Text:" ...Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears" (Heb. 12:16,17).

Many people who profess themselves to be Christians believe that sin is no serious matter. They believe it does not matter much what they do. God must forgive them because they belong to Him. This same error infected the early church; and for this reason the Apostle wrote, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin live any longer therein" (Rom. 6:1,2)?

The thought of continuing to live in sin is repugnant to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sin horrifies every true Christian. The very idea of salvation, and of being born again, is to be delivered from the pleasure and the power of sin. To reason "If we sin, God will forgive us anyway" is indication the person is not a Christian at all. Such thinking betrays 1.) An ignorance of the nature of sin, and of its exceeding sinfulness (Rom. 7:13). 2.) It reveals ignorance of the nature of God who said, "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (I Pet. 1:16). And 3.) It reveals an ignorance of the nature of salvation, for the Apostle asks, "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer there in" (Rom. 6:1,2)? Such a thought is unthinkable.

But pastors are to a great degree responsible for such error, because for two generations most evangelicals have apologized for the offense of the cross. They have been ashamed of it; and their desire not to be "preachy" has led them first into the entertainment industry, and then into counseling. Nevertheless, God chose "by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (I Cor. 1:21). The only hope for deliverance from this religious morass is Repentance—and such Repentance that causes the people of God to "awake to righteousness" (I Cor. 15:34), and to "cease to do evil" and to "learn to do well" (Is. 1:16,17).

According to the text, there are some sins for which God denies Repentance. After Esau sold his birthright, he sought to alter the consequences of his deed. With bitter tears he begged God to change the consequences of what he had done. He wanted to return to the place of standing that he occupied before he sinned. He as much asked God to either negate, or to ignore what he had done—but God would not do it. Esau sought it carefully, and with tears, but he was denied.

Scripture tells us plainly, "He found no place of repentance." Why should God deny it to him?

Another has written,

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Text: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me..." (Ps. 66:18).

John Donne--"Men perish with whispering sins, nay with silent sins; sins that never tell the conscience they are sins, as often as with crying sins."

So, you think that since you are a Christian, God must answer your prayers, and accept your worship?

* I am amazed how Christians can think they can continue to send their children to public schools where they know their children will be trained for damnation with an atheistic, anti-Christian curricula --and then think God will answer their prayers!

* I am amazed how Christians do not care if their children are godly, just so long as they make good money --and then think God will accept their worship!

* I am amazed how Christians can work where, on account of government regulations, or service In a foreign (such as Muslim) country, they must agree not to bear witness to Jesus Christ -and then can think God will answer their prayers!

* I am amazed how Christians can accept money from gambling in the form of education scholarships from state lotteries --and then think God will accept their worship!

* I am amazed how Christians can refuse to condemn homosexuality (what the Bible calls "sodomy") because they would be ashamed if men called them "homophobes;" who had rather God be ashamed of them than that men should despise them -and then think God will answer their prayers!

* I am amazed how Christians can allow Rock ’n’ Roll music into their homes, and businesses, and allow their children and customers to listen to that which was conceived in lust by the drug culture, when they know full wall the affect it has had on them -and then think God will accept their worship!

* I am amazed how when governments prohibit parents to use the rod of correction in disciplining their children, how Christians can be more afraid of government than they are of God --and then think God will hear their prayers!

* I am amazed how many Christians love money so much they will continue doing business with a company that is openly hostile to righteousness if it costs them more money to use another product -and then think God will accept their worship.

* I am amazed that with many Christians the truth of God is not important -yet, they think God will answer their prayers.

* I am amazed how many Christians refuse to publicly stand for what is right for fear of hurting their public image, who would rather incur God’s disapproval than man’s -and then think God will accept their worship!

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THOUGHT: There are only 2 kinds of ministries. One is dedicated to growth, and will do whatever it takes to grow. Men involved in such a ministry must please people.

The other kind of ministry seeks to bear a vital testimony and witness to their generation. The fact that people hear, or will refuse to hear, has no bearing on this ministry.

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MARCH 22, 1832 –Massachusetts. In Lee, Rev. Alvan Hyde, pastor of the Congregational Church writes to William Sprague of the 1792 revival. "Dear Brother, in compliance with your particular request I now commence a concise narrative of the work of God’s Holy spirit in reviving religion at several periods among the people of my pastoral charge.

"With a view to form a still more particular acquaintance with the people committed to my charge, I early began to make family visits in different sections of the town. These visits of which I made a number in the course of a week, were improved wholly in conversing on the great subject of religion, and in obtaining, with as much correctness as I could, a knowledge of their spiritual state, that my instructions on the Sabbath, and at the weekly meetings, might be better adapted to their case.

"This people had been for 9 years without a pastor, and were unhappily divided in their religious opinions. Some were Calvinists, and favored the Church, but the largest proportion were Arminians. And as they had been in the habit of maintaining warm disputes with each other on the doctrines of the Bible, I calculated on having to encounter many trials. Contrary to my expectations, I found on my first visits, many parsons of different ages under serious and very deep impressions, each one supposing his own burdens and distresses of mind, on account of his sins, to be singular, not having the least knowledge that any others were awakened.

"It was evident ...a marvellous work was begun, and it bore the most decisive marks of being God’s work. So great was the excitement, though not yet known abroad, that into whatever section of the town I now went, the people in that immediate neighborhood, would leave their worldly employments at any hour of the day, and soon fill a large room. Before I was aware, and without any previous appointment, I found myself on these occasions, in the midst of a solemn and anxious assembly. Many were in tears, and bowed down under the weight of their sins. And some began to rejoice in hope. These seasons were spent in prayer and exhortation, and in conversing with the anxious, and with such as found relief, by submitting themselves to God, adapting my instruction to their respective cases. This was done in the hearing of all who were present....

"As yet there had been no public religious meetings, excepting on the Sabbath. A weekly lecture, at the meeting house, was now appointed to be on Thursday; and though it was the most busy season of the year, the house was filled. This lecture was continued for more than 6 months without any abatement of attention; in sustaining which I was aided by neighboring ministers, and by numbers from a distance, who came to witness this display of Sovereign Grace.

"The former disputes of the people, respecting religious sentiments, in a great measure subsided, their consciences seeming to testify in favor of the truth. The work spread into every part of the town, and what was worthy of special notice, it was entirely confined within the limits of the town, excepting in the case of a few families which usually attended public worship with us from the borders of the adjacent towns.

"Especially powerful was the work among those who had taken their stand in opposition to the smell church and the distinguishing doctrines of grace. Many of this class were convinced, that they had always lived in error and darkness, and in a state of total alienation from God. They were compelled, notwithstanding their former hatred of the prominent truths of the Gospel, to make the interesting inquiry, ‘What shall we do to be saved?’

"The truths which I exhibited in my public discourses, and in the many meetings between the Sabbaths were the Holiness and Immutability of God; the Purity and Perfection of the law, the Entire Depravity of the Heart consisting in voluntary opposition to God and the offer of Pardon made to all on condition of Repentance; the Necessity of a Change of Heart by the Holy Spirit arising from the deep-rooted Depravity of men which no created arm could remove; the Utter Inexcusableness of Sinners in Rejecting the kind Overtures of Mercy as they Acted Freely and Voluntarily in Doing it; and the Duty and Reasonableness of Immediate Submission to God. "...All our religious meetings were very much thronged, and yet were never noisy or irregular, nor continued to a late hour. They were characterized with a stillness and solemnity which I believe have rarely been witnessed.

The converts appeared to renounce all dependence on their own doings, feeling themselves entirely destitute of righteousness, and that all their hope of salvation was in the mere mercy of God in Christ, to whom they were willing to be eternal debtors.

"To the praise of Sovereign Grace, I may add, that the work continued, with great regularity and little abatement, nearly 18 months. In this time, as appears from the records of the church,

110 persons of different ages united themselves unto the Lord and His covenant people. All these were examined in the presence of the church, and were received, on the ground of their professing to have experienced a change of heart and to have passed from death unto life. They appeared to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, and to exemplify the religion of Jesus in their subsequent lives. The instances of apostasy have been but few.

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