God’s forgiveness is complete, but it doesn’t erase every consequence of sin. Exploring the guilt offering in the Book of Leviticus reveals how God’s grace calls us to confess, repent, and take action to restore what our sins have broken.
Viewing entries tagged
repentance
It must have seemed odd. As crowds of people were responding to the preaching of John, they came forward to be baptized by him. But as one person came to do so, John tried to stop him. Is he beyond hope? Is he too sinful to be forgiven by God? Is his heart not in the right place?
Like caffeine: it picks us up, so we don’t stop to think about its source. But hope isn’t neutral. There are many things we hope in that end in huge disappointment and even painful consequences. They leave people feeling hopeless. Or they’re afraid to hope for fear of being let down. Is cynicism the answer?
Each of these individuals was likely hard-working and well-educated. They were probably personable and sincere. If you had lunch with one of them, you would probably be impressed with their charm and conclude they were “good people.” So, how did things go so terribly wrong?
Nobody’s watching. Surely, no one will notice. You’ve heard God’s warnings, but you decide to do it anyway. It’s compromise. You’re cutting a corner. You’ve stepped over the line. And then you wait for God’s consequences. Only they don’t come. Whew, you got away with it! Or did you? In those moments, we often misinterpret sin’s consequences and God’s heart toward us.
In the rush to gain an audience, churches can rebrand themselves in ways that “feel good but aren’t as good for you.” They can offer “fast-food Christianity” that is palatable but lacks much substance. And so many doctrines can be thrown away that churches cease to be churches entirely.
I’ve had people express to me the feeling that they could never be forgiven. As a result, they can’t forgive themselves, and their past continues to haunt them. There’s hope in the Bible but it comes as we confront an even greater sin that most people aren’t even conscious of.
Christians love the Parable of the Prodigal Son. And why wouldn’t we? There’s drama, loss, family tension, crisis, and reconciliation – all the ingredients of a great story! While it’s one that we love, there are lessons that we seem to keep missing when we read it. Jesus’ parable wasn’t just told as a beautiful illustration of the gospel. It was told in response to the grumbling of the religious elite over his eating and drinking with sinners (Luke 15:1-2). There are 3 lessons we can’t afford to miss.
In one sense the question of whether you should get baptized or not shouldn’t be a question. The fact is that baptism is commanded in Scripture. To ignore a command of God is a rejection of God’s will for your life. If there was anyone who might have been able to say, ‘I don’t think I need to do that,’ it would have been Jesus. When He came to John the Baptist to be baptized, He was refused at first. Understandably, John said that he should be baptized by Jesus instead! But in Matthew 3:15, Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus’ baptism takes away all excuses. Baptism is a non-negotiable for anyone who wants to walk in the will of God. But the Bible actually gives conditions. There are three questions you should ask to see if you’re ready to be baptized.
Last time, we looked at an amazing promise of Scripture from Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Having understood that verse, however, it may be a little confusing to read Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” He pictures people pleading to get into heaven but being denied entrance. They call Jesus “Lord” and can even point to some good works that they have done in Jesus’ name (v. 22), but Jesus casts them out saying that He never knew them (v. 23). It seems that they came close to salvation, but not close enough. What were they missing? They lacked what so many ‘almost Christians’ lack today: repentance and relationship. Let me explain.