Repentance is a Must Taken from A Transcript of the Message Delivered by Bishop Jeremiah Reed on 9-14-03 What is repentance? Repent means a revolutionary change inside your brain! Repent means an intellectual change of thinking. You first have to know you re a sinner. God has to pull you up. 2 Tim 2:24-26 24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. He said you have to turn away from it. Repentance is a thoroughly revolutionary change of attitude and action from sin and the activities that you ve been living in. It doesn t mean join the church and continue to be crooked. God has a church where he demands that repentance comes first. God who is the creator of all things has established the requirements/rules by which mankind may be eligible for eternal life. John 3:3,5 Luke 24:45-49 Acts 2:38 Repentance is necessary because: We were taken captive by Adam and Eve s transgression Genesis 3:16-24 1
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Coats of skin blood was shed, since that time, God has required that those that he is dealing with (making his presence known) provide a sin sacrifice to cover the sin so that he (God could dwell in their midst). Leviticus 9:18 18 He slew also the bullock and the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people: and Aaron's sons presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled upon the altar round about, Deut 12:27 And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh. Leviticus 17:11 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. The animal blood sacrifices did not deal with sin once and for all. If they had, then there would not have been a need to repeat them. 2
Hebrews 10:1-4, 11 1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: All mankind was cut off by Adam and Eve s transgression: Romans 5:11 14 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses (covenant made with the Jewish people), even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But God sent his son, a man without sin, to be the sacrifice that would once and for all pay for the penalty of sin (death) received when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. Matthew 1:21 Hebrews 10:9 10 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:14-20 3
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; John 3:16 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, [a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. People can t we repent because of pride they prefer to create their own rules than follow those established by God who created everything (man included). Repentance is a reaction to a commandment from the Lord. His direct orders to every human being demand a sincere, humble and voluntary acknowledgment of wrong. This is an inward turning. It must occupy the total will. It must direct the heart and conscience. You have to be conscientious of wrong. Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; He s saying that when you repent, faith is hooked in. You are getting ready to turn to Christ and step off in him. When you repent and step off into where he is, he is holy up in there. You are getting ready to go under a blood covenant. It s the death sentence to break a covenant. God says he kills and he makes alive. Hebrews 10:26-27 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 4
Acts 17:28 For in him we live, You can t live in him and sin. Sin separates man from God in Adam. Isaiah 59:1-2 1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Acts 17:28 and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. We were born the offspring of the devil. Acts 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man s device. You all have made everything your god but the true God. Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Nobody in this world is excused. It s repentance. Noah preached so hard, everybody turned but his family. Matthew 3:1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, Matthew 3:2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The rapture is at hand. Matthew 3:3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, Make a way for God. When you repent, you re making room for God. Matthew 3:3 Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. They tell me back in Noah s days, the hammer was saying, Repent. When they were nailing the ark, all they could hear was repent. He had put repent in the brains of everything. When the cows lowed, they said, Repent. When the horses neighed, they said, Repent. When the chickens crowed, they said, Repent. Everywhere, Repent! 5
And they continued buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage. They didn t pay the preacher any attention. But the same day that Noah stepped in the ark and God closed the door (Noah didn t close the door), it said as it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah (homosexuals), so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man. The only way a homosexual can be saved is to repent and go back like God started him out. I don t think there would be as many homosexuals if we had enough people crying, Repent! We have turned them loose. Anybody that doesn t standing for something will end up falling for anything. I want you to know that repentance is a must. God winked at their ignorance in the time past, Acts 17:30 but now commandeth There s an eth, no end. Acts 17:30 men every where In everybody s church. To do what? Acts 17:30 to repent Cut loose from your past. You can t bring it into the church. Cut loose. We re in an era where God isn t playing now. This is the final finishing of the church. Repentance is a must and I don t care who you are: if you aren t too big, you can repent. You know, we get big in our hearts and think that we have plenty of time. God is coming as a thief in the night. Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, Repentance and conversion go together. Acts 3:19 that your sins may be blotted out, Your sins cannot be blotted out if you have not repented and been converted. Repent means to break loose and cut loose from your past and conversion is go back to God that Adam took it away from. That s why baptism in name Jesus Christ comes right after that. And when God cleans you up and imputes holiness, you are forgiven. You don t worry about the past if God cleaned you up when you repent. There is a cleansing of the heart and will. Repentance has a word to step in because God is talking to each one of us according to his word. Be it to me according to thy word. That s where we have to be. We can t repent and live in imagination. Every imagination has to be pulled down under the authority of the word. 6