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Boldly
Telling A Fallen, Sinning World About Its Desperate
Need To Repent
This is
Shabbat Shuvah - the special Sabbath between Yom
Truah and Yom Kippur in which we focus our attention
to turning away from our sins and turning to God
and His ways.
The world
is in trouble. The world is not in a little trouble;
the world is in a whole lot of trouble! Terrible
trouble! Humanity has been mastered by the overwhelmingly
powerful and destructive and deadly forces of
Satan, sin and death. We are alienated from the
good Creator God, who is the Source of life and
genuine well-being. We are far from the Holy and
Righteous One; we have joined the demonic rebellion
against Him; we oppose Him and His good will and
ways.
If we
continue in the direction we are headed, we will
die, not live. The First Death - physical death,
will be followed by the Second Death, which is
permanent death in the Lake of Fire; we will go
to Hell, not Heaven.
If we
are not genuine Messianic Jews or true born-again
Christians, our greatest need is not a new boyfriend
or girlfriend, or husband or wife; it’s not more
education, or a better job, or more money, or
riches or fame or influence over others. Our greatest
need is to return to the God from whom we are
estranged; to turn from our rebellious bad ways
to His right and good ways; to abandon our selfish
will and seek to do His will.
Even if
we are sons and daughters of God, we are not perfect.
From time to time we will stray away from the
Living God. We too need to examine where we are
really at, and if we have strayed, return to our
Heavenly Father.
Messiah
Yeshua was being told about a massacre that had
been perpetrated by the Roman occupiers against
a group of Galileans Jews at the Temple. Let’s
see how the King of Israel responded to news about
this tragic event.
Now
on the same occasion there were some present who
reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood
Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
The Romans
were in control of much of the land and people
of Israel. They did not allow those under their
control to challenge their authority. There must
have been some disturbance at the Temple in Jerusalem,
and the Roman governor, Pilate, ordered his soldiers
to end the disturbance with a show of force. Luke
describes this massacre in a stunning way - that
a group of Jewish people from the north were killed
right in the Temple area, close to where they
were offering sacrifices. The imagery is very
vivid and disturbing - the blood of those Galileans
was mingled with the blood of the sacrifices they
were offering. How horrible!
Expressions
of outrage against the Romans, and sympathy for
the oppressed people who had suffered and were
suffering these horrible atrocities, could be
expected from those who loved the Jewish people.
Faithful Israelis would have been expected to
offer comforting words for the sufferers, along
with acknowledgments of how awful the Romans were,
along with expressions of hope that in due time,
God would surely punish the uncircumcise ones
for their sins!
The King
of Israel was a loyal Israeli, and Yeshua did
love His people, but that is not how He responded
to news of this tragedy. In fact, He did not offer
any sympathy at all. And Yeshua said to them,
"Do you suppose that these Galileans were
greater sinners than all other Galileans because
they suffered this fate? I tell you, no. Messiah
did not want anyone to think that this particular
group of Jewish people had done some really bad
things, and God had singled them out for punishment.
That is not the reason behind what had taken place.
The Son
of God did give us any theological or political
reasons for the massacre. Instead, He used their
tragic deaths as a warning - that a similar fate
will happen to everyone who does not get into
a right relationship with God.
But
unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Wow! No
expression of sympathy at all for those who were
massacred or their friends or family or people.
No condemnation of the Romans. Instead of sympathy
and comforting words, the Son of God gave a harsh
warning!
That tells
us that our need for repentance must be extremely
necessary. Repentance must be so important, so
vital to our well-being. The message is that if
any human being doesn’t want to meet with a terrible
end, and perish, which means to be utterly ruined,
to be destroyed and to die, he had better turn
away from everything that he is doing wrong, and
move in the direction of God and Messiah, and
start doing the things that please God. And, if
he is smart, he should do this right away!
Now, one
might think that Messiah’s hard words would be
enough to cause those who were listening to the
Son of God to consider their desperate need to
turn to God the way they need to. But our need
for repentance is so important, so vital to us,
that Yeshua followed this warning with another
hard lesson based on another tragedy that resulted
in the death of eighteen people.
Or
do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the
tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse
culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
I tell you, no.
These
deaths were not the result of a massacre caused
by the Romans, but came as the result of a failure
of good engineering.
God had
not targeted these eighteen people for death because
they were much worse than most other people. Again,
mankind’s Supreme Religious Authority does not
give us the theological reasons for the death
of these people in this way.
Instead,
Israel’s Greatest Teacher uses their tragic deaths
as a warning - that a similar terrible fate will
happen to everyone who does not get into a right
relationship with God. But unless you repent,
you will all likewise perish.
Are you
getting the message that the Son of God, who came
from Heaven to Earth; the One who is never wrong,
wants each one of us to understand? You desperately,
desperately, desperately need to get right with
God, and turn to Him with all of your heart, soul,
mind and strength! You need to be in a right relationship
with Your Creator! Your life, your fate, your
destiny, depends on it! You need to get close
to God, and stay close to God, and do His will.
Are you? Are you really?
To reinforce
this warning even more, so that the truth about
the extreme danger facing all those who will not
turn to God is so clear, Messiah concluded with
a parable. And He began telling this parable:
"A man had a fig tree which had been planted
in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit
on it and did not find any. And he said to the
vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have
come looking for fruit on this fig tree without
finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use
up the ground?' And he answered and said to him,
'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I
dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it
bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it
down.'" .
A man
who owned property planted a fig tree with the
expectation that after a reasonable amount of
time, the tree would produce delicious figs. If
the fig tree produced figs, it was useful and
the tree would remain on the property. If it didn’t
produce the fruit it was designed to produce,
it might be given a little more time and care
to enable it to produce figs. If, after the extra
time and care given to it, the tree still didn’t
produce figs, it was useless and would be destroyed.
The Creator
is responsible for the life of every human being.
He gives each one of us our life. Each creature
exist for the Creator. The Lord has the right
to expect His creatures to do what He designed
them to do, and wants them to do - and for fallen
human beings, that means returning to Him and
establishing a good relationship with Him. It
means doing God’s will, and serving Him, and having
good thoughts, and engaging in good actions and
speaking truthful words. If a human being refuses
to turn to the Lord, and will not serve Him and
accomplish His purposes, his life will be taken
from him. If a human being refuses to turn to
the Lord, and do the right things, the Sovereign
Lord may graciously give that creature some extra
time and care in the hope that he will turn to
Him.
No human
being, however, knows how much extra time and
care he may be given! He may be at the very end
of the time and care being given to him, and his
life may be very near its end! Therefore, if he
is wise, he will turn to the Lord immediately.
He won’t delay.
Genuine
repentance, really turning to God and away from
self and sin, is so important - for us and for
everyone else!
You know,
it isn’t easy to tell most people that they need
to repent. They don’t like it. They want to think
that they are OK, and they resent it when you
tell them that they need to change.
Even though
it is not comfortable to bring a message about
the need for people to turn to God, Messiah was
willing to bring that message. He was willing
to endure the resentment that would come from
bringing that message.
Messiah
was willing to not be liked, in order to tell
us the truth that we need to hear. What Messiah
did, we must do. We need to get right with God;
we must make sure that we are in a right relationship
with the Lord; we must be doing the things that
the King has told us to do. Then, we must boldly
tell a fallen and rebellious world about its desperate
need to repent.
And, let’s
not assume that just because someone calls himself
a Christian or a Messianic Jew, that they really
are a genuine son or daughter of God. Let’s challenge
those who may be Christians or Messianic Jews
in name only, to truly turn to the Lord.
Remember,
Yeshua was speaking to members of the Chosen People,
to men and women who knew about God, who knew
about the Lord’s commands. Yet, Messiah did not
assume that just because they were part of the
Holy Nation, that each individual was in a right
relationship with God. He tried to make sure that
each person was properly challenged to turn to
God.
Repentance
is so necessary, so important. The consequences
are so terrible for those who refuse to turn to
the Lord God. Let’s not be afraid to use firm
words, challenging words, forceful words, clear
words, warning words, to warn them of the very
great danger they are in if they don’t turn to
God.
Let me
also say this. I know that many of you who are
part of Shema have turned away from your sins,
and have turned to God. Many of you are in a real
relationship with the Living God. Many of you
are really trying to serve the Lord. You are trying
to resist temptation. You are trying to stand
for the truth in an increasingly truth-resistant,
Messiah-rejecting world. You are trying to witness
to others. You are willing to hear my messages,
which, like some of the Lord’s messages, can be
blunt and challenging.
Christians
and Messianic Jews are not perfect. We still sin
in many ways. We still need to repent. But, we
also need to know that our God is an understanding
and gracious and loving God. Our Heavenly Father
He really loves us, weak as we are, fail as we
so often do. With Him there is abundant grace
and great mercy! Real acceptance and welcome and
peace are extended to us from the Three-In-One
God! There is real forgiveness for all of our
sins - even if we sin and turn to Him seventy
times seven times. May these truths comfort you,
and encourage you to keep on turning to Him!
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