Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for those who live as players in romantic relationships is right and good, and we join with you in it. To use people for selfish pleasure, to inflame passions and pursue sexual promiscuity outside of God's design, is sin. Scripture shows how deeply degrading that path is, when hearts are given over to following sexual appetites without restraint. It harms others, it harms the one doing it, and it stands under God's judgment. What is needed is not a small adjustment but to be set free, and that freedom only comes through salvation in Jesus Christ.
The name Jesus itself means the Lord is salvation, for He came to save His people from their sins. He alone is the author of eternal salvation, made possible because He was obedient to the Father and went to the cross. There is no other way. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared, and it is offered freely to all who will come. Whoever will believe may come and receive the water of life freely, even the lowest sinner, for He will in no way cast out any who come to Him.
Scripture says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. To confess now and to submit now to the Lordship of Jesus means eternal life. There will be a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, but that confession will not be unto salvation. It will be a forced acknowledgment of condemnation for having rejected Him. That is why the Bible urges, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. We must not neglect so great a salvation, for there is no escape if we do, and we must not put off God's offer or go past His appointed time.
For those you are praying for, what God desires is true repentance. There is a difference between mere sorrow and repentance. Godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, and it is not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world works death. Many are sorry they were caught or sorry for consequences, yet they do not change. True repentance always brings a change and bears fruit that demonstrates the change. It is a turning from the old life, a death to that old way, and a new life in Christ. Tears alone are not repentance. A person can weep with bitterness or anger over a lost opportunity and still not repent at all. God looks for a carefulness, a clearing, a fear of the Lord, a zeal to do what is right, a turning away from sexual sin to walk in purity as God intends, where sex belongs only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman.
When God saves, He works within us by His grace, and then we are called to work out what He has worked in, with fear and trembling. This does not mean we work for our salvation by our own efforts, but that we live out with reverence the salvation He has already given, walking in obedience because He is at work in us.
So we pray with you that God in His mercy and patience would bring godly sorrow to those who have lived as players, that they would see their sin honestly, turn from it, and confess Jesus as Lord with faith in their hearts. We pray they would not continue in promiscuity and deception, but that they would receive the great salvation offered today, be cleansed, and bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, living new lives to the glory of God the Father.
The name Jesus itself means the Lord is salvation, for He came to save His people from their sins. He alone is the author of eternal salvation, made possible because He was obedient to the Father and went to the cross. There is no other way. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared, and it is offered freely to all who will come. Whoever will believe may come and receive the water of life freely, even the lowest sinner, for He will in no way cast out any who come to Him.
Scripture says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. To confess now and to submit now to the Lordship of Jesus means eternal life. There will be a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, but that confession will not be unto salvation. It will be a forced acknowledgment of condemnation for having rejected Him. That is why the Bible urges, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. We must not neglect so great a salvation, for there is no escape if we do, and we must not put off God's offer or go past His appointed time.
For those you are praying for, what God desires is true repentance. There is a difference between mere sorrow and repentance. Godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, and it is not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world works death. Many are sorry they were caught or sorry for consequences, yet they do not change. True repentance always brings a change and bears fruit that demonstrates the change. It is a turning from the old life, a death to that old way, and a new life in Christ. Tears alone are not repentance. A person can weep with bitterness or anger over a lost opportunity and still not repent at all. God looks for a carefulness, a clearing, a fear of the Lord, a zeal to do what is right, a turning away from sexual sin to walk in purity as God intends, where sex belongs only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman.
When God saves, He works within us by His grace, and then we are called to work out what He has worked in, with fear and trembling. This does not mean we work for our salvation by our own efforts, but that we live out with reverence the salvation He has already given, walking in obedience because He is at work in us.
So we pray with you that God in His mercy and patience would bring godly sorrow to those who have lived as players, that they would see their sin honestly, turn from it, and confess Jesus as Lord with faith in their hearts. We pray they would not continue in promiscuity and deception, but that they would receive the great salvation offered today, be cleansed, and bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, living new lives to the glory of God the Father.
