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Download Bulletin for Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021
“Seek the LORD while He may be found, call you upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7 (Read Isaiah 55:1-13)
God calls upon us — even pleads with us — to turn to Him before it is too late. The hour of our death and the Last Day and Christ’s return in judgment are drawing ever closer. Then it will be too late to repent; the hour of our judgment will have come!
He urges us in Isaiah 55:1-3: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Listen, so that your soul may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”
God would have us quit wasting our time and money pursuing earthly things that do not meet our true needs — things that provide no lasting benefit. And He freely offers to us the forgiveness and everlasting life won for us by the shed blood of Christ Jesus — the sure mercies of David which give spiritual and eternal life.
While there is yet time — while God is still near to us with His gracious offer of forgiveness and life in Christ — He would have us repent of our sinful thoughts and ways and turn to Him for pardon and forgiveness.
After speaking of the blessing of confessing sin and being pardoned and forgiven by God, David writes: “For this cause everyone who is godly will pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in the floods of great waters they will not reach him” (Psalm 32:6).
If we do not repent and look to the Lord Jesus, the floodwaters of God’s judgment will wash us away with all the wicked into the eternal torments of hell. But, if we repent and receive God’s mercy and forgiveness through faith in Christ Jesus, God’s judgment will not touch us.
When we, by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit, turn from our sins to Christ and His cross, God promises to be merciful unto us and abundantly pardon. No matter how great our sin, God promises to forgive all because of the holy life and bitter sufferings and death of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in our stead.
God wants you, and each and every one of us, to repent of our sins now and turn to Him for pardon and forgiveness before it is too late!
“Seek the LORD while He may be found, call you upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
O LORD God, by the gracious working of Your Spirit, grant that we live in continual repentance and be found trusting in Jesus Christ our Savior when our earthly life comes to a close. We ask this for the sake of Christ’s innocent sufferings and death in our stead and His glorious resurrection. Amen.
[Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.]