REPENT TO BE FREE

I have never met a man who did not want to be totally free.

Have you?

There is something in man that always causes him to fall short of experiencing the totality of happiness and personal fulfillment that he believes should be his.

A friend of mine drove this point home to me as we sat together and I was able to hear him speak of what he perceived as a feeling of total dejection.

He had recently gone through the final stages of his third divorce and with a sense of helplessness he stated, “Somewhere it is written, that I will never be happy; as nothing ever works out for me.”

I attempted to assure him, that, his life could be happy, and full, and good, and that God was waiting to set him at liberty, and to give him a life worth living.

My friend was so down that even as I shared the possibility that there was hope for his future, his depression noticeably deepened.

And something spiritually strange was occurring.

Each time the name of God, was mentioned, he would become uncomfortable and change the subject, or would attempt to create a god that was powerless and blind.

Even so, it appeared that he truly was looking for help.

He expressed a desire to be free of the endless cycle of bondage he found himself in, yet he was not willing to turn to God to find this freedom.

How strange to have such a marvelous gift offered, to want it so badly, yet reject it so soundly.

Could it mean that my friend understood something about Gods message that is so often missed, regarding the need to repent.

He felt very uncomfortable about his sin and what God thought about him.

He could not grasp the fact that it was possible to have a brand-new start in life with God.

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Christ stated in John 10:10 “ I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

How does a man attain this new life? Only by making things right with God. The answer is found in Acts 3:19 “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

Any one who has repented and believed in Christ and what He did on the Cross of Calvary, can have everlasting life with God.

Acts 17:30 “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.”

There is a word in the preceding statement and that word is “ALL” that includes you and I.

The same command is repeated in 2 Peter 3:9 where God states that He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Please understand that “we are saved by grace and that through faith” in which Christ has done for us.

But there can be no saving faith without true repentance.

What then is repentance? It means to change ones mind or purpose.

In this case, it refers to a man and his sinful relationship before a holy God.

A man must be able to acknowledge Gods view of him as stated in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

There are three essential elements regarding repentance that we should be aware of.

1. A man must exhibit a genuine sorrow towards God because of the sins that have been committed by that man against the holiness of God.

A king named David repented before God and stated, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight.” Psalms 51:1-4

Have you grieved over your sin knowing that God knows and awaits your admission of guilt, before the miracle of forgiveness occurs?

2. There must be an inward repugnance to sin, followed by the actual willingness to forsake it.

The Apostle Paul in Acts 26:20, stressed the need for us to see our sin as it really is, and also our need to express our willingness to leave our sin, when he wrote, “That they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”

Plainly stated, the willingness to repent must allow God to bring about a change through the conversion experience.

3. There must be a humble self-surrender to Gods will and service.

We must be able to turn from our way and begin to walk in Gods way.

We must tell God that we want to turn to Him and then go the way that He leads.

We must say to Him “Here is the life that You gave me, take what is left of it and do with it whatever You will.

Acts 9:6 “Lord what wilt thou have me to do?”

Please understand that repentance is not a condition of salvation.

Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ, but repentance is a condition through which we are able to receive salvation as a free gift.

In other words, there can be no salvation if one is not willing to repent so that God can save him.

What then must be done to have peace with God?

The Holy Spirit must bring you to a place of conviction where you see yourself as God sees you. “Behold the Lords hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear; But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2

You are separated from God because you are a sinful being.

As you are now, you can never be accepted by God. But there is hope, for God has said that He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

Then the Holy Spirit will speak to you and cause you to understand the enormity of the price that God paid through the death of His Son on the cross.

For it was through the cross that Christ took our rightly deserved punishment, that we might be forgiven.

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also hath suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”

Friend:

If you would like to know the freedom to live, to love freely, and to laugh, you must be willing to repent and let God give you a new life.

I had to do this, the young man that I call Pastor had to do this, the very ones that walked with the Christ, two thousand years ago, and all who will inherit eternal life, have all done a similar thing.

Turn to God, and seek His forgiveness, invite Christ into your life, and let Him have His way in you.