Well, you've just received a PhD in the doctrine of repentance. You probably have heard more about repentance and know more about repentance than the average bear out there. But here's what I found. It's a lot easier to build a library on the doctrine of repentance than it is to repent. And so that's why God has given us his Holy Spirit, to continue to draw us to himself.
It's very important that we repent in a way that's consistent with God and his glory. And so it was good, it was right for us to soak in these things so that we can discern our own hearts as we continue this life of returning to the Lord. You know, I was thinking today about what's been happening here, and I was taken back to Isaiah 65, where God is pleading with His people, with His hands stretched out, and He's pleading like a man. He presents himself in Isaiah 65 like a man with his arms outstretched. That's the graphic imagery that's in Isaiah 65.
And this man is saying, here I am, here I am, and God is that man. And he's presenting himself to a people and he's saying, here I am, it's me! And then he points to all these things that are happening and he says, it's me, look at me! And I feel like that's been happening here, that God has been, he's been holding his hands out and he's been saying, here I am, here I am, turn to me. You've been walking one way, turn and go the other direction.
Your mind, it's been thinking in a particular way. Don't think thoughts after your own thinking, but think your thoughts after my thinking and turn to me. And he says this, I will not keep silence. I will not keep silent. I will Continue to stretch out my hands all day long Isn't that wonderful that God would be such a person in this universe is to never let his hands go down towards sinners And I believe that that is what has happened here.
We started out this conference in a way that I'd like to really end it, and that is with refreshment. And we have quoted a number of times Acts 3, 19, Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." Every trail of repentance that is true leads to refreshment, and God has given us such a marvelous gift. When we think of the word repentance, we should have the sweetest connotation that comes up in our minds. I think It's easy for us to have a bad attitude about repentance because we don't understand it. We don't understand what God is trying to do with us.
He's leading us to the waters of life. He's trying to console us. He wants to deliver us from condemnation and bring us so close to Him that we feel His glory and His mercy in all of it. Now, it's occurred to me as we've been here through a lot of conversations, sitting down at lunch with people and standing and talking, that there are many young people here in this room that have kind of grown up coming to this conference in this facility. It's the ninth year that we've been conducting our national conference.
And I've talked to and seen people who were in their early late teens, early 20s, and they were listening to these messages before they even hit their teens, and they've been here for many years, and I'm so grateful for that. And I, you know, I... There are many kinds of people who've been saved at this conference. I remember the woman in her late 60s, a couple of years ago, who came here. She'd been in church her whole life long.
She knew it all, she'd seen it all, and she heard it all. And she realized that she really did not have Jesus Christ. She was converted. And about a year later, it was found that she had cancer. You know, when she was converted, she became the happiest person.
It was really amazing. And when she got cancer, guess what? The cancer did not dampen her happiness, because she had Jesus Christ. And we've had young people, really young people, people in their teens, people in their 20s and 30s, and even in their late 60s being saved because they heard the Word of God, it fell on good ground. And I pray that happens here.
You know, there are so many powerful influences to seek to divert us from true repentance. We think maybe there is actually some pleasure in this world to be gained, and we think that if we repent that those will be lost. But the truth is that for those who repent God provides everything That he he will he will give you Everything pertaining to life and godliness and he will adopt you and he will make you his own and He will never leave you or forsake you. And He'll speak to you and care for you your whole life long. He'll get you there.
He'll take you to the very end. And like Sam Waldron said earlier in the conference, you don't need to worry about anything. Be anxious for nothing. And the reason the Lord tells us that is that there isn't really anything to worry about. When you're in the arms of God, there's nothing to worry about.
And I pray that God would give us such a sense of delight, and we wouldn't fear repentance and conversion. You know, the devil wants to tell you that if you repent, that you'll be reproached, that you'll be thought to be a goofy idiot, that you'll be unfashionable, that you'll miss all the fun in life. And he tells you, you've got plenty of time, don't worry about it. That's just not true. It's not true.
You don't have plenty of time. Do you want to continue to sow in the flesh or be delivered and enter into this world of refreshment that God has for all those who really turn to Him? It's refreshment. It's the joy of the Lord that He gives. And I pray that nobody misses it.
I've been praying that nobody would go down this hill without being refreshed by true repentance. May that be true. You're going to go down this hill, but how are you going to go down? You know, if you go down and fix up a couple of areas of your life and then just return, it's been for naught. But repent, return, be converted, find all of your joy, you know, in His ways.
That's what is so important about a gathering like this. We've spent many hours appealing to one another about these things. You know, We want to know how much Fear of sin we should have we want to know how much intensity our repentance should be and It's a it's a right question that we all ask But I think we should remember what Charles Spurgeon said. He said, don't misunderstand repentance in this sense, because you will even need to repent of your repentance Because you don't understand how deep sin goes in your life. And even the repentance you have needs repentance.
But beyond that, it needs the blood of Jesus Christ. It needs the obedience of the One who kept every law and pleased God at every turn, we need His obedience. And what it means to be a Christian is that the obedience of Jesus Christ is imputed to you and upon your disobedience. And that's the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ if you're still crying out to God in repentance it's a good sign it means it means that you haven't reached the bottom And you'll never reach the bottom until glory. And then all of your tears will be wiped away.
And you'll leap like a deer. The lame will walk. The blind will see like never before. Until then, our repentance takes us there, one step at a time. And it's been said many times at this conference, today is the day of salvation.
Today is the day of repentance. Don't miss the day. You've been given such a marvelous opportunity, Many urgent appeals from men who've preached the Word to us, who with all of their hearts have tried to accurately handle the Word of truth and to deliver it up to us. What a blessing it's been. I've loved it.
I've been so thankful for it. Well, I would like for us to stand and we're going to close with reciting this memory verse. If you could take out your program. It's on page 15 And I would like for us to just recite this together to remember these great things that we have engaged in. And then we're going to end our time together with singing.
We're going to sing three songs, and then we're going to depart. And I'm just so thankful that you were all able to come and that we could experience this together. We have heard such marvelous preaching and I can't wait till next year to go and do the same. So let's recite Acts chapter 3, verse 19, all together. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
This entire time has been dedicated to the refreshment of the Lord through repentance. Let's sing.