Unbound Sin

“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:36–38

D.L. MOODY
One thing I have noticed is that some conversions don’t amount to anything; that if a man professes to be converted without conviction of sin, he is one of those stony-ground hearers who don’t bring forth much fruit. The first little wave of persecution, the first breath of opposition, and the man is back in the world again. Let us pray that God may carry on a deep and thorough work, that men may be convicted of sin so they cannot rest in unbelief. Pray this conviction and confession may begin in our own church. I would a great deal rather see a hundred men thoroughly converted, truly born of God, than to see a thousand professed conversions where the Spirit of God has not convicted of sin.

ERWIN LUTZER
It has been my belief that the reason we have so many who turn away from the faith after professing to be converted is because they got saved when they didn’t even know they were lost. And so like Judas, they professed faith in Christ and appeared to fit in with the church but were never really converted. Judas represented humanity, showing the deception of the human heart without restraints, without the intervention of God’s grace, and without repentance—human nature in all its contradictions. Judas reminds us that the gate to hell is right next to the gate to heaven. For three years he was able to be with Jesus, to learn from Him, to become a part of the family of His disciples. Yet, for all that, his heart was unchanged. He walked past the gate of heaven and yet ended in hell.

PRAYER
Father, grant me a genuine faith; a faith that knows my great need and comes to Christ in repentance to have that need met.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
In what ways do we see the "Judas heart" in our modern world—seeking the benefits of being near Jesus while refusing to surrender our own secret agendas?

How can we use the Word of God as a mirror this week to ensure our faith is rooted in a supernatural intervention of grace rather than a mere social or intellectual profession?