Repentance: Change Your Mind

A street preacher was boldly proclaiming the gospel at a college campus. He was talking about sin, Heaven, Hell, and repentance. As he lovingly and passionately warned the college students about the eternal consequence of Hell, a college student began to raise his voice against the street preacher. “I’m a christian,” the college student announced, “And what this man is doing is unloving! Jesus accepts you and loves you. Am I’m sorry this man is giving Christians such a bad name.” Just then, another college student, an atheist, spoke up. The atheist asked the student, “Does the Bible teach that there’s a Hell?” The student paused for a moment and then answered with a stutter, “Yes, the Bible teaches there’s a Hell.” The atheist replied, “I’ve seen you on campus almost every week for the past year. You say you believe in Hell, yet not once have you ever warned me about it. I can only conclude one of two things: either you don’t really care about me, or you don’t really believe the Bible.”

We need to begin living and preaching repentance again.

We need to live in repentance, because God has called us to be holy.

14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14, NLT)

Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. (Matthew 3:8, NLT)

Repentance is the turning away from sin that comes about as the result of a changed mind. Far too many believers are stuck in sin because they imagine that repentance is simply feeling bad about wrongdoing. But to repent is to say, “God, I agree with you that this is wrong. I agree with you that it needs to be removed from my life, permanently, in every way. I will not return to it. I will not allow my flesh to try to keep it in small portions. I will cooperate with you in removing this from my life, for the rest of my life.”

To repent is to recognize that you’ll have to say “no” to what you desire.

To repent is to acknowledge that at no point in the future should you allow yourself even a taste of that which you sinfully desire.

To repent is to set aside whatever excuses you may have made for your wrongdoing. 

To repent is to walk in holiness by the grace of the Holy Spirit. 

And once we begin living it, we must preach it too, and boldly so.

When the Church is pure, the Church is powerful. When the Church is powerful, true and lasting transformation is brought about in the world.

I know it’s not popular to preach against sin. I know the trends of the day demand that we avoid the truths of the cross, the blood of Jesus, the evil of sin, and God’s ability to transform. But if we the Church don’t preach the gospel, nobody will. If we don’t warn the world about the consequences of its wickedness, nobody will. 

In the book of Acts, we see that Peter preached repentance as a part of the new testament message.

18 But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. 19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. (Acts 3:18-19, NLT)

We see a similar message again in Acts 17:30.

God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. (Acts 17:30, NLT)

We’re so afraid of “turning people off” from the gospel that we try to modify the message, as if God didn’t get it right the first time. But understand this: it’s not our preaching of truth that turns people away from the gospel; it’s their desire for sin.

19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. (John 3:19-20, NLT)

Clearly, we are to both live and preach repentance. If you live repentance but don’t preach it, you’re being selfish. If you preach repentance but don’t live it, you’re being a hypocrite. If you both live and preach repentance, you’re being obedient to God.

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Bold As Lions

Sin produces cowards. If you lack boldness in your life, consider the possibility that the lack of boldness may have come about as a result of a lack of righteousness. Here’s what the Bible says.

The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. (Proverbs 28:1, KJV)

When someone is living righteously, they have nothing to fear. Despite what superstitious preaching might try to make you think, the believer who walks in holiness before God does not need to live in paranoia, constantly wondering if some demon has gained influence over them. Despite what culture might teach, the believer who lives in righteousness before the Lord doesn’t need to be afraid of people. 

What can demons of darkness do to the one who walks in the light? What can mortal man do to the one who has gained the favor of Eternity Himself? 

When you live righteously, demons can’t deceive you and people can’t pressure you. Devils can’t handle you, and culture can’t cancel you.

When you live righteously, free of guilt, you can go before God in bold confidence.

21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. (1 John 3:21-22, NLT)

When you stand righteously, you stand boldly before God. When you stand boldly before God, you live confidently before everyone and everything else.

Truly, the believer has only one concern: obedience toward God. Righteous living liberates the believer from all ungodly fear. So if there is any sin in your life, take this as a sign from God. Repent before the Lord of all sin, and allow the Holy Spirit to make you holy. All believers can be truly free from the immorality, the ungodliness of cowardice.

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Preach the Gospel

It’s easy to look at the state of the world - the moral, spiritual, and intellectual decline - and become discouraged. Everything seems to be getting darker. All of the systems of the world are becoming more anti-Christ. Many people are being given over to demonic deception - they’re losing their minds, their collective grip on reality. 

In these times, it’s tempting to throw up our hands, look to the Heavens, and say, “The evil is inevitable. There’s nothing we can do.” Yes, Jesus told us that in the last days perilous times would come, but He never said that in the last days the gospel would lose its power.

We must rise and tell the world. We must declare the finished work of the cross, the cleansing power of the blood, and destructive power of sin. We must warn the wicked, and we must boldly call for repentance. 

It’s a good thing to edify the body, but who will rise and win the lost? We have enough conferences. We have enough e-courses. We have enough church events and self-congratulatory pageantry. But what about the preaching of the cross? Whatever happened to the message of salvation? 

Church, it’s time to get back to the simple message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

There are many problems in this world, but there is only one real solution. The answer is the same as it has always been: Jesus is the answer for the world today.

So we mustn’t get distracted by the many causes that call for us to rally. Feed the hungry, yes. But what good does it do to feed a man today who goes to Hell tomorrow? Feed the hungry. Care for the poor. Stand up for the weak. Rescue the abused. Do good. But while you’re doing good, remember that without the gospel message, the clear and simple truth, all of our efforts will be of temporary impact. 

Want to make a real difference? Then don’t just change lives, change eternities. 

God is looking for someone who will boldly call for repentance from sin, for someone who will declare that Jesus is the only way. The gospel message is simple: God is holy, man is sinful, Jesus alone is sufficient, salvation is free, and consequences are eternal. Jesus will give you His eternal life in exchange for your temporary one.

I know our message isn’t popular, but it’s powerful. I know our message isn’t trendy, but it’s truth. And, yes, our message is offensive to some, but it is the only message that truly saves. Our message is the most important message to have ever been declared. 

In presenting the truth of the gospel, offending people is not our goal, but neither should it be our deterrent. I’d rather offend someone into Heaven than comfort them into Hell. People aren’t turned off to the gospel because of the truth within the gospel. That’s just an excuse. People are turned off to the gospel because they love darkness, rather than light.

Preacher, if people can continue to love your message while also still living in sin, it’s time to start preaching the gospel. 

Believer, preach the truth the of gospel. Preach salvation. Preach Jesus. There is no other message, and there is so little time. 

Preach the gospel to everyone.

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I Will Not Be Moved

The demonization of Christianity is an important aspect of the secular culture’s “progress”. Disagreement will be labeled as intolerance. Truth will be labeled as hate. Reason will be dismissed as callousness. And adherence to the scripture will be criticized as ignorance. Even so-called believers have begun to participate in the agenda. They critic a caricature of what the Church is, while embracing their own special form of lunacy.

I promise you – I will not be moved. Every day I am seeing believers in my generation convert from the madness and commit to sound Biblical truth. Every week, I witness the multiplied, accelerated expansion of the Kingdom of God. And, more importantly, we are taking the gospel to tens of thousands of people via media and television every single week. I am seeing young and old respond to it. And I’m only one of millions of God’s servants.

The message is simple: Because of His love, Christ died to save you. Therefore, repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus.

I won’t stop preaching it. If I should become a lone voice in the desert, I won’t stop declaring it. I will take a stand for righteousness, love and truth. Will you stand with me for Christ?

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” – Romans 1:16

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No Other Way

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” - John 14:6

Either we believe Jesus’ claim to exclusivity or we don’t. Christ Himself has told us that there is no other way to God.

I am concerned especially for my generation when it comes to boldness. It seems that my fellow millennials have been raised in a culture that champions tolerance over truth. It’s almost as if we are to believe that if something is offensive that it is, therefore, untrue. Many would rather avoid offense than deception. But nothing is untrue just because it is offensive, and nothing is true just because it is offensive. An idea’s ability to agitate or offend has no effect on its truthfulness.

Disagreement is not hate. The belief in truth is not bigotry. Exclusive claims are not intolerant.

This culture, with hypocrisy, will applaud the individual’s journey to find and live in their “own truth” yet disdain the one who says they’ve found it. It seems to me that the spirit of the age celebrates the wandering journey to find truth while condemning anyone who has actually reached the destination.

Why?

It’s because, so long as man is wandering, he is never settled. And so long as he is never settled, he never finds truth. And as long as he hasn’t found truth, he is free to do as he wills.

But you, fellow believer, must not fall for such nonsense. Be bold. Be sold. Be convinced of the truth that Christ proclaimed. He is the only way to Heaven, to God, to Truth. All others are false. That’s the truth.

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