[Biblemat] A) A CLEAR CALL TO REPENTANCE

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Tuesday morn-
ing to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.  Here is an
article from my files:

A CLEAR CALL TO REPENTANCE

       In the days of our Lord Jesus Christ, John, the baptizer, pre-
pared the way for the Lord Jesus by "preaching a baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins" (Lk. 3:3).  John was also
saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matt. 3:
2).  Clearly  a call to repentance was an important part of John's
work to prepare the people for their Savior Jesus.

       The people of God, all of Israel, were in sin: from the poorest
to the richest, from the shepherd to the king, and from the scribe
to the priest!  To be ready for the coming Messiah, they needed
to repent of their sins.  John called them to be baptized in water
for the remission of sins and "therefore bear fruits worthy of re-
pentance" (Lk. 3:9).

       Judgment had come upon the people of God.  John warned,
"And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore
every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the 
fire" (Lk. 3:9).  It is said of Christ, "His winnowing
fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His thresh--
ing floor, and gather the wheat into HIs barn; but the chaff He 
will burn with unquenchable fire" (Lk. 3:17).

       We are similar to the people of Isreal.  Obviously we all sin and fall 
short of God's glory (Rom. 3:23).  Daily we need to see
God's clear call to repentance for each of us.  Changing our lives to do what 
is right in the sight of God is a constant duty of
love.  Paul depicted the Corinthian's repentance in this way, "For observe 
this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly man-
ner:  What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of your-
selves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what
zeal, what vindication!  In all things you proved yourselves to be
clear in this matter" (2 Cor. 7:11).

       It is extremely important that we evaluate our lives, and re-
pent of those things that are sinful before our God and Savior.
We have a clear call to repentance that we must heed.  "Repent,
therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out"
(Acts 3:19).         -------------- Ron Drumm.   </HTML>
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