Week 46: November 17th, 2019

Topic: Depart from sin - Part 6

Bible Reading: 1 John 1:5-10

We shall continue with our discussions by mentioning the importance of repentance in relation to departing from sin and how it is a sin not to do what is good at all time.

A call to repentance

Repentance is the only way to prove that you have turn from sin and dedicate yourself to the amendment of your life to please God. It is the activity of reviewing your actions, and feeling contrition or regret for your past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to change for better. If you do not realize and acknowledge that you are a sinner, then you cannot be sorrowful over a specific sin or series of sins which you have committed in the past which means repentance cannot happen unless you sincerely regret your actions and you exhibit signs of remorse. Therefore, repent today because it is a formidable and terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God and incur the divine penalties. As it is written “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” Hebrews 10:31. Repent before it is too late, since it is a scary thing to suffer the judgment and wrath of God.

Depart and abstain from sin: Although God has persistently sent the prophets to the world the earthling did not obeyed His instructions or pay attention to His messages. Each time the message was this “Change your ways! Turn from your wicked way of life and stop doing evil, so that you will have your native land as a permanent possession.” According to the Bible passages which says “And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, ‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever’” Jeremiah 25:4-5. Turn from your crooked way, so that you will live peacefully without war, famine and pestilence in your indigenous land. Therefore, tell brethren to repent, and turn from imitating the gentiles. Inform them to abandon all their disgusting acts and vile practices; according to the scripture which says “Therefore says to the house of Israel, ‘This says the Lord God: “Repent, turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations”’” Ezekiel 14:6. So, renounce all your detestable practices and stop your disgusting sins, so that sin will not destroy you. Since God will judge every one according to his/her conduct, it is inevitable for you to repent and turn from your rebellious acts, so that sin will not cause your downfall. As it is written “‘Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his way,’ says the Lord God. ‘Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin’” Ezekiel 18:30. Change your way of thinking, and depart from sin, so that it will not block your access to the kingdom of heaven.

The importance of repentance: Repentance is an important aspect of our existence and it is an indispensable part of our Christianity faith. God knew that repentance is essential to our access to His glorious kingdom, so He sent His Son Jesus Christ who started His ministerial work by preaching repentance. The Bible confirmed this fact by saying “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” Matthew 4:17. In addition, He declared that His primary mission on earth is to call the sinners to repentance. As it is written “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” Matthew 9:13. For this reason, it is necessary for you to produce fruit that is consistent with repentance. You need to demonstrate new behavior which proves your change of heart, and your conscious decision to turn away from iniquity by giving up your sins. As it is written “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance” Matthew 3:8. So, prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins, and turn to God. Then your sins will be forgiven, and you will be revived and renewed; according to the scripture which says “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” Acts 3:19. You must repent and turn to God, if you want your sins to be forgiven so that God will overlook whatever that you have done in the past due to ignorance. The conditionality that will make God to overlook and disregard the sins that you committed during the time of ignorance is for you to repent and turn to Him. As it is written “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent” Act 17:30. The commandment to repent is for all nations throughout the globe.

Return to the Lord: It is time for mankind to return to their Creator, and we are proclaiming through this publication for people to come back to God. Though we have been unfaithful to Him and we have made Him to be furious with our acts, yet He is a merciful God who is willing to forgive our sins, if we can repent and turn to Him. The Book of Jeremiah explained this issue by saying “Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity. That you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord” Jeremiah 3:12-13. The only way for your sins to be forgiven is for you to repent, by acknowledge your guilt and admit that you have rebelled against the Lord. Hence, return to the Lord and do not be stubborn like your ancestors, who refused to give up their evil and neither turn back to God nor pay attention to His messages. As it is written “Therefore say to them, ‘Thus say the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of host.’  ‘Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, thus says the Lord of host: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.”’ But they did not heed Me, says the Lord” Zechariah 1:3-4. For this reason, “Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; he has stricken, but He will bind us up” Hosea 6:1. If you return to God, He will heal your injuries and bandage your spiritual wounds. Therefore, turn to God with all your heart, then He will relent and not punish you for your past wrongdoings. According to the scripture which says “‘Now, therefore,’ says the Lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ So, rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm” Joel 2:12-13. Do not tarry but reconcile with your Creator now.

It is a sin not to do what is good

Brethren, we must not allow whatever that we are passing through to make us to forsake our obligation to do what is good. Our situations must not becloud our sense of reasoning that we should fail to do what is acceptable to the Lord. Whenever we refused to do what is good and right, it will be counted as sin, immaterial of our conditions. Job did not use his ordeals as an excuse to insult or sin against God. The Bible testified that he rebuked his wife who tried to mislead him by saying “‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips” Job 2:10. If Job cautioned himself, and he neither cursed nor insulted the Lord during his ordeals, then you must not use the challenges that you are facing as excuses not to do what is good. Whatever that you are suffering, you must neither do anything wrong nor speak against God, because it is a sin. In addition, you must not blame God for your situation nor charge Him foolishly. It is a sin to accuse God of doing wrong. Emulate Job, whom the scripture described by saying “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” Job 1:22. Do not sin by blaming God for your disappointing condition, and control yourself so that your situation will not make you to cease doing good, or teach the wrongdoers the way of the Lord. Inasmuch as it is your duty to teach the rebellious the way of the Lord so that they will change and return to God. As it is written “Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You” Psalm 51:13. Do not be selfish, teach the sinners about the eternal salvation of the Lord.

It is the command of the Lord to be generous to the poor and the less privileged, so whoever fails to take care of the poor and the needy has sinned. The Bible confirmed this fact by saying “ ‘If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for is need, whatever he needs…’ ”Deuteronomy 15:7-11. However, the opposite is the case nowadays, when a brother/sister lacks adequate clothing and is in need of daily food, what brethren usually say is: ‘Have a good day; stay warm and eat well, you are in my prayers’ without giving such person the necessities for his/her body. The Bible corroborated this fact by saying “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” James 2:15-16. Have you forgotten the scripture which says “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” Hosea 6:6. So, it is a sin to know the good and yet not do it; if you do not do what you know is right and good, you have sinned. As it is written “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” James 4:17. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and refuse to do it. Whoever knows what is right and good but fails to do it, he/she is guilty of sin. For this reason, you must get rid of every impediment and sin which easily hampers your movement; according to the scripture which says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside, every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” Hebrew 12:1. It is time to strip off everything that is obstructing and slowing us down in our Christianity journey, most especially the sin that so easily entangles and trips us up.

Beware of those who can make you to sin

Beware of those who can influence or lure you to sin. Flee from the people who can mislead you to fall into sin. Hence, do not follow whoever that is trying to lead you into sin. The scripture sounded this warning by saying “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent” Proverbs 1:10. Say no, to any peer pressure that may compel you to go with the crowd to commit any atrocity against God or the government of your nation. Be strong enough not to go along or yield to the flattery of the sinners, else they will teach you to act in accordance with all their detestable practices. They will persuade you to do disgusting things that will provoke the Lord. As it is written “Lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God” Deuteronomy 20:18. Do not imitate the customs/traditions of the Gentiles that can make you to sin against God and beware of the so-called leaders who can mislead you. Aaron led the people of Israel into a grave sin, when he made a golden calf and they said ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought, you out of the land of Egypt’ Exodus 32:4. The scripture attested to this statement by saying “And Moses said to Aaron ‘What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?’” Exodus 32:21. You must be very careful because being a pastor/prophet does not guarantee that he/she cannot mislead you. So, abstain from whatever that is against the teaching of the Bible, and anything that is not in conformity with the Laws of God.

Moses and Aaron incurred the wrath of God: You must beware so that people will not make you to sin against the Lord your God. Like what happened to Moses at the water of Meribah. The children of Israel provoked Moses and Aaron to the extent that Moses said ‘Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?’ Instead of saying ‘The Lord will bring water for you out of this rock.’ This ‘slip of tongue’ made it impossible for Moses and Aaron to step into the promised land, because they arrogated the power of God to themselves; Moses was also denied the opportunity to lead the people of Israel into the promised land Numbers 20:3-13.

God rejected Saul as king: King Saul transgressed the instructions of the Lord because he feared and listened to his soldiers. God instructed him to utterly destroy the Amalekites, instead he spared their king Agag and the best of their sheep, oxen and lambs. This failure of king Saul to carry out the directive of God ‘to the last letter’ made him to be rejected as king over Israel, and the throne was taken away from his descendants forever 1 Samuel 15:1-29.

King Ahab: Another example is king Ahab who was influenced and encouraged by Jezebel his wife. One of the prominent sins of Ahab was the murder of Naboth, who refused to sell or give king Ahab his vineyard. The Bible described the wayward activities of Ahab by saying “But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up” 1 Kings 21:1-24. It is not that one cannot take the advice of one’s spouse, but whatever that contradicts the teachings of the Bible is a sin. For this reason, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than your whole body to be cast into hell” Matthew 5:29-30.

Benefits of depart from sin

The benefits of departing from sin are endless, but we will only mention some of them because of time constraint:

· You will be blessed abundantly Psalm 1:1; Romans 4:7-8

· You will not be condemned, instead you will be among the assembly of the people of God Psalms 1:5.

· You will be called by a new name Isaiah 62:2.

· You will become a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17.

· God will hear your prayers and reveal His awesome power through you John 9:31.

· God will rouse Himself; He will fulfill your needs and prosper your home Job 8:6.

· God will watch over you and take care of you. He will be intimately acquainted with your life and your heritage will abide forever Psalm 37:18.

· You will be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God Isaiah 62:3.

· You will not be forsaken anymore but you will be referred to as Hephzibah Isaiah 62:4.

· God will neither deny you goodness nor withhold good things of life from you Psalm 84:11.

· You will neither be shaken nor moved, instead you will remain secure throughout your lifetime and stand firm forever Psalm 15:5.

· Your future will be peaceful and prosperous Psalm 37:37.

· You will live in the presence of God Psalm 140:13.

· God will offer you His friendship, He will take you into His confidence and share His secret counsel with you Proverbs 3:32.

· Your home will continue to expand and flourish Proverbs 14:11.

Finally, anyone who departs from sin and start keeping the Laws of the Lord by doing what is right will not die but live; according to the scripture which says “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die” Ezekiel 18:21. So, understand that the antidote of untimely death is departing from sin.

The Seal: 1 John 1:10: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”