In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of humility and repentance in the sight of God. He quotes James 4:6, which states that God gives more grace to the humble and resists the proud. The preacher urges the audience to submit themselves to God, resist the devil, and draw near to God. He also highlights the need for repentance, citing examples from the preaching of John the Baptist and the command of Jesus to repent. The sermon criticizes the focus on materialism and entertainment in society, calling for a return to worshiping God and preaching the message of repentance.

It says in James 4, 6, But he giveth more grace. And wherefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore, because he gives grace, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you that are double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep, and let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. Now that's not very exciting to read. We don't like to think about that. We don't like to do that. We want to let our laughter continue, and our joy continue. And we even have a revival sweeping our country that's called a revival, which is no revival at all, called a laughing revival. Beware of any revival that calls itself that, that tries to bypass repentance and brokenness. And here we see that the way to revival is repentance. And over in the next chapter, in verse 10, it says, take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the endurance or patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, what God had in mind. God had something in mind with Job, that the Lord is very pitiful, or merciful, and full of tender mercy. And so, Job was a man who found himself in the fire. You've heard some testimonies about people finding themselves in the fire. Job was a man who went through that fire we sang about. And he was becoming, because of God's faithfulness, a man that God could trust. Now, just a few thoughts about Job before I get into this message, because I want to use his example to preface our remarks. The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Did you know that? It was the first book in the canon that was written down. In fact, Abraham surely studied it. It was written at that time. Moses studied the book of Job. It was before Israel became a nation. It was an ancient writing. And its message, therefore, if God wrote it down first, is totally foundational to everything else in the Word of God. It's basic, and it's vital, and it's central. And a lot of people will tell you that the theme of Job is suffering and endurance. And there's surely a lot we can learn from the book of Job, from the Lord, about suffering and endurance. But the key to Job is another message. It's one we often miss. It's easy to miss. The word Job, its name, comes from a Hebrew word meaning greatly tried. And that word comes from an ancient Arab root, which means repentance. Repentance. And God's first book that he ever wrote down was about a man in the fire, and its whole theme was repentance. If you or I were going to write a book about repentance, I would take someone in society today that is a notorious fellow, and I would then have someone come and share the Lord with him, or give him a set of rules, and then I would see him totally change his mind and become a wonderful person. And I'd say, what a repentance. Or I would take one of the characters in the Bible that blew it, and I would then write a book about him, how he changed his mind and became right with God. And I would call it repentance. But the bad thing about doing that is, I'm tempted, when I look at that kind of person, to say, I'm not as bad as they are. And I don't really need the same kind as Jack the Ripper, or someone like that, or some political figure that we might pick out arbitrarily from any place in government. We can use that language on the inside. We would say, I'm not as bad as they are. You see, that's what man would have done if he'd written a book on repentance. Take the worst guy and show him becoming a better person. But see, God's not like that. What God did when God wanted to write a book about repentance, he took what the Bible says is the best man on Earth at the time. Famous for being, it says, he was a perfect God. Three times God says, initiating the trial of Job with Satan. He said, have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him in the Earth. He is perfect. He is entire. He is lacking nothing, and he hates evil. Three times it says that from God's standpoint, Job didn't know it was being said. God said it. When God wanted to write a book about repentance, get this brother, he took the best man on Earth and showed that even in the best man on Earth, whoever that is, he needs to repent. And so it shows the links, you see, that God is willing to go to, to produce repentance. We behold the patience of Job and the end, the goal of God, says in James 5. We see what God is after, and we begin to understand, you see, the reason God took the best man is to silence me or you from ever saying, well, I don't really think that there's a need for repentance in my case because Job needed it. You see the best man. And so when we see a book like that, we see his sufferings. There's a deep and secret fear inside of us. We dread what we read because we say, don't let that happen to me, Lord. And it just shows we do not know the end of Job and what God was really after. And it's normal to fear these things, I suppose. But even like Job, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord. You see, some here may be tempted to think that there's not a real need of repentance in your life. But I believe tonight, brother, you couldn't stand up next to Job and you couldn't stand up next to many of the people. I certainly couldn't. Job was a wealthy Oriental sheik who was famous. He loved God. And it shows the book of Job, the repentance of a saint that is necessary to an ongoing walk with God. And it shows that the best man, no matter who that is, has a great need. Whoever the greatest saint you've ever known is, there's still a great need for perpetual, ongoing, daily, renewed repentance in their life. And so in the whole book of Job, the Bible says Job was captive, but that the book we're amazed at. I mean, you he has bankruptcy, bereavement, boils, a badgering wife, he's sitting on a pile of cow manure and people are standing around going, some believer you are. And he says, though he slay me, I will praise him. You know, he's way down the road. I mean, I'm telling you, he starts where you and I set the goal. I mean, God's got something in mind. But God says he's captive. I mean, I'd never have known that. Job probably didn't know that. But God says he's captive. What's he captive to? At the end of the book, you see God coming to him and reasoning with him through Elihu and others. And he kind of comes and says, Lord, I think I'm sort of wrong. But through the book, he says, though he slay me, I'm going to maintain my walk before God. I have not done anything to deserve this, but I'm going to trust God. You see, halfway repentance until finally at the end of the book, God comes, God comes himself and he appears to Job and Job, when God comes in a mighty whirlwind, he reveals himself to Job. Now, after that time, Job was kind of like you and me at a Bible conference. He had heard the word of God. He studied the word of God. He was a righteous man, but he'd never seen who he was really dealing with. Let me tell you, when we see in church meetings who we're really dealing with and we sense his presence, then this will happen, what we're talking about here, Job in chapter 42. He says, he says, I have he's silence. He said, I've answered before, but I'm going to put my hand upon my mouth. I've heard of you by the hearing of my ear. That's what faith is. We comes by the hearing of the ear. I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee, and I hate myself. I repent in dust and ashes. You see, Job was decentralized. Up to that moment, he was self-righteous. His whole life consisted of becoming a more godly man. Everything was all for himself. It was spiritual growth, and I'm righteous in the Lord, and it was all me, me, myself, and I, and suddenly God comes and dissolves Job, and Job then turns from his own problems and prays for his friends, he's thinking of others. And it says, and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he got his mind on others and he prayed for his friends. You see, that was repentance that God was after. He was after that. It was a captivity turned, a man finally that God could trust. Now, tonight, I want to talk about repentance, but not repentance as an act, like we often think, like you need to repent in the sense of something you do at one point in time. That is when it might manifest itself, but I want to talk about repentance as an ongoing way of life. It's the universal need for every man, whether he's a lost man, he needs to repent, or whether he is a saved man, he needs to repent. Now, you say, then what is repentance? Well, first of all, let me just ask you, like Job, have you ever come to that point where you've wept over your sins? Not just what you've done that have made you miserable. I mean, most people are sorry for their sins because of what their sins cost them. And it's really a subtle form of self-love. I'm sorry that I've been so hurt because of my sin. Instead of, I am sorry for sin, for what it cost you, Lord. And I want to turn from the pain that I ongoingly make in your eternal holy presence, as you set your eyes on me, who are of pure eyes and to look on sin, and I'm causing you pain, and oh God, I change and I turn. Have you ever wept over your sins? Has God ever really shown you who you're dealing with? I'll tell you that's happened to me, and it doesn't happen often, but when the Lord really comes in and shows you who you're dealing with, it's an awesome moment when you begin to weep over your sins. I want to pray with you right here. Father, in Jesus' name, we want to just say to you, you have our permission, that part of our permission that you don't really need, but because of your great grace, you want us to give. You have our permission to deal with us. Do it, Lord. We have to say yes to that on the inside. We can't just think it. We've got to say yes to you. Your Holy Spirit knows. So may our hearts say yes, Lord. Do it. Do it. Do it, Lord. And may we see clearly, like Job, even after so long in the things of God, may we see in a new dimension. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, I wonder if you've ever thought about what my sins and what Jim's sins that he said were compared to others. They looked, on a human level, minimal growing up. What the good person, the missionary kid that grows up and never does all the bad things. I wonder if you've ever seen what our sins, those kinds of sophisticated sins, merit before a holy God. What do our sins merit in the presence before holy God? Well, the death of the Lord Jesus never changed God's attitude about sin. We act as if his death made sin less serious now, so that Christians can toy around with what God hates as if it's some no big deal and God kind of lowered his standard. But the truth is that Calvary makes his standard even more poignant. That he hates sin even more than ever, because now it's high-handed rebellion in the light of all that God has done to show us how he hates sin. Only in the Lord Jesus, as we've heard over and over, can we be presented to God perfect. In him is no darkness at all. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. We're told in the Bible, and we see it in history, that God is love and that he wants to bless. He wants to save people. And we claim to want to see him move in revival. We say, Lord, send revival. And we know that God wants to revive his church. He loves his church. He's coming for a bride. But if both facts are true, if God wants to revive his church and God is love, then why is there a discrepancy? Where is the missing piece? The missing link? Well, it's right there. It's that bridge called repentance. Right there. If the missing puzzle piece is not there, you won't see revival. And some people say, do you believe that everyone is a sinner? Yes. Do you believe that God loves sinners? Yes. Do you believe that everyone is going to heaven? No. Well, what's the deciding factor? I mean, of course, it's the sovereignty of God, ultimately. But if God is not designing that any man should perish, and we preach the gospel in his sovereignty, those who hear the missing puzzle piece is those who respond to the gospel and they repent. See, most people don't really know what repentance is. And they don't really care to know what repentance is, because you might have to do it. I mean, when was the last time you heard a message on repentance? And the only thing more rare than a message on repentance is when you preach a message on repentance and somebody repents. That's even more rare. But you see, the Bible will show, we'll see tonight, that repentance is the doorway to eternal life. It's the doorway to the joy-filled life. It's the doorway to restitution with the things of God. It's the doorway. And Jesus said in Luke 13, twice in three verses, except you repent, talking to religious people, you will all likewise perish, except you repent. Now, in our day, people are lured to churches because we've overextended ourselves by budgets that are extravagant. And some sort, we have to make our preacher a mascot instead of a messenger. And if he offends anybody, the big givers leave. So we're afraid to do that. So we're luring nickels and noses, and we become, what would they say, seeker sensitive. Which means, really, we don't want to offend anybody. Now, I know we need to be sensitive to lost people. I'm not after anybody's thing thereafter. I'm just simply saying that we need to center our services around God and not man. We need to center our services around what he wants and not what we think those who might come might want. And so we make messages on repentance rare and conversion seems to be as easy as walking an aisle, making a two-minute apology to a God who is only slightly offended because of our mild-mannered ignorance. You see, I'll tell you something. Luther, after the Dark Ages, after the Bible went out to all of Europe, he wrote a book on seven Psalms. It was called the Penitential Psalms of David. And he went to Wittenberg and he nailed ninety-five theses on the door of Wittenberg addressing the church of that day. Do you know what the theme of every single one of those ninety-five theses was? Do you know what he nailed on that door? Every single point was repent. The whole point of that word was repent. The theses that he let know on that door. Do you know that, brother? It's an amazing thing. His book on the Penitential Psalms of David, seven of them he wrote, and it went all over Europe. And that was the beginning of the Reformation. But you see, repentance is the lost word in our day. Repentance was not just a word. It was the last word. It was the first word. It was the last word, he said to the churches, as we'll see. It wasn't the Great Commission. He spoke Revelation after that when he said to five of seven churches, repent. What did he mean by that? Well, what is repentance? Let's talk about that. What is it? First of all, the main word used in the New Testament is metanoia. Metanoia. And it means with the mind, but it actually means to change the mind. But it's not just academic because the Bible says that the real me is as a man thinks in his heart, not just here. But it's the moral center of a man. So to repent means to change at the moral center of a being the way that you don't just think academically, but your whole approach to things at the very center of your being as a man thinketh in his heart. So it's a change of the soul's intention, the heart's desire. It's an inner renouncing of what the Bible calls independence from God or which is sin or breaking what God says is the law. You've tried to break the mirror to say that I'm not as bad as the mirror says I am. Sin is a revelation of the Holy Spirit. You would never know. I would never know sin in my life, except for God's pure love and mercy coming to show me how be it when he has come, he will convict the world of sin in the world. There's a generic for everybody. When the Holy Spirit comes, we are convicted of unholiness and sin. And that's wonderful. Pity the person that God doesn't convict. There's no hope for them because they cannot turn to God unless God has mercy and convicts them of sin. So when God shows me sin in my life, it is not to torment me. It is not to make me upset or bitter at somebody else. It is to have me, by the amazing grace of God, deal with it in his plenteous mercy and be changed by his pure power and grace alone. I can't change it. If I try to change it, I'll just make a bigger mess of it and get more tangled like a tar baby you try to pick up and it gets all over you. But when I let him do it, it's a wonderful thing now. So repentance is a course of action that is possible only when the person genuinely regrets a previous course that God has shown. You cannot repent until you see that the way you've been going needs to be changed. God wants to show the heart. Look at Matthew 21. Jesus gives a vivid example of how realistic and practical repentance really is. In Matthew 21 verse 28 and following to parable. Simple truth with deep meanings and parables hidden from wise and prudent, but revealed to those who are babes and want the truth. And you'll get it if you want it, brother. So read it. Jesus is writing to the Pharisees. He's speaking to the Pharisees and he says, what do you think? A certain man had two sons. He came to the first son and said, son, go work in my vineyard. Kind of like, son, go mow the yard. Might be a good modern day rendition. And the son answered and said, I will not. But afterward he repented and he went. In other words, he said he wouldn't, but he changed on the inside and he acted on the change and went and he did it. And the man came to the second son and said, go work in my vineyard. And he said, I will go sir, but he went not. He said the right thing and Jesus asked these people what they thought. And he says, which of the two of them did the will of the father and the Pharisees said the first one. And by answering that they showed that they saw the whole principle that God is not after words. He's after surrender and they saw it. And so Jesus, after they condemned themselves by their own answer, he said unto them, barely I say to you that the publicans and the harlots will go into the kingdom of God before you. And he explained it for John came to you in the way of righteousness. John came calling you the right way. What was John's message? We'll see it repent. He came telling you and you believed him not, but the publicans and the harlots believed him and you when you had seen it, you repented not afterwards that you might believe him. In other words, John came and said, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths, make the crooked straight, bring the low up to the high and get ready to make a landing strip for God to move in your life. And you're in your experience and the publicans and the harlots said, I need that. And they came and they let God change him on the inside. And Jesus said to these religious, smug, empty people, there's more hope of a whore than you. Because they feel their need. They're like that person. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And they're willing to let God change them because they see there's a need. And it's a amazing thing. Repentance precedes believing. Do you see that right there? They did not repent that afterwards they might believe what is repentance. Listen, it's the obedient action confirmed that shows the change of mind to be genuine. It's when God comes and I give an obedience by pure grace alone that shows an inner response to God's grace is true. Obedience is the result. It's not the way to do. It's the result. It's the fruit of repentance. Nobody is saved by repentance, but nobody's saved without it because it makes the way for God to save me. It's just like the Roman road. Nobody's saved by the Roman road. The Roman road ends at the feet of Jesus. It's not the plan of salvation that saves. It's the man of salvation, not the plan believed, but the man received that I end at his feet. So real repentance, get this, always results in a God wrought righteousness and presence in the life. And what it does is it breaks up the deepest parts of our lives and allows God to renew our mind and to restore our soul and purify our heart and conscience and revive our wills and heal our emotions. It's a response to God's grace based upon new truth that he gives to me that doesn't add up in my experience and I say, oh God, I'm willing to let you change me. And deep down in that mysterious realm of heart, it's when we say God, you're right and I'm wrong. And there's a change of moral purpose on the inside. There may be tears. There may be little tears. Most of the time there are a lot of tears, but there is a challenging counterfeit to real repentance. And we see it in our churches all the time. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter seven, 2 Corinthians chapter seven. And I want to, Paul had written a letter about a certain believer who was in the church, who was well known apparently, but he had, he had taken his stepmother in an affair and he wrote a letter and it was very severe in 1 Corinthians and apparently this man, when he got the word about being turned over to the devil so he could learn not to blaspheme, he turned around and he repented and he says in verse eight, though I made you sorry with the letter, I do not repent, though I did feel regretting, for I perceive that the same epistle has made you sorry, even though it was for a season. Now he says, but now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. In other words, you were sorry enough to act on what you saw. You were made sorry after a godly manner so that you might receive damage by us in nothing for godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world works death. There's a counterfeit sorrow that the world has when their plans are changed and when they're disappointed and it weeps and cries and I'm sorry I'm so bad, but it ends in death. If you want to know what repentance is, verse 11 says behold this very thing you sorrowed in a godly sort and here's what repentance resulted in real, but carefulness and I've done a little word study on these different things here. Carefulness is the word that means diligence or earnest care with no trifling. So what carefulness it formed in you? Yes, what clearing of yourselves? It means you made it right. There was an apology and their restitution and what indignation it wrought in you. This word means to be angry at sin, to hate the thing that you've been in before and it says what fear this word is to hate evil, not just the sin. Yes, what vehement desire this word means intensive hunger and longing yearning to do his will and to fellowship with him. Yes, what zeal it's a word for passion, fervency and energy that God puts in and it makes us commendable and pleasing to God and then finally what revenge this is a word that means to avenge yourself against the powers of darkness. When there's real repentance, we sorrow to those kind of things to where that results and it becomes real and then Paul says in all things you have approved yourselves and the word is to be put in the fire and shown to be genuine. You have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. So that's what repentance meant to Paul and that's what repentance still means today. It breaks us up. May I say that only when I am willing to be changed is my repentance genuine. The little girl said repentance is when you're sorry enough to quit. So any soul not disturbed enough to forsake sin has not yet repented in that particular area. They've just had a sorrow of the world for what it costs them. It's inconvenienced their plans. And it will never last. Submission is the real test of repentance. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Anybody can obey God when they want to because they're their own motivation. But the test of repentance is when you don't want to when God's will crosses yours. I have known people that have made big choices and I commend them for it, but they wanted to. But I'll tell you what the test of God is when he tells you to do something that you hate to do and you do it anyway. That's when you change your mind. That's when you repent. God comes and says something. Offer Abraham your Abraham. Offer Isaac your only son. But no, he didn't say, but but many people say, but and there's a but in someone's experience that separates you from fellowship with God. I want you to do this, but Lord, but and they're always reasonable reasons to us. But from God's standpoint, they're entirely illogical because we fail to take into consideration his grace. And so the test of rebellion is right there for me and for you on that. But I'll tell you that just this morning, the Lord convicted me of something that I had seen and thought was no big deal. And before I could preach tonight with the promise of his presence, I had to make a covenant with him that as soon as I get back to Atlanta, I'll make it right. And I don't want to, but I've got to. And if I don't now, if you see something happen to me next week, you'll know that I didn't do it. If you see me go to the woodshed, you'll know it's because I didn't do it. But I'm going to do it. You asked me, Chuck, on Monday, if I've done it now. OK, because I got to. I don't want to go to the woodshed. It's going to remain the area of test until we yield. We've got to yield. We've got to face it. It's God's area of controversy with you, brother. And like we said this morning, he'll leave you in the wilderness until you deal with it and let him change your mind. So repentance is an inner repudiation of independence. It's when I reject independence and it results in obedience to the Holy Spirit. That's repentance. It's an inner attitude that results in outer action because God is practical. He's practical. Now it's when you want God enough to give up what the Holy Spirit says. That's wrong. That's repentance. It's a settled refusal to limit the claims that God can make on my life. I'll serve you this much, but not that much. That's not repentance. That's just convenience. And you're losing God for a stepping stone to your own ideas. It's got to be. Yes, Lord. No, but it's a necessity that my attitude be changed. I've got to have a new approach, a new attitude, a new focus. God's whole redemptive purpose is to make me holy and you holy in Christ and restore his image in me. Now, we know this is true. Some of you have sons. I've got three sons, two daughters, and I already see how vulnerable I am when my children do things that I know will cause them pain. I am extremely vulnerable and I have sort of a semi panic as my son 15 just got his learner's permit. My daughter 13 came home the other day with the braces off and I almost fell through the floor because she looked like a real woman and I just scared me to death. And then Catherine, who's 11, who's just gonna I mean, she's got I've already got my shotgun ready. I'm telling you, I'm concerned. Well, some of you have children that are already in that place and some of them may be causing you pain. I heard about a man that had two sons and one son had three sons and one son was the one son that was rebellious. And perhaps this being his firstborn, he might have loved that son even more. Not in the sense of loving them more, but it hurt him so much when this son became rebellious and went out and went away. He raised him the right way. But you see, he tried to reconcile with that son and could not. Kind of like the prodigal son, Luke 15. And you see, he's not reconciled. The man longed for that son. Perhaps him being gone made him long for him even more than the sons at home. But this man's heart yearned and he longed to show his love to that son. But while this son was out in a forbidden way, he could not go and just love this boy. Why? Because it would be to sanction what he's doing. I mean, in a sense, he couldn't just go and just ignore the sin he had to deal with the sin. And when the son wouldn't respond, he had to wait and it broke his heart. It broke his heart. He couldn't go and just fall on his neck because the sons had crossed purposes with the will of the father. And if he did that, the father would never see him come back to what he needed to. He would embrace him, but he couldn't. So he had to wait like the prodigal son's father and he waited and he waited. And when he came back, that's prodigal son chastened, been to the hog trough and he'd come to his self he'd come to his right mind. That's repentance. I will arise and I will go. You see, he couldn't just stay in the hog trough with good thoughts. He had to get up and go. And when he went up and went and he went, he broke the horizon. I can see his father on the rooftop looking out those old eyes, a grown old looking down that road where the horizon meets the sky. There he saw that boy who left so proud now coming back bent and boy, that old man pulls up his robes and he runs down. He's so old, but he runs out. Love made him limber and love made his eyesight keen and he goes and he says, give him a bath. Do the best thing for him, because now you can shower him with all that he wants. Let me tell you, that's how God is. He can't show me all the things he longs to show me and bless me the way he longs to bless me as long as I'm doing it my way. He wants to, but he can't because it would harden me in a state that will never last and I wouldn't enter into the fullness. He's preparing me for eternity, not just time. He's willing for me to be unhappy for a season if I have to be until I'm weaned from the things that dishonor him. He wants me holy, not just happy. I'll be happy forever in his presence. And so he's willing. So what's the place of repentance in the word of God? We got to get to that. I mean, I'm up here practically railing on some of you until you see it in the word. Look at Isaiah 55. I want you to see how deep it goes. We're going to look at a lot of scriptures and I'm asking you now to turn with me. And if you can't turn, then write it down and look at it later. Isaiah 55 in the Old Testament, the place of return of repentance. Isaiah 55 verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. So here's a man outwardly that's bad, but a man inwardly that's bad. Outer way and inner thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. See, repentance deals with as a man thinketh in his heart and let a man forsake the way that he's always thought about things in his own heart. Why? Verse 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. It's that his are so much bigger than ours and as long as we have our own thoughts, we don't have room for his. There's no room for him in the end. He comes and let me in. I want to show you all these things and there's no room as long as we're doing it our own way. Well, what about the New Testament? There's plenty in the old. I don't have time to go into it. You search it out. I'm going to stimulate you for further Bible study. Look at Matthew 3. Matthew 3. I want to just show you it was the first message that John Baptizer preached in Matthew chapter 3. John the Baptist preached repentance. He preached in verse 1. It says, In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea. He was baptizing at Bethabara. That's where Joshua led them in to the promised land after 40 years in the wilderness. Significant that that's where Jesus came as the heavenly Joshua to lead the people into the promised life. And there he came and said, There's the Lamb at that Bethabara, at the place called the House of Passage. He brought all kinds of memories to those who came out a whole new beginning. And at that place, it says in verse 2, he said, he began to preach repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In other words, it's a new beginning. Repent ye. And then it says in verse five, all of you, they went out to him, all of Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan. And they were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, these are people that are well acquainted with the Bible. They came to his baptism. He said unto them. Now this is not secret sensitive. Oh, generation of vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come. You are a pack of snakes who's told you to war to flee from the wrath to come. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy for repentance. He was calling them to repentance and they were there physically, but their lives didn't add up. And don't say within yourselves we have Abraham for our father. I'm a Baptist. I'm a Methodist or whatever we say. I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. He's saying, listen, repentance is practical. It's tangible. It starts in the invisible, but it always results in that which can be a glory to God. It always results in that. So you see, it's prepare the way it's the gate for the kingdom of God. Get ready for God to move in. He's coming. He's moving. And so the you don't need a dictionary when John preaches, that's for sure. But people say now, Al, that's just for the Jews. That's just for the Jews. Well, this same passage is told about the same event in Luke chapter three. And there, there in Luke chapter three, he speaks to Roman soldiers, not Jews, and to others. And he tells them to repent in three. He says, verse seven, verse eight, he talks to Roman soldiers and tells them who are not Jews, multitudes and people and publicans to repent. So John the baptizer's message was not just for the Jews. What about Jesus Christ, our Lord? What was his message? Well, back in Matthew chapter four, you see in verse seventeen from that time, Jesus began to preach and say, repent. His first message for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In Mark chapter two, verse seventeen, Jesus said, I came to call sinners to repentance. He says that and he tells a story about Nineveh. I think it's the greatest preaching, perhaps in the Old Testament, where there's thousands and thousands and thousands of lost people that don't have a clue about God. And Jonah comes in and says in forty days, God's going to destroy this place. There's no promise of mercy. There's no promise of forgiveness. But yet this whole city repents. And he says, listen, you have a greater one than Jonah had right here. He says to these cities in Matthew eleven, he rebuked cities that would not repent because they'd seen him and they'd heard the preaching. In Luke fifteen, Jesus says that there is joy in the presence of God in the holy angels that are around the throne over a sinner that repents. You want to make a party in heaven? You want to bring joy to the presence of the throne room of God? Repent. That's what Jesus says. In Luke sixteen, he tells a true story, not a parable, about a certain rich man unnamed and a certain beggar named Lazarus. And both of them die. The rich man goes to eternal, unending, everlasting torment. Same word for eternal life that he promises to us. And in Hades, in the place before Jesus raised paradise out, this man looked in Hades and he saw Lazarus. I mean, this man was burning this rich man in the flames. And he looked and he saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. And he said, oh, send someone to warn my brothers. In other words, there's not a person in Hades today or hell today who's hardened, no matter how they be, that wouldn't be the best evangelist on earth if they could come back. You put them two minutes in hell and they'd be the best preacher you've ever heard. I don't care how hard they were. And the Lord says, no, if they believe not Moses and the prophets, if they repented not, then they won't believe even though he's raised from the dead. You see, I'll tell you something. The reason that man was in hell was because he didn't repent. That's what Jesus said in that version there. So Jesus preached repentance. How about the disciples? It wasn't just for John the baptizer and the Lord Jesus, the disciples themselves. Mark chapter 6 verse 12. Men should repent. All the disciples, they went out and preached that men should repent. So that was the disciples message. Well, people say, well, that was before the resurrection, Al. But no, it wasn't because after Jesus resurrection in Acts chapter two turned to their Acts chapter two, you see Peter on the day of Pentecost. He stands up in chapter two, verse 37 and verse 38 after he's preached a text using five Psalms that are seemingly unrelated and he preaches for about 10 minutes. You see, they prayed for 10 days and preached for 10 minutes and 3000 were saved. They repented for 10 days and preached. They repented and prayed for 10 days and preached for 10 minutes and 3000 were saved. We preach. We prepare for 10 days and then preach for 10 days and nothing happens because you see, we don't pray. And here he preaches. He says now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. Verse 37 and they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, man and brothers, what shall we do? And then Peter said to them, there's nothing you can do. No, he didn't say that. Or he says only bow your head and close your eyes and said this prayer. No, he didn't say that. He says, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus in view of the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for this promise is unto you and your children and to all that are afar, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. So it wasn't bow your head and pray or there's nothing you can do or sing only believe or get somebody up there saying and only believe it wasn't. It was repent a crucial question. The first real preaching under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. What can we do? I mean, you couldn't get any better than that. Repent. He preached. Now people could say that that was just for that day, but over in chapter three and verse 19, he's got thousands more on the hook and they're wanting to know what to do. And he says in 319 of Acts repent ye therefore and be converted, which came first repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And so it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. And it's not just for the Jews because look over in chapter 11. People say that might be just for the Jews on Pentecost because the church was Jewish. Well, in Acts chapter 11 verse 18, they he's been to Cornelius and he's preached the first to the first Gentile house and they believed and the early churches disturbed at first by the gospel going to the Gentile. And so Peter gives a report to the church at Jerusalem and it says in verse 18 when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying then God also to the Gentiles has granted repentance unto life, which comes first repentance or life repentance in this text. It's just what the Bible says. People say repentance is what you do after you're regenerated friends. If you call regeneration God appearing to you in grace and saying how you need to be saved. That's true. But if you call God coming and convicting someone of sin, there has to be repentance unto life. It's responding to the grace of God. Later the aged Peter would write in second Peter, his last epistle. Turn there. He's come to understand because you see, he's learned about repentance for a believer to he said, though all men forsake you, I'll die with you. And he had to see the depths of his own heart like Job did, too. But in second Peter, chapter three, verse nine. He's answering the people that say God's taking so long and he says why the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness. But he is suffering a long time toward us, not designing. It says not willing that any should perish. But here's what God's after, but that all should come to repentance. Peter is saying come to repentance. The old man, he had tasted the bitter cup and undenied the Lord himself. But now he knows there is no grace for the unrepentant. Here's what it is, friends. Repentance is responding to the grace of God. That's what it is. It's responding to the grace of God. It is not an action. It's an attitude toward God, towards sin, towards self, towards Satan. Now, Paul's message was the same. We talked about John the Baptist. We talked about Jesus. We talked about the disciples. We talked about Peter at Pentecost. What about the Apostle Paul, Acts chapter 17? Look at that. I mean, I'm just trying to make an irrefutable case for you here tonight. I know it's a lot of Scripture. You've had a long day and there's a lot of ways you could say, please excuse me. I'm so tired. And you go right to sleep. Don't go to sleep, brother. Stay with it. Press in. Acts chapter 17, verse 30. It's in Athens. Paul comes into this city and he sees all what is like the churches of that city. Big, big buildings made to a God that didn't know for real. Kind of like Atlanta. I'm not talking about the churches necessarily. I'm talking about our banks and our big entertainment centers and all this to worship our different gods. And Paul's heart is stirred within him and he's burdened and he preaches to them to repent and he talks about the Lord Jesus. And then in verse 30, he says to them as he preaches from Mars Hill, talking about their idolatry, he says and the times of this ignoramus or this ignorance, God has winked at. Now since the resurrection, now since Jesus has come, now he commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because God has appointed a day in which he's going to judge the world. In Psalm 9, it talks about a day that he will judge the world in righteousness by that man who he has ordained. So at sophisticated Athens, he comes and he says no more sincere, ignorant worship. God's commanding all men everywhere to repent. I've heard people say, well, well, man can't repent unless God lets him. Well, that's true. But let me tell you something. If God comes to you and you hear a preacher say, repent if God, I mean, suppose I'm going overseas and I have a 80 pound suitcase and I say to my little girl, honey, would you carry my suitcase to the car? And I know she couldn't get an inch off the ground and she goes over there, bless her heart and she grabs a hold of it and she tries to lift it up, but she can't get it up. And I go over there. I commanded you to take that suitcase to my car. I start kicking her. Pick it up, pick it up, get it up. Is that a pretty creepy guy? I mean, you know, you should take me out and tie me to a shed and use a hose on me like they do in Fiji to the people that don't go along with what the chief says. I ask the chief, how do you get the men to go along? Oh, we take him out and back and use a hose on him. Doesn't leave marks. You know, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, that's what some guys need. But you see, if I did that to my daughter, I'd be an unreasonable father. Well, I'm going to tell you something. God never commands anybody to do anything that he's not willing to supply the power to do. If you tell him, yes, every command of God has a promise in it. When you repent right on the inside, there's a promise there. And so what I would say to you, God will not require the impossible. God is not unreasonable. He doesn't command you to do the impossible. If he says to you, repent, you obey. And if he doesn't supply the power, he's mocking you or you're not serious like he thought. You just don't see how bitter the pill is you have inside. Whenever he shows sin, he gives the grace to repent when he says to repent. I remember one night a guy was on his knees saying, Oh God, you know, I hate this sin. Oh, please give me the power to turn from this sin. Oh God, please. I hate this sin. And the pastor and I both were nauseated. We went over to him and we said, Brother, now we know you believe you hate that sin. But here's what you're really saying to God. Lord, you have the power to free me from this sin that I hate. And I'm suffering with it, Lord. I'm suffering because of sin. I hate this sin, but you're holding out on me because you're indifferent towards sin. If you would give me the power to deal with this thing I hate, then I would get rid of it because you don't give me the power I have to suffer with this sin. And God, you're wrong and I'm right. And it's your fault. It's all right. That's right. Hey, when you throw a rock, the thing you hit barks. And we said the truth is that he died for that sin. He hates that sin. And you're sitting here saying you hate it. You love it. That's why you're still in it, because you know it's wrong. And you're making excuses, just like Job did, trying to defend your own righteousness. Repent. And the man did repent. He was gloriously set free when he quit trifling with God, quit blaming God. In Acts chapter 20, in Acts chapter 20, Paul is preaching and he comes to the people there in verse 20. He says he went visitation door to door. Seeker-sensitive Paul goes in Acts 20 and he says, I kept back nothing that was profitable to you. I've showed you and taught you publicly from house to house, testifying to the Jews and to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, repentance toward God, toward holy God for the sin and the wrong and the attitudes that are out of touch and the thoughts that are not of God. And then hallelujah, faith, love, pressing in to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those two twin sides of the same attitude and coin. Look at Acts chapter 26 and you see Paul before Agrippa and he's giving his whole message saying this is what I'm supposed to be preaching. And he says in Acts 26, he says this is what I'm supposed to do. God is verse 17 delivering the Paul from the people and from the Gentiles that I'm sending you. Here's your message Paul to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins. You see the order turn them from darkness to light, turn them from the power of Satan to God. It's God's work to turn, but turning is the word for repentance here to turn and it says you may receive an inheritance among them that are sanctified by the faith that is in me. So you see it's turning from sin to the Savior. It's turning from darkness and the things that are what the world says are great to what he says is light. It's turning from Satan and all the lusts of my former life to what the Lord says turning to what he says. That's repentance. Well, one more. This is the most important one of all the risen Lord Jesus himself preached repentance as he came and he gave instructions to the church in Luke chapter 24. He says to them just before the Ascension after he had been with him for days. He's just getting ready to ascend up. He opened the Scriptures and told him everything that the Scriptures mean. Verse 46. He said to them it's written it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and repentance and remission of sins should repeat should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem and you are witnesses. You are martyrs it says for these things that we beginning where we are are to preach to the uttermost parts of the earth the message of repentance toward God and forgiveness of sins through the faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is our message and anything less than that is the grand omission of the great commission to go out with a silly churchy smile and said God loves you just like you are and you don't have to change anything at all is only half the truth. God does love that person just as they are. Otherwise he wouldn't have died for them while they were in sin like he commended his love for them. But if you understand who's calling you, you're going to need to know that the reason he died is because he hates your condition and he wants to change you into a God lover and the way you become a God lover is to see that God did this for you while you were a God hater and because you're a God hater and he came and loved you and gave himself for you without any conditions now you can love him back and that means giving up who you are for him giving up all you've ever thought like he did for you instructions to the church preach this throughout the whole world and then he says to the churches in the book of Revelation to five of seven he says look I know your works I know your deeds I know all that you're doing and how you can't stand those people that can't preach the truth and how they have doctrinal error but I have somewhat against you he says you have left not lost left left your first love you don't lose your first love you leave it and if you want it back he says I counsel you to repent repeat the first works he says go back to where you left it go back to where you left your first love and God will show you exactly where it is it's when he spoke to you and you left that daily attitude of repentance toward God and started living for self and using God as a stepping stone to make you happy that's why all you have is church membership and empty motions some of you that's why you join more committees trying to cover over a nagging sense of I'm not right with God because you bypassed where he was speaking to you about an issue that you have thought you could overlook well I tell you you can't overlook it the first word and his last word is repentance and it is to the Laodicean church of the last day and the Ephesian church of the first day it's to our church it's to me it's to you it's to Job the best man and to the drunk in the gutter most that God will save him to the uttermost if he comes to God by him if you believe and have repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus now let me tell you what repentance is not it's not emotions or sorrow when you hear God's word hey the Bible says Felix trembled the Bible says that Esau wept and Saul said I have sinned but none of them repented Judas went out and hung himself because he was so sorry that his plans that he tried to force the Lord's hand to proclaim himself King sentimental manipulation of God and he hung himself but it wasn't repentance and so emotions is not repentance don't be fooled by just because you're sitting in church and you get a few tears in your eyes when you hear just as I am or he loves you so much or the sun shines through the face of Jesus in the stained glass window and warms your cheek and you say oh he loves me and you feel very emotional and good toward God let me tell you something you can have tears and walking out all you want to but sometimes the tears are just the sorrow of the world you have there's two kinds of tears in a child if I say you can't do that they start crying you can't do that and they start crying it's the tears of a rebellious child but then if I spank them they may still have the tears of a still rebellious child but there comes a point where their crying changes and it's the tears of a broken hearted repentant child who realizes and has come to understand a will that's higher than his own it's the realization you see of who we are repentance is not remorse remorse is I'm sorry for what I've done for what it's cost me I'm sorry I'm so sorry I won't do it again because I don't like this pain repentance is I'm sorry for what my sin cost God and I see now and realize who I am and how it's amazing that I could ever be in your presence Lord no one can be sorry for sin really sorry while they're still clinging to their idols but you can say you're sorry while you're still clinging to your idols to be sorry and ask for help is not repentance well almost persuaded is not repentance to say I ought to to sit there and say oh I'm under such conviction that's not repentance conviction is God's part he does it because he loves you confession is my part and agreeing with God and acting on what he says I've got to say yes to him almost persuaded I really ought to be let me tell you something even a desire to change is not necessarily repentance because you see you can trick your own heart thinking you really want to change but the next time you ride by a pig style you're out the door and in it again like the pig returned to his own pen you can put on you can wash a pig and put a tux on him and put him behind the desk at ambassadors for Christ and the first time the doors open and it rains he'll be out there in the mud because he's a pig still at the heart so there must be a response to the Holy Spirit tonight for you penance is not repentance what I mean by that I'm talking about trying to make up for bad things make up for bad things by good things I remember being in the fraternity in Carolina and I occasionally read the Bible but every Christmas all the guys there was a church right next door we'd all get up and go over there and we'd have a big party in the afternoon for all the little orphans we'd give them all presents we'd smile and look so nice and we felt so good about ourselves penance for all the other times we threw snowballs at the church on Sunday morning when the bell rang with our hangover penance is when you give to God money in an offering because that's something that you can do brother instead of giving yourself first to the Lord and you're trying to get God off your case by making yourself feel better about yourself by giving money or giving time to committees or mowing the church yard or whatever else it is that you do trying to take the pressure off the point where God is saying I want this good deeds remorse penance penance is the attitude that tries to make up for sin by good works and it's really kind of like Martin Luther used to whip himself with a whip self flagellation go around saying how pathetic we are all the time trying to be worthy of grace it's the sorrow of the world well admitting sin will you just admit that you're a sinner that's not repentance you say everyone's a sinner of course you're a sinner and would you admit it that's enough on sin now and we go right on let me tell you what you're deceiving those people it takes more than just kind of a little mumbling a list of I ought to's and all the rest I must be one who will deal with sin at the level God wants me to deal with it and turn to him in Christ dependence making promises to God about when you go home is not repentance you can be very sincere and say I promise if you get me out of this box hole in Vietnam I'll serve you forever that's not repentance repentance is practical and it's real and it's powerful God commands all men everywhere to repent God wills that all men should come to repentance God demands that repentance be preached God prompts repentance by his goodness God warns men they must repent or perish it's such a central spinal cord in the scripture but we never hear about it the issue is not can men repent brother the issue is will they will they repent and we've got to respond tonight to the grace of God God will never exercise grace at the expense of holiness but he's given us a way to show holiness through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus and so when we come to repentance that's when God will move listen the great need in each of our lives is an ongoing deepening daily repentance not just an action not just coming to this altar tonight when we open it in a moment but an attitude that we come to because of a new place with God it's a place we come to where we see an ongoing living way like God was trying to produce in the best men on earth now I see you you know why there's been a heaviness in here today because we haven't seen God we haven't seen God we haven't seen God that's why sometimes in our churches our singing doesn't feel like it's going past the roof because we haven't seen God we've heard of him by the hearing of the ear but we need to see God and when we see him repentance is a gift for all who will hear his voice it's a gift from God you can't just work it up but he gives the gift of repentance when you say I want that I want to be yours I want to turn and he gives you that godly sorrow that produces a real change in your life and if you're in Christ you're a new creation all things become new and if it hasn't happened you're not in Christ this is the easy definition of it doesn't mean you're perfect overnight not at all but on the inside you're new you've changed you're from dark to light from Satan to the Lord and you may fall in a mud puddle but when you do you'll feel bad about it you'll cry about it you're not perfect but you want to be and you'll you'll be grieved when you know you grieve the Holy Spirit let me tell you something brother we can't blame God tonight for our lack of repentance we can't do that we can't blame him for our hard hearts we as Christians are more to be blamed for a lack of repentance than a lost man is to be blamed for still being lost we as Christians ought to be repentant and if the church is truly repentant in America then I want to ask you why are we in the condition that we're in if we're truly repentant then why are we struggling with all we're struggling with that's not just refining fire it's judgment in America God's response to a true repentance is what happened in Nineveh he held back his judgment and God wanted to have mercy on repentance so we've got to have David's quickness to repent that's the key of David he repented when God pointed out and it's the key of David to turn and repent and pray if my repentance that was formed in me by God at my conversion does not continue and get deeper then the love that I have for Jesus will grow lukewarm brother if you don't have an ongoing repentance in your life your love will grow lukewarm but God wants to introduce a continual brokenness and if I don't have a continual repentance in my life I'll only gradually turn to a Pharisee it's easy to do I've done it you have too probably if you're a Christian we've looked down at others and we haven't seen our own great need God be merciful to me a sinner so tonight take sides with God against yourself like Job finally saw and I hate myself I repent I change my mind as a believer you see the deeper the revelation of the grace of God the deeper and more true and more intense will be my repentance it will be real and deep and intense and then the deeper and truer and more intense my repentance is the truer revelation I'll have further of God it's a wonderful cycle of going on from strength to strength and from faith to faith and when I really lay hold of God there'll be lower thoughts of self and higher thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ that's what will happen so this is the ongoing need of every soul in this room to know Him one last thing and I'm finished I want you to think of Ananias and Sapphira two believers they were not lost people they were believers in the early church and God's holiness was so awesome in the midst of the congregation and in that chapter in those early chapters of Acts people were taking their possessions and selling them and bringing all the money and laying it at the apostles feet saying we're giving this to God and truth was exalted as people said this is what we're doing and they did it Ananias and Sapphira said we're going to get in on that we like the way it feels in this group to be accepted and they were pretty wealthy so they went out and they sold their land for so much and they came and brought part of the money now God didn't care if they gave all their money I don't think He really did what was wrong is that they said they gave all their money they lied to the church and Peter comes in and he says you've lied to the Holy Spirit meaning you've lied to the church which is a synonymous thing in God's mind it's the body of Christ it's the mind of Christ you've lied to the people of God you've lied to God and you are going to be carried out and God removed them that plague of lying in that early church that breach in the spirit rather than create division He removed them what was their sin I believe their sin was this it was not giving their money it was this they wanted to be known simply as being thought nearer to God than they really were willing to go they wanted to be known in the role of being spiritual without the reality of being spiritual and I'm telling you what we're very close to this in heart today in our churches when we want to appear so this and that but on the inside we're not really at all doing that we profess to be at a level we're not and we substitute things for Jesus and we learn how to pray and act and where to go and we love the reputation for being a person of God a holy person but we're rebellious on the inside and I'm telling you it's not repentance and God's judgment will come experts students very busy for God assured that we teach the true way to eternal life and despite all the zeal and all the intensity in many of our places it's just like those Pharisees for many of us I'm not excluding myself and Jesus called them whitened sepulchers nice on the outside but inside dead men's bones clean on the outside but dirty pots on the inside full of themselves on the inside that's the field and their own thoughts and not seeking the true reality of God and my question to you and me is are we tired of this pretense are we tired of being hollow men when we get tired of this when we're going to do something about it and let God truly as we heard search us and deal with the issues on that list that I gave you do you realize what my sins merit before God and how merciful he is to me to let me stand up here tonight and how merciful he is to let us gather together here together and even hear these words from the word of God are there any repentant men here that's what I want to know are we willing to let God forge this on the anvil of our heart and turn it into a soft pillow for his head will you obey the Lord Jesus for God's sake have I repented not at one point but have I moved into this life of a turning from sin turning to God when he shows me something I'm turning from sin I'm turning to him it's an ever enlightening path of the justice like a shining light growing brighter and brighter as I walk in the light I see light and I get more light and I turn from sin and I see the word and I move on as I walk with him in the beauty of holiness God will never repent for me shallow repentance means shallow Christianity that's what we have in our nation shallow Christianity because of shallow repentance and we've allowed it the pulpits of America have allowed it and we ought to be the first ones brother to repent for our other brothers and ourselves for weak castrated preaching it's left off repentance only when Zion prevails the church in childbirth desperation that she bring forth her children by faith that we respond and we humble ourselves and we submit and we gaze upon him and come to him and we say I'm refusing to stay in the comfort zone I don't want to just be in the happy crowd I don't want to be in the dull pack of world lovers the positive image crowd and the bless me bunch and all the content to sit soak and sour and the spiritual know-it-alls I don't want to be that anymore I just want to be a person broken down before God and letting God put me back together turning from sin turning to God simplify me Lord I just want to do all that's in me that I know to repent I just want to fall before you and say make me sorry for my sins let me see them the way you see them and may I turn from sin to you repentance toward God and faith in my only hope and he's more than enough the Lord Jesus Christ that's why I love him that's why I love him because he's my answer