33 “As I live, declares the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will be king over you. 34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 36 As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord God. 37 I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 38 I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
39 “As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.
40 “For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred offerings. 41 As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations. 42 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your fathers. 43 And there you shall remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed. 44 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
45 And the word of the Lord came to me: 46 “Son of man, set your face toward the southland; preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negeb. 47 Say to the forest of the Negeb, Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it. 48 All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.” 49 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not a maker of parables?’” Ezekiel 20: 33-49 ESV
Ezekiel 20: 33-49 The Lord Will Restore Israel
So repentance has fallen on hard times. Those who theologically put it aside, those who sort of politically put it aside; both finding it an incorrect emphasis have literally stripped the gospel of its essence. Repentance is critical in salvation. And when we talk about repentance, what we're talking about in terms of what the Scripture says about it is a repudiation of sin essentially. It is a repudiation of one's old life. It is a coming to a point where you reevaluate yourself, where you say, "I look at myself and I see sin and I don't like what I see, I resent the sin, I don't like the guilt, the shame, the fear, the anxiety that comes as a result of it. I live in fear of the consequence of sin which is eternal judgment in hell. I...I say to myself that I am wretched. I look at my own life and I see my sin and I want to be delivered from it." That is a repentant attitude. It is looking at your life and instead of loving darkness and hating light you have begun to hate darkness. You have begun to repudiate your old life. You desire to be delivered from the dominance of sin and its consequence. That is a penitent attitude.
True repentance never exists except in partnership with true faith. True repentance never exists except in partnership with true faith. And wherever there is true faith, true saving faith, there is true repentance. They go together. They're the two sides of the very same coin. You cannot have true faith in Jesus Christ apart from true repentance from sin. You cannot have true repentance from sin apart from true faith in Jesus Christ. Why? Because it is one work of the Holy Spirit; it is the Holy Spirit who convicts the sinner of sin and then moves the sinner toward Christ. Repentance then is a radical redefinition of one's person. It is a definitive mid-course correction. It is a point in which you look at your life and instead of saying, "I cherish my sin, I want my sin, I cling to my sin, I will not abandon my sin, in fact it's not even sin, it's just who I am and that's the way it is and these are the things I like to do." It is turning from those kinds of attitudes to saying, "I am bankrupt spiritually, I hate my sin, I resent what I am. I want to be delivered from its power and its penalty." That is an attitude of repentance. It is a definitive redefinition of who I am and a turning to God alone to remedy that. - J Mac from GTY Study on Luke 3
33-38 I will be king over you - We left them earlier in this chapter, thinking they may just assimilate into the cultures where they were being exiled to, but that is not God's plan. He has said what He will do, which may be difficult for men to appreciate, but, oh, and no one likes to hear this, yet this is the plain truth, it is not about you. You heard me, its not about you, it is about God's promise to His son, before the beginning of time. I know, the god you believe in would never do anything you didn't sanction or like, but the God of scripture will do it for His name's sake, because He has put His word up with His name. Christ will lose none that the Father has given Him.
1When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. 2For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him. 3Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.… John 17: 1-3
6I have revealed Your name to those You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. 8For I have given them the words You gave Me, and they have received them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me.…
…9I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those You have given Me; for they are Yours. 10 All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine; and in them I have been glorified. 11I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one.…
12While I was with them, I protected and preserved them by Your name, the name You gave Me. Not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. John 17: 6-12
The wilderness of the peoples - Instead of the Sinai desert, it will be a sea of people this time, foreign lands, Babylon, Assyria and further still. We think that they should be utterly lost and consumed this way, assimilated to the cultures where they go, yet God has kept an eye to them always, even reviving the Hebrew language.
Pass under the rod - He will bring them out, and then He will sort them out, the sheep to His right and the goats to His left.
But they shall not enter the land of Israel - Just like those rebels in times past, even the meekest among men, Moses, did not enter the promised land, for those who saw much of God's work and favor, were held to much accountability.
39-44 My holy name you shall no more profane - They were a stumbling block to the rest of humanity; their hypocrisy made a mockery of God. They called themselves Jews, sons of Abraham, and were proud of their knowledge of the true God, yet they followed idols at every chance to fit in, chaining themselves as slaves to the ideals of the cultures around them. I have a painful memory of someone asking me not to call myself a Christian anymore, and it still stings, more than 20 years later. I hold that thought even closer now, but there is still another, when someone told me that they wished more Christians were like me, and I asked, "how so?" "You know,' they said, 'your cool about it. You are the same as us, I don't feel judged around you because you don't bring up sin, and you just have fun." I have never known the feeling that followed, it had never occurred to me that I might be a traitor. I wondered, did I even love this person, or was it impossible because I wanted them to like me more than I was willing to love them? Israel has made the name of God to stink in the land, because they are either hypocrites who shout about laws they don't keep, disdaining the heathen, or they are hypocrites who try to walk on both sides of the fence, playing the harlot with idols, and partaking in the sins of the land.
…6Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 7 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ 8You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”… Mark 7: 6-8
You shall remember your ways - This is repentance, and yes it is part of the gospel, a work of the Spirit, a gift of God.
…8For not only did the message of the Lord ring out from you to Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone out to every place, so that we have no need to say anything more. 9For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and TRUE God 10and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.… 1 Thessalonians 1: 8-10
And all your deeds - You see God's holiness, and you take an honest look at yourself and it is crushing. This isn't a foreign concept to the prophets. I am not a cool Christian, and I don't want to be, but God please help me to see my sin and no longer pretend it isn't there. Let me see it and come to hate it like You do. Let me have love which is patient and kind towards my fellow sinner, but let me be a light shining in the dark until You take me home. It is rot, pure filth, that's all I have to bring; I cannot save myself, I cannot even quit sinning by myself, I am completely dependent upon You.
…7So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.” 9For he and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,… Luke 5: 7-9
…4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.” 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.… Isaiah 6: 4-6
You shall loathe yourselves - I am forever grateful for the cross, but it brings a light upon my often shallow confession, that I have defended my sin, the very thing which He died to save me from. Let me have patience for my fellow then, knowing that it was not of my nature to repent, but a gift from God.
…23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.… Romans 7: 23-25
…30The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree. 31 God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”… Acts 5: 30-32
…17So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?” 18When they heard this, their objections were put to rest, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.” 19Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.… Acts 11: 17-19
Not according to your evil ways - Right now they don't think they want God, and that is the problem with falleness; it stops wanting God, it hides from God like Adam and Eve in the garden. Grace is magnificent in that it also gives the desire, causing the sinner to see himself, yet also to believe that there is hope, otherwise he would hang himself like Judas, and not know a forgiveness that seemed impossible when looking at one's self, like Peter. Blessed are you Simon, son of Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, then you will be saved, not by your works of righteousness, for they will never be enough, and to think so is anything but righteous. It is to believe in another, to put all your hope and trust in the righteousness that comes through faith, faith in the person and work of Christ.
…7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast.… Ephesians 2: 7-9
Is he not a maker of parables - Oh, how sad, they did not like what he said, and so they would discredit the messenger, hoping to make light of the message.
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