Live Dead Joy: 30 Days of Living and Dying with JesusSample

“The Ark of Repentance”

Knowing that the thoughts and imaginations of people are only evil, all the time, God decided to destroy the earth. The wrath of God was poured out through the flood—the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven unleashed His anger. Noah and his family survived by remaining in the ark for over one year. All other flesh died.

All sin has to go. Mortification is not selective. We cannot think God can be appeased by our efforts to eradicate one bad habit, one tendency to temptation, or one besetting sin. All our sin must be crucified. We cannot diffuse the wrath of God by partial or conditional surrender. All must be laid on the altar. God’s fountains and windows will be unleashed in total war against the total person. We often think of repentance in terms that are specific and momentary. God wants us to live a life of repentance.

John the Baptist understood the stakes and warned the religious pretenders against the “wrath to come.” Only repentance saves us—a repentance that is ongoing and active. Peter, in his Acts 3 sermon, insisted that all “repent and be converted.” As we practice ongoing humility and change, Jesus helps us turn away from our iniquities.

Total mortification seems unrealistic. John Owen reminds us: “It is man’s duty to mortify sin, but not in his own way. The Spirit alone mortifies sin in believers. He has promised to do it, and all other means without Him are empty and vain.” Only by the ongoing humility of living in the ark of repentance can we position ourselves under the reforming and renewing hand of God. Let us not think we can repent over select sins alone. Let us live fully aware of our sinful natures while equally aware that God fully forgives our sin. We must ever sense the waves crashing against the “ark” in order to appreciate its sanctuary.

Pray for the Unreached:

Nai Hindus of India

11,122,000

0.0% Evangelical

Pray that God would unveil the cross and would remove the veil from the minds and spirits of the Nai (2 Corinthians 3:16-17).