Does the assurance of your salvation give you a conscience free from the guilt of sin because you know that you have been forgiven of them, or do the actions, words, deeds and thoughts that cause regrets in your life, almost if not always daily, that are against the will of the Lord encapsulate your thoughts?
If you can answer yes to both of those questions, then you not only understand the battle, but this verse as well.
“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24)
Regrets are not repentance, but they are a sure sign of salvation by grace through faith when they arrive because of the knowledge of whom we are in rebellion against. Regrets can only arrive after the fact, some form of action, done by our own free will that we know full well is not indicative of one who has been born again, one that serves the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of the Most High.
Without regrets, and then only because of the knowledge of whom we have sinned against, there can be no repentance. Regrets must come before repentance, and they must arrive for the right reason.
“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” (Psalm 51:4)
At the moment that David said those words he was not concerned with thoughts of Uriah and the death he sent him to, his thoughts did not revolve around his lust for Bathsheba, the child that lay dying, or on how many people knew what he had done. But all those regrets led to his repentance once he realized who it was that his sin was against.
Regrets lead to repentance when we come to the same conclusion. In those moments one of two things can occur, perhaps three.
We can lose the assurance of our salvation, though not our salvation itself, for the promise stands as truth.
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)
You can retain that assurance, yet live a life of continual regret, which many do, attempting to deceive themselves into believing that they can never be useful to His glory ever again.
Or you can begin to understand even more fully the battle with your old nature that you are in, accept the truth that some of those battles you will lose, beg for forgiveness in all humility, plead for His mercy, for strength in the upcoming battles you know will arrive in the future, accept His forgiveness, forgive yourself, and continue serving for His glory.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
This is how David was able to say. “While the child yet lived….” It is why those around him were amazed when he said those words and went back to work serving the Most High.
Regrets lead to repentance. Never live in continual regrets my friends, realize for a fact that you will sin again, whether it be in word, thought, or deed.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1st John 1:8)
Far too many who profess to serve the Living God live in a continual form of regret, and it can be quite easy to recognize them, for they are the ones who will say that we should never judge anyone, even with righteous judgment. They live with that perpetual log in their eye.
Repentance does not return the assurance of your salvation, that will never be removed from you. Regrets lead to repentance when we realize who we have sinned against, and the love we have sinned against.
