottom line is they all insist that
salvation is ‘Not of Works’ (Eph. 2:8-9) and no
one can judge, so they will NEVER actually tell anyone that their
behavior may jeopardize the outcome of their salvation. Again,
you’re ‘willingness’ is enough. You express
that with a sorrowful apology and God will forgive.
However,
the repentance in Scripture uses an ENTIRELY different language
that’s completely foreign to present-day theology. First of all the
message is always addressed to the human mind under the full
assumption of free will ability to respond. God does not
coerce, He invites man to make a choice. That’s why He demands
that repentance and faith be proven by DEEDS! (Acts 26:18) Notice the
vast difference in verbal communication:
”Let
the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts,
let him return to the Lord” |
No
one in genuine repentance presumes upon the Lord. They seek
reconciliation in brokenness and humility expecting nothing. Note the
King of Nineveh directing his city to turn:
Let
neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let
them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with
sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let everyone turn from his
evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if
God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so
that we may not perish? Jonah
3:7-9.
When the Lord Himself spoke of
repentance in Matt. 12:38-42, he compared the present message
preached to the message of Jonah, which includes an obvious departure
from sin in the repentance process. There wasn’t merely
a ‘willingness’ to
stop sinning in Nineveh or some kind of apology to God for being
sinful. The people got CLEAR of their wrongdoing and cried out to the
Lord. They obeyed the voice of the Prophet and PROVED it by their
DEEDS. This matches perfectly with the model of repentance explained
in 2Cor.7:10-11.
For
godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be
regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe
this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence
it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation,
what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all
things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Real
Repentance Produces an Outcome:
Diligence to DO what is right!
Clearing of
wrongdoing!
Fear of God
Vehement
desire change
WHERE
is any of this in the ‘TRUST’ Model?
You apologize for being a sinner
Repeat some
words
Then trust you have received Jesus into your
heart
And PURITY of heart
The sin
remains. The bondage stays put. You’re a slave to whom you obey
convinced you’re a child of God by proxy. (John 8:39) Yet NOWHERE
did Jesus EVER tell anyone to ‘Trust’ in
His finished work and receive Him as their personal Savior! Instead,
He told them to:
OBEY His commands, keep His
word, put their hand to the plow, count the cost, Take up your cross,
be DOERS of the word! Go and sin no more. Deny yourself, follow
Me!
HOW does any of this translate
into ‘Trust’?
Is a person trying to ‘save
themselves’ by
obeying God, or doing the works of righteousness? (1John 3:7-8) It’s
easy to be a hypocrite and follow the crowd down the wide road to
destruction. You believe your preachers are saying all the right
things and they have your best interest at heart. But the message is
founded in error based on a theology that promises you liberty in
your sin. (2Pet. 2:18) In salvation you remain self-centered, a
wretched man, chief
of sinners, double-minded,
COVERED by grace!
Instead of repentance
proven by deeds, you TRUSTED in
a doctrine invented by men. In the manner in which you heard the
message it ‘seems’ you
have something. BUT what you have is shifting sands that will be
taken away at the judgment. (Lk. 8:32)
Today’s
professing Christians are vile and full of evil dispositions. They
will not yield to Biblical truth or crucify the passions and desires
of their flesh. The preachers have them convinced that God will
forgive all their sins because of grace. They read the Bible but
remain blind to its precepts. (Never able to come to a
knowledge of the truth! 2Tim. 3:7)
They
have fallen prey to Strong
Delusion and
given in to the error of the wicked. They seem to have the upper hand
with the fashion of Christianity, but it’s a complete counterfeit.
Your only chance to escape these lies is to come out now or be judged
with them.
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