BECOMING A CHRISTIAN 4: REPENTANCE - TURNING FROM SIN
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Becoming a Christian
a) What steps are involved in becoming a Christian? Are there particular steps involved in being born again? What comes first and what follows? This question has come up more than you might think.
2. Repentance – Turning from Sin
a) The word repentance actually means to turn around and go the other way – the opposite way. No one repents until they first see that they need to repent and repent from sin. So after a person sees that their sin has separated them from God, they then turn from those sins and turn their lifestyle around.
b) Now we have already seen that it is God that grants repentance but we are the ones that do the “turning around.” God has never strong-armed anyone into heaven. The part that the sinner contributes to their salvation is that they bring their filthy hands full of sin to God and confess them, and then turn around and go the other way. This does not mean that you will not stumble into sin; the difference is you won’t dive into sin willingly. The unrepentant are swift to run to sin but the repentant person stumbles but gets back up and dusts themselves off – and they go on again until they stumble again.
c) It’s not a matter of if we sin again, but a matter of when. First John 1:8 clearly tells us that “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” so don’t even try to deny it. The good news is that when we do sin, we will repent of our sin and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The repentant person knows that they are still a sinner and will sin again, but they also know that if they confess their sin, God will forgive them. The difference between the repentant sinner and those who are not born again, the unsaved sin and have no thought about repenting or confessing it to God. They have no problem with it.
The End ...
1. Becoming a Christiana) What steps are involved in becoming a Christian? Are there particular steps involved in being born again? What comes first and what follows? This question has come up more than you might think.
2. Repentance – Turning from Sin
a) The word repentance actually means to turn around and go the other way – the opposite way. No one repents until they first see that they need to repent and repent from sin. So after a person sees that their sin has separated them from God, they then turn from those sins and turn their lifestyle around.
b) Now we have already seen that it is God that grants repentance but we are the ones that do the “turning around.” God has never strong-armed anyone into heaven. The part that the sinner contributes to their salvation is that they bring their filthy hands full of sin to God and confess them, and then turn around and go the other way. This does not mean that you will not stumble into sin; the difference is you won’t dive into sin willingly. The unrepentant are swift to run to sin but the repentant person stumbles but gets back up and dusts themselves off – and they go on again until they stumble again.
c) It’s not a matter of if we sin again, but a matter of when. First John 1:8 clearly tells us that “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” so don’t even try to deny it. The good news is that when we do sin, we will repent of our sin and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The repentant person knows that they are still a sinner and will sin again, but they also know that if they confess their sin, God will forgive them. The difference between the repentant sinner and those who are not born again, the unsaved sin and have no thought about repenting or confessing it to God. They have no problem with it.
Comments
Post a Comment