The Foundation Of Repentance.

Every one of us should know the answer to. I know you do. Did Jesus Christ have to repent? Your immediate mental response was probably, Repent? Repent of what? He had nothing to repent of. And guess what? You're right. You're dead on. He didn't have anything to repent of. He had never done anything wrong. He had never sinned. Hebrews 4.15. Hebrews 4. And verse 15. For we have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Sin had never permeated his thinking, never been in his words, never flowed in his actions. He was sin free. He was not temptation free, but he was sin free, because temptation is not sin. Giving into temptation, toying with it, playing with it is. Thus, obviously, there was no requirement for repentance on his part. There was nothing for him to repent of. Zilda, zilch, nada, nothing. Now, obviously that we know, don't we?

And because what we know is a fact, we have a Savior, the Lamb of God without blemish. Hebrews 9 and verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offer himself without spot, it can be rendered without fault, without spot or fault, or we might say blemish, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. The Lamb of God without blemish, the Creator himself taking on that particular role. So, I think that's all clear in our minds. So, let me ask us another question, a question once again that every single one of us should know. Do I have to repent? And again, the immediate mental response is, or certainly should be, absolutely. And we know why, because we know ourselves. Now, I think we know ourselves sufficiently to know that is the correct answer. Only God probably, well, I won't say probably because I know he does, God, the Father and Jesus Christ, know that even better than we know it ourselves. And if you're married, your mate probably knows it better than any other human being about you. But now, if the mental response to that question is, Repent? Repent of what? What have I got to repent of? If that's the mental response, then I'm sorry, you're in trouble. A person is in trouble if that's their response, because that response reflects a condition of self-blindedness, of spiritual vanity, arrogance, and a lack of examining ourselves, a lack of knowing ourselves, a lack of seeing ourselves. It's a state of mind or a condition that I don't want to be in, and you don't want to be in it. That state alone would warrant repentance. That state alone shows the need for repentance, and that state alone calls for repentance. In 1 John 1, John addresses this. In 1 John 1, verses 8 through 10, John addresses this. He says, 1 John 1 and verse 8, If we say that we have no sin, there's no leaven in my life at all. Leaven never gets back into my life. I don't have to worry about leaven. I'm in leaven in Christ, so therefore I can just forget about leavening, and don't worry about it. If we say that we have no sin, no leaven, if we're still during the days of my leavened bread, we can let sin and leaven be synonymous in that sense, the typology lesson of it, the object lesson of it. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

But on the other hand, he says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And you know, that phrase there, cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that's a wonderful phrase. It kind of reflects back on the last part of verse 7, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. You know, we're unleavened in Christ, but we must remain in the fight against leaven, because it does try to come back in and permeate.

And so it goes on to say, John does say here in verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. And of course, man put in the chapters, the chapter breaks and the verses, which I'm glad he did, because it makes it easier to find stuff and remember where it is. But you should just flow right on into chapter 2, My Little Children, these things I write to you, that I just wrote to you. What I'm writing to you, I'm writing this, that you sin not.

And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So here's John, the aged John, in his 90s, in the 90s A.D., covering the bases. You think about it, with what he just stated, he covers the bases. He covers past tense, and he covers present tense. In other words, while we're human, it is a constant and continuous ongoing need, a need that never goes away. In this life, while we're human, we will never be free from this need.

In this life, we're never free from the permeating power of sin, of leaven, around us, to influence us and impact us. And just as we're never totally 100% free from sin in this life, from the commitments of it, neither are we free from the need to repent of it. What is repentance in one sense? Repentance is just simply our response to sin. If you do something wrong, if you feel like you've done something wrong, or you know you've done something wrong, there should be a twinge.

If I had slipped up and stopped at McDonald's and gotten an ice cream cone, and I'm going down the road, and I've got about half of it eaten, and all of a sudden it hits me, you just blew it. You're eating leaven. If my approach was, oh well, I've eaten half of it, I messed up, I may as well go and eat the other half. No? The window is going down, and the other half is going out the window. I'm going to at that point repent of what I just realized I did, I shouldn't have done.

Our sins require our repentance. Sin requires repentance, that is, if we want to be forgiven of it, it does. It requires repentance, if we want to be forgiven of it, and not wind back up under the death penalty. True repentance, and there is false, but true repentance is a responsible response to sin. True personal repentance is a personal, responsible response to personal sin, and to sin in general.

Sin in this life, and since in this life, as John points out, we are never fully, completely free of sin, then correspondingly, we're never free of the continuous, ongoing need for repentance. And in a very basic, fundamental, and foundational way, this is pointed out by Paul in Hebrews 6 and verse 1. Let's look there. Hebrews 6 and verse 1. Something that always helps us to understand Hebrews is to keep in mind, this is written, Hebrews is to the veteran church of Jerusalem, with the sister congregations of Judea, and of course, it's written to them as a veteran church and sister congregations, approximately 30 years, if you want to round it off, 30-something years at the most, after Acts 2.

And it gets into a lot of the things that we deal with as a Christian over a long stretch. The things that can happen, the things to watch out for, the good things, the warnings, the negative things. In a very basic, fundamental, and foundational way, Paul points something out here in verse 1, Hebrews 6, writing to this veteran congregation. He says, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

Now, notice a couple of things here. Number one, repentance is called a foundation. That's very important. It's crucial. Repentance is called a foundation. Now, we all know what a foundation is. A foundation is what you build upon. A foundation is your base. A foundation is your prime support. Now, in construction, the purpose for laying a foundation is to build something upon it. If you're driving across the countryside, down a road, and you see where a foundation has been poured, nobody has to tell you that something's about to be built on that foundation, because that's the only reason you really need a foundation, because something is going to be built there.

If you drove down a street and you saw a foundation poured, a slab of concrete, let's say, and year after year you drove by and it was just that concrete, you would know that something failed. Financing failed, something failed, whatever they were going to build, there was failure somewhere, because whatever was going to be built there, you know. You know that nobody went out there and just poured a foundation for the purpose of pouring a foundation and not doing anything with it.

That's obvious. And if you're not going to build something, there's no need to lay a foundation. Otherwise, to build something without a foundation only guarantees that it's not going to stand, it's not going to last. And just as we build physical houses to live in, God is building us as spiritual houses to dwell in. Notice here in Hebrews, and again, it's one of the things that Paul points out to them, Hebrews 3 and verse 6.

In Hebrews 3 and verse 6, But Christ has a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. God is building us as a spiritual house and as spiritual houses to dwell in. Notice Ephesians 2 verses 21 and 22. It says, In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. And just as a physical house is set or built upon a physical foundation, so it is that a spiritual house is set upon a spiritual foundation, and that necessary foundation is repentance.

The subject, which also serves as the title, is simply the foundation of repentance. Because really, Paul nails it in Hebrews 6.1 when he refers to repentance as the foundation. It's interesting that that's what he applies the word foundation to, to repentance.

Thirty-something years before Paul writing that, when he was not a member of the church, he was a persecutor. But in 31 A.D. in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, when the church began, even the congregation in Jerusalem, which he's now addressing, thirty-something years later as a member of the church, thirty-something years earlier, there would have been some converts who were still alive and part of the Jerusalem congregation that Paul is addressing now, thirty-something years later. And when you reach back to that time in Acts 2 with Peter and the others preaching, thirty-something years previous, and I'll pick it up in verse 37, Acts 2 and verse 37.

Now, when they heard this, see, there were those in the crowd that God was giving an opportunity to see and understand, and therefore giving them an opportunity to respond. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, or they were cut in conscience, so to speak, and they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? What's required? Notice the very first word that came out of Peter's mouth, repent, repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Repent. That's interesting. Paul, thirty-something years later, says it's your foundation. Repentance is your foundation. Peter leads off with repent, because you don't go out there and scrape the ground off and start building a house with no foundation. It rots to the ground. It collapses. Repentance is the leading necessity. Repentance in place as a foundation is the prime requirement. And so God, through Peter and the others, is offering them the opportunity to be part of that house, and He's telling them, lay the foundation. And that word foundation is literally used by Paul later on. And again, in that congregation, there would still have been some alive in that congregation who were there, converted, either on the day of Pentecost or in those few weeks following Pentecost.

See, no spiritual house can be truly begun without this spiritual foundation put in place.

And no spiritual house can be finished. Well, I repented years ago, so why do I still have to worry about being repentant? Because no spiritual house can be finished or completed without this foundation being kept in place.

It's got to be kept in place. And that brings me to the second thing to point out in Hebrews 6, verse 1. The second thing to point out is not laying again the foundation of repentance. Just stop and focus on that phrase a moment. Not laying again. What he's doing, he's admonishing them not to have to lay the foundation of repentance again. Why would you have to lay the foundation again? Why would you have to lay it again, your foundation of repentance? And the answer should be obvious.

Because you're losing it. You're losing it. You're losing your foundation. You're losing your personal repentance. And brethren, that is scary. If a person realized they were losing their repentance, that should shake them to the soles of their feet. Because when a foundation goes, what's built on it goes. A lost foundation results in a lost building and a faulty foundation results in a faulty building. And the loss of a spiritual foundation means the loss of you yourself as a spiritual building. The personal loss of being a spiritual house over for a guide.

Let's go back to Hebrews 6 because let's notice something else there. When you are baptized into Jesus Christ, you are unleavened. Your record is cleansed. Whatever is on it. We read John's words. The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. That's all sin. God can view us through the covering blood of Christ and see us as a clean vessel to continue to put His Spirit in us. But what lets us be in Christ? Repentance. That's what Peter said. Repent and see then you go on to be baptized and all. As long as I am willing to fight sin in my life, as long as I'm willing to fight against sin coming into my life, as long as I'm willing to stay in the fight against sin, against leaven, I will continue to be in Christ because that's repentance.

And I will continue to be unleavened in Christ. But if I give up that fight, which is what happens if I lose repentance, then I cease to be unleavened in Christ. And so the direst, strictest warning to you folks and to me, to God's people, ecl and to your part, that I can read. For it is impossible for those who were... Now notice the descriptive terminology. This is not somebody uncalled. This is not associate. This is body of Christ. These are individuals who have been forgiven and cleansed, who have been unleavened in Christ. Notice the descriptive terminology. Who were once enlightened, the lights were turned on and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and the greatest heavenly gift that there is, is the gift of the Savior, the gift of Jesus Christ.

And there's other gifts tied into that, obviously. And were made partakers of the Holy Spirit. Enlightened, tasted of the Savior, been in Christ, viewed as clean by God, given as Holy Spirit, have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. The prime power of that world to come being the Holy Spirit, which will be composed of. All of that. This is descriptive of a begotten son or daughter of God.

A begotten younger brother or sister of Jesus Christ. It says, if they, this category, shall fall away, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing that crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame.

You know, you could actually take, in one sense, the first part of verse 4 and attach it to verse 6, for it is impossible for those, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance. You could actually make that kind of connection if you wanted to. This is a condition that none of us want to find ourselves in. Now, years ago, I turned across a televangelist, and he was one of the more popular televangelists. He's dead now, but he was preaching, obviously, and he read Hebrews 6, verses 4 through 6, and he said something like this.

That's kind of scary, but that's not talking about God's people. That's not talking about someone in Christ. And I thought, who in the world is it talking about then? But that just confirmed to me either willing to lie or the depth of the darkness of deception that was in the individual. Because that's who it's talking about. This is talking about me and you, in the sense, don't fall into this. Don't fall into the latter part of this category, the category of being converted and all that.

Yes. But take this as well. And again, think about Paul addressing this to the veteran congregation, the initial congregation with the sister congregations. Anyway, notice the core of the problem, verse 6, repentance, the loss of it and what it results in, an impossible to renew. And the house, the house, the spiritual house has crumbled and tumbled.

The house has rotted and collapsed. If they shall fall away, the house has fallen away. They as a house of God have fallen away. They've fallen away from the foundation. They've lost their foundation. He starts off not laying again the foundation of repentance. In other words, he's admonishing them, don't let things happen to it to where you have to lay it again. In other words, tend to it. Keep it in good repair. You know, there are businesses, there are people who make their livelihood by going under people's houses and doing foundation repairs. You know, shoring things up. Now, the house we have was built in 1950 and built the same year I was.

And it'll probably last as long as I do. But one of the first things I did was it's got a crawl space. And I don't like crawl space. I mean, I'm glad there's a crawl space there. But I coded myself thoroughly with insect repellent and all of that because there's all kinds of critters under the floor. But I went under and primarily wanted to check the foundation, the supports, and everything. And in particular, where my office was going to be because I have a bunch of files and they're heavy.

And I have hundreds of books and they're heavy. And I wanted to make sure that where my office would be that I wouldn't be sitting at my desk someday and the whole floor just fall out with me, you know, collapse. So I went under there and checked the foundation and beefed it up and reinforced it so I can sit in confidence in my office and know that I'll stay at the desk. And, well, I would stay at the desk if the whole thing fell, you know, would just sit down about two or three feet.

Anyway, sometimes with physical things, you have to shore up. Well, sometimes spiritually we do too. And before a person has gone too far, they can. They can tend to. And sometimes we have to go back and shore up and redo.

Of course, in this case, where one has literally lost their repentance. We're not just talking about letting some of it slip. We're not talking about just losing some of it. We're not talking about just being on some dangerous ground, getting on some quicksand. We're talking about where they have lost their foundation.

They've lost their repentance. For whatever the reasons are, the fight there is no longer there against sin. They're no longer concerned with what's right and what's wrong. It just doesn't really matter, you know. They've gotten to a point where it just doesn't matter to them anymore. And what's the result? Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. They now have no sacrifice for sin. There's no personal sacrifice for them. There's no personal covering for their personal sins.

They've neutralized it. They've nullified it. They've negated it. They've affected the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and for their lives. It's not there anymore. That's why it says, seeing they crucify to themselves, it's not an applicable sacrifice for them anymore. And it doesn't mean enough to be either, for that matter.

They crucify or they kill to themselves. They've done themselves in. Their loss of repentance has caused them to sacrifice for sin with its corresponding forgiveness and opportunity for eternal life. And so what it is, they're now back in their sins. They're back in their dead works with the death penalty, once again, hanging over them. See, this section, verses 4 through 6, simply and clearly expresses the severest warning in the Bible regarding the necessity of repentance.

Now, here's the way it plays. No repentance, no sacrifice. No sacrifice, no forgiveness. No forgiveness, no eternal life. That's just simply, mathematically, logical thought. It all boils down to no repentance, no future. The leaven of sin has once again become dominant. Now, that televangelist, he said, see, this is not talking about a Christian. Because once you're saved, brother, you can't be lost. So this is not talking about people of God. And he said, there's another Scripture. Let's turn to this other one. So let's turn to this other one. 2 Peter 2. And he read this one. 2 Peter 2.

Beginning in verse 19. Well, they promised them liberty. 2 Peter 2, 19. While they promised them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome, the same is he brought in bondage. Now, again, look at the descriptive terminology. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, how do you escape the pollutions of the world? Through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the follow-up of being baptized into Christ based on repentance, it's talking about ecclesia.

Church, people, people of God. It says, they are again entangled therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them. But it's happened to them according to the true proverb, the dog has turned to its own vomit again, and the sow that was washed her, wallowing in the mire.

He read that, and he said, but that's not talking about a Christian. That's not talking about somebody that's been saved. And the darkness continued. Anyway, it's obvious that Peter, like Paul, gives the same type warning. See, the nature in need of a foundation is such that it is expected to stay in place. You lay it. Wouldn't it be something if somebody put a foundation in place, put a building on the foundation, and then decided later to go over there to that building, and with the proper jacks and all that, jack the building up, drag the foundation out from under it, and set the building back down on the ground.

The days would be numbered for that building. It would literally rot into the ground. No, the very nature in need of a foundation is such that it is expected to stay in place. It's supposed to stay in place and continue to serve the purpose for why it was put there. See, Paul signals this by saying, not laying again. The emphasis is on the foundation being put in place and kept there.

But if you have failed to truly and fully do that, if you have failed to maintain it, then yes, go back and renew it. It's not necessarily too late. Go back and renew it. Do the necessary maintenance.

And one of the great things about the flexibility of being clay is we can slip and we can come back, as long as we haven't slipped and gone too far and become too corrupted of spirit. But the emphasis is on the foundation being put in place and kept there. Do the necessary maintenance. And again, with physical foundations, we understand that. They do sometimes require maintenance and upkeep in all.

But it is also true with spiritual. Spiritual structures, spiritual foundations also require such. When the spiritual foundation of repentance begins to fail, the spiritual building that's being built upon it also begins to fail.

David, King David, fell prey to a faulty foundation in disrepair, a failing foundation in need of heavy repair of heavy maintenance. In and with and throughout the entire sordid situation with Bathsheba in Uriah, his foundation of repentance fell into great disrepair. It was under assault, being undermined, eroded. His foundation of repentance was in the process of being totally destroyed. See, David knew that what he was doing was wrong. He knew he was walking in dead works with their ultimate consequences as well as the immediate ones. And he kept getting in deeper and deeper because he gave in to weakness. And though it was due to weakness, the heavy and severe erosion of his foundation of repentance continued unabated. And this stretched out not just over days, but weeks and possibly months.

The severity of the situation, the deadly seriousness of it, only hit David fully when God sent Nathan the prophet to present it in a way to David that David truly got it. He could see it because of God's inspiration to Nathan. David was able to see it the way God saw it.

And when he truly saw it, he truly got it. And he repented deeply and bitterly. He knew that equation. No repentance, no sacrifice. No sacrifice, no forgiveness. No forgiveness, no eternal life. He knew that it all boils down to no repentance, no future. And he knew he had become permeated, just permeated with the leaven of sin. He had become almost totally leavened. And he understood that. But God was still able to reach him and to bring him back to the fundamental reality of the foundation of a spiritual house. Once again, he understood the absolute necessity of a foundation of repentance. In Psalm 51, and Psalm 51, of course, are the written words. It's not all of his thoughts. It's not all of his words. What I'm saying is, it's not the sum total of all of his thinking and his better repentance. But it is the Psalm that expresses his better repentance over what he had done and what he realized. And in Psalm 51, in verse 10, he says, in verse 10, he says, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Please, you know, create in me a clean heart. Cleanse me and renew a right spirit within me. He had to, in a true sense, lay it again because he had lost most of it. He understood how much was writing on having that foundation secured and in place, verse 11, Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me because he knew what was writing on it. He could lose and was going to lose his relationship with God. He was going to lose. He did have God's Holy Spirit and he was going to lose it completely. He wasn't able to work with him very much during that stretch of time. Cast me not away from your presence, take not your Holy Spirit from me. He understood how much was writing on it and he understood without that foundation of repentance, God could not carry him into eternity. And he wanted eternity. And, of course, we could read in Ezekiel, if we wanted to go there, how the resurrected King David will rule over the entire nation of Israel with the Apostles under him individually over each individual tribe in the Millennium, the Millennial reign of Christ. Without the foundation of repentance, God cannot prepare and cannot carry one into eternity with him. It's that simple and it's not complicated. Notice in Revelation 3. In Revelation 2 and 3 are seven messages. And every one of these messages is to the church of God. They're all messages to God's church. And we won't go into the whys and the wherefores of all of it, but these seven messages are to the churches of God, to the body of Christ, to the ecclesia. I said without the foundation of repentance, God cannot prepare and carry anyone into eternity with him. So here in Revelation 3, verses 1 through 6, to Sardis, verse 1, And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things says he that has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works, that you have a name that you live, because it's the church of God.

You have a name that you live and are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain. There are some things that remain, yes, be watchful. Strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect, or that is complete or mature before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard and hold fast and repent. There's that word, repent. If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you. Now, verse 4, you have a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcomes the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Now, notice verse 1, I know your works, and you are dead. Dead works. Works not based on repentance, no true life. Verse 2, watchful. Be watchful. Vigilant. Strengthen. That which remains, that's ready to die. It's a very weakened state. Even the things they do yet have are weak and on the verge of death. Not found your works perfect, or that is complete or mature. Repent. There's a call to repent in there, because that foundation that Paul spoke of is not there like it should be. It's being lost. Verse 5, overcomes. True repentance.

See, true repentance is the foundation that sets the stage for overcoming. But I want you to notice verse 5, right in the midst. And I will not blot out. If the admonishment is taken and exercised, and the repentance is there, okay, I will not blot out His name out of the book of life. Right there in one little verse, in one little terse statement, my name right now is written in the book of life, but it can be blotted out. Some people say, once your name is written in the book of life, it can never be blotted out. That's false to the Scripture. That's false to God's own word. No, that's the whole admonishment. Do what you should so that it's not blotted out. Because again, you put it together. No repentance, no overcoming. No overcoming, no eternal life. Again, it all boils down to no repentance, no future. And boy, do I want a future. And you do, too. The foundation of repentance is necessary for eternal life. The telecasters on Beyond Today TV will tell you, if you would ask them, the one subject that gets people to, as we would say, change the channel, turn them off, switch. The one subject that if they get into it that causes the most switches or turn-offs is repentance. Because people don't want to repent. They don't want to change. It's the day of customized religion. It's the day that the church in America is the church of acceptance. Anything goes. Whatever you want to do, that's your business. Whatever you want to worship God, whatever you want to customize it, may change. Are you crazy? No way. And yet, the Bible reveals the foundation of repentance is necessary for eternal life. God will not give eternal life to the unrepentant. That's something people don't want to hear. God will not give eternal life to the insufficiently repentant. That is another something sometimes that people don't like to hear. Just as a spiritual house cannot be built on the absence of a spiritual foundation, and true bona fide repentance is part of the necessary foundation, it's got to be sufficient.

An interesting note regarding the foundation of repentance and these seven churches, Revelation 2 and 3, repentance as a need, repentance as to being either lacking or insufficient, is mentioned in only five.

In only five, Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea.

Those are the only five. The word repent, you've got a Bible, you can check it out. You can check me out on it. The word repent or repentance is not used in the messages to the second church, Smyrna, or to the sixth one, Philadelphia. It's not there. Why not?

I mean, wouldn't we say, don't they need a foundation of repentance the same as the others?

Isn't repentance necessary to their growth and overcoming, to their development? And would have to say, absolutely. The reason repentance is not mentioned as an admonishment to them in their messages is because they do truly have a solid and sufficient foundation of repentance under them.

That is why they have grown and developed and why they meet God's praise and commendation.

Take Smyrna. It's Revelation 2 and verse 9. God says, but you are rich. You're rich. Spiritually rich. Maybe physically poor, but you're spiritually rich, and that's what counts. You're spiritually rich.

And the only way they could have become spiritually rich was on a solid and sufficient foundation of repentance. A spiritual house of spiritual riches was built on a solid foundation of full repentance. A base is full of repentance. A foundation full of and made of repentance. And that's why it's not mentioned because it's automatically a part of them with the results that follow.

Let's read here about Philadelphian, chapter 3. In fact, I'll read the verses. I'll read them rather quickly. Beginning in verse 7, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, you're right. These things says, He that is holy, He that is true, He that has the key of David, He that opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens.

I know your works. Behold, or look, I've set before you an open door, no man can shut it. For you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make them unto the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie.

Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of tribulation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown, and that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.

And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. There is no indictment. There is no call to repentance. There is no call to lay again the foundation of repentance.

And again, why not? Because it is laid. It is there. A true... and let's just be very frank and open about it. In the end of the age, whenever the end of the age comes, and we are living in the end of the age. It doesn't matter if it's 60 years from now, which I don't think it is 60 years from now, but whether it's 60 years, 20 years, 5 years, 10 years, whatever, during my lifetime, beyond my lifetime, in the lifetime of my children or grandchild, etc., whatever, we are in the end of the age.

It's just a question, when will it wrap up fully? But we all know the Scriptures, and we know that whenever the time comes that the age wraps up, and there's a great tribulation. We know that there's going to be a time of 3 1⁄2 years of the most severe Holocaust on this planet, and that God's people will be in two camps at that time.

They'll either be in the camp of a place of safety, or they will be in the camp of not being in the place of safety and being caught in the Holocaust that's coming and have to experience it. And nobody in his right mind wants to go into the great tribulation. We all like to think, well, I hope I'm accounted worthy to escape those things.

I hope that God can count me as a Philadelphian, that in His sight, He can see me in attitude, perspective, operation, spiritual condition as a Philadelphian, not as a Laodicean. We all hope that. I know, I do. A true Philadelphian is one who is operating off of a solid foundation of true personal repentance.

Let me put it another way. In God's book, if you want, and I want, to be viewed by God and classified by Him as a Philadelphian, then I must be, and you must be standing on a solid personal foundation of true and full personal repentance. If I am God's eyes, if I'm lacking in repentance, if you and God's eyes are lacking in repentance, not saying you don't have some, but you're lacking, it's insufficient. He cannot, He will not classify you as a Philadelphian. He cannot, and He will not classify me as a Philadelphian. He can't. Don't meet the criteria.

But if the measure of our repentance is an insufficient platform for growth, then we can't come to be what God wants us to be. That's why to Sardis, He says, you have a name that you live, but you're dead. Strengthen those things that are about to die because their repentance was insufficient.

If the measure of our repentance is an insufficient platform for growth, we can't come to be what God wants us to be. No repentance, no growth. No sufficient repentance, no sufficient growth. Insufficient repentance, insufficient growth. And in this sermon, and you've probably figured it out by now, I'm not trying to define what repentance is fully.

As far as the definition of repentance and defining it, other messages at another time can do that, have done that in the past and shall continue to do that.

That's not my purpose. My purpose is to speak to the absolute necessity of having it, of its foundational role in our development for the Kingdom of God. Let's go to Mark 1 and verse 15. Mark 1. The Passover makes it possible to have a plan of salvation. And with the plan of salvation that is kicked off with the Passover because without the Passover, none of the other could be done.

It'd be useless because you have to have a Savior which can make it possible to have an opportunity to live, to have eternal life. So that's crucial. Without that in place, there is no plan of salvation that can follow because there's no plan of salvation.

And then obviously, the very first Holy Day with two high days, Holy Day season with two holy days, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, kicks off right after that. And the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when we understand the issue of leavened representing sin and the fight against it and all, we acknowledge we're unleavened in Christ, but that we've also got to be in the fight against sin because in this life we're always challenged by sin. And if we stay repentant, we stay in the fight. If we lose our repentance and start staying in the fight, we lose staying in Christ because being in Christ is based on repentance.

When a person does not truly repent and they get baptized, it doesn't count. They're wet. They got dumped. Whether it's true repentance involved, then it counts. They're not just getting wet. They're getting wet, yes. But they're coming under the covering blood of Christ. They're in Christ. And again, it's so crucial. And Mark 1 here says, verse 14, I'll pick it up in verse 14, he says, Now after that John, John the Baptist, was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, Notice, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. The prime one of the kingdom, Christ Himself, is there. The kingdom of God is at hand. And notice what he says. He says, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. He's announcing that. But then what is the very first thing that we're told to do? Repent. Again, it's foundational. Repent and believe the gospel.

And for you and me, it truly is at hand. And we have to continue to keep that foundation in place. Brethren, study repentance. Study it. Think about it. Meditate on it. Analyze it. Learn what it is and all of its aspects and ramifications. Define it. Come to more and more of a clear and accurate understanding of what it truly is and continually, personally deepen and broaden your understanding and your application personally of it. Because so much of our success in the battle against the leaven of sin depends on it. And as you do, your foundation of repentance will become ever more solid and secure and will be better and better able to support the spiritual house that God is building upon it. With that thought in mind, let's go back to Hebrews 6. Therefore, verse 1, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection. What kind of slows down going on to perfection? Having to relay or repair, especially if you've almost lost it. Because when you lose repentance, you lose so much of the structure that's on it. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works in a faith toward God. Let's kind of reverse that. By not laying again the foundation of repentance, because you're keeping it in place, you're going on automatically on top of that foundation. To perfection, or that is, maturity and completeness. And again, simply said, a spiritually healthy foundation of true repentance supports the building of a spiritual house. And it's a house that, at the resurrection, will be 100% unleavened forever.

So the foundation of repentance does two very important things. Point one, it keeps you unleavened in Christ. Because that's what allowed you to become in Christ to begin with and to become unleavened in Him. It keeps you unleavened in Christ. And number two, it keeps you in the fight against leaven.

Which is necessary. The fight against leaven that you made previous to baptism, in order to have a valid baptism to be in Christ and be unleavened, it's that same fight that continues that allows you to remain in Christ. So it keeps you unleavened in Christ, and it keeps you in the fight against leaven. And it results in a resurrection, eventually beyond which, wondrously, we will be unleavened in mind and thought and word and deed forever and ever and ever.