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Penitents
 Every
year, in the Philippines, during the week leading up
to Easter, hundreds of people take to the streets
throughout the city, their heads are covered with
hoods, ropes around their legs, their bare backs
bloodied by the whips that they use to hit
themselves, others carry huge wooden crosses through
the streets of the city. They are the penitents, or flagellantes. They believe that by doing these
works, they are paying for their sins. That God
would honor their efforts and remove their guilt and
shame. The sad thing is that after they are done,
their sins are still there! It is evidenced by their
quick return to the same old sinful lifestyle; beer
drinking, gambling, and womanizing. The next day
walking around without the hood and without their
shirts, so people can notice that they had done
these deeds. They did their works “For to be seen of
men…” Not only did their works not pay for their
sins, but in so doing, they insulted God and His Son
Jesus. By trusting in their own works, they were
saying that the finished work of Christ and His
sufferings were insufficient to take away their
sins, and that they had to add to what God has done
for them.
They are ignorant of the verse that says:
Eph 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of
Jesus!
Are your sins still there?
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.
Confess them to God and let Jesus take them away
through the work that He already did for us!
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