Considering the times, we are living in today, each morning I wake up, I should ask the Lord this question, “Could this be my last day on earth?” It could be the last day either by physical death or by rapture.
The Bible says that the Lord Jesus is coming back to rapture His church (1 Thess. 4:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:51-53; Acts 1:11).
In view of the imminent return of Jesus Christ to rapture His bride, it is necessary to encourage us to “BE READY.”
Everyone that truly wants to make it in the rapture MUST make things right with God right now and then watch carefully because no one knows neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will return.
One major way to be ready is through Genuine Repentance. In Luke 13:3-5 Jesus said, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish...”
What is repentance? Repentance is literally a change of mind (will), that leads to a change of your attitude towards God. Repentance is not an emotion. It is a decision.
Repentance is being sorry for your sins and being committed to a new way of life. In Matthew 3:1-3 Jesus said, “Turn from your sins and turn to God.”
Repentance is changing your will about how you have been living to align with the Word of God. You have been living according to your own desires, and not according to the will of God. But now you say, “From now on I am going to live my life according to the Word of God.” After hearing the undiluted Word of God, and discovering that your way of life contradicts the Word of God, you made a decision to follow God’s way.
If we can reach people’s will with the raw and undiluted Word of God, and change it, we will see genuine and permanent conversions. Many of the conversions we see in the church today are not genuine because the will of the person concerned has never been reached and changed with the right Word of God. Such people simply had an emotional experience.
They got excited and maybe they felt wonderful for a few days, weeks, months or even years, but in the end, they don’t have what it takes to stand for Christ because their will has never been reached.
Question for you: Have you been living to please yourself by doing things the way you want or have you been living to please Jesus by doing things the way He wants? If you have been doing things your own way, then you have not repented. For your repentance to be genuine, you MUST decide to live your life according to the Word of God.
You can repent without any obvious emotions, but you cannot repent without a change of your will. When your will is really changed, it will show in your attitude and in the new way you now do things. If you don’t have the basic foundation of genuine repentance, you’ll never be able to stand as a true Christian.
Over 90% of the people you see in Church today are experiencing some problems because they have never truly repented in that their will has never been reached and changed concerning certain issues.
The truth is that as long as you have never decided to change, you have never really surrendered to Christ. And as long as you have not surrendered to Christ, you are not His own.
Repentance is literally a change of your will, not about individual plans, intentions, or beliefs, but rather a change of your attitude about God. “Turn from your sins and turn to God” (Matt. 3:1-3).
There are two types of repentance: 1) True repentance, and 2) False repentance. The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-30 is a very good example of “true repentance.” In this narrative, the second son of a wealthy father collected his inheritance from his father, and went off to a far country, and there he spent all his money on riotous living.
He did all sorts of sinful things.
When his money finished, famine came to the land and the only job he could get was the job of feeding pigs.
Remember that he was Jewish, and so to take care of pigs was as low as he could ever come.
Now, here he is in rags, wretched, hungry, feeding the pigs, and wishing he could quench his hunger by filling his stomach with the food meant for the pigs.
In Luke 15:17-20 the Bible says that when he came to himself… And that’s the point: You must come to yourself after you have heard the raw and undiluted Word of God. I call this time “the moment of truth,” when you see yourself as you really are. You have to see yourself as God sees you – “a sinner.”
What happened when the prodigal son came to himself? When he came to himself, he said, “How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” (Lk. 15:17). He took a decision to return to his father. “I will arise and go to my father,…” (Lk. 15:18).
Can you see that he made a quality decision, and he turned around to go to his father? That is true repentance – making a decision and forsaking his old evil ways and making a U-turn to go to his father. When you discover, after listening to a raw and undiluted Word of God, that you have been offending God, you forsake those evil ways, and turn around to go back to your Maker saying, “I have made a mess of my life, I can’t run my own life any more, I need You, my Father! Please accept me back.
One wonderful thing he did was deciding what to say to the father. “…and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants” (Lk. 15:18-19).
But while he was still a distance away from home, his father sighted him and ran to go and welcome him back with a warm embrace. Precious saints, that’s how God is. When He sees that you have realized your sin, turned around to come back to Him, the Bible says that He rejoices greatly in the presence of His angels in heaven.
Jesus said, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10).
Realize that the father never gave him the opportunity to say those things he had planned to say to him. Rather he commanded his servants to bring the best (spotless) white robe, put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, and kill the fattest calf in the house for them to celebrate, because this my son was lost but he’s now come back to me.
That’s the result of “true repentance.”
2. We also have a false or fake repentance, which is called “REMORSE.” “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor. 7:10).
Judas Iscariot manifested false repentance. “Then Judas, which had betrayed Jesus, when he saw that He was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders (Matt. 27:3-5).
Judas was remorseful, but not repentant. Therefore, he departed, but did not go back to God to ask for forgiveness, but he went and hanged himself.
Genuine repentance will never lead you to go and commit another sin. For instance, you discovered that your immoral act has resulted in you being pregnant, though you are sorry, but you don’t go to commit abortion as the next step.
The correct thing to do is to go back to God and tell Him that you have missed it. Ask Him for forgiveness, and then decide to take care of the pregnancy, no matter the cost.
The most significant point in your life is that moment when God begins to deal with you concerning a certain issue. When you hear His raw and undiluted Word, the Holy Spirit urges you to repent. And if you despise His counsel by saying to Him, “I am not interested now, maybe later,” the Bible says that you will perish (Lk. 13:5).
Today, you have the great opportunity to change your eternal destiny. Your name must be in the Lamb’s book of life for you to qualify for the rapture. You are not going to be raptured because you are acting nice. You are not going to be raptured because your name is in a church register. You are not going to be raptured because you are a leader in the church. You will be raptured only on these conditions: (1) you MUST be saved (Jn. 3:3), and (2) live a holy life (Heb. 12:14).
Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!
Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Head Pastor)
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