In "What Is True Repentance", I talk about how being under law makes you sin conscious and how you will never measure up; hence Jesus' sacrifice. I discuss why basing your righteous standing and salvation on repentance means you're actually basing it on everyone's opinions, since everyone will see sin differently. One example I use is wine; some may think having a glass of it is a sin, but others may not. In reminding believers of the sins they do every day, that they don't even realize are sins, the Lord led me to go deeper; to show just exactly how ridiculous it is to try and adhere ourselves to the "law"; even though he did already say he set us free from it...
Remember the Sermon on the Mount? The old testament laws dealt with external conformity; do this, take this here, shed blood, put the blood on this and put it on a certain way, so on and so forth. When Jesus came, he brought the Law to its optimum purity. In other words, the law became not only external, but about the heart. God no longer looks at the sin because Jesus took that on Him. What he looks at, is your heart; your motivation and intentions. Moreover, he looks at Jesus!
This is all summed up for you in one verse: Galatians 2:18 "Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down." Trying to maintain your salvation or righteousness by upholding the law, is a sin; in and of itself. It's that simple. Not to mention, the moment you repent and think you're all good, BOOM self-righteousness! Do you know why you do this? You're wanting a ruler with which to gauge yourself, so you can see how "good" you're being. Well here's your gauge...ZERO. You will never be good enough. Period. Which is why God sees you through Jesus. You already know that Jesus is the only way we can come to him.
Even though his truth is revealed in the one scripture above, here is a SMALL list of sins that most people don't think about, they overlook or don't recognize as such. Some of you will see them as sins, others will not; which would mean sin is open to opinion. If that's the case, and if you truly believe that, AS A BELIEVER, repentance is necessary to get into heaven, you'll never make it!
- Ladies, wished you had another woman's body because of insecurity? Coveting.
- Ever blamed God for the way your life is going? Blasphemy.
- Ever been upset that your house wasn't as nice as someone else's? Ungratefulness.
- Ever worried about something? Disobedience.
- Ever got mad at someone and never forgave them? Unforgiveness.
- Ever angry and take it out on someone else? Unrighteous anger and unkindness.
- Ever gone to bed without settling an argument with your spouse? Disobedience.
- Ever used a specific tone of voice to get what you wanted? Manipulation.
- Ever kept a secret from your spouse because you thought it wasn't a big deal? Lying.
- Ever been unhappy with what you saw in the mirror? Deceived by the cares of this world.
- Ever have unpleasant thoughts when you were cut off in traffic? Impure Thoughts.
- Ever addicted to anything? Idolatry.
- Ever in denial about addiction; like the coffee you "have to have" every day? Lying.
- Ever share your opinion on someone's appearance to a friend? Gossip.
- Ever used your work computer for personal Facebook use? Stealing & Disobedience.
- Ever been asked by God to quit your job but you refused out of fear? Idolatry (Interesting this is the first commandment) and Disobedience.
- Ever read an article about all the laws we can't keep and say to yourself, "Nope, that's not me. I don't do any of that." Lying and Self righteousness.
Romans 3:19 "Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that [the murmurs and excuses of] every mouth may be hushed and all the world may be held accountable to God." No one will be able to say, "That's not me, I uphold it". There's a whole lot more sin than just the top 10 commandments. If you think you're capable of following the innumerable laws, including the ones that are not written, and you believe 1 John 1 is for believers, then you should probably quit your job because you'll need ALL day to repent. Speaking of which, why are you still reading this article, shouldn't you be repenting? You know Jesus could come back at any moment. Oh, and when you're done repenting from all your sins, those emotions that tell you "now I feel better" are fooling you; it still wasn't enough...and it never will be.
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