Repentance Prepares the Way

Repentance prepares the way of the Lord.

Dr. Michael Brown. Yes, it's true. Repentance prepares the way for the coming of the Lord. If you want to see real revival, if you want to see real visitation, if you want to see real awakening, there will be repentance. And as one revival leader said several generations ago that the depth of any revival will be determined by the spirit of repentance that is obtained. This is Michael Brown, this is the Line of Fire, and we're going to talk about that today. Talk about where America stands. Talk about the type of preaching we're going to have to get used to as God goes deeper, digs deeper, uncovers sin, not to condemn us but to bring us to a place of repentance and transformation.

Phone lines open 866-344-866-348-7884. What does repent even mean? What does repentance, preaching, sound like, feel like?

What are the results that come out of it? Why is this message so urgent? Before we get into scripture, we're going to look at a lot of scripture together today. Before we get into that, let me tell you something very interesting. Many of you know that our ministry emphasizes three R's, revival, revolution, redemption, meaning revival in the church, gospel-based moral and cultural revolution in society, and redemption in Israel, seeing the Jewish people saved. These are burdens that I've carried for many, many years, and especially the first R and the last R, revival in the church, redemption in Israel, for decades, redemption as we're going right back to first being saved, and that revival fire has been something with me all these years, and then God began to burden me 20-something years ago about the culture as a whole. So these three R's are very dear to us. But we began asking questions as folks connected with our ministry and were getting our emails and materials from us. We began to ask, which of the three R's did you connect with?

Which was the one that drew us, drew you to the ministry most? So my guess would have been the second or third R. My guess would have been, some of you write and thank us for speaking out on cultural issues, for giving a kingdom perspective on politics and the world around us, and we get thanked day and night. We appreciate it so much. We get thanked day and night for addressing these issues and speaking about the culture wars from a biblical perspective. And again, day and night, we're thanked for being a voice there.

So I would have thought that or seeing the Jewish people saved, because people pray for Israel, know with me as a Jewish apologist the importance of that calling. And I would think the second or third R. Overwhelmingly, it's been the first R. Revival. That is the number one reason that people connect with us.

And then the second two R's just about equal. So I find that very interesting. And it's another reminder to me of the great burden that I carry to see the church restored to its first love. The great burden that I carry as someone who's been a leader in revival movements and has preached over the decades around the world as a revivalist. In other words, seeking to wake up the sleeping church and bring us into a fresh encounter with the living God and a real repentance that will produce holiness and dedication and devotion. And with that outpouring of grace and love and joy and the presence of the Spirit and freedom, it blesses me to know that many have your hearts beating along with me for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit. I have a book coming out in September called Revival or We Die.

And that's always that desperate situation you find yourself in there. There has to be a visitation in the culture. There has to be a renewal. It's going to begin in the church. The church goes through these cycles and backsliding sets in and we need to be renewed. Ideally, we just burn red hot always until Jesus returns.

And yet there are these ups and downs. Look at what God said through the prophet Isaiah chapter 40, famous words that you know from the gospel accounts, speaking of John the Immerser, John the Baptist. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Now notice this. This is a word of comfort. Speak kindly to the heart of Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, for she has received from Adonai's hand, from the Lord's hand, double for all her sins. So the children of Israel, the Jewish people in Babylonian captivity represented by Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem, back in their homeland, they're being told time of comfort. You've paid for your sins in exile. You've done the time for your crime, spiritually speaking. Now it's time for now it's time for return.

And look at the message. A voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley will be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low.

The rough ground will be a plain and the rugged terrain smooth. The glory of Adonai, the glory of the Lord, will be revealed and all flesh will see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Now when this is applied in the New Testament, how is it applied? It's applied to John preaching repentance in the wilderness and we'll look at those verses in a moment. But I want to take you back to a sermon from my friend Steve Hill, now enjoying the presence of the Lord in heaven. Steve Hill preaching about having clean hands and as he's preaching for those listening on radio or podcast, at one point he goes over to a little bowl he has on the platform which is filled with like water and mud and sticks his hands in and he's walking around singing praises to God with these filthy hands. But this is the type of preaching literally we heard night in, night out, year in, year out, picture coming from around the world, arriving there in Pensacola, standing on line 12 hours to get a seat in the main sanctuary, getting on line at six in the morning for the doors to open at 6 p.m. for the service to start at 7 p.m. and then extended worship, the Holy Spirit moving, maybe powerful testimonies.

But then you're getting her a message like this virtually every single night. Listen to Steve preach. Have your hands been holding pornographic movies or magazines? Have your hands been pulling the arm of a slot machine? Have your hands been caressing someone else's wife? Have your hands been committing robbery?

Have your hands been holding a pen and writing bad checks? I'm asking you tonight, where have your hands been? When I tell you friends, this is what I see in Christendom. I see people worshiping God. They'll stand at the Brownsville Revival, and they'll say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord, worthy is the Lamb of God. Holy is the Lord, I worship you, I worship you. He's got fire in his eyes and a sword in his hand. Yes, Lord, I'll ride with you.

I will ride. Look at this, friend. It stinks. Where have your hands been? What have they been touching?

What kind of evil have you been involved in? Listen up at home. Maybe no one else knows, but God knows where every finger and every hand has been. God knows what you've been doing, son. God saw you caressing that girl in the backseat of the car. He knows where your hands have been.

And I want to tell you, it's the epitome of hypocrisy to have your hands one day reading the Bible and the next day fondling some girl in a car. Or imagine your hands are worshiping God one day. You get home from the Revival. You go back to your home. You open up the refrigerator. You grab a bottle of wine. You chug it down, friend.

Think about that. One minute you're worshiping God. The next minute, your hands are filthy. Your hands are filthy. It doesn't work like this, friend.

Once you hear me, it doesn't work like this. If you want to make it to heaven, you're going to have to have clean hands. Preaching like that week in, week out, basically bringing it down to how you live. You're going to say, I'm a follower of Jesus and I'm committing sexual sin willfully. I'm getting drunk willfully and I'm playing around willfully.

No, it doesn't work like that. There must be repentance and the blood of Jesus cleanses us, changes us, washes us. It's a free and glorious gift. But you get in an environment like that, suddenly conviction is there. Suddenly you're feeling uncomfortable. Suddenly you're recognizing that something is deeply wrong. And that's what happens.

God by his Spirit draws near. Things that you were very casual about, no big deal. We just get used to it.

Everybody else does it. Let's not be extreme. Let's not be religious fanatics.

I'm not going to get caught up in legalism. We have all of our reasons that we get caught in habitual sin and even justify it. Then you come in an environment where the Holy Spirit's moving. It could just be in the privacy of your own home. It could be driving your car, listening to radio one day. Maybe it's happening right now, that message from Steve just pierced your heart. It could be when you're visiting a place where God's really moving and suddenly you are undone. Suddenly your eyes are opened and suddenly you see the depth of your guilt before God and the depth of his grace towards you and the depth of his commitment to set you free and you go running to him, repenting things you are hiding for years. Suddenly you're confessing openly and you're free and you're changed and you can't even recognize yourself.

You feel so clean. Let me show you a headline. Look at this recent Gallup poll. You want to see some shocking news here in America. According to a recent Gallup poll, U.S. church membership falls below majority for the first time.

Yeah, look at what this article says. Recent Gallup poll, so I'm not trends here in the Church of America, American membership and houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's eight-decade trend in 2020. 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church synagogue or mosque down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999. U.S. church membership was 73% when Gallup first measured it in 1937 and remained near 70% for the next six decades before beginning a steady decline around the turn of the 20th century and now it's less than half of Americans have church membership.

This is another indication that backsliding has set in and has set in rapidly and I know that some of those that had church memberships weren't saved in the first place but plenty have gone cold. Time for a fresh wave of repentance. We're going to open up the scriptures. Got a powerful clip from Leonard Ravenhill we'll play for you and I'm going to take your calls. 866-34-TRUTH. It's the Line of Fire with your host Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. I will start getting to your calls in a few minutes but first let's go through scripture together about how repentance repairs the way of the Lord. 866-34-TRUTH.

866-34-878-84. The picture we saw in Isaiah was the crooked places made straight, the rocky places smoothed out, the low places filled in. In other words here's a graphic physical picture of preparing a way for God to come through the wilderness or God to come through the desert or bring the exiles back so there's a plain road. It would be like this that you have a guest room in your home, you just throw a lot of junk in there because it's never needed and you know it's just it's messy and then you get a call that a relative is coming and can they stay with you and they're coming in two days like clear out the guest room everybody scrambles or if you've ever sold your house and you know you maybe had a bunch of people over for a special event and the realtor calls we've got a we think we've got the right buyer they want to come first thing tomorrow morning it's like first thing tomorrow are you kidding me everybody start cleaning prepare prepare this is what happens God wants to visit so John the immersive comes let's look Matthew the third chapter Matthew chapter 3 and what is what is his message he's a voice of one crying in the wilderness and what does he say verse 2 repent turn away from your sins repent for the kingdom of heaven is near and and he says his baptism is a baptism of repentance in verse 8 he says produce fruit worthy of repentance repent for the kingdom of heaven is near in other words the messiah is about to be revealed you must turn from sin God is ready to visit God's gonna stay at your house so to say get the room ready so when God's ready to come and meet his people and and visit us you got to turn from sin so John's repentance preaching prepares the nation for the coming of the messiah okay now Matthew chapter 4 what happens here Matthew the fourth chapter John is arrested and Jesus is now preaching and what's his message Matthew 4 at 17 Jesus begins to preach repent for the kingdom of heaven is near now the TLV says turn away from your sins the Greek is simply repent but the Greek word used from repentance does not simply mean a change of mind it is a change of mind and heart and life it is about face it is a turning away from sin and disobedience and a turning to God if it's just change your mind that's how some hyper grace teachers and others teach it change your mind about sin no that's number one is not what the Greek means in the New Testament check all the major lexicons on it where the scholars just tell me what the Greek says look at the Hebrew usage first in terms of the call to repent turn from sin turn to God throughout the Hebrew Bible this does mean as the TLV says turn away from your sins but the Greek repent the exact same message is John the kingdom of heaven is near the messiah is here he's bringing the kingdom with him so clear the way all right now mark chapter 6 mark chapter 6 Jesus sends his disciples out so look at this so they went out and proclaimed that all should repent that was their message John preached it Jesus preached it it's been said that repent is the first word of the gospel John preached it Jesus preached it now the disciples preach it so they went out and proclaimed that all should repent and they were driving out many demons and anointing with oil many who were sick and healing them okay now moving away from mark 6 we know that elsewhere luke 15 the parable of the lost coin excuse me lost sheep lost coin lost son the lesson lesson is there there's joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and we see from the prodigal someone it means to repent recognizing the sinfulness of his ways turning back to his father for mercy that's a picture of repentance we know that Jesus said that that he came for sinners to repent that was his mission and now after his resurrection luke chapter 24 the great commission look at look at the great commission here he opens their minds the disciples minds to understand the scriptures and verse 47 so so this is what's written the messiahs to suffer rise from the dead on the third day in verse 47 and that repents for the removal of sins or repentance for repentance for remission of sins is to be reclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem that's the great commission preach repentance repentance and forgiveness of sins beginning in Jerusalem so now we get to the book of acts chapter 2 verse 38 after peter preaches and the people say what should we do acts 2 38 repent and let each of you be immersed in the name of messiah jesus for the removal of your sins or the remission of your sins you'll receive the gift of the holy spirit so what's the message there in acts 2 38 repent this is you say what about believe belief and repentance are two sides of the same coin one requires the other to to believe you need to turn to god to repent you need to believe in god they are two sides of the same coin all right now acts the third chapter peter's preaching after the healing of the lame man what's his message verse 19 repent therefore and return turn back to god so your sins may be blotted out are you are you seeing the pattern here over and over acts the fifth chapter after the disciples have been called to account by the the leaders the son hedron the jewish religious leaders acts chapter 5 what happens there in acts 5 peter preaches in verse 31 this one got exalted as his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to israel and removal of sins the exact same words from luke 24 this is why jesus came you can't preach the gospel without preaching repentance well acts 16 just says believe well acts 2 just says repent and all these other passages they repent two sides of the same coin when someone is shaking for fear of their lives like the jailer and his family in acts 16 what do we do believe in the lord jesus in other words i need to be saved from my sin what do i do believe in the lord jesus that that's repentance right there i want to be saved from my sin i don't want to i want mercy from god what do i do believe in the lord jesus repentance and faith two sides of the same coin here when the gentiles hear peter preach in acts the 10th chapter and now peter is describing it in acts the 11th chapter what does he say he explains how the gentiles came to faith and when the other disciples heard this verse 18 they became quiet and they glorified god saying then even to the gentiles god has granted repentance leading to life god has granted what repentance things like that's how they describe people being born again you might say we haven't quoted paul yet you haven't quoted paul's words in the new testament okay acts 16 he tells the jailer believe in the lord jesus you'll be saved again the jailer fearing for his life and understanding he's guilty and and he's he's had a prisoner who's an apostle of god what do i do believe in the lord jesus now listen to more of paul's message acts 1730 preaching in athens although god overlooked the periods of ignorance meaning idolatry and the gentiles now he commands everyone everywhere to repent got that god commands everyone everywhere to repent is that clear who everyone where everywhere do what repent again it is not simply change your change your thinking look luke 3 when john preaches repentance they say what do we do all right you got two cloaks give to someone who has not don't extort though in other words it's not just change your thinking i now decide that i am righteous and consider myself righteous and no no now live righteously now live righteously how about acts chapter 20 where paul sums up his message acts 20 21 this was the message testifying to both jewish and greek people what repentance to god and trust in our lord jesus this was the message he preached everywhere repentance towards god and faith in the lord jesus turn away from your sin turn to him and be saved and then in acts 26 as paul is speaking to agrippa and speaking to him about the message that he preached everywhere how does paul describe it there acts chapter 26 verse 20 rather i kept declaring first to those in damascus and then jerusalem and throughout all the region of judea and also the gentiles that they should repent and turn to god performing deeds consistent with that repentance if there's any possible doubt about what he was saying that removes the doubt people should repent and they should turn to god and they should perform deeds consistent with that repentance what is what does hebrews 6 say it is a foundation of the faith hebrews 6 1 therefore leaving the basic teachings of the messiah let us move on toward maturity not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith in god every time the the words repentance and faith or repent believe occur in the same verse in the new testament repent comes first mark 115 repent believe the gospel acts 2021 that we just saw repentance towards god faith in the lord jesus that are here hebrews 6 1 repentance from dead works dead tradition dead religion whatever you want to call it turning away from that and putting our trust in jesus how does how does peter describe god's heart second peter chapter three verse nine what does it say the lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some consider slowness rather he's being patient toward you not wanting anyone to perish but for all to come to repentance this is where it starts you want to see people genuinely say preach repentance you want to see people genuinely right with god by the holy spirit confront sin and unrighteousness and point them to the savior then they'll realize they need to be saved then they'll realize that they need mercy we preach to jesus everything is cool with you cool with him man he's just honored to be your friend just have him in your life and things will go that's not the gospel it's to save anyone it doesn't change their lives it doesn't set them free from sin it just puts a false stamp of approval on a carnal life look at what jesus says to the churches in asia to the congregations revelation chapter three verse 19 those whom i love jesus speaking i rebuke and discipline therefore be zealous and repent and then after that the promise i'll sup with you you with me we'll have communion friends we've got to recover the lost art of repentance in our own lives and the preaching of repentance we're we don't want to hurt people's feelings and let's speak the truth backed by the power of the holy spirit and people get so set free so forgiven so clean they'll have joy and affirmation beyond anything they have known oh we're just getting started it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH here again is dr michael brown god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved so we read in john the third chapter one of the most famous passages in john's gospel we also read there that those who love the truth come into the light that their deeds may be made manifest that they're wrought in god in other words those who want to please god love the light because their hearts are right with him those who don't want to please god run from the light and part of our role as god's people is to be light in the world and eph light exposes the light rebukes the darkness so as we as god's people preach righteousness preach truth preach justice preach the gospel in all of its aspects it will shine light and people will either run from the light or to the life those running to the light to get cleansed to get washed will find freedom and renewal and the holy spirit will often deal with deep conviction making us terribly uncomfortable and then out of that it leads to a wonderful spirit of repentance where we the thing is burned out from deep within it's not just superficial god i'm sorry i'm sorry i promise not to do that again and you you do it like 30 times a day whatever the thing i'm sorry i won't do it and day in day out for years that's no way to live that's not god's heart for us to live like that and there is freedom and understanding the power of his grace but with the power of his grace there's deep conviction titus 2 god's grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness it's god's grace sometimes the preaching of the love of god sometimes preaching the goodness of god the beauty of jesus brings a revelation of our sinfulness and out of that we come running to the cross for cleansing for salvation for transformation we're talking about how repentance prepares the way of the lord how repentance prepares the way for revival and how the depth of revival is determined as frank barleman said during the azusa street revival by the the depth of the spirit of repentance that is obtained right i'm going to the phones momentarily i just want to play a clip from from leonard ravenhill he's been talking about the life of paul and the way paul lived but but it's it's vintage ravenhill we were we were very close to the last five years of his life and and shared many sacred hours together before the lord in prayer and fellowship this is this is who he was always this is what he carried died in 1994 at the age of of 87 listen to brother len in america alone right now we have i dare to say this before god i believe we have hundreds of millions of gospel cassettes and we've millions of gospel books and we've hundreds of bible schools and we've hundreds over the year we have hundreds of seminars and we have people memorizing the scriptures and we have about 5 000 radio stations who every day give some part of the scripture and yet with all this stuff to feed on dear god where are we with all this stuff to feed on 95 percent of us are spiritual cripples spiritual infants spiritual babes children full of self-pity self-interest self-seeking self-concern me first and some people love god because he gives we've got this wretched prosperity stuff paul's very clear isn't he doesn't doesn't he say oh right right into timothy that you'll come a day when people think that gain is godliness some of god's choices saints don't have another shirt to change peter said in his day there are some will make merchandise of you that couldn't be more true than the day in which we're living yeah and he goes on and friends he prayed with tears he prayed with brokenness he carried that before the lord in his intimate relationship he had with god and then when he would preach i was in meetings where he couldn't finish preaching people just started running to the altar crying out repenting but by the end of the day boy there was liberty there was freedom there was cleansing there was lifestyle change lasting change jesus really sets the captives free let's not run from the message of repentance let's run to it if we love jesus we want to be clean and and and yes we're cleansed by his blood but now he says now live that out he sets us apart as holy and says live that out and by his power living in us we can do it we can do it pastor's leaders don't get harsh don't beat people over the head but out of a burden from god speak the truth speak the truth let the chips fall where they may we're in a critical state in america today and there's no time to play games no time to worry about hurting feelings if you truly love god and love people and you're preaching by his spirit speak the truth let those words pierce and then let people encounter god out of that encounter boy the the freedom the celebration you talk about revival joy there's nothing like it i preached around the world friends i preached in almost any setting you can imagine there is nothing like revival joy when people are getting set free and and liberated and forgiven and enjoying the beauty of the lord but it comes out of that deep repentance all right let's uh let's go to the phones let's start with dan in new brunswick canada welcome to the line of fire hi dr bet how are you doing well thank you good listen i've got uh i got two quick questions um i kind of reformulated one of them because you kind of answered it a bit so i wrote them down i'm just going to read them as i wrote them um so number one you said that repentance is not only changing your mind i agree with that um but more importantly it's changing your mind but mormons and jw's other cults they repent and you know they turn to their false god um but let's let's stick to the repent part rather than turning in faith to their false god they really do repent at least outwardly so the question is what makes their repentance false not their belief we know their beliefs are false what makes the repentance false but uh you know a real believer so that's question number one what makes a cult followers repentance false is it false why or why not question number two um this this one's really really played in my mind a lot no christian has has repented to the point of never sinning again so at least i don't i don't know any repentance as i see it in the word it's a lifelong process um so if someone dies in sin without complete and total sinlessness at the moment of their death does that disqualify them from heaven pentecostals and charismatics of which i am they often say that it does disqualify at least in the circles i've been around in canada so what that's the question what measure how much repentance do you need in order to stay saved so those are the two questions yeah and these are these are logical questions to ask based on the way things are preached so uh answer to the first question the reason that repentance say in judaism which is a major major emphasis one of the foundations of judaism chuva so that about face uh why isn't that sufficient without faith in jesus or if a mormon or a jehovah they change their outward conduct why is that not sufficient simple answer is that it cannot actually change the condition of the heart it must be grace and spirit empowered through the blood of jesus in other words it can change outward conduct but it cannot give a new heart that's why it falls short as i said repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin we're saying god save me from my sin we we don't have the power to save ourselves we're saying god have mercy on me we can run to an altar and get on our knees and say god save me cleanse me wash me and now it's done by the power of jesus so it's not just an outward change of conduct alone but it's a transformation of the heart it's a new heart and it's by putting our faith in god the right way look you can just have an atheist who says you know i'm messing up my life i'm drinking i'm i'm i'm getting high i'm missing work my family doesn't respect me i got to make a change and they can make a change just by their own moral willpower but that does not make them right with god now what about how much look without holding this no one will see the lord so how holy do i have to be this is where there can be bondage condemnation legalism and then an outward conduct thing where i i just live by the book but there's not the heart relationship so there is the once for all repentance when we're saved in other words the moment we are born again our sins are washed away in god's sight maybe i haven't fully implemented it yet in other words maybe i've been a thief and the next months i'm going to have to go back to people i stole from and make restitution or confession or go to the police or or or maybe i've got you know all the pornographic stash of dvds and when i get home i got to dispose them in my case it was drugs i had to get rid of so in point of fact god washed me clean when i cried out for mercy and said god by your grace i'll never put a needle in my arm again that's that was the expression of repentance that i knew he was looking for i was washed clean at that moment i hadn't gone home and thrown away the drugs yet or done the other things that i was going to do to act on it but at that moment god pronounces us righteous god pronounces us clean god pronounces us holy if he was writing a letter to us it would be to to saint dan to saint mike that that's that's how he'd be writing to us at that moment and now he says now live that out and yes then repentance is an ongoing thing so relationally to keep my feet clean as i walk through this dirty world there is daily repentance there is daily repentance there's daily recognition of guilt or or when something really wrong happens you lose your temper and you lash out at someone or you fall back into an old habit lord wash me clean lord i turn away from that maybe you're smitten by it you receive that sense of fresh forgiveness that's relational that's ongoing but your your state of salvation is not determined by that in other words the notion that if you know let's say used to be a cigarette smoker and now you fall back one day and smoke cigarettes get in the car wreck and die at that moment you go to hell for a cigarette and you don't go to hell for smoking a cigarette you don't go to hell because at that moment you were you were thinking a lustful thought or at that moment you know you you cut someone off on the road and slammed your horn and cursed them and then you die in an accident or you forgot to confess a sin at night you no no you're forgiven by what jesus did you have there there is in that sense the once for all repentance turning to god receiving forgiveness and now your your state is a state of being saved unless you willfully turn from him you willfully say i deny jesus i refuse his lordship i reject his grace i go back to the world someone could forfeit their salvation but otherwise you are not saved in an ongoing way based on what you did or how many hours you prayed you're saved based on god's grace through jesus and that has been expressed in your life by a true repentance a turning from sin and asking god for mercy and receiving forgiveness so first john 1 7 even tells us as we walk in the light as jesus is the lightest god's in the light that we receive ongoing cleansing why because even walking in the light we haven't yet reached total and perfect perfection so rest in his grace as a believer when you see tell-tale signs of complacency sin now deal with that seriously for the sake of your relationship with him unless that's spread like an unholy cancer in your spirit hey thank you for the questions we'll be right back it's the line of fire with your host activist author international speaker and theologian dr michael brown your voice of moral cultural and spiritual revolution get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-truth here again is dr michael brown you know some folks would say hey look the greek word for repentance is metanoia which means a change of mind and the verb repent is metanoe which again means to change one's mind the word can mean that in certain cases the verb the noun but as it is used in the new testament is is universally recognized in lexicons and commentators that that open this this uprightly they recognize that it is speaking of a moral transformation that it is not just talking about changing your mind about sin it's a change of mind and heart and life especially in a first century jewish context and look when you look at etymology what a word comes from take the word butterfly right what does that have to do with butter but that's that's the word so if you didn't know anything it's a butterfly it must this this thing must be a fly that likes butter or it looks like butter or you know you it's easy to read wrong things and so that's where you have to look at context when jesus talks about mourning and sackcloth and ashes repenting and sackcloth and ashes he didn't say change your mind and cyclops it's grieving it's mourning and recognize recognizing what's wrong turning to god receiving mercy eight six six three four truth repentance prepares the way of the lord uh let's go to patrick in newport news virginia welcome to the line of fire hey dr brown how you doing doing very well thank you sir cool so first off i want to say thank you for playing that uh clip by steve hill it's a great reminder for all of us as believers that we need to live a life that is that does have clean hands and a pure heart and not to live a double life as a believer yeah now the comment i wanted to make uh as it pertains to repentance is i think that first and foremost as a believer we need to remember that we are the lampstands into a dark world meaning that our light should be able to shine so bright that people are impacted by that light and that people want to know the gospel the problem is that i'm saying in culture and what we're facing today is we're in danger of losing that impact and that light and even in revelation champ chapter two when uh jesus was born in the the church of episodes he said that we've lost our our first love and if we don't repent that lampstand could be removed and that that that big that figuratively could mean about the church but that could be also you and your personal life if you're not willing to repent and turn to the righteousness that we once fell in love with with the right spirit and so at the end of the day man like we really have to make sure that our light is shining in this dark world and the last point i want to say is that when it comes to i think there was a previous caller that said something about how do we know where where we stand as far as repentance how much we have to repent what's helped me um is this verse in uh first john three i'm gonna paraphrase because i don't have a bible to look at right now but it basically says that no one that is born born again of god does not continue to make the practice of sinning it's not a desire where your life was once before was a desire to to do whatever whenever and however when you come to christ you are made known that your life of sin is not the way to heaven and you have to turn and repent and and live the way that he has called called us to live right so so in other words yeah hey patrick thank you for the comments so in other words let's say that that somebody's stronghold in their life before they were saved they were they were a porn addict and they were really promiscuous you know sexually loose and they get saved and and and god really sets them free and they they they begin to live a new life and they used to they used to love their old life they used to love their sin and boast about it and think it was cool then god began to deal with them they came under conviction they got set free they got born again walking in grace walking forgiveness overcoming this and and then you know discouragement maybe fired from a job and and weakness sets in and late at night and tempted and you know guy downloads porn but he feels miserable you know after watching for a few minutes he shuts his computer he gets on his knees god washed me clean you know why because he's different he's not who he used to be yet he still sinned but because he's not who he used to be he didn't just walk in it and if he gets stuck in it okay i need help this is not who i am in god hey patrick i appreciate the call and look what did jesus say about the salt that we're the salt of the earth so part of that means the moral conscience of the society but if the salt is lost its saltiness what good is it so let me ask you a question when the world looks at the church of america today does it see us as very different does it see us as holy as pure does it see us as having families that are different having our own lives in order i don't mean that we're perfect but we should be different if we're going to be salt and light then we have to be different than what's around us not in the self-righteous way but just light is different light does shine salt is salt it it does what it does or are we are we like the world does the world look at us and you're no different which then makes it even worse because now we're hypocrites because we're preaching one thing and living another with all my heart i believe that we have lost a mass of amount of our credibility by getting so politicized i believe that we have lost a massive amount of our credibility by having so many scandals in our midst i believe we have lost a massive amount of our credibility by not doing much of the good that people expect us to do now thank god for those who are godly examples and godly witnesses and for those living scandal free and and and for those who can say hey we're going after it our family's going after it we're not perfect but but we're living this out thank god for each of you that you may remain steady and been good witnesses and and and churches and pastors whose names we don't know but you've stood steady in your community for years and the people in your community know that god bless you god bless you but in so many ways we have lost our credibility we have hurt our witness young people in particular dropping out and not respecting us the good news is that when we really have god's fire renewed in our hearts and minds people will see it and they'll be drawn to it america is absolutely ripe for revival but the church must repent first and lead the way all right let's go to carrie in portageville missouri thanks so much for holding through the broadcast welcome to the line of fire thank you dr brown and i very much respect you i want to start with the end of my question and i think you've just touched on it jesus said in matthew these things must be i i want you to think about these are the things that make me uh basis of my question the great reset that's supposed to be here by 2030 the um vaccine passport that's in the news now that would give us a social credit for i'm currently reading dr erwin luther's book we will not be silent yeah it shows how the rise of marxism is just imminent with all these things unfolding right before our eyes my husband even asked me that it makes you wonder why are we even resisting you know i just listened to a facebook message about call your senators about this vaccine passport you know vote why would we even i mean if jesus said these things must be and we see them unfolding before our very eyes why do we continue to like you say lose credibility by warning people why would we not just shut up let them happen and spend our time focused on just jesus and preparing and trying to take as many with us like when they come to get our guns why would we not just hand them over jesus said these things must be right so i i love your question and in fact i just wrote an article i think it went up this morning check stream.org stream.org the church's role in every generation stream.org the church's role in every generation here's the thing every generation faces a crisis every generation has to deal with evil be it the evil of abortion today the rise of marxism some of these other things you mentioned or be it segregation in past generations before that slavery every generation has had to deal with evil in the society and encroaching darkness and in every generation we are the stop sign that stops things from going off the deep end we are the ones that make the difference by being salt and light if we simply abdicate our responsibility everything will collapse and remember in every generation there's this the sense of jesus could come he's right at the door i remember hearing that when i got saved almost 50 years ago that his appearing was was any moment or he was going to catch us up any moment and that we had our set of things in that generation and the counterculture revolution and the counterculture revolution of the 60s looked like the end of the world this is it this is the final apostasy in israel back in the land in the six-day war in 1967 in jerusalem back in jewish hands and we thought the prophecies were being fulfilled so every generation and i don't say this in any way to minimize the urgency of the hour my book coming out in september it's called revival or we die but this is our role in every generation to stop the collapse into complete moral anarchy to stop the society from completely falling apart this is our role because jesus is not yet ready to return otherwise he would have so that means that we have to keep standing doing what's right caring for the poor here do we just say hey there's always going to be poor they're always going to be starving people let them be poor let them starve which is certainly not what you're saying let him be poor let him starve and then let's accelerate things jesus will come no here's how we accelerate things we accelerate things by living holy lives second peter three we accelerate things by preaching the gospel around the world matthew 24 14 we accelerate things by praying for israel's salvation and the coming of god's kingdom romans 11 and elsewhere and we stand for righteousness blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness they will be filled we stand for what's right we advocate for justice we push back against evil and in every generation there's a battle this is our battle this is our time and we want to hand a better world over to our kids and grandkids until jesus returns and yes our great great energy is put on glorifying jesus winning people to him and living as his followers repentance prepares the way