The Call to Repentance...the Wayfarer
The Call to Repentance
Luke 5:27-32 King James Version (KJV)
27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.
30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
The call to repentance went unheard and in fact was criticized by the "righteous" who sought only greater tithes, greater position and greater acknowledgement of their "righteousness" rather than hearing and heeding the simple message preached by Christ throughout His ministry of the necessity of repentance given in turn for redemption.
Their position, their livelihood, the very reason for existence, as they saw it was threatened by that simple message and by those to whom it was given.
Yet it remained that call to repentance that allowed for the liberation from the sin that separated man from God, that could, and can,mean the difference between eternal LIFE and ETERNAL death so central to that simple message.
That call to repentance is, too often supplanted by a call to reward and redemption that makes no reference to what is being redeemed.
It has been replaced by a call to enlarge the congregations and coffers of too many refusing to even use the word "sin" much less to remind sinners of the fact that that is what Christ preached all the way to the cross, and that repentance of sin, alone, allows for redemption, allows for a new creature, allows for the birth of water and spirit, the birth that exceeds birth of flesh alone, that Jesus said was mandatory to see the kingdom of God.
That call to repentance is still given to all, though remaining unheard by the masses hearing only the call to be a part of social organization, committing to that organization rather than committing souls to Christ through giving the required repentance.
Repentance is only given when the necessity of repentance is accepted.
As long as sin is not mentioned, it will continually remain "justified" rather than accepted as sin, never allowing for the message preached by Christ to be heard above the uproar of those promising prosperity and happiness, a promise that dies with the carnal body seeking only those things seen to be blessings, that never require the admission of the reality of eternity.
Admission of the existence of eternity demands admission of the existence of God, and of God's superiority over man.
Admission of God demands admission of the sinfulness of man, each individual man, and his innate inability to overcome that sinfulness, his helplessness to escape the wrath of God that cannot be avoided without having first given the repentance preached by His Son.
Many claim to admit the existence of Christ Jesus, yet refuse to accept the simple message brought by Him that allows the reconciliation offered by that message.
Jesus said:
John 14:1-6 King James Version (KJV)
14 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The Way remains through repentance in return for redemption, the Truth remains in the necessity of that repentance, and the Life attainable only through that Way and that Truth.
The gospel is comprised of both promise and warning.
Neither, by itself is sufficient.
The only sufficiency lies in acceptance of both which was and is delivered by Christ.
2 Timothy 1:12
12For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Amen and Amen
the Wayfarer
the Wayfarer
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