- Repentance Is Our Moral Obligation
All my adult life I have been a student of the Bible. Among other things, it is the record of how God deals with mankind. I can draw but one conclusion from my research: All people are morally obligated to repent and to ask forgiveness of God. Failing to do that, they will perish. In the course of my ministry I have talked to people who thought they would be doing God a big favor if they would repent. The fact is, men and women who repent and return to God are simply doing what they should do as beings once created in God’s likeness.
It should not be a surprise to us when John reports that people who have just seen a third of the world’s population perish in divine judgment will continue to rebel against God. We live amid a proud, selfish and self-sufficient people. Even in our Christian churches there are those who want to be known as” respectable church members”—and not as lost sinners who have had to confess their guilt before God. How infrequently do we hear of genuine repentance! When repentance is real and faith is genuine, the atoning death of Jesus Christ is effective for pardon. But the sad lesson from the Scriptures is plain. Sinful, rebellious people can never be forced to repent. The same act that may cause one person to repent and believe will cause others to hate and despise God. The same Bible sermon that brings one person to tearful submission at an altar of prayer will send others out with pride and a resolve to have their own human way.
If we are close enough to God in our spiritual life and desires, we want Him to do something about present-day lawless rebellion. We recognize it as blasphemy against the high King of Heaven. But even some Christians do not want God to do anything that will bring judgment or suffering. Can we be unconcerned about bringing this world to a final accounting before God? I four hearts beat with the heart of God, should we not cry out within ourselves, “O God, do send Your judgments! Let Your judgments be revealed in Your time and in Your own measure!”