As I point out inPart 1, ” Where a false conversion is concerned, the first place to start is with YOU! You need to go back to day ONE, the place, time and circumstance of the day you believe you got converted. Begin by asking yourself these questions:
- WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD? DID IT CAUSE YOU TO TREMBLE?
- Did I understand the cross?
- Did I understand the bodily resurrection of the Lord?
- Did I experience godly sorrow that led to repentance?.
In this post, I am focusing on number 3, godly sorrow and repentance.
What actually IS godly sorrow? I think the true meaning is in its name. It is NOT human sorrow or self-pity. It is of God, toward God and manifested through us by God Himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Godly sorrow first begins with and in us when we get a deep glimpse of who and what we are as sinners. Because of MY sin, Jesus had to die on a cross for ME. He took the punishment that was meant for Me upon Himself. He died for someone who is unrighteous. Then the sorrow that began in me turned toward the Lord and I felt sorrow for Him. I did not fully understand why. Most of the time we focus on the physical torture of a crucifixion. We will learn AFTER we are saved is that the sorrow we felt for the Lord Jesus is not as much for His physical suffering. Let us face it. God Himself became the thing He loathes. Jesus became sin for ME. The Son of God was separated from His own righteousness in becoming sin for me, when He did not sin Himself. I deserved the punishment that He received. It gets even deeper.
The Lord was separated from His Father because of ME and MY sin. So we do feel a sense of guilt and shame for the innocent suffering for the guilty. So the godly sorrow that began with you begins to turn toward Jesus. I remember I cried out “I am crying for what THEY did to Jesus. I did not realize 34 years ago that it was MY crime also. I was thinking of those who mocked and scorned Him and those who whipped and beat Him. I didn’t realize that I too “WAS THERE!” I did know that His punishment was for me, though. You see, Beloved, godly sorrow is not humanly aroused sympathy or pity either for ourselves or for the Lord. Godly sorrow is the entire work of the Holy Ghost. Too often movies like “the Passion of Christ” work up and upon human emotions that are often mistaken for godly sorrow that leads to repentance.
A simple little song defines the reason for godly sorrow, “He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins away.”
Word of faithers and charismatic Christians teach that repentance is a change of mind. A change of mind can be s simple as changing my dinner menu from chicken to steak. No. Repentance is much more than that.
Repentance is the dark night of the soul. It is when we come face to face with our inner darkness. We cannot be translated out of darkness into the Lord’s marvelous light, until we truly see our inner depravity and sorrow over it.
If this is not the kind of repentance YOU experienced, then you have not been to the cross of Calvary. Get in touch. We can help. 518-477-5759
Related articles
- Protestant Beliefs and Practices That Hinder Salvation (pamsheppard.wordpress.com)
- HOW TO HELP SOMEONE WITH A FALSE CONVERSION Part 1 (pamsheppardpublishing.com)
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