HoHum:
There was a farmer who had three sons: Ron, Don and Little John. All had their names on the church roll but none ever attended church or had time for God. Then one day Don was bitten by a rattlesnake. The doctor was called and he did all he could to help Don, but the outlook was very dim. So the preacher was called and appraised of the situation. The preacher arrived, and began to pray as follows: "O wise and righteous Father, we thank Thee that in Thine wisdom thou didst send this rattlesnake to bite Don. He hasn’t been inside the church in years and has shown little interest in You. We trust that this experience will be a valuable lesson to him and will lead to his genuine repentance. And now, O Father, wilt thou send another rattlesnake to bite Ron, and another to bite Little John, and another really big one to bite the old man. For years we have done everything we know to get them to get serious with Thee. Thank you God for rattlesnakes. In Jesus’ name, Amen! “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8
WBTU:
When we receive Christ through belief, confession, repentance and baptism, we must recognize that these things are not a one and done. “I did that so now let move onto something else.” We could say that baptism is that way but these others are not.
If we no longer believe in Jesus Christ, renounce Jesus Christ, we are no longer Christians.
As far as the good confession before many witnesses, yes, that is a one time event. However, from that point on, we need to keep confessing Jesus Christ before others. Give testimony
Repentance is also that way. Started talking about this last week. Need to keep on repenting.
What does the Christian need to repent of?
1. Sins of commission. Things we do that are violations of God’s Word. Like David committing adultery with Bathsheba. David did this of his own free will. “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.” Romans 7:19.
2. Sins of omission. These sins include both sins of neglect, such as neglecting Christ, our soul, our family, God’s church, prayer, and the Bible; and sins of failure, such as missing opportunities of doing good to widows and orphans, making the best possible use of our time, and redeeming opportunities for ministry. Think of all the things that God wants to do through the church. God calls and equips certain people to do these tasks but they remain undone. Why? Because those called to do them do not do them. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4:17, NIV.
3. Inner and secret sins of the heart. These sins seemingly affect no one except the one committing them. “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” Psalms 90:8, NIV.
God wants to continue to mold us and make us after His will, and repentance is one of the things that allows God to do just that. “I’m good, I’m saved and forgiven, so why repent.” Many face the danger of procrastination. They fully intend to repent but never really do. All of us are in danger of loving certain sins and their pleasures so greatly that genuine repentance cannot happen.
It is unwise to suppose that we can repent whenever and wherever we please. Delaying repentance for any reason whatsoever is the most dangerous thing we can possibly do.
Thesis: Consider the dangers we face in delayed repentance
For instances:
Hardening of the heart
Heard of hardening of the arteries, this is hardening of the heart. Our hearts become so hard that we reach a point of no return. Every time we hear a call to repent and do not, we harden our hearts. Eventually even the most fervent calls to repentance will have no effect upon us.
Israelites had a heart so hard that they reached a point of no return. The problem of Israel’s hardened heart was so severe that the book of Hebrews makes Israel the example of how Christians must not behave. Go to Hebrews 3:7-11.
God’s seasons of mercy may pass
The author of Ecclesiastes declared that there is a time for everything and an appointed time for every event under heaven. While he talked about such things as birth and death, planting and uprooting, tearing down and building up, a time to search and a time to give up as lost (Ecclesiastes 3), he might well have included a time for repentance and a time for judgment.
Consider this: The farmer is not so foolish as to try to plow the land when it is frozen solid. he does not sow vegetable seeds in the fall, nor does he plan to gather a great harvest in the springtime. The cattleman does not send his stock to market when they are skin and bones nor go on feeding them for years after they have reached their prime.
Not necessarily talking about issues of salvation but I might be. A small child can be fascinated by a bottle of soap and a wand for making bubbles. But are the bubbles he makes his forever? No. Soap bubbles vanish in a moment, as do opportunities for repentance.
“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:13, 14, NIV.
Many, even Christians, have regrets when they are on the last chapter of their lives. May we not be one of them. Repent and go God’s way before it is too late. May we be like Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7.
The external pressures of a decadent society
Never before have there been such opportunities to sin in many different ways. Our society seems to promote sin, leads people on the path of sin. “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” Romans 1:32, NIV.
Two sources not to repent:
1. The world, the flesh and the devil. The world has an interest in us. They can’t stand to see their ranks diminished by those turning to Christ. The devil has a great interest in us. Misery loves company and he tries to trip us up anyway he can. Our own flesh is anxious to keep us from repentance, for when we truly repent, our flesh must die.
2. The religious world. What? Yes, need to watch out even in the midst of the church. Many do not want us to repent because it makes them look bad. “having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” 2 Timothy 3:5, NIV. To the 7 churches in the beginning of Revelation we find several in the church we should not imitate or follow: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality (2:14). Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols (2:20). Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy (3:4). So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth (3:16).
A Blinding Pride
Why did most of the Jews reject Christ in the 1st century? Pride. However, this is not a problem restricted to the Jews in the 1st century. It is everywhere among all peoples.
Not long after the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead we find this: “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: Go to John 12:37-41.
But why? Why could they not believe, see, and hear? We find this to be the reason why: Go to John 12:42, 43, NIV. They loved their position and they loved their pride.
“A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” Proverbs 29:23, NIV. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18, NIV. “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2, NIV. “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” Proverbs 8:13, NIV. Why is pride so bad? Pride has the capacity to blind. When a person allows pride in himself, his ability to discern good from evil is quickly impaired. He soon smiles upon sins he once hated, and before long he supposes that even God is pleased with all that He sees in him. Pride enables him to believe that he is so very special in God’s sight that the Lord delights in things He sees in him that He despises in others less worthy than himself. Pride can even lead a person to suppose that God Himself is in his debt.
True repentance requires brokenness and humbling. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalms 51:17, NIV. This is the opposite of pride. Pride hates this and wages war against it. Every time we allow pride to keep us from repentance, the difficulty of repentance is increased. In resisting repentance, our pride is strengthened. The next call to repentance is more easily resisted, and so pride triumphs. The danger is increasingly real that, having long resisted, we will never repent. In the end, we may even leave the God who has redeemed us.
“But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.” Jeremiah 7:24, NIV.
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Lord, lift me up and let me stand, By faith, on Heaven’s table land, A higher plane than I have found; Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
