There you will remember your ways and all your deeds that you have defiled yourselves with, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil things you have done – Ezekiel 20:43
For the practicing Christian, guilt feelings and hesitation to ask forgiveness, along with the disgust and disappointment in self because of sin, are hard to bear. But are the feelings of sorrow genuine?
Some months ago I desired of God as David did, ‘search me’. God responded by illuminating my darkness. And being confronted with
the state of my heart is a grievous experience. I’ve learned that like the rich young ruler who went away sorrowful, that being sorrowful is not fruit of repentance. I, too, am often sorrowful, but with the same response as that of the rich young ruler…no change in behavior. John the Baptist, too, would turn away both the rich young ruler and myself since there would not be evidence ‘meet for repentance.’ Repentance brings forth a changed life and bears good fruit. Sorrow of the God kind brings a change in behavior. Heavy stuff!!
While Ezekiel’s loathing scripture is applicable to each heart, too, it refers to the day that God opens the blind eyes and deaf ears of His beloved remnant according to Isaiah 6:10-13 as seen in Rev. 11:13. It is there that God fulfills His covenant with chosen Jacob (Israel/Bride of Christ made up of both Jew and Gentile who are of the faith of Abraham). At that moment His chosen will recognize and fully accept Messiah….and give glory to their God. Deeply prophetic. Beautiful. And we are part of the melodic crescendo as it moves to fulfillment. We see and hear its reality on the international news each day….the raging spiritual global warfare. And especially clear is the continued skirmishes between Jacob and Ismael with global consequences.
A prayer: God, bring me to the place of pure loathing of carnal self as I am reflected against your Holiness. Teach me! Transform me! Deliver me!
Psalms 7:9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
Psalms 10:17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
Psalms 19:8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Transformation… so easy to say, so hard to put into practice. Would that all believers would ask God to expose their darkness, and that all who do go about making the changes necessary as they are brought to light. Growth is often painful, but the alternative is to become a stagnant pool or a statue.
Thanks for the reminder.
LikeLike
Amen! Thanks for visiting, Wade!
LikeLike
Repentance is a Change of Heart
Repentance is a change of attitude or behavior of feeling sorrow of personal sin and turning to Christ for forgiveness and to be delivered from the burden of sin or the fear of judgment of Hell. It is the total surrender of self to Jesus Christ. It is the willingness to give up sin and to seek Jesus Christ.
I believe there is no conversion without repentance. And I have a great testimony of this fact. I was one who believed in Jesus Christ, raised in a church and even went to a Christian high school. I had faith in Christ but I had no repentance. Therefore, no true conversion. But when I re-dedicated my life to Christ with true repentance of sin, my life changed for the best.
For one to become fully regenerated one must repent and believe. You cannot repent without believing and you cannot believe without repenting. Repentance and belief are separate of each other but must occur simultaneously.
I do believe many church-goers that are professing themselves to be converted Christians are simply not because they have no repentance in their heart. Anyone can believe, James says that devils believe and tremble. But the devils have no repentance (James 2:19).
LikeLike
Wow, Bobby! What a beautiful testimony. Amen and Amen! Truth!
LikeLike
The London Baptist Confession and the Westminster Confession of Faith both take pains to point out the absolute necessity of repentance to make sure of one’s salvation. The W.C.F. quaintly notes that believers ought not to content themselves with a solitary act of repentance but to repent of their particular sins, particularly (paraphrasing somewhat).
I engaged J.I. Packer last year in a brief telephone debate. We were discussing Thomas Boston’s book “Repentance.” Boston contends that repentance always follows faith rather than preceding it. But as the W.C.F. implies, repentance seems to denote an ongoing process : 1. repentance of the heart upon conviction of sin prior to actual faith in the Saviour. That repentance acknowledges the sin to be grievous and an affront to God (the change of mind). 2. following regeneration, repentance moves the convert to stop the sinning routine (the change in lifestyle) enabled by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. In that state of heart, one is determined to fight against the flesh so as not to allow sin to regain hold of one’s life (as per Rom. 6:11,12).
I agree with your final paragraph. As in the Apostle Paul’s day, there were those aligned to the churches who were not living the life of the genuine convert. He reproved them with the warning that if they continued in their sin as the rule of life, they had no place in the kingdom of God cf. 1 Cor. 6:9,10 ; Gal. 6:19-21 ; Eph. 5:3-5.
LikeLike
R. Crompton, thanks for commenting on the process of Grace. “But as the W.C.F. implies, repentance seems to denote an ongoing process : 1. repentance of the heart upon conviction of sin prior to actual faith in the Saviour. That repentance acknowledges the sin to be grievous and an affront to God (the change of mind). 2. following regeneration, repentance moves the convert to stop the sinning routine (the change in lifestyle) enabled by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. In that state of heart, one is determined to fight against the flesh so as not to allow sin to regain hold of one’s life (as per Rom. 6:11,12).
Based on my personal experience and encounter-of-the-heart with Christ the Redeemer, W.C.F’s view seems accurate. Each and every encounter or related act of conviction/faith is personal to each individual. Mine was profound beginning as a very small child and continuing today at the ripe old age of sixty-seven. AT age nine I had not yet made an outward profession of faith. Being in the Baptist church one was expected to experience conviction of sin and to respond with being ‘saved. But I had always been extremely aware of the presence of the persons of the Trinity. Thus, on the last day of summer Bible School and in my deep need for clarification of the process of being ‘saved’, Christ visited me and enlightened my heart concerning age of accountability and of the warfare between Good and Evil. He even showed me the defeated and powerless Lucifer as he trembled while standing in the presence of the pure and glorious Christ. Wow! I responded by rising from my pew seat and going forth to publically profess my acceptance of Romans 10:9. Each experience was/is personal and unique to me. God is a personal God. He has no favorites. Before Him my righteousness is filthy rags. Yet my value to Him is beyond all wealth. My post ,’Godly Sorrow’, spoke to the continuing experience of growth, of heart health (in the spiritual sense), and of the continuing battle between flesh and spirit.
LikeLike