"Instant" Repentence

[Guest Guest]

Does the Lord hold His mercy from people who sin thinking they can just repent latr? Doen't this mean they don't have a repentant heart to begin with and without a repentant heart are you really saved anyway? just asking! pixiedust :sad

[JerryNumbers]

Pixie, I've had the same thoughts as you, I believe we all have them, these thought will help us dig into the Bible for answers.

But no, no one can be saved without repenting, its impossible.

What about those who sin thinking, its OK, I can repent of it later.

Or how about those who say, I can commit this sin, for it want sin me to hell, after all, when I repented and accepted Christ as my Savior I was given eternal life.

Some of those things I have to let God handle, all I as a pastor can do is proclaim God's true Word.

And of course on the topic of a saved person having sinned, even doing so thinking I can ask forgiveness of it later, when they do ask forgiveness they had better mean it, but what if they don't and they are saved?

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

1 Cor 3:11-15 (KJV)

Perhaps these are those who are saved as by fire, lose their rewards, and thus have only their bare salvation when they enter heaven.

I know this might get a bit deep, but when God's children sin, they're chastened.

5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Heb 12:5-11 (KJV)

God's chasten comes in different ways, he 1st speaks, if we don't confess our sins them He may whilp us, this coudl be by sickness, maybe even the losss of a loved one, perhaps the loss of money, job, our home, still if we fail to confess our sins he just might call us home early.

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

1 John 5:16-17 (KJV)

There is a sin unto death.

30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

1 Cor 11:30 (KJV)

Seems quite clear, becasue of their misuse of the Lords Supper, some were weak, some sick, some had even died.



8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

13 This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

Num 20:8-13 (KJV)

49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

Deut 32:49-52 (KJV)

Moses, because he disobeyed God, he hit the rock instead of talking to it, God chastened him, he did not get to lead the children of Israel into the promise land.



27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

2 Sam 11:27 (KJV)

13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

2 Sam 12:13 (KJV)

13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

David mourns and prays for the child

15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.

16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.

17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.

18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?

19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.

20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.

22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.

2 Sam 12:13-24 (KJV)

And of course David's sin displeased God, David did get punished, his baby died because of his sin.

David repented of his sin, confessed his sin, he got forgiveness, but of course because of his sins there were troubled days ahead of him, the consequences of his sin.

No doubt, God will forgive our sins when we truth confess them, but still while living our life we may have many bad consequences we have to face because of our sins.

I high centered this, hope I'm not coufusing you, perhaps I did not make it as clear as it could be, but store it in your mind, as you read and study the Bible I believe it will come to light for you as it did me a number of years ago.

[Guest Guest]

Thank you! No problem understanding. But I wonder if the person that habitually goes out to sin planning to ask forgivenss tomorrow,, Could they be saved?? I ask because there is no change of heart there? You cann't say your saved. go to church on Sundays and act like your the good christian man and be saved-- It doesn't work that way , does it??? Pixiedust

[1Timothy115]

From my study of Doctrines using Evans text which, currently is repentence!

According to that text, "Repentance is not only a heart broken ?for? sin, but ?from? sin also. We must forsake what we would have God remit."

Psalms 38:18 "For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin."

1 Thessalonians 1:9 "For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God";

Evans last words on repentance...
Acts 2:38--"Repent... and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Impenitence keeps back the full incoming of the Spirit into the heart.

I'm open to correction but, doesn't this also apply to the OP description?
Matthew 12:34 "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

also,
Psalms 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

[John81]

Thank you! No problem understanding. But I wonder if the person that habitually goes out to sin planning to ask forgivenss tomorrow' date=', Could they be saved?? I ask because there is no change of heart there? You cann't say your saved. go to church on Sundays and act like your the good christian man and be saved-- It doesn't work that way , does it??? Pixiedust[/quote']

True repentance unto salvation brings about change in ones life. If a person says they are saved but can continue to live as they did before they say they got saved then it's likely they are not saved at all.

If a person is saved that means the Holy Ghost resides within them, convicting them of sin, prompting them to hate sin in their life and pursue holiness.

This is why "easy believeism", the "one, two, three, pray after me" sort of "evangalism" is so dangerous. Most often repentance is left out of the presentation. People say a "sinners prayer", with no thought of repentance or the true nature of their sin, or real understanding of the Gospel. They then believe they are heavenbound and free to carry on in their life of sin.

It truly saddens me to see the large number of professing Christians who have never been born again yet believe they are heavenbound. It breaks my heart to think of them one day hearing Christ tell them they must depart because He never knew them. :sad

[JerryNumbers]

I don't want to come right out and say that a person who does that is not saved, because I would be judging someone's salvation, that is something none of us can do, but when a person does that it rightly seems that judging by their fruit that they are not saved.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Matt 7:20 (KJV)

Perhaps if we had been around in the days of Lot perhaps by his fruit, pitching his tent towards Sodom, maybe we would have judge him as a lost man on his path to hell.

7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

2 Peter 2:7-9 (KJV)

David, with his adultery with a married woman, having Bathsheba's husband murdered, covering up that murder, we surely would not have thought him to be a man after God's own heart if we had been living in that day watching him while he was living in all of this sin.

Of course my advise would be, do not commit sins thinking that later you can confess them and God will forgive you, a person who would do this does have a heart problem. We know that just saying your sorry for your sin without meaning it will not get on forgiveness.

We who are saved ought to want to do only those things which please God.

1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
1 Thess 4:1 (KJV)

4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2 Tim 2:4 (KJV)

And of course what about the person who drops out of church, who turns from God and lives in the world?

19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1 John 2:19 (KJV)

It surely makes them seem as if they are not really saved, that if they were really saved they would not have went out from us, or at least before death they would come back to church truly repenting of their sins.

We've have a woman in our church who fits right in with what your asking. At times I think she is lost as a goose, other times she acts like a saved woman. With such people we just have to warn them of their ways and hope that we get thru to them.

Thank goodness for God's mercy and grace, that its not our righteousness that gains us entrance onto heaven, but Jesus righteousness, that without Him no one would gain entrance into heaven.

26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Romans 3:26 (KJV)

[John81]

I don't think Lot, and especially David, fit into the mold of those who pre-plan their sin with the idea they can always repent later. Lot, who we really don't know that much about, is said of Scripture to have been a just man. He may have simply made the foolish decision to live in the midst of wickedness yet was living justly.

David lived an overall life following God. Like all of us he did sin and experienced times of great stumbling in sin. His adultery with Bathsheba, the attempted deceit afterwards and the putting to death of her husband seem to have all been done in haste with no real thought given to what he was really doing. Upon being confronted with his sins David was grieved, admitted his sins and repented.

True, I do agree that while David was going through this period of time if folks knew what he was doing (most of this was done in secret) it could have appeared as if he were far from God...and in a sense he was, but not in the sense of being lost.

Of course such would apply to any of us at some point in our Christian lives.

The thing about those who pre-plan to sin figuring they can just pray for forgiveness later, reminds me of the Catholic concept of buying indulgences; which amounts to the same thing and neither are biblical.

We can pray about anything, including asking for forgiveness of sin, but if we are not sincere, God will not hear. How can a Christian say in his heart that he will sleep with his friends wife (just this once) and it will be okay because he will pray for forgiveness as soon as he gets back home and truly be sincere?

Repentance and praying for forgiveness is about much more than simply saying the words, it requires sincerity of heart.

[Wilchbla]

I was wondering what you think of what I like to call "Instant" repennters' date=' people who plan on sinning and then pray for forgiveness of that sin. They make a habit of sinning and repenting, with no intention of giving up the sinful behaviour they repented for.[/quote']

The fact is that a lot of Christians do have struggles with certain sins and their repeated sinning , repenting and asking for forgiveness may be sincere. I'd be slow to judge them. Only the Lord knows the heart.

Luke 17:3,4-

3) Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

4) And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

Matthew 18:21,22-

21) Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22) Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

[John81]

We all struggle with sin but that's not the same thing as planning to sin with the notion that it's no big deal because you can pray for forgiveness later.

[Wilchbla]

I don't know of any Christian that thinks that way. Maybe a Roman Catholic.

[John81]

I don't currently know any who think this way but I have known some in the past.

They would be planning to do something sinful, myself or another would talk with them about it and they would just say it didn't matter because they could pray for forgiveness about it later.

One person who would do this said they didn't care about anything else other than being saved so they didn't need to follow the rest of that stuff (what the Bible says) because they were not concerned about rewards or anything; they didn't care if they would up as a dog catcher in heaven, they were just satisfied that's where they were going.

Personally, I doubt they were truly saved. For one this seems to have been proven true because he eventually renounced Christianity and dived deep into a false religion.

[Madeline]

One person who would do this said they didn't care about anything else other than being saved so they didn't need to follow the rest of that stuff (what the Bible says) because they were not concerned about rewards or anything; they didn't care if they would up as a dog catcher in heaven, they were just satisfied that's where they were going.

Personally, I doubt they were truly saved. For one this seems to have been proven true because he eventually renounced Christianity and dived deep into a false religion.

I coudn't agree with you any more, John81. Whenever I ask a "Christian" as to why they're glad they're saved? and their response is: "I'm just glad I'm not hellbound and that I get to live forever!....I could care less if I'm a streetweeper as long as I make it there." This sort of lack of stewardship and commitment towards God demonstrates that their "love" that they proclaim for God is nothing more than lip service.

WRONG ANSWER:

Let the scriptures speak.....

John 17:3 - And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Jesus said that Eternal Life was this. "To KNOW 'Gr. ginosko' (have an intimate and beautiful relationship) God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. I desire so much to be with Christ in heaven because I want to KNOW my Creator, and this is Eternal Life.

Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Love,
Madeline

[Guest Guest]

Faith with out works is dead-devils believe......this arguement is retarded and out of context!
In order to repent,you must hear the report and BELIEVE!Before you can change your mind!!!!

I've already proven this "Repentance",Bablylonian Catholic doctrine to be heresy!

[Pastor Matt]

Please watch your attitude Lazarus.

[Guest Guest]

what if aproclaiming fellow christian never ask your forgiveness but seem's to ask the LORD"S forgiveness because they stop their sin . Do you just ignore it and act like nothing happen ? I know we must forgive them no matter what but shouldn't their be some repentance on their part ? or is it just never talked about? PD