0:00 Hi family, praise the Lord. Good to see everyone. Glad we get to be together today. I wanted to share from our memory verse, maybe last week, if you want to turn to Isaiah chapter 30. Probably some of us remember that, hopefully. Hopefully it hasn't left our 0:14 minds. I wanted to speak a bit a bit about repentance today. Some things that the Lord has been teaching me. Um >> [clears throat] >> It says in our memory verse in uh Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 15, it says the Lord God, the holy one of 0:31 Israel has said this, "In returning to me, repentance and rest, you shall be saved. In quietness and confident trust is your strength." That's what we memorized. But the verse ends with these five words. It says, "But you were not 0:44 willing." We and we didn't memorize that part, but it's a good It's a good part for us to bear in mind. What does it mean to be willing to repent? And it's exactly what Rosie Neal just mentioned. Who is the call to repent 0:58 for? If we think the call to repent is for someone else, then we are in trouble. But if we see that the call to repent is to us, it's to me, then there's hope. And I find it's really important. I I thought of three Ps, very simply, for a 1:16 response to repentance. When you hear the call to repent, your response probably falls into one of three buckets. You either say, that's P, past tense. I did that. Yeah, I repented when I came to the Lord. And your view of repentance is that's 1:31 that thing I did when I said I wanted to to give my life to Jesus Christ. The second P is not past tense, but it's possibility. Do I need to repent? I hear the call to repent and I think, is that for me? 1:48 And then the third P is passion. Absolutely. When I hear the call to repent, my heart says, yes. I must. I need to. And I think hopefully in our church, we aren't in danger of the first bucket 2:07 probably as much. Probably nobody here thinks of repentance as just a past act. I hope. But for a lot of us, we might find ourselves in that middle bucket, which is, I don't know if I need to repent. I mean, I'm open to it. And if I hear 2:21 something that convicts me, that then of course it's a possibility, but we lack the passion to repent. I long to repent. And I want to talk about that a little bit, because it's my belief that my attitude must always be a passion 2:40 to continuously repent. Not just that I'm open to the possibility of if there's somewhere that I can, I'm willing, but rather that there's a passion. If I had to ask you a question, who is more in need? If I had to compare 2:56 two groups of people, there's a group of people who've been neglecting uh God's commands for years, or there's a man who has been obeying diligently for years. Who needs 3:14 to repent more? If you're like me, I think these people who've been neglecting God for all this time. Person who's been faithful doesn't need to repent. That's wrong. 3:31 And the Lord showed me that they both have equal need to repent. Person who's been neglecting the Lord, for sure they need to repent. But the person who's been walking with the Lord also needs to repent. To have that continuous attitude of repentance. And I 3:48 want to show two simple passages, both in the Old Testament, of people who were neglecting the Lord and their response to God's call, and someone who walked with God and his response to God's call. Because these people, even though they should be 4:04 repenting, didn't. This person, even though we think he doesn't need to repent, he does and it keeps going well with him. So I wanted I wanted to just do a a simple contrast, because I think it's very valuable. If you turn with me to 4:16 Malachi chapter 3, >> [clears throat] >> we see the Lord He speaks very strongly to the prophets. And this is the last book in the Old Testament, and He speaks very strongly. Um basically uh 4:35 telling them that they're neglecting His house. They're neglecting His ways. And if you look with me at chapter um 3 verse 7, we see this amazing um patience of God towards these people who've been neglecting Him. They say 4:53 um in in Malachi chapter 3 verse 7, He says, "Yet from the days of your fathers you have turned away from my statutes and ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you." And I want to pause there for a second. 5:09 This It's amazing to see, even if we are neglectful, these Levites, these priests were neglectful of the Lord. And yet the Lord in His mercy and kindness, He says in verse 7 here, Malachi 3:7, "If you will turn to me, I will return to you." 5:28 The Living Bible says, "Come to me and I'll forgive you." And I want to say that to anyone here who maybe feels they've been neglecting the Lord. Malachi chapter 3 verse 7 is a great verse. Even though you've been neglecting me 5:43 all this time, turn and I will turn to you. And then look with me at verse 3 actually, just above. This is an amazing promise that He's making to these people. We We may know this promise in general, but remember who He's talking 5:56 to. He's talking to people who've been neglecting Him. And He says in verse 3 that He will sit as a refiner and as a purifier of silver, and He will purify these faithless, these neglectful sons of Levi, and refine them so that they 6:12 may present the Lord offerings in righteousness. In the Living Bible it says, "So that they will do their work for God from a pure heart." What an incredible promise. If I've been neglectful, it's possible that the Lord wants What 6:27 His goal is is to refine me so that I can serve Him with a pure heart. Anyone who feels I've been neglectful in my As I did, as I read this, I thought, God, You're so gracious to me. I've been neglectful, and yet Your promise is, if 6:42 I will turn to You, You will return to me. And You, even though I don't deserve it, You will sit as a refiner and purify me so that I can do my work for God with a pure heart. Oh, I read that, family, and I said, "That's what I want." 6:59 I want to do my work for the Lord with a pure heart. And I see I'm lacking. I see I've been neglectful. This is a verse for me. But amazingly, what's the next Just like we read in Isaiah 30, "In repentance and rest you will be saved. 7:15 In quietness and trust is your strength." Five words, "But you were not willing." Right? What do we see here in Malachi chapter 3? The last few words here in verse 7. But you say, "How shall we return?" You say, 7:35 and basically what we find is they they're arguing with God. God is saying, "Hey, I want to I want [snorts] to restore you to me. I'm willing to purify you." But these people don't heed the call. They aren't willing to repent. They are arguing with the 7:51 Lord. And it's incredible to me to see They say, "We haven't We have in in the Living Bible, Malachi 3:7 says, 'You say we've never even gone away.'" When the Lord tells you you've gone away, that you've been neglectful, you 8:08 should not say, "We haven't gone away. We haven't been neglectful." Anytime the Lord convicts us, we should not argue. And that's what we see in Malachi. It's It's It's tragic. But you see it again and again and again in Malachi chapter 8:21 3. They argue with the Lord. The Lord comes to them and tells them what's wrong, and they argue. It's a radically different example, right? These people clearly need to repent. And God in His mercy comes to them and says, "I'm willing to purify 8:34 you." Which is an amazing word for us. If we feel we've been neglectful, the Lord says, "I'm willing to purify you." But instead of running into His open arms, they they start arguing. And I found that anytime I argue with 8:50 the Lord, when the Lord speaks to me, if I start arguing with Him, it doesn't go well with me. And many times that's it's that area where that I want to I want to take issue with something the Lord's saying to me. That's where I really have 9:02 to be watchful. But if you contrast this, please, with me, if you turn to 2 Chronicles 34, we see in Malachi 3 this group of people who should repent, but don't. And in 2 Chronicles 34, we meet someone who we would all think he shouldn't have 9:21 to repent, but he does. In 2 Chronicles 34, we see that Josiah, when he's 8 years old, he becomes king in verse in verse 1. And it says that in verse 2, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and he didn't turn aside. And then in like 9:38 if you see in verse 3, it says in the 8th year of his reign, so he'd be 16 years old, while he was still young, he began to seek and inquire after the God of his father David. In the 12th year, he began to purge. So for 4 years he looked, what 9:51 does it look like to follow God? And he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, and the Asherim, and the carved and cast images. And it says that they tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence. In the Living 10:03 Bible, it says, "He went out with them to tear down the idols." He went out, this king, he went out and said, "I want to be a part of this destruction program." And it says in verse 9 that Josiah burned the bones of the pagan priests on their altars, and 10:16 he purged, and he cleansed them. And then he went to other cities in Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, and Naphtali, and on and on and on. He tore down the altars, and he beat and crushed the Asherim, verse 7, and carved images 10:29 into powder. And then he returned to Jerusalem. And then look at verse 8. It says in the 18th year And that's notable because his kind of his program started in the 8th year. So, we see for 10 years he's been seeking diligently to find, is 10:46 there anything that's not right here? And he's tearing down altars, and he's grinding them to powder, and he's grinding the pagan priests' bones. I mean, this is someone who is deeply faithful. And yet, as And we all know 10:59 this story, I I've known the story of how the Josiah responded when they found the book of the law, but I didn't realize the context of his finding the book of the law. It's not like this is a lawless guy who's not interested in God, 11:10 and then the Bible shows up. That's how I think about the Josiah story. When Hilkiah the priest brings the book of the law, and we know, right? Josiah It says in verse 19, when he heard the words of the law, he tore his 11:22 clothes. But this isn't someone who wasn't walk This isn't someone who was neglectful. This is someone who spent the last 10 years of his life seeking to eradicate all of the idols. And then when he hears the upward call, 11:38 what does he do? Does he argue? God, but you know, for the last 10 years I've Does he say that? He doesn't respond how the priests in Malachi do, right? Priests in Malachi go, "What do you mean?" Josiah realizes there's a higher call, 11:52 and he tears his garments. And institutes a revival. I mean, what we know, if we keep reading in 2 Chronicles, there's a revival that ensues because this person who'd been so faithful, when God when God called him higher 12:06 he didn't argue, even after a decade-long reform campaign. He didn't argue. He heeded the Lord's voice. We see an even starker example of this in in Revelation chapter 19, if you want to turn there with me. Revelation chapter 19. 12:26 >> [clears throat] >> John, the apostle, the the um as far as we know from history, the oldest living apostle he uh he makes a mistake in in 12:44 Revelation 19. You get He sins. Says he In verse 10, "I fell down at the angel's feet to worship him." And the angel rebuked him. The angel rebuked. I mean, forget Josiah serving the Lord faithfully for 10 years. John had served the Lord faithfully now 13:00 for maybe 50 years, 60 years? And he sins. And he welcomes the rebuke. And the thing that blessed me was he was willing to include it in the book of Revelation. He could have just left that part out. 13:18 Yeah, I made a mistake. I I bowed down to an angel. It happens twice in the book of Revelation. That John bows down to worship, and an angel has to rebuke him. But he's willing to be called higher. And he's willing, for the good of the 13:33 church, to write it down so that everybody knows it. Hey, even after 60 years of walking with the Lord, I still slipped up here. I sinned. He should not have worshipped an angel, and the angel had to rebuke him. But he was humble enough to include 13:45 it. And that blessed me to see what was John's attitude towards the call to repent. Did he say, "Haven't you seen how long I've been serving the Lord, angel? You think I don't know who to worship?" No. He doesn't argue like the priests in 14:00 Malachi. He humbles himself. And it blessed me to see that. He humbles himself. There's a um the way that the Lord put this burden on my heart. I was sharing with the Friday Bible study a couple weeks ago. If you 14:18 turn to Matthew 3, it actually came from a mistake in my reading of the Bible. Uh wonderful mistake. But I was reading in Matthew 3 and and John the Baptist's call, this call to repentance. He says in verse 8, "Produce the fruit 14:38 that is consistent with repentance." Demonstrating a new behavior that proves a change of heart and a conscious decision to turn away from sin. And I read that, family, as a continuous decision to turn away I actually brought 14:53 my notes. I wrote it down wrong in my notes. If you you can't read my handwriting, but if you could, it says, "A continuous decision to turn away from sin." And I said, "Wow, what an excellent definition." I misread it. But I praise the Lord that 15:06 I did because it helped me see repent should be a continuous decision. A continuous decision. Repent today? Of course. Absolutely. Just like I'm married today, right? I don't When somebody says, "Are you married?" I don't go, "Oh, yeah, I got 15:24 married, you know, 20 years ago." I say, "No, I'm married today, right?" When we talk about repentance, we're not thinking about something that happened a long time ago. It's today. It's a continuous decision. And And for me, as I read this, even wrongly 15:37 in Matthew 3, it blessed me to see repentance, that continuous decision to turn away from sin. I said, "I want to renew, just like I want to renew my wedding vows every day. I want to renew my desire to turn away from sin every 15:51 single day of my life." Praise the Lord. That's how it should be. Let repentance never be something that's in the past. Let it always be something that I am agreeing with and reaffirming in my life. I really want it that way, family. 16:07 In Matthew chapter 5 in verse 6 we see a wonderful definition here of that repentance, a wonderful example. Jesus says in verse 6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." Those who actively seek right standing 16:23 with God. It says in the Amplified Bible, "actively seeking right standing with God." That I thought was a perfect picture of a continuous decision to turn away from sin. Because when are we done being hungry in our lives 16:39 for food? Laurel, are you not hungry anymore in your life? No more hunger? No? Joseph, what do you think? Are you hungry ever again? You had breakfast this morning, right? So, you're never going to be hungry again, right? 16:53 No, of course not, right? With food, we know we're always hungry. I could eat right now, and I just had lunch, you know. But Right? With When it comes to food, hunger and thirst And Jesus uses these wonderfully simple examples. What should 17:09 it What should our attitude towards repentance be like? I'm going to be hungry again. When am I done turning away from sin? The same time I'm done being hungry. Never, as long as I live. Just like I'm always going to have hunger in my life, 17:26 I should always have that hunger and thirst for righteousness. And that's demonstrated in I'm I'm radically passionate about finding out where can I turn from sin? Where can I turn from sin? And just like in life, if I if if you know, I was 17:43 hanging out with Laurel all day, and at the end of the day I said, "Hey, we haven't eaten anything. I'm starving." And Laurel said, "Really? I'm not hungry." What would her parents think? Oh, no, she must be sick. Right? You're not hungry after a full 17:57 day? Something must be wrong. In the same way not having a passion it's a sign of sickness, family. We should always be hungry for righteousness, just like we're hungry for food. 18:16 And if you keep ignoring it for long you'll Just like in with your physical body, you'll die if you don't eat. You'll die. And the same is true spiritually. If we do not heed the call of God, we'll die. And we don't want that. We don't want to 18:31 see anyone dying spiritually [snorts] here. None. I want to go back to Malachi chapter 2 really quickly because there's a there's a beautiful 18:48 statement I saw here. Regardless of which one I am, whether I'm like the priests, and I've been neglectful these last few years or whether I am like Josiah, and I have been faithful it doesn't matter which bucket I fall 19:12 in. Question is, how do I respond to what the Lord is saying to me right now? We all want to show reverence for God, right? We all want to We We We want to stand in awe of him. 19:31 In Malachi chapter 2 in verse 5, it says, "My covenant with the with Levi was one of life and peace. I gave them my commands to him as an object of reverence. So, he feared me, and he stood in reverent awe of my name." In the Living 19:50 Bible, that verse says this, "The purpose of my law was to give him life and peace, to be a means of showing his awe for me by keeping the law." I love that. What's the purpose of God's law? It's a means of me showing awe. 20:09 And I felt that before. That honoring the Lord in some unique area, something that he gives me, something he speaks to me. Maybe not that I don't mean by the law I don't mean the Ten Commandments, just what the Lord is speaking to me. 20:20 When I heed what he is speaking to me, it gives me a chance to show him reverence and awe. It's a means by which I can show him reverence. And don't we want that? Don't you I I mean if I were to ask you, "Do you want to show God reverence?" I 20:36 think everybody says, "Yes, of course." Do you want to Do you want to see God as awesome? You say, "Yes, of course I do." How do I do it? How do I How can I demonstrate my reverence? Five words that I took from Malachi 20:53 chapter 2. "Awe is proven by obedience." That's how I prove that I'm in awe of God. Isn't that wonderful? I can think, you know, people walk through the trees, they walk in nature and they say, "Isn't God amazing?" But the Bible it does tell us that that that 21:12 nature that all are without excuse, that even if they see God's invisible attributes, they're without excuse. But the way that we demonstrate our reverence for God isn't by looking up at the trees and marveling. The way we demonstrate reverence for God 21:26 is we obey him. The way we demonstrate reverence for God is we obey him. Not and and not just what he said, so to speak, past tense, but what is he saying? What he's saying. The way I demonstrate 21:44 reverence for God is I am obeying what he's saying. Just like Jesus said to Martha, "Martha, you're you're worried about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion." What What was Mary doing? What was Mary choosing? 22:02 She was listening to Jesus. She wanted to know, "What is he saying right now? What is the one thing that's necessary?" To know what Jesus is saying. That's it. And I get to demonstrate reverence for God by obeying what he's saying. 22:20 If he's calling me to something, I get to repent. That's how I show I fear God. That's how I show I have reverence for him. And family, I just wanted to to end with this thought. Sometimes it's a small thing that God points out. 22:36 It's often for me a small thing. And the question is how do I regard this small thing? Do I see it as an opportunity to be in awe of God, to show reverence for him, or am I dismissive of the small thing? And I was reminded of Naaman's servant 22:54 girl, right? Remember she said to She said to Naaman, "If the prophet had asked you for some great thing, wouldn't you have done it?" You know, if you think about your desire to show God reverence and awe and and if you're if you're to pray, 23:09 "Lord, what do I do? How do I show you reverence and awe?" What if he said, "Quit your job." You know, "Sell your car. Sell your house." Right? You go, "Oh, I want to show God reverence. I'm going to empty my bank account cuz that's the 23:23 way." What if he just says some small thing. What if he says the thing he said to you yesterday? The Lord spoke to me yesterday about some area I needed to make right. 23:41 And I fear sometimes I miss my opportunity to show God reverence. And I heard the voice of the servant girl in my ear saying, "If he'd asked you for some big thing, wouldn't you have done it? Why not do this tiny thing? You say you want 23:57 to show God reverence, do this tiny thing." It's in my attitude towards these little things that I can see. Do I really have reverence for God, or do I just have big ideas about how much I honor God? I don't want big ideas. I just want small, 24:13 simple discipleship. Small, simple, daily discipleship. Do the small thing he's asking of you, dear family. Whatever it is, do it. Don't be like the priests in Malachi who argue, who quibble. Be like Josiah. 24:32 When he hears the upper call, rents his garments. Be like John on the island of Patmos when he realizes he's made a grave mistake, even after 60 years of effective ministry, he repents. It's a privilege that we get to show God 24:48 reverence in this way. This is the way that we show God reverence. Repentance. In the little thing. You say you want a big opportunity. I promise you, any one of you, if you if you and I were talking individually, "What would I do? I'd do 25:02 anything to show God reverence, anything." Okay. Do the little thing. That's how the Lord's encouraged me. And he's pointed out a few little things. Do these things. Don't miss your chance to reverence me. I hope that's encouraging to you as it's 25:17 been to me. I don't want to miss the chance to reverence. I'll close with this with our memory verse. "In repentance and rest you will be saved." I said that the verse ends with those tragic words, "But you were not willing." Let us be willing family. 25:33 What's the first word of that verse? In. Stay in repentance. Don't leave. Isn't that beautiful? In repentance I will be saved. Praise God. Let it not be something that is a past tense reality or just a 25:51 possibility for us. Let it be Let repentance and staying in a continuous attitude of repentance be a passion that marks each and every single one of our hearts at NCCF. Amen.
