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Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special podcast.

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Good morning, good morning. Meet me in the Word of God, please, in Luke chapter 15. This is going to undergird and be so important in the things that we want to talk about together from God's Word. Luke chapter 15, I'm going to start reading in verse number 11. As we get underway this morning and you're finding your place in the Word of God, let me just say a word to these elders here, our shepherds who care so much about this church. I just cannot say how much I appreciate your work and your love for the Lord. And your love for these young people. 31 years now, this church has said, it matters. It counts. And we want to support and help and encourage young people on this journey from earth to heaven. Let's read in the Word of God, please, in Luke chapter 15. Jesus, in verse 11. In Luke 15 and in verse 11. And Jesus said, there was a man who had two sons. And the youngest of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the property that is coming unto me. And he divided his property between them. And not many days later the younger son gathered all that he had and he took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in the country. And he began to be in need. So he went and he hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his field to feed pigs. And he was longing to feed with the pods the pigs ate, to be fed with those pods. But no one, verse 16, no one gave him anything. When I began to think a little bit about what we ought to put in our backpacks... Banana Slicer Banana Slicer Is that an Olympic event? Maybe this will give Team USA the edge. Look at how quick they're slicing that banana. And they even say, it's fun for kids. Hey, hey, we canceled that trip to Disney World. We're staying home. We sliced some bananas. That's going to be great, isn't it? How about this for a useless tool? If you're too lazy to turn your ice cream cone yourself, we'll put a motor on it. The Roomba meets dessert. What a completely useless tool. But I do have a tool this morning for you. I have a tool that everyone needs to put in their backpack, especially young people. Young people need, absolutely can't get to heaven without... Without a repenter. Now you may be thinking, what exactly is that? Mark, is that your espresso machine? Not an espresso machine. That's a repenter. And I'll tell you this, in Luke chapter 15, that's exactly what that boy's having trouble with. He can't make his repenter. Fire up. And he's not the only one in the Bible who has trouble with a repenter. In the Old Testament, the Israelite nation struggles consistently with a malfunctioning repenter, especially in the book of Judges. The Hebrew writer tells us Esau loses his. Can't even find it. But I'm here to say this morning that everyone, especially young people, you must have a repenter if you want to go to heaven. It's not optional equipment. It's not just a good idea. It is mandatory for this trek from earth to heaven. You must have this piece of vital equipment because without it, only darkness and depravity and spiritual death can possibly follow. This morning, my goal is to help us assemble a working repenter and to understand exactly how that functions and how to turn it on and make it work, keep it in good working order, and what to do if it rusts up and we're struggling with it like this fella in Luke chapter 15. Open your heart. Open the Word of God. Open your backpacks. Let's put a repenter in there. Now maybe you're thinking, Mark, what exactly is this repenter thing that you are talking about? What do you mean by, I need some kind of apparatus, some kind of machine, a repenter? What are we talking about there? And I know of no better way to explain that than to let the Word of God explain that. Would you open your Bible to Isaiah? Look with me in Isaiah the 55th chapter, please. In Isaiah chapter 55. In Isaiah chapter 55, read with me there in verse 6. In Isaiah 55 and in verse 6. The prophet, how often do prophets call for repentance? In Isaiah 55 and 6, there Isaiah says, Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on Him and to our God, for He will abundantly... Please underline in your Bible. Seek, verse 6. Call, verse 6. Forsake, verse 7. Return, verse 7. Because when we're talking about a repenter, I'm simply talking about the ability to repent of sin. I'm talking about all the things that Isaiah puts into those two verses. Calling upon the Lord and returning to God and seeking God. That's what this is about. And it's vital that you should understand this morning that repenting is a verb. It is something... It is something that you do. You flip the switch and turn that on and it causes you to move and to act and to change and to do differently. That's what this is about. It is especially important that you understand this isn't just about feeling some things and being kind of sorry that you got caught. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is something you will do. I mentioned Esau a moment ago in Hebrews chapter Let's grab that reference in Hebrews 12. The Hebrew writer talks about him feeling a lot of things because of the bad decisions in his life and the choices that he had made. But Hebrews 12, it's verse 17 that says this. Hebrews 12 and verse 17. You know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, Esau was rejected for he found no chance to repent... Though he sought it with tears. He's upset. He's unhappy. He's wailing and crying. But he's not repenting. There's a huge difference in simply feeling bad and having a working repenter. And those of you who brought your repenter to church this morning, maybe you spent some time with it during our time communing with the Lord around the Lord's table. You know what I'm talking about. There are, yeah, there are some emotions attached to that. We want to understand about that and work with that. But it is It is about seeking God. It is about forsaking. It's about returning to the Lord. It's about changing who I am and what I'm doing so that I can be what God wants me to be. In 1 Thessalonians, please, in 1 Thessalonians 1, here's a great definition of a repenter. I'll pair that with the Isaiah passage from Isaiah 55. Look what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, this is verse 9, he says to the church in Thessalonica, you know, 1 Thessalonians 1, 9, they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception that we had among you, how you, listen to him, turned to God from idols. to serve the living and true God. Repentance is that change of mind that comes when we recognize what we did was wrong, so we feel remorse, there is some emotion there, and we start doing what's right. In Matthew chapter 12, in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 41, watch Jesus talk about repentance. It's always about change. It's always about repentance. Rethinking who we are, what we're doing. It's always about moving from wrong to right. In Matthew 12 and verse 41, the men of Nineveh, Thank you, Brother Caleb, for that lesson on Jonah. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. When your repenter is functioning properly, you will change. And that is the key to repentance. It's about change. And now you know why you need one. Because bluntly put, you're going to sin. You're going to sin. Now, don't get it twisted. I don't think that in any way that I'm giving you permission or that in any way the Word of God would condone that, but that's the bare reality of our lives. In John, 1 John please, John helps us here when he says this, in 1 John chapter 1, in 1 John chapter 1, in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 10, in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 10, John comes after Hebrews Mark, in 1 John chapter 1 and in verse 10, John says this, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. What's going to happen when we sin? Are you going to be able to take out your repenter? Because that ability to do that will make all the difference. Not everybody's going to. Not everybody's going to have a repenter in their backpack. Not everybody will use their repenter. What will some people do when they're in sin? They will justify. They will make excuses. They're going to blame somebody else. They're going to deny that they did anything wrong. They're going to blame God for the way He made them. They'll think of a million reasons not to use their repenter. You know what happens to those people? Guilt. eats them alive. But if you have a functioning, working repenter in your backpack, you know what to do. You know what to do. It's God's reset button. It's the way to start over. It's the way to begin again. It's the way back. Without a repenter, well, you're just stuck. You're just stuck in the muck and mire of sin and who you are and what you've done to God and what you've done to yourself. But with your repenter, you can repent. You can be restored to God. Still in 1 John? Just bump up a verse. Look at verse 9. Never forget. God wants you to use that repenter. 1 John 1 verse 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'm going to keep circling back to that and underlining that. God wants you to repent. God wants you to use that repenter. Now, maybe we're at the place in the lesson then where you're thinking, well, I'll take one. I need one of those. How do I get one of those? Well, it's not available in stores. You can't borrow somebody else's. There's no app for it on your phone. I'll tell you this. Amazon cannot ship you one. Not even to your front door. You know what? You'll have to build your own. You'll need to build your own repenter. Now that's going to involve the intellect, a change of mind about your conduct and actions. That is going to involve godly sorrow, some emotion on your part. And there will be the need to activate the will, the determination to stop sin and start doing what's right. And that isn't easy. And because of that, there's a lot of people that don't ever get around to building a repenter. And then when they need one... They can't find one. Because they never constructed the spiritual character that can use this tool to find your way back to God. I need to emphasize that to you young people. Being able to repent comes because you develop the right sort of spiritual character before you ever needed it. To repent. Does that make sense at all? Because that begins with humility, doesn't it? In James chapter 4, in the book of James, in James chapter 4, James says this in verse 6. In James chapter 4 and in verse 6, James says we need to be humble. Why? James 4 verse 6, God gives more grace. Therefore, it says God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble. If you're proud, you will not be interested in activating your repenter. You'll justify, you'll blame, you'll deny all the things that I mentioned a moment ago. But the humble heart says, I was wrong. I did that. And it was sinful. Can I show you that in the Bible? In 2 Samuel... In 2 Samuel chapter 12, there is a man mentioned there who is one of the great repenters of all time. In fact, much of Samuel is developing the idea that King Saul utterly failed to be able to activate his repenter, but David is really, really good at it. And in 2 Samuel chapter 12, David does some repenting. Look at verse 13. Now I should say in context here, David's repenter had gotten rusty on him. And he needed a kick in the pants to get that thing fired up one more time. And Nathan the prophet came to do just that. But when Nathan brought the word of God, verse 13, 2 Samuel 12 and verse 13, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. He humbled himself right there in the royal court in front of everybody. I did that. I was wrong. I... Have sin. Look in Psalm 51 with me, please. In Psalm 51, you must have this kind of humility or your repentant will never work for you. In Psalm 51, David says this in verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. You need to be broken before the Lord. You need to have humility. Humility. To even begin to admit, I need to repent. And somewhere in here, we're going to have to have some honesty. We need a lot of honesty. Brother Tim talked so well about this yesterday. Search me, O God. Know my heart, David says in Psalm 139. If you don't ever tell yourself the truth about who you are and what you've done, what you'll always be doing instead of repenting is you'll be pretending and you'll be performing. If you're always lying to yourself, your repenter won't even turn on. Practice telling yourself the truth. Not some of the time. All the time. Integrity is the stuff that a good repenter is built from. And I should especially point you to the kind of heart it takes to build a repenter. In Hebrews the third chapter, in Hebrews chapter 3, in Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 15, the writer of Hebrews says some things about hard hearts. In Hebrews 3 and verse 15, he says there, Hebrews 3 and verse 15, today if you hear his voice, don't Harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Young people, what do you do when somebody calls you out? Get all defensive about that? How dare you talk to me about what I post on social media? I see some things in your life, Miss hoity-toity, holier-than-thou Christian. Is that our attitude? Mom and Dad sit us down and say, we want to talk to you about some things about your attitude around this house. Oh, really, you think you know so much about my life? Is that where we are? Hard-hearted, won't listen? The repenter, not going to work then. Nothing gums up your repenter faster than that hard heart that won't listen to the Word of God, that won't hear rebuke and correction from someone who would challenge you, from someone who comes to you because they care about you. Instead of being open to that, I'm closed up. I don't want what you've come to offer me. And then maybe the most important part of building your repenter is to have that deep love for the Lord. I need to grab a little bit more of that 51st Psalm. Because part of what drives David to repent, and he helps us understand this in the 51st Psalm, is that David knows during his time in sin and wickedness that he is away from God. And he hates it. He knows he's alienated himself from the Lord. Verse 10. Create in me, verse 10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. David has a relationship with God and he recognizes that his sin has ruptured that relationship and it's killing him. It's killing him because he loves the Lord. I'll tell you, we post a lot of stuff here in a variety of different places that I'm involved in, in preaching and teaching. There's stuff on YouTube and there's a podcast. I've written some books that are on Amazon. And every now and then I get... I get emails from somebody who's really upset about something that I said in a sermon or something that I wrote in one of my books. How dare you say baptism is essential to salvation? What are you thinking? I am never going to watch you again. Oh, yeah, that's it right there. They get letters sometimes from all around the globe, way off places like Rwanda, far off places like Australia or Antarctica. You can't believe the nasty emails penguins will write you. It's just rough. I threw your book away. I'm not even going to finish it. I unfollowed your podcast. Now, what do I do when I get those messages? Well, usually I try to send something conciliatory. Try to say something about we're trying to study the truth and think about the truth and Help me better understand how I've misused the Word of God, if I'm wrong about that and so forth. But I'll be candid with you. I don't lose a lot of sleep about it. Because I don't know them. They're on the other side of the globe. I have no relationship with them. It doesn't bother me. But if Dina said, I'm so mad at you, I'm not going to speak to you. Oh, hey, oh. Man, I'm going to get busy. I'm going to figure out what I need to do to fix that relationship because I value that relationship. I need that relationship. I love my wife. And the reason some people don't have much of a sense of I need to go home to God, it's because they didn't ever build much of a relationship with God to start. So now they've wrecked it with sin and wickedness and it really doesn't bother them. But I'm saying to you this morning, a good repenter has a homing beacon in it. And it's calling us to come home to God because we love the Lord and we care about Him because He first loved us. That's what this is about. And once you've put that together and you've built that, then you need to know time to use it. Not just ornamental. Not something we just carry around in our backpack, maybe show it off every now and then. Look how shiny my repenter is. No, no. Need to use it. That could be a problem. Jesus calls out the Pharisees. Matthew chapter 6. Always preaching on, praying on the street corners. Stop with all of that. It's not what it's about. Need to use the repenter. And you will need that repenter. You say something cruel behind somebody's back, you need to repent. You lie to your parents. You tell them you're going to be in such and such a place and you're not going there and you were not there. You need to sit down with your parents. You have to repent. You look at something online you don't need to be looking at. You do something with your boyfriend, your girlfriend, you should not be doing. You're going to need to repent. going to need to activate the repenter. How do we do that? What's that look like? Can you find Acts chapter 2? In Acts chapter 2, I think it's just a wonderful illustration of what this is all about. The very first time the gospel was preached, in Acts chapter 2, in Acts chapter 2, please read with me there, in Acts chapter 2, we always read verse 38. But in Acts chapter 2, notice what's being said there in verse 37. In Acts 2, 2 and verse 37, Peter's preaching the gospel. What's the result of that? Verse 37, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? There it is right there. Good repentance starts with regret. Cut to to the heart. One translation says, Peter's words pierced their hearts. Again, it's not all about emotion, but it starts with Godly sorrow. Paul highlights that in 2 Corinthians 7. Regret. I see what I've done. I wish I had not done that. And then a big piece of this is realization. Verse 37, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. They said to Peter, you know what's missing in verse 37? Where's all the talk of of blaming others. Hey, Peter, don't be putting that on us. We just follow the Sanhedrin council around here. They're the guys who put Jesus to death. Hey, you want to talk about the crucifixion of the Messiah? I'll tell you who did that. That was Pilate. It's the Romans. It's the Romans. No, what you have in Acts 2.37 is the realization, I have sinned. I did it. It's my fault. No one to blame. I can't shift this onto somebody else. I have sinned. And then I love when they say, men and brethren, what shall we do? What do we need to change? What do we need to fix? This is a question about what should I stop doing? What should I start doing? Who do I need to go to and ask for forgiveness? How can I beg God for His forgiveness? How can I get back to God? Acts 2.37 shows us. That repentance is about talking to God honestly. So that we can delete sin from our lives. Whether that's an app. Whether that's a friendship. Whether that's a habit. Whatever it is, we're going to tear that out of our lives. We're going to stop doing what's wrong. We realize that. We're sorry for that. And we're going to start doing what's right. And I need to emphasize. Sometimes that's hard. And sometimes that's costly. And sometimes that hurts. But that's exactly what your repenter will bring you to do. And I want to just press pause here for a half a second. Guys, could you turn your Bible with me to Acts 26.20? Ladies, you come too. Acts 26.20. In Acts chapter 26, Paul says in verse 19, O King Agrippa, verse 19, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Now Acts 26, 20. But I declared first to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea and to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with repentance. I want so much this morning to recruit more men who will do Acts 26.20. I'm recruiting repenter mechanics. That's exactly what I am. I don't have dirty fingernails. I don't wear greasy coveralls. And I don't have a wrench in my pocket. But I am a repenter mechanic. I fix things. broken repenters. If you are away from God and you can't figure out how to get back, I will bring the Word of God. I will preach God's powerful Word with force and relevance and application so you can find your repenter and repair it and return to the Lord. Even more, I'll help you keep it in good working order. I'll help you oil your repentance with the tears of sorrow over sin. I'll help you polish it with sackcloth I stand in a long line of men like Elijah and Jeremiah and Isaiah and John the Baptist and Paul the Apostle and Jesus the Christ who called people to repent. And I tell you, young men... We are terribly short of repenter mechanics today. I know a dozen congregations right now with empty pulpits because we don't have young men who are giving their lives to the preaching of the gospel. We need you. God's people need repenter mechanics. And I say to you ladies, these young men need strong, spiritually minded women who will encourage them to become a preacher of the gospel, who will tell them this is good and godly work. It's needed work. You can do it. Let's do it together. Yesterday, Tim King talked so much about being a baseball player. And I am thankful for Tim King. And I am thankful he decided he didn't want to throw baseballs. He wanted to fix repenters. But I couldn't help but think I'm so thankful for Leah, without whom we would not have Tim King. We need more preachers. No, you don't have to preach to go to heaven. No, not everybody should be a preacher. But I know there are some young men here who have a fire burning in their bosom. And they want and desire to help men and women know the Lord, serve the Lord, and go to heaven when they die. And I'm saying to you, young men, come on! We need you. We need more repenter mechanics. We need more men and women. who are ready to talk about repentance. That's exactly, turn back to Acts chapter 2, that's exactly what Peter is doing when he says, verse 38, they're cut to the heart and they're saying, what are we going to do? And Peter said to them, verse 38, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Oh, how sweet it is when that repenter is humming. And it brings us to the goodness of God who wanted all along for us to return. He's just waiting for us to open our backpack and get that repenter out. Isn't that the point of Jesus' story in Luke 15, where we began this morning? There are a lot of useless tools in this world, but I hope that you see. Look at Luke 15 with me again. Everybody needs a repenter. Because that boy in verse 16 was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything. Verse 17 says, When he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, and I perish here with hunger? I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. Can I read verses 17, 18, and 19 in the Mark Roberts International East Texas Version? There was a boy lost in sin and in the degradation of a pig pen. He finally, look at verse 17, came to himself. He finally said, where's my repenter? I want to go home. And what's great about Jesus' story is is that Jesus answers the question that every sinner has ever asked when they begin to try to repair their repenter, to see if it will run just one more time. Every sinner wants to know, what's going to happen when I repent? Is God going to cross His arms and say, too late? Too late? Is God going to say, no, you hurt me too bad. I got nothing for you. Get out of my sight. Is God going to say, well, we'll just see if this is going to last. I'll put you on probation. What does God do when we repent? Verse 20. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran. Can God run? And ran and embraced him and kissed him. The Mark Roberts International East Texas Version says, And the father found himself on the porch again another day, looking down that long road, hoping today, today, he would see his boy come home. And suddenly... he saw a figure, limping and weak and torn and bruised, so sad and pathetic, coming down that road to come home. And God ran to meet the boy who was repenting. Never forget that. O young person, O old person, O sinner, never forget, when you use your repenter, God will run to meet you. That's why you need a repenter in your backpack. Let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, we are awed at your love and compassion and care. We can scarcely believe that you will run to meet us if we will turn to you. I'm praying, Father, bless us with the ability to repent. Help us to stop with the blaming and the excuses. Help us to acknowledge that we have done wrong and to turn to You to change what is wrong so that we can do what is right. Help us to have a soft heart and a deep love for You, for You have loved us first. Help us, Father, when we are away from You to open that backpack Get out our repenter. Help us, Father, to repent and come home to you. In Jesus' name we pray these things. And amen. We sing this song. We're going to sing this song because it may take you a minute to root around in that backpack and get your repenter out. And it may be a minute since you turned it on last, so it's going to take a second here to see if it's going to run. You may have to give it a little shove. You may need to kickstart it. But if you're here this morning, young, old, in between, you're away from the Lord. You need to run your repenter and come to Him. Acts 2.38, repent. Be baptized for the remission of sins. Can we help you do that? If you are a Christian, maybe at one time verse 38 was a reality in your life, but you drifted away from the Lord. You need to turn back to Him. You need to repent. Come home to God. And we want to help you do that. Fire up your repenter and come to the Lord while we stand, while we sing.

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Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, justchristians.com, and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat.io. That's upbeat with two P's, U-P-P-E-A-T. where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again.