Right after delivering the powerful directive, “Unless you repent, you will perish,” Jesus told an important parable:

A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. (Luke 13:6-9)

The Lord wants fruit. In the parable of the four soils, He taught that there are four types of people to whom the Word of God comes, and only one of those four soils produces fruit “with patience.” (Luke 8:5-15) Of the three nonproductive soils, one has the Seed/Word of God stolen by satan before it can even germinate, one receives the Word with joy and believes for a while but in time of testing falls away, and one “brings no fruit to perfection,” being choked with “cares and riches, and pleasures of this life.” It is very important that we examine ourselves to see if we are now in the faith–or if the soil of our heart is currently producing “fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (Rom. 6:22)

It is not enough to have had a moment of faith sometime in the past–to have received the Word with joy, to have believed for a while, or to have produced immature fruit which has never been brought to perfection. In John 15, Jesus taught that we must abide (remain) in Him in order to continue to produce fruit. Attached to this command is a warning: all branches that stop abiding in the Vine will become fruitless and wither away. What will be their end?–being cast into the fire!

Returning to the parable in Luke 13, I notice that for three years the owner of the vineyard sought fruit on a certain fig tree. Finding none, he opted to cut it down, lest it overwork the ground for nothing. But the dresser of the vineyard pleaded for one more year, in which he would do everything in his power to make this tree fruitful–loosening the soil around the tree, fertilizing it, etc. This tree had one last chance to produce fruit or be cut down; this tree had “a space to repent.”

The false prophetess in the church of Thyatira had a space to repent, but she had not repented, and she would be judged. She had been teaching believers they could fornicate and partake of the table of demons as well as the table of God (Rev. 2:18-23). These same false teachings are abundant in our churches today, and many have been deceived by them, “having itching ears” that desire to live in sin while professing to know God–they profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.(Titus 1:16)

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Tim. 2:19)

There is a space to repent of these wicked works and wicked teachings–only a space, and a space has an end. There is a day in which we must “seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” (Isa. 55:6) In Noah’s day, there was a space to repent that lasted 120 years, while Noah preached righteousness and worked out his own salvation with fear and trembling, obeying God’s instructions carefully. Jesus taught that the end will come “as in the days of Noah”–while people are at ease, not considering the end of their careless rebellion against God, judgment will come upon them suddenly, and they will find to their horror that the door of salvation has been closed to them.

With Paul, I beseech you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, even as others have done to their own destruction. (2 Cor. 6:2; Heb. 3:15) To hear His voice when you know you have been lukewarm and fruitless, is to receive a merciful space to repent. Remember the lesson in I Cor. 10:1-12–many came out of Egypt, were baptized in the sea, and drank of Christ, only to be overthrown in the wilderness because they did not hold fast to the truth and continue to produce the good fruit of holiness to the Lord.

John the Baptist spoke to the Pharisees, “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (Matt. 3:9) I say to my readers, “Think not to say within yourselves, I have had a good beginning and have served in the church, and I don’t need to repent of my lukewarm and divided heart or my friendship with the world–for I say unto you that Christ will spew out the lukewarm and cut down the fruitless!”

While your space to repent remains, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:8-10)

Begin today to bring forth the fruits consistent with repentance! “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (Matt. 3:10) The axe is laid, even now, dear reader!

May God bless you.

http://israeliteindeed./2011/06/12/a-space-to-repent/

I wonder why my itching ear friends , always avoid topics such as this.

When it concerns money, wealth , miracles and health , they get excited, but the moment you start to mention obedience to GOD, they flee.

Shocking !!!

^^^

Now you know why the Churches with enough "theatrics" have their pews filled as opposed to those that preach the true unadulterated Word of God. People like entertainment in the wrong places it seems.

Religion is the biggest scam of all time!

May be you should try and summarize your post, and then it will be interesting for people to run through… Seriously we all do many things at the same time.

So I think if you can give us what will just take our 2 minutes, than 5 to 6 minutes people like us will find it more interesting…, at least I just won talk my mind sha

Even more interesting than them avoiding such topics as Frosbel pointed out, is the fact that any discerning student, will realize they are the legalistic party. Use your brain and they will pick a quote, set it out of context and insist that is what it means. Request that the lives of the Biblical examples be brought into reality i.e. Jesus didn't search for wealth etc and neither did Peter, Paul etc and they find quotes to support a money based "gospel".

Now if YOU then (in the spirit of Christianity, which is about Heaven) present a quote, you are then told you require "revelation knowledge" and have babyteeth,

Right now, this poster is about to learn (on some new thread here) that some truths are great and some are lesser. My pencil and 2B exercise book are ready. And so is my theology

nuclearboy:

Even more interesting than them avoiding such topics as Frosbel pointed out, is the fact that any discerning student, will realize they are the legalistic party. Use your brain and they will pick a quote, set it out of context and insist that is what it means. Request that the lives of the Biblical examples be brought into reality i.e. Jesus didn't search for wealth etc and neither did Peter, Paul etc and they find quotes to support a money based "gospel".

Now if YOU then (in the spirit of Christianity, which is about Heaven) present a quote, you are then told you require "revelation knowledge" and have babyteeth,

Right now, this poster is about to learn (on some new thread here) that some truths are great and some are lesser. My pencil and 2B exercise book are ready. And so is my theology

Bross, please can you nail out your point very well? It seems I can’t really get at what you are trying to say.

nuclearboy:

Right now, this poster is about to learn (on some new thread here) that some truths are great and some are lesser. My pencil and 2B exercise book are ready. And so is my theology

^
I would be surprised if he-who-shall-not-be-named posts any further on that thread about greater versus lesser truth. I am hoping he will so that we can see an illustration of their technique of twisting God's word into fables.

[size=13pt]<sup>Nonsense thread!

You that is spamming this board with your so- called preachings have you repented from the pretense lifestyle you have been living. . . huh . Remove the dirty from your eyes first before planning to remove the dirties from someone else eyes that you doesn't even know .

WORD - we're all in the same gutter !!</sup> [/size]

^

I understand the TRUTH hurts deep into the soul, especially when it is God's word that does the convicting.

May his grace avail for us to live right.

@regged4u: read it again till you get it

@Aletheia:

Seems we pay him too much attention without which his threads die as embryos

[size=13pt]^{Your God that even deserve to be kicked from the backside you want people to confess their sins to again? I can see you Christians are really arrogant. . . wait and see! Our time is now. You berra go and tell that your Jesus to remain where ever he is now because ma men are fully prepared to send him back the second time.} [/size]