It is my observation that we and others struggle too long with the same issues… We pray at altars and help others pray at altars and it seems that at times people seem caught in a cycle… a repetitive outpouring of emotion at an altar that leaves us unchanged…
The Lord has been dealing with me on this issue and I feel like he has given me a clear word to teach, and simple revelations to help develop us in this area… I grow weary of watching (this dilemma) and rely now on the WORD. The WORD is always a help to the WEARY.
We need a return of the Old-Fashioned moves of God, the passion of the intercessor in the altar, the fervor of a season of prayer at an altar that will change us; An experience that breaks the back of sin.
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The last book of the Old Testament records and represents the last words spoken by any prophets for 400 years… The words that echoed across four centuries and held a world in anticipation were these…
(Malachi 3:1) Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to this temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah had prophesied as well…
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Malachi and Isaiah both predicted a messenger, a forerunner who would come to prepare the way for the Lord.
John the Baptist was that Forerunner, and his coming marked the beginning of a time when God would deal with men in a different way…
Mark 1:2-4
2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Mark 1:14-15
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
John was a keynote speaker… an introduction to the ministry of Jesus…
An old Covenant was ending; a new covenant was on the verge of being revealed…
John the Baptists’ arrival and ministry began to close the 5th dispensation (of the LAW) and open the 6th dispensation (GRACE)
A Dispensation is: A period of time where God dealt with man in a certain way
Theologians have separated and categorized scripture into periods of time when God’s posture towards man was specific.
In the Garden of Eden at the dawn of creation there was a dispensation of (1) INNOCENCE. When sin entered the picture a dispensation of (2) CONSICENCE began; Adam and Eve’s sin awakened this conscience when they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil (Genesis 3:7 they knew they were naked)… during this time blood sacrifices became a way of worship unto God and remembrance of his covering of their sin – so they sacrificed and listened for the inner prompting of God and would call upon the name of the Lord. After the Flood, organized life among humanity quickly formed, thereby bringing forth the third dispensation of (3) HUMAN GOVERNMENT. Governing themselves eventually led to questioning the sovereignty of God and as disobedience set in, God separated humanity into nations at the Tower of Babel and a dispensation of (4) PROMISE began… What God could not see accomplished with an entire race of humanity he chose to implement through one man. And with Abraham he included elements of all three previous dispensations and formed a covenant with that one man… Abraham's blood covenant was everlasting and impacts us even to this day, and any man who enters relationship with God will enter in by HIS covenant, not by the Law… we are always affected by the blood covenant… But when God handed Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai the fifth dispensation of the (5) LAW began… Through those 10 immutable commandments and the forthcoming Mosaic Law, man would be governed some 1520 years… a bloody era characterized by the rise and fall of Israel and the Hebrew people, bloodstained even the more by the endless sacrifices of animals for the atonement of Sins…
It was here in the dusk of this period of time, after 400 years of prophetic silence that a camel-hair clothed wild man walked out of the wilderness - lean – mean – and hard from continual fasting and prayer. Not a politically correct bone on his body… the simple staple of Locusts and Wild Honey as his primary diet, he subsisted and thrived on a mission that would not come clear until months beyond his death… He emerged from the wilderness, found a road and a river and started to preach!
What he preached raised so much controversy that it drew multitudes to listen… his message was so different and so changing that one by one, hundreds, and yea maybe thousands of souls submitted to the anointing that was on John the Baptist and walked down into rivers and lakes all over Galilee and were baptized!
John’s GENERAL purpose was to:
1. Usher in a new dispensation
2. Acquaint people with God’s new covenant
3. Prepare the way for the Lord
John’s SPECIFIC purpose was to preach:
1. There is one coming mightier than I (Mark 1:7)
2. Confession (Matthew 3:6)
3. Repentance (Mark 1:3-8)
4. Baptism in water unto repentance for remission of sins (Luke 3:3-8)
5. Prepare ye the way of the Lord (prepare yourself for God’s ways)
6. “I baptize with water, but HE is going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Luke 3:16-18)
The Old Covenant was one of ATONEMENT of sin through blood sacrifice, but John was introducing a New Covenant of FORGIVENESS of sins through repentance and baptism…
• I am thankful for the work of Old Testament ATONEMENT, but recognize that it was incomplete work…
• To ATONE means to make AMENDS or REPARATION
• So, when you steal a dollar from me you ATONE by bringing my dollar back… but that doesn’t change the fact that you are a THIEF!
• Forgiveness means to:
a. GRANT PARDON or remission
b. To give up all claim on account of; remit (a debt, obligation, or etc.)
c. To cease to feel resentment against
• Through forgiveness, the work of atonement is complete because your act of sin is not just amended, but the sin has been rescinded…
• In forgiveness you are no longer treated like a thief! (sinner)
John the Baptist started changing the world and shaking things up the same way that the church is supposed to be doing today!
The same spirit that had settled in on the religious establishment then is the same one that has set in on the religious world now!
The people of that time were firmly set into their routines of going to temples and giving sacrifices in order to obtain their ATONEMENT, but they were not changing their ways! They had diluted the LAW down to a simple procedure… what was supposed to be a separation and a repentance of the heart was now a convenient formality…
The people of this time are easily satisfied with an emotional experience; satisfied in our routines of running to church when we are overwhelmed. Satisfied with scraping the surface of Christianity and coming and going in and out of the presence of God without a real change… Ecclesiastes 8:10 implies that action leads to wickedness! And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
Can it be that the reason many are still repressed is because they have not really repented? Still remanded by sin because there has not been true repentance of sin?
This is one of the reasons that Jesus walked into a Temple one morning with a whip in his hands and a shout in his voice… they were selling sacrifices on the spot! No heart… no soul… convenient consecration… it was mechanics! Legalism! Hypocrisy!
King Herod was a Jew (Or at least converted to Judaism)… As a Jewish King under the law he was accustomed to making sacrifices – and John told him he was a sinner… (… subsequently he had John’s head removed) John exposed the religious fraud that was prevailing in their time… the making of atonement sacrifices without a true repentance in the heart was simply without effect…
John was preaching more than atonement… he was preaching more than forgiveness… Let me say that forgiveness is a necessary element to salvation, but so is repentance; and they are not the same thing!
WHAT IS REPENTANCE?
A. A decision to turn from actions that lead to death
Sin leads to death…
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ezekiel 18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
The original Greek word for “repentance” means “to change one’s mind”.
Repentance is not an emotion that we feel, but a decision. When we truly repent, we change our mind, our attitude, and purpose about sin. We turn around on the “inside”.
Emphasis on the DECISION… an emotional reaction will most of the time not be enough to birth true change… You have to make up your mind – DECIDE – to turn from sin…
When a child sees that pretty little puppy at the pet store, an emotion response is to accept responsibility on the spot based on excitement and the surge of emotion… but many times, that same puppy is given away within weeks or months to a new owner because the responsibilities of feeding, cleaning, walking, training, and being patient with that animal are far more difficult than that original emotional reaction
B. INWARD: Change of mind - OUTWARD: Change of direction
Once your mind is changed, your whole life is rearranged. Decisions in the heart result in action of the body. Inwardly you make a commitment to turn from sin. Outwardly, you physically and practically change your direction.
The Apostle Paul (prior to the moment of his conversion) was literally on the road to Damascus, traveling to persecute Christians… quite literally going to arrest and execute people who followed Jesus… But when he had that experience with Jesus, he was told to go to the Gentiles…
Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
… what is important to note here is that Paul, inwardly and outwardly had to turn around… inwardly his mind changed, outwardly his direction changed…
When the prodigal son made the decision (he came to himself) to go to his father and reconcile, he got up and left the pigs… but he returned from that wrong direction and walked home… I don’t know how far he had to go, but it was at the least, a journey!
Repentance is much more than a display of emotion, tears and weeping… although emotions are affected, it should go much further…
Man was created for God’s pleasure… Sin is an action that God cannot take pleasure in, so until man has rid himself of the sin, then God can take no pleasure in man…
1. DEATH
Rom 6:6-7
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
In repentance there is always a Death experience… in the OT, there was DEATH at the Altar… the sacrifice was slain… At the cross Jesus Died as our sacrifice…
Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confession brings a type of death, because the hidden things may survive, but confession brings light to those hidden things… confession is difficult, sometimes painful… but such is death… confession casts the light on what must be killed…
In true repentance there is a death to self… self-will, self-desire… death to our flesh… death to that inward/outward man that would disobey God
2. RESTITUTION
After repentance we need to make things right
Luke 19:8-9
8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
Salvation came after restitution…
Acts 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
Wounded relationships need to be repaired... hurt feelings towards family members, friends, business relations or others … relationship with God is not going to be right when our relationship with People is not right…
3. FORSAKE SIN
Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy
Acts 19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
As part of repentance we have to forsake the sins. In application we stop doing what was wrong and forsake it. Forsaking is more than just a casual decision but a serious life change…
Covering sin – hiding sin – only agrees to eventually let it have it’s way again… the new converts in Acts 19 made a statement of forsaking those evil things… they did not just stop reading or studying the evil books, they destroyed them – demonstrating a true state of forsaking…
On the subject of RESTITUTION and FORSAKING SIN, these are areas of repentance that are undervalued today. I feel in the Holy Ghost that these have become somewhat missing links, and are an explanation why many are still bound. An emotional experience is taking place, but true repentance is lacking…
When we repent at an altar, there is much to real repentance that can not take place there in all actuality. So, when we pray a repentant prayer and exhibit a repentant heart, God forgives and in many cases fills us with his spirit…
Now this might hurt your feelings or foul up your theology, but I believe that when that takes place you are being forgiven and filled with the Holy Ghost on credit… God is honoring your prayer and the exhibition of your repentant heart… but when you don’t complete the work of repentance, you won’t truly become free from your bonds!
You can acquire things on credit, but sooner or later you have to pay the bill. Even a credit card requires a consistent minimum payment!
You are bound and have no authority over your flesh because your deliverance came on credit, and the bill is overdue!
4. PREPARATION FOR BAPTISM
Baptism completely renounces our life as a sinner. It is an outward, public, declarative ceremony that says: “I commit my whole life to Jesus Christ. I mean to serve him. He is my leader, ruler, and father, and I take his name in Baptism.”
Submitting to water baptism after repentance was a standard procedure in the early church… After Cornelius house repented in Acts 10:48 notice Peter’s words… “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.”
Jesus made it clear that baptism was necessary for salvation in Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
• You can be baptized before or after receiving the Holy Ghost.
But REPENTANCE must precede both.
We don’t bury live things, we bury dead things…
Baptism without repentance is fallible because what went down wasn’t dead yet…
Once the “old man” has been put to death on the altar of repentance, it is time to bury the “old man” in the waters of baptism. Baptism is about a burial…
Romans 6:4-8
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Colossians 2:12
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
These scriptures show the clear connection between baptism and the burial of Jesus Christ. They also describe the connection with rising up into a new life cleansed from sin as Jesus rose from the dead with power over sin and death!
Final thoughts:
Repentance doesn’t END at the Altar, it BEGINS there
Restitution and the forsaking of sins are paramount to the work of repentance.
These acts won’t happen until you die…
The reason you’ve resisted real repentance is because you’re not dead and hence not free from sin (Romans 6:7)
I am not advocating less emotion, I am encouraging more emotion; The kind of emotion that doesn’t end with the “dismissal” announcement. Too much consecration gets “cast” away between the altar and the door
"Lord, let our "AFTER-altar" experience be as emotional as our "AT-altar" experience, and let what happens at that ALTAR begin to "ALTER" our behavior
I truly believe that when we begin to believe this concept and teach this concept we will have more people receiving the Holy Ghost and keeping the HG!
If you’re not truly repented, you won’t hold onto the Holy Ghost and in fact, your experience will have simply become “speaking in tongues.”
When a person signs a contract to buy a home, the realtor puts a “sold” sign in the front yard, thereby taking it off the market. But the agreements in the contract have to be upheld… and when they are not, all you have is the “sign”.
At an altar of repentance we receive the HG and through speaking in tongues get our “sign” but OH LORD help us to have more than just the “sign” but the promised power that comes with the fulfilled contract!
Restitution and Forsaking Sin takes place in an AFTER-ALTAR-ACTION..hmmm? But why does God FORGIVE (sin) & FILL (HG) immediately? He is honoring your intentions on credit…
You can get out of jail by posting bail, but when you skip town the Bondsman has to get paid, and you go back to jail...
This is why many keep having an emotional experience at an altar and are still bound... CRYING doesn't equal CHANGE... emotion is part of repentance, but it is NOT the ONLY part… We have to change...Having received the Holy Ghost without completing the work of repentance leaves us POWERLESS… The Holy Ghost without finished repentance is reduced to JUST speaking in tongues… JUST the sign of the Holy Ghost…
My whole aim for this message is to encourage true repentance. Many of you are discouraged because you are not feeling the effects of the Holy Ghost and a walk with Christ that you hear talked about in churches…
I encourage you to walk down that path of true repentance… you will immediately begin to see and feel the difference…
For the new Christian I prophesy that the sin and old ways you’ve struggled to lay down WILL lose their hold on your life when you approach God with a TRUE Repentance…
For the mature Christian, I prophesy that the power that you’ve been missing and the anointed that you’ve lacked will be restored when you revive a TRUE spirit of repentance…
John opened the dispensation of Grace preaching repentance… we emphasize the GRACE, but recognize that Grace stands on the foundation of a repentant heart.
