Plan for: Thanksgiving | Advent | Christmas
To emphasize the importance of communal repentance and salvation and to encourage the church family to heed God's invitation to repentance, accept His promise of salvation, and understand His warning of judgment.
Good morning, Church family. Today, we're gonna journey through a powerful passage in Revelation 3:20, where our Lord extends a profound invitation to repentance. In this text, He promises salvation and issues a stern warning of judgment. It's a passage that beckons us to take a good, hard look at our lives - at our relationship with the Lord - and to make the necessary changes.
Paul David Tripp, a respected Christian author, once said, “Your walk with God is designed to be a community project. Yes, you have a personal relationship with God, but that relationship is to be lived out in the community of faith.” This quote beautifully ties to our text today. We are all in this together, and repentance and salvation aren't solo projects. They are community endeavors, embraced and lived out within our church family.
The invitation to repentance here in Revelation paints a vivid picture of Jesus standing at the door of our hearts, knocking and waiting for us to open up and let Him in. This is not a picture of a distant, indifferent God, but of a loving Savior who is actively seeking a relationship with us. He is not content to let us go our own way, but is constantly reaching out, inviting us to turn from our sins and come back to Him.
This invitation to repentance is a continual call that echoes throughout our lives. Every day, we are faced with choices, and every day, God is there, inviting us to choose His way instead of our own. This is a profound expression of His love for us. He knows the pain and destruction that sin can bring, and He longs to spare us from that. His invitation to repentance is an invitation to a better way of life, a life that is marked by peace, joy, and fulfillment instead of guilt, shame, and regret.
However, it's important to understand that God's invitation to repentance is not just about avoiding the negative consequences of sin. It's also about experiencing the positive benefits of a relationship with Him. When we repent of our sins and turn to God, we are not just turning away from something; we are turning towards something. We are turning towards a God who loves us, who wants the best for us, and who has a wonderful plan for our lives.
Repentance is not just about saying sorry for our sins, it's about changing our minds and our hearts. It's about deciding to follow God's ways instead of our own. It's about surrendering control of our lives to Him, trusting that His ways are better than ours. This is not an easy thing to do. It requires humility, courage, and faith. But the rewards are worth it.
God's invitation to repentance is also an invitation to intimacy with Him. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says that if we open the door, He will come in and eat with us. This is a picture of deep, personal fellowship. In biblical times, sharing a meal with someone was a sign of close relationship. By using this imagery, Jesus is saying that He doesn't just want us to repent of our sins; He wants us to have a close, personal relationship with Him. He wants to share in our joys and our sorrows, our victories and our defeats. He wants to be a part of every aspect of our lives.
This invitation to repentance is not just for those who don't know God. It's also for those of us who have been following Him for years. Even as believers, we still sin. We still fall short of God's standards. And so, we still need to repent. We still need to turn from our sins and turn back to God. And every time we do, we find that He is still there, still standing at the door, still inviting us to come in and dine with Him.
The promise of salvation is beautifully encapsulated in Revelation 3:20 ... View this full PRO sermon free with PRO