MAY 6
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before has preached unto you (Acts 3:19, 20).
We really have four great promises in our text today: that we shall be converted, that our sins will be blotted out, that times of refreshing will come, and above all, that Jesus Christ Himself will be sent to this world. But repentance is the key to it all. Jesus said, Except ye repent, ye shall all...perish" (Luke 13:3).
When the people at Wittenberg showed Luther their licenses to sin, his answer was "Unless you repent you will perish." And when he fist heard of Tetzel's selling these indulgencies, he said, "Please, God, I'll make a hole in his drum."
Without repentance there can be no conversion or blotting out of sins, no time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. God is looking for "twice-born men," as Harold Begbie called them, people who are converted, "born again" (John 3:3). True conversion is evidenced by a change in the life.
A janitor in an Episcopal chapel became converted. When asked for evidence of her change of heart, she said, "I now take up the big mat at the entrance and sweep under it, while before I just swept around it." To those who truly repent and are converted come the words "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud...thy sins" (Isa. 44:22).
The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to all who believe (Acts 2:38), but he fulness of the promised refreshing will come in the latter rain.
First the showers from the presence of the Lord, then our Lord Himself.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me" (Ps. 51:3).
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before has preached unto you (Acts 3:19, 20).
We really have four great promises in our text today: that we shall be converted, that our sins will be blotted out, that times of refreshing will come, and above all, that Jesus Christ Himself will be sent to this world. But repentance is the key to it all. Jesus said, Except ye repent, ye shall all...perish" (Luke 13:3).
When the people at Wittenberg showed Luther their licenses to sin, his answer was "Unless you repent you will perish." And when he fist heard of Tetzel's selling these indulgencies, he said, "Please, God, I'll make a hole in his drum."
Without repentance there can be no conversion or blotting out of sins, no time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. God is looking for "twice-born men," as Harold Begbie called them, people who are converted, "born again" (John 3:3). True conversion is evidenced by a change in the life.
A janitor in an Episcopal chapel became converted. When asked for evidence of her change of heart, she said, "I now take up the big mat at the entrance and sweep under it, while before I just swept around it." To those who truly repent and are converted come the words "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud...thy sins" (Isa. 44:22).
The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to all who believe (Acts 2:38), but he fulness of the promised refreshing will come in the latter rain.
First the showers from the presence of the Lord, then our Lord Himself.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me" (Ps. 51:3).
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