God Saves From Sin After We Repent
By Elmer G. Klassen
Christians in our generation have not experienced a nationwide “revival of religion” or even a local revival of holiness in America such as has affected communities in past generations. We know from history that revival changes communities, changes morals and causes people to be law-abiding citizens. Why has not this happened in our generation?
In the Book of Romans we read that we have a message which is the power of God to change us if we will believe it. But how will people believe it if it is not preached? The message in the Book of Romans certainly has changed people in the past.
It was the Gospel according to Romans that gave Augustine a sudden conversion and changed him so that he could give the western world a clear statement concerning the person of Christ. The Gospel according to Romans changed Luther so that God could use him to bring the 16th century Reformation. The Gospel according to Romans changed John Wesley so that God could use him and others to bring England and later the world a life changing revival. Will it be the Gospel according to Romans which will be the message that will cause a worldwide revival again?
Who will have the courage to preach the Gospel according to the entire Book of Romans in the power of the Holy Spirit to our generation? Who will support the men of God who do?
Maybe this letter from a Herald reader will encourage us to do so.
“I became a Christian in 1979. As a new convert I was called to a prison ministry in southern Illinois and was assistant director for prison evangelism under the director for five years. In 1983 I was ordained in the… Church by the pastor and the elders of that church. I attended and taught I various Bible Colleges… and pastored churches in… I say these things not to impress you, but to enlighten you to the depth of my current situation.
“Now I am serving 29 years to life for a murder that I did not commit. Nine of the years, however, are for crimes of forgery, theft and deceptive practice of which I’m guilty. There is no justification for my sin for I stand guilty of rebellion.
“For 16 years I’ve struggled with the area of holiness. A minister in 1979 shared with me that we can live a life that is holy unto God. But since then almost 99% of my counselors in college and in the ministry told me that a holy life is unattainable. Consequently sin has always reigned in my life. Now I’m convinced that had I listened to Mr. … in 1979 I would not be in this present state.
“God requires and mandates holiness so that we will live with full assurance of being adopted as God’s children. The church is being slaughtered by the sympathetic view of man’s struggle in sin. We have believed in perversion of God’s Word by Satan that has undermined God’s ultimate goal of making and changing us into the image of His Son, Christ Jesus. Hence, the church thrives in a lie rather than letting God form in us His image. It has been hard to fight against the Head of the Church while believing I was ministering grace and the forbearance of God.
“While seeking God’s grace and this forbearance of God in this prison I became frustrated with my falling again into various deceits including lying, etc. Thus still not realizing that God’s discipline is not sugarcoated with a slap on the back saying ‘you’re my son and I understand you will never reach my holy state. Remember Jesus knows your weakness and frailty. I am just to discipline you, but no one will ever attain my righteous stature in this lifetime.’ What a subtle lie and a gross abuse of God’s grace and holiness.
“While in a state of minimizing my ugliness before God by taking advantage of God’s grace and mercy, God still called forth: ‘Free from sin’ and ‘Crucifixion of the old man’ and ‘For without holiness no man will see the Lord.’ My heart finally heard God say, ‘Yes, you can be holy. Yes, you can live a life pure and pleasing in my sight.’ Yes, by His Spirit and my willingness to be crucified daily I can truly live a life freed from sin and the lie.
“Why then do I write this? I want to thank you for the March Herald (1996). Finally a 16-year battle has been won.
“I pray that all God’s children will never ever have to go through what I have to reach this understanding. I pray that the whole truth will be told when a man makes his decision to enter into a covenant relationship with Christ. I pray no mother or father will endure the humiliation and pain that this situation of incarceration has caused. I pray God will forgive me for hurting the body of Christ and pray for another opportunity to return to the ministry and truly ‘set the oppressed free.’ MB.”
On pages two and three in this issue of the Herald of His Coming one of our founding editors writes that Christ is the Head of the Church and Christians are to obey Him. Christ taught that unless there is repentance there can be no salvation and repentance will result in obedience. Repentance will become evident by a changed life from disobedience to a life of obeying Christ, the Head of the Church.
Alan Redpath, former pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, and Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh, Scotland writes in his book, “Blessings Out Of Buffetings,” that true repentance is not only a momentary act, but a constant attitude of the heart.
He writes: “The Gospel which talks much about faith and little about repentance will be free from offence, and will certainly be much easier to preach, but it will be deprived of all heavenly power. For the preacher to say, ‘peace, peace,’ when there is no peace is to make himself an ally of unrighteousness, and to make himself guilty of allowing indulgence in sin.”
After describing what repentance is Redpath goes on to say, “Repentance begins when a man faces the law of God--the Ten Commandments as amplified in the teaching of the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount--examines his life alongside that law, and begins to recognize the awfulness of his sin. Nobody ever enters into grace before he has felt the thunder of the law of God and the condemnation of guilt which he cannot escape by any effort of his own. I want to speak confidently in the name of the Lord Jesus, although it is not easy to say: until I have seen sin in the light that God sees it and have repented of it, I have never entered into the straight gate and the narrow way that leads me to life. No matter how much I have stressed my faith in Jesus, or how much I have said that I believe in Him and His work on the cross, unless I have seen my sin as He sees it and have repented of it, I have never entered into His kingdom.
“It is failure not to submit to that truth, and that failure has led to some desperately superficial expressions of so-called conversion. It is like the parable of the sower and the seed of which the Lord Jesus spoke in St. Matthew 13:20. The seed fell on stony ground and for a while it sprouted and grew, but then was shriveled by the heat of the sun, and having no root, it withered away. As He explained the parable, the Lord said these are they that have received the Word and for a time have rejoiced in it and are thankful for it, but because they have not root in themselves, they have withered.
“Unless a man’s faith in Jesus Christ is rooted in a soil which is bathed very often with tears, soil that has been broken up from its hardness, soil that has felt the melting and moving of God’s Spirit in conviction of sin and has cried, ‘Oh, God be merciful to me a sinner’ -- unless faith in Christ is grounded on that soil, it has no root and it will die.
“Someone might say to me, ‘That’s all very well. I understand that but, you see, I don’t ever feel that I am sorry enough for my sin.’
“How sorry do you think you have to be? What is the purpose of your sorrow for sin? It is to bring you to trust in the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not your sorrow that cleanses you from sin, but His blood. It is the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance. Has your sorrow for sin led you at one time or another to fling all the burden of it at the feet of a crucified, risen Savior? If it hasn’t, anything short of that is what Paul here calls sorrow that leads to death. This is the root of repentance.”
Repentance is recognized by a changed life of disobedience to a life of obeying the Head of the Church. Christ calls all who are burdened with sin to come to Him for rest. Learn of Me, He says. Jesus is humble and gentle and will give rest for your souls. His burden is not difficult to bear.
The commandments of Jesus are not difficult for Christians to bear. Do you know what they are?
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