Focus on True Repentance: It’s Not Too Late…Now

Repentance is a word that gets a bad rap.

Simply put, repentance is turning back to God, which at the same time turns us away from our sin and rebellion. Unfortunately, it’s easy for people to just go through the motions of turning back to God, saying the words they think they need to say. But true repentance isn’t merely a lip service which never reaches our hearts. Instead it is turning from the rebellion and pride in our actions, attitudes, and motivations, and humbly seeking God, confessing our wrongdoing, and asking for His help in overcoming our rebellion.

As Sovereign Creator and Almighty God, He is able to discern the true motivations of our hearts. If we are sincere, He hears and acts on our behalf. But He won’t be swayed by those who say one thing with their lips and another thing with their lives.

And with repentance, it’s not too late…until it is.

A God Who Gives Warning & Notice

Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: “This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’S house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.” –Jeremiah 26:1-3 (NIV)

God had clearly told the nation of Judah through His prophets–including Jeremiah–what was about to befall the nation of Judah for their idolatry. He was about to send Babylon against them to totally destroy the land and take them into captivity. God’s Word fell on deaf ears, something we’ll address later in this post.

The point I want to get across here is this: God, in His holiness and righteousness and love and compassion, is giving Judah a second chance to repent. He does the same for us. It’s not to late to repent…until it is.

What I find incredibly sad is that Jeremiah is told to go to the courtyard of the temple and speak this message to the people as they went in to worship. Do you see the irony here? Of all people, these “worshipers” should have been listening to God’s message. But obviously they hadn’t listened, or God wouldn’t have given Jeremiah this mission.

The correlation for today? We can can attend church and offer up a few praise songs, but with our hearts far removed from God and hardened to the message He wants us to hear.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What messages from God have we–as His people–ignored today?

What messages from God have we ignored?
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Now let’s look at why we ignore His message.

IGNORING GOD: PROCRASTINATION

I’m a writer, which means I’ve finely honed the skill of procrastination. (Other writers–at least the ones who are honest–will attest to this as well.) The easy way out of anything–writing or ignoring God’s message–is to put it off for another day.

And that works…at least for a while. The problem lies in the fact that we’re incapable of knowing when we will pass that invisible line of too late.

Benjamin Franklin put it this way: “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” The writer of the book of Hebrews had him beat by several years.

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried Me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’ So I declared on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’ ” See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” -Hebrews 3:7-15 (NIV)

“#Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…” Heb. 3:7
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IGNORING GOD: HEARING WHAT WE WANT TO HEAR

At one time or another, many of us may have been involved in a situation where those on the outside refused to hear the truth, opting instead to hear what they wanted to hear, and thus believe what they wanted to believe.

We do the same exact thing with God.

Don’t believe me? Let’s continue the story of Jeremiah and the message given him by the LORD.

Jeremiah went to the courtyard of the temple and delivered God’s message: “This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to Me and follow My law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.”….But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die!” -Jeremiah 26:4b-6, 8

Though we’d like to believe that we’re somehow above the people of Jeremiah’s day, we’re really not different at all. That’s why we’ve seen thousands flocking to the health and wealth gospel. The false prophets back then prophesied peace and well-being in sharp contrast to Jeremiah’s message of God’s coming judgment and the need for repentance. Guess which message the people chose to hear?

Paul recognized this tendency in people as well. The words he spoke to his son in the faith are prophetic about the world in which we live today: For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. -2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NASB)

Brothers and sisters, if you hear nothing else I say, please hear me in this. There are many in our social media circles who proclaim false teachings, especially those announcing a message of peace. Those who say things like “Pass this on to three others and God will bring a miracle into your life!” or “God wanted me to tell you that you will have no more problems for the rest of this year.”

Falsehood and lies, in direct opposition to what Jesus said: “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”

Here’s the truth, based on how God has moved in the past. (And our God doesn’t change!)

Yes, God is patient with us. Yes, He loves us. But He is also a God of justice, righteousness, and holiness. He will only abide our rebellion so long! And I believe this not only for individuals, but for our nation as a whole.

We need to stop sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that everything is hunky-dory. The only thing that sticking our heads in the sand accomplishes is plugging our ears!

The only thing that sticking our heads in the sand accomplishes is plugging our ears.
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And here’s the danger: when we choose the message we want to hear over what God is trying to say, we are choosing a false god, who moves, acts, and speaks in the way in which we want.

AN EXAMPLE OF TRUE REPENTANCE

 

Though the people in Jeremiah’s day sadly did not listen and repent, Jeremiah 26 does tell of a prophet named Micah of Moresheth who delivered this message from God about a former king of Judah: Did not Hezekiah fear the LORD and seek His favor? And did not the LORD relent, so that He did not bring the disaster He pronounced against them? -Jeremiah 26:19b (NIV)

Our God can and will stay His hand of judgment, but only IF we truly repent.

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil. -Joel 2:12-14 (NASB)

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people, if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. -2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NIV)

Stop ignoring God’s messages, which are coming with increasing frequency and intensity. Stop creating your own little-g god, who acts in accordance with your wishes and plans and tells you what you want to hear. Stop giving into messages that contradict God’s Holy Word of Truth.

Instead…turn back to God in full repentance.

After all, it’s not too late…until it is.

It’s not too late…until it is. #Repent #TurnBackToGod
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