Get on the Road to Recovery, Part 2

100:00:00,000 –> 00:00:09,000Do you remember the reason that Jesus gave for repentance?200:00:09,000 –> 00:00:17,520Repent, he said, or the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.300:00:17,520 –> 00:00:25,740He didn’t come saying, repent so that you will avoid something terrible.400:00:26,420 –> 00:00:32,200He came and He said, repent, so that you may participate in something wonderful.500:00:32,200 –> 00:00:36,099Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick.600:00:36,099 –> 00:00:41,020So glad you could be with us today, and Colin, I like that we’re going to hear about why we repent,700:00:41,020 –> 00:00:47,080because I think sometimes we only think about repentance in relation to avoiding God’s anger.800:00:47,080 –> 00:00:51,660Yeah, that’s right, and nothing wrong with that, but there’s so much more.900:00:52,040 –> 00:00:58,799It’s surely the error of the moralistic person simply to say, I don’t want to do bad things,1000:00:58,799 –> 00:01:03,299and I wanna make sure that I don’t have the bad consequences of doing bad things.1100:01:03,299 –> 00:01:11,879And Jesus is speaking to us about coming into a life that is marked by joy and peace in believing.1200:01:11,879 –> 00:01:14,080He’s talking about the kingdom of heaven.1300:01:14,080 –> 00:01:16,599He’s talking about living under the rule of God.1400:01:16,639 –> 00:01:22,220There’s an invitation here to leave that which is defiant towards God1500:01:22,220 –> 00:01:25,900in order to enter into all the good and all the blessing.1600:01:25,900 –> 00:01:32,080So, merely to see that which we leave, and not to see that which we are being called and drawn to,1700:01:32,080 –> 00:01:34,400is only to see half of repentance.1800:01:34,400 –> 00:01:39,940We’re turning from something in order to turn to something else, or rather someone else.1900:01:39,940 –> 00:01:44,540So, we see that expressed all the way back in the Old Testament in Psalm 51,2000:01:44,540 –> 00:01:48,059and as we continue the message, get on the road to recovery.2100:01:48,059 –> 00:01:49,199Here is Colin.2200:01:49,199 –> 00:01:51,400David was the second king of Israel.2300:01:51,400 –> 00:01:54,040The first as you know was King Saul.2400:01:54,040 –> 00:01:56,360He had had the Holy Spirit of God.2500:01:56,360 –> 00:01:57,800He had the anointing.2600:01:57,800 –> 00:02:01,120God had made him king.2700:02:01,120 –> 00:02:06,300And yet, when things went wrong in his life, like Judas, he chose the path of despair,2800:02:06,300 –> 00:02:11,320and he was replayed in the purposes of God for the people.2900:02:11,339 –> 00:02:15,039David says, please don’t do that for me.3000:02:15,039 –> 00:02:18,479Do not cast me from your presence.3100:02:18,479 –> 00:02:20,839I’m sorry.3200:02:20,839 –> 00:02:26,119But where I want to come with that sorrow is to you.3300:02:26,119 –> 00:02:31,080Open the door for me.3400:02:31,080 –> 00:02:35,520David’s first concern is not with his position.3500:02:35,520 –> 00:02:39,339His first concern is not with his money.3600:02:39,339 –> 00:02:46,399You don’t find him here saying God, please don’t allow any consequences of my sin to3700:02:46,399 –> 00:02:48,820occur in my life.3800:02:48,820 –> 00:02:53,199No, all he says is this.3900:02:53,199 –> 00:02:56,979God, please don’t give up on me.4000:02:56,979 –> 00:03:02,520Please don’t put me on the shelf.4100:03:02,520 –> 00:03:05,539Please do not separate yourself from me.4200:03:06,139 –> 00:03:11,779What I cannot bare, for in my heart of hearts, I have a hunger, a thirst, a passion after4300:03:11,779 –> 00:03:12,779you.4400:03:12,779 –> 00:03:17,119That is repentance.4500:03:17,119 –> 00:03:19,139What does it look like?4600:03:19,139 –> 00:03:21,940A genuine hunger after God.4700:03:21,940 –> 00:03:30,979For repentance is a reorientation of life around the God from whom we had departed.4800:03:30,979 –> 00:03:34,839True repentance is always a turning to God.4900:03:35,339 –> 00:03:42,360I want you to notice here in verse 12 that true repentance is always positive.5000:03:42,360 –> 00:03:49,399Verse 12, David prays, restore to me the joy of your salvation.5100:03:49,399 –> 00:03:53,740Now it seems strange to us perhaps that David should be talking about joy in the middle5200:03:53,740 –> 00:03:56,020of a prayer of repentance.5300:03:56,020 –> 00:04:02,020We tend to think of repentance as a kind of long-faced exercise probably associated at5400:04:02,020 –> 00:04:05,279least in the Old Testament with sackcloth and with ashes.5500:04:05,279 –> 00:04:11,160And we think of the image from our Scottish schools from years ago.5600:04:11,160 –> 00:04:17,540They had various forms of discipline but one of the less creative was to make a small boy5700:04:17,540 –> 00:04:24,519who had misbehaved stand in the corner and you’d be sent to stand in the corner for 155800:04:24,519 –> 00:04:25,619minutes.5900:04:25,619 –> 00:04:32,119And you would stand there examining the cracks in the plaster conscious that the penalty6000:04:32,119 –> 00:04:37,200for your offense was that the rest of your classmates were not even to see the light6100:04:37,200 –> 00:04:41,519of your face for a full 15 minutes.6200:04:41,519 –> 00:04:45,899And you would stand there with this long face until you returned to the fold.6300:04:45,899 –> 00:04:49,739Is that how you think of repentance?6400:04:50,019 –> 00:04:52,579David talks about joy.6500:04:52,579 –> 00:04:53,579Not just once.6600:04:53,579 –> 00:04:55,440Do you see it there in verse 8?6700:04:55,440 –> 00:05:02,339Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.6800:05:02,339 –> 00:05:08,839You see, repentance never leaves us looking backwards at our sin.6900:05:08,839 –> 00:05:13,739It is also a process by which God turns us around so that we’re able to look forward7000:05:13,739 –> 00:05:16,339into the future that is in his hand.7100:05:16,640 –> 00:05:18,940That’s why it’s such a wonderful thing.7200:05:18,940 –> 00:05:25,260It’s very interesting, in Matthew’s Gospel the very first recorded word of the public7300:05:25,260 –> 00:05:31,859ministry of Jesus, Matthew 4 in verse 17 is the word, repent.7400:05:31,859 –> 00:05:37,179Jesus came preaching, repent, it’s how important it is.7500:05:37,179 –> 00:05:42,559But do you remember the reason that Jesus gave for repentance?7600:05:43,519 –> 00:05:53,040Repent, he said, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.7700:05:53,040 –> 00:05:58,739You see, the first thing that Jesus emphasized in his ministry was not condemnation for the7800:05:58,739 –> 00:06:05,339past, but the possibility of happiness in the presence of God.7900:06:05,540 –> 00:06:13,760He didn’t come saying, repent, so that you will avoid something terrible8000:06:13,760 –> 00:06:21,239he came and he said repent, so that you may participate in something wonderful.8100:06:21,239 –> 00:06:24,980The call of the Gospel of Christ is always positive.8200:06:24,980 –> 00:06:30,899He didn’t come to those first disciples and say, follow me and I’ll save you from condemnation.8300:06:31,500 –> 00:06:35,480Though he could have said that it’s wonderfully true,8400:06:35,480 –> 00:06:43,880but what he did say to them was this, follow me, I will make something of your life.8500:06:43,880 –> 00:06:48,339I will make you fishers of men.8600:06:48,339 –> 00:06:53,820And you sense as David begins to turn towards the future in the mercy of God that he’s8700:06:53,820 –> 00:06:56,299already apprehending that God can use him.8800:06:56,299 –> 00:06:58,540Do you see it there in verse thirteen?8900:06:58,540 –> 00:07:05,000The product of repentance, then he says I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners9000:07:05,000 –> 00:07:08,619will turn back to you.9100:07:08,619 –> 00:07:15,540Repentance is a movement towards God because we have grasped what he can do in us and what9200:07:15,540 –> 00:07:17,579he can do with us.9300:07:17,579 –> 00:07:24,859I’ve enjoyed reading a great book on the subject of repentance by William Chamberlain.9400:07:24,859 –> 00:07:29,540And in that he talks about the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.9500:07:29,540 –> 00:07:35,579Kierkegaard was a man who took the sins of his youth so seriously, that he regarded it9600:07:35,579 –> 00:07:44,140as his duty, he says, to spend the rest of his life mourning over the sins of his youth.9700:07:44,140 –> 00:07:52,339And Chamberlain has this brilliant comment, he says, Kierkegaard never realized that when9800:07:52,500 –> 00:07:59,640God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west, they should cease to be9900:07:59,640 –> 00:08:03,859the primary occupation of our life.10000:08:03,859 –> 00:08:13,299It is never the purpose of God that you spend the rest of your time looking back in regret.10100:08:13,299 –> 00:08:19,299No repentance turns a man or a woman round.10200:08:19,380 –> 00:08:25,100And in the grace of God, he says to us, look what you can participate in.10300:08:25,100 –> 00:08:28,019Look what I can do with you.10400:08:28,019 –> 00:08:31,220Is there someone who has got stuck just at this point, this morning?10500:08:31,220 –> 00:08:36,059You’re conscious of your sin and it’s a good thing that you’ve taken it seriously,10600:08:36,059 –> 00:08:40,080but you’ve never moved beyond that.10700:08:40,080 –> 00:08:41,859You go over and over.10800:08:41,859 –> 00:08:42,859And over it again.10900:08:42,859 –> 00:08:44,880Rather, like one of these old gramophone records.11000:08:44,880 –> 00:08:48,700You know, where the needle got stuck in one groove and you just get the same three bars11100:08:48,739 –> 00:08:53,539of music and it goes round and round and round until it drives you absolutely crazy.11200:08:55,159 –> 00:09:00,380Oh, it’s regret that leaves a person looking backwards.11300:09:00,380 –> 00:09:04,159Repentance releases us to move forwards.11400:09:04,159 –> 00:09:06,460That is why it is such a wonderful thing.11500:09:06,460 –> 00:09:08,880It is always positive.11600:09:08,880 –> 00:09:14,219Restore to me the joy of my salvation.11700:09:14,239 –> 00:09:19,640If you were to write a piece of music that was expressive of repentance, what key would11800:09:19,640 –> 00:09:20,640you choose?11900:09:21,900 –> 00:09:27,659See you would probably begin by writing some music in the minor key, but if you’ve really12000:09:27,659 –> 00:09:31,880understood this doctrine of repentance we’ve been trying to explore together, you would12100:09:31,880 –> 00:09:41,599have to end your piece of composition in the major key, with a thundering and resounding12200:09:41,599 –> 00:09:46,900triumphant note of praise.12300:09:46,900 –> 00:09:53,840Paul looked at his heart and his own feelings and he said, oh wretched man that I am who12400:09:53,840 –> 00:09:56,559shall deliver me from this body of death?12500:09:56,559 –> 00:10:00,539That’s pretty minor key stuff, isn’t it?12600:10:00,539 –> 00:10:08,859But then he goes on straight away to say thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!12700:10:09,020 –> 00:10:13,200You can’t play that in the minor key.12800:10:13,200 –> 00:10:17,780Repentance is always turning to God and it is always positive.12900:10:17,780 –> 00:10:20,760It becomes a matter of joy.13000:10:20,760 –> 00:10:24,900You’re listening to Open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith and a message called Get on the13100:10:24,900 –> 00:10:26,539Road to Recovery.13200:10:26,539 –> 00:10:29,119It’s part of our series Changing Direction.13300:10:29,119 –> 00:10:31,739All about repentance based on Psalm 51.13400:10:31,739 –> 00:10:36,859If you ever miss one of the series you can easily catch up or go back and listen again13500:10:36,859 –> 00:10:44,440by coming online to our website openthebible.org.uk or by finding Pastor Colin as a podcast.13600:10:44,440 –> 00:10:48,440Those are on all the main podcast sites and you can find them by searching on the podcast13700:10:48,440 –> 00:10:51,479site for Open the Bible UK.13800:10:51,479 –> 00:10:56,380Back to the message where in Psalm 51 here again is Colin.13900:10:56,380 –> 00:11:00,559Repentance is always turning to God and it is always positive.14000:11:00,559 –> 00:11:04,960It becomes a matter of joy.14100:11:04,960 –> 00:11:09,859and finally this, true repentance is always sustained.14200:11:09,859 –> 00:11:11,619Do you see that in verse 12?14300:11:11,619 –> 00:11:16,239Grant me, David prays, a willing spirit.14400:11:16,239 –> 00:11:17,400Why?14500:11:17,400 –> 00:11:21,280To sustain me, to sustain me.14600:11:21,280 –> 00:11:24,400Here’s a question.14700:11:24,400 –> 00:11:30,559Do you tend to think of repentance more like the extraction of a tooth or the raising of14800:11:30,559 –> 00:11:32,619the Titanic?14900:11:32,679 –> 00:11:36,840You say frankly I’ve never thought of repentance as like either of these two things.15000:11:36,859 –> 00:11:40,159Well think about it with me for a moment.15100:11:40,159 –> 00:11:43,039There is a sense in which both pictures are helpful.15200:11:43,039 –> 00:11:47,979Suppose you have a rotten tooth and you go to the dentist and he says oh there’s a problem15300:11:47,979 –> 00:11:51,260with this, if that one’s left in there’s going to be nothing but trouble, there’s only one15400:11:51,260 –> 00:11:53,719answer for it, take it out.15500:11:53,719 –> 00:11:56,320And he takes out your tooth.15600:11:56,320 –> 00:11:59,059Now the Bible speaks of repentance like that.15700:11:59,320 –> 00:12:04,380But there must be a decisive break with what is rotten in our lives.15800:12:04,380 –> 00:12:08,739Which is what John means in his letter when he says no one who is born of God continues15900:12:08,739 –> 00:12:12,979in sin, you just don’t leave what’s corrupting you there.16000:12:12,979 –> 00:12:16,000No there must be a decisive break.16100:12:16,000 –> 00:12:21,299Paul writes to the Corinthians and he says in 1 Corinthians 6 the wicked will not inherit16200:12:21,299 –> 00:12:23,239the Kingdom of God.16300:12:23,239 –> 00:12:26,500And then he lists acts of wickedness.16400:12:26,520 –> 00:12:32,179He talks about the sexually immoral, idolaters, male prostitutes, homosexual offenders, thieves,16500:12:32,179 –> 00:12:34,679greedy, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers.16600:12:34,679 –> 00:12:38,280He said they won’t inherit the Kingdom of God and then he says, imagine saying this16700:12:38,280 –> 00:12:39,760to a Christian congregation.16800:12:39,760 –> 00:12:43,820He says, and that’s what some of you were.16900:12:43,820 –> 00:12:49,340In this congregation in Corinth, Paul is saying as I read out that wretched list of behavior17000:12:49,340 –> 00:12:53,500there is someone in the congregation who could stand up and say that’s what I used to be.17100:12:53,500 –> 00:12:58,919That’s not what you are now says Paul because you were washed, you were sanctified, there’s17200:12:58,919 –> 00:13:03,719been a decisive break and the wonderful story of the church is the change of behavior that17300:13:03,719 –> 00:13:09,320has been seen in so many lives.17400:13:09,320 –> 00:13:20,719But there is also a sense, in which this business of repentance is like raising the Titanic.17500:13:20,719 –> 00:13:27,820That process if it were ever done, raising it and restoring that great ship to its original17600:13:27,820 –> 00:13:36,359glory would cost a fortune and it would take a lifetime.17700:13:36,359 –> 00:13:42,340And the process of restoring the image of God in the lives of fallen sinners costs more17800:13:42,559 –> 00:13:43,719than a fortune.17900:13:43,719 –> 00:13:52,039It costs the blood of Christ and it takes every day of a lifetime.18000:13:52,039 –> 00:13:58,659The work of God in you will not be complete this side of heaven.18100:13:58,659 –> 00:14:02,500So that when Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia he didn’t say it’s a wonderful18200:14:02,500 –> 00:14:08,020thing that you people have all been converted, so the sin things sorted out in your life.18300:14:08,760 –> 00:14:16,080No, he said I’m in the pains of travail, he said until Christ be formed in you.18400:14:16,080 –> 00:14:22,760Most of us have heard of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses that were nailed to the church door18500:14:22,760 –> 00:14:27,500in Wittenberg, sparked off the Reformation.18600:14:27,539 –> 00:14:33,780And did you know what the first of the 95 theses says?18700:14:33,780 –> 00:14:43,739When our Lord Jesus Christ said repent He willed that the whole life of believers should18800:14:43,739 –> 00:14:47,320be repentance.18900:14:47,320 –> 00:14:54,500And the reason Luther said that was that he had understood the diagnosis.19000:14:54,700 –> 00:14:59,479He realized that sin was not like barnacles on the outside of the ship you know an external19100:14:59,479 –> 00:15:01,780thing that’s fairly easily scraped off.19200:15:01,780 –> 00:15:09,080No he understood it goes to the very wellsprings of our behavior and that it takes a lifetime19300:15:09,080 –> 00:15:13,960for the image of God to be restored in a believing man or a woman.19400:15:13,960 –> 00:15:19,359So if you have imagined that repentance is something that happens when you first come19500:15:19,359 –> 00:15:24,820to Christ and then perhaps only occasionally when you go badly wrong through the rest of19600:15:24,820 –> 00:15:31,419your Christian life you have not really understood the Bible’s teaching on this subject.19700:15:31,419 –> 00:15:38,880See how David puts it grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.19800:15:38,880 –> 00:15:45,859Lord, I do not want this repentance to be a passing phase in my life.19900:15:45,859 –> 00:15:51,479So that after the pain of these moments has receded I just slip back into my usual complacency.20000:15:51,479 –> 00:16:01,919I want this joyful turning to you oh God to be the sustained pattern of my life.20100:16:01,919 –> 00:16:07,479Dr. Jim Packer has a quite brilliant definition of repentance and if any of you are writing20200:16:07,479 –> 00:16:13,080notes this is the best bit to write down helped me so much when I discovered it some years20300:16:13,080 –> 00:16:15,239ago and it’s stayed with me ever since.20400:16:15,239 –> 00:16:26,020Packer says, repentance is turning from as much as you know of sin with as much as you20500:16:26,020 –> 00:16:33,979know of yourself, to as much as you know of God.20600:16:33,979 –> 00:16:42,280Repentance is turning from as much as you know of sin with as much as you know of yourself20700:16:42,280 –> 00:16:47,919to as much as you know of God, and of course his point is this that as you get to know20800:16:47,919 –> 00:16:53,659more of what sin is, more of who you are and more of who God is, your repentance goes on20900:16:53,659 –> 00:16:58,520getting deeper throughout the entire course of your Christian life.21000:16:58,520 –> 00:17:04,640See when you were a child you knew what sin was, at least you thought you did, stealing21100:17:04,640 –> 00:17:08,859pencils biting your sister’s ear.21200:17:08,880 –> 00:17:14,760But when you get into adult life, you understand more about sin, you begin to see the subtlety21300:17:14,760 –> 00:17:24,640of pride, the creeping power of greed, and as we discover more of what sin is, our repentance21400:17:24,640 –> 00:17:27,420becomes deeper.21500:17:27,420 –> 00:17:29,900Have you ever been sound asleep on a dark morning?21600:17:29,900 –> 00:17:33,400I mean really, right out.21700:17:33,400 –> 00:17:37,560And some thoughtless person comes into the bedroom and sticks all the lights on full21800:17:37,560 –> 00:17:44,660power, and you kind of screw up your eyes and put the lights off, turn them down a bit.21900:17:44,660 –> 00:17:48,119Because you can only take so much light when you’ve been in darkness.22000:17:48,119 –> 00:17:54,579Do you know, if God were to show you or me all of our sins in its full extent at one22100:17:54,579 –> 00:18:00,180time we would be completely blown away, we wouldn’t be able to bear it.22200:18:00,180 –> 00:18:04,900So what God does when he brings the light into our lives as he exposes things gradually.22300:18:05,900 –> 00:18:08,839It’s like a torch he begins to shine it into different corners.22400:18:08,859 –> 00:18:14,020Ten years down the Christian path I see something in my life that I didn’t really see before,22500:18:14,020 –> 00:18:16,319but now I know it needs to be changed.22600:18:19,420 –> 00:18:21,099God is turning up the light.22700:18:21,699 –> 00:18:24,560That’s why sometimes a young Christian thinks, you know, I’ve come to Christ, I seem22800:18:24,579 –> 00:18:25,579to be getting worse.22900:18:25,579 –> 00:18:29,540No, you’re not getting worse, your conscience is becoming more sensitive and that’s how23000:18:29,540 –> 00:18:31,260it should be.23100:18:32,040 –> 00:18:35,339And you turn with as much as you know of yourself.23200:18:35,339 –> 00:18:37,339You come to Christ and you say, oh, this is straightforward.23300:18:37,339 –> 00:18:40,180I’m committed to Christ!23400:18:40,180 –> 00:18:44,400And then the LORD begins to say, Hey, you’ve got a mind, I want you to start thinking about23500:18:44,400 –> 00:18:47,939what it will mean to be a Christian, in your sphere of work.23600:18:47,939 –> 00:18:53,939You’ve got a heart, I want you to learn to worship, not just to sit in the pew.23700:18:53,939 –> 00:18:58,719You have resources, I want you to learn to give for the cause of my kingdom.23800:18:58,719 –> 00:19:03,119You have a home, I want you to develop ministry for the people who are lonely.23900:19:03,119 –> 00:19:08,479And God begins to show us what it means to give our whole selves more and more to him.24000:19:08,479 –> 00:19:15,479And the more I come to know God, the more I see how much he hates sin, the more I see24100:19:15,479 –> 00:19:20,719that this is why Christ went to the cross.24200:19:20,719 –> 00:19:24,560We’ve ended each of these messages with a simple question.24300:19:25,520 –> 00:19:30,560The first was, are you interested in diagnosis?24400:19:30,560 –> 00:19:36,400Some people don’t want to know their real problem, but that’s the height of folly.24500:19:36,400 –> 00:19:39,459Then we asked last week, are you ready for the prescription?24600:19:39,459 –> 00:19:46,020Do you want to place yourself wholly in the hands of this great physician?24700:19:46,020 –> 00:19:51,439This morning I asked this question, are you showing the signs of recovery?24800:19:51,880 –> 00:19:56,579A joyful, sustained turning to God.24900:19:59,920 –> 00:20:03,160Last time I was at Heathrow Airport it was a disastrous mess.25000:20:03,160 –> 00:20:10,520They’re rebuilding the terminals, and rather than coming to the usual area for De-planing,25100:20:10,520 –> 00:20:15,040we were taken to a large waiting area on the tarmac, came out, were ushered on to a bus25200:20:15,040 –> 00:20:19,239that went round what seemed to be like a rabbit warren of back roads and streets25300:20:19,420 –> 00:20:20,579and service alleys.25400:20:20,599 –> 00:20:25,199Eventually we were tipped out, it seemed, at the bottom of an emergency exit door, through25500:20:25,199 –> 00:20:30,119the steel door, up some stairs that seemed to go nowhere, into corridors that were lined25600:20:30,119 –> 00:20:33,160with hanging sheets of plastic, no ceilings on the top.25700:20:33,160 –> 00:20:37,859It went on and on and on, it seemed like endless confusion, and very frustrating.25800:20:38,060 –> 00:20:50,420But behind all of that apparent chaos, there was a master plan of an architect, who, while25900:20:50,420 –> 00:21:00,859life was going on in the terminal, was pulling down an old construction that needed to go,26000:21:00,859 –> 00:21:06,380and at the same time putting up a new construction that, when it’s finished, will be magnificent.26100:21:08,640 –> 00:21:11,920And that is what God does in our lives.26200:21:11,920 –> 00:21:22,979In the process of life going on, he is taking down the old and he is building the new and26300:21:22,979 –> 00:21:28,339it will be complete on the day when he receives us into glory.26400:21:28,339 –> 00:21:35,839That’s repentance, sometimes hard, sometimes frustrating, sometimes it’s, as you’re saying,26500:21:36,400 –> 00:21:39,719why does it have to be so difficult?26600:21:39,800 –> 00:21:48,099But when God is finished his work, you will be so glad he began.26700:21:48,099 –> 00:21:57,699And rather than some dull doctrine to be avoided, you will think of repentance as his greatest26800:21:57,699 –> 00:22:02,560good gift in your life.26900:22:02,920 –> 00:22:07,459Finish then your new creation pure and spotless let us be.27000:22:07,459 –> 00:22:12,140Let us see your great salvation perfectly restored in thee.27100:22:12,140 –> 00:22:19,339Changed from glory into glory till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns27200:22:19,339 –> 00:22:27,560before thee, lost in wonder and love and praise.27300:22:27,560 –> 00:22:33,219What an encouraging way to end this message and this series on repentance, when we sometimes27400:22:33,219 –> 00:22:39,140have a negative idea of repentance, but when we repent God is at work in us assuring us27500:22:39,140 –> 00:22:41,000of his love and acceptance.27600:22:41,000 –> 00:22:46,099You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called27700:22:46,099 –> 00:22:48,239Get on the Road to Recovery.27800:22:48,239 –> 00:22:52,979It was part of our series Changing Direction and if you ever miss another series, it’s27900:22:52,979 –> 00:22:58,359easy to catch up, or go back and listen again online at our website.28000:22:58,359 –> 00:23:00,800www.openthebible.org.uk28100:23:00,800 –> 00:23:06,000Open the Bible is able to stay on this station and the internet and available as a podcast28200:23:06,000 –> 00:23:11,260because of the generous financial support of our listeners, that’s people like you.28300:23:11,260 –> 00:23:15,280And if you already give to support the work, thank you so much!28400:23:15,280 –> 00:23:19,359If supporting Open the Bible is something you would like to start doing this month we28500:23:19,359 –> 00:23:22,219are delighted to offer a free gift.28600:23:22,239 –> 00:23:27,280When you set up a new direct debit to the work of Open The Bible, in the amount of £528700:23:27,280 –> 00:23:33,400per month or more, or a one off gift of £50 or more, we’d love to say thank you by sending28800:23:33,400 –> 00:23:38,060you a free copy of pastor Colin’s new book, Hike Through the Bible.28900:23:38,060 –> 00:23:41,900Colin, where did the idea for this book come from?29000:23:41,900 –> 00:23:48,099Well, we have Fly Through the Bible for those who are looking for a place to begin.29100:23:48,099 –> 00:23:51,780Then Drive Through the Bible obviously takes people a bit further.29200:23:51,780 –> 00:23:57,260But for everyone who wants to get serious about the Bible story Hike Through the Bible29300:23:57,260 –> 00:23:58,260is for you.29400:23:58,260 –> 00:24:03,140I mean this is where you get your boots on the ground and really get to grips with what29500:24:03,140 –> 00:24:05,140the Bible is all about.29600:24:05,140 –> 00:24:09,939And you’ll discover that the whole Bible is one story, that the whole of it points29700:24:09,939 –> 00:24:12,920to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.29800:24:12,920 –> 00:24:17,219And I wrote this for people who want to have a better grasp of the Bible.29900:24:17,260 –> 00:24:21,520I wrote it for people who want to have a deeper love for the Lord Jesus Christ.30000:24:21,520 –> 00:24:25,959And just by way of encouragement, if you think that hiking sounds like hard work, well you30100:24:25,959 –> 00:24:28,560can hike at a gentle pace.30200:24:28,560 –> 00:24:34,199This is 50 chapters and that’s designed so that you could do one a week, a nice gentle30300:24:34,199 –> 00:24:39,319hike through the Bible, so that at the end of the year you really have grasped the Bible30400:24:39,319 –> 00:24:44,699as a whole and you’ve got a clearer grip on what it is that God is saying into your life.30500:24:45,079 –> 00:24:50,859Well, we’d love to send you Colin’s new book when you set up a new direct debit of £530600:24:50,859 –> 00:24:56,219per month or more, or a one-off gift of £50 or more, this month.30700:24:56,219 –> 00:25:04,219Full terms and conditions online at our website openthebible.org.uk and you can give online.30800:25:04,219 –> 00:25:09,060Don’t forget to leave your name and address so we can send you your gift.30900:25:09,060 –> 00:25:13,640For Open The Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I look forward to being31000:25:13,640 –> 00:25:15,339with you again next time.