God’s unlimited love clearly wants to take as many people into heaven’s eternity as He can. But the reality is that His unlimited love is limited by the physics of heaven’s holiness. Nothing unclean or out of synch with God’s essence can be there.
God’s plan to take hopelessly fallen people to Himself has to account for two inescapable issues:
- Mankind can’t pay its own sin debt.
- We have free will to accept or reject His Lordship.
Issue #1: Mankinds’ Sin Debt
God took it upon Himself to fix the issue of mankind’s sin debt by having Jesus pay it for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.
- Through Jesus, all sin debt from humanity’s past, present and future has been paid in full.
- The door to right standing with God that was closed by sin’s debt is now wide open.
Issue #2: Mankind’s Free Will
God’s plan also has to deal with the second issue: mankind’s free will.
- Going through the open door to right standing with God requires your collaboration. You have to choose to go through it.
- God will try to draw you, but He won’t force you to turn your life over to Jesus. Surrendering to His Lordship and transformation is totally up to you. Making that choice is called Repentance.
- If you reject His rescue and rule, His payment for sin does you no good.
Many people have been taught that good works, rituals and church sacraments like water baptism and communion will make them right before God. Some religions even teach that animal sacrifice can make them right before God. But those activities cannot make anyone right before God. They can’t produce salvation and don’t get anyone born again (Galatians 2:16; Hebrews 10:4).
Trying to approach God through human self-effort denies the clear New Testament requirement to rely exclusively on Christ’s sacrifice (Ephesians 2:8-9). So quit trying to add your goodness and works to what He paid. That’s like saying what He paid wasn’t quite enough.
Here’s the truth: Your part in this collaboration is to accept Jesus’ payment by surrendering your life to His transforming rescue. He wants our lives to be full of good works, but our good works never add to Jesus’ payment.
No matter what any church, denomination or religion teaches, I’m cutting to the chase. I’m not asking you a theological question. I am asking you to take a hard, honest look before God at what’s really in your heart.
Deep inside,
- Do you feel like if it depends on you, you’ll never make it?
- Do you feel like your salvation, if it’s ever going to happen, is totally dependent upon Jesus’ payment and rescue?
- Do you want Him to forgive and transform you, no strings attached, inside and out?
If you can say Yes to those three questions, I believe God accepts that as faith and repentance.
Let’s review for a moment. Jesus paid the full penalty for all of humanity's sin (Isaiah 53:6; 1 John 2:2). His payment is for everyone's sin, even for those who refuse to repent. But for those who refuse to repent, His payment for their sin doesn't do them any good.
I’m contrasting a strictly Faith-based approach to God against a Faith mixed with Works approach. A Faith mixed with Works approach is built on the lie that you can somehow pay off your sin debt.
At its core, a Faith mixed with Works approach denies the completeness of Jesus’ payment. It says that Jesus' payment wasn't enough, that you have to add your righteous efforts to what Jesus paid. But that's not what the Bible teaches.
The Apostle Paul makes it clear that a true Faith-based approach to God cannot in any way blend with works (Romans 11:6).
In its simplest form, repentance accepts Jesus’ payment and tells God that you've chosen to be on Jesus' path to total transformation.
- Repentance doesn’t pay for your sin; that’s a debt that's already been paid.
- Repentance does put you on the path Jesus already paid for.
- Repentance allows Jesus’ full payment to apply to your personal account before God.
As a born-again Believer, whether I've had a good day or a bad day, my approach to the Throne is always on the same basis: I trust in Jesus' payment alone.
When I see something in me requiring repentance, I take care of it.
- My fresh repentance doesn't add in any way to what Jesus already paid. Jesus doesn’t have to die again to pay the price for my sin.
- Once my spirit is born again, it never has to be born again again. My soul still needs plenty of work, but my spirit is good to go.
- My fresh point-by-point repentance closes wrong doors and helps keep my heart tender towards Him.
When I see something in my soul that’s not right, I confess it and repent. Afterwards, the human temptation is to wait a few days to let my repentance “work”. But I don't get any cleaner by waiting a few days before approaching the Throne in prayer. All waiting does is delay my bold approach to the Throne.
I've made these three points elsewhere, but they're worth repeating:
- Every Believer's trust must be in Jesus' payment and nothing else.
- If you're counting on your goodness to get you over the top, you've already lost.
- If you think you need to add your goodness to what Jesus paid, you're saying He didn't pay enough.
As a born-again Believer, I can always approach the throne with boldness based on what Jesus did, nothing else.
When I recognize that there is an issue clouding my conscience and holding me back, I confess it and repent, choosing once again to get out of the ditch and back on His path.
(Side note: Over the years, I've become quite familiar with ditches. But believe me, each time I’ve confessed and repented! 1 John 1:9)
Once that's done, I can then and there approach the Throne with boldness. It's not some lack in Jesus' payment that's holding me back; rather, my own conscience breeds unbelief that then robs me of boldness before the Throne.
Hebrews 4:16, NKJV
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
If you're anything like me...and I'm guessing you are...there are still an array of personal issues in your mind, will and emotions…your soul… that the Lord wants to deal with. Some of my issues I see right away; others I don't.
My spirit is already born again. It doesn't have to be born again again, but my mind, will and emotions still need transformation. Lots of transformation. That’s the sanctification process. It's a process that takes place in the soul.
Because I'm a born-again follower of Jesus, God works to fix and correct me, not condemn me. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will show me flaws that I've been slow to recognize. They may have been hiding around the edges of my self-awareness for a long time. Others may see these flaws long before I do.
Take this to heart and make this personal. When you recognize something in you that needs to be cleaned up, confess it and choose to return to God's path of transformation. Keep short accounts with God. Close those doors. Don't come under the enemy’s condemnation.
Let Him work in you. I'm paraphrasing here. Jesus never said "You have to stop sinning before I help you." He wants to set you free right where you are. Just get back on His path.
Becoming born again was a single, instantaneous event in your spirit. Through that event, your spirit was connected to the Holy Spirit in a unique, unblemished way (1 Corinthians 6:17). Being born again is followed by the sanctification process that transforms your mind, will and emotions from the inside out. You were born again when you made blanket repentance by turning your life over to Him. Now, point by point confession and repentance closes doors to the enemy and opens doors for the Lord to do a deeper work in your soul.
It will help to review my earlier posts: "The Three Salvations" and "Sanctification, the Middle Stage of Salvation".
My trust is exclusively in what He paid. If my repentance was ever perfect, I'd never have to repeat it. But it often has to be renewed because my soul is still far from perfected.
God doesn’t give you a born-again spirit and then leave the work in your soul up to you. He doesn’t say “I got you this far. The rest is up to you.” No, He knows us far better than we know ourselves. He knows that we’ll never get our soul issues transformed without His deep work.
That’s what Paul is counting on in Philippians 1:6:
…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Paul continues that thought in Philippians 2:13:
…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
God doesn’t leave it up to us to fix ourselves. I’m on His path, headed to His destination. I haven't arrived, but I'm for sure on my way. When an issue in my mind, will, or emotions raises its ugly head, being quick to repent really helps.
I’ve had bad stretches that created obstacles in my mind, will, and emotions. They hardened my heart in subtle ways. They became filters, self-created restrictions in my approach to God.
A hardened heart and sin go hand in glove. Together, they magnify unbelief and distance from God, opening the door ever wider for the enemy to disrupt a Christian's life (2 Peter 1:9).
I've under-performed for years by feeling as though I couldn't confidently approach the Throne until I've had a series of really good days. Don’t get me wrong. It's wonderful to have a stretch of really good days, but that can never be the basis for approaching the Throne.
I’ve learned to always remember that:
- My issues never diminish what Jesus paid.
- My confidence and trust must always be in what Jesus paid, the goodness of His heart, and the ultimate victory of His plans for Himself and His body of Believers.
- I repent, but my confidence and trust is never in the depth or strength of my repentance.
Repentance is choosing to be on His path. It means that I've started, not that I've necessarily gotten very far. It definitely doesn't mean that I've arrived.
Don't act so surprised. You know what I'm talking about.
It's obvious that the Apostle Paul must have been a great Repenter. But even he said in Philippians 3:12
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
2 Corinthians 4:2, Amplified Bible Classic Edition, tells us that Paul also wrote
We have renounced disgraceful ways (secret thoughts, feelings, desires and underhandedness, the methods and arts that men hide through shame)...
There's a funny thing about repentance. It's primarily an act of the will, a deliberate choice you make to be on Jesus' path. At times, though, this act of your will must go upstream against your emotions and old habits.
Because the will is just one part of the soul, it often has to wrestle with leftover soulish emotions and things in the mind that don't want to be on His path. I know, I’ve learned that the hard way.
Romans 8:7, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
...the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.
I know about that struggle first-hand. More than once I've had to choose His path through a deliberate act of my will even though other parts of my soul didn't want to go there.
He accepts my choice as true turning and true repentance, even if other parts of my soul are screaming "No, don't do it!"
In those moments, God understands my internal struggle. He also hears my deliberate, spoken-out-loud choice to be on His path, even if part of me doesn’t want to yield.
Remember the two issues God had to deal with if He was going to get any of us with Him in heaven. He resolved the first issue by having Jesus pay for all sin through His death on the Cross. The second issue, our free will, requires us to collaborate with Him through repentance.
We have been bought at a great price! (1 Corinthians 6:20) Collaborate with God and take advantage of it!
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