God's Word to Man Repent

Years ago, when I was an unsaved church member, I came across a four-volume systematic theology set by Louis Sperry Chaffer in the bookstore of my Baptist church. They were expensive, but I knew many of my seminary friends and pastor friends had those volumes in their personal library, so I bought them and read them. Little did I know at the time, I was drinking poison by reading them.

This one professor and seminary founder was responsible for the mess most churches are in today, because he taught that repentance was not necessary for salvation. And thousands of pastors for the last 80 years drank from that same poisoned well, which led to the watered-down gospel of this hour, the only believed gospel, a gospel that goes against the very Bible itself. Few are getting saved today because few pastors warn men everywhere to repent.

You won't hear man's duty of repentance preached in churches anymore. Well, why is that? Because if you preach on repentance, then you have to preach on sin. And if you preach on sin, you have to preach about a future judgment that awaits all mankind.

And if you preach about a future judgment, then you must preach on hell. And if you preach on hell, you're going to run folks off. You'll lose your congregation of unsaved tithing church members.

So we stopped preaching the true gospel years ago and quit preaching altogether. Nine out of 10 pastors just teach nowadays. You'll come to church on Sunday, and you will hear teaching, not preaching.

Teaching informs. Preaching transforms. You want to go against the teachings of Jesus Christ just to grow your church? Good luck.

You'll get your big church friend, and you'll stand at the judgment with your congregation's blood on your hands. That's what my Bible says. My message this evening is entitled God's Word to Man.

Repent. And my text can be found in the book of Ezekiel in chapter 33. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends.

We will be in verse 11. God wants men to repent. He doesn't enjoy sending people to hell.

Now, some of you are ready to jump out of your chair and pick a fight with me because you say, oh, wait a minute, preacher. My God wouldn't send anybody to hell. I reckon you're telling the truth, friend.

Your God wouldn't send anybody to hell, but the God of the Bible would. I have some Bible verses for you this evening from the Old Testament and the New, and they each deal with repentance because I want you to see that the thread of the doctrine of repentance runs red all throughout the Bible, and it runs red, friends, because it is dripping with Christ's blood. You'll bust hell wide open, friend, unless you repent and get under the blood.

But like I said, God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, as seen in our text here today. Here now is the word of God, and may the spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.

Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you die? Jesus Christ's marching orders to the church and the Great Commission stress that repentants must be first and foremost in the gospel message to take to the ends of the earth. We see this in Luke 24, 47, as we read the very words of Christ on the message he wanted to be preached to the nations, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Then tell me why, brother pastor, you don't preach up repentance.

Is it because your main objective is to grow your church to look good within your denomination? You are into counting nickels and noses while you enable souls to drop into hell. Your church one day will be reduced to rubble and their blood will be on your hands. Listen to me, friends.

Jesus' very first public sermon was on repentance. His last word to the church in Revelation was to repent. Jesus declared in Luke 13, 5, except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish.

I want you to hear the words of the apostle Paul, friends, and the apostle Peter. They both preached repentance. In 2 Peter 3, 9, he states, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

There we are, faced with our reference to Ezekiel, and that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. And that goes for seminary professors who teach that repentance is not necessary for salvation. The only belief gospel, friends, made so popular in this country has the smell of smoke all over it because it's a lie right out of hell.

The apostle Paul preached man's duty of repentance as seen in Acts 17, 30, which states, And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Listen to me, friends. God's word to man is repent.

God's word to you right now is repent. Repent or go on to hell. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and singing, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

But no, this is what we tell folks today. Friend, do you want Jesus? Do you want to go to heaven to be with him forever? Why, all you have to do to be saved is to get up right now and walk this aisle and believe that Jesus died for your sins and accept him as your personal savior. That's all there is to it, friend.

You can get it settled right now and you can know for sure that you will go to heaven when you die if you will only believe. And many walk that aisle and repeat a prayer and join the church and become unconverted church members that are now hardened against the true gospel of the Son of God, which is to repent. I fear multitudes today on the role in our churches all throughout this land believe that Jesus died for their sins without believing on the one who died.

Listen, friends, there is a call to repentance smack dab in the middle of the gospel and there's a bloodstained savior who died for sin and who demands repentance if you want to get to heaven and stay out of a burning hell. Go read Luke 15 of all the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. Each of those descriptions of salvation ends with repentance.

I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repented. Again, there is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repented. Where we went astray in our churches in this country is when we stopped calling sinners sinners and began to refer to them as the unchurched so not to offend them.

We quit preaching against sin so not to upset the good deacons. We kept quit preaching on hell in exchange for a larger church campus and a good reputation within our denomination and consequently we take folks by the hand and feed them a diluted gospel that has no saving power and we escort them straight to hell. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live.

Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways for why will you die? Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. God has not changed his stripes, friend, nor is he politically correct. God's word to man is repent and his command to you is to exercise repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us pray.