Participants:
Series Code: AFDB
Program Code: AFDB000163S
|
00:02 male announcer: This presentation is brought to you
00:04 by the friends of the "Amazing Facts" ministry. 00:14 Doug Batchelor: First thing John the Baptist says, "Repent, 00:17 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 00:19 Now if the kingdom of heaven was at hand 2,000 years ago, is the 00:22 kingdom of heaven at hand now? 00:23 Absolutely, that means eternal life is within your reach but it 00:27 begins with repentance. 00:33 Well friends, we're talking this week about the science of 00:37 salvation, what it means to be born again, to get 00:41 the new heart. 00:42 You know Jesus said, in the message to the church of 00:44 Laodicea, and matter of fact I might read that, and you find it 00:48 in Revelation chapter 3, verse 17. 00:51 "Because you say, 'I'm rich and have become wealthy, and have 00:54 need of nothing--' and you do not know that you are wretched 00:58 and miserable and blind and poor and naked--I counsel you to buy 01:02 of me gold refined in the fire, that you might be rich; and 01:06 white garments, that you might be clothed, that the shame of 01:09 your nakedness may not be revealed; and your eyes anointed 01:13 with eye salve, that you may see. 01:16 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. 01:19 Therefore be zealous and repent." 01:23 And that's the theme of our message this morning, we're 01:25 gonna be talking about what real repentance looks like. 01:28 You know, before God can wash away the stain of sin, first you 01:31 need to be aware that there is a stain on the garment, and that 01:34 happens as you approach the light of God. 01:37 So you read in God's word, his word is a lamp and a light, you 01:41 look at the goodness and the glory of Jesus on the cross. 01:44 That then, by contrast, reflects on our lives and we recognize 01:48 there's a problem. 01:50 I'll tell you a quick story. 01:51 When I was a little boy, oh, I must have been four and a half, 01:54 five years old, living with my father in Southern California 01:58 and my dad had an interesting piece of equipment there in the 02:03 hallway upstairs by his bedroom, it was a shoe shine machine. 02:06 I still see them today, it was a chrome motor that basically had 02:11 a pedestal that sat on the carpet, and it had a brush, a 02:14 black brush that stuck out one side, big furry black brush, and 02:17 a red brush--I didn't know why he had a red brush 'cause he had 02:19 no red shoes--that stuck out of the other side, and a big button 02:23 on the top. 02:24 And before my dad went to work, he'd walk out in the hall, he'd 02:26 step on the button and all of a sudden the machine would begin 02:30 to spin very fast, powerful motor, and it would go woosh. 02:34 And he'd buff his feet under his shoe shine machine, he'd step on 02:38 it and he'd go to work. 02:39 Once, I used to love to play with the shoe shine machine when 02:42 I was that age, and I'd just sit there and I'd turn it on, I 02:44 tried to stop it and it would make my hands hot 'cause I could 02:47 never quite stop the motor, it was too powerful. 02:50 But it was fun, it gave me a sense of power, I could turn 02:52 this thing off and on. 02:54 One morning, I woke up before anyone else, it was Sunday, they 02:57 were sleeping in and everyone was asleep, I got bored, 03:01 I walked out in the hall and so for a few minutes I played with 03:03 the shoe shine machine, turned it off, turn it on, turn it off, 03:06 turn it on. 03:08 And then I thought well, this is not made for just turning it off 03:11 and on, it's made for shining shoes, I'm going to make my dad 03:14 very happy, I will shine his shoes. 03:16 So I quietly opened his bedroom door, I tiptoed into the 03:19 bedroom, he used to always kick his shoes off by the wall, and 03:22 I picked up his two black dress shoes and I brought them 03:25 out in the hall. 03:27 I quietly shut the door and I was gonna shine his shoes, 03:28 I thought, now wait a second, if I'm not mistaken, there is some 03:31 shoe polish underneath the sink in the bathroom. 03:34 So I went into the bathroom, I opened the cupboard, and sure 03:37 enough there was that bottle of shoe polish. 03:39 Now see, this was the liquid "Griffin Shoe Polish" that you 03:43 apply with an applicator, I did not know that back then and so 03:47 I'm trying to figure out how this all works, and I figured, 03:49 well black shoe polish, it was clear the bottle was black, 03:52 black shoe polish must go on the black brush. 03:54 So I fought this applicator off the top and I poured a generous 03:58 amount of black shoe polish on the black brush, and then I 04:01 turned on the machine and something terrible happened. 04:06 First, the machine began to bounce because all of it had 04:08 soaked on one side and it was out of balance, and so the 04:11 machines hopping a little bit, and then it picks up speed and 04:13 all this happens in a fraction of a second. 04:15 Picks up speed and it goes whoosh and it just sprayed 04:20 basically a black rainbow up the wall, through the face on the 04:26 painting of a Spanish soldier, a conquistador my dad had on the 04:29 wall, across the ceiling, down the other side, and through 04:32 the carpet. 04:33 And I saw that, almost instantly I hit the button and I turned it 04:36 off because I knew that was not how I was supposed to shine 04:38 his shoes. 04:39 And I looked at that black rainbow and I thought, wow, 04:44 I better go back to bed, I saw no way out of this one. 04:48 So I just left all the apparatus there in the hall and I went 04:54 back into the bedroom and I acted like I was asleep. 04:56 Now I shared a bedroom with my brother and I also had 04:59 a step-brother down the hall. 05:00 Eventually, it took forever, I heard my father, he was making 05:04 the noise, I could hear he's waking up. 05:06 And pretty soon I heard some bang in the bedroom and I heard 05:09 the bedroom door open, and he walked out into the hall, and 05:13 then I heard him make some noise that I'd never heard him make 05:15 before, and he kinda, "What, who, ah--" and then he call out 05:20 my name. 05:21 He said, "Dougie," and I thought, why is he calling 05:24 my name? 05:25 Nobody saw me, nobody will know, and I had, could have been my 05:28 brother, could have been my stepbrother. 05:31 And he comes and he opens up the bedroom door, turns on the 05:34 light, said, "Dougie," I didn't say anything. 05:38 "Dougie," and I thought, oh, he's serious, I said, "Yeah?" 05:40 You know, I'm acting like I'm waking up, he said, 05:42 "Get in here." 05:43 So I kinda crawl out of bed and I go off into the hall, and I 05:48 must be looking pretty guilty, he points to this black mess in 05:52 the hallway and he said, "You know anything about this?" 05:56 Well I'm thinking, you know I wanted to tell the truth but I 05:58 thought, I'm gonna be in big trouble, this is a big mess and 06:03 I thought nobody saw me, there's no way in the world he's gonna 06:05 know that I was responsible, so I said, "No." 06:10 He said, "I'm going to ask you again, do you know anything 06:13 about how this happened?" 06:15 And you know, once you start lying it gets easier to keep on, 06:17 I said, "No," he said, "Okay." 06:21 So he sits down on a bench that conveniently was right there in 06:24 the hall and he said, "Well, I'm going to spank you until you 06:27 tell me the truth," and he takes me and he puts me across his 06:30 knee and he begins the battle my posterior. 06:34 And while he's spanking me, I'm starting out, I'm going, "I 06:36 didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't do it," and somewhere 06:39 along the way you know, you snap under the torture, and I go, 06:43 "I did it, I did it." 06:45 And he sat me down and he said, "I'm not spanking you for making 06:51 a mistake, I'm not spanking you for making a mess, I'm spanking 06:54 you because you lied to me." 06:56 He said, "Now stop crying and go in the bathroom wash your face." 06:59 So I went whimpering off into the bathroom and I remember 07:02 I had to stand on a little stool to get into the sink, and I 07:04 stood on the stool and I looked in the mirror, I had black spots 07:09 all over my face. 07:11 I'm looking at my father and I'm going, "I didn't do it, I don't 07:14 know who did it, someone probably broke in, a robber came 07:18 and he played with the shoeshine machine." 07:21 I don't know who I thought I was fooling but I looked in that 07:24 mirror when the bathroom light was on and I said, "Busted." 07:29 That's probably not what I said but that's what I thought, 07:32 I said, "Woe is me, I am undone." 07:34 And this is what happens when a person comes into the blazing 07:37 glory of God's goodness, his purity and his holiness, by 07:41 contrast we see our sin and you've got one of two choices. 07:47 Draw close to the Lord, and yes, you will have your sin exposed 07:51 in the light but he will then cleanse you from your sin, or 07:55 turn away back into the darkness and the ignorance. 07:58 Don't be afraid to come into the light of God's glory. 08:02 So, that leads us to the next big step, which is what real 08:06 repentance is all about. 08:07 Now when we talk about the story of sin and repentance, so many 08:12 people go to the great sin of David that you find, it's called 08:16 "David's Great Transgression," and I'm not gonna rehearse all 08:19 the sordid details of this story, we all know that David 08:23 committed a terrible sin with Bathsheba. 08:25 Bathsheba was married to one of David's faithful soldiers by the 08:29 name of Uriah, and David tempted Bathsheba, he saw her bathing 08:36 from the roof, called for her, he enticed her, they had an 08:41 affair together, she became pregnant, and then David doesn't 08:45 want to be exposed and rather than repenting and confessing 08:48 the sin, he tries to cover it up and hide it, tries to cover 08:51 his tracks. 08:53 And so in order to do that, he's willing to sacrifice and murder, 08:56 basically, through the sword of the children of Ammon, he sends 09:01 Uriah on a suicide mission so he's killed in battle. 09:05 And Bathsheba eventually has her baby and David thinks, "Okay, 09:10 nobody knows," forgetting you can't hide from the Lord, 09:13 God sees everything. 09:16 And then Nathan the prophet comes to David and he tells 09:19 David this parable about a shepherd who's got this one 09:22 sheep that the family loves, it's the family pet. 09:25 His neighbor's a rich rancher with thousands of sheep, someone 09:29 comes to visit the rich rancher and the rancher takes this one 09:32 man's only sheep, butchers it, and feeds it to his company. 09:37 And David hears that and he's so outraged Nathan tells him the 09:40 story, he says, "That man is going to die and he's gonna pay 09:44 fourfold," and before David even calms down Nathan says, "Thou 09:50 art the man," and he goes on and explains what David had done. 09:55 You can read about this in 2 Samuel, it talks about the sin 09:59 of David, and when David sinned, it says in 2 Samuel 11, and in 10:04 verse 27, "The thing that David had done displeased the Lord," 10:08 and he didn't repent. 10:10 So finally, he had to be convicted and confronted 10:12 with his sin. 10:14 And after Nathan the prophet told this story, he said, 10:16 "You are the man, you're the man. 10:19 Uriah had one wife and you took his wife, and you had a whole 10:22 harem of wives, and then you had him murdered." 10:26 And when you really think about it, what he did was 10:27 extraordinarily despicable. 10:30 He says, "You have killed," and this by the way is 2 Samuel 12, 10:33 verse 9, "You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the 10:36 sword, you've taken his wife to be your wife, you've killed him 10:40 with the sword of the people of Ammon," and there was a terrible 10:44 penalty that came for David because of that. 10:46 But finally, David, when he heard this, he says in verse 13, 10:51 "I have sinned." 10:53 Now whatever David did he did with all of his heart, there's a 10:56 lot of people in the church out there, they want to sin like 10:59 David but they don't want to repent like David. 11:01 When David was finally convicted of his sin, he said, "Woe is me, 11:05 I have sinned," and he went and he laid on the ground and the 11:11 baby of David and Bathsheba was stricken with illness, and he 11:15 went and he laid on the ground and he prayed and he repented 11:19 for seven days. 11:21 Now, a lot of people I know, if they want to sin like David, 11:24 they don't want to repent like David, and he confessed, 11:27 he repented of his sin. 11:28 And I told you that repentance is a difficult thing but it 11:32 actually leads to a beautiful thing. 11:34 During this time, if you've got a Bible and you look in Psalm 11:37 chapter 51, and a lot of folks are using "The Revival" now as 11:40 their church service and hopefully you've got 11:42 a Bible handy. 11:44 You can look in Psalm 51, you'll notice that in the introduction 11:46 it says, "To the chief musician. 11:48 A psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet went to him after he 11:52 had gone into Bathsheba," and this is ostensibly after David 11:55 said, "I have sinned." 11:58 He says, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your 12:02 lovingkindness, according to the multitude of your tender 12:05 mercies, blot out my transgression, wash me 12:08 thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin." 12:12 He calls it iniquity, wickedness, sin, he does not 12:14 hide, he completely unfolds what he has done. 12:19 "I acknowledge my transgression, my sin is always before me. 12:23 Against you and you only, I've sinned." 12:25 He says that because ultimately, all sin is against God, the 12:28 creator of all people and all things, and it was his law he 12:31 had broken, so now why is he praying this prayer? 12:35 I'm not gonna read it all, I hope you do that, it says, 12:39 "Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken 12:43 may rejoice." 12:45 The purpose of repentance is only to make you feel bad long 12:48 enough so you can really enjoy a new life, God does not want us 12:52 to live in misery forever but he wants us to truly humble 12:55 ourselves that he might lift us up. 12:58 "Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities," I'm 13:01 reading in verse 10, Psalm 51, verse 10, "Create in me 13:05 a clean heart." 13:06 Now this is what we're after in this series, the new heart, 13:09 it is a miracle of God's creation through His Spirit. 13:12 You want the new heart, you must repent of and confess your sins, 13:15 and I'll say more about repentance in a moment. 13:17 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a steadfast 13:21 spirit within me. 13:22 Do not cast me away from your presence," what a terrible thing 13:25 to grieve away the Holy Spirit. 13:27 "Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. 13:29 Restore unto me," notice, "The joy," now don't you want 13:32 the joy of the Lord? 13:34 Repentance must come first. 13:36 "Restore unto me the joy of your salvation," you go down to verse 13:39 14, "And my tongue will sing," some people go to church and 13:43 they don't sing because they haven't got anything to sing 13:45 about because they're living in sin, they need to repent of 13:47 their sins, they'll have the joy of the Lord, then they'll really 13:50 sing the songs, they'll know what it means to sing the 13:52 song "Redeemed." 13:54 But the way a lot of people in church sing it, "Redeemed, how I 13:57 love to proclaim it," they're not redeemed and so they can't 14:01 really sing the song. 14:02 But when we are forgiven and we know that he has cleansed us 14:06 from our sins, "Then my tongue will sing aloud of your 14:09 righteousness, O Lord, my lips, my mouth shall show forth 14:13 your praises." 14:15 We will have joy, we will have song, we will have praise, 14:18 Repentance is a heavy subject but it leads to a joyful life. 14:23 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 14:26 free resource. 14:27 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can 14:29 download a digital copy straight to your computer or 14:32 mobile device. 14:33 To get your copy of today's free gift, simply call us and ask for 14:37 the offer number shown on your screen or visit the web address 14:41 and download a digital copy, and be sure to select a digital 14:44 download option on the request page. 14:46 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 14:50 "Amazing Facts" wherever and whenever you want, and 14:53 most important, to share it with others. 14:57 Doug Batchelor: When we talk about repentance you don't hear 14:59 a lot of sermons on this and I don't know why 'cause the Bible 15:02 really begins with repentance, New Testament in particular. 15:07 You look in Matthew chapter 3, verse 1, "In those days John the 15:11 Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea," first 15:15 thing John the Baptist says, "Repent, for the kingdom of 15:18 heaven is at hand." 15:19 Notice, repentance is commanded, he said, "Repent, for the 15:23 kingdom of heaven is at hand." 15:24 Not only John the Baptist but Jesus when he began preaching. 15:29 Matthew chapter 4, verse 17, "From that time Jesus began to 15:33 preach," saying the exact same words, "Repent, for the kingdom 15:37 of heaven is at hand." 15:38 Now if the kingdom of heaven was at hand 2,000 years ago is the 15:41 kingdom of heaven at hand now? 15:43 Absolutely, that means eternal life is within your reach but it 15:47 begins with repentance and that happens after we see the 15:51 goodness of God. 15:53 Acts chapter 17, verse 30: "Truly, these times of ignorance 15:57 God overlooked," he winked at, "But now he commands all men and 16:02 women everywhere to repent." 16:05 One of the most dangerous things is for people to not understand 16:08 the true state before the Lord and so many Christians are 16:11 content to go through the religious motions and they 16:14 really don't have the new heart, but that's going to begin 16:17 by repenting. 16:19 Jesus said, "I command you therefore to repent," 16:22 so repentance is not only a command, 16:24 repentance is a calling. 16:26 Luke chapter 5, verse 32, Jesus said, "I have not come to call 16:31 the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." 16:34 Why did Jesus come? 16:36 "I've come to call sinners." 16:37 Now if people think they're already righteous they're not 16:40 going to listen, like the scribes and Pharisees and many 16:43 Christians today that are lukewarm, we don't have a real 16:45 knowledge of ourselves. 16:47 When Nicodemus came to Jesus he was a teacher in Israel, 16:51 everybody would want him to be on their church staff, to be an 16:54 elder in their church, good man, a moral man, a generous man, but 16:58 Jesus said to him, "You need to be born again." 17:01 He represents so many people that go through the motions of 17:03 Christianity but they're not born again, and Christ said, 17:07 "I'm calling us to repentance, sorrow for our sins." 17:12 Repentance is not only your calling, it is a condition to 17:15 salvation, it's something that must happen. 17:19 You look in Luke chapter 13, Jesus is very clear, he said, 17:22 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent you will all 17:26 likewise perish." 17:28 He said all, he means all, everybody needs to repent or 17:31 they're going to perish, so repentance is a condition 17:34 to salvation. 17:36 2 Peter 3, verse 9: "God is not willing that any should perish 17:41 but that we should all come to repentance," he wants us to be 17:44 saved, the Lord is calling us to this experience of being sorry 17:49 for our sins and then turning. 17:51 And you can read in Acts chapter 2, verse 37, Peter preaches 17:54 there at Pentecost and after he, see, what he does is he shows 17:58 people the Lord. 18:00 He shows people the goodness of God, they see what they've done 18:03 to their savior, they're overwhelmed with conviction, the 18:06 Bible says, "Their hearts were pricked," and they say, 18:08 "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 18:11 And he said, "Repent, therefore, every one of you and be baptized 18:15 in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin," baptism 18:19 is something that follows a repentance and a forsaking of 18:21 sin, "And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 18:25 Now to have the new heart you need to be Spirit-filled, 18:28 what comes before that? 18:30 A repentance for sin, that's why David said, "Take not your 18:33 Holy Spirit from me," what happens before that? 18:36 He's repenting. 18:37 So friends, it's a condition, not only that we don't perish 18:41 but in order to be Spirit-filled we must be cleansed from our 18:44 sin, God cannot cleanse us from our sin until we acknowledge 18:48 our sin before him and repent of it. 18:52 So first comes repentance then comes the Holy Spirit. 18:57 Something else about repentance, point number four, repentance 19:01 is a conviction. 19:04 Romans 2, verse 4: "Or do you despise the riches of his 19:09 goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing it 19:12 is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance?" 19:15 The more time, we spend with Jesus, and how do you do that? 19:19 Well you do it in his Word as you look at His life, you do it 19:22 in prayer as you commune with Him, He speaks to you through 19:28 His Word. 19:29 And the more time you spend with him, the more you'll be 19:31 transformed into his image, and you'll find that repentance is 19:35 not something that will just happen once. 19:37 It may happen in a big way when you first come to the Lord, but 19:40 many times, as we said during our question time, you'll have 19:43 to die daily. 19:44 And whenever you do sin, don't get discouraged if you fall 19:47 again, you repent of that, pick yourself back up and you 19:50 continue on with the Lord. 19:52 So it is a condition to our salvation and repentance 19:57 brings conviction. 19:59 Acts chapter 5, verse 31, the Bible tells us there, "Him, God 20:04 has exalted to his right hand to be a Prince and Savior, to give 20:08 repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin." 20:12 God will never ask you to do something without making it 20:15 available, and the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, he will give 20:18 you this conviction as a gift. 20:19 The Holy Spirit comes to comfort, he also comes to 20:21 convict, and it was the Holy Spirit that brought 20:24 conviction to the people when they said, "Men and brethren, 20:26 what shall we do?" 20:28 And you read also, in Acts 11, verse 18: "And they glorified 20:32 God, saying, 'Then God has also granted to the Gentiles 20:36 repentance to life.'" 20:38 If you want everlasting life, there needs to be repentance 20:41 that will precede that, and that comes through the Holy Spirit 20:45 as a gift. 20:46 "So, Pastor Doug, you're wanting us to feel bad about our sins?" 20:52 Well, that's what God says, yes, you do not want to feel good 20:55 about doing bad. 20:57 You know, people say, "I can't quit sinning," Oh yes, you can, 21:01 you just need to be motivated enough, all things are possible 21:05 with God; God is never gonna ask you to do something 21:08 you cannot do. 21:09 So much has been said about grace and people don't say 21:12 enough about victory, we underestimate the power of God, 21:16 and simply exercising the power of the will to give your heart 21:20 to the Lord. 21:21 My grandfather, he smoked for 50 years, and he smoked the 21:24 industrial strength cigarettes called "Lucky Strikes." 21:28 And he tried and tried, he couldn't quit, he used to drive 21:31 my grandmother crazy. 21:33 He went to the hospital for a minor stomach problem and he was 21:36 in a bed next to another man, and the man in the bed next to 21:41 him had had his voice box removed from cancer from 21:45 smoking, and my grandfather said he saw the man in the bed next 21:48 to him smoking a cigarette through the hole in his throat, 21:53 and the smoke coming out of this new hole that was made 21:55 in his throat. 21:57 My grandfather said that was all it took, he threw away his 22:00 cigarettes, he never smoked again, and he lived to 93. 22:03 So it's amazing what you can do if you really want to; through 22:07 love for God, which is the best motive, and the avoidance of 22:11 eternal destruction and if you really believe. 22:15 You know, a person says, "You know I really believe, 22:17 I believe." 22:19 Well, if you believe then you're going to make a change, 22:20 repentance is a choice. 22:23 Acts 3:19: "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins 22:27 might be blotted out," repentance is a criteria to our 22:30 sins being blotted out, "When the times of refreshing come 22:34 from the presence of the Lord." 22:37 A sign was in front of a Baptist Church, it said, "Repent now and 22:40 avoid the rush." 22:41 Everybody's gonna repent when Jesus comes but it'll be too 22:44 late then, now is the time to repent and be filled with the 22:47 Holy Spirit and saved. 22:49 Mark 1:15: Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God 22:55 is at hand, repent, and believe the gospel." 22:58 See, repentance is something you can choose to do, God gives his 23:01 Spirit to us to enable us but you must make a choice, he will 23:04 not force you. 23:06 Just like you choose to believe the gospel, he's saying, "Repent 23:09 and believe," they go together. 23:12 If you say, "Brother Doug, I believe the gospel," but you 23:15 don't do anything about turning from your sin, you wonder how 23:17 much you believe. 23:19 If I tell you right now lightning is going to strike 23:21 right where you're standing in 15 seconds, say, "I believe you, 23:25 Pastor Doug," and you don't move, you don't believe me. 23:28 If you really believe the lightning is going to strike 23:30 where you're sitting or standing in 15 seconds, you're gonna 23:33 relocate, you'll do something about it. 23:35 If you believe the gospel, the good news, you're gonna wanna do 23:38 something about it then. 23:41 A.W. Tozer made an interesting statement on this point, he 23:46 said, "We must have our own free will repent towards God and 23:49 believe Jesus Christ." 23:50 The Bible plainly teaches this, this experience abundantly 23:55 is supported. 23:56 Repentance involves moral reformation, the wrong practices 24:00 are on man's part and only man can correct them. 24:04 Lying, for instance, is an act of man, and one which he must 24:07 accept full responsibility for. 24:09 When he repents, he will quit lying. 24:12 God will not quit for him, he will quit for himself, God 24:16 cannot do our repenting for us. 24:19 It is our efforts, our desire, our choice to magnify grace. 24:23 So we have preached to convey the truth of the impression that 24:26 repentance, many have preached to convey the impression 24:30 repentance is an act or a work of God. 24:31 This is a grave mistake, and the one is taking a frightful toll 24:35 among Christians everywhere; that you don't have to 24:37 do anything. 24:39 Yes, you do, this is why it says, "Repent and bring forth 24:41 fruits meet for repentance." 24:44 And repentance is contrition. 24:47 What I mean by that is repentance is sorrow for sin 24:51 because it's a heart issue, we realize that we have hurt the 24:54 Lord, he loved us so much he gave his son, Jesus suffered 24:57 and died, that ought to move our hearts. 25:00 It's like that publican who went to the temple, he doesn't pray 25:03 like the Pharisee, thanking God for his goodness, he's lukewarm. 25:07 The publican, he smites on his breast, and he says, "Lord, have 25:11 mercy on me, a sinner." 25:13 Peter, when he saw Jesus being beaten, and he denies Christ 25:18 with swearing and cursing, Peter goes out and he weeps bitterly. 25:22 Martin Luther said, "God creates from nothing, so until we become 25:26 nothing he can do nothing with us." 25:28 We need to humble ourselves, take up our cross, and he will 25:31 make you a new creature. 25:33 I invite you, friends, to do what Jesus and John the Baptist 25:35 said, "Repent, and believe." 25:42 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 25:45 free resource, not only can you receive this free gift in the 25:48 mail, you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 25:51 or mobile device. 25:52 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 25:56 the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 26:00 shown on your screen. 26:02 And be sure to select the digital download option 26:04 on the request page. 26:06 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 26:09 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, and most 26:12 important, to share it with others. 26:16 male announcer: The statistics are grim, millions have been 26:19 infected by coronavirus, thousands have died, race riots 26:23 have broken out on streets, political tensions are at 26:26 an all-time high, does the Bible have anything to say about the 26:30 times in which we are living? 26:32 Doug Batchelor: Hi friends, this is Pastor Doug Batchelor. 26:35 Many people are wondering if the world's about to implode, some 26:38 are fearful that global events point to a coming crisis unlike 26:42 anything we've ever witnessed, did you know the Bible book of 26:46 Revelation actually speaks about the days in which 26:49 we're living now? 26:50 And it contains a message of hope if we would only listen. 26:54 That's why I'd like to invite you to "Revelation Now: Decoding 26:58 the Bible's Greatest Prophecies." 27:01 In this multi-part series I'll be sharing relevant truths for 27:04 our time from the last book in the Bible. 27:07 male announcer: Coming October 23rd. 27:09 To learn more, visit RevelationNow.com. 27:14 male announcer: Have you always wanted to be a Bible expert but 27:17 never knew where to start? 27:18 Then you'll love the Amazing Facts' "Storacles of Prophecy" 27:22 Bible study experience, now available in 18 languages. 27:26 Featuring 24 easy to read lessons, the storacles are 27:30 packed with Scripture and step by step guidance that will give 27:33 you absolute confidence about what the Bible actually says 27:37 about the Second Coming, the Rapture, the antichrist, and 27:40 the mark of the beast. 27:42 Even better, it's absolutely free at storacles.com. 27:46 So don't miss out, get started on your Bible study adventure 27:50 today at storacles.com. 27:53 ♪♪ 28:01 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's free offer, it's 28:03 sure to be a blessing, and thank you for your continued support 28:07 as we take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. 28:10 We hope you'll join us next week as we delve deep into the 28:13 Word of God to explore more amazing facts. 28:16 ♪♪ 28:24 male announcer: This presentation was brought to you 28:25 by the friends of the Amazing Facts ministry. |
Revised 2020-09-09