What Shall We Do? (Part 2) | Eld Rosalind Ang

You're listening to a message to go from Acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

So today is called, What Shall We Do? Part 2.

Is that okay? Yeah? What Shall We Do? Part 2.

I left the message, so last week again, I had

the privilege of sitting and receiving the word And it

was such a good word. Yeah, it was such a

good word. And so maybe I can ask you this question.

Every time we encounter the Word of God, whether it's

through homes or through Sunday worship or even prayer service,

you know, when the Word of God is released, the

question is this.

Let's go to the next slide.

How many of us were cut to the heart by

the Word last week? So let's just start with last week.

How many of you... can honestly say you were cut

to the heart. Yes? Yes, yes. Yes, bruised. Okay, very good, bruised.

This Hokkien word is coming out already. So bruised, cut

to the heart. What do you understand by this phrase,

cut to the heart? Real, okay, it's very real.

You felt something?

Like... Conviction? Yeah? Convictions arose from that? Okay. What about

this side? This side is very active. This side is

a bit sleepy. We must wake this side up a bit. So, anything?

Anyone cut to the heart? Oh, you can't remember what

was preached?

Anyone? Yes?

Cut to the heart?

Okay. Good, huh? Good. Those who say yes, right? I

want to ask you the next question. Which is the

next question? So how many of you, after you were

cut to the heart, did you experience any change in

the way you lived in the last one week? Yes? Okay.

Can you name the change? You don't have to be

specific about the incidents, but just tell me what changed.

Habits changed. Very good. Resisted in doing something? Yeah? Okay. Good.

I think I don't have to continue my message with you.

Y'all got the message with you, okay? Yes, yes.

So it is that, right?

And one of the things that I keep reminding myself

is that every time we encounter the Word of God,

we cannot leave unchanged. It's impossible. It's impossible for you

to come face to face with the Word of God

and go back the way, exactly the way you are. Right,

you can either, you can have two response. Either you

become closer to God or you take one step back.

There is no standing still and I'm still neutral about this.

No way.

God's Word is that powerful.

It either causes you unconsciously, some of you might say, okay,

I'm gonna withdraw from this because it's a truth that

I don't agree with, I don't like maybe. And then

you kind of withdraw one step or you were so

cut to the heart that you take one step forward

towards God.

And that's what we want to get to today, okay?

So that's what it is.

Now, we know that, so okay, you said the word repent.

So what is repent?

Renew of your mind. Very good. What else?

U-turn. Correct.

Whoa.

This one, A-star class, you know. All very good, ah?

So you've been taught and trained very well. Okay, so

let's go to the next thought. Now, the repentance, right,

it always starts with a truth. True or not? If

you look at Acts chapter 2, which is exactly where

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Pastor Joy preached on last week, Acts chapter 2, it is,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

they heard the truth and then it cuts to the heart.

So what is the source of truth in your life?

Tell me. Sorry? The Bible? Okay? Have you received the

truth this morning yet? Now receiving ah? Eh, you all

got to do your quiet time or not this morning?

Oh God, do you receive a truth from that? Yeah? Okay.

So we're going to be very practical today about how

we think about repentance and yeah, it starts with hearing

a truth and then it causes you to like be

really uncomfortable with this. Yeah? Yeah? And then it causes

you to change. Okay, let's go to the next thought.

Let's go to the next thought. So the question is

not just whether the word has touched us, but it's

more of whether the word has transformed us. You know sometimes, right,

after worship service, and then there are very nice people,

very encouraging people, who will come up to me and.

Say, that's a good word.

I'm like, well, of course, feel very good. That's a

good word, powerful word. Then there's always something at the

back of my mind that says, So what will you

do about it?

So what? That is a good word. So what?

That is a great word. How will that change your life?

How will that change your business? How will that change

your relationship with your husband or your wife? How will

that change your relationship with your dad and your mom?

If it does not change any part of your life,

then the word has been preached in vain. Do you

see what I mean? Right? It cannot just be preached.

And then, you know, the Bible says it falls on

deaf ears. And outwardly, it might be like, yeah, good.

Everything is good.

It sounds good. You know, it's a good principle. Yeah,

that's good teaching. Good values. That's what Christians are known for, right?

Good values. But if those values do not change your

life at all, then what good it is? It's just

like someone, you know, giving you this cream. Now, on my,

I don't know why, on my social media, a lot

of these facial products and all that. Wah, you do this,

you know, you put this on your face, you'll become like,

you know, Korean glass skin, that kind of thing lah.

Joseon beauty and whatnot, right? And someone can come to Graham,

and of course Graham gets all these sponsors, right? And say, wow,

this one very good, this one very good, this one

very good, right? Then after he's like, oh, yeah, okay, yeah,

I hear it's very good. It sounds very good, you know,

everyone talks that it's very good. But you will never

actually slap it on your own face, right?

How do you know it's good?

Correct, oh. So you have to try it, right? And

so this walk with God, right, is always, right, slap

him on your face, literally, you know, taste and see

that the Lord is good. So you've never tasted the Lord,

how do you know he's good? Right, you'll just be

someone else's testimony, someone else's journey with the Lord, someone

who had their breakthrough and then there you are sitting,

you're going like, but how real is this? How real

is this? So, I will continue first, yeah, yes, yes.

Yes, yes.

Thank you so much, sir. Thank you so much for that.

And so you can see that you need to have

a personal walk and relationship with the Lord. Amen? Okay,

so let's go to the next thought now. Now, I

want to say this. I have three main thoughts. Number one,

not every confession is repentance.

Just let that sit with you for a bit.

Not every confession... is repentance. And we're going to look

through the Word of God to see what are some

of the examples that we can glean from the different

ones in the Bible. So now, number one, repentance is

not regrets.

Do you know what regret is?

Regret is like, I regretted taking a left turn when

I should have taken a right turn. Then I took

a wrong way, a long way, right? Regrets would be like, oh,

I should have done this. Wrong decisions that you made. Yesterday,

I was supposed to send Lizzie for a small group, right?

Then always, we are constantly making decisions, you know. It's like,

do I send her the back way or the front way?

You know, it's as simple as that. And then I'm like, oh,

maybe the back way is, you know, better. Then, mana tau,

I went to the back of summit and then had

to wait for the traffic light and then I was stuck.

Then I'm there regretting, you know, I should have gone

the front way.

And then also, she.

Didn't know how to get up to, you know, her

friend's place and all that. Then I'm sitting there and regret. Right?

Foolish decisions like, ha, I should have just gone up

to the front, right?

Why didn't I do it? So, but that's not repentance.

Because regret means, I just feel sorry for what I

did to myself. Right? Then she was late, and all

those things are consequences. Right?

And, so just bad decisions. So, but, Feeling bad about

a decision.

That you make is not repentance. I want to share

to you a story and this one now you will know.

Who is this? Okay, let's go to the next. Pharaoh. Pharaoh.

You all know the story of Pharaoh? Tell me what

you know about Pharaoh.

Sorry? I heard something. Say it. We can learn together.

Very bad king, Egyptian, okay, okay.

So he was an Egyptian king who under his rule,

the children of Israel lived, right? And they grew and

they multiplied and they became a great number that became

a threat to him, right? So now Pharaoh is like scared, okay.

So what did he do? He asked them to.

Work harder, right? He says, well, you're very free, right?

Always make babies.

Let me put some hard work on you so that

you cannot produce so much. Essentially, that's it, right? So

because they were multiplying so much, they were so fruitful

that they became a great number. And so, yeah, Pharaoh

is saying, okay, I will now... put on your label,

you're supposed to make the same number of bricks, but

now you go and find your own straw. Last time

he provided the resource, now he said, you go and

find your own resource.

And of course, the.

Children of Israel, they cried, like most of us, right?

Suddenly got so much work, got so much deadline, campus students,

you know, your work, your deadlines, and then like, oh,

that's when we remember the Lord. So that's when the

children of Israel remembered the Lord and they cried.

To him, Lord, help us.

And so, who's the hero that came up Moses. Okay,

you all know your Bible very well. So Moses, can

you tell me a little bit about Moses? What do

you know about Moses? He had no confidence. How many

of you have no confidence? What else do you know

about Moses? He was adopted by a pharaoh's daughter. So

he was.

Actually raised as a prince.

Yes.

Prince of Egypt, right?

So Moses is Prince of Egypt, yeah? Yeah, okay. He

convicted a crime. Wah, this bad guy. How come God

want to use this kind of bad guy?

Think about it.

Okay?

Is he not the perfect guy? He's not confident, yes?

He had trouble speaking.

Wow, can you imagine? Imagine with me.

If you are God, right?

Are you going to pick someone who has low self-confidence,

low self-esteem, committed murder to be your spokesperson to lead

2 million people out of Egypt? Would you choose someone

like that? Who would you choose? Pastor Joy lah, of course.

No meh?

She is full of confidence. She's full of risk.

Risk. Aura farming. You know, whenever she goes, there's this

aura around her. And she speaks so well, right? Who

wouldn't choose her to be God's spokesperson, right? To lead

the people across into the promised land. But God has

a very different way of looking at people. But anyway,

today's story is not about Moses.

Why did I go there? But anyway, just something for

you to think about.

Would God choose you if you're the only person in

your marketplace, in your company, and you say that I

don't have anything, I'm nothing like Pastor Joy, but if

you have anything like Moses, then God wants to use you. Okay? Alright.

So, we know Pharaoh and then.

Of course, how would you describe Pharaoh's character?

I know, the word came to me also, stubborn, like

a mule, right? Like a donkey.

So, anyways, they went through 10 plagues together, alright? So,

can you remember some of the plagues? The frog, some more?

Locust, yes? Firstborn.

Firstborn. Blood turned into, water turned into blood, right? And

all that. So, yeah. Plague after plague after plague, right? So,

did Pharaoh repent? Sekejap saja. So, let's go to the

sekejap moment. And so, this is what happened after first plague,

second plague, third plague, fourth plague, fifth plague. Actually, a

lot of plagues, you know. Everything is dying left, right

and centre. They've had boils on the animals and on

the humans. After all these kind of things, you don't

want to repent. So in that seventh plague, so this

is where it's found.

Let's go to Exodus. Let's go to Exodus.

Exodus.

You have your Bible?

Please turn with me. Ah, okay. So Exodus chapter 9.

Exodus 9 · chapter mention

All right. Okay. Okay. So I'm going to read from

verse 25, like give you a bit of context. And

the hail, so this is the seventh plague, which is

the hail. The hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt.

All that was in the field, both men and beasts,

and the hail struck every herb of the field and

broke every tree of the field.

Wow.

Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of

Israel were, there was no hail. So God was starting

to make distinction. Between his people and people who were

not his people. Okay. Now, at this point, let's look

at verse 27. And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses

and Aaron and said to them, I have sinned this time.

The Lord is righteous and my people and I are wicked.

Verse 28. And treat the Lord that there may be

no more mighty thundering and hail for it is enough.

I will let you go and you shall stay no longer. Wow,

I will let you go.

That's our VA production last year.

So good. Let my people go. Whoa. All right.

Now, let's look at that verse.

Let's look at the slide that I put there. Does

it sound correct? Sounds correct, right? I mean, he said,

I have seen more. Isn't that like a confession? I

have sinned, sinned this time. The Lord is righteous and

my people and I are wicked. Right? Now, do you

think this is true repentance? You know the answer because

you know the story. But at that time, you know,

how do you prove that this is true repentance? Just

think about it. Don't think about, you know, the ending already.

But in that moment, someone... Did something wrong and heartfelt

compassion with tears rolling down the eyes like, I have sinned.

The Lord is righteous and I am the bad one.

I am the wicked one. Is that a true test

of repentance? It's not, right? You know it's not. Because

it's very clear, we go down to verse 30. And

how do we know that this is not true repentance, right?

You see, the thing is, what was he motivated by

to say this confession? What was his motivation? Can you

tell me? He once got to hear he wanted to

stop the plague, right? All he wanted to do, was

it driven by selfish reasons?

Yes, of course.

It's like, all these external things coming at me and like, please,

take it away, you know? And this momentary confession is temporary.

Temporary because we know why in verse 30 gives us

the clue. It says, but as for you and your servants,

I know that you will not yet fear the Lord.

Do you see that?

So what is the key part here in repentance? What

do you think it is? Fear of the Lord. Yeah.

At this point, do you think Pharaoh feared God?

No. He probably didn't like the consequence. He didn't like

God's power. But he didn't fear God. Question is, do

you fear God? Do you truly fear God? Okay. Okay.

So let's go to the next thought. Let's go to

my next slide.

So it was driven by a need for relief, right?

I just want a relief.

Sometimes in our lives, we go through tough things, you know,

and we're like, oh God, I'm just so sorry about.

This bad decisions, right?

Regret. I regretted doing this. Then you turn towards God, right?

You know, this cut to the heart, right? To me,

the analogy is like, you know, you're being pricked in

your conscience. You know what that means? I know English

is quite funny, right? You're by your conscience. Imagine, imagine,

someone take a nail, a needle, and then come and toot,

prick you. What would you do? What's your response? Ouch!

And then you just stay there.

No, you automatically retract, right? So, this pricking is almost

like a response to that poking. Like, I poke you,

then you're like, ah, it hurts. And I step back.

You see that?

Okay, I just step back from it.

Okay, so it's temporary and short-lived and we know that

in verse 30, it says that it's because they don't

yet fear the Lord. All right, so let's go on

to the next thought. Okay, now another very important person.

Do you know who this is? King Saul.

What do you know about King Saul?

Aiyo, very bad king.

Did he start off bad? Actually, he didn't start off bad.

He was pretty okay. And interestingly, if you study the

book of Kings and Samuel, you'll realise that all the kings, right,

they were good ones and then they were bad ones, right?

More good or more bad? Unfortunately. more bad kings lah.

Unfortunately lah, that's what life is, right? People make bad choices. Okay,

now what was King Saul's problem?

Why pride?

Why pride?

Why pride? He did things on his own.

Yeah? Okay. So let's give you that context. Now let's

go to the verse. This is in 1 Samuel, I think.

Let's go to 1 Samuel 15. Can you turn your Bibles?

1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel 15. Okay.

1 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

Okay.

So, giving you again the next context, right? So, what

did he do? He was chosen as a king, and

then the prophet Samuel went to anoint him. So, they

were fighting kings and all that, right? They were fighting

the enemies. One of their main enemy is this tribe

and these people called Amalekites.

Have you heard of this tribe before?

Amalekites?

Okay, please don't name your son Amalekites. Okay?

Now, let's read a little bit from verse 15. Okay,

from verse 1. Verse 1, okay? Let's give you some

word of God. Okay. 1 Samuel 15, verse 1. Samuel

1 Samuel 15:1

also said to Saul, so this is what Samuel said,

The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people,

over Israel. Now, therefore, heed the voice of the words

of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I

will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how

he ambushed him on the way when he came up

from Egypt.

Verse 3.

Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that

they have and do not spare them. But kill both

men and women, infant and nursing child. Nursing child? Nursing child.

Ox and sheep, camel and donkey. If you receive this

kind of commandments, what would you do? Which one will

stop you at your tracks? Nursing child? Nursing child. And

what's going on through your mind right now about the

giver of the commands? Let's be real. Like no heart, right? God,

you're so heartless. Aren't innocent babies? You know, aren't babies innocent?

What am I talking about? Aren't babies innocent? They're just nursing.

What wrong did they do?

Honestly, I think these are some of the real struggles

that a lot of Christians would have. Honestly, if you

don't have a question about it, then I'm like, hmm, okay.

Most would struggle with this, right? And if you share

this with your non-Christians, have.

You ever shared this part about your God?

No, right? Nobody shares about this part. We talk about

how God is good, God loves you. You know, He's

very kind, He will bless you. How come nobody talk

about God also asked to annihilate the entire Amalekite tribe?

Nobody shares about this. Because deep down, right, I think

this is something that we are all struggling with. Because

we have this notion, and I say that we have

a theology. We have an understanding of who God is

and how he should behave. Because if, let's say, Raphael

is God, right, he says, spare the nursing child. Kill

all the bad guys, maybe. Maybe he might even say,

spare the women.

Because it's always the guys that are bad, right?

Right or not? Women? Women? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Always the guys.

Take the flag for it, guys. It's all on you.

Why you never stop Eve from taking the apple? Now

we're in this mess, you see? Right or not?

Actually, that is true, you know.

The reason why Adam had to be blamed was because

his wife went to do something wrong and he didn't

stop her. And he says, she's the one who gave

it to me, whoa. Blame her! So guys, please. Can

you all be a man, please? Be a man. Yeah?

Do the right thing.

Take up responsibility.

Men, if you are husbands or you are fathers, you

are charged to be a priest of the home. And

if you don't do what's right and if you don't

lead your family in the ways of the Lord, then

don't expect... your wives to lead the home that way.

That's the reason why our families are in shambles. The

society's family structure is in shambles because fathers have not

risen up to their God-given calling. Yeah? Okay? So yeah.

So now, there's this... Where did I go? How come

I ended up here?

Sorry? Killing babies. Nursing babies.

Now, you might think that.

I think my righteousness... is better than God's. Sorry? Right.

Because if I were God, I will not give such

a command. And so that's where the danger lies for

many of us Christians. We think we know better than God.

And maybe that's what Ashley was saying about pride in Saul.

He thought he knew better, Let's see what he did.

So you know that that was a clear command given

to him as the king. So let's see what he

did then in verse 7. And so Saul attacked the

Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is

east of Egypt. He also took Agag, king of the Amalekites,

alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge

of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag

and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings,

the lambs, and all that was good and were unwilling

to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that

they utterly destroyed. How many of us are willing to

destroy the good in our lives? If God tells us to.

It's a hard one. It's hard, you know. When God says, no,

destroy it. No, but it's okay, what? What? It's okay.

What did they do so wrong?

Nursing babies. And so Saul, of course, he kept the

best and he kept the king, right? Now, I want

you to see immediately what happens after that. Verse 10.

Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying,

I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king.

For he has.

Turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.

And he grieved Samuel and he cried out to the

Lord all night. So when Samuel rose early in the

morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel saying, Saul

went up to Carmel and indeed he has set up

a monument for himself. Wow, this Saul guy set up

a monument for himself. Okay. Okay. And he has gone

on around, passed by and gone down to Gilgal. Okay? Now,

so let's read on. Then Samuel went to Saul and

Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. Wah,

still very happy, right? Blessed are you of the Lord.

I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

Some of us are very blind.

You know? He thought he obeyed. I obeyed what?

You asked me to kill.

I killed. I destroyed. And I'm I'm good. Please bless me. Okay.

And then, this is what Samuel said, but Samuel said,

what then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears?

And the lowing of the oxen which I hear. What's

all this sound in my ears? And Saul said, they

have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spat

the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to

the Lord God. your God. Eh, it's for your God leh.

I did all this for you leh.

Your God mah. Didn't he want all these offerings and sacrifices?

And he says to sacrifice to the Lord your God

and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Now at this

point right, he still thinks that he's done well. Yeah,

true or not? Not bad, King Saul. Then Samuel said

to Saul, be quiet and I will tell you what

the Lord told me last night. And he said to him,

speak on. So Samuel said, when you were little in

your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes

of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king

over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission.

Hey friends, we are all on a mission. And he says,

go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight

against them until they are consumed. Why then did you

not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you

soup down on the spoil and do evil on the

sight of the Lord? Now, can you see the motif

now there? What was the motif?

It was for the spoil, right?

It was greed. He saw all these good things like, hey,

why destroy all the good things? Sayang lah. Don't lah.

Waste lah, waste.

Chinese people like to eat very waste lah. Don't waste lah.

Okay?

Tapau.

Then Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the

voice of the Lord.

You see where he's coming from?

I have obeyed and gone on the mission on which

the Lord sent me and brought back Agag, king of Amalek.

I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But, this is many

of us lah. But, the people took of the people lah.

Your people lah. The people took the plunder, the sheep

and oxen, the best of the things which should have

been utterly destroyed. To sacrifice to the Lord, your God.

Can you see here that he has never acknowledged God

as his own God? It was always your God lah.

Your people lah. The people lah. Never about me one, right?

How many of us when... when there's a conviction, right?

It's like, but the person asked me to do it.

But the situation is like that. But everyone is doing it.

They're sleeping with each other. Why cannot I? Christians also what?

Pastors also what? Other Christians can do it. Right? And

Samuel said this, Has the Lord as great delight in

burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of

the Lord?

Behold, to obey is.

To obey is?

Better than sacrifice. And to heed than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is

as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected.

The word of the Lord. What did he reject?

He rejected the word. And when you reject the word,

this word, you are rejecting God. I want to emphasize this.

Anything that you disagree here, you're disagreeing with God. It's

as clear and simple as that. Because you have rejected

the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you

from being king. Now, let's see this another confession that

I found. Verse 24.

Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned.

I have sinned. For I have transgressed the commandment of

the Lord and your words because I feared the people

and obeyed their voice. Verse 25. Now please pardon my

sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord.

Now he wants to worship. You see?

Now he wants to worship.

So Samuel, the word of God convicted him, pricked him.

And then he said, okay, now I have sinned. I confess.

I confess.

Let me ask you, is this true repentance? We know

it's no lah.

Because at this point, Samuel was saying, no, I will not.

Go with you.

Because you know why we all can sort of come

to the conclusion that he did not fully repent. Even

though confession looked very nice, right? I have sinned. I

have sinned. And he says, you know, I have transgressed

the commandment of the Lord and your words. because I

feared the Lord and I obeyed the voice, yes, I

confess this sin, right? But you see in verse 30,

let's go to verse 30, he says.

Then he said, I have sinned, yet honour me now.

Please, before the elders of my people and before Israel,

and return with me, that I may worship the Lord

your God. Now, what is the motive of this confession? Confession?

What is it? What was Saul unwilling to let go of?

His face. Exactly that. It's Mina. Chinese people. Our face

is very thin, right? So, there are many times we

may outwardly do something because everyone is watching. It is that.

He says, you know, I just want to go so

that the elders of my people and, you know, all

of them will honour me. There was not an inch,

anything about honouring God. And so that's how we know

this is not repentance. A confession. So just be very

careful now. Whenever you confess yourself, you want to ask yourself,

is this just a regret?

You know, am I being pricked by pressures?

Right? Is there something that I'm not willing to lose?

There's something bigger at stake, like my reputation, my face,

that business deal. You think about it, yeah? That relationship. Okay?

So we know that now, repentance, not every confession is repentance.

And firstly, repentance is not regret. What is regret? Something

that you did, right? A decision that you made. There's another...

thought about repentance. Repentance is not remorse. Do you know

what remorse is?

It's a big word.

Not Morse code, huh? What is remorse? Do you know

what remorse is? Okay, again, it's a guilty feeling.

Being sorry is a feeling, huh?

I'm sorry that I've hurt others. Right? Regret is something

that I've done to myself. Remorse is something that I've

done to others. For example, I go there and then

I slap Grace. Right? And then after that, her face

all red-red already. See?

Her face all red-red already.

Right? Then, I feel so sorry, remorseful because I hurt

someone innocent. Innocent by sender lah. Tiba-tiba kena slap, right?

For no reason. Do you know someone like that in

the Bible? Do you know this guy called Judas? Let's

go to Matthew 27. Matthew 27. So you know that

he was with Jesus all the way, chosen by God

to walk with him, to learn his ways, witness his miracles,

his signs and wonders.

All of that, he was there.

And yet, you see, the lesson that we can learn

from Judas is is that we can seem to be

walking with the Lord, you know. And yet, at the

very critical moment, what took over? What do you think

was the driving force for Judas? Money. Greed. I heard

this preacher preach this, was it last night? And that

thought has stayed with me, you know. He says, you're

all chasing after money. Who's not chasing after money? Oh,

none of you? Okay, just me, I guess. We all

work for money. We count money. We invest money. We

think about how to make more. We think about how

to spend the money that we make. And then we

think about how to make some more. We think about

how to not work and have money. These are my

young people, right, young people? Y'all want just to be influencer, like,

you know, sit in a coffee shop, drink your matcha latte,

you know, and then have all these streamers like, ooh,

that's so cool, you know? And then you get money

from that. Eh, I'm not talking about you, ah. I don't, honestly,

I'm never, hardly ever on social media, right? Because it's

just not my thing, lah. Yeah, I'm, I should just

go and investigate, right? See what you're up to, no?

This matcha latte is like this crazy thing. You know,

you see, it is an idea, right? It's an idea

that when you can do that, you're successful. And then

it now feeds into all these young people's heads that

this is the idea of success. This is the body

that I want. This is the hair that I want.

This is the career and life that I want to lead.

You see that? Right? So we are very much dictated

by the world. And so money is... Anyway, so I

was saying that this preacher said that, you know, all

of us, we put so much effort, so much energy

in seeking money, but money is the lowest form of

blessing that God can give you. I was like, whoa,

I'm going to use that. Money is the lowest form

of blessing that God can give you. There's so much

more in God. And we always put money as the highest.

We feel that that is it. But in God's kingdom,

that's the lowest form of blessing, you know. And yet,

He still blesses us. Anyways, have a think about that. So,

Judas and the Jewish people are very good at making money, right?

They're good business people. Some of the richest persons in

the world are the Jewish people, right? And so he

took money and then after he took 30 pieces of silver,

surrendered Jesus, give him a kiss some more. Wow, this

kiss of betrayal is the worst kind of kiss. Anyways,

Then after that, let's see what happened in... Yeah, okay,

let's read chapter 27. And let's read from verse 1.

When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of

the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death.

And when they had bound Him, they led Him away

and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas,

his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned... was remorseful.

You see this word?

Remorseful. Why? Because he just condemned to death an innocent man.

And brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the

chief priest and elder. And listen to what he said. Saying,

I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. And they said,

what is that to us? You see to it. Then

he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple

and departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Okay, was that true repentance?

I already told you, repentance is not remorse. So, he

went into remorse. But you see, this pricking, like I said,

When something pricks you, there's a nail that's constantly, there's

a needle that's constantly pricking you, our response could always be,

I just take a step back. That's it, right? You say, okay,

let me stop doing that because it hurts when I

do it. Feeling that way about regrets and remorse towards

someone else does not necessarily mean that now you are

going to turn away from it. You see what I mean?

I can still stay here, you know. And what I

do now is like, oh, I make sure I don't

get the prick. Then we play a game with this needle,

you know. In our lives, it's almost as though we

are constantly saying, oh, okay, this one will prick me.

I better not do that. But it does not mean

I'm going to walk away from this needle. And you

know that repentance is a U-turn, right? So when we

are talking about this regret and remorse, it's still around

this vicinity, you know. We are still praying. almost opening

ourselves to being pricked again. And that's why, right, it's

not a permanent change. Why? Because it's still there, ma.

You see? And the worst thing was, Judas, he turned

not to Jesus, he went to the priests and the elders,

and then he turned to despair. He did not turn

to God. Do you see what I mean? True repentance

means you turn to God. even though you have sinned

against Him. So which brings me to what true repentance is.

Repentance is what you've done against God. Not what you've

done against yourself or against other people. What you've done

against God. That's what you're repenting from. You see what

I mean? Is there a difference?

Yes, there's a huge difference.

We repent towards God. Right? Right? And so, now let's

go to the next slide. Let's go to the next thought. So,

what then is repentance? Yeah, yeah, let's go to that, yeah. So,

again from Acts 2.38, we all know this so well already.

It says, Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let

every one of you be baptized. Now, what is the

sin that Peter is asking them to repent from? Tell me.

He asked them to repent lah. Then we were like,

okay lah, repent. Then repent for what? Repent. What was

a wrong thinking? Because we say repent is change our mind.

So what was a wrong mindset that they have? Okay.

Let's go to just two verses above it. This will

give you the answer. Let's go to next thought.

Next slide.

Acts 2. What was this in that? Yeah, let's go.

Don't have mind after this? What's after this?

Yes, this one. Therefore.

Let's read this together.

One, two, three. Therefore, let all the house of Israel

know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified,

both Lord and Christ. What were they guilty of? A

wrong mindset about who Jesus was. Do you know seven

weeks earlier, just before this, what were they saying? They

looked at this man Jesus and they said, crucify him,

crucify him. Seven weeks ago only, you know. They said,

crucify this man. So what were they thinking of him?

They were thinking of him as a blasphemer. Someone who

betrayed God. A criminal, a condemned criminal. That's who they

thought Jesus was. And so Peter said, now when you repent, friends,

you got to start changing your mind about Jesus. you

change your mind from thinking that he's a condemned criminal

to what now? Let's go back to the verse before that. Now,

he's not, go back to verse, no, 236. 236. Thank you.

He says, now, this Jesus whom, who crucified? You crucified.

He is no longer the condemned thief or blasphemer. He

is both Lord and Christ. Wow, what a change our mindset, right?

How many of us need to change our minds about

who God is? I don't know what you think about

him right now, but they really need to stop seeing

him that, and he has, now, you know, from thinking

of someone who's like, from condemned to death, he didn't

just go to prison, he actually died. Think about it. Now,

I'm supposed to call him Lord? I'm supposed to call

him Christ? Bizarre, right? For most of us, it's a

bizarre thought. From a prisoner to my Lord. How? This

is a hard one. This changing of mind is the

hardest part, I think, for anyone. And in fact, when

you share the gospel with someone, changing of their minds

is the hardest one. Right? Because they already have an idea.

Who is this Jesus?

Good teacher.

Who is this Jesus? Yeah, someone who had, you know,

who could perform miracles. But that's it. Who is Jesus

to you? And that's why before Jesus went to the cross,

he had to ask his disciples, who do you say

I am? What is your conviction about me? We talk

about conviction, right? It's here.

What do you believe him to be?

They had to change. Let's go to the next slide. Right,

after the, yeah. So, I want to say that when

we go around like having a changed mind, having our convictions, right,

it's always based on the Word of God. Can I

tell you that the basis of repentance is the Word

of God? How, if you look at Acts chapter 2, right,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2 earlier, there was so much that was

Acts 2 · chapter mention

spoken before that. Right before he says repent, he preached

to them. If you look in your Bibles right now,

if you look in your Bibles right now, verse 17

to 21, it was quoted verbatim from Joel 2, one

of the prophets. From verses 25 onwards, there is Psalms,

there is Psalms 110, there is Psalms 160. Do you

see that it is only the Word of God that

can cause a change, right? And so I want to

say that the basis of any repentance must be from

the Word of God, okay? And then after that, they

had to change, they have to now acknowledge Him, not

just as Lord and Saviour Christ, they will eventually have

to change their response to Him and say, you are

my Master. Have you ever called Jesus your Master? If

you've never called it, call Him that your Master, then

you have not been a servant. Because that's a relationship

between a master and servant. You can be serving, you

can be a leader, but if you've never called Jesus

as your master, then you have not really heard Him

or obeyed Him. You've obeyed your earthly masters, but not

your heavenly one. I think that's an important distinction. You

have to change your response to Jesus. And they have

to change which side they decide to stand on right now.

Are we standing on the world's side? Or are we

going to stand with Jesus when it's going to be

the hardest thing for you to do? Do you know

that standing for God is not easy? In today's day

and age, even more. The world's gone crazy, alright? I

want to give you that from verse... Why we need

to make a difference in the way we stand. In

verse 40, Acts 2.40, it says this. And with many

other words, this is Peter, he testified and exhorted them saying,

be saved from this perverse generation.

Do you agree that this is a perverse.

Generation that we live in? It is perverse.

It is really perverse.

And yet, the world and the enemy has so cleverly

deceived us that we've been so desensitized to sin. We

are so desensitized. Or people walking around naked, it's okay,

their body. Let's glorify it.

People having extramarital relation, nah, it's their problem.

Our media, our movies, they glorify sin, murder, violence. And

you know, do you get grossed out? Most of us,

we're like, nothing. I see flesh walking around, nothing. Nothing.

We are so desensitized, you know, friends. And the enemy

has done a great job at desensitizing us to what

is holy. And that's the real challenge. Everything around us

screams that it's okay, it's normal. If you're not in,

then you're out. It is a perverse generation. If you

think this generation is not depraved and wicked, then I

think we need to get our standards right. What are

you comparing these standards to? This? If you compare it

to these standards, then you'll realise how crooked this world

has become. And we've become so okay with it. We've

become so okay, you know?

And that's the hard part.

Yeah?

And so, how do we truly repent?

Three ways, okay? Number one is our thoughts. Let's go

to the next slide. Okay, I've gone past this. Let's go,

let's go, let's go. Repentance means leaving everything and anything

behind that rejects Jesus and His ways. Okay? Yeah? Okay,

let's go to the next one. I want to read

to you this quote that I found so profound by

this German pastor. Of course, he stood up against the

Nazis and he was beheaded for his stance.

He was executed.

And he wrote this book called The Cause of Discipleship.

He knows what discipleship means. He says, cheap grace is

the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance. Now, just God

forgives you, but you don't have to change. Continue living

with your boyfriend. Baptism without church discipline. We're not very

good at this church discipline thing. We try. We try.

Communion without confession. Absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is

grace without discipleship. Grace without the cross. Grace without Jesus Christ.

Cheap grace. And I don't think we want cheap grace.

The grace that Jesus gave us came at the cost,

a great cost of His own life. Okay? So how

do we truly repent? Let's go to the next slide. Next. Now,

Three things. Number one is the repentance in your thoughts. Okay?

Repentance in your thoughts. There must be a conviction of sin,

which some of you know. There must be a conviction.

And how are you convicted? When you read something that

is right. When you hear something that is right. When

you hear a preaching that's right. Okay? That's conviction. And

you know Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and

fallen short of the glory of God. Do you believe that?

And you read it and go like, Yes, all of

us have sinned. Nobody is innocent.

Even the nursing babies. All have sin. It's in our nature.

So this begins to transform your thought.

Let's go.

Repentance is when I stop insisting, God, you agree with me. God,

I think my way is better. God, I think my

plan is better. Repentance is when I say, God, I

think your way is better. Your word is better. Although

it's hard. Although it's challenging. but you know better. Okay?

So let's go to the next thought. And Romans 12,

2 continues to teach us this, right? Do not be

conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing

of your mind that you may prove what is that

good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Are you

renewing your minds or not, friends? I was so convicted

of this yesterday that I became even more conscious of

what I consume now on my phone. Right, it's like

I could do something that's very mindless, that's like, you know,

no harm, but not very beneficial either. It's just a

feel good lah. I like to go into like a

feel good, you know. But then I realised, is it

adding to my spirit? Probably not.

The temptation is there, it's like, oh, it's nice. Do

you see the things ah?

Sin is very pleasurable. Very pleasurable. And you... You can

be like, it's okay one ma. Nothing, it's not harming

other people. Right? It's not really harming me. But it

will harm your relationship with God. Just think about that.

What kind of decisions you make. Are you renewing your mind?

How are you renewing your mind? What are you consuming?

What are you reading? What are you watching? What are

your thoughts on? Friends, this one continues to be. So

our mind needs to continuously repent. Repent. Towards God. And so,

read the Bible so that the next time I ask

you a question, then you can answer me straight away. Yeah?

I mean, it takes us a lifetime, lah. A lifetime

to know this God that we love and serve.

But it's a pleasure, do you know?

It's a pleasure to know God. It's a joy to

know God and to obey Him. And I want to

give you that, okay? God is not there like a headmaster, like,

you all do wrong, you all do wrong. No! God,

in His best nature, Loving self is saying, if you

follow these commandments, you will reap the best life. Most

of us don't think it's the best life. Most of

us think it's like rules, obedience, you're cramping my style. God,

you know, you don't appreciate my creative expression. You know,

my aesthetics, you know, the way I like to be.

We're all very, not we all, there is a trend, right?

The zeitgeist of today is like, oh, it's all about me.

What I feel, what I like, what I don't like.

And the right is me.

It's okay.

That's the world. But for me, I made a choice

to say, God, it's not my right. It's your right.

It's your right to dictate.

Not dictate. To show me how to live righteously. Because

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Right?

And if we obey him, then we will live that life. Right? Right?

So repentance of the thoughts, our mind. Next one. This

one is very, next thought. Now, repentance in words. So

first one, repentance in thought. What are you thinking about? Repentance.

Then you get the conviction. Now next one, this is

something that I feel that we don't practice enough.

Repentance means you confess your sin.

When was the last time you confessed your sin to someone?

There's a verse that says if you confess your sins

to one another, God will Heal. Right. And I don't,

I would have to say that the Catholic priests or

the Catholics do this much better than us. They have

confession booth, right? They go to the priest and they confess.

When was the last time you actually confessed? God or not?

And verse 1 John 1, it says, if we confess,

I'll say it now, this is the word of God.

It says, if we confess, that means if you don't confess,

the other is true, no? It says, if we confess

our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us

our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness.

Which also reads that if we don't.

Confess our sins, He will not forgive us our sins.

Have you read of it that way before? Huh?

I thought God must forgive all sins. He says, if

you confess. So have you confessed? Next thought.

Next slide. Confession must be sincere and specific. Do you

know that one of the patterns that I caught from

all the reading of the confessions earlier, right? They always say,

I'm a sinner. Right? So all of us will agree, yes,

I'm a sinner. Anyone don't agree that you're a sinner?

We all agree that we are sinners. But maybe in

our thoughts, you might say, my sin is not as

bad as Raphael's sin. It's Raphael, always going to run around,

don't know do what, shoot those kind of videos. Or Graham, Graham,

always on social media. What kind of standard? It's two ways,

you know. You could either say that sin is better

or worse than yours. I'm a better person, I'm a

worse person. It can go both ways. But you're using

the wrong basis, friends. Totally wrong standard to measure. The

only way you want to compare yourself to, right, is

not your neighbour but Jesus. That should be the standard

of your judgement. Not another pastor. Wah, that pastor also

can do like that. No! What would Jesus do? What

does He say? What has He commanded us? And so friends,

I want us to begin now to take this confession

seriously and it's got to be specific. I want to

give you two stories. Can we go to the next slide?

What's the next slide? Yeah. Most people think of sin

as related to sexual sins only. I don't know. Most

of us think like, oh, I didn't do anything wrong.

wrong or perverse in that way. There is that sexual sins.

God is very clear about those. But it's that and more.

God hates sin.

Do you get this concept?

Any sin is sin. And God hates sin. True repentance

shares that hate of sin. Do you hate sin? Do

you hate sin as much as God? When you begin

to have that hatred of sin, then you're truly repenting.

You're turning your life around. Let's go to the next one. Okay,

my time.

Two quick story.

I heard this preacher shared this about repentance, true repentance, right?

So number one, A girl came to him, a college

campus came to him, and she said, Pastor, can you

pray for me? I really want to be filled with

the Holy Spirit. How many of us want to be filled, right?

That's our team, revival. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.

So he prayed for her, prayed that the Holy Spirit

will come. But nothing happened after prayer. This pastor was like, hmm,

this prayer is not working. So he says, okay, by

the inspiration of God, he says, now, I want us

to pray again, but you ask God, What is something

that you've done in your life that's not pleasing to him? Okay,

let's pray. Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Then after that,

end of prayer, she opened up her eyes and she says,

I think I know what to do. I think I

know what to do. So she left him, you know.

She ran away, not ran away. So what she did was,

she used to work in a department store, right? And

so one of the late nights when she was working,

she was working as a secretary to the boss. And

so one of the nights she saw on the counter, right,

there was this really beautiful bracelet. Nobody around, ma? Midnight war.

And it was only 10 bucks. So she took it.

And then she was so convicted through that prayer, she

ran up to the boss's office and she says, You know,

many nights ago, and you know, I was working here,

I saw this bracelet, and I took it, and it

was wrong of me. And she puts 10 ringgit, she says,

I'm paying for it. And of course, the boss is like, huh?

It's okay, it's only 10 bucks. It's okay lah, who

knows what else he's been pinching from the department store, right?

Never mind. But he's like, no, no, I insist that

I pay for it. Then of course, he was very

awkward lah, right? And then she left. And then, in

the car on the way home, she praised God in

tongues like never before. That kind of confession. That kind

of repentance. Another story of the pencil. Quick one. Do

you all know Lord William Booth, the founder of Salvation Army?

Salvation Army, you all know, right? So there's a story

behind it. His name is William Booth. And his life,

nothing dramatic. He just said that his point of conversion

was one day when he heard the preacher, again, hearing

the word, preacher said, yeah, preacher said that, you know,

something was, you know, you have to live your life right.

And he realised that he took a pencil from one

of his friends from school. And so he went back

to the friend and he apologized.

He's a 13-year-old, I think.

He apologized and says, I took this, I cheated you

out of this pencil and I give it to you.

And he shared that his testimony, after that his burden

was just lifted up and then he went on to

become that great man that he was. From that one

incident of repentance, you know. It's a pencil, who cares?

God cares. Can preach with me already. It's a pencil.

What are some of the sins in our lives that

we have not confessed? And I say this, right? Repentance

in your mind, repentance in your mouth. You confess it.

You actually say, God, I was lazy. Do you know

laziness is a sin? You didn't know that? I was

lazy and I confessed it. And then the third part

of repentance is is in your action. You correct that sin.

Is it possible to correct? Yes. Whenever it's possible, you

correct that sin. You hurt someone, just like I go

and slap Grace, right? I go to her and say,

I'm so sorry. You can slap me now on my

left and right cheek. You can do something. Of course,

I don't have time to go through the story of Zacchaeus.

He showed, you know repentance can be seen? It's not

just I feel sorry about it.

No.

Your life changed, you know. He says all those things

that I've taken from the people, I give back four times.

Four times, you know. And he's like happy about it.

He's like, I'm not going to calculate, you know. I

wronged you, but I'm going to correct it. Wow. That

is what repentance really is. I just want to invite

now the band to come on stage. So I want

you to think about this, right? That Have you confessed

your sin? And I think we want to make a

bit of room and space for us to just stand

before God. Come, we can stand. Let's stand, let's stand.

And ask the Lord, God, what is the one thing

that I've done that has displeased you? And I want

to confess that right now and ask you for help

to change. We need help to change, friends. We really

need help to change in our ways because Like I said,

if you come in and come out every Sunday without

a changed life, without a changed habit, without a changed

way of thinking, then you will remain the same for

the next 40 years of your life. However many years

you have left in your life. Do you see what

I mean? And I don't think we want to be that.

We want to be more like Jesus. And it starts

with confession. And that's what exactly Pastor Joy preached, right?

Repent and believe. Do you know before you can believe,

For more of God, we have to start with repentance first. Amen.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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God bless.