I do love this time of year.
We don't attribute any thing to Christmas as far as religious
significance. It's a it's a day. Nobody knows
when the Lord was born. But aren't you thankful he came
to this earth? Aren't you thankful he came? He was born and he,
oh, it's wonderful to think about. And I'm thankful for this time,
but I always feel a need to say, we don't put any religious significance
to any day. We celebrate the birth and the
death and the life of Christ every day. The resurrection,
we celebrate that every day in our heart. Thank God for the
Lord Jesus Christ. All ladies are invited to a bridal
shower for Monica Brian Sparks on Friday night, January 2nd.
Please pick up an invitation in the foyer and sign up if you
plan to attend. Luke chapter 13. Verse one. There were present at that season
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. Now this blood-curdling tale
is told about some people Pilate had put to death while they were
in the act of sacrificing, offering up sacrifices, and Pilate mixed
their blood with the sacrifices. they had been offering up. Now,
the Lord knows the way you and I think. And he says in response
to someone giving him this news of this current blood-curdling
event, and we hear things like this all the time in the news, suppose ye that they were extra
bad sinners above everybody else? above me
and you, that such things happen to them?" And his answer was,
no, no. Don't make that judgment, no.
Same thing will happen to you that happened to them, except
you repent. And then he speaks of another
current event. He says in verse two, or verse
four, or those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew
them. Think ye that they were sinners
above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem. He talked about something that
happened recently in Jerusalem. A tower fell maybe during the
construction process and killed 18 people. He says, do you think that those
people were killed were under some kind of special judgment
of God because they were extra bad sinners and therefore they
suffered the hand of God in judgment? Is that what you think? Well,
if you do, you're wrong. No, except you repent. The same thing is going to happen.
The same end is going to be for you. Now, upon the very surface,
don't think of calamities as judgments against sin. I've heard
stuff like that all my life. Every time something happens,
well, this is God's judgment against that demographic. You
know, AIDS is God's judgment against the homosexual population
or when that thing happened in New Orleans. It's because so
much immorality is going on there and God just wiped them out because
of that. Understand this, God is going
to punish sin and hell is the place of the punishment of sin.
Not here. Hell is the place God punishes
sin. Don't look at events. You know, there are Christians
who have died of AIDS. I have no doubt about that. You
know, when that tower fell, it could be it was 18 believers
who were killed. It very well could be. You see,
believers are not exempt from things that men experience. They're not. So don't look at
something that happens to somebody else and think well that's God's
judgment against them. You're no different than they
are. That's what the Lord says. Don't say things like that. Don't
look upon things in that light. That's a cruel and a self-righteous
attitude and the Lord is opposed to that. He said, do you think
they were sinners above everybody else? No, you're no different. And except you repent, the same
thing will take place with you. But that's not the main point
the Lord's making, although it is a point. Here's what these people were
saying. These men must have been more
evil than others, which translates, they were more evil than me. I haven't suffered that fate.
There are at least some people that I'm better than. In other
words, a religion of comparing myself with somebody else. I
can always find somebody that I feel a little better than they
are, and it makes me feel good about myself. The Lord says,
no, except you repent. and stop thinking like that.
That's what repentance means. It means change your mind. Except
you repent, you will perish in hell just like what you think
is gonna happen to these people when you see them suffering.
Now, I've entitled this message, Except You Repent. Except you personally. We don't need to worry about
anybody else right now, except you repent. When our Lord opened
his public ministry, he said in Mark chapter one, verse 15,
repent ye. Very first words. Repent ye and
believe the gospel. Change your mind and believe
the gospel. When Paul, the apostle, summarizes
the ministry that the Lord had given him, he said in Acts chapter
20 verse 21, this is my ministry, testifying both to the Jews and
also to the Greeks. Same message for everybody. Repentance
toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord,
shortly before his ascension, He gives his marching orders
to his church. He said, this is what is to be
preached, repentance and the remission of sins. So we see
the significance of this thing of repentance in the scriptures. What is it? Except you personally
repent, you will all likewise perish. Now I can remember many
times hearing preachers say, repent, Repent of your sins. You need to repent. And I remember
thinking to myself, maybe I would if I knew what that means. What does the Bible mean by this
thing of repentance? And I have to ask that question
because here are the facts. False prophets, and there are
many of those, Many of those. False prophets use the same words
that true prophets use. Words like grace. Here's the difference. A different
meaning is given to the word grace. Grace is not saving. It's God's offer of salvation. People talk about redemption.
Preachers, they'll use the word redemption, but it's an incomplete
redemption. There's something you need to
do to complete it. They use words like faith. You
got to believe, but they make faith a work that you need to
do in order for you to be born again. Now, these are misrepresentations. They're wrong definition to the
word, and people use the word repent. Preachers use the word
repent, and here's what they mean. You need to be sorry, and
you need to stop committing that sin. You need to be sorry, and
you need to stop it. Now, would I disagree that you
ought to be sorry? No. Would I disagree that we
ought to stop it? No. But let me ask you a question. How sorry? How much sorrow? When are you
sorry enough? Are there any sins that you've
stopped committing? No longer have problems with
that. You know when preachers say repent
of your sins, do you know how many times that phrase is found
in the scriptures? Not once. Now the idea is there, no doubt,
a change of mind regarding sin, but you don't find the phrase
repent of your sins even one single time. And yet that's what
most preachers say, repent, be sorry, stop doing it. If you
keep doing it, if you're not sorry enough, you haven't really
repented. Now, by definition, the word
repentance means a change of mind. A change of mind. Now this is a simple enough illustration,
but when I was a little boy, there were two foods I had a
particular disgust of. Brussels sprouts and tomatoes. I hated the smell of Brussels
sprouts. I hated the taste of them. I hated the texture of
them. It was difficult for me to, my mom and dad make me eat
the food put on my plate. There I was trying to swallow
that stuff down. And I hated the taste of tomatoes. I hate the smell of them. I hate
the texture of them. Now, lo and behold, Brussels
sprouts are one of my favorite foods. I love them. My mind has
been changed. I love the smell of them, I love
the texture of them, I love the taste of them. You can ask Len,
I say I could make a meal out of Brussels sprouts, a vegetable
of all things. My mind has been changed. But do you know I still
hate tomatoes? I hate the texture, I hate the
smell, I hate the taste. My mind has not been changed. Now, repentance is both an act and a state of being. It's an act. You repent. Something
you think about, something you're doing, you change your mind about
that. It's an act. But not only is
it an act, it is a state of being. I love what Brother Mahan said
regarding repentance. He said, repentance is a change
of mind that comes from a change of masters that results in a change of motives
and a change of manners. Yes, it's a change of mind, but
oh, what a change. There are a lot of things that
come with repentance. And repentance in the Scripture,
whatever it is, we're going to consider it. May God give us
His Spirit to be able to hear and understand what this thing
is. Repentance, like faith, is the gift of God. It's not something
you can work up. It's not something you can just
do. That's why I can remember hearing preachers preach on repent,
and I think, well, what's it mean? How do you do it? And then
I found myself repenting, my mind being changed. Why? God granted me repentance. Acts chapter 5 verse 31 says,
Him hath God exalted to be a prince and a savior for to give to Israel
repentance. It's a gift. Just like faith
is a gift. You can't work up faith. It's impossible for you
unless God gives it to you. You can't just up and decide
to believe. Repentance is the same way. You can't just up and
decide to repent. God's got to give it to you.
And when He does, you will repent. Second Timothy 2.24, Paul says
to Timothy, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,
if peradventure God will grant them, freely give to them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. Now, whatever repentance is,
it has something to do with the change of mind concerning this
thing we call the truth. The writer to the Hebrews spake
twice of repentance from dead works. As a matter of fact, in
Hebrews chapter six, when he gives the great foundations of
the faith, the ABCs of the gospel, the first thing he mentions is
repentance, a change of mind regarding dead works. Now what in the world does that
mean? Well, It's a change of mind regarding all your works
before you were given spiritual life. You find out they're all
evil. You once thought they were good.
You once thought the things that you did perhaps recommended you
or helped you in this thing of salvation. You thought, if I
do this, God will bless me. If I do this, God will save me.
You think of all these works that you think maybe you could
do. When you repent, you change your mind about your dead works.
You see that there were nothing but dead works performed by the
one dead in sins who could not save themselves unless God was
pleased to do something for them. Repentance from dead works. He also said, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. Now this thing of
repentance, this change of mind, There's one thing that brings
on this change of mind. Now, I know it's the gift of
God. He's got to give it to you. But here's what brings on this
true repentance, this repentance that's the gift of God, this
repentance that's unto salvation. It's just a necessary faith.
Repentance is the other side of faith. If you have faith,
you'll repent. If you repent, you'll have faith.
Now, what brings on repentance? It is a sight of the Lord. a spiritual sight of who God
is. And the only way you and I will
ever have that spiritual sight of who God is, is if He gives
it to us. Job said in Job chapter 42, verses
5 and 6, I've heard of thee with the hearing of the ears. I've
heard all kinds of accurate things regarding you, but now mine eye
seeth thee. Wherefore, I hate myself and
repent in dust and ashes. Beloved, if you and I ever see
the Lord, we'll hate ourselves and we'll repent. Any high thoughts
we have of ourselves It's simply because we haven't seen the Lord.
I think of what Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 6 beginning in
verse 1. He said, In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the
Lord high and lifted up and His train filled the temple. And
he gives this description of the Lord and the seraphims flying
around His throne crying, Holy, holy, holy. And you know what
Isaiah said? Woe is me. I think it's so interesting
if you look in the previous chapter in chapter 5, 5 times he said,
woe unto them, woe unto them, woe unto them. And now when he
sees the Lord, his speech has changed. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm cut off. There's
no hope for me. I'm a man of unclean lips. Everything
that comes out of my mouth is unclean. That's what Isaiah said
about himself. That's what happens when you
see the Lord. Daniel made this statement. He said, when he saw
the Lord, no strength remained in me, for my comeliness was
turned to corruption, and I retained no strength. When Peter saw the
Lord for the first time, who he was, he saw he was more than
a man. You know what he said? When he first found out who Christ
really was, he said, depart from me, Lord. You don't want to have
anything to do with me. I am a sinful man. I am a man full of sin. That's all there is there. And
when you see the Lord, you'll see that. And if you don't see
that, it's because you ain't seen the Lord. It really is that simple. I think of the gathering demonic.
The scripture says he saw the Lord afar off. And he did what
everybody does, whoever sees the Lord. He says he ran and
fell on his face and worshiped him, saying, what have I to do
with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? What connection
is there between me and you? You're holy. I'm evil. You're
good. I'm bad. You're light. I'm darkness. You're immutable. I'm just a
frail, changing, sinful creature. Now, let me repeat. Any high
thoughts we have of self are rooted in never having seen the
Lord. If I see the Lord, I will repent. I will change my mind. I will see myself as exceeding
sinful. Now this thing of repentance
is brought on by seeing the Lord, but it's not a physical sight.
It's hearing his word. It's brought on by seeing, but
that comes from hearing. Now let me read you this passage.
It doesn't matter if I go ahead and turn to Luke chapter 16 for a moment.
This is about the rich man who's in hell. He'd asked Abraham to
send Lazarus to send a... a bit of water to put on his
tongue. He said, I'm tormented in this flame. And Abraham said
he couldn't do it. There was a great goal fixed.
And then the rich man says in verse 27 of Luke chapter 16,
then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would send
him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he
may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of
torment. I don't want my brothers coming here. And Abraham said,
and then they had Moses and the prophets. They've got the Scriptures,
let them hear them. And He said, No, Father Abraham,
but if one run unto them from the dead, they'll repent. If somebody had actually been
in hell, or actually somebody had been in heaven, and they
came back and testified to you of the greatness of heaven and
the glory of heaven, or the pain of hell, No, it wouldn't change you a
bit. He said, if one rose from the
dead, they'd hear him. Verse 31, and he said, if they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
neither will they repent, though one rose from the dead. Now, repentance primarily is
a change of mind toward God. I remember even as a boy thinking
how I'd change God if I could. I'd make it to where I'd get
into heaven somehow without, you know, I'd change his holiness
where he could accept people like me. I would change his justice. I would figure out ways to get
myself in and change him. I don't think stuff like that
as a boy. Somebody says, well, you were weird. Maybe I was. I don't
know. I mean, that kind of stuff is
going on in my mind all the time. When I was a young boy, I dreaded
the thought of going to hell. Now, I just did. I'd think about it. Think about
it. Before I was in grade school, I would think about hell. and
just scared to death. And I would think, what could
I do? Well, if it were in my power, how would I change God?
I'd change him so I could get in there. It wouldn't mean everything
would be okay. I really disliked his holiness.
I disliked his justice. I disliked his strictness. When
I heard of his absolute sovereignty, I didn't like that. The fact
that he saves whom he will save and salvation was completely
out of my hands and there wasn't anything else I could do to save
myself because it was his sovereign gift given to whomsoever he pleased.
I didn't like that. I've changed my mind, because
the Lord changed my mind. I like it now. Not only do I
like it, I love it. I find my whole salvation in
His work. My mind's been changed. I love all of His attributes.
There was a time when I did, and I changed them. But now,
I love Him the way He is. My mind's been changed. The change
of mind concerning God, the change of mind concerning how He saves
sinners. I used to dislike what we call
the doctrine of grace in that I saw that there wasn't anything
I could do to save myself. If I'm dead in sins and God elected
a people and Christ died only for the elect and God's grace
is invincible and irresistible, why? Salvation's totally out
of my hands! It already was. This doesn't
close the door of mercy on me. It makes a way for God to save
me. I love what I once did not love. My mind has been changed. I've had a change of mind about
myself. I remember I used to think tomorrow I'm going to get
this thing straightened out. Tomorrow I'm going to do better. if I'm just under the right circumstances,
if I'm in the right environment, and if I can get away from these
people that are dragging me down, and if I can, oh, I can straighten
this thing out. I don't think that anymore. My
mind's been changed about myself. I see that I'm nothing but sin,
and there's not one thing I can do to save myself. And I can
lie to myself and say, well, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna
do that. It's all a lie. I see that. I've changed my mind. Lord's changed my mind. And oh,
what a change of mind I've had about salvation by grace, by
Christ, by Him getting all the glory and salvation. I love this.
My mind has been changed. I love being saved by the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. I love the power of His precious
blood that puts away all my sin. My mind has been changed. Repentance toward God. You know,
my mind's been changed about the things Christ says. You know,
when I hear things like, if any man come after me, let him deny
himself. Take up his cross and follow
me. Ooh, that doesn't sound so attractive. That's kind of missing. You know,
my mind's been changed, though. I love the thought of denying
myself. Myself's my big problem. I want
to deny myself. I want to take up my cross, and
I want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a time I had
no love for holiness. I love holiness now because I
love Him. My mind has been changed. Now repentance, I think this
is very interesting. If you look this up in concordance,
you'd find how often these two words are associated. Repentance
and the forgiveness of sins. Repentance and the remission
of sins. As a matter of fact, It was said of John when he was
baptizing, he preached the baptism of repentance regarding, concerning
the remission of sins. Now what's this all about? Remission
regarding, or repentance regarding the remission of sins. Now this
is so important. False religion, now you listen
to me real carefully. Perhaps you've heard me say this
before, but listen again. False religion makes forgiveness
the end of a process. You repent, you believe, you
get your life straightened out, you ask the Lord to do this for
you and that for you, and at the end you'll have the forgiveness
of sins. In other words, you've got to
work for the forgiveness of sins. There are things you need to
do in order to achieve the forgiveness of sins. Now everybody wants
their sins forgiven. I don't know anybody that doesn't want
their sins forgiven. Do you? I mean, I want mine forgiven. But do
you know the gospel of Jesus Christ does not end with the
forgiveness of sins? It doesn't say, you do this,
this, this, and this, and here's the end. You'll have the forgiveness
of sins. That's false religion. That's
salvation by works. There's not a drop of truth in
it. Salvation does not end with the
forgiveness of sins. Salvation, God's salvation, begins
with the full. free, frank, complete forgiveness
of sins. I repent of thinking there's
anything I do to achieve forgiveness. My mind's been changed. I now
see that God forgives me for Christ's sake, not because of
anything I do or intend to do, Everything he does, he does for
Christ's sake. And I repent of thinking anything
else. Now that's what repentance is
primarily. Repentance is a change of mind
regarding this thing of the forgiveness of sins. You find out that you've
been forgiven. You don't do things in order
to be forgiven. You find out forgiveness comes
to you for Christ's sake. Let me show you this in Isaiah
chapter 43. Verse 22, God says to Jacob, Isaiah 43 verse 22, But thou
hast not called upon me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me,
O Israel. You got tired of me. You got
tired of who I am. You got tired of how I am. Verse 23, thou hast not brought
me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither has thou honored
me with thy sacrifices. I've not caused thee to serve
with an offering or wearied thee with incense. Thou has bought
me no sweet cane with money, neither has thou filled me with
the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou has made me to serve with
thy sins. Thou has wearied me with thine
iniquities. All you've had to give me is
sin. That's it. Verse 25, I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake. No reason found in you. I do it for my own sake and will
not remember thy sins. I take you back to myself, not
holding you off, but not even remembering your sins because
they've been blotted out. And it sure wasn't because of
anything you did. I do it for my own sake. Isn't that the way
the Lord forgave you? If you've been forgiven, you
know that's the way the Lord forgave you. Now let me close by giving you
seven truths regarding repentance. Number one, true repentance owns
God's holiness and my own sinfulness. Job didn't repent when he was
afflicted. He just got harder. He kept trying to vindicate himself
and justify himself. He repented when he saw the Lord. And when he saw the Lord, that's
when he said, I hate myself. And I repent in dust and ashes.
Secondly, true repentance, the gift of God's grace, acknowledges
God's sovereign right to do what he will with his own. He came up to Eli and said, Eli,
God's gonna kill your two sons. He said, it's the Lord. Let him
do what seemeth him good. Whatever he does is right. Thirdly, true repentance justifies
God. David said in Psalm 51, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when you speak and clear when
you judge. All this self-indication and
self-justification leaves when we truly repent. We justify God
in all that he does. We quit being his judge and we
justify him. Fourth, True repentance owns
that it lies within God's sovereign will to pass me by or to show me mercy. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. It's totally up to your will. as to whether I'll be clean or
whether I'll be passed by in justice. True repentance owns
that it lies within God's sovereign will to pass me by or show me
mercy. And true repentance gives God
all the glory. We read in Revelation 16, 8 of
those who repented not to give him
the glory. Those who truly repent give him
all the glory. Now, if you haven't heard anything
I've said up to this point, hear this last thing, this most important
part. True repentance looks solely
to Christ for salvation. and claims no past, present,
or future merit. That's what true repentance does.
You see, faith is the other side of the paper. If you repent,
you really do look to Christ as your only righteousness before
God. and you don't make any promises
of future merit, past or present, you throw it all out the window
and you look to Christ alone. Oh, what a blessing it is when
someone is enabled by the grace of God to rest in Christ alone. Now we read these words In Acts
chapter 17 verse 30, God commandeth all men, and me and you are included
in that group, aren't we? That means he's speaking to you. God commandeth all men to repent. I repent. And except you repent, the Lord
said, you shall all likewise perish. Let's pray together.