Isa 59:2-4 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. 4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. (ESV) Isa 59:2-4 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. (KJV) Rom 1:24-25 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. (ESV) Rom 1:24-25 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: (KJV) As I am sure you have noticed I have been posting the same Scriptural text from both the KJV and the ESV. Today I posted two separate texts, again each from the KJV and ESV. I use these texts in combination to make a very important point. While we need conviction before repentance, if we are not convicted God will turn us over to our sinful desires. We must, for emphasis I say again, we must first be convicted of our sin otherwise repentance is empty. Examine these text a bit deeper for a moment. The scripture from Isaiah is telling us that in our initial state of being we are sinful. At birth, through Adam, we are all dead (sinners). Paul tells us in 1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, (KJV). It is also telling us that our sin hides the face of God from us. We cannot receive any grace in this condition. We must be repentant. Should we not be repentant we are, again as Paul tells us this time from Romans, that we will be given up by God to our sinful desires. There will come a time in life that you will no longer have an opportunity to repent. No one knows when that point will be besides God. It may be today or it may be on your death bed. I would beg you not to wait!! The point remains the same, conviction (Holy Spirit work) precedes repentance (our response).
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 16:21:12 +0000