Those who choose to walk the narrow road that leads to life remain to be the minority in our culture, just as Jesus envisioned. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it,” (Matthew 7:13—14).
One cannot walk on the broad road that leads to destruction and the narrow road that leads to life at the same time. We cannot walk the broad road and expect to arrive at the same destination as the narrow road. The two paths are going in opposite directions!
By accepting sin along with the sinner, many modern churches have accommodated sin and have become the enabler for sinners to continue to live their lives in sin. This is not the love of Christ at all and it is not showing love to others. It is the opposite of love when you offer the path that leads to the destruction of your followers in order to be perceived as welcoming, tolerant and inclusive.
Proponents of this theology scatter seeds that produce a shallow-rooted response in their followers. They may go to church and call themselves Christians, but there is no conviction in their beliefs or strength in their faith because of the misconception that God loves them just the way they are, therefore there is no need to change. If Jesus practiced tolerance and inclusivity by today’s definition, He never would have cast demons out of people, healed the sick or called them to repentance (Luke 5:32).
There seems to be a perception that being saved is akin to having a ticket into heaven. Once it is in your possession, you are home free, so to speak. But is that really what salvation is all about? Is it only about the believer getting in? This self-centeredness doesn’t translate into being an effective ambassador for Christ, bearing good fruit, or serving the least of these.
OUR HAPPINESS PALES IN COMPARISON TO THE REJOICING IN HEAVEN WHEN SINNERS REPENT
Our happiness pales in comparison to the rejoicing in heaven when sinners repent. The Bible says, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent,” Luke 15:7. Are we to deprive heaven of that glory?
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the fulfilling life that awaits those who completely surrender to Christ and receive salvation. The exuberance of an abundant life in Jesus Christ is incomparable, next to the temporal, material and physical pleasures of secular humanism, and those who teach that worldly values are acceptable to a holy God. As followers of Jesus, we are to identify as citizens of heaven, and that we are not to cherish earthly things (Philippians 3:19b—20).
Preachers who teach that you can go on living without repentance simply have it wrong and teach a counterfeit Christianity. James 4:4 warns, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
It has been said that “real salvation is not you giving your life to Christ, but Christ giving His life to you.” This subtle slight of hand with scripture fails to encapsulate the full counsel of God’s Word and the fullness of God’s nature.
By implying that sinners can continue living in rebellion to God while claiming allegiance to God is not only counterintuitive, it is deception that stems from the father of lies. Satan believes in God yet he is not saved. James 2:19 states, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.”
Those who use Ephesians 2:8—9 as a crutch to endorse clinging to their sin, miss the context of the passage. While the verse says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast,” we must qualify this statement by adding the very next verse, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in,” (Ephesians 2:10). We are saved for a purpose; to be ambassadors for Christ and share His love.
The logic used by those who promote that repentance only applies to a change from nonbelief to belief through the changing of one’s mindset is superficial theology. That we don’t have to give up porn, drugs, or binge drinking because we are saved by faith and not works. This perspective conveniently ignores much of scripture.
REPENTANCE IS A BLESSING
Repentance is a blessing because it increases the distance between us and our sins while simultaneously bringing us closer to Christ. Tranquility in the knowledge that our indebtedness to God has been forgiven through Christ transcends worldly anxiety and sets us free from the shackles of sin.
The benefit of repentance is reconciliation. Whether that be between family members, friends or between you and God, a contrite heart is the first step in the process of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the fulcrum of the Christian message and the basis of a relationship with Jesus Christ. And as with any relationship, we all stumble from time to time and there is an ongoing repentance/forgiveness interplay that maintains our connection with God and dismantles the barriers that sin erects.
When we repent, we move toward Jesus and away from our sins. And in that process, called sanctification, we not only sin less but we experience the impact of sin less. And we distance ourselves from the effects of sin in our lives and the lives of our loved ones. And from the consequences of sin – we no longer have that hangover, or that withdrawal from drugs, or incarceration, or family that is hurt because of our dysfunctional behavior. And one day when we enter heaven, we will be free from the presence of sin, because sin has no place before a holy God.
Our willful acts of sin without repentance can keep us estranged from God. Proverbs 14:12 states, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Jesus calls us out of darkness and into light. That is the underlying premise of faith and repentance as pillars of the Christian experience.
In his epistle to the church at Ephesus, Paul reminds them, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness,” (Ephesians 4:22—24). All sin begins in the mind (James 1:14—15), and “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
What Paul is illustrating is that unless believers are willing to leave their old lives and change the way they live to align with God’s righteousness and holiness, they cannot expect to experience the fullness of life that Christ offers.
Ephesians 2:1—2 teaches, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” One must not single out Ephesians 2:8—9 without the context of the entire chapter. Paul highlights that disobedience means following the ways of Satan and cannot conform to faith in Christ. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.” (Matthew 6:24a).
True believers wage continual war against sin, always seeking to mortify it, and never to dance with it. Rather than using “I’m human” as an excuse to walk in the flesh, why not proclaim “I’m saved” as a reason to walk in the Spirit. We are the benefactors of repentance and obedience which result in clean consciences and the absence of barriers between us and God. Christ set us free from bondage so why would we return to it?
Jesus desires that we experience the fullness of a wholesome relationship with Him and completeness in our own wellbeing. In John 10:10 He declares, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” This destruction includes our innermost emotions and the contemplations of our hearts. Christ invites us to walk with Him on the narrow road and to abandon the road that leads to destruction. Jesus calls us to join Him in the walk of life.
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