Repent And Be Converted

Repent And Be Converted

If you have ever heard me sharing the Gospel before then you most likely have heard me say the word repent. A lot of times I say repent and surrender your life to Jesus or repent and believe the Gospel. Or maybe you’ve heard me say repent and trust Jesus or repent and put your faith in Jesus. I say these words because I truly want you to repent and be converted. My desire is to see you saved. I hope to see you one day in Heaven and you can’t make it there without Jesus Christ. You must repent and submit your life to Him. 

Yes, I plead with people to repent because it takes godly sorrow over your sins for God to show you that you need to repent. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). I believe God’s word 100%. Every single word of it; and the Bible says that it takes godly sorrow to work repentance to salvation.

Awful State

Without godly sorrow, without understanding that your sin, all sin is offensive to almighty God, you will never understand the awful state you are in. If you don’t have godly sorrow over your sins, you will never realize the gravity of your situation. Instead of repenting, you will continue living your life for yourself. You’ll go where you want to go and you’ll do what you want to do. When you want to do it. Nothing will stop you if your conscience doesn’t bother you. Most likely, you will continue justifying your sins.

That’s why I so often point to the 10 Commandments. Oh, I may not name them all by name, but frequently I mention many sins prevalent in our day and age. Unrepentant sinners love their sin. They will continue loving their sins and committing those sins until God by His grace alone, reveals your unrighteousness in yourself and reveals His glory to you.

None of us have kept the commandments. Not a single one of us has loved God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. No, we’ve all worshipped idols at one time or another. Most of us have taken God’s name in vain. None of us have continuously honored our dad and mom. No mere human being has gone through life without lusting or coveting or stealing or worshipping a false idol. We’ve all missed the mark. We’ve all fallen short of God’s glory.

Who Are You Living For?

We’ve done this because we are all sinners. We are born with a sinful nature. Adam and Eve sinned and we’ve all sinned since then. We’ve all rebelled against God. Each one of us has said no to God and His way and we’ve chosen our own path. We’ve all done this. But are you still going your own way today? Are you still living life selfishly for yourself? What I’m asking you is who or what are your living your life for?

Are you living for Jesus or for yourself? Are you serving Him or serving sin? Who’s your master? We all serve someone or something. I willingly and gladly serve King Jesus. He is Lord of my life. He is my Savior, my redeemer, my deliverer. Who is lord of your life? What do you spend your money, time and talent on? What or who has your heart?

If you are still living your life for yourself, then you have never really repented. You’ve never really experienced godly sorrow over your sins. Oh, you may have walked a church aisle and may have repeated a prayer, but if you are still sitting on the throne of your life, then you have not bowed your knee to King Jesus. He is Lord. He is Lord of all. Without repentance, you have not correctly recognized His Lordship. You have not submitted to the one and only Lord and Savior.

True Repentance

True repentance is when you understand that you have offended our Holy God. That your sin is a stench in God’s nostrils. You recognize that you have sinned against and offended God and that there is nothing that you can do on your own to change that. Godly sorrow occurs when you come to the end of yourself and you admit that you have made a mess of your life and you can’t make it right. It’s when you understand that you do not have the power to wipe out your sins. Godly sorrow is when you recognize who you truly are – a sinner and you cry out for God to have mercy upon you.

Godly sorrow is the necessary ingredient for repentance. Just like my wife has been cooking low salt or no salt food recently and I can assure you that the food doesn’t taste as good as it does with the normal dose of salt. Now my wife is an excellent cook, but no matter how good of cook she is, when you leave an ingredient like salt out of recipes, food just doesn’t taste as good. Without godly sorrow you cannot reach true repentance toward God.

Faith In Jesus Christ

Faith in Jesus Christ is also needed for salvation. Repentance and faith go together. They work hand in hand. Both are gifts from God. For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:9-10). Saving faith is a gift from God. It’s not of yourself. In other words, you can’t conjure up salvation. You cannot save yourself. Only Jesus saves and He saves those who repent and trust Him. This gift of salvation is of the Lord. He grants it and He gives the gift.

What are you putting your faith in tonight? In your boyfriend or girlfriend? In your work? Are you trusting material things like your car? Who or what are you trusting tonight? We all have faith in something. Some of us just have faith in the wrong things. Take atheists for example. They trust nothing. Atheists say that all of us and everything came from nothing. They have faith that nothing created everything. Never in history has nothing ever created a single atom, yet people run around today claiming that we came from nothing. Now that’s amazing faith, but it is faith in the wrong thing.

We are to have repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Faith in Jesus is more than just intellectual belief. It’s more than just believing facts. Faith in Jesus is where you see your sinfulness and His righteousness. It is believing that Jesus came to this earth 2,000 years ago, born of the virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit. Believing that Jesus walked this earth and never sinned one time. That He is the sinless Son of God.

Ransom For Many

Yet, He gave His life as a ransom for many. He was bruised for our iniquities. By His stripes we are healed. Jesus endured horrible pain and suffering for guilty sinners like you and me. Then as He hung on the cross, God poured His anger over sin upon His only begotten Son.

Jesus suffered, bled and died on the old rugged cross. Then He rose again from the grave three days later. God offers eternal salvation to those who repent and put their faith in Jesus. Yes, knowing and understanding these facts are important. But just believing the facts doesn’t save you. Repentance is a change of heart and mind that leads to a change of action. Faith is not just believing the facts of what Jesus did – suffering, bleeding, and dying on the cross and rising from the grave.

Faith in Jesus is a gift from God and when God reveals these truths to you through the power of the Holy Spirit, then you can sincerely and truly cry out for God to save you. It’s when you are under Holy Ghost conviction over your sins and the revelation that Jesus is the only Savior, that you really “get it.” When you truly have godly sorrow over your sins and surrender your life fully and completely to Jesus. When you do this, then you do as Jesus said: you deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Jesus daily.

Repent And Be Converted

Repent and be converted. Submit your life to the Lordship of Jesus. Call upon the name of Jesus and be saved. Please listen to Acts 3:1-23: Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;

Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

Lame Man Now Leaping

And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, You men of Israel, why marvel at this? or why look so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

And killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I realize that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled.

Repent Therefore And Be Converted

Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

Oh, tonight, repent from your sins and believe the Gospel. Repent and be converted. Become a new creature in Christ. Surrender your life fully and completely to Him. Don’t be like some of the ones Peter described as not believing, not listening to Jesus and they were destroyed. Jesus Himself said unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Don’t foolishly die in your sins and suffer God’s righteous anger forever. Be saved. Repent and be converted. Turn from your sins and turn to Jesus. Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.

(A basic version of this message was lifted up in downtown Springfield, MO on August 18, 2017)