Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: I believe that God tonight, not only is He speaking loud and clear, flexing His muscles just a little bit with what's going on in the United States of America, but God is saying, "Enough is enough. When will you truly repent?" There has to be a change of heart and attitude in the life of the people.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. It's good to have you along today for our continued study of what it looks like to walk in God's perfect truth. The world is full of voices claiming you must work your way into heaven through good works, but today Raul will assure you that this is a false, man-made idea.

Stay with us to see that eternal life begins with grace. Salvation isn't found in religious activity but in genuine repentance and surrender to the Lord. In Proverbs chapter 28, verse 13, here's Raul Ries with our study, "True Repentance."

Raul Ries: The Bible talks about a day of the indignation coming upon the world. God has been demonstrating His love and grace and mercy now for 1,900 years so that people can not only open their hearts and come to know Him personally as Lord and Savior. We look at the plagues in the city of Egypt and there we see how God uses these plagues to release His people as He brings these plagues upon Egypt and the people of those lands to demonstrate that He is the God of the world.

The Egyptians had many gods and a lot of times when God demonstrates His power in such a way, it's because He's leading people to come to repentance. That's the whole nature of it: repentance. I don't think that people really understand what repentance is because we know that in the day of the indignation that the Bible talks about all through the Old Testament, it's going to be a time of wrath upon the world that has not believed in Jesus Christ.

Even in the book of Revelation, as the indignation comes upon the world, those that are here on the earth, instead of repenting and turning to God, they hide in the mountains and upon the caves. They ask the mountains to come upon them and to hide them from the presence of the Lord instead of repenting before the Lord. Repentance is an interesting word. I believe that there are many people today that do not have an understanding of what true repentance is.

If you've read Newsweek this last two weeks about the spirituality awakening that is happening in the United States and the world through Buddhism, through Taoism, through the Muslims, through the Catholic Church, and through the Christian church, there's a real hunger and awakening going on in the life of different people. I was reading the article and not one time did they speak about true spirituality that only can come through true repentance.

As a matter of fact, in the book of Second Chronicles in the Old Testament, Solomon shares this with us. In Second Chronicles chapter seven, as he's speaking to the people of God, listen to what he says. He says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn or repent from all their wicked ways, then I, God, will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land."

Tonight's text is out of the book of Proverbs chapter 28, verse 13, and this is what Solomon says: "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." That's in the New King James. In the New Living Bible, it says, "People who cover over their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and forsake them, they will receive God's mercy." That's what God's word says. It's not what religion teaches; it's what the Bible says. What does God's word say concerning true repentance?

No one can come to regeneration if there's no repentance. I think this is a big problem today in the church and around the world where you have people in the church that are not only the wheat but there are also tares growing among the wheat in the parable of Matthew 13. I believe that God tonight, not only is He speaking loud and clear, flexing His muscles just a little bit with what's going on in the United States of America and what's going on around the world, but God is saying, "Enough is enough. When will you turn to me, O people? When will you truly repent?"

God wants to forgive. God wants to bless those who obey His word. The first thing that we have to do is take an examination of our personal lives to make sure that we are not hiding anything from God because God sees through us. Where can we hide from the presence of God? Nowhere. He sees and He hears everything. We must take time to examine our personal lives daily before approaching a holy God.

Paul the Apostle, in speaking to the Corinthians in Second Corinthians 13:5, said, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don't you know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless you be disqualified or put on the shelf?" God doesn't work through dirty vessels; God works through clean vessels. He works through vessels that are submitted and vessels that are yielding to the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah the prophet, in speaking about sin, says this in Isaiah 59:1 and 2: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear." How many times people are praying and think God's not listening or the heavens are closed? Listen to what he says: "It is because your sins have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear you."

He will not hear you when you're living a life of sin. You can pray all you want, but He's not going to hear you. It is not until you repent and you come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in honesty and in truth and in all holiness that God can work in your life. That's why John the Beloved, in true confession of sins in First John 1:8 and 9, said, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

If we confess, He will forgive. If we repent, He will forgive us. That's why we believe, and I believe personally too as I read the scriptures, that we all fall short all the time and we need a lawyer desperately at our side. Who is that? That is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my lawyer standing at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for me and defending me from Satan and all his lies that he presents before the throne of God.

That's why in First John chapter two, verse one and two, he says, "My little children, these things I write unto you so that you may not sin, but if anyone sins, we have an advocate, a Paracletos, a lawyer with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for the whole world." We need to trust and obey what God's word says to us daily.

This will be the only way that we can experience God's true peace in our lives. Otherwise, "There is no peace to the wicked," saith the Lord. No peace. The peace of God can only be experienced when there is true repentance. What is the word repentance? It means metanoeo; it means to have a change of mind, heart, and attitude. Sin separates; repentance brings a change of life in the person's life.

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if any man is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become brand new." Secondly, repentance gives us a new heart and a new mind. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues, and you will keep my judgments and do them."

It is so sad when people don't come to that place of true repentance. Repentance is the life in the believer that truly is in fellowship with God once he's asked for forgiveness and forgiveness has been granted. God gives you the freedom to come before Him at any time you want to, but yet sin immediately breaks fellowship with God. True repentance brings me right back into the presence of God immediately.

Oswald Chambers, who died at the age of 41 years old in Egypt, wrote one of the greatest devotionals of all, "My Utmost for His Highest." He says scriptural repentance leads to positive salvation and sanctification. The only true repentant man is the holy man.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-rich resources to grow your faith and enrich your understanding of God's love. You can also download our free app for live-streamed Bible teaching, digital Bible studies, and much more. Now let's rejoin Raul.

Raul Ries: A.W. Tozer, another one that died in 1963, said, "I think there is a little doubt that the teaching of salvation without repentance has lowered the moral standards of the church and produced a multitude of deceived religious professors who erroneously believe themselves to be saved when in fact they are still in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." I agree with Tozer 100%. That's the church today. They are not true believers. They are not saved.

That's why Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven, verse 21 to 23, in the Sermon on the Mount, "On that day many will come and say, 'Lord, Lord, I prophesied in your name, I cast out devils in your name, I did miracles and wonders in your name,' and Jesus Christ will say to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evil servant of iniquity.'" I don't care what you did. You never repented.

It was the first word of the New Testament: repentance. It was the first message that Jesus preached, the first message Peter preached, the first message the seventy preached, and the first message Paul preached was repentance, repentance, repentance. Repent. That was the first message of the New Testament. It is interesting because repentance in the New Testament is described as turning to the Lord.

In Acts 9:35, it says, "So all who dwelt in Lydda and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord." Repentance is repenting from wickedness. Acts 8:22 says, "Repent therefore of this your wickedness and pray to God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you." It is, thirdly, the returning to the Lord. First Samuel 7:3 says, "Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel saying, 'If you repent and return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve Him only. He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.'"

Deliverance comes through repentance. That's what God says. "If my people, which are called by my name, would repent and seek my face," then He says, "I will forgive them." Converting also is the word used for repentance. In Acts 15:3, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy to all the brethren. When there's repentance, something happens to a person. He's a different person with love, joy, kindness, and humility.

Secondly, there is a different kind of repentance in scripture. There is a national repentance. That's what we need today: a national repentance. The whole United States of America to come to their knees. In Joel chapter three, verses five to eight, listen to Joel: "Because you have taken my silver, my gold, and have carried into your temples my prized possessions, also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem you have sold to the Greeks that you may remove them far from their borders. Behold, I will raise them out of the place to which you have sold them and I will return your retaliation upon your own head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans to the people far off, for the Lord has spoken." If you don't repent, then I will do this. God's judgment upon His people.

Then there is internal repentance in Psalm 51:10-13 when David repented. He said, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me in your generous spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you." Through repentance, we begin to share our faith with other people and we're led by the Holy Spirit as He's convicting people to lead them to the Lord. That's what David is saying here.

At the same time, thirdly, there's an unveiling repentance in Hebrews chapter 12:16 through 17. He says, "Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance though he sought it diligently with tears." What he's saying here is when Esau wanted to repent, he never really repented. He even cried and God didn't forgive him because he crossed a line when he sold his birthright to his brother.

In Acts chapter nine, verses one through nine, when Saul was breathing threats against the church, the Lord met him on the way to Damascus and Paul was converted. He repented. He repented of all his sin. Then how about the unreal in the book of Exodus chapter 9:27 to 35? Pharaoh would not repent but he hardened his heart and the judgment of God came greater and greater into the tenth judgment. His own firstborn was killed and all the firstborn in Egypt that had not the blood on their doorposts were killed. The judgment of God came through frogs, lice, and flies. God uses those things for judgment.

It's really important that we understand as God's people that even though God is a God of love and a God of grace and mercy, at the same time, God is a God of long patience or long-suffering. But it begins with repentance. Look what it says in Second Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promises as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." All should come to repentance.

In Romans chapter two, verse four, he says, "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" God's love, grace, and mercy lead me to repentance. What are the fruits of repentance in the life of a person? Number one, repentance brings life. True life. Acts 11:18 says, "When they heard these things they became silent and they glorified God saying that God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life."

Secondly, repentance brings remission of sins. Mark 1:4 says John the Baptist baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Thirdly, repentance brings a new spirit. Ezekiel 18:31 says, "Cast away from all the transgressions which you have committed and get yourselves a new heart, a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?"

Fourthly, repentance brings joy to the life of the child of God. "I say to you likewise, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance." There can be 100 people and if one person repents, there is a shouting and a party in heaven over that one person. In verse 10 it says, "Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

That's why salvation is so important. That's why we have altar calls all the time because God desires it. The angels get blown away when people get saved and they repent. There's a party in heaven going on every time one sinner comes forward to repent. Repentance also brings forth godly sorrow. Notice Second Corinthians 7:9: "And now I rejoice not that you were made sorry but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation and not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death."

There are a lot of people in jail today that say they're sorry. Do you believe them? I don't believe them. A lot of people say they're sorry they killed so-and-so, but yet at the same time, is it true repentance? If there is true repentance in that jail, praise the Lord. They have to still reap to what they did. They have to pay sometimes with their life for somebody else's life they took or spend the rest of their lives in jail. But true repentance brings a true change. It's not the same person ever again.

Repentance also brings restitution. In Luke 19:8, then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I will give half of my goods to the poor and if I have taken anything from anyone else by false accusation, I will restore fourfold." The tax collector that came to Jesus said, "I stole a lot of money and if I stole a lot of money, I'll give it back if that's what it takes for me to be saved and be right with you, God. I'll do it." Making things right. Not hiding your sin, but bringing it to the front and making it right with other people that you messed with. Repentance also is a sign of reformation of life. In Mark 3:8, "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance." There has to be fruit.

Guest (Male): If you've been living a religious life like the Pharisees but have never repented of your sin, we encourage you to surrender to the Lord today in full expectation of His forgiveness and renewal. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson was titled, "True Repentance." We'll send you a complete copy for a donation of $5 or more when you call us at 800-634-9165.

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Next time, we'll continue with more inspiration to stay authentic with the Lord. You won't have to settle for surface spirituality and empty religious traditions like the Pharisees. You can experience true communion with God. Now here's Raul with a closing comment.

Raul Ries: Dr. Billy Graham said Christ can give you the power to overcome every sin and habit in your life. He can break the ropes, fetters, or chains of sin, but you must repent. You must confess, you must commit, and you must surrender yourself to Jesus Christ first, and then He will do the work. Jesus first. Repentance. Coming to the cross of Jesus Christ and saying, "Lord, I have sinned."

Like that lady that was in the temple, beating her breast, "Lord, forgive me for I am a sinner," while the Pharisees were saying, "I am so great. I'm not a sinner. I'm righteous." God said that woman deserves forgiveness. That's what Jesus says to us tonight. Those that humble themselves, those that truly admit they have sinned against God and come to repentance, He will forgive their sin.