The Sins of Many
As believers in Messiah, we profess that Messiah willingly laid down His life and shed His blood for the remission of sins. That through Messiah’s act on the cross we can enter into an eternal relationship with God as He intended in the garden. Our salvation wasn’t free, one of the highest prices was paid by God taking on flesh and giving himself as a ransom for us all. Jesus repeatedly called us to repent and believe.
And he preached, saying, o“After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 pI have baptized you with water, but qhe will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Baptism of Jesus
9 rIn those days Jesus scame from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he tsaw uthe heavens being torn open vand the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And wa voice came from heaven, x“You are my beloved Son;4 with you I am well pleased.”
The Temptation of Jesus
12 yThe Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 yAnd he was in the wilderness forty days, being ztempted by aSatan. And he was with the wild animals, and bthe angels were ministering to him.
Jesus Begins His Ministry
14 cNow after John was arrested, Jesus dcame into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, e“The time is fulfilled, and fthe kingdom of God is at hand;5 grepent and believe in the gospel.”
- Mark 1:7-14
Jesus commanded us to repent. It wasn’t optional, it wasn’t conditional, it was required as followers of His. Most likely everyone who is reading this article believes in Messiah and His gospel. The same gospel that was preached through Abraham in Genesis. Yet how many of us walk in daily repentance? Messiah talked many times about repentance.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)
The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:41)
Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3, 5)
In order to understand what Messiah is asking us to do, we must look at what is scriptural repentance. It isn’t just the acknowledgment of sins. It is a radical call for inward change. First, change your mind. Change the direction of your thoughts, perceptions, and dispositions. Secondly, to literally change the direction of your physical movements. To be delivered from your addictions, pride, lusts, and idolatries. If your cell phone causes you to sin, get rid of it. If your television causes you to sin, get rid of it. Change how you walk to remove yourself from the behavior that causes you to sin. True repentance is to have a life-altering change of your mind and actions towards whatever sin you might be in. This wasn’t a conditional call, it was a demand from Messiah to all people so that we might be able to experience the kingdom of God.
It is impossible for you to fulfill your God-given calling without repenting. True repentance is often replaced with self-deception and defensiveness. We see this with Saul in the book of 1 Samuel. When we are given a calling and anointing from God we dishonor God by choosing to be defensive and walk-in deception rather than repenting. There is no morality or maturity without personal accountability.
In order to properly understand what true repentance is let’s look at what true and false repentance is.
False Repentance –
1. It starts with self-deception and a defensive spirit.
2. It is unresponsive to the intentions of God’s instructions
3. It uses others to alleviate our guilt and responsibility
4. It is more concerned with self-image than restoration
We see false repentance a lot in our current world. People excuse their behavior away by justifying their unscriptural actions based on the behavior of another. Rather than admitting guilt, we see world leaders, and many others justify their actions as necessary based upon the actions of others. This isn’t true repentance.
True Repentance-
1. It means we reconsider the voices God has already sent us
2. It means we see circumstance as a door of growth and opportunity
3. It means humility
4. It means we embrace compassion not condemnation
5. It means yesterday’s disobedience doesn’t define today’s obedience
6. It means we listen as an act of submission
7. It means we have an immediate response
8. It means we practice confession, not secrecy
9. It means we accept consequences for our shortcomings
10. It means we make mercy a habit of our heart and mind
True repentance should be life-altering. If we find ourselves out of alignment with the commandments of God we must practice the things above to change the trajectory of our walk. This is imperative for all believers to continue to grow more intimately with God and with our fellow brethren. Too often our current culture projects repentance as a sign of weakness. Repentance is a sign of growth, strength, and security of knowing that God’s promises are true.
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
- Matthew 18: 15-17
The entire chapter of Matthew 18 gives us great insight into why repentance is so important. It isn’t for us to have disfellowshipped with others, it is about the ability to be restored to a proper relationship with God and each other. The apostle Paul tells us for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So at some point in time, we will all need to be restored or reconciled to God. Even in the passage above, we know that Messiah himself dined with Gentiles and tax collectors. The goal wasn’t for them to be seen as less worthy, but for them to understand that Messiah himself would provide a way for them to be grafted into the commonwealth of Israel if they believed and repented. Through a life change and adjustment to their walk of faith, they too could have the same blessings that God promised to all of Israel.
Messiah knew we were all sinners. He willing came to this earth and offered himself up so that through our belief and repentance we could have life.
Through repentance, we have the ability to:
1. Fulfill the God-given calling on our life
2. Resolve our past
3. Look forward to being a new creation and walking in that
4. Tell our testimony of our story
Our sins only define us if we refuse to repent. Our past sins are resolved through our repentance and the bondage of those shortcomings no longer defines our present or future. Our sins hinder us from truly walking in the blessings that God has given us. Through our repentance, we are made anew and our past doesn’t weigh down our ability to walk in that calling. By resolving sin in our life we walk in a freedom that allows us to share the testimony of what God has done for us in our life.
For Christ has entered, not into holy places hmade with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ion our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as jthe high priest enters kthe holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, lhe has appeared monce for all nat the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as oit is appointed for man to die once, and pafter that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once qto bear the sins of rmany, will appear sa second time, tnot to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly uwaiting for him.
- Hebrew 9: 24-28
Jesus knew we were sinful. He knew we wrestled with principalities of darkness fighting for us to walk in the idolatry of ourselves and this worldly life. He knew that those sinful natures put us into bondage. Just like God led the children of Israel out of their physical slavery in Egypt Messiah wanted to us be led out of our spiritual slavery of sin and death. He taught us to lead us in a way of walking out our faith that would help us no longer operate in the slavery of sin and death. We need to be a people who are known for our ability to truly repent and seek after the kingdom of God on this earth! For Jesus, himself bore the sins of many so that we might become a new creation in Him.