Repentance

Last Sunday’s sermon was preached by Pastor Harry with the title “Repentance” (Acts 20:21; 1 Samuel 7:3-14; Luke 3:3-4). The sermon and the whole service can be watched on our WIC YouTube Channel.

Once again we turn to the subject of baptism – for just a minute. We’ve been occupied a lot with water baptism. And then a couple of weeks ago I gave a message on spiritual baptisms: baptism into Jesus Christ and baptism of the Holy Spirit. But did you know that a fourth baptism is mentioned in the Bible?: the baptism of repentance, which was preached by John the Baptist. What does he mean by “baptism of repentance”? It means he’s calling people to repent of their sins – by which he understands not just feeling sorry for their sins: even worldly people can do that! It means regretting them intensely because they are all sins against God; turning away from them completely; turning towards God; and having faith in the Messiah Jesus, whom John knew would come at any moment.

 

So the repentance is a preparation for what is to come: preparing your heart for God and straightening out your life in readiness to meet the Saviour. People came to John to do just that. And by baptizing them by immersion in the Jordan River, John was teaching them that their repentance of sins before God meant that God had forgiven – “drowned” – their sins. They were declared clean: their sins were no longer held against them if they had genuinely repented; and all they had to do now was to put their faith in Jesus whose arrival was imminent. It must have been a wonderful time of expectation for the Jews.

 

Friends, nothing has changed since those days. What Paul says so succinctly in our opening verse is still our blueprint for sharing the Gospel with others today: “repent from your sins; turn away from your sins; turn towards God; and put your faith in Jesus Christ”. Do this, and you will live! Repent; turn away; turn towards; and have faith in Jesus.

 

There’s only one problem. Almost everyone will tell you they believe in some sort of God. Many people will tell you they believe in Jesus. But how many people sincerely repent of their sins? – not because those sins had a bad effect on them (that would be worldly sorrow); but because they’ve finally realized – to their horror – that they’ve actually sinned against God and forfeited eternal life! How many people realize that? Do we realize it?

 

My Friends, that is precisely the situation of the church today. It’s a church without repentance – and therefore a church without revival. That’s why I’ve chosen to look at the spiritual life of the Jews in Samuel’s day: it’s so similar to our present situation. Do you know what the Bible says about those days, in 1 Samuel 3:1? It says: “In those days, messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon”. How depressing. Just like the church today.

 

Samuel was a little boy who assisted Eli the high priest. Samuel had an anointing from the Lord. But Eli, despite carrying out his obligations, had two good-for-nothing sons, also priests. They were shamelessly corrupt; and felt no repentance. For instance, they were seducing young women. But the worst thing of all was, they were helping themselves to the offerings brought to the Lord by the faithful – in this case, the meat sacrifices. 1 Samuel 2:17 sums up the seriousness of their crimes: “The sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the offerings to the Lord with contempt”. Their father Eli knew that what they were doing was wrong, and even told them about it – but he didn’t have the courage to control them. All this sealed their fate. The Bible tells us that God was planning to put them to death. He did so, and put Eli to death as well, for his indecision and lack of accountability, despite being in charge.

 

Dear Friends, this is the church today: so often run by people who want prestige, power and control, but have no shame, no fear of God and no repentance in them. They don’t realize the full horror of their sins: sins of commission, and sins of omission. What you did; and what you failed to do. Without repentance, you can’t worship the Lord – you worship your own self, symbolized in the Bible by idolatry: the images of gods and goddesses. Your idols: money, sex, greed, power or whatever.

 

But our passage from 1 Samuel is actually a message of hope: of good news. Samuel himself was a true man of God – and therefore the Lord heard his prayers when he pleaded for the Israelites to be protected from the attacking Philistines (symbolizing Satan). But there was another, perhaps even more important, factor at work: the people repented. They poured out precious drinking water before the Lord. Would you give a precious sacrifice to God? How precious? They confessed their sins against the Lord. Would you confess your sins against God to God Himself – not with your mouth, but with your heart? So when the Philistines started to attack, the Lord threw them into confusion, and the Israelites defeated them. What was it that saved the day?: the prayers of a godly person; and the sincere repentance of the people. This was what released God’s power.

 

Samuel placed a large stone to commemorate God’s coming to the rescue in this empty period of the nation’s history. He called the stone Ebenezer: “stone of help” – because the Lord had helped the Israelites up to that point. So we have yet another symbol – because we too have a Stone, which has helped us up to this point: the Stone over which so many stumble; the Corner-stone; the Rock of Ages – Jesus Christ. He too helps us in every need. And even when the church is brought to its knees by unworthy people, who should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, our sincere faith in Christ will see us through, and bring revival. “Prepare the way for the Lord, and make straight the paths for Him”. Let’s take the prophet’s call very, very seriously. It applies to us; it requires our repentance; and it is for the forgiveness of our sins; so that God may be glorified. Amen.