Understanding Repentance and Temptation

Yeah, some of these truths are very important for all of us, not only children, but all of us to have truths repeated to us so that we are firmly established. I want you to see the practice of the apostles. Turn with me to 2nd Peter chapter 1. Peter wrote this just a little while before he was killed and he sort of knew that his time on earth was over.

He had some sense that the Lord was going to call him home and he was actually crucified upside down. That's how they killed him. 2nd Peter 1 verse 12.

Therefore I will always be ready to remind you of these things. Therefore means he's connected to the previous verse. He says, I want you to verse 11 to have an entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A wonderful entrance. And in order to have that wonderful entrance into God's kingdom, I want to remind you of these things, even though you already know them. So Peter was never afraid of repeating a message, even if they already knew it, he says, I'll still tell you because you need to be reminded of it again and again.

And even though you're established in the truth, some of you are established in the truth here and you say, why do we need to hear this again? Well, I tell you, you need it too. I never get tired of hearing about repentance and faith because it is an ongoing thing. And he says, I considered it right as long as I'm alive to keep on reminding you, not just once.

And not only that, he says, my earthly dwelling is going to be laid aside soon and I'm going to be diligent. Verse 15, look at this, that after I leave this world, you will still remember what I said. Look at the burden that Peter had.

I'm going to remind you and I'm going to keep on reminding you as long as I'm alive. And I'm going to make sure that after I die and the Lord's taken me home, you will still be reminded of what I said. That's how by writing a letter, which has lasted for 2000 years.

So when I got converted, nobody explained to me clearly what repentance was. But as I studied the scriptures, it became clear to me. And you know, I was in the military and I compared it to the military command called about turn.

About turn is a military command, which says when you're facing one way and about turn means you go right the other way. So what happens then? The things I'm looking at, I don't see them anymore. That's about turn.

And the things which I was not interested in, now I'm interested in. So I want to ask all of you who have received Christ, did you repent? What were the things you were occupied with before you were born again? And are you really occupied with the things of heaven and God now? That is about turn. That is repentance.

Now, there's another command in the military called right turn or left turn. Now, when a person is given a command about turn and he turns only right turn, first of all, he'll be taught such a lesson that he'll never, that he'll remember the rest of his life. And I'll tell you how they taught us the lesson in the military.

If you were very slow in turning about, the sergeant would call you up and he'll tell you to hold your rifle and keep running around that one-mile parade ground until the parade is finished. You'll never make that mistake for the rest of your life. That's how they taught in the military.

The Christian life is a warfare. Everybody must be a soldier. And I believe the problem with many, many Christians, their repentance is like a right turn.

Yeah, they have, look here and look, but you can look back that way to fifth and about turn, you can never look back. That's the first thing I want to ask all of you, dear brothers and sisters, was there a time in your life, it may have happened in one day, it may have happened over a period of years, slowly, sometimes slowly, but have you come to the place where you've really turned your back to everything that the Bible calls the world? Have you really turned to Jesus Christ and the things of eternity? Turn with me to 1 John and chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. Do not love the world. This is about turn.

Here's the world. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, he's not loving the father.

It is an absolute thing. It's like asking, do you love your wife? Or do you love your wife plus some other woman? Do you love your husband or you love him plus some other man also? There's something seriously wrong with a marriage where you're not absolutely 100% faithful to your wife or your husband. There's something wrong with that marriage.

The Christian life is also a marriage. I was married to the world and to the devil and I forsook that. Now, am I married only to Christ or do I have some other love as well? If anyone, do not love the world.

And if anyone loves the world, that is, you know, this right turn. A little bit here, a little bit there. It's like a person who got married, but he's got an eye on his old girlfriend.

You know, there are a lot of people who, when they got married in their previous life, they had some girlfriends. They've given them up, but they think of them now and then. And if they meet them somewhere, they spend time with them.

That is the type of conversion some people have. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. It's not that you're tempted by the world, but loving the world.

You know, it's like someone said, being tempted is like the birds flying over our head. You can't stop that. Bird will come, bird will go.

But if you allow a bird to settle down on your head and make a nest there, then you're responsible for that. You can't stop the birds flying over your head. So, thoughts coming.

You shouldn't get condemned about a thought that comes into your mind. For example, supposing a thought came into your mind, fall down and worship the devil. Do you know that Jesus was tempted like that? The devil said, fall down and worship me into his mind.

He said, get behind me, Satan. What I learned from that is, you can have a terrible thought come into your mind. Terrible.

I mean, worshiping the devil is the worst possible thing you can think of and all the other lesser evils there are. It comes into your mind. You don't have to condemn yourself.

You do what Jesus did. Say no. Turn these stones into bread.

No, God has not asked me to do that. Jump off the roof. You know that Jesus was tempted to commit suicide? Jump off the roof.

His angels will protect you. So, there are thoughts. Imagine if you had a thought of suicide, you say, oh, what a terrible person I am.

No, Jesus had it. Temptation is not sin. I say this because a lot of people condemn themselves.

Oh, that terrible thought came into my mind, particularly young people. Reject it. That shows you're on the right side.

So, as long as you live in the world, you will always be tempted. That is, you'll be tempted to look back, but you're not going to look back. You've done a complete about-turn.

Lord, my back is to my old way of life in the world. And all that is in the world, verse 16, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life all belong to the world. So, there are things that are going to tempt us even after we are born again.

And we can say, why does God permit that? He could easily stop it. He could easily prevent us from being tempted. One day when we get to heaven, we will never be tempted.

God could have done that even on the earth, made us in such a way that we're just not tempted. But there's a reason why we're tempted. Let me show you 2 Corinthians in chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Blessed be God, the Father of all comfort.

And when I read the word comfort, think of the last four letters in it, F-O-R-T. It is a strong fort. So, comfort has the meaning of being strengthened, like you're inside a fort and the enemy can't touch you.

So, God, let me read comfort like that, verse 4. God strengthens me in my affliction. Temptation can be an affliction. And God strengthens me there.

Why? So that I can strengthen somebody else whom I meet next week, who's going through the same problem. So, the reason why God takes me through so many problems is so that I can help other people. Why is a person who's being trained to be a doctor called to face so many patients with so many different sicknesses? That's how these medical students are trained to become doctors, so that one day they can handle other people who have those sick problems.

So, whenever God allows us to be tempted or brought into some situation, remember this verse, God strengthens me in this trial, so that one day I will be able to strengthen others who are going through a similar trial with the same strength that I got from God. It's like a doctor saying, I was taken into so many difficult patients with so many different problems, and all that I went through there equipped me now to be able to fulfill my function as a doctor. So, everything that God permits in our life is with a purpose that we might be a blessing to others.

One of the greatest promises, let me close with that, Genesis chapter 12, is the promise God gave to Abraham. Genesis chapter 12, verse 2, the middle, I will bless you, and you will be a blessing. Please remember this, all of you young people and older people.

If God blesses you, it's the purposes that you should be a blessing to other people. If you're not a blessing to other people, my brother, sister, you're a miser. That means whatever God gives you, you hoard it up for yourselves, and you don't want to share it with other needy people around you.

We are not to be misers. God blesses us so that we can bless others. And if you connect that verse, always connect Old Testament verses with New Testament, and you'll find there's a meaning to it.

Galatians chapter 5, that same, that is a blessing God gave to Abraham. I will bless you, and you'll be a blessing. Please remember that, two sentences.

I will bless you, and you will be a blessing. Okay, Galatians chapter 3, when Jesus died, he not only took our sins, it says in verse 13, he became a curse. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse.

How many of you knew that Jesus became a curse on the cross? Because it says, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And the reason he became a curse is so that this blessing of Abraham, verse 14, can come to us. What is the blessing of Abraham? I will bless you, and you will be a blessing.

I want to say to every one of you, it is not God's will that you should remain without being a blessing to others. You should be a blessing to every person you meet in some way. Claim it.

Say, Lord, make that real in my life. If you repent fully, it will happen in your life.