Renewed To Repentance

Renewed Christian  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Introduction

I am so grateful for the church here in Oologah and hope that this you, like I, have grown closer to our Creator.
This is the last night of our Gospel Meeting on “Renewed Christians.”
We have discussed…
What someone needs to be saved, Renewed In Spirit.”
What someone needs to stay get back to faithfulness, “Renewed Day By Day, In Mind, In Steadfastness, and In Strength.”
What someone needs to understand to stay faithful by being continually “Renewed In Knowledge” of the image of God.
Tonight, we are going to close this Gospel Meeting by examining what it takes to actually be “Renewed To Repentance.”
The Hebrew writer makes a sobering statement in Hebrews 6:4-6.
Hebrews 6:4–6 NKJV
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
Now why is it so difficult for someone that “knows the truth” and has fallen away into apostacy to be “renewed to repentance?”
To understand why it’s “impossible…to renew them again to repentance” we have to understand two things first.
We have to first understand…

Sin

It Is Lawlessness.

Far too many children of God go throughout their life like they are just fine in the sight of God because they have no idea how often they “sin” because they have no idea what sin really is.
You see a lot of the time when a person obeys the gospel they realize “they have sinned” and that “they are lost in their sin” and that they “need a Savior because of their sin.”
However, if you were to ask them what sin is they would be hard pressed to define it.
So what exactly is sin?
1 John 3:4 (NKJV)
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
The truth of the matter is, a lot of people have no idea what the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2) actually is, so how are they going to “know they sinned much less how they sinned” if they know not the law of Christ?
Romans 7:7 (NKJV)
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

It’s Numbing.

When we continue in sin whether we know we are sinning or not, we end up desensitizing ourselves to it.
The psalmist makes this point about those whose heart had become desensitized in Psalm 119:70.
Psalm 119:70 NKJV
70 Their heart is as fat as grease, But I delight in Your law.
Other translations bear out the meaning a bit more when they translate it as “their heart is unfeeling like fat.”
Fat, in the medical past, has been used to cover the skin of burn victims because it helps desensitize the pain of the wound.
Sin is so dangerous because the more we stay in the stench of sin the more we become use to it and numb to it.
We can stop smelling the stench of sin if we continue in it too long.
Acts 28:27 (NKJV)
27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.

Summary

The first reason so many Christians today have not been “Renewed To Repentance” is because they are completely ignorant of the sin in their lives and it has caused them to become desensitized to it’s danger.
If we don’t know we have sinned much less how we have sinned it is impossible to repent.
If we “enjoying” that life in sin it is impossible to repent as well.
The second reason so many Christians today have not been “Renewed To Repentance” is because they don’t understand…

There Is Only One Name

Jesus The Christ.

This is not based on intellect but emotion.
By that I mean if you were to ask any Christian who has become wayward if there is salvation in any other name than Jesus’ name they would say there is no other name by which we are saved.
Acts 4:12 (NKJV)
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
However, as we read in the book of Hebrews our emotions do not always follow our intellect.
There are Christians all the time who have been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift of salvation, become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God but live their day to day lives like they never knew any of this.
They don’t attend the assembling of the saints every opportunity but instead…
They choose cattle shows, sporting events, school activities, etc…
They don’t study God’s saving message everyday but have time to…
Watch TV, plant and maintain a garden, go to the store, work secondary jobs, etc…
Instead, they “emotionally cross their fingers” that salvation is found in the things they are putting their time into.
Or they are “emotionally crossing their fingers” that God’s is simply “ok” with how little time they focus on him.

Summary

The fact of the matter is if we don’t grasp what sin is and that salvation is only found in our Savior we are not going ever be “Renewed To Repentance.”
We cannot ignore what sin is and rely on salvation in other things and people.
So what does it mean to be “renewed to repentance” what does it mean to…

Repent

It’s Motivated By Affliction.

By affliction I am not talking about meaningless pain but spiritual discipline.
It is spiritual discipline or spiritual affliction that motivates us to repentance.
Psalm 119:67 NKJV
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.
2 Corinthians 7:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Spiritual affliction comes from two sources.
It comes from God
Hebrews 12:7–9 NKJV
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
Hebrews 12:10–11 NKJV
10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
It also comes from God’s faithful children.
Galatians 6:1–2 NKJV
1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Matthew 18:15–17 NKJV
15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

It’s Activated By Change.

A change in mind first.
By that I mean we make the “commitment” to change our focus from the things of this world to the things of God.
Colossians 3:2 NKJV
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Philippians 4:8 NKJV
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
A change in heart.
By that I mean we make the “commitment” to put God first in our lives.
Luke 10:27 NKJV
27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
Proverbs 3:6 NKJV
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Matthew 6:33 NKJV
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
A change in action.
In other words we will make the “commitment” to do the will of the Father in heaven and turn from anything preventing that.
Ezekiel 18:30 (NKJV)
30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.
Acts 26:20 (NKJV)
20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

Summary

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Conclusion

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Invitation
Isaiah 59:1–2 NKJV
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Philippians 2:6–7 NKJV
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Romans 10:17 NKJV
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Acts 17:30 NKJV
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
Matthew 10:32–33 NKJV
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
2 Thessalonians 1:8 NKJV
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:1–4 NKJV
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
Romans 6:3–5 NKJV
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
1 John 1:7 NKJV
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
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