You Can’t Repent if You’re Not Sorry
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You Can’t Repent if You’re Not Sorry
You Can’t Repent if You’re Not Sorry When children do something mean either tion. to a sibling or whoever and we catch them or their sibling tells us what they did we make them say, “I’m sorry.” Yet quite often It’s the same way when people sin against God. They never truly repent for what the problem is the child is not sorry. they’ve done. They may be sorry or regret that they got caught; they may feel bad about certain privileges that they lost; they may not like the fact that their parents are upset with them, but they are not sorry about what they did. They meant to do it. The action they took was justifiable in their mind. If they had it to do over maybe they’d be a bit more careful, or use more discretion, but the bottom line is in their little hearts and minds they did what they had to do to get the desired results. The problem is the way the parent views the act and the way the child views it is totally different. The child can say the words, I’m sorry all day long, but there is no true sorrow in it. He doesn’t feel bad about the actual act. He doesn’t truly understand what the big deal is, but if it will make his parents feel better about it, he’ll say I’m sorry. If it will get mom or dad off his back he’ll say it just like they tell him to, but he won’t be sorry. He might say sorry; he might even work up some emotion to go with it, but he won’t be sorry. His heart won’t be changed about the situaCopyright 2013 Mission Globe
They may say the words, they may cry and get real emotional about it, but they aren’t sorry. They don’t see sin as sin. They don’t recognize their wrong. They don’t see it as God sees it. They’ve been told they can’t help it. They’ve seen religious leaders caught up in it themselves. They see the degradation of this world we’re living in and they fail to see the wickedness of the sin they are caught up in. They don’t realize that all sin is an abomination before God (ref. Deuteronomy 25:16). They don’t understand that God hates sin (ref. Psalms 11:5, Proverbs 6:16). They haven’t been told that sin separates you from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and if you don’t repent from your heart, if you don’t truly turn from and hate sin as God hates it (ref. Psalms 66:18), you’ll be eternally separated from God (ref. Romans 6:23).
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You Can’t Repent if You’re Not Sorry
You Can’t Repent if You’re Not Sorry They don’t realize that every disobedience This is not something you can get from a will receive a just recompense of a reward class or a program or self help books, this (ref. Hebrews 2:1-3). They fail to realize repentance must come from God Himself: that if they don’t repent “they shall all likewise perish” (ref. Luke 13:3). “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” (John God sent His Son so that they would not 6:44). perish (ref. John 3:16), but Jesus, the Son of God, came with a message of repent“...if God peradventure will give them reance (ref. Matthew 4:17). Likewise His apostles stood up and proclaimed repent- pentance to the acknowledging of the ance as the only way to get right with God: truth” (2 Timothy 2:25). “Repent and be baptized everyone of you…” (Acts 2:38).
Esau “...found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears” (Hebrews 12:17).
You cannot obtain an experience of salvaThat’s why it is a serious thing to move tion without repenting of your sins. when God moves on your heart; when God shows you your need, when God reJust saying the words, just crying at the veals Himself to you; when He works on altar, just having someone pray over you your conscience and shows you yourself. won’t bring you into a right relationship It is not a thing to be taken lightly. It is the with God. mercy of God, it is an open door to salvation, it is the love of God calling you to Himself. You must see your guiltiness before God, you must see your action, your sin, as God sees it. You must have a change of “Repent therefore, and be converted, that heart and mind about what you did and your sins may be blotted out, when the turn from it, with the intention, the mindset times of refreshing shall come from the and motivation to never do it again. presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
Copyright 2013 Mission Globe
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