Repentance

Please join me in prayer. O God, my Father, you are holy, holy, holy. The whole earth is indeed full of your glory. And I, Lord, am a man of unclean lips who dwells among a people of unclean lips. And yet, Father, I pray that you would bless my lips to speak your truth with power and love. I pray that you would carry me to proclaim your word to your people. And I pray that you, Lord, would draw near. That we would Be confronted by your holiness. That we might see our sin. That like Job, we might repent in dust and ashes. Knowing, Lord, that you will raise us up. In Jesus' name I pray and for his glory. Amen. Well, the message I feel that God has laid on my heart this morning to share with you is about repentance. And before we turn to our passage, I want to share by way of of introduction a framework that I learned from an older preacher by the name of Richard Owen Roberts that I think is very helpful for us as we think about sin and as we think about repentance. And what Mr. Roberts often will say is there are fruit sins and there are root sins. Fruit sins are those sins which are outwardly manifest to others and ourselves. They have to do with our actions Our words, our attitudes and our thoughts and yes, evil thoughts are fruit sins, not root sins. Things like angry outbursts, harsh words, lying, gossip. Crude, joking, sexual immorality, disobedience, rebellion, dishonoring parents and authorities, all of these things, these are fruit sins. But there are also root sins. And these are the sins which are deeper, the sins of our heart, the sin which God himself still sees. For example, in First Timothy, Chapter six, we're told that for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. And similarly, as we read in Mark and in Matthew, Jesus, our Lord, says those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and blasphemies. And so our root sins are those sins of our hearts, the hatred, bitterness, envy, The fear and worry, complacence, irreverence, greed, lust, covetousness, laziness. These are root sins. But what I think is helpful for us to see is that deepest down, there are three primary and great root sins. There are three. And those three are pride, unbelief and selfishness. Pride, unbelief and selfishness. Put another way, pride is a lack or the opposite of humility. Unbelief is the opposite of faith and selfishness is the opposite of love. Or put another way. Pride begins with having too high a view of yourself. Unbelief with having too low a view of God and selfishness with having too low a view of others. Pride, unbelief and selfishness, and I would suggest to you that every sin that we commit is rooted deep down in all three to one degree or another. And so you ask, why do I get angry with my children and lose my temper, pride, unbelief and selfishness? Why do I feel like no one loves me and plunge into depression, pride, unbelief and selfishness? Why do I struggle with lustful thoughts or actions, pride, unbelief and selfishness? Why am I filled with unforgiveness and bitterness toward others? Pride, unbelief and selfishness. All sin is rooted deep down in those three. And those three are intertwined. Those three are just rooted right together. And just one example, you know, why do we suffer unbelief? Well, in pride, we think that we know better than God. And so we trust what we think rather than trust God. But then, you know, why do we suffer pride? Well, because in our unbelief. We do not believe that God is as great and as good as he says he is. Now, so why is this important? You know, it's just abstract. Why should we care about this distinction between fruit sins and root sins? And turn with me, please, to first Samuel, chapter 15. If you're looking in your pew Bible, that's on pages 237 and 238. And in this passage, we we read an account from the life of King Saul. And I believe that That this illustrates for us why when we think about repentance and as we think about sin, it is so important that we recognize that not only are there fruit sins in our lives, but there are root sins below. Now, seeing this as a long chapter, rather than reading the whole thing through at first, I'm going to read it in chunks and provide some commentary as we go. So beginning in First Samuel, Chapter 15, verse one. Samuel also said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek For what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. So God, through Samuel, commands Saul to utterly destroy Amalek for ambushing Israel on his way up from Egypt. And just to refresh your memory, the Amalekites were those that attacked Israel in Rephidim as Moses was leading them up from Egypt. And this is when Moses held the staff of God over his head and God gave them victory. This was an unprovoked attack that targeted the weak and the weary ones in the rear. And back in Exodus chapter 17, verse 16, at the end of the account, it says the Lord has sworn the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. And so now, as always, even hundreds of years later, God is fulfilling his promise. Commanding Saul to utterly destroy man, woman, child, infant and animal alike. And now some of you may be pondering this question of how can God command even the death of these infants? And that's a good and that's a relevant question. And I'm going to ask you to hold it and we'll come back and address that later on. So, verse four. So Saul gathered the people together and number them and telling him two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Canaanites, Go depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Canaanites departed from among the Amalekites. Now, so Saul has gathered the people they're going to attack, but right before they do, he warns the Canaanites to escape and Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, was a Canaanite. So perhaps this is part of the kindness that Saul refers to. It's also noteworthy to remember Balaam's prophecy from Numbers 24, where Balaam prophesied that says that then he looked on Amalek and he took up his oracle and said, Amalek was first among the nations, but shall be last until he perishes. Then he looked on the Canaanites. And he took up his oracle and said, firm is your dwelling place and your nest is set on the rock. And so whether Saul is aware of it or not, this prophecy is coming into exact fulfillment. Verse seven. And Saul attacked the Amalekites, From Havilah all the way to shore, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag, king of the Amalekites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs and all that was good and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless that They utterly destroyed. So Saul and the people, they attack the Amalekites, they utterly destroy them, except they're unwilling to destroy Agag, the king, as well as the best of the livestock. Perhaps that seemed like a waste of them, they thought it would be a shame to to just waste all these fine, healthy livestock. Perhaps it seemed like a waste and a shame to kill such a distinguished man as Agag who could be gloriously displayed as a captive and paraded before the people for glory. But verse 10 says, Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king. For he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it grieves Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. So the Lord comes to Samuel and he informs Samuel of how Saul has disobeyed. God says, I greatly regret it. And this should remind us, actually, of in Genesis six, remember when God had created the world and the people were exceedingly wicked, and God said he regretted that he was sorry that he had made man on the earth. And now it's important to realize that neither here or there is it suggesting that God made a mistake, that God was surprised by what took place. We have to hold this statement in right relationship with verse twenty nine of this same chapter here in Samuel 15, where we read clearly that God says he does not lie or relent. He is not a man that he should regret or relent. And so the point here is not to say God made a mistake. It's saying that God is grieved in his heart. by the sin and the disobedience of Saul and his people. And Samuel, likewise, is grieved and angered righteously to such an extent that he cries in prayer all night and you see his heart and his concern, his passionate concern for Saul and the people and most importantly, for God's glory. So verse 12, so when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel saying Saul went to Carmel and indeed he set up a monument for himself and he has gone on around, passed by and gone down to Gilgal. So Samuel rises to seek for Saul and basically he's informed, well, Saul is, you know, parading around, gallivanting, he's he's gone off to Carmel, he set up a monument. for himself in utter pride and vainglory. And now Saul's in Gilgal to sacrifice. And this is outrageous in view of just two chapters before. If you remember, Saul was previously in Gilgal, where Samuel was supposed to meet him to perform a sacrifice. Samuel was late and so Saul just took it into his own hands and offered a sacrifice himself, transgressing God's clear commandments. And so Samuel had rebuked him, and we can only wonder what Saul intended to do this time had Samuel not shown up. So in verse 13, it said, Then Samuel went to Saul and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. Boasting of what he has done, as if it is good and right, when in fact he has transgressed God's word. Verse 14, but Samuel said, what then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen, which I hear? And Saul said. They have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God and the rest we have utterly destroyed. And you see, he gives three excuses for his disobedience. First, he blames it on the people. Secondly, he acts as if using these livestock for a sacrifice is an acceptable replacement for obedience. And third, he minimizes the significance by essentially saying, you know, I've basically obeyed. You know, the rest were destroyed. I basically did what God said. Verse 16. Then Samuel said to Saul, be quiet and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And he said to him, speak on. So Samuel said, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why, then, did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? And so Samuel essentially rejects Saul's excuses. He's saying when it when when I read when you were little in your own eyes, the ESV says, though you are little in your own eyes and there's a real irony there, because while Saul is very little in his own eyes in regard to his responsibility, he's very great in his own eyes in regard to the credit and the glory he deserves. And so Samuel just cuts right through all the excuses and he says, why did you not obey the voice of the Lord? So verse 20 and Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me and brought back Agag, king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. So Saul just utterly denies it again, lists all three of the same excuses. So verse 22, so Samuel said. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the thought of Rams, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness as has iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king. So in effect, Samuel says. Do you think? That God will accept sacrifice as a substitute for obedience. And then he says your sin is disobedience and disobedience is rebellion and stubbornness and rebellion and stubbornness in God's sight are every bit as evil as witchcraft and idolatry. He says, therefore, you have rejected God and God has rejected you. Verse 24, then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now, therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord. So finally, perhaps telling Saul that he was being rejected from being king got his attention. And finally, Saul says, and I have sinned, he finally acknowledges that he has clearly disobeyed God. And he confesses that the reason he did so was his fear of man. But then look at verse 25. It is apparent that Saul has not even come close to recognizing the seriousness of his sin or offering any form of genuine repentance. You know, he does not fast, he does not mourn, he does not beg earnestly that God might forgive him. In fact, he asked Samuel to pardon his sin. And then he just kind of blows right past and says, oh, come with me that I may go and worship the Lord. There's no solemn assembly called before the people, there's no public confession of sin. He just acknowledges an undeniable fact that he's been caught in that he disobeyed God. And. He assumes, even presumes upon this that he will just be immediately pardoned and that he can continue as king and lead the people in worship of God in spite of the fact that God has just told him in verse twenty three that he has been rejected from being king. And so, verse twenty six, Samuel, recognizing that Saul does not get it, Says, but Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. So verse 27, and as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul sees the edge of his robe and it tore. So Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor relent, for he is not a man that he should relent. So Saul, in desperation, obviously gripped by the prospect of losing his kingship, reaches out and grabs Samuel's robe and it's torn. And perhaps, you know, we don't know what Saul's attitude was, whether it was anger or sorrow and tears, but it's obviously not a godly sorrow because Saul's sorrow is not over how his sin has grieved God, but how his sin has affected him. So Samuel now adds that not only will your kingdom be taken away, but it will be given to another neighbor who's better than you. And then Samuel underscores the fact that this judgment is final. That it is too late for repentance. It should this phrase about God is not a man that he should relent, it should actually remind us back This whole scene of invading the Amalekites, I drew attention to how this was prophesied by Balaam back in Numbers. And one of the other things in Balaam's prophecy, where Amalek's doom was pronounced, as it says in Numbers chapter 23, verse 19, God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said and will he not do or has he spoken and will he not make it good? And Saul should hear this word from Samuel and know that just as surely as God saw to it that the Amalekites would be utterly destroyed, even so, God will see to it that he is removed from being king. Now, verse 30. Then he, Saul, said, I have sinned. Yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel and return with me that I may worship the Lord your God. So Samuel turned back after Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord. So Saul once again acknowledges his sin and yet turns around and begs Samuel yet honor me now. And it's once again, it's obvious where his heart really is. He is concerned about his honor rather than repentance. And it's a bit surprising that Samuel this time actually turns back with Saul. We wonder why is he doing that? Well, it's not in any way that Samuel is changing his mind, that Samuel is now with Saul. But I think the reason he turns back is is twofold. One, There's now no misunderstanding. Samuel has made abundantly clear you have been rejected by God and there is no changing that. But secondly, Samuel has some unfinished business that he does not trust Saul to carry out. And so we see that Samuel has business with King Agag. So. Verse 32, then Samuel said, Bring Agag, king of the Amalekites here to me. So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. But Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. So Samuel himself sees to it that Agag is destroyed, according to the word of the Lord, and from this point forth, Samuel abandoned Saul, goes no more to see him, though both he and the Lord continue to mourn and to grieve over Saul's hardness of heart. Now, what I'd like to do is share with you five reflections on this passage, which relates to us. So having taken in the passage, what what do we take from this? First of all. We should recognize that God requires exact, precise and total obedience. As we read in verses 22 and 23, no substitute or sacrifice that we could ever offer can be an acceptable replacement for obedience. And all disobedience is rebellion and is as heinous in God's sight as witchcraft and idolatry. There are no small sins, approximate obedience will not do. Saul thought he had done pretty well. He had obediently gathered the people and attacked the Amalekites. He had, in fact, destroyed almost all of them as God commanded. He was leading the people to worship and intended to offer a great sacrifice to the Lord. He thought he was doing pretty well. And sadly, many of us, many people, many professing Christians think like Saul. You know, we think, you know, God said to love my neighbors myself. And I'm not doing that entirely, but I'm really doing it pretty well where God said to love my enemies. And I sometimes harbor bitter thoughts and anger, but I don't retaliate the way most people would. So I'm really doing a pretty decent job. God said to love one another and I really make some sacrifices for the church. So, well, I can be pretty selfish at times. I'm sure giving more than most. Or like Saul, we make substitutes and children. Do you think my parents said clean your room, but it's really not that messy. So I'll read my Bible and I'll pray instead. Surely God will be happy with that. Or we think, you know, God said, love my wife, but I just really don't want to do that. I'll go and share the gospel with every neighbor on my street and surely God will be pleased. Or God said, join a church. But, you know, I'm a member of a campus ministry or a parish organization, and that's close enough. And what we need to hear. Did the Lord not command you? Why, then, did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Brethren. We all must repent. Repentance is not a one time thing, though every single one of us is called to come to Christ and repent, but repentance must be the mark of our lives. that day after day we would be a people marked by repentance. Marked by recognizing this is what God has commanded in anything less than perfect obedience is utterly insufficient. What I want to address now is, well, how? What does true repentance look like? So my second reflection from this passage If we fail to identify and repent of root sin, we have failed to truly repent. And declaring root issue for Saul is pride. His words and his actions in this passage reek of pride. We see it first in his disregard and his cavalier attitude for God's commandments, as if he himself knew better than God. We see it that in pride he set up a monument for himself. In pride, he argues with God's own rebuke of him through Samuel when he is confronted, denying his sin. In pride, he blames his sin on the people rather than accepting responsibility himself. And in pride, he begs Samuel in verse 30, yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel. Saul's words and actions open wide a window into the state of his heart. A heart full of pride. And yet, sadly, Saul himself never peers through that window. So rather than coming in true and genuine repentance for the pride of his heart. He offers a hollow form of repentance that is superficial, insincere, downright pathetic and utterly unacceptable to God. And God declares with absolute finality that he is rejected from being king. And so the question we need to ask is what kind of repentance do we perform? Do you repent of only your outward sin, or do you repent of the deeper, more significant, more sinister sin of your heart? Do you trivialize or excuse your sin? You know, as if it was just a mistake or a misunderstanding, you know, do we do we think and say things like, well, I just lost my temper. I just didn't think things through. I was just fearful and afraid. He or she did it, too. Well, if you only understood my circumstances, I just couldn't help it or. Do you recognize that those sins are always the fruit of a deep seeded root of pride, unbelief and selfishness that is terribly grievous in the sight of God? And do you sorrow over sin because of the way it hurts you? Or. Do you mourn over how your sin grieves God, taking time to consider how your unbelief mocks God's precious promises? Your selfishness spurns his good gifts as if they were not enough and insufficient. And your pride is effectively telling God, I wish you were dead, that I might reign in your place. The more we realize the true roots of our sin, the more we will feel the depth of our depravity and the more we will see ourselves the way God does. In the next chapter over, we read, for the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And it's only when we really Look within at our heart. That we're able to come to God in true contrition, godly sorrow and with true repentance. Now, third reflection. If we fail to repent of root sin, we can be sure that fruit sin will continue to spring up. Around my house, there are vines that are weeds, and they grow in my yard. They come up in my flower beds and around my bushes, and they are just all over the place. It's a huge hassle to tear them all out, and I rip them down, but I can't get the roots out. The roots are all over the place, and I can't track them, and I don't know where the real root is. So no matter how many times I tear out the vines, they come back. And that's the way it works with sin. Saul is a prime example of this, his failure to recognize and deal with his root sin of pride, letting him down a path of ever repeated and increasing sin. And I pointed out earlier in first Samuel 13, there was the incident where he offered the unlawful sacrifice disregarding God's command in that regard. Here in 1st Samuel 15, once again, he disobeys God and once again, he fails to recognize the pride of his heart and repent of that. In 1st Samuel 18, once again, pride wells up in Saul as David is praised. It says, so the woman sang as they danced and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Then Saul was very angry and the saying displeased him and he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed only thousands. So he became envious again in pride. Then in chapters 19 through 24, Saul begins to persecute David. And it's so outrageous that even Saul's children, Michal and Jonathan, come to David's rescue. Saul orders the execution of innocent priests for helping David and his own men won't even carry it out. And Saul finally, after David could have killed him in a cave. David simply cut off the corner of his robe and Saul sees it and he finally confesses how wrong he is. And in chapter 24, verses 16 and 17, it says, Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David, you are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. And he goes home. And yet he did not truly repent. He did not come before God and acknowledge and confess and repent of the pride of his heart. And so just a couple of chapters later in first Samuel 26, once again, Saul begins pursuing David. This time they're in the wilderness of Zipf. And this is the time when David snuck into the camp and he stole the spear and the jug of water. And once again, Saul confesses, I have sinned. I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. Yet once again, he does not recognize or repent of the pride of his heart. And ultimately, Saul's life ends in suicide on the battlefield. And the question for us, do you have ever repeated sin in your life? Do you have things that you have thought that you have repented of, but fall back into again and again? And could that be because you have been dealing with the fruit sin? But have not dealt with the root. You know, do you chalk up your untamed tongue as well, it's just the lack of self-control or your failure in daily devotions as it's just the lack of discipline? Or, you know, is is your depression, you know, do you say, well, it's from a lack of self-esteem or do you think that your deceptive words and behavior is what's just a lack of trust of others or your angry outbursts? Well, it's just I lack patience or your disobedience to your parents. Is it I'm just forgetful? Or is there a more sinister evil in your heart? Friends, we must trace these things down to the root, the pride, selfishness and unbelief of our hearts and truly repent of them before God. Fourth. Reflection. Root sins are both blind and blinding. And just take a moment and reflect on the way Why is it that Saul could not see his pride? You know, why did it take Samuel so much effort just to get Saul to see his obvious disobedience to God's command? You know, go back to the analogy about the vines at my yard, you know, they're growing, the roots are underground, they're hidden. And then when they come up, they come up like rights where there's a bush and they're like twisted around all the different stems of the bush, they're hidden, they're hard to see. And we need to be aware of the fact that pride, unbelief and selfishness are masters of camouflage. These things shape our very view of the world around us. You know, this is part of why Jeremiah 79 says the heart is deceitful above all things. Saul had no hesitation about worshiping the Lord, making sacrifices to him and serving him as king of his people. While simultaneously being filled with pride and self. And the proud in heart has no difficulty cleaning the outside of his cup or whitewashing the outside of his tomb while inside is filthy and full of dead men's bones. And we can embrace a life of very pious religiosity without truly setting our heart right before God. And so we just simply have to realize the fact that it will be hard for us to see our own sin many times. And two guidelines I'll give number one, if other Christians think you have a problem, but you don't think so. Ninety nine percent of the time you are wrong. Just tell yourself that know that. Secondly, on the other hand, just because nobody else thinks you have a problem. Don't assume that you don't. Only God can see your heart. Men can be easily deceived. You know, it is so easy to grow up in a Christian home. Or. Whatever it is to be a member of this church for years and years and years and yet never to have truly repented. And so do not allow anyone but God himself. To ultimately assure your heart that you are right with him. And what we all must do. Is day by day. We ourselves must go with our Bibles alone before the Lord and pray, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxiety and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. We must take his word and get alone before the Lord and allow him through his word and by the power of the Holy Spirit to penetrate our hearts and reveal our sin that we might come to true and genuine repentance. Now, fifthly, and the final reflection on this passage. Only Christ makes true repentance possible. Only Christ makes true repentance possible and friends. It is a terrifying thing to really. Peer down into the recesses of your own heart. And to come to grips with how wrong you really are. We are a people. So prone to building our lives on our performance. To building our lives on what others think of us, to building our lives on who we are and what we have. And the absolutely terrifying thing about real repentance is that it means coming to grips with the reality that all you have built your life upon is a lie. It's realizing that the real problem is not just mistakes I've made. It's not just things I've done. It's me myself. That the root of the problem is what I am, and I told you that we would come back to the Amalekite infants. And what I want you to see is that real repentance is about coming to the point where you no longer read that and you accuse God, your heart rises up and accusation. God, how could you do that? But but the truly repentant heart reads that and we exclaim, oh, God, that should have been me. In sin did my mother conceive me and in sin was I brought forth. My problem is not merely what I've done, but what I am. We were by nature, children of wrath, just as the others. And friends, that is a reality that apart from Christ, we can never bear to face. But the all surpassing glory of the gospel. Is it when the Holy Spirit comes to you and through the power of the word convicts you and opens your eyes to see yourself for what you really are? Then. He directs your eyes to Christ. And you see Christ in His all-sufficiency, in His all-surpassing glory. And as you come to grips with how unlovely you are, it's then that you can begin to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. And it's when you come to the end of yourself. And you die to yourself. And you say, oh, God, rid me of myself, empty me of me. That you can be filled with all the fullness of God. And so I ask you, brethren, have you come to the end of yourself Have you really faced not only the fruits, but the roots of the sin in your heart? And have you cast yourself before the feet of Christ that your sin might be put away and you yourself might be no more? Can you say, I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. You know, can we say, but whatever things were gained to me, these I have kind of lost for Christ, yet need I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but the righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Brethren, if you cannot say that, if you do not know anything of that reality, well, you have yet to be converted. You have yet to truly repent and believe. So do that now. Come to Christ. Repent of yourself and embrace him. But even for those of us who have come before, who do know the Lord. Who have been made new in Christ, yet let us never forget that we are not yet what we shall one day be. And though we are new in Christ, we still die daily. We are called to be conformed to his image. And we are called to be transformed into that image from glory to glory, even as we behold as an Amir the glory of the Lord day by day. So therefore, let us. day by day come to an ever deeper level of repentance from who we were that we may become who we are now called to be. Let's go to him in prayer. Lord Jesus, You are our life. You are the one who has given true life. You are the one who has given new life. And, Jesus, we come to thee. Lord, give us grace that we may die daily. Give us grace that we may turn from ourselves and be filled with you. We pray this for your glory. Amen.