Fruit Worthy of Repentance
“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.”
In other words, The Lord is saying to us today that when we know Him as Savior, we cannot continue to live our old lifestyle. We cannot carry on as before.
“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him”.
Titus 1, verse 16 (NIV)
Now, the perfect example in the Bible of a man who changed instantly when he met Jesus was Zacchaeus. If we go to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 19:8, this is what the Bible says:
“Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house…”
My friend, we talk about giving 10% as our tithe, here is a man who gave back 400% - Amazing! He was a tax collector, he was a despicable man, hated by his people - a thief. And yet when he met the man from Galilee, his whole life was changed instantly.
We cannot give our life to Jesus and then carry on having an affair with another man’s wife. We cannot give our life to Jesus and continue to be a drunkard, to be a liar, a wife-beater, a thief or to be a person who speaks with filthy language! We have to change.
There have got to be fruits worthy of repentance, especially in this time in which we are living - people are watching our every move.
You know with the Mighty Men Conferences going on around the world - the thing that touches our hearts here at Shalom, more than anything else, are the letters we receive at the office after an event. These letters don’t come from men, these letters come from women and small children and these letters make us cry - every single time.
Can you imagine a little 10-year-old child writing in that big handwriting?
And it has got nothing to do with me of course, nor anyone else in the office. It is to do with Jesus!
But the letter goes something like this, “Dear Uncle Angus, thank you for giving me a new daddy.” Or a woman writing: “The man that I fell in love with twenty years ago, came back after this weekend. Thank you.”
There needs to be a change in our lives. Go out today and bear fruit worthy of repentance.
God bless you, goodbye.