AN IMMEDIATE CALL FOR REPENTANCE BY THE CHURCH

An Immediate Call for Repentance by the Church
This immediate call for repentance is to the church in North America to come before the throne of God, seeking Him for His mercy, long-suffering, loving-kindness in the hopes of staying off His wrath against us, our nation and our families. 

Jeremiah 8:20, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."

Revelation 2:4-5, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. v. 5 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."

Revelation 2:21, "And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not."


Isn't it 'funny' that it almost always seems to take urgency and emergency for God to get us where we need to be?  For it is, in the most tragic events that unimportant things collapse, but important things rise to the front.  Our nation is in a state of emergency.  And the church should be in a state of urgency.  However, it is not really evident that many in the church have that sense of urgency of pending doom and judgment.  Many use the illustration of being 'lulled' to sleep in the things of God, while the devil comes in and steals our children, our future and our souls.  We hear that most urgent cry from the prophets, 'It is high time to awake';  'Awake, awake'.  And yet the church says, 'Let me sleep.' 

I was 7 years old when I received Christ one Sunday morning.  I still look back at that time of the fulfillment of Christ laying everything out for my great need of salvation and me responding to His great love and great gift.  'To as many as would receive Him(Me), to them gave He power to become the sons of God."  I followed in the waters of baptism and thus began my Christian pilgrimage.  Almost 8 years old, when saved, born again; and almost 16 years old when I began 'growing in Christ'. 

This is one reason I have a sympathetic heart toward King Josiah and his biography.  Josiah was 8 years old when he began to reign; but it wasn't until he was 16 years old, "while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father."  And it was the same spacing of years for me.  Not much in the way of anything to grow in the Lord,until God began to move and challenge me at 15 years old.  I was challenged to read my Bible through in a year from Genesis to Revelation for the first time.  I was challenged to buy and do devotions with Charles Spurgeon's, 'Morning and Evening'.  All of which, I was 15 years old, going into 16, when I did this.  And thus began the journey of reading, studying, memorizing and devouring the Word of God.  Or should I say, it devours me. 

I remember first reading through Jeremiah and Lamentations and being deeply struck those early years.  It was horrifying to me.  I began preaching at 17 and filling in the pulpits.  I was much alarmed at what I saw in the church, in the nation and comparing it much to what I read in the major prophets.  I even considered myself to be a fore runner of being like Jeremiah, 'called before I was born' to bring such a message of sorrow to God's people and our nation.  I remember that as Jeremiah was not permitted to marry, I was fearful I too would be single all my days.  But the Lord allowed for me to marry and have 8 children. 

Not much has changed in my view of the Scriptures given in this letter's opening from Jeremiah and Revelation.  These verses are just as pointed and addressing to our plight now as it was in the 1980's.  And for me, almost 30 years has elapsed.  All those things of ministry, of my own devotional, studying of Scriptures, memorization of Scripture has increased;  so also has my propensity for sin increased.  These 30 years have allowed for my flesh to fail time and time again.  It was not up till the last 10 years that I even understood what true revival of God's manifest Presence coming down and abiding upon His people was.  And for course, the results that bring true repentance to His people in such a time of repentance.  It was meeting those seasoned saints of the Canadian Revival that told their accounts of true revival that burned within my soul.  Men like Ralph Sutera, Bill McCleod, and Henry Blakcaby, that shared their experience in the 1970's of God's manifest Presence and what the Lord did during and after those days.  It is that same experience for my own life, minsitry and for the church today that I seek.   

For the most part it has been my hearts desire to preach, evangelize, pray against these verses coming to fruition and completion.  But now, in these days, we are so close to seeing them fulfilled.  We are coming to some kind of a head; and the conclusion will be revival or final judgment.  Let's look at these warnings and respond to that which, literally, 'the Spirit is saying' to the churches, and to you and me.

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not yet saved."

It is of the greatest of sorrows for many in North America to see their families and loved ones, yea, society as a whole in this very state of lostness, without Christ and on their way to eternal hell.  And as I have referred to, decades have now past, for some of our greatest opportunities to reach the masses and we have not seen it happen.  But we have seen the exact opposite.  Where masses have revolted from the church, from any kind of Christian impact and are engaging of great, gross sins across this land.  Whole families, great percentages of populations are without Christ and no real desire to know or hear about it. 

The reports of this verse being true rests on such stats as our overall population.  The population of the US is over 300 million.  Reports favor that on most Sunday's,  there are only 30 million in church worshipping.  That means roughly 10% are engaged in religion.  This reflects that 90% are removed from religion, given up on religion and absent from houses of worship.  Out of that 30 million, we are in a major crisis of how many are truly 'born again' in Christ.  This is not referencing false religions, cults or other religious groups; this is referencing Christian houses of worship.  So that out of 30 million only 10% of them are truly Christians --reflecting 3 million out of 300 million are true followers of Christ. 

How impacting is that last phrase of Jeremiah 8:20 now?  'we are not yet saved'
How urgent is the hour if the 'summer is ended and the harvest is past'?
How did we get to such a plight?

The dilemma of Jeremiah 8:20 coming to pass is found in Revelation 2 and 3.

In Revelation 2 and 3 we have Christ speaking to the 7 churches.  He is speaking to His church today with the same blessing and cursing.  The call is still the same for us as it was for them -- 'repent'. 

Let us examine this call to repent in these verses and make the appropriate response for us today.

The first call for repentance is to the church of Ephesus.  We know its spiritual favor of labors by the Apostle Paul and Timothy.  We know the favor Christ speaks of it here in these verses of Revelation 2: 1 - 7.  the words of Christ point out there good works in verses 2 and 3.  But beginning in verse 4 we see their sin.  Christ came to destroy sin.  "Thou shalt call His Name, Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."  He overcame flesh, Satan and sin to be holy and found without sin.  And as He was, so He requires and commands us to be.  'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."   This is not a suggestion; this is not a goal; this is a command from our Lord.  And the church at Ephesus had fallen from this.  The church of North America has fallen from this.

"Nevertheless I have this against you, you have left your first love"  Why is so many lost and without Christ?  why are so many lives being destroyed?  Why is the church so powerless?  Why is the nation on the verge of destruction?  Because we have left our first love.

"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."
Twice is the call to repent in this verse.  Once is the call to do our first works.  This is based upon what we remember that we have fallen from. 
What happens if we don't repent?
What happens if we don't remember?
What happens if we don't redo our first works?
He will come and remove our candlestick.  and He will do it 'quickly'.  I am fond to remind people of Robert Murray McCheyne's words on this passage.  After he left his pulpit for health reasons, he traveled to Israel to be a missionary. And on his trip there, he went through the region of the 7 churches found in Asia Minor.  As he came to Ephesus, he reports finding the church of Ephesus, he only found the foundation of the building in a corn field.  Their candlestick had been removed. 

No matter what we have been; no matter what we think we are; this doom can happen to us all 'quickly'.  And if we don't understand the seriousness of this, then we will only hasten the timing of it; as He said, 'quickly'. 

Three more times in this chapter the call for repentance goes forth.  And one of the most pressing for us is found in verse 21.
"And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not."

He pronounces the blessings and joy over their good works in verse 19.  But in verse 20, He is pointing out their folly and sin.  They have allowed for Jezebel to set up rule over them.  They have climbed into bed with her, committing the sin of fornication. 

Who have you climbed into bed with?
Who have you sold your soul to?
Who have you defiled yourself with?

And God in His mercy gives time for us to hear what the Spirit is saying and to repent.  But let us not be counted as the fools, who think we have forever.  'I gave you time to repent, but you would not'.  Meaning they chose sin over their Savior.  Many a time in my life, I have been found guilty of this very charge of treason, treachery and betrayal.  I chose sin over Him.  I chose self over Him.  And His mercy and loving kindness that reached to my soul and said, 'Repent.  Get rid of this folly and serve it no more.'  "Yes, Lord." is always the response of humble, contrite servants who repents.  How long has it been since you said, 'Yes, Lord'. 

And now we come to this 'immeidate call to repentance' and its response from us.  Let us see wherein our folly lies.  Let us claim ownership for 'leaving our first love'.  Let us get out of bed with Jezebel and her allurements.  Let us restore and renew our vows unto the Lord God Almighty.  He might 'turn and leave a blessing behind Him.'

The 3 areas of repentance for the church today is found in --
TIME
TALENTS
TERRITORY

TIME:
This is the realization that God did not give us life and time for ourselves.  Our society has ingrained within us the humanistic approach to living -- that it is for self.  We know that in Christianity, life and time is given to glorify God.  Now let us give an account of time spent thus far.
There are --
-24 hours in a day;
-168 hours in a week;
How much time do you spend daily for the Lord?
How much time do you spend weekly for Him?
--to read your Bible through in a year, it is around 15 minutes a day -- (rounded up) that is 2 hours a week in the Word;
--hard pressed to pin down moments in prayer -- many don't pray at all; others are engaged in religious rhetoric, which amounts to nothing; but still, there are those that cry out and seek Him;  a standard acceptance is again around 10 - 20 minutes a day -- that is again around 2 hours a week;
Most attend church at most 4 hours a week; average is 2 hours a week. 
Very few spend anytime in meditation or witnessing. 
totaled (on average) that most Christians spend their time per week at 8 hours a week.  This leaves 160 hours to themselves.
What do we do with all this time? 
--8 hours of sleep; total 56 hours;
--2 hours eating; total 14 hours;
--40 hours a week working;
Total - 110 (round up to 120) hours a week for daily living obligations and responsibilities.
168 - 120 = 48 hours a week
48  - 8 hours a week to serve the Lord (average a little more than an hour a day) = 40 hours left to spend for self

Do you see now how imbalanced our time is?
Do you see how much time we spend for self, for sin?
Do you see how little time we spend for our Lord and His kingdom?
And this is the 3 - 5 million that live an active life for Christ and in Christ and seek to please Him.  What do we say of the other 25 million that attend church but have no functioning relationship for Him or in Him?  And what do we say of the 270 million that are completely submerged in sin and self and faithful servants to the devil?

Now praise God for those of you that have more time with Him and in Him.  Praise God for those that live by Pauls' words, "spend and be spent for Him".  But we know the reality that there are few who are found such. 
Do you hear the Spirit to the masses and His people?  'Repent' 

Now we cannot go back and redo time lost in our past.  But we can humble ourselves, acknowledge our imbalance of time for Him and with Him and do the first works of making more time with Him.  Change this imbalance to make it more daily, more weekly for His work and Presence. 
We will give an account of our time before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

TALENTS
Found under this sin that we need to examine is our possessions and abilities.  All that we are and all that we have is a gift from God.  Our nation has been blest beyond measure with talents.  We know the parable to those that had 5 talents, 2 talents and the one talent.  We all have talents to be employed for His work and kingdom.  'where much is given, much is required'.  But we are all required to use our talents for the furtherance of His great Name in all the world.  the widow only had two mites (talents) but she put her all in. 

Do you see what the Lord has blest us with? 
We have multiple talents in this nation of advancement in education, technology, money and availability.  What have we done with it all?  Surely we agree that the United States could have easily evangelized the world with all our talents. 
Did you ever read of David Livingstone, and how much one man accomplished for the souls of the tribal people of Africa? 
Did you ever read of Hudson Taylor and China Inland mission and how much they did to reach the people of China? 
The one, the few, all are called to pitch in and do. 
How many do nothing to promote the kingdom?
How many have wasted literally hundreds, thousands, ten's of thousands and yea millions of dollars on ease, vanity and selfishness here rather than advancing the kingdom? 
Do you not think that these talents are being recorded? 
Yes, we are being weighed in the balances by our lifestyles and choices.
More homes, more clothes, more cars, more, more of everything; while 'the harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not yet saved'.  Our priorities are wrong.  Our thinking is skewed.  Because we left off our first works .  The first church sold their possessions for the furtherance of the church.  We sell nothing, unless it is a profit for us.  and if we do sell something, we give a portion to tithes, but hold the greater percentage to indulge in more worldly things. 

Do you see the accountability of talents?  Your life, your money, your possessions - are they yours? or His?  And what are you using them for?
Repent of thinking 'you own that'; 'you have this or that'.  And realize it is the Lord's, and let Him have His way with what you own, and who you are. 

TERRITORY

This is the coverage of where we are? and how much is truly His?
We profess that we have given our hearts to Him for salvation and our relationship with Him. 
Remember the sin of Jezebel.  Climbing  into bed to defile yourself with the things of this world and hell.  'Touch not the unclean thing and come out from among them and be ye separate." 
your body, life, occupation is not yours -- it is given unto Him. 
where does the Lord want you to live?
where does the Lord want you to spend your mind, thoughts and intents? 

And again, I believe we can easily hear the Spirit saying to us, 'these are not My thoughts'; 'This is not My will for you'; and we are quickly found in our territory without Him.  He brought us out of Egypt to bring us into the Promised Land.  Do not settle down for the city of Vanity Fair.  Go where He wants you to go.  Be, who He wants you to be.  Live, the way He wants you to live.  Live for His glory. 

And do we see the church now?  Filled with defilement; filled with the world; filled with self.  It is not about Him, its all about us.  The great damning doctrine of humanism is our Jezebel.  Let us go back to the cross, let us die afresh to self, to sin, to the world and let us begin a new to live for Him. 
We have so little time remaining to do this.  While there is time, hear what the Spirit is saying; respond to His great compassion and will and way.  Obey Him in all things, great and small. 

Oh Lord, here we are.  In Your Holy Presence, adoring, glorifying Your great Name and ways.  There is no sin found in You.  But there is much sin found in us as Your people.  O God, how foolish we have been.  How much we have 'given an occasion against Your Name'.  How much we have lived for self and sin, rather than You and Your kingdom.  Oh God, forgive us a fresh this day.  Renew us in You and for You.  Cast away our flesh, it is all vanity and sin.  Let us die to self in order to live in You fully.  Take our whole hearts and make them Yours.  Let nothing reside within us of our old man; but let us be made new creatures in You wholly.  So ashamed, so defiled, so filthy, so sinful we are as Your people, we come to the blood of our Lord and ask to be cleansed completely from top to bottom.  Let no spot be found in Your bride.  We know we have lost time living for ourselves.  And while we was doing this, hell came and took the ground of our nation and families.  Give us back that which we have lost for Your glory.  Give us back the opportunity to serve and gain the victory of this nation for You.  Be glorified in us as Your people for Your great Name's sake.  We know we deserve for You to remove our candlestick.  We lay before You guilty and condemned.  Grant us time; revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love; may each soul be rekindled with fire from above.  Give us Your fullness we ask. 
In the powerful, Holy, and great Name of our Lord and Savior we pray,
IN Jesus Name, Amen