Living in Grace Day by Day

Many years ago I got into a discussion with the editor of one of the brotherhood periodicals over the topic of how a Christian is cleansed from sin that he may commit from time to time.  He had taken the position that a Christian had to confess every single sin he committed or else he was lost.  There was a general debate among brethren back then about this topic which they were calling "continual cleansing."  I am not here to opine on that doctrine except in the case of sins of ignorance.   

I think most Christians agree that when a Christian sins he must repent of his sins and confess them to the Father in prayer asking for forgiveness and depending on the particular sin and the circumstances surrounding it there may be a need to confess to others as well asking their forgiveness, even before the church in some instances.  Some think that it is never necessary to publicly confess sins but I am not one of them.  All sin is against God but some sin is against others as well (Matt. 18:21, 1 Cor. 8:12) and one can commit sin against the church (1 Cor. 10:32, 1 Cor. 11:22, Gal. 1:13).  We need to confess to whomever we have sinned against.    

The editor I am speaking of years ago was taking the confession of sin to an extreme so that any sin not confessed to the Father doomed one, including sins of ignorance.  Now if it was hardness of heart and impenitence that prevented one from confessing a sin that is one thing but ignorance is quite another.  Sins committed in ignorance cannot be repented of and confessed unless it is at a later date when one knows more and has learned better and remembers his past.

However, remembering is part of the problem, a big part of it.  We do not realize we have sinned so the event or occasion when we sinned does not stick in our memory.  There was no reason to remember what to us at the time was meaningless.  We generally remember the evil we have done but if we did not consider our action at the time evil we are not likely to remember it a few days down the road to say nothing of years down the road. 

Now do not get me wrong, ignorance is not an excuse for sin.  If ignorance excuses sin then all those living in lands where they have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel, North Korea for example, are saved and are better off if they never have an opportunity to hear it.  If ignorance were an excuse for sin we would all be better off remaining ignorant.  If ignorance excuses sin one can be saved without the gospel. 

Nevertheless, there was a problem with my editor brother's position.  It is impossible for the Christian to know every single sin he has committed even as he attempts to live the Christian life in all sincerity and faithfulness.  I am to obey the laws of the land, of the government under which I live, but as I drive down the highways and streets of this country I do not see every speed limit sign.  Am I eternally lost because I violated a traffic law I was unaware of?  I am certainly guilty under the law but am I guilty and condemned under grace?    

There is no Christian security, no sense of peace, no freedom from fear of condemnation, no assurance of salvation, and no sense of living under grace versus law when we go that far afield.  John said he wrote 1 John so "that your joy may be full" (1 John 1:4 NKJV) but where is the joy if I must live in fear of my ignorance?  I wonder how many sins we have all committed in our lives when at the time we committed them we had no idea we were sinning.

Is the teenager who has just been baptized supposed to have the knowledge and understanding of the faithful Christian who has read and studied for 50 years?  Is there no room under the grace system under which we live for growth in knowledge and understanding?  "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18 NKJV)

So what is my point?  It is we live under grace, not law.  We do not know every sin in our life or sin that has been there.  We repent of and confess what we know which is all we can do.  I think it likely that many, perhaps most, add in their prayers to God a request that they be forgiven for all those sins of which they are unaware or know not even as they confess the sins they do know.

Do you not only know every commandment found in your New Testament but know exactly how to apply each one of them in every possible scenario that arises in your life?  Can you define every sin listed in the New Testament?  Tell me the difference between a temptation which is not sin according to the New Testament and an evil thought which is (Mark 7:20-23), draw me a line in the sand and tell me exactly when one crosses over into the other.  Is the thought only classified as evil when it is acted upon and thus becomes sin retrospectively only because it was acted on?

At what exact point in time does self-esteem turn into pride which is sin?  Draw the line in the sand and tell us exactly when.  My point is there are a lot of things that are black and white when we see them in the extremes but who is so perfect in judgment as to be able to draw these lines when they are not so extreme?  We can certainly be ignorant of crossing the line on occasion.  These are only examples of many similar things that could be listed. 

I want to make it clear I believe in strict commandment keeping.  I could quote verse after verse on the need to obey from the pages of the New Testament.  Every reader of the New Testament knows that but the bottom line is we are saved by grace and not by perfection in law-keeping. 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9 NKJV)  "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." (Gal. 2:21 NKJV)  The word "the" that comes before the word "law" in Gal. 2:21 just quoted is an added word, added by the translators, which is not in the Greek thus Young's Literal Translation of the Bible translates the passage, "I do not make void the grace of God, for if righteousness be through law--then Christ died in vain." 

John tells the Christian how he is saved day by day in 1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (NKJV)  The word "cleanses" in this passage is in the present tense meaning it is a constant process, a continual thing.  Commentator Guy N. Woods says of the cleansing of this verse by the blood of Jesus that "it cleanses from sin, not merely or solely the conscience, but sin (amartias), all sin, whether of thought, word, or deed, rash sins, sins of ignorance, of malice, of omission or commission, sins of the flesh, sins of the disposition, sins of pleasure or of pain, sins of every type and kind committed at any time or place." (See his commentary on 1 John 1:7.)  I quoted this only because brother Woods mentions "sins of ignorance."  

E. M Zerr in his commentary on 1 John 1:7 says, "If a man is a worker in the Lord's vineyard and his life as a whole is one of obedience to the law of Christ, he does not need to worry about the mistakes he might make which he does not realize, for the blood of Christ will take care of it and wash them away."  I agree.  

But what does it mean to "walk in the light?" (1 John 1:7)  The Bible describes God's word as light.  "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." (Psalms 119:105 NKJV)  "The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple." (Psalms 119:130 NKJV)  To walk in the light is to walk in or by God's word.  It is to be directed by God's word which is the same as to be directed by God.  

But it might be objected that would require perfection in the knowledge of the word and anything short of that would not be truly walking in the word, in the light.  I concede it does place a responsibility on a man to not be lazy or lukewarm in studying and learning God's word.  If we fail to walk in God's word because we were too indifferent and uncaring to find a desire to read and study the word how can we expect our sins committed in ignorance to be forgiven when it was willful ignorance we lived in?  There comes a point in time when we are old enough in the faith to know better as the saying goes but even then we each have different God-given abilities to learn and retain knowledge. 

Whatever subject a man sets out to learn it takes time and that goes for learning God's will as well.  Peter said to those new in the faith, "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." (1 Peter 2:2 NKJV)  God thus allows for growth and no babe ever becomes an adult overnight.  Elsewhere the writer of the book of Hebrews says, "Everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." (Heb. 5:13 NKJV)  If he is unskilled it surely means he has a ways to go to maturity and thus is prone to sins of ignorance. 

Heb. 5:14 sums up the end goal of spiritual growth in knowledge, "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (Heb. 5:14 NKJV)  It thus takes time.  

Yes, I believe we must repent of and confess every sin to God of which we are aware to be forgiven.  John teaches, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9 NKJV)  I also agree, as already stated, that those too indifferent to study and learn are not going to get a free pass because of ignorance.  I would also include in that group those who through hardness of heart are unable to learn the truth (God will judge).  But, to say a Christian man who has a good and honest heart yet sins in ignorance and thus fails to repent of that sin and confess it is condemned is a thing I do not see the Bible teaching. 

Walking in the light is the key (1 John 1:7) but the best any man can do is walk in the light he presently has.  I have more light today than I had 30 years ago because I know more today than I did then.  How about you?  You surely know more today than you did 5 or 10 years ago. 

I am satisfied I have taken the correct position on this subject for the opposing position puts us back under a strict law-keeping system for salvation where one slip up through ignorance condemns you.  Furthermore, that position requires that one be fully mature from the moment he arises out of the waters of baptism in both knowledge and understanding.  That just cannot be correct.

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The Prodigal Son--When He Came to Himself

The story of the prodigal son as told by Jesus in Luke 15:11-32 is too long to quote here but is so well known that almost everyone acquainted with the Bible knows the story and the main thrust of the lesson taught there.  However, there is one phrase in the account we do not talk enough about--the phrase “when he came to himself” found in verse 17.

This verse marks the point in the young man’s life where his eyes were opened to the extent he could now see clearly what before had been hidden from his eyes, as the text says, “when he came to himself” (NKJV), and as a result repentance entered his heart. 

When lessons are presented on the prodigal son the phrase, “when he came to himself”, is not talked about much.  It ought to be.  It indicates that while the prodigal son was living in sin there was a sense in which he was not himself.  He was not a person who could see reality; he was not a person who could reason correctly; he was not the person he was meant to be.

One could almost say sin is a form of insanity.  If the Bible is true (as it is) does any man of reason think he can fight against God and win?  How does one fight against God and win?  A sane man reasoning correctly sees there is only one course of action to pursue--a willing submission to the power that is, to the “rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:2 NKJV) as the Psalmist puts it. 

Yet, people seemingly do not see that.  Why?  Could it be because they have not yet come to themselves as the prodigal son did?  The life of Jesus offers many examples of people that you and I looking back on cannot understand.  Their actions were unreasonable in light of the things they saw and experienced with Jesus.  They appear to have lost all reason and common sense.  Miracle after miracle, miracles that cannot be denied, are performed before their very eyes and yet they cannot or do not believe.  Jesus raises Lazarus from the tomb, from death to life, after he has been dead four days (John 11:39).  How is that possible? 

When he performs all these miracles it is obvious God is with him.  Nicodemus says, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2 NKJV)  After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ‘What shall we do?  For this man works many signs.” (John 11:47 NKJV)  Yes, he raises a man from the dead and you think he is not from God, you think he needs to be crucified?  Is this kind of thinking sane?  Is it reasonable?  Nicodemus could see the truth but the Pharisees either did not, could not, or would not but as the case may be there was only one reason for that --  sin.  Sin changes a man to the point he does not reason correctly.

Not long ago I learned of a Christian man, extremely well thought of and liked, faithful by every measurement apparent to an observer, married for 39 years, who announces to his fellow Christians he is leaving his wife, divorcing her to marry a divorced Christian woman in the same congregation.  They had been secretly dating for about a year unknown to anyone.  Is this sanity?  Is it Christian?  Does it lead to heaven or hell?  The wife had no idea so I am told.  Here are a couple of prodigals that need to “come to themselves.” 

We all know what a godly man David was.  I probably enjoy reading the Psalms as much as any book in the Bible.  They reveal the heart of David at his best.  Yet, perhaps no one is a better example to us of how sin changes a person.  I refer to his encounter with Bathsheba, the adultery, the murder of her husband, and the intent to do nothing about it other than hide the facts as best as he could.  David was a prodigal who “came to himself” with the help of Nathan the prophet of God. 

I think one can see both in the life of the prodigal son and the life of David that it often takes the course of events to bring a man to himself.  We know the poverty and want the prodigal son fell into and we know that Nathan the prophet confronted David to his face.  Sin gets such a grip on a man or woman it often takes some kind of outside force to get a man to see his situation and repent and turn away from it.

I once read a sermon where a preacher shocked me as he recalled an encounter that he had as a college professor in a Bible college with a young man who was either an atheist or maybe just rebellious against the faith.  I do not remember that detail but the young man was not about to be a faithful child of God, totally against it.  Here is a paraphrase of what the preacher/Bible professor told him.  He says words to the effect I will pray for you that such events (meaning negative things) will come into your life that will open your eyes and heart.  I have thought about that statement for years.  It was a prayer for adversity.

I have come to believe the Bible professor was right in making a statement of that kind and offering that kind of prayer.  No, he was not praying for the young man to be in a car wreck and paralyzed for life but only a prayer that enough adversity come into his life to get his eyes opened.  No man can come to God who does not first repent.  Those least likely to repent are those whose lives seem to be nothing other than one winning hand after another (a worldly phrase that is applicable here).

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” (1 Cor. 1:26 NKJV)  All men are called by the gospel so what does this verse mean?  It means that those who are living this kind of life where everything is seemingly going right and nothing going wrong, a life they can brag about for its worldly success, are seldom going to repent and answer the gospel call.  It often takes some real adversity in life to see a need for God.

A man must feel a need for God before he will seek God and salvation.  The prodigal was forced into a situation where his need became overwhelming.  David was confronted with a prophet sent from God.  David did not doubt that. 

What is wrong with today’s preaching--that is a large percentage of it?  It fails at this very point where there is an unwillingness to confront people with the problem of sin in their lives.  Sin has disappeared from the American vocabulary.  How are people ever going to come to themselves if the whole world seems to be condoning their sin?  How do you sin when there is no such thing as sin such as has come to be the standard of thought in America today?

There was a time in my life (I am 62) where if a couple moved in together not being married it was looked down upon by just about the whole community.  I now know of those who not only move in together, but buy a house, and have children and it is thought to be a wonderful thing even though they remain unmarried.  There is celebration rather than embarrassment, joy rather than sorrow.

Do you think the couple I mentioned above where the man is leaving his wife of 39 years will have a problem finding a place to worship?  I hope you are not that naïve.  It ought to be that way until repentance takes place which means you quit the sin you are committing (you can live in adultery--see Col. 3:5-7).  It ought to be but it won’t be.  Some religious body will welcome them in and rejoice that they have such a loving couple with them now--a couple that wants to be affiliated with them.  Many churches no longer worry about sin in their presence.  (Since writing this article this has now come to pass, the couple are members in good standing with their membership in another congregation despite practicing adultery.)

The words of Isaiah which Jesus said were fulfilled in Matt. 13:14-15 seem applicable in many ways yet today.  “Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the heart of this people has grown dull.  Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.” (NKJV)

Jesus said, “This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (Matt. 3:19-20 NKJV)

People can be “slaves of sin” (Rom. 6:17 NKJV).  Some seem to think they can change their life on a moment’s notice, repent any time they want to.  Do you ever notice how it is they never seem to want to?  It is not that easy to do.  It is not easy to do as the prodigal son did and come to yourself.  It is hard to get the want to as long as life is going along pleasingly and pleasantly.

However, God did not make us to be the worst we can be but the best.  Deep down inside I think we all want to be good, do we not?  It is possible.  We can repent.  Like the prodigal son and David, we can face up to facts about ourselves and repent.

The real shame is not in being a prodigal “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23 NKJV)  I am not saying there is glory in being a prodigal but only that is where we all either are now or once were.  But the real shame of it all, the deep everlasting shame is in not going home.  The prodigal went home.  That is where he belonged.  That is where you belong when you are at the best you can be, at home with God.  When he came to himself the prodigal son went home.  If you are living in sin when are you going home?

The world may overlook sin and remove it from the American vocabulary but it is not going anywhere with God.  He knows where it is and who is holding onto it, who will not repent, who is living in sin even while the whole world thinks nothing of it.  That being the case we can only pray that men might come to themselves, casting off the blinders from their eyes, that they might see the reality of the self they have become instead of the person God made them to be.

We would have no one to despair, upon coming to such a realization about himself, thinking all is lost; God has given up on me and will never have me.  As the old hymn goes God is calling the prodigal son, come without delay.  The prodigal can go home if he will.  God awaits him there.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  (Matt. 11:28 NKJV)

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(While this was posted under today's date it was originally written approximately 15 years ago.)

 

 

Must We Seek God

Should a person seek God?  Many men and women believe there is a supreme being we call God and yet they feel no need to seek God.  With them God is God; he is just and good and is love so he will save them as long as they live what they consider to be a reasonably good life.  They do not concern themselves with reading or studying the Bible, with worship, or obedience to God's specific commandments.  They go through life on auto-pilot as far as God is concerned.

Whether they realize it or not this approach to salvation is an attempt to be saved by the works of man--it is an attempt to work your way to heaven based on personal goodness, a self-defined goodness.  It reminds one of Rom. 10:3, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God." (NKJV)  It attempts to make God conform to man's judgments rather than man conform to God's judgments.  Man ends up judging God rather than God judging man.  God, if you are really good you will save me is the idea.    

The reality is it does not work that way.  Man does not get to pass judgment on God nor bully God into saving him.  "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,' says the Lord.  'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" (Isa. 55:8-9 NKJV)  God will remain God and you and I will remain flesh and blood, just human beings who are here for a short while on earth and then pass on into eternity over which God rules.

What does the Bible have to say about seeking God?  It condemns those who fail to do so.  Paul says, "For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.  As it is written:  'There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.'" (Rom. 3:9-12 NKJV)  Did you note there is none who seeks after God in this passage and they are all in sin; there are none who do good, not by God’s standard? 

David in Psalms 10:4 said, "The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts." (NKJV)  I take David's statement where he says "God is in none of his thoughts" to mean that such a man never considers God in anything he does.  God is in none of his plans, is never considered in the man's decision-making, etc.  We find such a man described by Jesus in the New Testament in the parable of the rich man whose ground yielded such a plentiful crop that he knew not what to do with it all as described in Luke 12:16-21.

This man decided to tear his old barns down, build bigger ones to store the crop, and then "eat, drink, and be merry." (Luke 12:19 NKJV)  God called him a fool (verse 20) and said his soul would be required of him that very night.  Jesus finished the parable by saying, "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:21 NKJV)  This man had excluded thoughts of God from his life.   That man has relatives alive on earth today.

There are only two classes of men--those who seek God and those who do not.  All mankind fits into one classification or another.  In the Psalm quoted above, David said that the wicked does not seek God.  That necessarily means if a man is not a seeker after God it puts him into the only other category that exists, that of the wicked who do not seek God.  If God is "a rewarder of those who diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6 NKJV) what then becomes of the man who does not seek God at all? 

Jesus sought God his father for he said, "I do not seek my own will but the will of the father who sent me." (John 5:30 NKJV)  This was the opposite of the rich man who tore his barns down to build bigger to hold his crop without seeking God's will in his life.  One cannot seek God's will without seeking God.

It is God's will for a man that man seeks him, all of mankind.  James made that clear in reference to the Gentiles by quoting the words of the prophets in Acts 15:15-17, "And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:  'After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down.  I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who does all these things.'" (NKJV)  We now live in that dispensation of time when all men may seek the Lord it being God's will that they do so.

A little later in Acts 17 Paul speaks of God as having made of one blood all men "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:27 NKJV)  Why should we seek him?  Paul says in the next verse, "For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28 NKJV)  God is truly a person's father whether all are willing to recognize him as that or not.  A man ought to seek his father had he not?  (Yes, the devil can become one's father, John 8:44, but we enter the world as God's offspring.  The devil did not bring us into the world.)

"The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Psalms 53:1 NKJV)  God is looking, “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.” (Psalm 53:2 NKJV)  Want to know what a fool does not do?  A fool does not seek God. 

In the normal course of a week, you and I will meet up with any number of people who are totally indifferent to God.  They are not seeking God in any way, by any measurement.  They are not necessarily all unbelievers but they are at best indifferent toward God and are not seeking him.  They may be good men and women as the world measures such things but the God who runs their life is the God of self.  The one who makes the rules by which they live and by which they determine what is right from what is wrong is themselves.  They set the rules for their life, not God.

Remember earlier when I quoted Paul from Acts 17 concerning seeking God?  I said that the reason was that we are God's offspring (Acts 17:28) and that a man ought to seek his father, but this section of scripture also gives another reason.  What?  God is going to "judge the world in righteousness." (Acts 17:31 NKJV)  Men must therefore repent. (Acts 17:30)  The man who is unwilling to seek God will never repent, and will thus be condemned.  Repentance is not just being sorry for a wrong done but forsaking it and turning to God.

The Bible teaches us to seek in order to find (Matt. 7:7-8).  One will never find God without looking for him.  True, many believe they know God who have not sought him.  What a man thinks he knows and what he knows are often two different things.  How can you know God when you never read nor study his word, when you don't even know what he has said?

Who is the man God commends?  Jehu said, speaking of King Jehoshaphat of Judah on God's behalf, "Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God." (2 Chron. 19:3 NKJV)  King Jehoshaphat was commended for having prepared his heart to do what?  To seek God.  God commends such a man. 

Can a man find God if he seeks him?  He can if he seeks with all his heart.  Jeremiah, in writing to the Jewish captives in Babylon, said, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel … And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart." (Jer. 29:4, 13 NKJV)  David commanded the people to "set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God." (1 Chron. 22:19 NKJV)  God is not a God that is hard to find or a God that does not want to be found but he does seek people who truly desire to know him.  

Jesus came into the world seeking us.  "For the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10 NKJV)  God calls all men by the gospel (2 Thess. 2:14).  He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).  He desires that all men be saved (1 Tim. 2:4).  God is not hiding or making himself hard to find if we really desire to find him.  We will find him if we want to.  However, a person who is half-heartedly seeking God is a person who in reality does not really want to find God.

Why would a man not want to find God or only half-heartedly seek him?  The answer is quite simple.  By its very nature, the God-man relationship must be one where man must submit to God.  Submission is the roadblock for those determined to be their own decision-makers and be their own boss.     

Here is a description of the kind of personality who will find God.  "O God, you are my God; early will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you." (Psalms 63:1 NKJV)  When we long for God with all our being we will seek diligently and in seeking we shall find (God's promise--Matt. 7:7-8) and in finding we shall be blessed. 

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Jesus Defines Repentance

The Bible clearly teaches that repentance is a command of God to all men (Acts 17:30) and that if we fail to repent we shall perish (Luke 13:3, 5).  It is essential then that we come to a proper understanding of the meaning of repentance.  What does it mean to repent?  Jesus tells us and we can find no higher authority on the subject than Christ himself.  Let us hear what he has said.

“The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.” (Luke 11:32 NKJV)

The book of Jonah where we are told about this is a very short book of only 4 chapters so it is not hard to find out what the men of Nineveh did which Jesus calls repentance.

Nineveh was a city God described as a wicked city (Jonah 1:2) to which God sent Jonah to give them the message that in 40 days Nineveh would be overthrown (Jonah 3:4).  Now note the first response to this message.

“So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.” (Jonah 3:5 NKJV)  Now belief is not repentance but it is a prerequisite to it.  Where there is no belief there will be no repentance, it is impossible.  One might quit a sin for any number of reasons (health, reputation, family, etc.) without repenting.  We say it is hard to get people to repent and so it is but why?  One of the biggest reasons is failure to believe God, what he says in the scriptures. 

What must one believe in order to repent?  He must believe God is (Heb. 11:6).  He must believe he stands guilty before God (Rom. 3:23, 1 John 1:8).  He must believe he is a condemned man in his present state (Rom. 6:23).  Belief is thus a necessary prerequisite to biblical repentance.

There are two or three passages in the New Testament that put repentance before belief (Acts 20:21, Heb. 6:1, Mark 1:15).  I will make a comment or two and go on without going into a long excursion on these passages.  Where the passages address a Jewish crowd one must remember the Jewish people had believed in God for generations.  They had sinned against God.  They needed to repent of that and then believe something new to them – faith in Jesus.  Jesus was new to the world.

The second comment I will make in passing is that the order of the wording does not necessarily imply that the one action preceded the other.  Paul, in Rom. 10:9, puts confession before faith, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (NKJV)  Do you think Paul meant to imply that confession is to come before faith?  How would that work?  How could Jesus be Lord if God did not raise him from the dead--if you did not believe that he did?  So we see that faith precedes the confession even though the word order is what it is.  Faith must precede repentance if there is to be repentance.

Now back to Nineveh.  The faith of the people of Nineveh was so strong that they had no doubt that what Jonah was telling them would come to pass.  They saw themselves as a doomed people.  They were confirmed believers that disaster was about to befall them.

Having believed they then humbled themselves before God.  All put on sackcloth from the least to the greatest (Jonah 3:5), they fasted (3:7), they cried to God (3:8).  One of the hardest things for a man to do is humble himself before God and man.  To admit sin is belittling to the proud.  

Pride is a great destroyer of people and is something every person has to deal with in their life.  Pride is one of the things God hates (Pro. 8:13).  It is a forerunner of shame (Pro. 11:2) and comes before a fall (Pro. 16:18); it will bring a man low (Pro. 29:23).  Those who are proud cannot humble themselves and confess they have sinned and repent.  They will pay for their arrogant spirit.  The men of Nineveh will not be of their number.   

What more did the people of Nineveh do?  Jonah 3:8 says the King decreed that “every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.” (NKJV)  What did they do?  They ceased doing evil.

Let us summarize the events that transpired here in a city that Jesus said repented.  Here is what we have seen:

(1)  People heard a message from God condemning them and believed it.

(2)  This brought godly sorrow to their hearts.

(3)  They humbled themselves and sought God turning from their evil ways.

This sums up the process of repentance from beginning to end.  Today when we hear the gospel message if we believe it we see we are in a condemned state before God.  We are convicted in our hearts of our sins.  Believing this brings sorrow to our hearts.  If we are then willing to humble ourselves before God, seek him, and turn away from evil to do good, as defined by God in his word, we can rest assured that we have met the requirement for repentance for we have fulfilled all the things the people of Nineveh did and Jesus said they repented.

How long does it take to repent?  It takes just as long as it takes you to be convicted in your heart and then determine with your will to cease your sin and turn to God in faith and obedience.  Repentance is not reformation of life for reformation of life is a result, or fruit, of repentance.  Repentance is a matter of the heart and a determination of the mind or will.

One can hear a single gospel sermon and repent immediately if the heart is good and honest and tender toward God.  Thus we have those 3,000 who repented on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 after hearing Peter’s sermon.  The Bible says of that day and of that preaching that when the people heard it “they were cut to the heart.” (Acts 2:37 NKJV)  They saw themselves as condemned before God and were ready and willing to repent.  This Peter told them to do as well as be baptized for the remission of sins. (Acts 2:38)

So, how long did it take them to repent?  Not long.  Just as long as it took to hear the preaching, believe it, be pricked in the heart, and as a result create a willingness of heart to seek God and turn away from evil.  The time it takes to repent depends on the hardness of the heart.  There will never be enough time for some hearts.  For the good and honest heart it will not take long.

I want to deal very briefly with a few common misconceptions before closing.  Many believe that sorrow for sin is repentance and that the giving over of the will to God is faith.  Neither is true.  Godly sorrow for sin leads to repentance and is not repentance itself.  “For godly sorrow produces repentance.” (2 Cor. 7:10 NKJV)  I might add not all sorrow for sin is godly.  Prisons are full of people who are sorry for their sin because they got caught but God and his will has no part in their thinking.

The giving over of the will to God is often called faith but God calls it repentance.  True, the giving over of the will is based on faith but is not faith itself but rather repentance.  We ought to call Bible things by Bible names as it allows us to reason more correctly.

Reformation of life can also easily be misconstrued as repentance.  You can turn away from doing evil for various reasons.  Men quit adultery for fear their wife will find out and their marriage be destroyed.  Others quit cheating on their taxes for fear of getting caught.  The list could go on.  This kind of reformation of life is not repentance nor does it have anything to do with repentance.  God is left out of the picture.  All concerns are over worldly matters and relationships, not God.

Repentance is repentance from sin and thus God is always in view in true repentance.  He is not in view in reformation of life for worldly reasons.

True repentance results in a reformation of life growing out of faith and a seeking of God.  It means necessarily a turning away from sin to righteousness.  One ends up with a changed life because of a changed outlook.  The proper order of events is godly sorrow first resulting in repentance (a changed outlook – a changed will) that leads to reformation of life.   

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