A Gospel of Convenience : The time has come for Repentance!

I am saddened at how often I hear folk say to me that they rarely hear the Gospel being preached in churches today. When I say 'The Gospel', I mean the Gospel of Jesus Christ as opposed to the watered down versions of Scripture that are so often preached today. How easy it is to try to make people feel comfortable by saying the things that they feel content to hear. Sometimes I'm challenged by people because the message that I preach is a message calling for repentance from sin, and the particular individual challenging me feels that the word 'sin' is too harsh a word for today's world, preferring that I use the word 'wrongdoing' instead. However you try to dress wrong actions up, and whatever word you use to describe them by, the long and the short of it is that when you do something wrong then you are sinning. It follows then, in Gospel terms, that if you have sinned then you need to repent of that sin and have it cleansed from your life, for it's when we go to Jesus Christ in repentance, confessing our sins and seeking forgiveness for them, then He is able to present us to God as redeemed beings.

Only recently someone who has heard the Gospel message of Salvation over and over, said to me that they thought that there were many ways to heaven, and that all religions had their own way of getting there to be with God. This is completely contrary to Scripture of course, for Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). This makes it absolutely clear that Jesus Christ is the only way to God the Father who is in heaven. When I pointed this out I was met with the alarming comment that,'Yes, I understand that, but don't you think that the different gods worshipped by other religions are just Jesus by another name.' How sad that this person has attended church for many decades, has heard the Gospel preached from the front time and again, and yet still is so misguided in their belief.

Christians pray for Revival, yet revival starts with the revival and renewing of just one person, and that's the person who is praying for Revival! The Welsh Revivalist, Evan Roberts, prayed to God, 'Bend me, Lord. Bend me!' This is the prayer that we all need to pray, that we might be renewed and revived. There is a great need for repentance to be preached with sufficient zeal that people realise the urgency for the need of repentance in their own lives, for renewal follows repentance.

This nation, and indeed our world, is in such a dire need for Revival now that it is absolutely imperative that we go before the Lord with repentant hearts and seek forgiveness for the many ways in which we have done wrong in God's eyes. We can then seek to be renewed in Christ and commit ourselves to fulfilling the Mission that we have been entrusted with as Christians.

When we work then our efforts are often insufficient, but when we pray then God works and the results are amazing. This being said, let's get praying, starting with repentance, moving to renewal and helping to bring about revival!