Tag: repentance

Self-Esteem and Forgiveness

We hear a lot about “self-esteem” today. The “self-esteem movement,” made up of some religious teachers and psychologists, seeks to make people feel better about themselves without making any reference to sin or the need for forgiveness. Some religious teachers have even said that Christianity should stop talking about sin. Because the movement is associated with psychology, many mistakenly believe that the claims of the “self-esteem movement” have a scientific basis. They do not.

Consider the Pharisee who prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men…” From the world’s standpoint, he had no trouble with self-esteem. On the other hand, the world would say that the sinner who prayed, “God be merciful to me, a sinner…” had a serious self-esteem problem. In Jesus’ analysis, however, the Pharisee’s self-righteousness – his “good self-image” – was what kept him from God. It was the sinner’s knowledge of his self-worthlessness, and humble repentance, that brought him the peace of God in a personal relationship with his Maker.

From this vantage point, it is easy to see that the cult of self-esteem promotes self-righteousness. Adding Christ to self-esteem still produces self-righteousness.

Christians and all people need to be encouraged to focus on Christ! The Christian who lives a daily life of repentance in the full knowledge that Christ has redeemed him, making full atonement and peace with God, will have no “self-esteem problem.”

Luke 18:13
“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Prayer: Forgive me, dear Lord, for those times when I have thanklessly felt sorry for myself or let my pride come between us. Fill me with the joy and peace that only You can provide through the forgiveness of my sins. Amen.

Photo: Man crying in a support group, Envato.

Source: Creation Moments

Two Different Preachers with Two Different Goals

Two different preachers came once to my country of Nigeria to preach two radically different sermons.

The first preacher gave his sermon to a large crowd that gathered for the crusade, many of whom dropped huge amounts of money on the altar. Many who were excited about the sermon removed their expensive gold bracelets, necklaces, and wristwatches and dropped them on the altar. A woman whose husband lives abroad brought the car key that her husband bought for her and gave it to the preacher.

The second preacher preached a sermon to the same people, and all the attendees fell on their knees and cried out to God for mercy. Many of them who had money in their pockets removed them and dropped it on the altar. Even criminals and robbers went back home, collected their ill-gotten money, and brought it back as an offering.

What could be responsible for these different reactions from the same people? It is important to note that both preachers preached from the same Bible, but the spirits behind the messages were not the same, and the goals of the two preachers were completely different. The first preacher wanted to unlock the wallets of his listeners while the second preacher wanted the hearts of his listeners to provoke repentance.

“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19). The first preacher belongs to the category of pastors who focus on earthly things and teach their followers to give so that they can be healed and become rich. Their god is not the God of the Bible but their belly. They do not have a passion for soul-winning, rather they concentrate all their energy on working to get more money from their listeners.  

The second preacher sacrificially hazarded his life and worked tirelessly to bring souls to the Kingdom of God. Men like him preach Christ and Him crucified. Men like him want to ensure that sinners come to the saving knowledge of Christ. Every one of their sermons is geared towards provoking repentance. Their messages prick the hearts of the hearers for total surrender to the saving power of Christ. The more people hear the messages of this category of preachers, the more they grow in grace and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ.

“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:37-38). The sermon that pricks the heart is biblical and saves and spiritually transforms lives — but the sermon that unlocks the wallet is unbiblical, destructive, and feeds the flesh.

Every Christian should soberly examine the messages which he or she listens to. Do the messages unlock your wallet, or do they prick your heart? Honest answers to this question will help you guard your soul from wolves in sheep’s clothing. Sermons that do not edify, correct and rebuke you will inevitably take you far away from God.

God has given to every minister of the Gospel the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). Any contrary ideology is either from man or the devil. All preachers should be focused on preaching Christ not Mammon. We cannot serve two masters at the same time (Mathew 6:24). Remember these truths, friends.

There is no repentance in the grave.

Oscar Amaechina is the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria. His calling is to take the gospel to where no one has neither preached nor heard about Jesus. He is the author of the book Mystery Of The Cross Revealed.  

Source: The Christian Post

Salvation

“The word that is used in the original language for salvation covers the entire work of God on behalf of the human soul. I am sure that not one of us, not even the one who has spent the most time in the study of the word of God, can fully comprehend the height and the depth of the vast subject of salvation. The depth is our need, the height is the provision that God has made. Salvation begins when the sinner recognizes the fact that he is less perfect than God and therefore under condemnation.

 In order to make this very practical, I shall appeal to you directly concerning your own salvation. God comes to you today, just as you are. There is nothing that you have to do in order to draw his attention to you. You do not have to make yourself better in order for him to start his work. There is an old hymn that puts it well:

Let not conscience make you linger,

Nor of fitness fondly dream.

All the fitness He requireth

Is to feel your need of Him.

God comes to you whatever your background of education or the lack of it. He comes to you with your prejudices, however they may have been formed. He comes to you with the declaration that you are in a position that is desperate without His help, but he tells you that He is ready to furnish the help you need. Unfortunately, there are those who turn away from Him because they live in a world where illusions are so plentiful. A man is in vigorous health, making good money, and relatively happy. It is easy to think that since you are getting along so well in your progress through the world that you are also getting along well in your progress towards God. The fact is that you are lying in the embrace of death and do not realize your need.

A Chinese evangelist was once preaching on the street in a town in China. He spoke of the weight of sin and a heckler called out to ask how much that weight was. Fifty pounds? One hundred pounds? The evangelist answered: if you have a corpse lying in his coffin, will he feel a one hundred pound weight on his chest any more than a fifty pound weight? So the weight of sin is upon the human soul, and it is only when the Holy Spirit makes us conscious of need that we can feel the weight of sin and turn to the Saviour who is able to lift it.

If you fancy that you have an ability that can help you, you have never understood your own inability or the magnitude of the task which is demanded of you. A man might be the world’s champion Olympic swimmer, but if he were suddenly thrown overboard in the midst of the ocean, the distance to the shore would be totally beyond his powers. And God declares that you are overboard in the sea of sin and that  estranges you from him. No breast-stroke of emotion can bring you to the shore. You must recognize your lost position and submit yourself to his sovereign grace. God commands men everywhere to repent. And repentance does not mean an emotional state of being sorry for your sins. It is derived from a Greek expression for the military command of “right about face”. You have been facing yourself, trusting in your own ability while Christ has been behind you, despised and rejected by you. You must about face. You must despise and reject your own efforts for salvation and realize that God has done all the work through the Saviour and that He requires you to put your trust in him.”

For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  

Quote from Donald Grey Barnhouse, Man’s Ruin (Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids), pp. 169-171

Scripture: John 3:16 NASB

Wise Advice

“Stick close to the exercise of Repentance, till the end of thy life, and never think of obtaining pardon “ab humano die”(from the human), because he who has made thee make this Promise, has deceived thee.  As thou hast properly sinned against the Lord, so seek thy Remedy only at his hand.”

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan 374 AD – quoted in Bishop Nicea of Aquileia (420-485 AD) Book “ab Virginem lap-sam” – quoted in Some Remarks Upon Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont by P. Allix D.D. – London, 1690