Hope for the Sinner
"It wouldn't do me any good to repent; I've done so many things that God could never forgive me. If there's some sin I haven't committed, it's only because I didn't know about it. God could never accept me." Perhaps you have reasoned this way; if so, you have simply fallen prey to another of Satan's deceptions.
Name the repentant person that Jesus rejected. One woman was brought to Him having been taken in the very act of adultery. He told her, "Go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). Repentance was necessary (sin no more), but forgiveness followed it—not rejection.
Tax collectors in Jesus' day made themselves rich by overtaxing the people and pocketing a percentage for themselves. After a visit from Jesus, Zacchaeus changed his life. He determined to give half of his goods to the poor and to restore four times over anything he had overcharged people. The Lord did not denounce him for the wrongs he had already committed, but looking at his repentance concluded: "Today salvation has come to this house" (Luke 19:8-9).
"But I've done so much worse than these." Worse than committing murder? Worse than causing someone to lose his soul? Before Paul repented of his sins and became the great apostle who wrote approximately half the books in the New Testament, he did such evil things that he described himself as the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).
What had he done? "Many of the saints I shut up in prison…and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme…" (Acts 26:10-11). Yet even this man repented and was forgiven.
How can God forgive people of such horrendous things? God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11); God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Make no mistake: God does bring judgment upon the ungodly; His just nature could not allow Him to do otherwise, but He prefers that all repent rather than perish.
He desires salvation rather than the damnation of His creation so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price for our sins (John 3:16). No matter how steeped in sin you have become, there remains the opportunity for forgiveness, based upon repentance.
Jesus invites: "Come to Me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). If you are tired of sin, its miseries, and its consequences (earthly as well as the promise of eternal death), then accept the invitation that Jesus offers. Sin only brings shame to an individual—and ultimately death (Rom. 6:20-21); repentance results in eternal life (Rom. 6:22).
But do not listen to the voice that whispers, "Tomorrow." Tomorrow is found for sure only on a calendar. Also, tomorrow may come for everyone else—but not for you. Today could be the last day you ever have; therefore, the Scriptures say, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
[These four articles appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle on September 6, 13, 20, and 27 in 1996.]