Lets put repentance in context
Amos 3:3 KJV
3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
—> Can two walk together agreed
(We seek friends that think like us.)
Our beliefs <—> our companions
Isaiah 55:8-9 KJV
8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God’s thoughts
—> Amos has 2 implications:
1st implication: Where we disagree with God, we can’t walk with Him.
We are born alienated from God.
Romans 3:23 KJV
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
God was not satisfied with this.
John 3:16 NLT
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Eternal life – Life of the age. Why?
John 17:2-3 ASV
2 even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life.
3 And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, [even] Jesus Christ.
—> so we can know God.
God wants relationship with us.
How if His thoughts/ways aren’t ours? We must be “born again of God’s Spirit”.
John 3:3-6 NLT
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
We become living spirits, with God’s life in us.
1 Corinthians 6:17 KJV
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
“One Spirit” = No disagreement! We can walk with God!
John 14:23 ASV
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
But there is still a controversy:
– Not between our spirits & God, but between our spirit selves & our flesh.
Galatians 5:16-17 ASV
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would.
Romans 12:2 KJV
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Mind renewed by repentance.
We associate “repentance” with something we do at salvation.
—> True, but
Paul says:
Colossians 2:6 KJV
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk ye in him:
The mind is renewed by our turning
– away from lies and sin in the flesh
– toward truth and righteousness in our spirit
It’s as simple as
– disagreeing with the flesh
– agreeing with God
As soon as we agree, He draws near to us.
James 4:8 KJV
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.
We aren’t alone in this battle:
Even when we are stuck in sin, we are not alone.
Our spirit is still in perfect agreement with God.
We just need to
– remember who we are (we ARE that living spirit; the sin problem is not in us; it is in our flesh, ) and
– lean on the power God gives, through His Spirit, to us as joint heirs with Christ
Romans 8:17 KJV
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together.
-God does not leave us to deal with our sin problems alone. He sent Jesus to make our spirits an eternal habitation for God.
– God wants in on the reno project. Jesus destroyed the power of sin to cut you off from God.
2nd implication of Amos: Where we disagree with God, we agree with some demon.
Our disagreements with God draw demons to us.
That is not the life we were born for. We were born to walk with God, walking in the power of God.
Fortunately, God has given us spiritual weapons.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NLT
3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do.
4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
6 And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient.
Demons live in forts made of
– imaginations,
– vain things exalting themselves against the knowledge of God,
– thoughts in rebellion against Christ.
==> These are all types of lies.
Demons live in fortresses made of lies we believe.
When we were young and got hurt, Satan would lie to us about what the hurt meant, some message meant to
– shut down your heart, your sense of worth, your hope for a future
– make you to define yourself as a problem,
– make you live small
Maybe someone older than you told you what to think
If we don’t know otherwise, we agree, and a demon gets a place in our life. Life will take on a tormented quality.
Satan is the Father of lies. When we repent, we
– Take back our life,
– Give God the opportunity to show us
– who we really are,
– what we were really born for,
– our part in destroying the works of the enemy in our own lives!
Jesus said,
John 14:30 KJV
30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
That’s why Jesus could do what he did:
– He knew who He was
– He knew who His Father was
– He knew what God had sent Him to do.
As you clear the lies out of your lives, you will discover
– who you really are
– who your Father is
– what God saved you for
Then, nothing shall be impossible for you.
John 8:31-32 KJV
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
The real truth can hurt, especially the truth about our real motives,
but if you will trust that
– God really does love you,
– God really is as good as He says,
– God really is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,
Facing the pain of the truth is the only reasonable course of action.
Gods word cuts deep.
Hebrews 4:12 KJV
12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Let it discern the thoughts and intents of your heart. Then be honest about yourself to God. He will do the surgery that only His living word can do.
Romans 8:31-32 KJV
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who [can be] against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
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Inward pain is real, but Jesus came to heal the broken hearted.
Isaiah 61:1-2 KJV
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to [them that are] bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
, as he quoted in
Luke 4:17-19 KJV
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.