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Revival in the Bible is not

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a series of meetings with a traveling evangelist. Revival in the Bible is

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God coming to the contrite heart. It is God’s life, God’s wind, God’s breath, God’s

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spirit being poured into you breathed into you, bringing to you new life, new

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peace, new joy, new hope.

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith.

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Colin, to experience revival we

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need to pray for an awareness of our sin and an awareness of our need for a

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savior.

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Yeah and also a more immediate awareness of the

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presence of God. Isaiah has a wonderful phrase about this and it’s a prayer behold

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that you would rent the heavens and come down. A sense of God being with us and

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among us.

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In First Corinthians, Paul writes about unbelievers coming

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into a worship service and saying surely God is among you. Being so aware of the

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presence of God. And that’s what happens in revival. There’s an intensified

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awareness of God and his nearness to me and is dealing with me and of course

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that produces change. It’s interesting if you get to speak to people who’ve been

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touched by revival, their lives are changed in a lasting kind of a way.

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It’s so good to hear how God has changed a life like that.

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But also we may have gone through times ourselves when we knew and felt Jesus

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deeply and intimately, but then we seem to drift away for a time.

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What can we do and how should we respond?

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Well, the first thing to say to that is that that is an

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evidence of the work of God in a person’s heart. And it’s wonderful.

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You don’t come to the place of wanting more of God except that that has been

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produced by the Holy Spirit. And so the very fact of that is encouraging because

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it’s pointing in a direction that God is leading you forward,

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and that’s really at the heart of our series.

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It is God who restores our soul. So you’ve identified something to give

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thanks for and to say, well, now God is drawing me. Now I must follow him with

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faith and with obedience and pursue the purpose for which he is reaching out to me.

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Today we’ll be opening our Bible at Isaiah Chapter 57 so I hope you’ll join

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us there as we continue our message, Restore Repentance.

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Here’s Colin.

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Now if you glance back to verse 10, Isaiah gives a powerful

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picture of the stubborn heart. He says you were wearied in all your ways,

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and he’s talking here about idolatrous or sinful and destructive ways,

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you got tired in all these ways, but you would not say it’s hopeless.

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You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.

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If you’re battling an addiction or if you love someone who is an addict,

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you will know exactly and immediately what Isaiah is describing here.

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You know the thing that you were doing is killing you, but you keep doing it.

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The sinner gets tired.

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Notice the word weary in verse 10.

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He gets tired of his sin.

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This isn’t getting me anywhere, he says.

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I must give this up, but he will not give it up.

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Somehow, however destructive the particular pattern of behavior is,

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he or she finds strength, finds energy to go on repeating the same destructive

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pattern of behavior again and again and again so that sin is a mystery.

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It makes absolutely no sense.

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Why would you ever do again something that made you miserable last time?

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And yet, it’s within us all.

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It’s the mystery of sin.

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The stubborn heart is never contrite towards God.

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The stubborn heart says, I know this is killing me, I’ll do it anyway.

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The stubborn heart says, I know God invites me to a fresh knowledge of himself,

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but I’m not going to come.

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The stubborn heart sits and resists even under the Word of God.

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Now let’s not limit this to addictions because that’s only one example.

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You can have an open Bible and a stubborn heart.

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You can be in a life group with a stubborn heart, be in a Bible study

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with a stubborn heart.

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And in saying that, I’m thinking of John 5 where our Lord Jesus says to the Pharisees,

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you diligently study the Scripture yet you refuse to come to me.

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And it is very easy to deceive yourself because you have some activity that relates to the

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Bible like being here in worship today and yet that masks the reality that underneath

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there’s a heart that is staying at a distance from Jesus Christ so the truth is really today

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even with a Bible on your lap perhaps you could be quite far from Him.

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That’s a stubborn heart.

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That’s a roadblock between you and God that needs verse 14 to be cleared away.

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Of course the stubborn heart goes all the way back to Genesis itself.

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When God comes to walk in wonderful fellowship with Eve and Adam where are they?

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They’re hiding in the trees.

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Why are they hiding in the trees rather than walking with God?

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As they’re trying to avoid God.

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Why?

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Because they feel embarrassed and ashamed about what they’ve been doing.

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We like to think of ourselves as being genuine seekers after God but the sinful heart never

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seeks God.

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Paul says so in Romans chapter three.

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There is no one who seeks God, not even one.

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The truth is that the way we flatter ourselves about being those who seek the reality of

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the sinful heart is that it always hides.

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Now, I want us to see the scale of this problem clearly because some of us have been brought

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up on teaching about the contrite heart that sounded easy and proved much more difficult.

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You’re perhaps brought up with a teaching that said something like this, all you have

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to do is draw near to God.

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All you have to do is have a contrite heart.

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All I have to do is have a contrite heart.

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You gotta be sorry, gotta be really sorry for your sins.

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You gotta hate your sins and you got to love Jesus.

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The message sounded simple, but the reality you found was much harder.

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You found that you loved yourself more than you loved Jesus.

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You found that your love for sin was stronger than you thought, and that its root in your

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life was deeper than you thought, you found that even when you were sorry, too often you

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went back and did the same things again.

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You found that your heart was more stubborn than you thought.

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So the wonderful good news is that God says, I will live with a person who has a contrite

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heart. The problem is that the contrite heart isn’t natural to me nor to you.

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The sinful heart is not contrite. Period. It is stubborn. It resists God and is far

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more comfortable hiding at a distance from Him.

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And that is why we come to this third heart cry in our series in which we cry out to God

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to God. Restore repentance. You see the point? We are saying this is something that you need

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to do. You need to change this heart. I cannot change this heart but I am asking of you that

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you would change this heart. That you would pour out your spirit on this heart that resists

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you, to change it into a heart that is contrite towards you so that you can come and live

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with me and cause me to hate what you hate and to love what you love because I cannot

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get there on my own. At this point you may be saying, wait a minute, wait a minute. Isn’t

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repentance something that God tells us to do? Is repentance something God tells us to

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do? Yes. But it’s more than that. Very important to understand that in the Bible, repentance

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is a command, but it is also God’s gift. I want you to see these two things.

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First, repentance is a command. Acts 17 in verse 30 God commands all people everywhere

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to repent. Couldn’t be clearer than that. It’s a command, but now look at this in Acts

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chapter 11 and verse 18 where we read that God granted repentance to the Gentiles unto

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life. Or in 2 Timothy chapter 2 in verse 25 where Paul says we must gently instruct people

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who oppose us in the hope that God will grant repentance, leading them to the knowledge

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of the truth. So on the one hand, in the scriptures, repentance is a command. Repent, be baptized.

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You find many examples of it as a command. You will also find that in the New Testament

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repentance is spoken of repeatedly as a gift, something that God grants. And we have to

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take both seriously. God grants repentance. That is wonderful because what that means

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is that God can give the contrite heart that enables me to pursue his command. Remember

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Augustine’s famous prayer, Lord, command what you will. Just give what you command.

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That’s right where we are on the subject of repentance. I’ve got to have a contrite

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heart. But, Lord, I’m not going to have a contrite heart unless you give it. Lord, restore

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repentance. So that I may walk this path and truly repent.

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Now, this is nothing other than the promise of the gospel. See, God says at the heart

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of the promise I will give you a new heart. Ezekiel 36, 26, I will give you a new heart

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and I’ll give you a new spirit. I will remove your heart of stone. I’ll remove in other

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words the old stubborn heart, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit

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in you, and move you, move you. Internally, I will move you, motivate you to follow my

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decrees.

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You’re listening to Open The Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Restore Repentance.

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It’s part of a larger series called Restore My Soul, and if you tuned in late or you want

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to go back and listen again, you can do that by coming online to our website open the bible

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org.uk.

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There you can hear any of the messages which have already been broadcast.

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You can also find us as a podcast if you prefer to listen in your own time, and you’ll find

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that on your regular podcasting site.

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Just search for Open The Bible UK, and subscribe to receive regular updates.

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Back to the message now, we’re in Isaiah chapter 57 – here’s Colin.

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Now, however far you feel from God, you can make this cry to Him.

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You can make it yourself.

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You can say, Lord, restore repentance, Lord renew my heart, turn me in a new way towards

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Yourself.

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Make me the kind of person in whose life You may dwell.

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Now, that leads to the last thing this morning and our third question, which is very important.

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How then does God make a stubborn heart contrite?

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How does he do that?

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And, I want us to see two things that are very important from verses 16 through 18.

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One negative and one positive.

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How does God make a stubborn heart contrite?

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The stubborn heart is never changed by judgment, but always changed by mercy.

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The stubborn heart is never changed by judgment, but always changed by mercy.

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Now, look at verse 17 to see the first.

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Because here’s judgment.

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And God is speaking, of course, about these great judgments of history upon His own people,

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the evacuation of the north, the overrunning of the south.

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Real events of God’s judgment poured out in history, and He describes what they would

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be in verse 17.

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I was enraged, God says, by His sinful greed.

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I punished Him and hid my face in anger, yet He kept on in His willful ways.

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Now, just, let’s pause there for a moment.

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God is provoked over hundreds of year by the sinful greed of His people.

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He is angry, enraged by sinful greed.

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He punishes.

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He brings these great punishments in history to Israel, and He hides His face in anger,

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and so after all of this, what is the effect of all this punishing upon the hearts of the

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people?

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Notice what is says.

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He kept on, verse 17, in His willful ways.

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So God’s judgment has what effect?

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It just makes the sinful heart harder.

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God’s judgment makes the sinner hate God more, which is why at the end of the Bible,

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when God’s judgments are being poured out from heaven in the book of Revelation, do

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Do you find men turning to God in repentance and acknowledging Jesus Christ as Savior and

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Lord?

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No, you do not.

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When God’s judgments are poured out in the book of Revelation, and think about Revelation

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6 when the rocks have fallen and the mountains are shaking, it says, the kings of the earth

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called to the mountains and to the rocks and said, fall on us and hide us.

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Notice that word, From the face of him who sits on the throne.

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In other words, sinners are saying, we’d rather die than come to God.

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Which is of course is one reason why hell is forever and forever.

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A sinful heart never turns.

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So, judgment, punishing, never changes the human heart.

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I mean it can alter behavior but never change the heart.

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What does change a stubborn heart?

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Well, look at verse 17 and then 18, and I want you to notice the newness of what is

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said in verse 18.

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We’ll begin with 17.

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I was enraged by his sinful greed.

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I punished him.

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Hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways.

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I have seen his ways.

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And then notice this word, but I will heal him.

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I will guide him.

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I will restore comfort to him.

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So putting that together, it is as if God is saying, I poured out my judgments on these

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people, 10 northern tribes, 2 southern tribes.

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And it made not a scrap of difference.

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Judgment never changes the human heart.

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They did not turn to me.

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They just kept on in their sinful ways.

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But I want to heal them.

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Therefore, I will stop punishing them, and I will show them my mercy.

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This is like a kind of new edict that is coming out of heaven.

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God is saying, I will do something.

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I will choose something very different than punishing in order to heal my people, because

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the law condemns but God’s love redeems.

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And you see, that is why repentance begins, not with a sense of impending judgment, but

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a sense of imminent mercy.

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Judgment might make you scared of God, but, you’ll never love him that way.

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But when your heart is gripped with a sense of the mercy of God flowing from the hands

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and feet of Jesus Christ crucified for you, when you see there is one who deserved ongoing

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punishment forever and forever, God just went a different track because he wanted to heal

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you and to change your heart, when you see his mercy you will gather the courage to repent.

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See, that is why restore faith has to be the first heart cry in the series. It’s not

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restore repentance and then restore faith. It’s restore faith and then restore repentance

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because you’ll never repent until you see the mercy of God in Jesus Christ then you’ll

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begin to come to him when you really get that. Faith is logically and psychologically prior

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to repentance, the two are born together but repentance flows from faith, not the other

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way round. And it is faith in the mercy of God that makes repentance possible.

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The prodigal son sits there eating with the pigs, he is absolutely miserable, but what

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is the thing that will motivate him to come back? It is that he comes to his senses and

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remembers, I have a father who will receive me. I have a father who has always been for

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me. I have a father who I have failed in unspeakable ways, but my father loves me and you find

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that to be true of God in the cross of Jesus Christ.

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Now, I believe that there may be a number of us here in this congregation and you have

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drifted far from God. You remember times when there was joy in your heart as you worshiped

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him and a passion to serve him, but some of that’s died, it’s gone cold, and you would

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feel like someone at the Kibar River, just so far away from a felt experience of the

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presence of God and right now God is speaking to you, and he’s not drawing near to you in

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order to punish you but to heal you. He has seen your ways. He knows all about that, but

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he wants to show you mercy, and he has come to revive your heart. One quotation and then

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we’re through. Alec A Mettier, who has written, I think, the finest book on the prophecy of

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Isaiah in our lifetimes. He has this wonderful statement that just open the door of hope,

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so let me read it to you. Without repentance, he says, there is no entering into the comforts

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of salvation. And only God can sovereignly create the ability to repent. There is nothing

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in the whole of salvation that is not God’s sole creative work, not even the words of

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sorrow by which the penitent comes home. He says, this is all what God does within the

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human soul. And that opens the door of hope. If God can do that in a human heart, He can

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do it in your heart. And that means that you have every reason to bow your head and your

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heart before Him today and to say, God, restore repentance. Doing your work in my heart,

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change the stubborn heart into a contrite heart. And He will do that as you fix both

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eyes, both eyes — not on your failure, not on your stubbornness, but on the cross of

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Jesus Christ and the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you. Restore faith.

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Restore joy. Restore repentance.

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You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called

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Restore Repentance. It’s a reminder that the natural inclination of our sinful nature

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is to run away from God, rather than towards Him. But when we’re persuaded of God’s

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mercy it will give us courage to repent.

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listen again online. Come to our website openthebible.org.uk

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You can also find Pastor Colin Smith’s

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messages as a podcast if that’s a better way for you to keep up with his teaching

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and you’ll find that on your regular podcast site simply search for open

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the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates. Also on our website

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or and available as a podcast is Open the Bible Daily and that’s a series of

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2 to 3-minute reflections based on Pastor Colin Smith’s teaching and read in the UK

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by Sue MacLeish. Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners and

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if that’s something you’ve been considering doing then this month we

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have a great offer for you. If you’re able to set up a new donation to the

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work of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month or more, we’d

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love to say thank you by sending you a copy of C.H. Spurgeon’s book

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Encouragement for the Depressed. Colin, who is this book for?

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Well this book is really for anyone who is discouraged or going through a dark time and I

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can’t imagine that there’s any Christian who doesn’t experience that at some

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point in life. What’s so striking to me about this book is that it’s written by

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a man who was known for his extraordinary faith. I mean the Spirit of

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God rested on the life and ministry of C.H. Spurgeon and yet he knew what it

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was to go through times of extraordinary darkness and even a sense of despair at

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some points. You know he suffered from smallpox, gout, rheumatism, inflammation of

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the kidneys and his wife was bedridden for decades. I mean,this man really

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knew what it was to suffer and yet he found in all of this that he was forced

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closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. I love what he says. He says, I I’ve learned to

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kiss the waves that throw me up against the rock of ages. I love that! Kiss the

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waves that throw me up against the rock of ages.

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Here’s biblical wisdom from a man of faith who knew what it was to really

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struggle in dark times and I have found his writing to be wonderfully

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encouraging, refreshing and uplifting and that’s why I’m really grateful that we

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have the opportunity of getting this book out this month!

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CH Spurgeon’s book courageous for the depressed is our gift to you if you are

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able to set up a new donation to the work of Open The Bible this month in the

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00:24:57,920 –> 00:25:02,939

amount of five pounds per month or more. Full details and to give online go to

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our website openthebible.org.uk. For Open The Bible and pastor Colin

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Smith I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll join us again next time!

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Even if your Christian life includes worship, Bible study, prayer and fasting

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00:25:23,760 –> 00:25:28,739

something could be missing! Discover what it is next time on Open The Bible!