Sandwich Boards

Repent

When I was a kid in central London, I remember a man walking around with a ‘sandwich board’. He paraded up and down the streets for hours on end. On the front was the one word, dramatically displayed – “REPENT”. On the back was the phrase, “The End is Nigh”. One thing the old time preachers were not afraid to do was to call for repentance – a turning away from our sins and a turning towards the love and salvation of Jesus.

What, if anything, has changed between the 1950’s and 2012?

It seems that the church not only evolved and re-invented herself, in the process, she also re-invented the Gospel. The Gospel evolved too – into the easy gospel, the everyone is saved gospel, the prosperity gospel, the alternative gospel, the gay/lesbian gospel – you name it, the church invented a version of the Gospel to suit the requirements of the listeners. These ‘new/updated/modern’ gospels all strayed from the path and, although they preached Jesus and Him crucified, they all omitted one vital thing. They all omitted repentance.

To coin a phrase – what a mess! What an ear-ticklers paradise – to be able to preach the gospel without that nasty, troublesome, and difficult bit about repenting and turning away from sin. Some of these new versions even tried to omit sin altogether so there is no need for repentance at all. What a mistake. Thousands have welcomed the concept of Christ because they don’t have to change at all. No wonder there is no longer any real perceived difference between the church and the world.

What is needed right now is for the church to lead the way, repenting itself, and preaching repentance to all. There can be no real or true salvation without repentance – so we need to start preaching repentance once again – starting right now. The Gospel is not the Gospel without repentance. Christians are not Christians without repentance. Too strong for you – it’s the truth.

Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”. He also said, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” Finally Jesus said to His disciples, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,  and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And you are witnesses of these things.”

The way is wide that leads to hell and the way is narrow that leads to life. Repentance is the key to everything and it’s time for the church to resurrect repentance as part of the salvation process otherwise more than this present generation will remain lost.

In the words of the old sandwich board man – Repent for the end is nigh !!