I believe you have had a great week. Did you know that? From the Scriptures I know that God’s people are always blessed, and that He orders our footsteps. I know that He lives in you by His Spirit and that you are a new creation in Christ. You have been sealed and set apart by God.
Now, I know that you all have what seem to be ordinary days, just like everyone else, including nonbelievers. But I believe that is only because God’s kingdom is unseen. It cannot be seen with your “careful observation” (Lk 17:20). If you knew the spiritual activity that takes place on your behalf, and the power by which the Holy Spirit causes you to do certain things at certain times, you would be amazed, I think. The degree to which you are blessed and highly favored would become especially obvious to you if we could see Satan’s dominion at work in this world as well. His dominion is not easily discovered by careful observation either. But there are some people who are tossed about like waves on the sea, being affected by the sinful nature and the demonic. Without faith, they have no way to discern spiritual things, or to overcome sin.
Are you blessed? You bet. More than you will ever know in this life.
You know, one of the things necessary for salvation is repentance. I haven’t been given to speak about repentance much lately. Instead, I have been speaking about the redemption that came to us by the shed blood of Jesus, and the crucifixion of your sinful nature that comes through water baptism. He bought us back, forgiving our sins through His blood. Then, as the new owner of our souls, the first thing He did was crucify them and raise them up to live a new life, free from sin!
So, what about repentance? Well, repentance is a gift from God that allows you to see your sin as it really is/was. It is not an act of mankind, but an act of God. God does not need you to “do it” before He will save you.
Growing up in the Catholic Church, you know that I went to confession—once. During that confession, in which I chose to be separated from the priest rather than face to face, I admitted to hitting my sister, lying to my parents, and something else, though I cannot remember what. The priest gave me a few prayers to say and told me to apologize to my sister.
That kind of confession is manmade and has nothing to do with repentance. It brings no forgiveness of sins, nor does it in any way improve or restore your relationship with God.
Acts 5:31 says, “God exalted Him to His own right hand as Prince and Savior, that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.”
Acts 11:18 tells us, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
2 Cor 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
From these verses we can gather that repentance has to be received from God if it is going to lead to eternal life. There is no way to manufacture it at a time of your own choosing, like I did in that confessional as a 12 year old boy. The truth is, before someone is saved, they have no idea how black their sin is to God. Such great offense! Such great opposition to all that He is! If we had the slightest clue we would have wept unceasingly. Furthermore, while we were slaves to sin and captive to Satan’s dominion—still unsaved—how is it that we could confess our sins? Impossible! Sin cannot confess itself.
Repentance is part of the process of salvation. I believe that it is a gift from the Lord that we might see our sin as He saw it, before He took it away. True repentance actually brings relief and rest, not guilt. When we are saved, our new gift of faith opens our eyes to see Jesus as He really is. In contrast, that makes our sin appear as black as could be. Since He took it away, the result is thankfulness, praise, worship, and peace.
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