Word of Encouragement (10/20/2022)
And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned.” 41 But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the LORD, when that will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you.” (Num. 14:40-43)
Here, we see the Israelites repenting of their refusal to enter the promised land and pledging to go up against the Canaanites. They heard their sentence of (prolonged) death in the wilderness and changed their minds. But Moses answered for God: it’s too late!
Can we ever be too late for repentance? There are instances of that. Today’s passage is one. Another is what the LORD said prior to exiling the people of Judah out of the promised land: “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go” (Jer. 15:1)! Isn’t that scary? Isaiah expresses a similar statement from a different angle: “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6-7). This implied that a time would come when the LORD might not be found. Isn’t that scary? Does this warning apply to us?
Let’s begin by affirming this glorious gospel truth: those, who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, can never be late for repentance. Why? Because what makes our repentance too late—our persistence in sin until we fill the full measure of sin—no longer applies to us. With His suffering and death, Jesus paid the full penalty of our sin, emptying our account of sin never to be filled again! Therefore, when we turn to God in confession and repentance, God will never reject us. As long as we return to God, He will welcome us with open arms.
Having said that, I must hasten to add another important truth: even as Christians, we can fill the measure of our sin, not for punishment but God’s fatherly discipline. God desires to lead us to repentance with His kindness and patience. But if we are slow to repent, if we persist in sin, God must discipline us because He loves us (Heb. 12:5-11). If that is the case, we will not be able to escape His discipline even if we repent: our repentance will be “too late”. God’s discipline will not be pleasant, to say the least. But it will deliver us from a greater danger.
Here, we must be careful about getting our motivation right. It is not necessarily wrong to stay away from sin because we fear God’s discipline. It is a legitimate form of showing our reverence to our holy Father. But we cannot say that it is a mature form of motivation. We should hate sin for how it offends and grieves God, not just for what it does to us. Of course, the two are related: it is not a question of one or the other; it is a question of emphasis and weight. As we mature, we will hate sin more and more for its incompatibility with divine holiness rather than the pain it causes us.
Are there any sins in your life you are not letting go of? Do not presume on the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience (Rom. 2:4); repent now before God disciplines you in honor of God’s holiness.