Turn To God

Which is what "Repentance" means...

This is the Eleventh Post in a series from Chapter 3 of Friends With God: “The Joy That Was Set Before Him”.

From the Fourth Post onwards we have been explaining that the idea of “a penalty for sin that Christ paid for us” is not at all Biblical.

The Tenth Post explained that once we are given God’s Spirit then we must work with it guiding us to produce life-giving fruit. (Gal 6:7-9) In doing so we abide in the life which Christ exemplified in his flesh, and are NOW the Children of God. (John 15:12-17)

The Purpose Of Repentance  

Once we are enlightened by God’s Spirit, and are no longer ignorant, we must turn from our foolish past, and turn to God’s way of life. (Heb 4:11, 10:28-29, 12:25)

Ok, but what if we sin after we have chosen to follow God’s way of life? There is no “if” about it, we will all sin:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 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. (1John 1:8-10)

Again, you will notice that there isn’t any mention of a supposed “penalty for sin” being paid in the context of this very clear scripture about how to overcome sin.

John says that the way out of sin is to confess it to God, and ask to be forgiven, and ask for God to help us change, so that we can grow in righteousness.

We don’t need any “penalty to be paid to cover our sins”. We need repentance, to turn from our evil, stupid, ignorant, rebellious ways, and turn to his way of love, patience, kindness, and wisdom.

Grow In Grace And Knowledge

We can’t know everything in God’s word immediately, nor can we know everything about our own motivations, or how our actions impact on others. We are given a lifetime to figure it out, which is why we need to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ Jesus. (2Peter 3:18)

It takes time to grow, in order to become a mature Child of God. There is much to learn, and we need to overcome our own weaknesses, and the bad habits of our lifetime, and overcome the effects of sins inflicted on us, all of which have guided our attitudes and beliefs before we knew God.

On top of that, God then tests us “with trials of fire” to see if we have overcome fully, or have some areas he feels we still need to work on! (1Peter 1:6-7 and 4:12) This is explained in detail in the Tenth Post in this series.

If we don’t confess our sins and change our ways to follow God, then God may correct us by sending some kind of chastisement, or punishment, to turn us back to him. He does this in the manner of a wise father who corrects his children when they are being stupid or ignorant or just annoying! The reason God the Father corrects us is so that we may be partakers of his holiness. (Heb 12:5-10)

However, God is merciful, and often won’t punish us if we sin, but will just make us aware of the issue, and what we need to do in order to change our actions- which is what repentance is.

If we see our sin, and ask for forgiveness, and turn from our ways, then there will be no need for punishment, although we may still need to address the consequences of our sins. If we get drunk and have a car accident, and kill someone, then God will forgive us of our sin, but we will live the rest of our life with the knowledge that we killed someone.

And, according to God’s law, we should also pay compensation to the people who are affected by our sin. (Prov 6:30-31, Exo 22:4-7) Forgiveness is not wiping away all the impacts of sin, it’s the process of accepting that the sinner has repented, and will now try to overcome the habits and desires that caused them to sin in the first place.

Repentance is essential to forgiveness. God wants us to be holy, which obviously means we need to change from being unholy!

God Doesn’t Want To Punish You

God is not a legalist who wants to punish every sin. God is not interested in punishing us, but rather in our repentance. The purpose of punishment is to turn us back to him.

If we are quick to see our sin and change our ways, then why should God punish us?

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. (Prov 9:9)

God will rejoice if we quickly turn from our sin, and will forgive us, and teach us, and guide us, so that we can overcome the temptation to sin next time. In this way we grow in understanding and righteousness.

God has given us our entire lifetime to develop his mind in us. He is full of mercy and patience, and he will correct us by punishment if we need it. And any punishment he sees fit to apply will always be for our good, because he loves us:

for whom the Lord loves He chastens. (Heb 12:6) 

Yet chastisement is not always a specific punishment for a specific sin, in Paul’s case he had a severe illness:

For this thing I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness”.
Paul then declared:
Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I am content in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am powerful. (2Cor 12:8-10)

If we can accept the circumstances we are in, knowing that God is in charge of our lives, then we too can take comfort in our weaknesses:

knowing that afflictions produces patience, and patience produces experience, and experience produces hope. And hope does not make us ashamed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us. (Rom 5:3-5)

It’s through our relationship of love for God, that we develop our friendship with him, enabling us to trust him to provide what we need- be it food and shelter, or trials and difficulties.

Beloved, do not be astonished at the fiery trial which is to try you, as though a strange thing happened to you, but rejoice according as you are partakers of Christ's suffering, so that when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. (1Pe 4:12-13)

Yet trials are not always in the form of punishment, but may even be riches!:

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. (Prov 30:7-9)

The whole point of repentance is that we may draw nearer to understanding the love which God has for us, and how we are to also love others, and in doing so we let our light shine to also draw others toward God. (Matt 5:16)

What does repentance have to do with taking of the sacrifice of Christ, in the form of his blood and flesh? Jesus said “most assuredly I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no (eternal) life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. (John 6:53-5)

In the next post we will examine this and other passages about the sacrifice of Christ and why they don’t mean that he “paid a penalty for us”.