What about repentance?

   I will admit, I have at times avoided the difficult parts of scripture; the ones that the secular world would consider counter to the culture our America has cultivated.  Well, I have not avoided reading them or understanding them, but I have distanced myself from spilling the truth that will burn the ears of the non-believers. Sure, Jesus loves you, He will save you and John 3:16 is an amazing reality for those who embrace and taste the faithfulness and love and grace that is our Lord. But there remains an accountability to the truth that I feel is often disregarded in the silence that emanates from the pews and views of the modern Christian congregation in America.  The liberal indoctrination that has invaded our country has crossed over from our political system, into our belief system.  It is in the church now - this idea that Jesus was a liberal, that he was supportive of the idea of social justice, and that all men are not just created equal, but that they remain that way in the eyes of God. This notion belittles the need to repent and obey. If Christ Jesus is all inclusive, then why die for my sins? Why shed his blood?

The promise of a life of purpose is now the promise of a life of prosperity. These are all lies. If these ideas are being promoted from your pulpit and pastor, change them both. This is not the truth that is spoken of in the Bible. This rewriting of the Gospel that has organically changed to include all manners of morality is a lie, and a lie cannot save you.  Only the truth can do that.  Gone from many spiritual leaders among us is the voice preaching repentance. Obedience. Now it is acceptance which leads to nothing more than a social club of common thought. Quiet is the sound of accountability and change that the life of a Christian should reflect.  It is fast becoming an all-inclusive club of do what you want because faith is enough, disregarding that faith motivates change and that this will be a marker and indicator of true belief.  It is not enough to believe in Christ, if this belief does not change you morally and spiritually - if it is not a rebirth and new life, it is not a saving faith. It has to come from above, and this is the truth spoken by Jesus that made the Pharisees walk away. It is just empty rhetoric. It is church, but it is not The Church.  What ever happened to preaching repentance?  The silence is deadly and deafening.

  I did some research on Christian denominations disputing on an organizational level the idea of gay marriage, for example. I tried hard to understand what this dispute is about.  If one can imagine Jesus presiding over a gay marriage ceremony, you have found a different Jesus or created your own savior and salvation. Only Truth can save.  It is the love and grace of Christ that would draw men to God, and we are to reflect that love to all, at all times. To love is to obey. Its that simple, and so often it has to be a work of God as clay is formed by our maker. That is what we are down here for...vessels for His purpose. Servants, slaves and lowly ones. 

 A brief look at Acts 3:19 provides a stable blueprint for the foundation of a life driven towards truth:  "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the Lord".  Just read this verse backwards; If you want seasons of refreshing from the Lord, and you want your sins wiped out, turn to God, and repent. Any dispute of what is required for a saving faith needs to be taken up personally with your Father above, and not with the faithful here below.  This extends well beyond homosexuality. Idolatry, adultery, greed, lying...there are a list of things in the flesh that will be purged in due time within the true believer, because that is what real faith does. It is cleansing and refreshing.  It is not, never, in no way believing the idea that God will accept you as you are, to keep doing what you are doing because God's love and understanding trumps his righteous requirements and perfect judgement.  The continued promotion that change is not necessary and that the Church needs to include filth and wanton sinners is a lie of our adversary.  Those who teach this watered-down approach to Christ are complicit in promoting falsehood, and this promotion is only self-promotion, and void of any real truth. Light cannot mix with darkness. They do not share the same space - and they do not reside, in the same places. This includes, the confines of your house of worship, a place where I believe today, more are being misled, rather than led.

  When I take a step back, I understand why this side of Bible truth is less vocal than the promise of eternal life, the grace of our Lord,  and the truth that sets us free. Preaching pure repentance would not lead many to Christ.  But preaching only, that Jesus loves you and if you believe in Him, you will be saved, is akin to building a fire without bringing a match. Truth is refining. Does it not seem that acts of repentance and obedience lead to a Spirit led life?  Jesus was clear in Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no. But, unless you repent, you too will all perish." And again in Luke 24:46-47 "He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Does it not seem that acts of repentance and obedience lead to a Spirit led life? Before knowing the truth that sets us free, Jesus said to those that believed..."if you continue in My word, then you really are my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Its a walk my friends, and it is in His footsteps. He knows the way and we do not.

   Jesus preached repentance, and some are afraid to do so.  Our American culture is now on a Sodom-like level, basically anything goes now, and liberal Christianity is surpassing bible truth at an alarming rate.  And again, I understand why this is so. Change is work, and a works based salvation too, is not biblical.  But how is not doing something work?  Repentance is a changing of our minds, and the turning away from a former path. It is a 180, not a 360. The air of our nation is one that is now going beyond just disagreeing with the Christian message. It is conforming the Church itself to be just as accepting, and turning a blind eye to continued wickedness, and  then portraying this as "the truth will set you free'.  I for my part will not be silently complicit it supporting a false gospel just because it happens to tickle the ears of the hearers and it popular to broadcast. There is a steady growing trend today in the walls of our churches,  in teaching that Jesus loves you regardless of what you do. Jesus loves everyone, this is true, but He will not save everyone, because not everyone will be taught the truth, nor will all walk in the truth.  These are the facts. It is not popular, and that is why the truth of the reality of the Christian walk is a dying message in our land today. It is hard to hear, because we are being, and have been indoctrinated by the Godless media and the popular pastors to accept everyone, every time, no matter what they choose to continue to do, because this is what will lead them to Christ and eternal life. That is not how it works.  Sugar-coating what the reality of the Christian walk means for our lives will only be able to fill stadiums full of folks who have accumulated for themselves teachers who say only what the hearers can do, never allowing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to guide one to the real fountains of waters of life.

  Repentance will not lead one to Christ.  Christ, will lead one to repentance.  What we can do is be the light of the world.  The darker this world becomes, the brighter our light will appear.  We need not dim ourselves in Christ just to conform ourselves and our message to those around us.  Truth does not change. Truth changes us.