By Liu Shuo
Just then, Wang Wei said excitedly, “Speaking of the repentance of the people of Nineveh, I recently read a passage in a book that relates precisely to this matter. Let me read it to you.”
Wang Wei took a notebook out from his bag, flipped through until he found the page he was looking for, and then read: “After hearing God’s declaration, the king of Nineveh and his subjects performed a series of actions. What was the nature of these actions and of their behavior? In other words, what was the essence of their conduct in its entirety? Why did they do what they did? In God’s eyes they had sincerely repented, not only because they had made earnest entreaties to God and confessed their sins before Him, but also because they had abandoned their wicked conduct. They acted in this way because after hearing God’s words, they were incredibly frightened and believed that He would do as He said. By fasting, wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes, they wished to express their willingness to reform their ways and refrain from wickedness, and they prayed to Jehovah God to restrain His anger, entreating Him to withdraw His decision and the catastrophe bearing down upon them. If we examine all of their behavior, we can see that they already understood that their previous wicked acts were detestable to Jehovah God, and we can see too that they understood the reason why He would soon destroy them. This is why they all wished to make a full repentance, to turn away from their evil ways and abandon the violence in their hands. In other words, once they became aware of Jehovah God’s declaration, each and every one of them felt fear in their hearts; they discontinued their wicked conduct and no longer committed those acts that were so detestable to Jehovah God. Additionally, they entreated Jehovah God to forgive their past sins and to not treat them according to their past actions. They were willing to never again engage in wickedness and to act according to Jehovah God’s instructions, if only it were possible to never again infuriate Jehovah God. Their repentance was sincere and thorough. It came from deep within their hearts and was unfeigned and intransient” (“God Himself, the Unique II”).
Wang Wei then gave fellowship, saying, “We can see from this passage that true repentance is not just admitting to our sins and evil deeds. We must also know what God’s attitude is toward our sins, and we must also understand the essence and harm of our sins. Only in this way can true reverence and fear for God arise within us, we will feel true repentance and abhorrence from the bottom of our hearts for our sins, we will no longer walk the same old path as we have always done, and we will begin to make a change and become new people—only this is true repentance. Like the people of Nineveh, for example. They realized that their wicked deeds had aggravated God’s disposition, and they knew that, if they didn’t repent, then they would be destroyed by God. They therefore all repented to God in sackcloth and ashes, from the highest king to the lowest commoner. They began to repent thoroughly of their misdeeds and would no longer do evil or defy God. Their repentance was true, and it arose from the very bottoms of their hearts. And what about us? Although we say we often go before God to repent and confess, this is just a verbal admission, and is not abhorrence or disdain for our sins that we feel from the bottom of our hearts. When we encounter issues, we still care only about our own interests, we act under the control of our inner sinful nature, we covet the pleasures of sin and we undergo no real change. This kind of repentance is just going through the motions and is totally at odds with God’s will. God scrutinizes the innermost heart of man and man cannot cheat God. Only through true repentance can we earn God’s mercy and grace.”
Ma Tao then said with sincerity, “Thanks be to the guidance of God that we now understand clearly what true repentance is. With sin, man cannot possibly enter into heaven. The Lord Jesus said: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever’ (John 8:34–35). And it also says elsewhere in the Bible: ‘Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14). God is righteous and holy, and the kingdom of heaven permits no one still capable of committing sin to enter. No matter how well someone pays lip service to repentance, they are unable to win God’s praise. Only by casting off one’s sinful nature and being able to be absolutely obedient and devoted to God can one be qualified to enter into heaven. Although we’ve believed in the Lord for many years, yet we don’t revere God in our hearts at all and we don’t fear God. Instead, we believe that the Lord is loving and merciful and that, when we commit a sin, all we need to do is confess and repent to the Lord for our sins to be forgiven, for God to not remember our transgressions and for us to be raised into the heavenly kingdom when the Lord returns. Through our fellowship, I’ve finally realized that our faith is so muddled. We are like beggars who know only to stretch out our hands to the Lord and ask for things, and yet we don’t understand how to appreciate God’s concern and the grief He feels in His heart for us living in sin and taking no thought to repentance, and we also lack the resolve and determination to distance ourselves from sin. It looks now that, if we are unable to fear God and shun evil, then we will be unable to truly repent, and our waiting for the Lord to come to raise us up into heaven is just an idle dream. We cannot go on believing in God by relying on our own misconceptions and imaginings, for that is too dangerous! We must focus on practicing the truth and pursuing change, for only that accords with God’s will.”
Wang Wei went on, “Recently, I fellowshiped with a brother about the conditions for our entry into the heavenly kingdom. He said, ‘The Lord Jesus prophesied: “He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). “And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). Although our sins are forgiven when we accept the Lord Jesus’ salvation, our sinful nature is still deeply rooted within us and we are still capable of involuntarily committing sin and defying God; until we can cast off the bonds of sin, we will not deserve to enter into heaven. When the Lord returns, He will perform the stage of work of judging and purifying man with words, and if we want to enter into God’s kingdom, then we must accept the Lord’s work of judgment when He returns in the last days, recognize our sinful nature, be able to truly abhor ourselves and forsake our flesh, practice God’s words, obey God and revere God, and cast off our corrupt dispositions. Only in this way can we be purified and attain God’s final salvation.’ I believe that his fellowship makes a lot of sense, so I’ll bring him here to give us fellowship, if that’s OK with you all?”
Ma Tao immediately said, “Great! If the Lord’s work of judgment in the last days can enable us to be purified and to achieve true repentance, then we have hope to enter into heaven. We really are so fortunate! Brother Wang, you’d better hurry up and bring that other brother here to fellowship with us.”
Wang Wei smiled as he said, “Fine, I’ll go find him tomorrow …”
Source From: A Guidebook for Faith
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