Do the First Work
“Repent and be baptized!” is not the keynote of the new evangelistic campaigns; rather, “Believe some doctrines and be baptized, and help swell our numbers!” So we compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when we have found him, we make him like ourselves, or worse.
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Rev. 2:5.
A solemn warning—the essence of the third angel’s message. Not them, Remnant, Thou! Not if they over there worship the beast—“if any man worship the beast!” “Watch out! If you, even My church, don’t discover repentance, I will give you up to a world-wide movement which looks good on the outside but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” Act. 20:29-31.
“Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward…. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire. Your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.” Is. 1:4-7. This was not spoken to those to whom God had not revealed Himself. It was for Judah and Jerusalem. Is. 1:1. It is to His church first that He commands warning and correction. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgression.” Is. 58:1.
The people called by God’s name have perfected the art of profession. To swoon, to wail, or to put on cheery eyes and a glitzy smile, does not constitute consecration. They encourage each other in the Lord. Yet only few of them know the Lord, if only few of them know repentance and the surrender that leads to renunciation of sin. Repentance is a fountain rarely touched to the vast majority of professors. They devolve upon the group for hope, they desire only the outward work, the secondary work. “With the Lord’s help we will be the fastest growing congregation in our community like we are the fastest growing denomination in the world. Surely the Lord is with us!!”
Ah, sinful denomination, how can the Lord be with you if you dodge repentance? “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.” Vs. 3.
How can the Lord pour the Latter Rain upon an impudent, stout-hearted people? He cannot and He will not. Ez. 3:7. “Therefore thus saith…the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies; and I will turn My hand upon thee.” Vs. 24-25.
The confession of faith from the lips of My people is too often a charade, a game. They have deceived themselves; the mystery of iniquity is at work; papal religion has extended its bounds to encompass the Protestants, even the Remnant church. And they unwisely compare themselves with themselves and therefore see no problems. They do not notice the insincerity that is sown broadcast. “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” Vs. 15.
Few know anything of real religion; a personal, saving friendship with Jesus, is beyond them. They wither, exhausted, chained to the enemy’s car. They fear to leave the church yet they fear to be fully consecrated. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:14. They are afraid to miss Christ’s return, yet they fear the surrender to repentance which will give them the only preparation for His coming. So they accept a nicer substitute, a cleaner one, one not so messy. “Maybe what we need is slightly lower standards. The children will be happier and they won’t mind coming to church if we entertain them! Maybe a new church building is what we need; how about a change of scenery, maybe new carpet; maybe a new order of service. By all means, let’s not work to meet the needs of the hearts.”
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah…Come, let us reason…If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat of the good of the land.” Vs. 10, 19.
Will this serve as a warning to us today? Do we take God at His word, as we profess to do? Is the Bible and the Bible only our true rule of measurement? Then why is the condition of the church so lifeless? Why the void of consecration? Why the stampede to go home right after the sermon or Sabbath fellowship dinner? Why the idols of Babylon creeping back into the church—jewelry, immodest dress, Sabbath sunsets disregarded, conversation that should never escape the lips of people bearing God’s name, especially during the Sabbath hours—conversation devoid of Jesus? Why can’t we stop the tide of vanity flooding into our churches? Why can’t we stop the lowering of our once high standard? Why are our children sacrificed to the gods of this world?
We trust in a philosophy. We trust in profession. But what saith the scriptures? “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus…Thou shalt be saved.” Rom. 10:9. Profession does not lead to salvation, confession does. Confession comes from the heart of one who has seen his true condition and has found rest in beholding Jesus’ righteousness, His goodness. Profession is merely intellectual and cannot express faith. How many desire to confess faith in Jesus? Then how many among God’s people are really saved? No sooner does one come to Christ than there is born within him a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus. Why the lack of evangelism among the people of God? Why the sins that are mounting to heaven? Are we susceptible to the Spirit’s call to repentance like we profess to be?
When repentance is missing, in its place comes an abomination. A very close imitation is introduced—one that eases our conscience and tries to ease our heartache. We hear, “Rejoice evermore.” ─OK, fill the sermons with comic relief. Hilarity will substitute for joy. We hear that we should repent. ─OK, preach at the top of your lungs until at least one saint cracks and pleads for heaven’s mercy. Surely that’s a sign the Spirit was present! We are told to go to all the world, and that the Lord daily added to the apostolic church. ─OK, make altar call after altar call. We will compass land and sea at a time when people are afraid of the second coming, and we will rake in souls by the millions. We’ll televise a herd of people going through the baptismal pool on satellite TV. That should demonstrate that we’re obeying the great commission!
Repentance no longer is the requirement for baptism—simply ascent to our doctrines. Make them laugh, make them cry, but by all means don’t, through love, show them sin in all its sinfulness. If you do that they might leave and go to those other denominations. “And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich; I have found me out substance: in all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin…Is there no iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity…Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly; therefore shall He leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall His Lord return unto him.” Hos. 12:8,11,14.
It is time to return to repentance. It is time to reconsider that which we have feared, yet surrender to God’s goodness and repentance is nothing to be afraid of. We cannot make ourselves be sorry. We cannot make ourselves repent. But we can pursue repentance and pray for it and seek the Lord about it. Repentance is the engine that brings with it a train of many blessings. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Gentleness. Goodness. Faith. Humility. Temperance. And again—peace, grace, glory in tribulations, patience, experience, hope, confidence, and the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Another apostle described its cars as virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity. (Gal. 5:22, 23; Rom. 5:1-5;2Pet. 1:5-7.)
Many, many good things await those who will give in to God and admit to their true condition. So what is holding us back? What are we afraid of? That He might get offended and leave us? He knew our condition before we were born! Yet He still makes the offer to us, just the same. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the water, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” Is. 55:1-3. Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy it not, for a blessing it in it: so will I do for My servants’ sake. That I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob.” Is. 65:8, 9.
Promise after promise. Never-to-be-exhausted mercy toward us. Grace piled high upon grace after all that we have done to Him and to His promise to keep receiving us again and again. “The children of promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 9:8. The children who bow to His promise and repent. Will we be one of them?
The engine and train of righteousness has its limitations. It cannot come to us unless we go to where it passes through. Go and stand between those tracks and wait, if you want the train. Be vulnerable and let it get you right between the eyes! No one can jump on board; no one can enter through a window. Trying to sneak on to it through some little red caboose virtue, God does not offer as an option. We must gird up our loins like a man and meet the engine of repentance head on. There is no easy way out.
Down must go our life, our reputation, our livelihood, all that brings us self-confidence and self-esteem. Some pieces of our wreckage we may never pick up again. Are you willing to risk losing you know not what, all in order to lose the old life and gain the new one? Here is where faith gets really laid on the line. “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life, the same shall save it.” “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Lk. 9:24, 23.
The train is also on a schedule—God’s, not ours. We will have to stand and wait. Maybe for a short time, maybe for a long time. It took Jacob 60 years, Moses 80 years, and Samuel 3! But, what a tragedy if the train came through and you missed the golden opportunity? “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning.” Mk. 13:35. Daily, as often as you can, lift up your heart to God; and He will ensure that you’re available when He passes through. Then at that time, take full advantage of the opportunity that He has granted you. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Is. 55:6,7.
We cannot convert ourselves. We cannot make ourselves repent. All that sinful man can do toward his own salvation is to put himself in the place where conversion happens, on your knees before God’s open word, listening to the sermons, by witnessing and service and by opening the heart to God as to a friend, and then ultimately, accepting the invitation by His Spirit, Come unto Me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And God will be watching over us during the whole process.
Without repentance and the submission of the soul to God, all of our conflicting unsatisfied desires contend to take control of us. The heart refusing submission to God is like the trouble sea when it cannot rest. No amount of profession and vanity can hide the muck and ugliness that spills out from our insides. “O generation of vipers, How can ye being evil, speak good things?” Matt. 12:34. “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” (Is. 57:20).
Isn’t it time? Haven’t we had enough empty religion? Aren’t we exhausted with the struggle of trying to maintain a moral exterior? How many more times will we turn down His freely offered gift? “Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.” Hos. 6:1,2.
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Rev. 2:5.
A solemn warning—the essence of the third angel’s message. Not them, Remnant, Thou! Not if they over there worship the beast—“if any man worship the beast!” “Watch out! If you, even My church, don’t discover repentance, I will give you up to a world-wide movement which looks good on the outside but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” Act. 20:29-31.
“Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward…. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire. Your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.” Is. 1:4-7. This was not spoken to those to whom God had not revealed Himself. It was for Judah and Jerusalem. Is. 1:1. It is to His church first that He commands warning and correction. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgression.” Is. 58:1.
The people called by God’s name have perfected the art of profession. To swoon, to wail, or to put on cheery eyes and a glitzy smile, does not constitute consecration. They encourage each other in the Lord. Yet only few of them know the Lord, if only few of them know repentance and the surrender that leads to renunciation of sin. Repentance is a fountain rarely touched to the vast majority of professors. They devolve upon the group for hope, they desire only the outward work, the secondary work. “With the Lord’s help we will be the fastest growing congregation in our community like we are the fastest growing denomination in the world. Surely the Lord is with us!!”
Ah, sinful denomination, how can the Lord be with you if you dodge repentance? “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.” Vs. 3.
How can the Lord pour the Latter Rain upon an impudent, stout-hearted people? He cannot and He will not. Ez. 3:7. “Therefore thus saith…the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies; and I will turn My hand upon thee.” Vs. 24-25.
The confession of faith from the lips of My people is too often a charade, a game. They have deceived themselves; the mystery of iniquity is at work; papal religion has extended its bounds to encompass the Protestants, even the Remnant church. And they unwisely compare themselves with themselves and therefore see no problems. They do not notice the insincerity that is sown broadcast. “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” Vs. 15.
Few know anything of real religion; a personal, saving friendship with Jesus, is beyond them. They wither, exhausted, chained to the enemy’s car. They fear to leave the church yet they fear to be fully consecrated. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:14. They are afraid to miss Christ’s return, yet they fear the surrender to repentance which will give them the only preparation for His coming. So they accept a nicer substitute, a cleaner one, one not so messy. “Maybe what we need is slightly lower standards. The children will be happier and they won’t mind coming to church if we entertain them! Maybe a new church building is what we need; how about a change of scenery, maybe new carpet; maybe a new order of service. By all means, let’s not work to meet the needs of the hearts.”
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah…Come, let us reason…If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat of the good of the land.” Vs. 10, 19.
Will this serve as a warning to us today? Do we take God at His word, as we profess to do? Is the Bible and the Bible only our true rule of measurement? Then why is the condition of the church so lifeless? Why the void of consecration? Why the stampede to go home right after the sermon or Sabbath fellowship dinner? Why the idols of Babylon creeping back into the church—jewelry, immodest dress, Sabbath sunsets disregarded, conversation that should never escape the lips of people bearing God’s name, especially during the Sabbath hours—conversation devoid of Jesus? Why can’t we stop the tide of vanity flooding into our churches? Why can’t we stop the lowering of our once high standard? Why are our children sacrificed to the gods of this world?
We trust in a philosophy. We trust in profession. But what saith the scriptures? “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus…Thou shalt be saved.” Rom. 10:9. Profession does not lead to salvation, confession does. Confession comes from the heart of one who has seen his true condition and has found rest in beholding Jesus’ righteousness, His goodness. Profession is merely intellectual and cannot express faith. How many desire to confess faith in Jesus? Then how many among God’s people are really saved? No sooner does one come to Christ than there is born within him a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus. Why the lack of evangelism among the people of God? Why the sins that are mounting to heaven? Are we susceptible to the Spirit’s call to repentance like we profess to be?
When repentance is missing, in its place comes an abomination. A very close imitation is introduced—one that eases our conscience and tries to ease our heartache. We hear, “Rejoice evermore.” ─OK, fill the sermons with comic relief. Hilarity will substitute for joy. We hear that we should repent. ─OK, preach at the top of your lungs until at least one saint cracks and pleads for heaven’s mercy. Surely that’s a sign the Spirit was present! We are told to go to all the world, and that the Lord daily added to the apostolic church. ─OK, make altar call after altar call. We will compass land and sea at a time when people are afraid of the second coming, and we will rake in souls by the millions. We’ll televise a herd of people going through the baptismal pool on satellite TV. That should demonstrate that we’re obeying the great commission!
Repentance no longer is the requirement for baptism—simply ascent to our doctrines. Make them laugh, make them cry, but by all means don’t, through love, show them sin in all its sinfulness. If you do that they might leave and go to those other denominations. “And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich; I have found me out substance: in all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin…Is there no iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity…Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly; therefore shall He leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall His Lord return unto him.” Hos. 12:8,11,14.
It is time to return to repentance. It is time to reconsider that which we have feared, yet surrender to God’s goodness and repentance is nothing to be afraid of. We cannot make ourselves be sorry. We cannot make ourselves repent. But we can pursue repentance and pray for it and seek the Lord about it. Repentance is the engine that brings with it a train of many blessings. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Gentleness. Goodness. Faith. Humility. Temperance. And again—peace, grace, glory in tribulations, patience, experience, hope, confidence, and the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Another apostle described its cars as virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity. (Gal. 5:22, 23; Rom. 5:1-5;2Pet. 1:5-7.)
Many, many good things await those who will give in to God and admit to their true condition. So what is holding us back? What are we afraid of? That He might get offended and leave us? He knew our condition before we were born! Yet He still makes the offer to us, just the same. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the water, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” Is. 55:1-3. Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy it not, for a blessing it in it: so will I do for My servants’ sake. That I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob.” Is. 65:8, 9.
Promise after promise. Never-to-be-exhausted mercy toward us. Grace piled high upon grace after all that we have done to Him and to His promise to keep receiving us again and again. “The children of promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 9:8. The children who bow to His promise and repent. Will we be one of them?
The engine and train of righteousness has its limitations. It cannot come to us unless we go to where it passes through. Go and stand between those tracks and wait, if you want the train. Be vulnerable and let it get you right between the eyes! No one can jump on board; no one can enter through a window. Trying to sneak on to it through some little red caboose virtue, God does not offer as an option. We must gird up our loins like a man and meet the engine of repentance head on. There is no easy way out.
Down must go our life, our reputation, our livelihood, all that brings us self-confidence and self-esteem. Some pieces of our wreckage we may never pick up again. Are you willing to risk losing you know not what, all in order to lose the old life and gain the new one? Here is where faith gets really laid on the line. “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life, the same shall save it.” “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Lk. 9:24, 23.
The train is also on a schedule—God’s, not ours. We will have to stand and wait. Maybe for a short time, maybe for a long time. It took Jacob 60 years, Moses 80 years, and Samuel 3! But, what a tragedy if the train came through and you missed the golden opportunity? “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning.” Mk. 13:35. Daily, as often as you can, lift up your heart to God; and He will ensure that you’re available when He passes through. Then at that time, take full advantage of the opportunity that He has granted you. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Is. 55:6,7.
We cannot convert ourselves. We cannot make ourselves repent. All that sinful man can do toward his own salvation is to put himself in the place where conversion happens, on your knees before God’s open word, listening to the sermons, by witnessing and service and by opening the heart to God as to a friend, and then ultimately, accepting the invitation by His Spirit, Come unto Me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And God will be watching over us during the whole process.
Without repentance and the submission of the soul to God, all of our conflicting unsatisfied desires contend to take control of us. The heart refusing submission to God is like the trouble sea when it cannot rest. No amount of profession and vanity can hide the muck and ugliness that spills out from our insides. “O generation of vipers, How can ye being evil, speak good things?” Matt. 12:34. “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” (Is. 57:20).
Isn’t it time? Haven’t we had enough empty religion? Aren’t we exhausted with the struggle of trying to maintain a moral exterior? How many more times will we turn down His freely offered gift? “Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.” Hos. 6:1,2.
posted by David | 5:26 AM
3 Comments:
Very deep thoughts are expressed here! Repentance is most definitely our greatest need & sadly, many will miss it. There is a work of humility that the Spirit wants to bring about. At the same time we must be careful of judging where people are spiritually by what you see on the outside though. There are certain "standards" in the church that are more human in origin. Certain tests that have been set up. There are many who wear jewelry who have a deeper connection with God than you or I. That alone cannot be a determining factor as to whether or not someone has truly repented or is a real follower of truth. We are all on this journey together...
David,
Your posts are good, though rather long. I hope this doesn't keep people from reading though! You make some really good points and I share your thoughts. I think that many of our churches (any christian denomination) have a tendency to become country clubs. We want to make people like us so that they can join our club and have fun with us! The British made this mistake miserably in trying to evangelize India many years ago. Their missionaries thought that in order to make the Indians "Christians" that they had to be like "English Christians." Let's quit trying to make people like us, we are imperfect. Let's try to reflect Christ, and encourage people to be like Him.
Thanks ladies.
We have a large work ahead of us, starting with us. Trailady, as far as the danger of judging others: our sins aren't what's on trial, its our lack of relationship with the Attorney/temporary Judge. I know your concern about people with less than pristine lifestyles, but we need to be able to spot SIN and call IT by its right name, and the best guideline for that is: Who do I love to serve, of Whom do I love to talk, to Whom do my thoughts turn to? When even real "good" people can't seem to talk about Him, shouldn't we be suspect? Not to go on the attack--that would not be conducive to reconciling a sinner to Jesus. But if we can't make a judgment call, the church suddenly becomes a group of wimps. "If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive him." Lk. 17:3. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart; thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." Lev. 19:17.
I know that sounds on the verge of chaos in the church. But if the criteria is love and confessing the merits of Jesus, then we can carefully and prayerfully venture onto this territory. And I hope that in this posting, only love and not hatred came through, as that was my whole intention.
Sharon, I apologize for the lengthiness. I need to learn how to use the KISS method better. Thanks to both of you for your loving patience.
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