Tag: Repentance

2 Corinthians 7:11 The Benefits of Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7:11 (KJV)
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! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

There is a kind of sorrow that is of little use and is in many ways destructive. It is:

  • A sorrow after a worldly sort
  • A sorrow for getting caught and
  • A sorrow over the consequences

Those with this sorrow have no intention of changing but of making better sure they don’t get caught again. These who sorrow after this sort hate the source of their sorrow and will blame that source rather than their actions.

There is another type of sorrow, which is after a godly sort. Albert Barnes says of it,
“…such sorrow as has respect to God, or is according to his will, or as leads the soul to him. This is a very important expression in regard to true repentance, and shows the exact nature of that sorrow which is connected with a return to God.”

Those who sorrow after a godly sort:

  • Benefit from the sorrow, are
  • Thankful for that sorrow and
  • Appreciate the source of such sorrow

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

 

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

2 Corinthians 7:11 The Benefits of Sorrow

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

1 Samuel 3:17-18 (KJV) Compartmentalization

1 Samuel 3:17-18 (KJV)
And he said, What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.
And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.

Years ago I heard the testimony of a man who had, at one time, been a pastor of a large church but who had gotten involved in some illegal activity and had lost his ministry. After doing his jail time he began receiving court ordered counseling. It was during that counseling that he said he came to understand what had been going on in his head. He said that people he had pastored would ask him how he could stand in the pulpit and preach the messages he did, all the while being involved in the sort of illegal activities he was. Through counseling he came to call it “compartmentalization”.

  • There was the one compartment that desired to do the right thing, to honor God and to serve God’s people.
  • There was the other compartment that desired the things of this world; wealth, riches and luxury.

He was able to perform in both spheres because they were two separate compartments of the same man. The Bible would call them the old and new natures.

Eli wrestled with his own two compartments.

  • On the one hand, his flesh had driven him to complacency with his sons. They did not know the Lord and they had no discipline from their father. It was this fleshly compartment that led to the eventual downfall of the family as the line of High Priests.
  • On the other hand, his spirit was submissive to the Lord. It was this spiritual side of him that, though not quickly, recognized that God was speaking to the child Samuel and that, when once hearing from God, willing accepted the will of the Lord.

Eli served the Lord and eventually surrendered to His judgment. But it was too late to save his sons or the destiny of his family.

There is in each saved person these same two compartments: a sinful fleshly compartment and a spiritual, Christ seeking compartment. These two compartments are at war with one another. Good wisdom says to aide the spiritual.

 

 

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.

1 Samuel 3:17-18 (KJV) Compartmentalization

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free. Email me for a free one month VIP membership.

Joshua 9:4 No Deals Cut With God

Joshua 9:4 (KJV)

They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

 

Rahab the harlot establishes that, had any of the Canaanites repented, they could have been spared. Unfortunately, that is not what most of them did.

  • Some walled themselves away inside their fortresses (but God tore them down)
  • Some banded together as one against Israel
  • Some feared God’s judgment but chose to fight instead of repent

 

 

Gibeon chose to work wilily, to use trickery and deceit. Their plot appeared to work on the surface. They did get a treaty of peace, but in doing so they incurred the wrath of the world around them and, what is worse, no real relationship with the people of God.

 

Churches today are filled with Gibeonite type people. These are the ones attempting to cut a deal with God. They pretend to be something they are not hoping that, if they can convince the Christians, they can convince God to spare them. Their strategy will not work. All they really succeed in doing is

  • To alienate themselves from the world
  • To frustrate their relationship with Christians
  • To bind themselves as prisoners from saving faith and
  • To ultimately end up eternal lost in hell

All of this (except the wrath of the world) could have been avoided if only they had sincerely repented and asked for salvation.

 

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.

Joshua 9:4 Repentance

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/T0US1C6RE?mID=6311. This program is free to you. Receive a free one month membership upgrade after signing up by pasting the promo code PP153-ZYUPWKSNM in your redeem voucher area.

A Portrait of Repentance

Deuteronomy 18:6-8 KJV

And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose;
Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD.
They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.

 

This passage is a portrait of the repentant believer and of his reception by those of faith:

He returns with all his desire

Repentance isn’t forced upon a person by others, nor is it half hearted. Repentance is of the volition and is fully embraced or else it is not genuine.

 

He returns to the place of God’s choice

There is no self-determination involved. He doesn’t Go back to God on his own terms, but upon God’s.

 

He returns to minister in the name of the Lord

He doesn’t come to take but to give. He assumes responsibility in the work of Christ.

 

He returns empty handed

He unloads himself of those attachments to the world. His cares are only for the cares of the Lord.

 

Repentance

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/T0US1C6RE?mID=6311. This program is free to you. Receive a free one month membership upgrade after signing up by pasting the promo code PP153-ZYUPWKSNM in your redeem voucher area.