Heavens Gates Are Open Wide

For All Who Repent In Repentance one does a turrn about face! A Call To Repentance (Psalm 51, Joel 2:12–17) As I taught the scriptures in Rwanda, Africa I tried to explain it well to my students, I would draw a line on the black board going one direction, with an arrow, and then I would say, when you repent of your wrong doing, you make a 90 degree turn, you turn around and begin a new life going the other direction. When one repents it means that you feel a hateful regret for sin, you have grief over your past, present and future sins, which include your actions, mistakes that are sin and your out right intentional sins. And in that hate and grief you make a conscious choice to repent before God and make a choice that things from that point on are going to be different and you are going to change. Not only your behavior but also the direction in which you are going. I have learned over the years that behavioral change is taking action and moving beyond just being sorry, (they say being sorry is being sorry that you were caught) one must feel real guilt and then actively fixing the wrongs that have been done or making a distinct change so you do not continue in the sin you just repented of. The bible tells us, that God will renew our minds in Christ Jesus. That means a change in the way we think, a change of heart and change of direction in the life we had been living. People should be wondering what has happened to you. You have changed from mainly living for yourself to caring and turning toward God, that brings about a caring for o thers more than yourself.(Romans 12:2) In the scriptures today, we have the Psalmist crying out to God to create in him a clean heart. Listen to verse one and two of Psalm 51, Create in Me a clean heart, O God. Verse one says, "Have mercy on me,O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. And verse 2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! Then read verse 7-10, this is repentance. Stop and read Joel 2:12 “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. God does not just want the appearance of repentance, He wants change, (Matthew 23:27) Jesus backs this up as Jesus talkes to the scribes and the Pharisses, He does not want us just to change our clothes, our outward appearance, but rather He want the change to happen from within, from the heart. And not being "filled with dead mans bones." You will find this term written of often in and through out the scriptures, you will find repentance is mentioned much through out Christs and also in John the Baptist ministries. Mark 1:4, Matthew 3:2, 4:17, (Luke 13:3, 5, John 3:16) All of these verses call for repentance, and the verse I myself first memorized in Sunday School, and I am sure many others also memorized it as one of their first, was John 3:16. For God so love the world that He gave His only begotton Son, that who so ever believes in Himevshould not perish but have everlasting life. , “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (1:4). In fact, John’s very first recorded words were, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). Jesus’ ministry began with the very same message (4:17). It’s imperative that all of us, as sinners, repent: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). The way to salvation is through belief in Christ, who died so we could live (John 3:16-21). In repentance, comes the changed life. Luke 13:3-5 record Jesus warning, "Unless you repent, you too will all perish". Which means total everlasting separation from God. I believe that an unrepentant heart that is persistent in continuing in sin breaks fellowship with God and the bible tells us, the wages of sin is death. If (Roamans 6:23) so the results of sin is spiritual death, and everlasting separation from God. When someone claims the have been born again, and there is no change and they continue in a lifestyle of deliberate, unrepentant sin, it means there was no repentance and therefore that person's faith is fake and they were not truly born again. The true gift of salvation cannot be lost, but there can and will be some loss of rewards. True salvation is a permanent gift from God received through faith in Jesus Christ, we can do nothing to earn salvation, but when true repantance has happened change and a new creation will and does take place. Because we are a new creation, we will reconize and the Holy Spirit will let us know when we have sinned, and we acknowledge that Jesus has already forgiven that sin, and that we are right before God. Jesus has forgiven all sin, past, present and future. I get this statement from the following verse, because the bible does not say, past, present and future, but this statement does include all of those. Please read the following verseses and you will come up with the same conclusion. (Colossians 2:13–14, Hebrews 10:10 and 14, Hebrews 9:12, 1 John 2:2, Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 103:12) Then read, 1 Corinthians 3: where it speaks of us loosing rewards, but yet we ourselves will be saved. (3:10-22) As a bliever in Christ I am promised eternal life. I have no doubts. Lord Jesus thank you, for the security I have in you. Thank you that I can be sure of heaven, and that when I pass from this earth, or I have thee priviledge of living until yoi come, I will spend eternity with you in heaven. Thank you.. It is in your name I pray AMEN