WHO IS ON YOUR SIDE?
Gary W. Summers
In every sporting
event, fans on both sides make their presence known. They sit in the stands, decked out in their
team’s colors. In some instances their
faces are painted—one hue on the left side, another on the right. Perhaps football season rightly wraps itself
around Halloween. Some have been known
even to die their hair to match the glorious combination of black and gold or
blue and silver. One thing is
certain—one can usually tell whose side the spectators are on.
In everyday life,
however, it is not quite as easy to tell who is a friend and who is an
enemy. The fact is that, whatever field
of endeavor a person is in, it is likely that there is a Joab
passing himself off as a friend, but he is concealing the knife and ready to
plunge it under the fifth rib. The worst
thing is that you will never suspect treachery until the pain begins to well up
and engulf you. You will wonder how you
could have been so blind not to see it coming, but such recriminations are
useless. The kindnesses of those who
kill appear as genuine as anyone’s—until you cease to be useful to them! Such Machiavellian souls are truly pitiable.
Divine Assistance
Nevertheless,
many are on your side. Of greatest
importance, God is for you. Even though you
have ignored Him at times or even rebelled against Him, He has been patient
with you. He bears with His own people—even
through times of weakness. While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us (
God has always
been for
human beings, since the day He created us.
He has defined and shown what is right and what is wrong; furthermore,
He has given us commandments for our good
(Deut.
When
Adults frequently
never grow up; they remain children.
They look physically mature, are taller, and may have muscles, but they
behave in the same way they did as children.
“Don’t touch the hot stove; it will burn you.” “Ouch!”
“Don’t take fire into your bosom; you will get burned.” Yet there he sits, all alone, because his
wife left him after the adultery he committed.
Was the command too difficult to comprehend? Intellectually, it was grasped. The heart and the will, however, did not
agree or act in concert with the mind.
Nothing could be
simpler to understand than all the commands God gave forbidding idolatry, yet
His people became idol worshippers. Yet
God, rather than exercising immediate wrath, urged His people to repent.
"Say to them: 'As I live,' says
the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the
wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why
should you die, O house of
The choice was
always
"I call heaven and earth as
witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing
and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deut. 30:19).
Likewise God is for
us in this current Christian dispensation as well. He does not want us to die in our sins; therefore,
He sent Jesus to pay the price for us, that we could live (John
Angels
The spiritual
beings that God created before human beings want you to succeed, also. How do we know that? The angels have been greatly interested in
the salvation of mankind. They
speculated how God’s plan would be fulfilled, because He had not revealed all
of the information to them (1 Peter
Further evidence
is presented in Hebrews 1:14: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth
to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” What do they do? In some way they serve us; perhaps, they are
instrumental in executing God’s providence, which involves the arrangement of
certain things that cannot be seen with human eyes. In eternity we may be able to look back and
see all of the things that were done on our behalf.
The angels are on
our side; they want us to be able to join them in heaven. In fact, they escorted Lazarus to Abraham’s
bosom (Luke
The Faithful
How many faithful
brethren are there who are telling us, in effect: “We have made it through the
trials and temptations of life, and, although difficult moments abound, so can
you”? The heroes of the faith listed in
Hebrews 11 convey precisely that message.
After listing several of the faithful (imperfect people like us, who
nevertheless put their trust in God), the writer of Hebrews refers to them as
our encouragement.
Therefore we also, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race
that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2).
Add to those all
who have lived faithfully under the New Testament era and who can say with
Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:8). Many of our brethren were persecuted and put
to death in horrible ways in the first century.
Yet they persevered and desire our company.
Brethren Today
What an
inspiration it is to know that God, the angels, and the faithful of all ages
are anxious for us to arrive safely to the heavenly city! We ought to be encouraged and built up to
know that all of these are on our side.
One other category ought to be mentioned—members of the church today.
If we have been
baptized for the forgiveness of our sins and added by our Lord to His body,
then we care about all other members of the body of Christ. Like God our Father, we are for
our fellow Christians. We ought to love
one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, and do about twenty
other things for one another that the Scriptures bind upon us.
One of those
things, however, is “restore one another,” which may necessitate a rebuke. While no one objects to love, encouragement,
or prayers, some immediately take offense at chastisement. Yet one purpose of the Scriptures is for
“reproof” and for “correction” (2 Tim.
If brethren did
not care about others, they would not take the time and energy to make
inquiries and try to clear matters up.
Some are unjustly accused of being negative and trouble-makers. Some of those folks do exist, but why should
everyone be lumped in that category? For
many, if we take the time to rebuke someone or to inquire as to the state of a
matter, it is out of concern for the church, that individual, or that institution. Being silent would be easier by far.
Those who have
been rebuked ought to be grateful that some cared enough. Friends that give us a free pass on
wrongdoing do not have our best interests at heart. It is doubtful that Demas appreciated Paul using
his name as one who had forsaken the apostle, having loved this present world
(2 Tim.
Brethren ought
always to be on each other’s side, but this attitude does not mean overlooking
or ignoring sin, just as God, the angels, or faithful brethren of time past
could not overlook it. Sin always needs
to be repented of—not minimized, not glossed over, not ignored. It needs to be dealt with. Love confronts people with sin. Nathan probably was not eager to confront
David, but he did it because it was the right thing to do. If we genuinely love others, we will speak
thus when it is necessary, also. The
personal cost does not matter. It is
irrelevant because we are on each other’s side.
One who desires to go to Heaven must
repent of his sins. Jesus ties
repentance with forgiveness in saying, “Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother
sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him” (Luke 17:3). To fail to re-pent
is to fail to obtain forgiveness. Repentance
is defined by Thayer as “to change one's mind (heart), that is, to repent; to
change one's mind (heart) for the better, to amend heartily with abhorrence of
one's past sins.”
Many definitions and ideals regarding
repentance are woefully inadequate. To
understand what godly repentance is, let us first study what it is not.
First, godly
repentance is not simply being sorry for our sins. The Bible teaches that there is a right kind
of sorrow and a wrong kind of sorrow. The
apostle Paul affirms this truth in saying to the Corinthian brethren:
“I now rejoice, not that ye were made sorry,
but that ye were made sorry unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a
godly sort, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor. 7:9-10).
Godly sorrow works or produces repentance
because the person has a sincere desire to correct his sinful wrongdoing and
live a life that pleases God. Worldly sorrow produces only spiritual death
because the motivation (whatever it may be) is not to please God by conforming
to His will.
Second,
godly repentance is not simply remorse over being caught in a sinful act. One may be embarrassed and sorry for his
family’s sake that his sin has become public. He may also be sorry that he was not more
careful so that he would not be caught. This
type of worldly sorrow, however, is not godly sorrow that leads to genuine
repentance.
Third, godly
repentance is not simply making a change in the congregation that one attends. God’s Word has long taught that a person’s sin
will find him out (Num. 32:23). Many brethren today, when confronted because
of their sinful actions (or when their sin becomes known), simply make the
decision to change congregations. Brethren,
others not knowing about our sins does not constitute
repentance! We may hide our sins from
our fellowman, but we cannot hide our sins from God (cf. Heb.
Fourth,
godly repentance is not simply slipping back in to the services of the Lord’s
church. Sometimes, brethren quit attending
worship and are out of duty for months or years before deciding to begin attending
again. There is surely no more public
and known sin than that of forsaking the assembly of the saints (cf. Heb.
One who is employed by some company does
not walk away from his job one day only to return months or years later anticipating
to resume his normal duties and to receive full salary while not saying one
word about his absence. Why do we
convince ourselves that standards for worldly organizations are higher than
those standards for the Lord’s church? One’s
confession needs to be as public as his sins, if repentance is genuine (cf.
Let us now focus on what godly repentance
is. First,
godly repentance is a change of mind about myself. I am concerned about my spiritual condition
and desire to do what is godly and right. I understand that the sin I am committing will
not be excused just because I am the one committing it. The sorrow for my wrongdoing will lead to a change
of heart and purpose.
Second,
godly repentance is a change of mind about sin. No longer is sin a lighthearted matter but
rather something that is hated and abhorred. When one is no longer attempting to justify
his sinful actions he will see sin for what it is. Drunkenness (Gal. 5:19) will no longer be
called a disease, homosexuality (1 Cor. 6:9) will no
longer be called an alternate lifestyle, and fornication (1 Cor.
6:9) will no longer be winked at as one “sowing wild oats.”
Third, godly
repentance is a change of mind leading to a change in conduct. It was Hosea who said, “They return, but not
to him that is on high…” (Hosea 7:16). One
may return to some duties or engage in some external exercises, but if he has
not truly repented and returned to God, all these other things are to no avail.
John the baptizer taught the people to
“bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance” (Matt. 3:8). Jesus said, “by their
fruits ye shall know them” (Matt.
“Father,
I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be
called your son: make me as one of thy hired servants” (Luke
Let us make sure our repentance from sin is godly repentance! May we also remember that we do have a
choice: It is repent or perish (Luke
13:3).
—from
the October 1st
Beacon in
* “Religion
and Morality are the essential pillars of civil society”—George Washington.
*Send comments or questions concerning this article to Gary Summers. Please
refer to this article as: "Whatever the article name from above is (
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