Here we find God’s definition of repentance - real repentance. Repentance is a change of mind. As far as I can tell, the only repentance God asks of the lost is in the word believe.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! 

What happens when one believes?

There is a change of mind. There is a turning from something to Someone. Listen to what apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: "… how ye turned to God from idols …" (1 Thess. 1:9) - that was a change of mind.

How did it come about?

They first turned to Christ. 

When Paul had come to them, he hadn’t preached against idolatry, he had preached Christ to them. And they turned to Christ. 

But they were idolaters.

When they turned to Christ in faith, 

what else happened? 

They turned from the idols, and that turning from idols was true repentance. They no longer worshipped idols. That is the true  repentance of the unsaved; it is the repentance to salvation. 

If we continue on in sin there has been no true repentance.

God wants us to emphasize Christ. 

When we respond to Christ, there will be a turning from sin to Christ.

If a believer is going in the wrong direction, continuing in sin. for him there must be a turning from that sin, a true repentance. A lot of people simply shed tears, which do not  indicate true repentance. That kind of sorrow is the sorrow of the world and works death. 

True repentance is godly sorrow, which "worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of" - that is, repentance without regret.

Many folk shed tears when they have been found out, but they keep on going in the same direction.

If they had not been found out they would continue on in that sin. I personally know this by experience for the one who sexually abused me when I was a child, for years, was a professing Christian, sitting at our Lord's table and breaking bread week by week yet continuing to continue in that same sin because it was hidden, not spoken of, because of the disgrace it would bring to the Precious Name of Christ and sadly I was so ignorant of God's Word I listened to this wrong teaching and kept quiet and continued to suffer for years and still suffer to this day for this satanic practice which takes a child and places that child in the arms of Satan and today little is said about the suffering that goes on for years and years and years of the Satanic seeds of destruction that is sown into the life a a young child by the hands of a pedophile. Today when I read of such cases that are being prosecuted for child rape it brings back all the suffering I went thorough at the hands of my abuser who today has no godly sorrow in his heart for he still continues to tell lies to cover his sin  - like it was - and he still sits in the church, pious, and claim to be forgiven of all his sin even though he has never acknowledged his sin to my face or told me why he did this evil thing to me, for many years. Incest is an awful, terrible sin. When we read the story of Tamar David's daughter (in 2 Samuel 13) we get a clear picture of the harvest it produces and when we study God's Word for real, we soon find out that God hates incest. It is the work of Satan to lead a young child into sin, loose all hope in life, continually feel hated, and dirty and filled with fear. That is why it is of utmost importance for the church to acknowledge this terrible sin and to take action against it. Covering and hiding this sin is very wrong indeed.

Christ is the witness at every single sexual abuse act.  

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10).

When apostle Paul says, "We must all appear," remember that he is writing to believers. All we believers will be judged, that we may receive the things done in the body. We will be judged on the way we lived the Christian life, how we have lived in these bodies down here. When we go into Christ's Presence, we will be finished with these old bodies. 

The question our Lord will ask is how we used these bodies He gave us to live in.

Did we live for Him?

Did we walk in truth?

How did we live down here?

Did we live our lives down here hating the one who made our sin known? 

No person has ever seen God, but we know Him, in our Saviour, Lord Christ Jesus.  

Just as the rays of the sun with their warmth and light tell us of the physical sun,  so our 

Lord Jesus Christ reveals God to us.  

The Lord Jesus is the  expressed  image  - the exact  copy - of God.  

Colossians 2:9-10  "For in Him  dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead  bodily. And  ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power."    

The Lord Jesus Christ sat down 

Why?

because He had for all time,  COMPLETED  -  FINISHED - THE WORK of our REDEMPTION.  

The work of salvation is complete.  

God is fully satisfied  with what our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross of Calvary.

The question really is, 

Are you satisfied  with our Lord Jesus Christ and the price that He paid  for our redemption?

Our Lord Jesus has paid the ransom for our redemption on the cross of Calvary and there   

is nothing, entirely nothing that we can ever do to add to that. 

Lord Jesus has completed the work of our salvation.  

That is His Word to us.  

We are told in Scripture,  that our work  is, to "believe on Him, whom He hath sent."  

John 6:29  "This is the work of God,  that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."

Hebrews 10:5-6  "Wherefore when He cometh into the world,  He saith,  Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me:  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure."

Hebrews 10:9-10  "Then said He,  LO,  I  COME TO DO THY WILL, O GOD.  He taketh away the first,  that He may establish the second.  By the which will we are sanctified  through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ  once for all." 

There is a green hill far away,

Without a city wall.

Where the dear Lord was crucified,

WHO DIED TO SAVE US ALL.

There was no other good enough,

To pay the price of sin.

He only could unlock the gate 

Of heaven and let us in.

Amen!

Hebrews 10:39  "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition,  but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

This little poem has been a great encouragement to me daily. 

I cannot work my soul to save,

THIS WORK MY LORD HAS DONE,

But I will work like any slave,

FOR LOVE OF HIS DEAR SON.

Matthew 20:8-10  "So when the even was come,  the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call all the labourers,  and give them their hire,  beginning from the last unto the first.  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour,  they received every man a penny.  But when the first came,  they supposed that they should have received more:  and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it,  they murmured against the goodman of the house,  Saying,  These last have wrought but one hour,  and thou hast made them equal unto us which have borne the burden and heat of the day.  

But He answered one of them and said,  Friend,  I do thee no wrong:  didst not thou agree with me for a penny?  Take that thine is and go thy way:  I will give unto this last,  even as unto thee.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?  Is thine eye evil because I am good?  So the last shall be first,  and the first last:  for many be called but few are chosen."   

Believers will be rewarded  for faithfulness  -  faithfulness to our Saviour, Lord Jesus,  in whom we professed to believe -  in whom we placed all our trust.  

Our Lord Jesus has sent us into the world to bear fruit, fruit that will last.  We are to be witnesses for Him, in His Strength and Power.

Psalm 26:6  "I will wash mine hands in innocence so will I compass thine altar,  O Lord,  That I may make known with the voice of thanksgiving,  and tell of all Thy wondrous works.  Lord,  I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honor dwelleth."  

Our Saviour Lord Jesus lives His life in and through clean vessels.  

His Holy Spirit, within us, produces  fruit in our lives, fruit,  that will last.  

John 15:4-8  "Abide in Me,  and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,  except it abide in the vine;  no more can ye,  except ye abide in Me. I am the vine,  ye are the branches:  ye that abideth in Me,  and I in him,  the same bringeth forth much fruit: For without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch,  and is withered:  and men gather them, and cast them into the fire,  and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and  My words  abide in you,  ye shall ask what ye will,  and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified,  that ye bear much fruit;  so shall ye be My disciples."   

Our Lord Jesus  asks us to be obedient  to His Word  because we love Him.  We are to believe  in Him.  We are to  trust Him, entirely,  to fulfill  His divine purpose in this world,  through us  -  a clean vessel.

1 Thessalonians 4:4  "That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;"

We are to practice faithfulness and complete honesty.

We need to keep on cleansing ourselves and we are to  

Hebrews 12:1  ".. lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us."  

We can take God's Word for it that we are all sinners.

Psalm 19:12-14  "Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults.  Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins;  let them not have dominion over me:  then shall I be upright,  and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight,  O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

We are sometimes very good at rationalizing our sin. 

We can easily give an excuse for the wrong things we  do and say but God does not accept our excuses. 

God says, that we cannot understand our errors.

We can take His Word for it - 

that we do indeed sin.

Secret faults are a great problem for many of us.  

They are actually,  secret from ourselves -   we think,  that once we have been born-again,  we do not sin. 

We need to ask God to keep us from presumptuous sins.  

The  "great transgression,"  is the rejection of our  Lord Jesus Christ. 

He is the One set before us in this Psalm.  

The One who was David's Srength and Redeemer? 

Christ is our Strength ....

Christ is our Redeemer ....

Our Lord Jesus Christ becomes our Strength and our 
Redeemer through the grace of God.

What a wonderful Psalm this really is.     

Our Saviour, Lord Jesus, desires to live His life in us and through us.

It is a mind boggling thought!  

John 17:18-23  "As Thou hast sent Me into the world,  even so have I also sent them into the world, And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also MAY BE SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE TRUTH. Neither pray I for these alone,  but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word. That they all may be one;  as Thou, Father,  art in Me,  and I in Thee,  that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them;  that they may be one,  even as we are one.  I in them,  and Thou in Me, THAT THEY MAY BE MADE PERFECT IN ONE; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me,  and hast loved them,  as Thou hast loved Me."  

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Truth.  

The Bible is the Truth, it is Gods Word to us.

1 Peter 1:34  "Being born-again,  not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,  by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." 

These are the born-again ones whom He has chosen, and they are being set apart. 

Their lives bear witness  of His cleansing power and His great love for the brethren and the world - the lost world  for whom He died.

They bear witness of His salvation, the TRUTH, that, 

God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,  the Lord Jesus Christ,  who shed His precious blood on the cruel tree of Calvary so that through His death, "whosoever believeth in Him,"  should not perish,  but have everlasting life.  

Our Lord Jesus Christ set Himself apart to be identified with us, and we are daily  being identified with Him.  

Our Lord Jesus Christ was not of this world and neither are we.  

He has asked the Father  

John 17:17   "Sanctify them through the truth:  THY WORD IS TRUTH." 

Our Lord asked  the Father to sanctify  us,  

And  we must believe Him.  

We must not to  love the things of the world.  

Why? 

Because we do not  belong  to it,  and  this world that we live  in, hates  God  and because it hates  God, it will  hate those who belong to Him.  

John 17:14-15  "I have given them Thy WORD;  and the world hath hated them,  because they are not of the world,  even as I am not of the world.  I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world,  but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil."  

When we get to know God in His Word,  we soon see that our Lord Jesus Christ has prayed for us to be protected from the evil one.   

As we study and obey the Word of God,  we will  accomplish His purpose in this world - to know  Him.

Apostle Paul could cry out 

Philippians 3:10  "That I might know Him and the power of His resurrection,  and the fellowship  of His sufferings,  being made conformable unto His death." 

My own ambition in this life, is to get to know our Lord Jesus Christ.  

He is holy,  harmless, undefiled  and  separate from sinners.

Is Christ Jesus a reality in our lives?  

Oh how we desperately need  to get to know Christ in His sufferings.  

He died for us on the cross of Calvary and  He did the Father's will to pay the price of our redemption - with His own Precious blood.  

It will take us through-out eternity to Praise Him for what He has done for us. If we are bored with praising God now for what He has done, then why would we want  to go to heaven where we will be 

In His Presence for eternity, Praising Him continually.  

We will see the nail prints in His hands and in His feet  and we will see His spear pierced side where water and His precious blood poured out for us.  

I do believe,  that our Lord Jesus Christ, shed His Precious Blood, on the tree of Calvary, not only for my sins, but also for the sins of every singly person in this world.  

The Bible says that

"whosoever believeth in Him,"   

may come to Him. 

His blood,  I feel sure, is in heaven on display, to remind us  of His great love for us and the great price that He paid to redeem us.

1 Peter 1:18-20  "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold,  from your vain manner of life!  received  by tradition from your fathers, But with the precious blood of Christ,  as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,  but was manifest in these last times for you."

Although silver and gold can be purified by being put into a crucible  -  heated red hot so the dross can be drawn off,  they will corrupt in time. Silver and gold are perishable and we are not redeemed with corruptible things.  

Have you been redeemed, dear reader? 

If so, 

1 Peter 2-9-10  "But ye are a chosen generation,  a royal priesthood,  an holy nation,  a peculiar people;  that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light:  Which in time past were not a people,  but are now the people of God:  which hath not obtained mercy,  but now have obtained mercy."  

Although right now we may not look like a chosen generation, we  are. We have accepted Christ as Saviour and therefore we are His chosen people,  an elect people, just as the children of Israel were elect.  The keys of the kingdom have been given to the church. The church is an  instrument  chosen by our Lord Jesus Christ, to give out His Word.  

In the Old Testament,  God chose Israel as His people and in Scripture there are two elect groups of people: the nation Israel, called an elect nation,  and the church, called an elect people. God has set aside the nation Israel temporarily, and He is doing a new thing. 

He is calling out an elect race,  a chosen generation,  from every tongue and tribe and nation - Jew and Gentile.  

Although we, come to our Lord Jesus, we soon find out, after we have come to Him, that He, has already chosen us. This is most wonderful because it tells us,  that He is responsible for us. 

Today every believer in our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ is a  priest.  

Israel had a priesthood - the tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe.  

Today,  the church is a priesthood.  

The nation Israel was never holy in conduct and the same can be said of the church.  Yet we are holy in our relationship with Christ because He is our righteousness. 

We stand complete in Him.  

What a joy it is to be  a member  of a holy nation  -  a  new nation in this world today.  

We are God's own possession.

John 17:6    "I have manifested Thy Name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world; Thine they were and Thou gavest them to Me,  and they have kept Thy Word."

John 6:37  "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."  

Our Lord Jesus Christ died in my deserved place.  He paid,  in full, the price of my redemption, and I can truly sing this chorus with great JOY.  

Are you also able to sing this chorus with Losinda?

I've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb  

filled with the Holy Ghost I am,

All my sins are washed away,  I've been redeemed.

I've been redeemed,  I've been redeemed,

By the blood of the Lamb,  By the blood of the Lamb,

I've been redeemed,  I've been redeemed   By the blood of the Lamb,

I've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb,  filled with the holy Ghost I am,

All my sins are washed away,  I've been redeemed.     

Hallelujah!

Amen!

1 John 1:9-10  "If we confess our sins,  He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,  and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar,  and HIS WORD is not in us."

1 Peter 4:15   "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:  and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 

Dear reader we need desperately to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. We need to surrender our will to Him and we are to trust Him. We are to ask Him for an infilling of His Holy Spirit so that those around us will be able to  see that we do indeed  belong to Him.  

Is there a chapel in your heart, a place where you can withdraw, then come away, and sit at His feet.

Hebrews 13:12-14  "Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Let us go forth,  therefore unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."

Our Lord Jesus Christ was our sin offering.

He paid the full penalty for our sin.

We ought never to forget that truth.

We are to go  "without the camp, bearing His reproach."  The Hebrew Christians hated to leave the temple and their religion and there are many people today who are wrapped up in  "churchianity."  They think that they are  saved  because they  belong to a certain church. 

Oh how we need to get away from ritual and religion and simply just  come to Christ.  Come to Him,  and be separated unto Him, this is real salvation.  Real separation is not  separation from something,  it is separated  to  something  -   unto Christ.   

It is separation from evil and it is dedication to God.  

The apostle Paul said that he was separated unto  the gospel, separated unto  Christ, and separated  unto  the Word of God.  

The word Hebrew,  in fact, means "one who crossed over."   

Abraham was called a Hebrew  because he had come from the other side of the Euphrates River,  signifying that his old life was gone. The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, and they were delivered  from slavery  -  they were redeemed  -  and  a new  life was then possible. They had to cross the Jordan River to live in the promised Land,  the Land of Canaan.  

We who are saved are separated unto Christ, we have "crossed over"   

Ephesians 2:4-6  "But God who is rich in mercy,  for His great love wherewith He loved us,  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us  together with Christ,  (by grace ye are saved:) And hath raised us up together,  and made us sit together in heavenly places  in Christ Jesus."

God has lifted all of His dear children out of a spiritual graveyard.

We have been Blessed with all spiritual blessings.

Canaan is a picture of where we live today.

God gave the children of Israel the Land of Canaan. All they had to do  was to lay hold of their possession.  

We are in Christ.

Christ has been made unto us Justification and Sanctification.  

Dear reader,  we have everything,  when we are in Christ Jesus.  

God chose us in Christ Jesus.  

He predestined us to the place of sonship. 

He has made us

"  ...  accepted in the Beloved."   

Most Gracious and Merciful Abba Father, Thank You for my justification and my sanctification in Christ Jesus who is my Saviour. Thank You Abba Father that I am accepted in Your Beloved one and only true Son. Please help me today to lay hold of Christ, to yield to the promptings of Your Holy Spirit within me, and I ask Abba Father, that You would sanctify me and keep me abiding in Christ who is my Redeemer so that He might be able to live His life  in me and through me, that I might be a clean vessel, fit for Your use O God, for I ask in His Dear Name

Amen.

THIS PAGE UPDATED: 14-5-2012