Wolves Don't Repent, But Sheep Do.

Reflections on Repentance, Habitual Sin, and Feeling like a Fraud

Photo by Den Cops on Unsplash

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. - Matthew 7:15-20

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:1-5

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. - Romans 7:15-25

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. - 2 Timothy 3:1-5

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. - 1 John 1:6-10

The Difference Between Feral Fakes and Forgiven Faithfuls

This is a brief post because it only requires little reflection.

However, time spent thinking on this will bring both comfort and zeal as a Christian seeks to grow in living a godly life.

Let me start with a terrible week and a conversation.

One week, I was not doing well spiritually. Through a combination of lack of discipline and temptation, I chose to believe the lies of sin and dove into a long period of “spiritual numbness.” This differs from my previous “downward spirals,” where I just wallowed in shame, hopelessness, and other negative emotions. Instead, during the whole week, I just “floated along” in life, ignoring God and trying to fill my unsatiated desires with anything but him. It’s sad because I knew that despair was a waste of time and that the problem was not God but me. And yet, I allowed myself to not only be stuck in my sin but also enjoy my sin instead of God.

In short, I felt like a walking contradiction.

And then the thoughts started to burst through my heart’s door:

“Joseph, are you really a Christian?”

“Some ‘mature’ disciple of Christ you are. You are more well-practiced in sin instead of the theology you know so much.”

“You’re really not a good person to be with. On the outside, you can talk a good talk, but inside, you’re full of trash.”

“Let’s be honest, Joseph: you are just a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You are good for nothing.”

These brought chills to my spine and made me question, “God, am I just a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Am I just a fake who just knows a lot of knowledge about you? Maybe I am just a wolf, and I just have to settle for this.”

“This seems to be the story of my life: A wolf in sheep’s clothing proclaiming a gospel I can’t live out.”

But is that really true?

My pastor (and man, what a faithful pastor) responded to my assessment, saying, “A wolf seeks to devour the sheep. A wolf never confesses their weakness. The gospel begins with the reality that you can’t be good enough. Part of living out the Gospel is confessing our sin and continuing to trust in Christ alone.”

“So Joseph, here’s the question,” he continued, “Are you repenting before God? Spiritual imposter only applies if you walk in unrepentance, acting as though your sin doesn’t really matter.”

How would you answer this in your spiritually dullest of moments?

Here is the good news that I saw piercing through the darkness.

Wolves don’t repent.

But God’s sheep do repent.

Praise the Lord!

Jesus Makes Frauds His Friends and Equips Them to Live Anew

So how can we know that we are Jesus’ sheep and not wolves that not only delight in sin but seek to promote it?

The keyword is repentance, but this word is not just a surface-level term. As my pastor gently shared with me, this repentance theologically roots itself in biblical truth.

First, this repentance—turning away from our sinfulness, calling it out for what it is, and turning in faith to Jesus for forgiveness, renewal, and obedience—starts by acknowledging the reality that we can never be good enough. Our Lord Jesus tells us that apart from abiding or being connected with him, we can’t do anything (John 15:5). What makes us think that we in our own strength, power, and merit can bring out true spiritual vibrance, righteousness, and life when apart from Jesus we are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1-3). But praise be to God that he, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ according to his sheer grace. Therefore, the gospel is the good news of God turning the walking undead sinners who only sought to live according to their sinful desires into spiritually alive saints to live out lives of good works, which he predestined (Eph. 2:4-10).

Second, this repentance acknowledges the reality of a new war: the sinful nature versus the new life by the Holy Spirit. In Romans 7, we see Paul unpacking the reality that there is a war within the Christian. There are “two laws” that clash within us: the law of God, which we want to delight in, and the law of sin. But think about this for a moment: before Jesus came into your life, you wouldn’t have cared about fighting sin. Sure, maybe you were a legalist who sought to be worthy by your efforts or merits, but that was still a sinful life absent from Christ. But now, in Christ, we have been delivered from this body of death because Jesus Christ has crashed into our lives, unshackling us from the reign of sin over us. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (Rom. 7:25). So Christian, your life was once a land that was peaceful towards sin and rebellion of God, but now in Christ, it is now a battlefield between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of sin. The thing is, you are no longer a citizen of sin’s kingdom but of God’s, and now you get to fight against sin.

Third, this repentance confesses, renounces, fights, and flees from sin by the Christian resting and living in light of his status as justified in Christ. The Christian seeks to obey God, not to get his favor but because he or she already possesses his favor permanently through faith in Christ. As Paul states, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1-4). The same grace that justifies sinners before God through faith in Christ is the same grace that now empowers them to actually live for him. You can both get up after every sinful failure and conquer sin because you are no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness, baptized in Christ, and alive to God (Rom. 6). In Christ, you are holy. Period. Therefore, get up and repent.

Fourth, this repentance seeks help from and embraces life with God’s people, the church. A clear sign of the health of an individual Christian is whether or not there is meaningful involvement in the life of a local church. My pastor is right—why would you want to confess your sins to others if you are a wolf in sheep's clothing? Why would you want to step into the light with all your sins when sinners normally want to hide their sins from the light? Those still under sin’s rule live in denial of sin, and thus the truth is not in them because they walk in darkness and are averse to living in truth (1 John 1:6, 9, 10). “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. . . . If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7, 9). Why would I want to confess to my pastor my frustrations with living the Christian life and my habitual sins? Why would I want to show up every Sunday morning and expose myself to brothers and sisters in Christ, who also need the same salvation in Christ that I need? Because Jesus saved me. Therefore, I’m one of his sheep in his fold. And I need help!

Fifth, this repentance vomits sin by flushing it out and replacing it with communion with God. What is the most common encouragement and counsel that my pastor gives me every time I stumble and fall? Here is the same exhortation in different forms:

Set your eyes on Christ and delight yourself in Him.

Seek the Lord in prayer and through his Word. Refresh your heart in your Savoir today.

Brother, come back to Jesus. Commune with your God and Savior.

Take time in the Word today. Focus your eyes on Jesus.

As I’ve reflected on the years of walking with Jesus and the counsel I’ve received in my personal sanctification, this is the primary means of growing in holiness and defeating habitual patterns of sin: growing communion with God. And there are no other options. There is no magic bullet. Today’s Bible reading will become yesterday’s manna. You can listen to as many worship songs or sermons as you want, but are you seeking regularly to grow in your relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Much more can be written about what communion with God entails, but for now, in this article, do wolves delight in growing in a relationship with the Triune God and enjoying him? Wolves don’t want anything to do with knowing and being known by God. But sheep do. In fact, “None but the godly are capable of desertion. Wicked men know not what God’s love means, nor what it is to want it. . . . You fear you are not God’s child because you are deserted. The Lord cannot be said to withdraw his love from the wicked, because they never had it. The being deserted evidences you to be a child of God.”¹ All who belong to Jesus will feel the absence of enjoying God’s love when they seek out sin, but it is that same feeling of abandonment that invites Spirit-wrought aching to the heart to long for renewal and relief that only comes from the Triune God.

Choose Repentance Over Despair, Again and Again

Here’s the point put simply: Sheep will repent, whereas wolves will not. There is a temptation to wallow in shame and despair. There will be moments when we can choose to complain in bitterness against God, asking him why he would permit us to continue to struggle with a certain sin.

Yet, if we are truly his sheep, we know that God is not in the wrong but it is us because we chose to sin. “We desert God when we leave off close communion with him, when we desert his truths and dare not appear for him. When we leave the guidance and conduct of his word and follow the deceitful light of our own corrupt affections and passions. We usually desert God first; therefore we have none to blame but ourselves.”² But when we acknowledge this, we can see that the gospel that made us his sheep to begin with is the same gospel that will sustain and keep us as his sheep. Instead of choosing despair, we can choose to repent by silencing the lies of sin and the enemy which the voice of Jesus who says that he is “the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. . . . My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:14, 27-30).

So let’s get up and keep going.

Let’s continue to walk in the light.

And when you and I sin again, let’s keep getting up because the validation and power are not in us but in the One who saved us and made us his.

Let’s shake off these broken chains of bitterness, despair, guilt, and shame.

Let’s wear with renewed zeal the righteousness that is ours in Christ.

Let’s listen to the voice of Jesus, our good shepherd.

Let’s choose repentance over rebellion.

Let’s show who we really are.

Not wolves, but sheep.

His sheep.

1. Thomas Watson, All Things for Good (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2024), 37.

2. Ibid., 36-7.