I will not contradict you but I will show you what repentance is and you will be able to measure it by yourself. If you did not repented genuinely in the past, today, you will bring forth fruits meet for true repentance in anticipation of the time of refreshing upon your life.
God said you should turn to Him with all your heart, not in your mind, thought, or like a proposal, or a future thing, do it now and from the depth of your heart. As you turn, what will happen? (vs 21) After genuine repentance from the heart, the Lord will do great things. The fear of the past are canceled. Fear not, all you need is repentance and with that relationship with the Lord, fear not, rejoice, be glad for the Lord will do great things.
vs 22. Every tree in your life will blossom, rejoice in the Lord your God, and He will cause to come to you the former and the latter rains and the floor shall be full of wheat, and your vessels shall overflow with wine and oil, and God will restore to you the years which the locusts have eaten. You will have more than enough to eat, you will praise the Lord, your God who has dealt wondrously with you and you shall never be ashamed.
vs 28. You and your children will be filled with the Holy Ghost. Some people do same things everyday, they have no dream, vision, goal or ambition. There is no desire, nothing is in the horizon for them. They wake up, eat, go to work, come back, eat and sleep, no vision. The Lord will give you a vision and life will take a new meaning for you as long as you lay the foundation of genuine repentance.
vs 32. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is based on true repentance. Sometimes, people claim to have given their lives to Christ but they are not willing to do anything for Him. They can’t wake up in the morning, read the Bible and pray. Pharaoh manifested fake repentance to the extent that anytime the plague ceased, he changed his mind and sinned yet more.
Numbers 22:32. Balaam said to the angel of the Lord that he had sinned but he didn’t repent. He still went ahead to honour the call of Balak to curse the children of Israel.
1 Samuel 15:13. Saul said he had obeyed God by destroying the Amalekites, only that the people spared some animals to make sacrifices to God in Gilgal. Samuel condemned his action, yet, he did not repent genuinely. His repentance was superficial. He argued with Samuel who asked him if the Lord has delight in sacrifice than for the people to obey. Saul acknowledged his sin on the one hand, and on the other hand, told Samuel to honour him by covering up for him. He was not humble. After repentance, comes humility. Repentance and faith must be genuine for them to come from the depth of the heart.
John 6:15. When Jesus knew that the people would want to make Him king, He went to a solitary place.
vs 25. Later the people found Him and said “Rabbi, when camest thou hither?” They said this as a form of love and care but in vs 66, after He has told them the truth, “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him”. They said His words are hard, who can hear it? Same way people we go to minister the word of salvation to speak against the doctrine of the word of God. And some people think we should adjust or change our message so that the hypocrites and vague believers can come in.
What did Jesus do when those people went back, did He repackage and adjust the message? Did He change anything or apologize to them so they can come back? No. And we are not going to do that. The word of God is real, and His arm is strong and mighty, and He will do miracles, signs and wonders on one condition: that the people repent genuinely.
vs 67. Jesus asked His remaining disciples: “Will ye also go away?” and Simon Peter answered and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God”. Then Jesus said in vs 70, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” That is, even among the 12, there was still one sneaky, devilish person hiding there. I will not be a devil.
True repentance is what brings blessing. By the way, what is genuine repentance? Repentance coming from the heart, not just from the lips or the head. It is not saying what the preacher wants to hear. True repentance comes from the revelation of God’s word, it is the light of God shining through the darkness of your heart for conviction which comes upon you and makes you hate sin. It makes you see in its true representation.
To have genuine repentance, you see sin as:
• Satan’s agent with curse and intention to expel you from glory. That is, sin comes to you as a representative of Satan to expel you from the kingdom of God.
• Subtle serpent ready to sting and kill you. It wants to sting and destroy your spiritual life.
• Deceptive Delilah bent on taking away your strength, sight, power, and glorious position.
• A trap, a snare to catch, condemn and consign you to hell forever and ever. This is the agency and purpose of sin when it comes and catches you unawares.
• Poison presented as sweet honey, therefore, you run away from it.
• Pretending demon acting as an angel of light working for satan to destroy and damn your soul in hell.
• Secret seducer using your own desires to destroy you, to cancel your dignity and spoil your destiny.
When sin is presented to you in the right perspective, you are able to have genuine repentance which is:
~ Hatred, contempt and dislike for sin.
~ You see the real aim of sin and you turn away, and close the door against it.
~ You have separation and detachment from it.
~ There is a cutting of the cord of association, then you create an impassable gulf between you and it. You will not be able to pass on to it, and it will not be able to come to you. This is true repentance and it will bring great things in your life in Jesus name.
Psalm 51:1-13. King David prayed here. Genuine repentance does not make excuses or shift blame, the person repenting does not remember his position, he just wants to be clean, righteous and holy. He humbly asks for his heart to be clean and the joy of salvation to be restored to him. After taking this all important step, he will be in the right position to help other transgressors to make their ways right with God.
Proverbs 28:9. Anyone who refuses to hear the word of salvation, but only want to experience miracles, his prayer shall be an abomination. He who covers his sin shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. Today, the mercy of God is available for all who repent (vs 13).
Isaiah 1:16. Genuine repentance makes you to stop doing evil, sinful and corrupt things. After this, you come to the Lord.
Jeremiah 24:6-7. Promise of restoration from the Lord. He will build and plant you, He will give you an heart to know Him, and you will turn to Him with your whole heart, not partially. He will be your God and you will be His people.
Micah 7:18-19. God does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy. He will have compassion on His people, subdue their iniquities and cast all their sins into the depth of the sea.
C. THE BRINGING FORTH OF TRANSPARENT RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUE HOLINESS (Matthew 3:8; Psalm 4:3-4; 37:5-6; Romans 10:6-10; Isaiah 58:8-14)
When we bring forth transparent righteousness and true holiness as a result of genuine repentance, great things will happen.
Matthew 3:8. “Bring forth therefore, the fruits meet for repentance”.
Psalm 4:3. God has set the godly apart for Himself. As you repent and turn around from sin, and completely and unreservedly devote yourself to the Lord, He will look upon you with special favour and mercy.
vs 4. Repentance helps you to stand in awe of God and sin not.
ch 37:5-6. Commit your way to the Lord in full trust and He will bring your desires and prayers to pass, and your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.
Romans 10:6. He will bring forth His goodness in your life in Jesus name.
Isaiah 58:8-14. Your light shall break forth as the morning and your health shall spring forth speedily. There is no delay anymore. The glory of God shall be your rearward. You will call upon the Him and He shall answer, and you will cry unto Him and He shall say, “here am I”, all He needs to see in you is true repentance. He does not want you to accuse others wrongly or speak vanity.
Then your light will rise in obscurity, and your darkness as the noonday. The Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in draughts, you shall be like the watered garden. You shall build the old waste places, and raise up the foundation of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach and restorer of paths to dwell in.
True repentance in Christ brings Salvation, Righteousness, as well as:
• Family inheritance
• Birth right blessing
• Eternal life
• Redemptive right
• Christ’s full provision from calvary
• Assurance of answered prayers
• Divine healing and health
• Freedom from principalities and powers
• Authority and power
• Undeniable victory
• Satisfaction and sufficiency
• Heaven and eternal happiness
Isaiah 54:14,17 “In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord”.
Victory! Salvation! Righteousness! Healing! Deliverance! Joy! And everything that comes with true repentance upon your life in Jesus name!
Make this the beginning of times of refreshing in your life, weariness, dryness, oppression, and every evil thing will pass away. This is your day. Rise, open your mouth and talk to the Lord in prayer.
