Without Repentance
Published by angelcasiano
An independent thinker with a profound call to see the orthodoxy of the church and passion for Christ manifesting together. Angel was born in Brooklyn, New York in April of 1968, he was raised on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico where he earned his B.S. degree in Sociology with a minor in Education from the Inter American University in San Germán in 1991. That same year he moved to Jacksonville, Florida. After working construction jobs for a year and learning the English language, his first job working with foster-care children in the capacity of youth care worker was with Jacksonville Youth Sanctuary in September of 1992. With JYS he was promoted several times as group home supervisor, legal caseworker, and program director. While in Jacksonville, Angel studied a couple of martial arts styles. After earning his black belt, he became the founder of Good Fight Ministries as he used martial arts as an instrument to preach the gospel. In 2004 Angel was selected Martial Arts Instructor of the Year for the State of Florida and in 2005 Angel was inducted in the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame where he also received the Christian Spirit Award. In July of 2005 Angel accepted his call to pastor a bilingual church in Winton, NC where he served for a couple of years. Five months later he lost his first wife to cancer in December of that same year. This initiated a deep valley of suffering in his life, a mountain of costly mistakes and the embracing of lifestyles of sin that are well documented through this blog. In August of 2012 Angel moved to Fairbanks Alaska with his wife Rayette Casiano and six children who are now adults. In Alaska, Angel continued his social work-related career and his ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. Angel is the author of two books, Hope for the divorcee: Forgiving and Moving Forward and 7 Banderas de Esperanza: La Bendición de Yokdzonot. In January 8th of 2020 Angel and his wife moved to Arizona. View all posts by angelcasiano
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I couldn’t agree more. I just wonder about the forgivness part though. I have always understood that we are already forgiven by the blood of Jesus when He shed it on the Cross. But, it is up to us to embrace that forgivness. For entance I can forgive someone, But if they do not except the forgivness I offer them then they are bound to the guilt by not excepting it. Is that right? Repentance it a heart of exceptance that we are guilty of sin.and know that we need to be forgiven. Maybe I just answered my own question, but would love to hear your response.
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We do have to repent of our sins in order to be saved from hell; that was the heart of John the Baptist message and Jesus: Repent, for the Kingdom is near. But we also see that we must confess our sins to one another. As Christians we will sin in areas in our lives and we must keep a humble attitude and repent from those things and ask the Lord for deliverance.
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Let me ask this please; “How does God forgive sinners?” God forgives people that ask for forgiveness and people who do not ask for forgiveness are not forgiven. Will God ask you to do something that He does not do?
God’s model of dealing with wrongs committed against him can be found in the book of 2 Chronicles 7:14:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin , and will heal their land.”
The act of confession and then forgiveness is also to be employed amongst believers. Consider the instruction of the Lord Jesus:
‘Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him,’ (Luke 17:3).’
The operative phrase there (and similarly in verses cited above including 1 John 1:9 and 2 Chronicles 7:14) is, ‘If he repents, then forgive him. ’”
So here its very obvious that we must forgive everybody who sincerely apologizes to us while we are not obligated to forgive people who do not seek our forgiveness.
Then remember in Matthew 18:21-22, what the Lord told Peter.
“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven”.
Finally, I would like to conclude, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender- hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:26-27 , 31-32).
John 14:15 – “If you love me, you will obey what I command”. Jesus said.
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