Confess your sins with true repentance to Jesus Christ

 AATHAVAN🖋️ 633 ⛪ October 22, 2y022 Saturday

"And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." ( Joel 2 : 13 )

Old Testament rituals included tearing one's clothes, wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes or smearing ashes on one's body to repent. They did the same for mourning also.

Throughout the Old Testament we could read of people and kings sitting in ashes and wearing sackcloth on various occasions. Hearing the preaching of the prophet Jonah, all the people of Nineveh, from the youngest to the oldest, dressed sackcloth (Jonah 3:5). We read  thus, "For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes." (Jonah 3:6). 

When Jesus Christ looked at the unrepentant cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, he said,   "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes." (Luke 10:13) Yes, this is the Old Testament system.

Even now people use various methods to get rid of sin. Every religion seeks forgiveness in different ways.

But prophet Joel says, don't tear your clothes like this, tear your heart and ask God for forgiveness. "The Lord God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil" so then he says he will forgive you.

Because the heart is the root cause of all sins. Jesus Christ said, " For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matthew 15:19) 

Today's verse makes it clear that our heart is the cause of our sins. Therefore, we should break our hearts and plead with God for forgiveness, but our sins will not be forgiven just because we do some outward activity.

"But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins...." (Luke 5:24)  said Jesus Christ. Only Christ who shed His blood for sins has the power to forgive sins.

So we cannot get forgiveness of sins by performing some external activity. Confess your sins with true repentance to Jesus Christ, who has the power to forgive.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". (1 John 1:9)

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