Repentance: A Command, Not a Suggestion

The Lord Jesus, speaking to the crowds, told them: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

 

Unknown to many people today – but not unknown to most of His listeners – Jesus was quoting God’s words to Israel through Jeremiah: “Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ “And I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ (Jeremiah 6:16-17)

 

In other words, Jesus offered comfort and guidance and grace and forgiveness to his audience in the first century – knowing many of His listeners would respond as those did in Jeremiah’s day – “We won’t come. We won’t listen.”

 

And why would they not? In a word: Rebellion. Arrogant rebellion. They, like many in and out of the Church today, don’t want to follow Christ because they don’t like His commandment to a lifestyle of holiness. Just like those in Jeremiah’s day, and in Jesus’ day, and those in 2026, many in the pews and pulpits like the form of Christianity, but not the demands of Christianity. As one version renders Paul’s warning to Timothy: They will go on pretending to be devoted to God, but they will refuse to let that “devotion” change the way they live.” (2 Timothy 3:5)

 

As I prepared this message, I thought of Jesus’ question to the religious clergy of His day who confronted Him: “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?” Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell Me: Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’” (Luke 20:2-5)

 

My brothers and sisters, a similar question confronts us today. “Are the Scriptures the infallible, inerrant, and fully inspired word of God? Are they ‘letters’ from God’s pen – so to speak – to our hearts? If our answer is yes, then the Lord’s follow-on question is ever current: “Do we obey it?”

 

What I mean by that question is, if Scripture says an unwillingness to forgive is a sin – do we repent? If Scripture says holding on to bitterness is a sin – do we repent? If Scripture says gossip is a sin – do we repent? If it says sexual immorality is sin – do we repent? If jealousy and envy are sin – do we repent?

 

Are we – you and I who call Jesus our King, Master, and Lord – are we striving to obey all His commandments, in little things as well as the big things?

 

This is a serious question, for the Lord warns us: “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.” Luke 16:10

 

All that I’ve just said is a preface to the heart of today’s message which centers around the news that broke last week about a widely known and respected author, whose books about Christian faith and God’s grace have been translated into more than 30 languages. Several of his books have earned multiple Gold Medallion Awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. The man and his wife recently celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

 

And yet, for the last eight years, while continuing to write books, attend church, and from all appearances was a model Christian – he was betraying his wife and betraying God by routinely committing adultery with another man’s wife.

 

For eight years.

 

Writing about the terrible scandal, theologian Eric Metaxas, said that the deeper issue every Christian must address is how our behavior reveals what we truly believe. The Church often emphasizes faith and grace while forgetting that how we live is evidence of saving faith.

 

In other words, for anyone to make professions of faith in Christ while actively living in contradiction to His commandments profoundly illustrates the terrible reality that true faith has not taken root in that person – ANY person. You. Me. A pastor or priest or teacher, choir member, Sunday School teacher, and so on.

 

Certainly, there is not a Christian in all history who did not stumble from time to time into sin. But ‘stumble’ is not the same as ‘practice.’

 

The apostle John wrote forthrightly and bluntly about the required interplay of faith and behavior: (1 John 1:8-10) “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

 

John continues in the next chapter (1 John 2:1-4) “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

 

Yes, we all know – from a lifetime of experience – we know that we all sin. But to live in the SAME sin day after day, year after year – such a thing simply is impossible for a true Christian. Listen again to John tell it: “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot [practice] sin, because he is born of God.  (1 John 3:9)

 

As St Paul warned Titus about the tares among the wheat that Jesus spoke of (See Matthew 13): "They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." (Titus 1:16)

The unarguable truth is that without a true repentance, without a turning from that sin, then Jesus’ warning will ring bitterly in their ears for eternity:  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

 

If any of us think it cannot happen to us, then beware. If we think it cannot happen to us, then we will not be on the lookout for it. If we think it can’t happen to us, then we are at increased risk of falling. Remember what the Lord said to His closest disciples: “Watch and pray. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

 

Yes, God’s grace keeps us from stumbling into sin; BUT we also have a responsibility to do what He commands us to do so we do not stumble. Solomon – who certainly had his problems with sin – Solomon warns us: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)

 

Yes, guard your heart. There is reason that God – who knows the human heart – there is important reason that He repeatedly warns us to stay alert to ourselves, to persevere in holiness, to avoid falling into Satan’s seductions. We bring disaster into our home and into our lives when we try to dilute God’s commandments. We naturally flee from danger. If the house catches fire, we run to safety. If a tornado threatens, we run to safety. But when temptation to sin comes near, too many Christians think they can safely dabble with it.

 

There is only one remedy to avoid falling as the author I spoke of earlier fell, and it’s not simply to read the Bible or to pray every day. While those are certainly critical to a godly life, ultimately our protection against remaining in sin is our humility, manifested by honest repentance.

 

Repentance is what keeps us close to Christ. As I said earlier, if Scripture says a spirit of unwillingness to forgive others, then we must repent. If Scripture says holding on to a root of bitterness is sin, then we must repent. If Scripture says gossip is a sin, then we must repent. If it says sexual immorality is sin, then we must repent – for if we do not repent, if we do not turn from our sin, then we become like those in Jeremiah’s day who told God to His face: “We will not walk. We will not listen.”

 

So, what is the overarching lesson I’m trying to get across to all of us in this message?

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer hit the mark squarely when he wrote: "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

It is to our inevitable ruin when we underestimate the ferocious and vicious cunning of Satan’s lies and seductions. That is why I urge you to do something like I have only recently begun doing: I pray virtually EVERY DAY this verse from Psalm 139: “Search me, O Lord . . . and see if there be any wicked way in ME."

 

I know I NEED the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to my sins – especially the sins I successfully keep secret from myself. I fully agree with Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all else and is desperately sick.”

 

I know myself well enough after 53+ years of walking with Jesus -- I need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He convicts me of my sin -- ANY sin, big sin, small sin, medium sin -- and I need to repent right there on the spot. For if I make myself insensitive to my sin – any sin – then I begin to harden my own heart against His voice.

And, so do you; And so does anyone else who is slow to repent and turn from sin – any sin. Big sin, small sin, medium sin.

We must never minimize for a moment how desperately we need the Holy Spirit’s supernatural help to run – not walk – from temptation lest we fall into it. Remember Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39).  Day after day she tried to seduce him into her bed. And day after day he rebuffed her invitation, until one day she grabbed him by his cloak – and he fled out of the house.

 

The heart is deceitful above all else. That might be why the Lord Jesus also said to those with ears to hear and hearts to receive truth: “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” Mark 7:20-23

Please listen. It is not enough – it is NEVER enough – to simply walk down an aisle and commit our life to Christ if a life of daily – hourly – repentance is not also part of our life. It is not enough – it is NEVER enough – to be baptized and to receive Holy Communion – if a life of daily – hourly – repentance is not also part of our life.

What happened to author I spoke about earlier illustrates the merciless HOURLY battle Satan brings to our nations, our homes, our churches, our communities, and our lives. Which now brings me to the application of my message: How shall we find protection in this battle?

 

Donning the armor of God (Ephesians 6) is surely necessary. But, as the Holy Spirit has been lately hammering home to me – and I am trying to help you to also see – without ongoing and immediate repentance and a turning from our sin, our armor will be riddled with holes.

 

Without repentance, even for what we like to call ‘little sins’ – without repentance as soon as the Holy Spirit gets our attention that we have offended the King of the Universe, we open ourselves to greater attack and increasing injury to our bodies, our relationships, and our souls.

I fear the fallout over what that popular author did. I fear mostly for the young Christian – by that I mean the spiritually immature Christian who’ve sat in church pews for years, even decades, but never matured in their faith. I think they are most at risk for falling away from Christ because they never rooted themselves in the Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation.

 

I think it is unlikely that mature Christians will stumble because of what he did. Why? Because they know God’s word is true regardless of how professing Christians live – or don’t live. Mature Christians know that God and His word are always true. And as the apostle Paul also reminds us: Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.” Romans 3:4

 

Christian – keep your eyes on Jesus, not on people. Seek refuge and guidance from His infallible Word and nothing else. And please remember what the Lord Jesus said to the crowds on the Mount: “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27 

 

And do not be slow to repent.

Three Questions for the Despondent Christian

 

Before I get to those three questions, I want to preface them with these two texts from the psalms. The first is from David’s pen.

 

Psalm 13:1-6 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.”

 

This second is from the sons of Korah: Psalm 42:9-11 I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

 

I start today’s message with these texts because they – like so many others throughout the Bible – remind us that life – even the Christian life – is not a gentle float in a quiet lake under a warm sun. Life, for virtually the entire population of earth, is a repetitive series of happiness and sadness, of confusion and assurance, of pain and laughter . . . . You get the picture because you’ve all experienced what I’m talking about.

 

But I think the most difficult experience any Christian can go through is the sense that God has forsaken them because of what they perceive – even convince themselves of – is their unworthiness for His care, His love, His forgiveness. Have you ever been there? Some of you have. Maybe some of you are going through that dark tunnel even now as I stand here preaching.

 

Listen, I know that dark tunnel. I’ve been there often enough during my now 53 years of walking with Jesus. But I want to tell you – actually, I believe I NEED to tell you – about one of those dark tunnels in particular. I need to tell the story because I hope it will encourage some of you who are living through your own deep struggles.

 

Some of you in this sanctuary were living here at Ashwood when my deep trial occurred. Some of you have heard my story, but I tell it again – as I just said – in the hope that it will encourage you.

 

Next week, on January 19, it will be seven years since Nancy and I flew to Florida to visit my mother’s grave. It was to be an overnight stay because I had to get back to work on Monday. But the overnight stay turned into a month-long nightmare.

 

While Nancy was drying off from her shower in the hotel room, she suffered a sudden hemorrhagic stroke. After emergency surgery which saved her life, she remained for the next three weeks in the neurological intensive care unit at the Boca Raton Regional Hospital. She spent another ten days in an acute rehabilitation hospital.

 

We all know it’s one thing when WE go through a storm. It’s something entirely different when it’s someone you love. And I want to tell you, I did not do our storm well.

 

What was most painful for me during the weeks Nancy was in the intensive care unit and then the acute rehab center was the undisguisable recognition that for decades I had taught and written and preached about faith and trust in God – but with Nancy’s stroke, and the nightmarish roller coaster of emotions that robbed me of sleep, appetite, and – especially – confidence in God – I discovered to my shame and confusion that what I’d preached and taught others was now completely insufficient for myself. I was in the throes of losing trust in God. It was so bad I half-expected Him to pull the rug completely out from under me and take my wife away from me. I lived for weeks in ongoing and utter turmoil. I’d never experienced anything like that in my entire Christian life.

 

I can’t tell you how many times I melted into tears. I can’t tell you how many times I had to whisper to others because to speak in a normal voice would have only unleashed spasms of sobs. 

 

My brothers and sisters, I tell you this because I need you to know that I know what some of you have gone through – and what some of you might be going through at this moment.

 

Like Peter, who lived with the Lord day in and day out for three years and who believed with all his being that he would never deny His Lord, I lived with the Lord for decades and never would have believed I could be so weak in my faith.

 

So, where am I heading with all this? I learned many things about myself and about God during that tormenting trial. For the sake of time, I want to share only one of the more important lessons He taught me. I hope what He taught me will help some of you.

 

One evening, after I’d left Nancy at the rehabilitation hospital, I headed out on I-95 toward a friend’s home where I’d spend the night. The tears started again, and I called out once more to God for help.

 

I wanted so much to trust Him to bring Nancy to complete recovery and to get us HOME where we could be surrounded by familiar things in our house and by family and friends whom we missed so terribly.

 

“Lord,” I begged,  “Please help me in my unbelief.”

 

And suddenly – suddenly – God spoke into my thoughts. I’ll never forget the three questions He asked me. The first was this: “Richard, what do you know about Me?”

 

His interruption into my despondency was so abrupt, my tears stopped as I considered His question – “What do your know about Me?”

 

After a few moments, I answered: “I know Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth.” While I was speaking, Philippians 2:10-11 came to my mind: “[At] the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

I continued: “I know you cause all things, all things, even terrifying things, to work together for good.”   Romans 8:28 came to mind: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

 

And I continued: “I know you never leave me, never forsake me, that you are always with me, even in my nightmares.” This time, Isaiah 43:2-3 floated through my mind: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.  “For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

 

More Scriptures flooded over me, and I said, “I know You will never let me be tested above what I am able to bear.” Many of you will recognize that truth from 1 Corinthians 10:13.

 

I was about to continue my litany of the things I know about God when He interrupted me again, this time with the second question: Why do you know those things are true?

 

I didn’t have to think about my response. It flowed across my lips as easily as breathing.  I said, “Because the Bible tells me so.”

 

And then the Holy Spirit connected the dots for me. All my questions and my doubts and fears and uncertainties – all my worries about our tomorrows all find their answers in what I know to be true because God – who cannot lie – because God said in His word what is always true.

 

Therefore, His third question: “Will you trust Me?”

 

Don’t misunderstand, please. I do not mean to suggest God always heals or reunites or fixes everything that’s broken. Clearly, He does not. As the Lord Jesus reminds us (Luke 4):

 

“There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;  and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

 

And if you remember this text from Luke’s gospel, Jesus spoke these words in His hometown of Nazareth. Here is what happened next:  And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.

 

Why God heals some and not others, why He fixes some things and not others – no one knows. But healed or not, fixed or not, reunited or not – God’s word remains true, whether we believe it to be truth or not. It remains and always will be true.

 

So, let’s make some applications of my message to each of us here.

 

First: May God help us to not get so angry or disappointed with Jesus that we throw our faith over a cliff. This is an important point. Many of us know people who did just that – got so angry at God, so disappointed with God, that they threw away their faith.

 

Second: Right now, in your own circumstances, what do YOU know to be true about God? And just as important, Why do you know it to be true? 

 

If what you know and why you know it is not based on God’s infallible word, if what you know is NOT rooted and nurtured in God’s eternal truth, then your life is in great danger of collapsing when life’s storms ravage your life like a devastating tornado.

 

For good reason the Lord tells us – and we had better receive this into our spirits: “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

 

As I close my message today, let me reiterate the two points I hoped to make this afternoon:

 

First: God is so much more merciful to us than we can ever hope to comprehend this side of eternity.  When we are faithless, He remains faithful to His covenantal promise to us. When we deserve nothing less than judgment, He instead wraps His arms around us and draws us close to His chest.

 

My second point was this: God’s holy word is as true and faithful today as it was when writers of Scripture first penned God’s word on parchment. May God help us all to make it more and more our absolute foundation for life.

 

Will we trust Him? Elijah cried to God when he thought he was the only one in all Israel who remained faithful to Him. (1 Kings 19:18). The apostle Peter swore he’d never deny knowing Jesus, and we know how that turned out. St Paul wept in the depth of his soul, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate . . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Romans 7:15, 24).

 

And David? He wrote some of the most mournful songs in the entire Bible, psalms in which he cries to God in confusion and spiritual distress – like the one that I read at the beginning of this message: (Psalm 13:1-4) How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.”

 

But – and this is key to our ability to persevere in our walking with Christ – pay attention to the next verses as David concludes his desperate plea: (Psalm 13:5-6) But I have have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

 

We see the same change of focus in the 42^nd psalm written by the sons of Korah. I read it at the beginning of this message: “I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?  As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

 

But the psalmist continues in verse 11: “Why are you in despair, O my soul? and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”

 

God asked me three questions when I was at my lowest: “What do you know about Me? How do you know it? Will you trust Me?” And I do not doubt for a moment He asks you the same questions: “What do you know about Me?” “How do you know it?” And, “Will you trust Me?”

 

As I prepared for this message I ran across something written by AW Tozer. Some of you know the name of that well-known Christian pastor and author. He died in 1963, but his words still bring strength and comfort to those who struggle in their own valleys of the shadows of deep darkness:  

 

“To us who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us in the gospel, how unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely. No talebearer can inform on us, no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us [make us embarrassed or ashamed] and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us . . . Our Father in heaven knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. He knew our inborn treachery, and for His own sake engaged to save us (Isa. 48:8-11). His only begotten Son, when He walked among us, felt our pains in their naked intensity of anguish. His knowledge of our afflictions and adversities is more than theoretic; it is personal, warm, and compassionate. Whatever may befall us, God knows and cares as no one else can.

God was still in love with me during my darkest hours. And God is still in love with you as you live through your dark hours. We know that to be true because He SAYS it’s true; He says it from one end of the Bible to the other.

 

As the lyrics of the song I am about to play tell us: Saints are just sinners who fall down; And then get up.

 

Christian, hope in God. Trust God. And we shall yet praise Him who is our help and our God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeking Him in 2026

January 1st, as has every January 1^st for the 2,026 years, commemorates the indisputable historical event when God became flesh and was born in a little town of Bethlehem. It is now 2,026 years since that day. And because of what happened 2,026 years ago, everything in the history of the world is now marked by four letters – BC and AD, meaning ‘Before Christ’ and ‘Anno Domini’, which is Latin for “The Year of our Lord.’

 

Yes, there are those who make the feeble and clumsily deceptive attempt to deny the undeniable by changing BC to BCE, meaning ‘Before the Common Era,’ and to change AD to CE, meaning “The Common Era.’ Thus, they label 2026 ‘CE’ instead of what it truly is, 2026 ‘AD.’

 

Nevertheless, on January first of this past week, and for the remaining days of the year, when anyone places the date on any letter or document, they will – whether consciously or unwittingly or grudgingly – acknowledge that the Almighty, Sovereign, and most Merciful Creator entered humanity to REDEEM humanity 2,026 years ago. Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and those of every other religious faith – and yes, even agnostics and atheists of every nation and language – God the Father has compelled the entire globe to acknowledge the birth of His Son in that little town of Bethlehem.

 

But let me now for a moment turn our attention to those who joyfully acknowledge the birth of our Savior: May God remind us – at least from time to time this year – that the calendar has changed because God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

AND, to those of us who joyfully acknowledge His birth, here is a reminder: We have a lot of people to pray for, that in this new year, many will turn from their spiritual darkness and enter His light.

 

So, on this first Sunday at the beginning of 2026 I thought it was apropos to talk about beginnings. That’s why I draw us now to the very beginning of the Bible – the Bible which is the very breath of God in printed form. If that sounds suspiciously like a text from the apostle Paul, you’d be right. Listen to what he wrote to Timothy: (2 Timothy 3:16) “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” The Greek word translated as ‘inspired’ means, ‘God-breathed.’

 

So, ALL the Bible is ‘God-breathed’ – and it tells us: “In the beginning, God created the heavens in the Earth.” The text goes on to tell us: The “earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”   (Genesis 1:1-2)

 

And then God spoke. And the entire universe and everything in it were suddenly created on each of the six successive 24-hour creation days.

 

Fast forward to the New Testament where we also read of beginnings. Here is John’s gospel: (John 1:1-5) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend (or, overcome) it.”

 
Belief in the infallibility of these texts in Genesis and John’s gospel are absolutely essential to our ability to understand the history of our sin-sick world and even to understand ourselves. Without a biblical understanding our origins, it’s not possible to know the meaning of life, the meaning of death, and what happens to us after we die.

 

Let’s look for a few minutes at that trio of philosophical questions people have been asking themselves since the Garden of Eden: What is the meaning of life, the meaning of death, and what happens to us after we die?

 

To answer those questions, we can look at another ‘beginning,’ this one in Mark’s gospel: (Mark 1:1-3) The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way; The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’”

 

Mark then gets to the overarching point of the gospel message when he then reports: “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

 

The Holy Spirit placed this text at the beginning of His announcement of His ‘good news’ because it is at “Repentance and forgiveness of sins” where God’s good news begins. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is where we begin to grasp the answers to that trio of philosophical questions of who I am, how I got here, and where I’m going. And without a recognition of the Bible as God’s fully revealed and inerrant truth, no one can ever understand ANY of life’s deepest questions.

 

Admittedly, not many people like to think of themselves as sinners – which, of course, is why so many scoff at the very idea of repentance. But unless we acknowledge to ourselves AND to God our continuing treasonous rebellion against the King of the universe – then the notion of needing a savior, the idea of needing forgiveness naturally falls flat. Perhaps that’s why Jesus said, (Luke 5:32) “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

 

Speaking of making our paths straight, our sin-nature and our sin-saturated culture – even here at Ashwood – makes making straight paths difficult, doesn’t it? I know from my 10 years of ministry here that that there are many false ideas in this place about God, dismissive ideas about Jesus, the trivializing of what God calls sin, and the rationalizations people make about the growing immorality in our American culture – immorality among young people and not-so-young people.

 

And in the last ten years I’ve also heard it often enough about the gossip, the backbiting, the unwillingness of some to forgive others – sins occurring even among Christians who have lived and who live here.

 

And that brings me to the point of this New Year’s message. How are we to keep our paths straight in today’s culture? How are we, at the beginning of 2026 and then throughout the year – how are we to fight the good fight and keep the faith?

Please hear this! It is ONLY those who DO fight the good fight and who DO keep the faith – it is only those who will receive the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to us on that Judgement Day. I suspect many of you recognized my paraphrase of St Paul’s words to Timothy in that last chapter of his second epistle. (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

 

How do we fight the good fight and keep the faith? That question is the focus of what I am about to say – and yes, it’s nothing you haven’t heard me say before; And I promise I will say it again in the future. Why? Because ‘I’ need frequent reminders of this truth; and so do you. As Martin Luther perceptively opined: “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget the gospel every day.”

 

Listen to St Paul’s guidance to Timothy, which is entirely applicable to all of us in this sanctuary at the beginning of 2026: (2 Timothy 3:13-17) “But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived . . ..”

 

Does that sound like our culture, from the halls of government, the courts, and realms of finance, and education? I think so. But Paul continued his counsel to Timothy – and to us:

 

“You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

 

Christian! How do we fight the good fight and keep the faith of Christ in 2026? CONTINUE following in Christ’s footsteps. CONTINUE listening for His voice as He speaks through His word. I do not think it’s possible to draw near to God if, while we have such easy access to the Bible, we’re too lazy to read it, or listen to it, and study it, and obey its commandments.

 

Listen now to the apostle John: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

 

Paul tells us: 2 Corinthians 7:1 “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

 

But it’s hard to purify ourselves, it’s hard to cleanse ourselves from defilements of flesh and spirit when we surround ourselves with ungodly talk, books, magazines, movies and television shows. You’ve heard the expression: Garbage in, garbage out. That adage is merely a rephrase of Scripture: (1 Corinthians 15:33) “Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

 

For many years I’ve followed what I call the 2+2 =1+3 Scripture Reading Method. Many of you have heard me speak of it in the past, and I ask your indulgence as I share it again for those who have not heard of it.

 

If you read two chapters of the Old Testament every morning and two of the New Testament every evening (or vice versa), by the end of the year you will have read the Old Testament once and the New Testament three times – thus, 2+2=1+3. On average it takes less than 10 minutes to read two chapters of Scripture. In five years, you will have read the Old Testament five times and the New Testament fifteen times. In ten years – well, you can do the math. With so much of God’s word sown year after year in your heart, think how the Holy Spirit will mature you more quickly into the image of Christ.

 

I have here free copies of the pamphlet I wrote to help anyone read the bible through each year. I know many of you already have one. I will make them available again at the end of today’s service.

 

Make our paths straight. Fight the fight of faith. And – stay alert to yourself and your surroundings. Stay alert to lies and deceptions – including the

spiritual deceptions of false religions such as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses – both of which (among their many serious errors) deny the full deity and simultaneous full humanity of Jesus Christ.

 

And please do not be ignorant of this: Spiritual deceptions are increasing at what seems to me an exponential rate – deceptions not only related to false religions, but now, and with stunning speed, related to technology.

 

Let me give you what ought to be frightening examples of a NEW deception filtering through our culture and even through some churches. An August 1, 2025 report about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Chatbots appeared on CNBC.

 

What is a chatbot? “A chatbot is a downloadable computer program that simulates human conversation through text or voice interactions. These programs can engage in conversations with users, providing responses that mimic human behavior. These programs can maintain fluid conversations between the user and the computer, making the Chatbot appear intelligent and responsive.” (paraphrase from Wikipedia)

 

Anyway, back to the CNBC report. Chatbots “have proven to be smart, quick-witted, argumentative, helpful and sometimes aggressively romantic.” (Link: Human-AI relationships are no longer just science fiction)

 

Did you get that? ‘Aggressively romantic.’ Did you know that some marriages have broken apart because one of the partners fell ‘in love’ with their chatbot AI computer ‘soul-mate’?

 

And there’s more. This is from a November 19, 2025 Psychology Today report: “As AI becomes more deeply woven into daily life, many people turn to digital companions  . . . as sources of emotional intimacy and increasingly, romance. A survey by the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University found that nearly one in five U.S. adults has interacted romantically with an AI . . .[and] more and more users report forming genuine emotional attachments with AI, sometimes engaging in self-disclosure and intimacy that surpasses their human relationships (Wheatley, 2025)” (*In Love with a ChatBot? | Psychology Today)

 

It gets worse. According to a recent article in the Washington Post, several people have committed suicide after receiving encouragement to do so from their AI ‘companion.’

 

And even worse, still: According to a report in a November 18, 2025 issue of Scientific America, some mourners engage in what they believe are REAL conversations through a chatbot with their dead loved ones (*https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-ai-griefbots-help-us-heal/)

 

Has spiritual warfare ever, in all history, been so openly and pervasively demonic? Second Thessalonians chapter two and Revelation chapters 12 and 13 seem to be unfolding right before our eyes.

 

Christian! Make straight the way of the Lord in your life throughout 2026. Be quick to obey God’s commandments. Be quick to repent when you fail. Keep short accounts with God, don’t delay a minute when the Holy Spirit pings you when you offend Him. Pay heed to the psalmist: “If I harbor evil in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” (see Psalm 66:18)

 

We should not expect God to speak to us if we are consciously living in sin – and that includes being unwilling to forgive others their sins against us.

I close this message with a word from the book of Proverbs – a word we all, me included – need to apply to our lives this year, with and through the aid of the Holy Spirit: (Proverbs 4:23-27) Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.”

 

What is the meaning of life, the meaning of death, and what happens to us after we die? We will ONLY find the answers to those questions when we search for answers in God’s word. We will ONLY be able to keep our paths straight and finish the course well as we seek God’s guidance in His word. We will become aware of spiritual deceptions swirling around us ONLY as we walk by the light of the word of God.

 

The new year, 2026, is open before us. Only God knows where our days will take us. But WHEREVER our days take us, take the word of God with you.