The church today is full of
unrepentant Christians. I do not think there is any born-again Christian who has never
committed sin since giving his life to Christ. I sinned more than you and
was the chiefest of sinners. I tell you, if God should mark iniquities, no one
can stand, but thank God that God forgives sins (Psalm 130:3-4).
God is a forgiver! He is in fact a
ready forgiver! Ask him to forgive you, he is ready to do it (Psalm 86:5). The
irony is that God can forgive you your sins and you still go to hell. How?
Because you never actually repented and was only interested in his forgiveness,
he will forgive you because that's part of his nature. You will certainly go
back to your sin because you never repented, and may God be merciful to you
that you don't die a sinner because if you do, your fate is doomed forever!!!!
How do I know if I have truly
repented? You must be able to weigh yourself using seven criteria. The first of
which is carefulness. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye
sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing
of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear,
yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal,
yea, what revenge!. Seven key ingredients show if you have
truly repented, the first of them is CAREFULNESS.
Repentance is very crucial to God
that Jesus had to repeat the following phrase in Luke chapter 13 saying ‘Except
ye repent, ye shall likewise perish’. If truly you have repented or want to
repent, you must be careful. Oh yes, be careful!!!
Set up barriers that would prevent
you from walking the path you walked before. If you have committed adultery,
and you have asked God for forgiveness, your repentance will not be complete
until you confess your fault to your spouse.
Many people have cut short their
lives because of not being careful. It is not everyone you see evil
happening to that are sinners. Jesus referred to the 18 people that were killed
by an accident in Luke 13:4-5. We were not told what went wrong, but we know
that the tower in Siloam fell and crushed them. Friends, if you are careful,
you would not see a dilapidated structure and go near it for sightseeing! There
are many Christians that have died before their appointed time because they
were not careful.
In the part of Africa where I grew
up, there is this traditional festival called Orò, that forbids women from seeing the masquerade when its
going out. They sound out notices to warn people that all females should not go
out at the time it will occur. Women that goes out or peeps from the secret of
their closet to behold the Orò
usually dies by supernatural means on their own accord. My people say in Yoruba language that ‘Eniti o
ni ogun rindorindo kii je aayan’, literally meaning that ‘people who do not have
antidote of vomiting do not eat cockroach’. You say you are a fearless woman
and you go out and see Orò,
you will just die a foolish death. These things are spiritual!! You say you are
a Christian and you can go out and see and even challenge the Orò; oh foolish child of God, have you forgotten that no man goes to a warfare at his own
charges? (1 Cor. 9:7). There are battles you do not fight until you are sent!!!
Covid-19 is ravaging the world, and you have been told to observe simple rules
so that you will not be affected, you better be careful and do what is
necessary so you do not die untimely.
When you repent like David, you will not go and have sex
with Bathsheba again. When you repent, it will not be easy for you to go back
to your vomit. Many Christians are fools. Listen, 'as a dog returns to his
vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness’ (proverbs 26:11). Many Christians are
dogs that goes back to their vomit. Many Christians are repeated offenders
because they never really repented. They received forgiveness of God without repenting!
When God forgives you your sins, he
expects you not to do it again. The very first step to ensure you do not do it
again is to be careful. Stop treating the devil like a dullard, he is a
genius. A musician described the devil in Yoruba language as 'o fun ni
ladie sin, gba odidi eni' literary translating as 'the person who gives you a chicken
to rear in exchange for your soul'.
In many developed countries
nowadays, people do nefarious things to acquire citizenship or legal documents
to continue to stay in that country. Unfortunately, so-called born-again Christians
are doing that too. Well, they can always ask God for forgiveness and they
think the devil is a fool like them. That country's nationality you obtained
fraudulently is the chicken the devil gives you to rear in exchange for your
soul. You are only waiting until the time of judgement when you will hear
God say ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels’. Except you repent, you
shall all likewise perish and if you do not repent, my soul shall weep in
secret places for you (Mathew 25:41, Luke 13:5, Jeremiah 13: 17).
If you chose to repent, make up your mind that
you will be careful henceforth when God forgives you… ‘and if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?’ (1 Peter 4:18).
If you want to become a child of God, with all
sincerity, confess your sins and say the following prayers:
Lord Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior.
Forgive my sins. Wash me with your blood. I believe you died on the cross and
you rose again the third day for my justification. Please save me today and
write my name in the book of life. Give me your Holy Spirit and grace to follow
you all my life, in Jesus Name. Amen.
That is it. You are now a child of God. You are a born-again
Christian. Angels are rejoicing in heaven because of your decision. It shall be well with you in Jesus Name.
