Upon thinking about the late Ravi Zacharias, and upon thinking about my own struggle with sin, there was a question raised up from the depth of my soul. The question was, "Is repentance enough?" The question came to me thinking empathetically about how Ravi might have thought about his sin himself. "I am repenting to God, so I know it's not that bad" or some such. I think about myself and how I tend to repeat the same sins even after repenting, turning away from my sin, and striving to live for Holiness. But I still sin. The solution, I think I have found, is that repentance is great and we need to be a Christian people of repentance, but it is not enough by that alone.
Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The remarkable thing here is that Christ doesn't just say to repent and it will all be fine, but rather, he says repentance is only half of it. The other half is believing. After all, that is what we see Jesus preach over and over in the Gospels. "Believe in me." This cannot be overstated. Christ doesn't just call us to repent of our wickedness, but to believe in Him. To believe in His sacrifice for us. It's very pivotal that we get that it's not just about behavioral changes, but that we are to rest in Him.
Matthew 11:29 "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
When Jesus said this, he was talking about the way yoke was used so often in the Old Testament, namely, that the "yoke of Israel" had become "heavy" due to sin. This is repeated over and over in the Old Testament. Here's one verse where it says this:
1 Kings 12:4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”
This exact phasing of "yoke heavy" is used 6 times in the OT. You should be able to see the parallels between the OT text and the words of Jesus.
Jesus invites us to rest in his "easy yoke" as opposed to our own "heavy yoke" and we do this by believing in Him.
I think it should be very clear from this verse how we ought to look at our own sin, not as something to go along with, but strive to live lives holy and blameless before God.
1 John 2:1 "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
Which means, forgiveness of sin doesn't come simply from a remorseful feeling about our sin and "giving it to God" but that when we do repent, that we ought to immediately be looking to Jesus as the forgiver of our sin.
We have to have faith that Christ forgives us, not just sweep our sin under the rug.
Mark 2:5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The remarkable thing here is that Christ doesn't just say to repent and it will all be fine, but rather, he says repentance is only half of it. The other half is believing. After all, that is what we see Jesus preach over and over in the Gospels. "Believe in me." This cannot be overstated. Christ doesn't just call us to repent of our wickedness, but to believe in Him. To believe in His sacrifice for us. It's very pivotal that we get that it's not just about behavioral changes, but that we are to rest in Him.
Matthew 11:29 "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
When Jesus said this, he was talking about the way yoke was used so often in the Old Testament, namely, that the "yoke of Israel" had become "heavy" due to sin. This is repeated over and over in the Old Testament. Here's one verse where it says this:
1 Kings 12:4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”
This exact phasing of "yoke heavy" is used 6 times in the OT. You should be able to see the parallels between the OT text and the words of Jesus.
Jesus invites us to rest in his "easy yoke" as opposed to our own "heavy yoke" and we do this by believing in Him.
I think it should be very clear from this verse how we ought to look at our own sin, not as something to go along with, but strive to live lives holy and blameless before God.
1 John 2:1 "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
Which means, forgiveness of sin doesn't come simply from a remorseful feeling about our sin and "giving it to God" but that when we do repent, that we ought to immediately be looking to Jesus as the forgiver of our sin.
We have to have faith that Christ forgives us, not just sweep our sin under the rug.
Mark 2:5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
