By TAN KOK KIM
( Jeremiah 6:13-15 )( John 16: 7-8 )(Acts 2:37 )
We have never repented, we are just patching up those old ground. "I'm sorry, LORD! I did this." "LORD I'm sorry, I feel this way." And we patching up all over, and we came to Church and consoled ourselves that God, you have accepted it, because I said, "I'm sorry," but why is it that we go back to the same old things again? We do those things again and again, why? Because repentance has never gone beyond the very surface of our skins and of our flesh. WE CAN BE SHAMEFUL FOR WHAT WE DID, BUT YET, WE HAVE NEVER KNOW SHAME FOR WHO WE ARE. And God said to Jeremaiah, "I want the nation of Israel for who they are."
How can a man becomes shameful for who he is? How can a man can come to that place? How can a people called Israel? How can God makes such a demand? How does it happened? How does a man finally feel his feels some about himself? It not the acts, that's the reason why there is only one man in the Old Testament that has got a name and title given to him that he is called a man after God's own Heart, who is he? David isn't it? Do you know why he is a man after God's own Heart? BECAUSE HE IS ONE MAN WHO SAW SHAME IN HIMSELF, NOT THE SHAME THAT HE DID.
THAT'S WHY THE CHANGE IN DAVID WAS SO LASTING, THAT'S WHY HE BECAME THE CHIEF SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL, that's why out of his life, and the lineage of this man came Kings and Kingdoms. Because folks, you read your Bible, you cannot touch the Psalms and the writing of David, and yet have not discover how shameful he is about himself, not shameful for what he did, but shameful for who he was. Oh! yes what David did was absolutely shameful, what he did was absolutely against God, it's an abomination, God knows it, but he didn't want that, he knew it, because he knew that even evil men know that. Do you know that, there are men who are evil today, who do wrong things, and yet they are shameful for the wrongs they did, BUT YET THEY KEEP DOING IT.
There are many Christians today who feels sorry, but we all must see this, we need to clear this in our hearts, you see, once we understand this, we will understand why so many of us are not growing spiritually, I tell you why, IT IS BECAUSE REPENTANCE HAS NEVER BEEN OUR FOUNDATION, we have been "repented," but there have never been a FOUNDATION in our lives, that's why there is no basis for growth, that's why the Kingdom of God is not at hand. He promised, He promised that if we repent, He said, the Kingdom of God is at hand, it's available. Unless God is a liar, and I know, and we all know that, God is no liar, Amen.
HOW? How do I move from where I am into this place that shame is who I am? I feel shame for who I am not just what I did. Any man knows how to feel sorry for something that he has done, for something that is wrong and whatever, I don't want that? I want to come to a place where LORD, I want to stand on the grounds of repentance, I want to know shame for who I am, how does it come about? It comes about when God by the Holy Spirit and the work begin to work in us. The Scripture is very clear, John chapter 16. Jesus before His death on the cross, promised this reality, promised that this is what going to happened soon, when the Comforter comes, and the Comforter is none other than the Holy Spirit. He said, when the Holy Spirit is come Jesus said..
( I don't know how we missed this, we have gone on the road to gifts, to power, to anointing, to all kinds of comforting today from the Holy Spirit, BUT YET, WE WILL NEVER COME BACK AND READ THE MOST BASIS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL OF WHAT JESUS SAID, CONCERNING THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. )
John 16:7-8. "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:" REPROVE, another words, HE WILL CONVICT. Yes the Holy Spirit has come for many other wonderful works for Jesus, but foundationally and fundamentally, JESUS SAID WHEN HE IS COME, THAT IS THE NUMBER ONE THING HE MUST DO IN ANY MAN AND ANY WOMAN, HE WILL REPROVE THAT PERSON SIN. He will show to us, who we are, HE will show to us by the light of the Spirit by the word of the living God.
THAT'S WHY WHEN WE COME TO A CHURCH, WE MUST LISTEN TO MESSAGES THAT MUST SEARCH OUR HEARTS AND SHOW TO US WHO WE ARE, that's why we must sit under the ministry, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, where the word search us, and when the light of God begins to PENETRATE AND CUT US. Not make us laugh, not make us become hollow and shallow, not make us become greedy, not make us become pampered and flamboyant, not make us concentrate in ourselves, and in all of our needs. JESUS SAID, WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES HE SAID, HE WILL REPROVE, THAT NUMBER ONE, HE WILL REPROVE OF THE WORLD OF SIN, THAT'S WHY HE COMES.
How does it works? How does God brings shame to me in the way that He wants me to know shame? Folks listen, He brings the Holy Spirit, that's what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit shows to us to ourselves that's why it's not because someone tell us, we are wrong, and that doesn't means we will change, just because someone tell us, someone shows to us how terrible we are, how selfish we are, and how insensitive we are, of course we will know, and we will go through all kinds of emotional displayed, but that doesn't means that we will change, no! we won't change, why? BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE PERSON THAT CAN SHOW US TO OURSELVES AND THAT IS IN THAT HANDS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
It is when the LORD takes the Holy Spirit and show us to ourselves, then we start to looked to ourselves the light of His word, and the light of the revelation of the Holy Spirit. IN THE LIGHT OF THE WORKING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE START TO SEE OURSELVES ABSOLUTELY UGLY, WE SEE OURSELVES ABSOLUTELY UNWORTHY, WE SEE OURSELVES DESERVE TO GO TO HELL, that what we see, we see ourselves absolutely unworthy, we see ourselves in a place, where we know that we are not worthy, AND WE KNOW THAT HELL IS WHERE WE SUPPOSE TO GO.
And that's where Calvary becomes so real to us, and that's where the death of Jesus becomes so powerful, because that's when finally in our hearts be identified with Jesus, and that's when we finally said we have heard people said all our lives, it said, it is us who put Jesus on the cross, folks, we can hear this all our lives, but when the Holy Spirit shows this to us, we will know that it is what we are, that sent Jesus to the cross. Now that cannot be comforted, that we cannot escape, that we cannot run away, why? BECAUSE ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT MUST BRING THE GRACE OF GOD INTO OUR LIVES TO FORGIVE US, WE CAN'T FORGIVE OURSELVES, WE CAN'T CHANGE OURSELVES, we can't hide, we got to confront this issue until God bears upon us all of the powers of Heaven, until we finally agreed, and finally come to a place and begin to confess, "LORD I'm ugly, LORD I'm wretched." like Paul said, "O wretched man that I am! " yes or no? That's what he cried in the end in Romans chapter 7. Paul has to come to that, he has to see that in the end, he is so shameful for who he is, not just what he had done.
And let me said this here to you, if we don't come to this place: "There is no true Spiritual Life in you." I don't care if you sit in your church for the next fourty years, I don't care you can composed songs, I don't care even you can stand up and know this book( Bible )from page to page, BUT FOLKS, THERE IS NO SPIRITUAL LIFE IN A MAN, UNTIL HE COMES TO TRUE REPENTANCE. That's why in Acts chapter 2, we may remember in Acts 2, remember here when we read verse 37, the Bible said that when they heard this message, they were pricked, that's the word there, it means PIERCED, to pain the mind sharply that what it means, the word pricked there it is God it almost as if like God took this word, God took the ministry of the word, took the preaching of the Apostle Peter and penetrate into the mind of these men and women and begin to pierced it so sharply until these men begin to cried out, another words conviction, and that what it means, that's where the word conviction comes about. They were convicted, what were they convicted? They suddenly see in the light of the Holy Spirit working in them, they suddenly begin to see who they are, and that's why they cried out, they said, "what shall we do?" They were so desperate, "God what shall we do?"
Folks, it was obvious that the moment they came to that place of repentance, what does Jesus promised? Repent, what is going to be at hand? the Kingdom of God is going to be at hand, God is going to invade, God is going to meet that person, God is going to immediately rush in by the power with the power of mighty God, God is going to rush in and saved that man, and loved that man and filled the man and that woman.
Now, this where I believe the trouble is with most of our lives, I believe in this Bible, every man and woman upon the surface of this earth, I believe that God is faithful to His word and faithful to His character, I believe that at any point of all of our lives here, there is no one, no one will be able one day to stand before the throne, and say to God, "God alright, You tell me that, unless I start to feel shame in what I am, and is not what I do, but LORD, I have not felt that way, yes I have been shameful for the things that I had done, but LORD, I have not been shameful for who I am."
Folks, God will make sure that when one day, when we stand before the throne, none of us is going to point a finger at Him, and say that to Him, why? Because I believe that the Holy Spirit, I can't say for a lot of people, but I know, I can say it here at this very post, and in this sharing, I believe that everyone of us here, I believe that the Holy Spirit at some point in our lives has come to show us who we really are, unless we say God is a liar. I believe at some point, in fact He desires to keep coming to us, to keep showing to ourselves, in fact He wants to work in the fashion in us, in fact He wants to bring us into that place of conviction all the times, He wants us.. ( Will show you later on.)
WHY REPENTANCE IS NOT ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE? Why repentance must become a lifestyle? Why repentance must become a continuous experience? It has to be, because if not, why do you think that Jesus said in the Beatitude, " BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN: FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED." He is not talking about you and I, one day having loved ones to die? He is not talking about bereavement, why do you think He said, "Blessed is he who mourn." Another words HE WANTS US TO MOURN, MOURNING MUST BECOME OUR LIFESTYLES, MOURNING MUST BECOME OUR VERY LIFE, MOURNING MUST BECOME OUR VERY NATURE. THAT'S WHY IS CALLED BEATITUDES, it is an attitude, why must we mourn? What is the basis of our mourning? Unless we start to discovered things in ourselves. How can we mourn, if God don't show us who we are, How can we live a life of mourning? Unless God comes and tell us and show us in the light of His word who are in the light of Him...To be continue...
For further reading please visit TAN KOK KIM
( Jeremiah 6:13-15 )( John 16: 7-8 )(Acts 2:37 )
We have never repented, we are just patching up those old ground. "I'm sorry, LORD! I did this." "LORD I'm sorry, I feel this way." And we patching up all over, and we came to Church and consoled ourselves that God, you have accepted it, because I said, "I'm sorry," but why is it that we go back to the same old things again? We do those things again and again, why? Because repentance has never gone beyond the very surface of our skins and of our flesh. WE CAN BE SHAMEFUL FOR WHAT WE DID, BUT YET, WE HAVE NEVER KNOW SHAME FOR WHO WE ARE. And God said to Jeremaiah, "I want the nation of Israel for who they are."
How can a man becomes shameful for who he is? How can a man can come to that place? How can a people called Israel? How can God makes such a demand? How does it happened? How does a man finally feel his feels some about himself? It not the acts, that's the reason why there is only one man in the Old Testament that has got a name and title given to him that he is called a man after God's own Heart, who is he? David isn't it? Do you know why he is a man after God's own Heart? BECAUSE HE IS ONE MAN WHO SAW SHAME IN HIMSELF, NOT THE SHAME THAT HE DID.
THAT'S WHY THE CHANGE IN DAVID WAS SO LASTING, THAT'S WHY HE BECAME THE CHIEF SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL, that's why out of his life, and the lineage of this man came Kings and Kingdoms. Because folks, you read your Bible, you cannot touch the Psalms and the writing of David, and yet have not discover how shameful he is about himself, not shameful for what he did, but shameful for who he was. Oh! yes what David did was absolutely shameful, what he did was absolutely against God, it's an abomination, God knows it, but he didn't want that, he knew it, because he knew that even evil men know that. Do you know that, there are men who are evil today, who do wrong things, and yet they are shameful for the wrongs they did, BUT YET THEY KEEP DOING IT.
There are many Christians today who feels sorry, but we all must see this, we need to clear this in our hearts, you see, once we understand this, we will understand why so many of us are not growing spiritually, I tell you why, IT IS BECAUSE REPENTANCE HAS NEVER BEEN OUR FOUNDATION, we have been "repented," but there have never been a FOUNDATION in our lives, that's why there is no basis for growth, that's why the Kingdom of God is not at hand. He promised, He promised that if we repent, He said, the Kingdom of God is at hand, it's available. Unless God is a liar, and I know, and we all know that, God is no liar, Amen.
HOW? How do I move from where I am into this place that shame is who I am? I feel shame for who I am not just what I did. Any man knows how to feel sorry for something that he has done, for something that is wrong and whatever, I don't want that? I want to come to a place where LORD, I want to stand on the grounds of repentance, I want to know shame for who I am, how does it come about? It comes about when God by the Holy Spirit and the work begin to work in us. The Scripture is very clear, John chapter 16. Jesus before His death on the cross, promised this reality, promised that this is what going to happened soon, when the Comforter comes, and the Comforter is none other than the Holy Spirit. He said, when the Holy Spirit is come Jesus said..
( I don't know how we missed this, we have gone on the road to gifts, to power, to anointing, to all kinds of comforting today from the Holy Spirit, BUT YET, WE WILL NEVER COME BACK AND READ THE MOST BASIS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL OF WHAT JESUS SAID, CONCERNING THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. )
John 16:7-8. "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:" REPROVE, another words, HE WILL CONVICT. Yes the Holy Spirit has come for many other wonderful works for Jesus, but foundationally and fundamentally, JESUS SAID WHEN HE IS COME, THAT IS THE NUMBER ONE THING HE MUST DO IN ANY MAN AND ANY WOMAN, HE WILL REPROVE THAT PERSON SIN. He will show to us, who we are, HE will show to us by the light of the Spirit by the word of the living God.
THAT'S WHY WHEN WE COME TO A CHURCH, WE MUST LISTEN TO MESSAGES THAT MUST SEARCH OUR HEARTS AND SHOW TO US WHO WE ARE, that's why we must sit under the ministry, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, where the word search us, and when the light of God begins to PENETRATE AND CUT US. Not make us laugh, not make us become hollow and shallow, not make us become greedy, not make us become pampered and flamboyant, not make us concentrate in ourselves, and in all of our needs. JESUS SAID, WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES HE SAID, HE WILL REPROVE, THAT NUMBER ONE, HE WILL REPROVE OF THE WORLD OF SIN, THAT'S WHY HE COMES.
How does it works? How does God brings shame to me in the way that He wants me to know shame? Folks listen, He brings the Holy Spirit, that's what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit shows to us to ourselves that's why it's not because someone tell us, we are wrong, and that doesn't means we will change, just because someone tell us, someone shows to us how terrible we are, how selfish we are, and how insensitive we are, of course we will know, and we will go through all kinds of emotional displayed, but that doesn't means that we will change, no! we won't change, why? BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE PERSON THAT CAN SHOW US TO OURSELVES AND THAT IS IN THAT HANDS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
It is when the LORD takes the Holy Spirit and show us to ourselves, then we start to looked to ourselves the light of His word, and the light of the revelation of the Holy Spirit. IN THE LIGHT OF THE WORKING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE START TO SEE OURSELVES ABSOLUTELY UGLY, WE SEE OURSELVES ABSOLUTELY UNWORTHY, WE SEE OURSELVES DESERVE TO GO TO HELL, that what we see, we see ourselves absolutely unworthy, we see ourselves in a place, where we know that we are not worthy, AND WE KNOW THAT HELL IS WHERE WE SUPPOSE TO GO.
And that's where Calvary becomes so real to us, and that's where the death of Jesus becomes so powerful, because that's when finally in our hearts be identified with Jesus, and that's when we finally said we have heard people said all our lives, it said, it is us who put Jesus on the cross, folks, we can hear this all our lives, but when the Holy Spirit shows this to us, we will know that it is what we are, that sent Jesus to the cross. Now that cannot be comforted, that we cannot escape, that we cannot run away, why? BECAUSE ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT MUST BRING THE GRACE OF GOD INTO OUR LIVES TO FORGIVE US, WE CAN'T FORGIVE OURSELVES, WE CAN'T CHANGE OURSELVES, we can't hide, we got to confront this issue until God bears upon us all of the powers of Heaven, until we finally agreed, and finally come to a place and begin to confess, "LORD I'm ugly, LORD I'm wretched." like Paul said, "O wretched man that I am! " yes or no? That's what he cried in the end in Romans chapter 7. Paul has to come to that, he has to see that in the end, he is so shameful for who he is, not just what he had done.
And let me said this here to you, if we don't come to this place: "There is no true Spiritual Life in you." I don't care if you sit in your church for the next fourty years, I don't care you can composed songs, I don't care even you can stand up and know this book( Bible )from page to page, BUT FOLKS, THERE IS NO SPIRITUAL LIFE IN A MAN, UNTIL HE COMES TO TRUE REPENTANCE. That's why in Acts chapter 2, we may remember in Acts 2, remember here when we read verse 37, the Bible said that when they heard this message, they were pricked, that's the word there, it means PIERCED, to pain the mind sharply that what it means, the word pricked there it is God it almost as if like God took this word, God took the ministry of the word, took the preaching of the Apostle Peter and penetrate into the mind of these men and women and begin to pierced it so sharply until these men begin to cried out, another words conviction, and that what it means, that's where the word conviction comes about. They were convicted, what were they convicted? They suddenly see in the light of the Holy Spirit working in them, they suddenly begin to see who they are, and that's why they cried out, they said, "what shall we do?" They were so desperate, "God what shall we do?"
Folks, it was obvious that the moment they came to that place of repentance, what does Jesus promised? Repent, what is going to be at hand? the Kingdom of God is going to be at hand, God is going to invade, God is going to meet that person, God is going to immediately rush in by the power with the power of mighty God, God is going to rush in and saved that man, and loved that man and filled the man and that woman.
Now, this where I believe the trouble is with most of our lives, I believe in this Bible, every man and woman upon the surface of this earth, I believe that God is faithful to His word and faithful to His character, I believe that at any point of all of our lives here, there is no one, no one will be able one day to stand before the throne, and say to God, "God alright, You tell me that, unless I start to feel shame in what I am, and is not what I do, but LORD, I have not felt that way, yes I have been shameful for the things that I had done, but LORD, I have not been shameful for who I am."
Folks, God will make sure that when one day, when we stand before the throne, none of us is going to point a finger at Him, and say that to Him, why? Because I believe that the Holy Spirit, I can't say for a lot of people, but I know, I can say it here at this very post, and in this sharing, I believe that everyone of us here, I believe that the Holy Spirit at some point in our lives has come to show us who we really are, unless we say God is a liar. I believe at some point, in fact He desires to keep coming to us, to keep showing to ourselves, in fact He wants to work in the fashion in us, in fact He wants to bring us into that place of conviction all the times, He wants us.. ( Will show you later on.)
WHY REPENTANCE IS NOT ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE? Why repentance must become a lifestyle? Why repentance must become a continuous experience? It has to be, because if not, why do you think that Jesus said in the Beatitude, " BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN: FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED." He is not talking about you and I, one day having loved ones to die? He is not talking about bereavement, why do you think He said, "Blessed is he who mourn." Another words HE WANTS US TO MOURN, MOURNING MUST BECOME OUR LIFESTYLES, MOURNING MUST BECOME OUR VERY LIFE, MOURNING MUST BECOME OUR VERY NATURE. THAT'S WHY IS CALLED BEATITUDES, it is an attitude, why must we mourn? What is the basis of our mourning? Unless we start to discovered things in ourselves. How can we mourn, if God don't show us who we are, How can we live a life of mourning? Unless God comes and tell us and show us in the light of His word who are in the light of Him...To be continue...
For further reading please visit TAN KOK KIM
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