Forgiveness and Repentance by Chris Leeper

 

Forgiveness and Repentance

by Chris Leeper

 

“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace.…Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field…Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44-46

PLEASE PRAY THE FOLLOWING PRAYER FOCUSES WITH US:

·  That we would fight for costly, eternal, never ending grace, and not settle for cheap grace.

·  That we would follow Jesus no matter the cost, choosing to go through the pain of conviction now, instead of facing judgment for our sins later.

·  That we would choose costly grace in the way of forgiveness through true repentance.

"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." (Revelation 2:5) "Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice, from conviction that it has offended God." (Websters 1828 Original Dictionary) Have we lost the understanding of repentance? There have been a number of meetings I have been in where the Holy SPIRIT started to convict the people in the room. Yet, the leader shut it down and moved on by saying something like, "There is hope in JESUS!" This statement is true; however, it is only true through repentance.  Without repentance, there is only hope for discipline and judgment for those who are born again. JESUS is a loving GOD, and because of this, HE will discipline us, sometimes severely, to keep us in HIS love and truth. Do you believe this? The same JESUS who came as a lamb is also a lion. The same JESUS who bore our sins on the cross is the KING of kings and the LORD of lords. What are you supposed to do when a King gives you a command to obey him?  This JESUS in Revelation says HE will put out the Ephesian Church's lamp-stand if they don't repent. How much more is it true of the Body of CHRIST today? Let us take the Words that JESUS spoke to the Ephesians to heart and respond as HE wanted them to do in the first century. Let's begin by reading GOD's Word and allowing it to convict us of our sins and wayward ways. We must not resist conviction anymore. Yes, it is painful, but this pain leads to godly results. Conviction is supposed to be uncomfortable and painful at times. Its intent is to humble and bring us into the truth, a godly lifestyle.  If we resist conviction that leads to repentance, we will be found to be a stiff-necked and hard-hearted people. The only thing left for us will be judgment. We have a choice; go through the pain of conviction now or face judgment later. What will you choose?

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