What is the call to repentance? The call to repentance is the message that is preached throughout the Bible. Ing Prajanjian Lawas, the message of the call to repentance was preached by the prophets. Ing Prajanjian Anyar, the message of the call to repentance was preached through Jesus Christ and the apostles. Repentance is, besides the hearing of God’s Word, the beginning of salvation. But is the call to repentance still preached today in the church?
What is the call to repentance?
Ing Kitab Wahyu, Jesus confronted the seven churches with their walk. Jesus not only told the churches what they did well, but Jesus also confronted the churches with the things they didn’t do well. Jesus called the churches to repentance.
Therefore you see, that the call to repentance was still preached after Jesus’ Wungune.
The call to repentance is still crucial and needed in the world today. Sayange, not many church leaders preach the call to repentance anymore. kok? Because it is not a popular message that people want to hear. (Maca uga: Pesen sing ora ana sing pengin dirungokake).
Apa mratobat?
Nalika sampeyan pracaya marang Yesus Kristus; tembung, and accept Him as your Saviour and Lord, sampeyan kudu mratobat. Tegese mratobat, sing:
- You shall remove the sins out of your life,
- You’ll have a change of mind regarding your former life, which issues in regret and sorrow
- You will have a change of (moral) prilaku, pangowahan tumindak
Yen sampeyan mratobat, owah-owahan pikiran, prilaku, and life takes place. It is impossible to remain the same old person you were, sadurunge mratobatmu. (Maca uga: Apa mratobat?)
Salvation begins by hearing the Word of God
Salvation begins by hearing the Word of God. When you hear God’s Word, you will hear the truth and the Holy Spirit will confront you with your sins and your sinful nature. The Holy Spirit shows you, how God sees your life as wong dosa.
Ing wektu kasebut, when you hear the truth and the Holy Spirits convicts you of your sins, you can do two things:
- You can believe and mratobat of your sins and your life as a sinner and remove the sins from your life. Because you hate your life as a sinner and want to serve Jesus Christ, tinimbang dhewe, lan tindakake Gusti Yesus
- Or you can reject Tembung Gusti Allah. Because you love your current life as a sinner and your sins. You are not willing to say goodbye to your life and your lifestyle.
You can only repent if you ‘hate’ your life and your sins and see that you live in darkness and do things that oppose the will of God, which separates you from Him.
When you are not aware of the fact, that you live in darkness and live in sin, it is impossible to repent. Because of what, do you need to repent of?
You think that you live a good life, according to the standards, morals, and values of the world. Mulane, you consider your works as good works and don’t see the need to change anything. Because you don’t see that you do something wrong.
Minangka prakara kasunyatan, you think that you are a good person, who does good works. You think highly of yourself and think that you are a good example for others. But you are blinded by yourself and you don’t see, that you need to change. Ayo dhewe, repent of your lifeGaya.
No man is good, except God
Lan ngandika marang wong, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, yaiku, Pengeran: nanging yen kowe arep lumebu ing urip, keep the commandments (Matius 19:17)
Nanging kayekten iku, that no man is good, Nanging dewa. Even Jesus Christ didn’t call Himself good. tinimbang, Jesus said that God is good.
Saben wong, sing lair ing daging, is born as a sinner in the kingdom of darkness. Death reigns in the life of a sinner, which causes the sinner to bear the fruit of death, kang dosa. Mulane, every sinner must repent of his life as a sinner, nyalib daging, and become born again in the spirit to become righteous.
Only through Jesus Christ and by His blood, it is possible to become righteous. (Maca uga: Gusti Yesus mulihake posisi wong sing tiba).
Daging ora bisa disenengi Gusti Allah
Saben wong, who is born in the flesh is born in sin and has the character and sinful nature of the devil. The nature of the devil is present in everyone’s flesh, there’s no one excluded. Kitab Suci ngandika, that the flesh including a carnal mind can’t please God. You can do many charity works, but if you do these charity works from the flesh, then they are carnal works; dead works. These dead works do not please God.
Kanggo dadi karnally mikir yaiku pati; nanging dadi eling, urip lan katentreman. Amarga pikiran kadagingan dadi gething marang Gusti Allah: Amarga iku ora tundhuk karo ukum Gusti Allah, uga ora bisa. Dadi, wong sing ana ing daging ora bisa nyenengi Gusti Allah(wong Romawi 8:6-8)
As long as people live after the flesh and don’t repent of their sinful life, a person is not saved but lost.
Only when a person repents of his life as a sinner, put his sins away, lay down his life through the Baptisan ing banyu, and becomes born in the spirit, wong wis disimpen.
Nalika wong lair maneh, wong bakal nampa kodrat Gusti Allah kanthi manggon ing Roh Suci lan bakal mlaku sawise Roh nindakake karsane Gusti Allah..
Nanging mratobat diwiwiti kanthi ngrungokake pesen saka Gusti Allah; Tembunge. Mung kanthi krungu Bebener; Sabda Jahwéh lan kanthi kuwasané Roh Suci, wong nyudhuk karo goroh sing manggon ing. Kanthi dhasar kasebut, wong mutusaké kanggo mratobat lan tindakake Sabda utawa nolak Sabda.
Kabecikané Gusti Allah nuntun manungsa kanggo mratobat (wong Romawi 2:4)
Ngganti pangandikane Gusti Allah lan nyimpangake Bebenere Gusti Allah
Swara kepungkur 100 taun, Kitab Suci wis alon diganti. Sithik-sithik, setan wis ora ketok nyampur Sabda karo donya lan filosofi manungsa kadagingan. Instead of staying faithful to the Word and the lives of people have been adjusted to the Word, the gospel has been adjusted to what people want to hear and to their lifestyle. And so the message that is preached today has been watered down and has become weak. Amarga iku, the salt has lost its savor.
Due to piwulang sing salah, many people don’t see that they live separated from God in darkness in sin. They are blinded, by all the lies that come from the god of this world. And because they are not willing to repent, God has given them up to their desires and the lusts of their flesh. (Maca uga: Pikiran sing nyenengake ing dosa lan seneng karo wong-wong sing nindakake dosa).
Akeh wong sing ngomong, that they believe in Jesus. But the devil and his demons also believe in Jesus. Maybe even more than most Christians, and they tremble. They are not saved despite their belief in Jesus.
When do you show Jesus, that you really believe in Him and that you love Him? When you believe what the Bible says, and you do what Jesus has told and commanded you to do and you become a doer of the Word. (Maca uga: Penulis kaslametan langgeng).
The Word is changed and adjusted to the desires of people
In many families and churches, the Bible has been moved slowly to the background. Ing akèh pasamuwan, preachers preach according to their own pendapat, Temuan, filosofi, supernatural revelations, lan pengalaman. They preach what people want to hear instead of what God wants to say to the people. Therefore many preachers preach after the lusts, kepinginan, and itching ears of the people, instead of preaching the Truth of the Word.
Messages with a call to repentance, that confront the sinful lifestyles of people are hardly preached anymore.
People want to have a nice experience in the church. They want to feel good and experience warm pleasant feelings. The people don’t want to be confronted with their lifestyle and their errors.
They don’t want to receive correction. But they want to be pleased, exalted and praised.
Preachers also want to be liked and ‘worshipped’ by the people. Therefore they preach what the people want to hear. That way they keep the people happy and satisfied and attract more people to their churches.
They don’t want to antagonize people but please people. And so many preachers have become people pleasers instead of God pleasers.
In churches where the true message of Jesus Christ is preached, it often happens that after a while, the message offend people and they leave the church. Why do people leave the church? Because they love their lives and are not willing to give up their own lives for Jesus.
Dheweke ora gelem ngilangi barang-barang tartamtu saka uripe, because they love doing them. Therefore they will leave the church and look for another church. Many times they go to carnal churches that preach the katresnan palsu lan ing sih palsu dewa, so that the people can live after the lusts and desires of their flesh without feeling guilty.
The ‘self’ sits on the throne
Kita manggon ing umur, where the ‘self’ sits on the throne of people’s lives. Many people want to believe, but they want to believe in their own manner. Many people only believe, because of the blessings of God. Their purpose of becoming a Christian is to live a prosperous, sugih, and blessed life.
Many Christians focus on miracles, keajaiban, Powers, raos, kemakmuran, berkah, lan kasugihan.
Many use the grace of God to live like the world, to keep doing the things of the flesh, which they love, tanpa krasa dikutuk. They keep living after the flesh and keep living in sin.
They focus more on themselves and the blessings, Ajaib, lan kekuwatan, katimbang Gusti Yesus Kristus; tembung, and spend time with Him, and be corrected by Him, so that they will become like Him.
The modern gospel is all about supernatural manifestations, Ajaib, Powers, kemakmuran, Sukses, kasugihan, lsp.
Man has become the center of the gospel, instead of Jesus Christ being the Center. Many Scriptures are taken out of their context, and applied to the lives of the people, so that they confirm the message of prosperity, kasugihan, berkah, sih-rahmat, lsp.
Apa Injil sejatine Yesus Kristus?
But is this the true gospel of Jesus Christ? Did Jesus and His apostles (para murid) also preach this message? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ about money, kasugihan, kemakmuran, being successful in life, and about gathering(materi) treasures on this earth? Is that really written in the Bible? Or do we decide how we want to live and take Scriptures out of context so that it fits into our lives and our lifestyle and approves the way we live after the flesh and approve our sins, and that way get the approval of God?
But applying Scripture to the desires and lusts of the flesh, is not according to the karsaning Allah.
Jesus preached the call to repentance. He came to the sinners, kang dadi kagungane umate Gusti Allah (Israel) and preached the call to repentance, which means to turn their lives to God and put their sins away.
Gusti Yesus ngandika: “Tobat, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matius 4:17)
Ing dina iki, the Lord still calls the people, sing manggon ing dosa, mratobat. Because Jesus wants everyone saved. He doesn’t want anyone to be lost forever. He doesn’t want anyone to perish with the many lies that are preached today. Therefore the call to repentance is still relevant today.
Pramila penting banget, to read and study the Word (Alkitab) for yourself. So that you will find out the Truth. Only when you find out the Truth, you will be able to repent of the lies you’ve been living in.
Pangéran ora kendho netepi janjiné (Kang bali), minangka sawetara wong count slackness; nanging sabar marang kita, ora gelem yen ana wong mati, nanging supaya kabeh padha mratobat (2 Petrus 3:9)
“Dadi uyah ing bumi”
