Driving with a GPS is a normal thing now. Drivers under 30 could hardly imagine being without one! Most of my driving was done before they were invented and I have been very lost before. Being truly lost is a thing of the past. If you have a smart phone and a signal, your phone will tell you where you are and street by street how to get to your goal.
If you don’t follow the right path sometimes it will announce “make a U-turn.” That means you’re going the wrong way.
The biblical idea of repentance is a lot like a U-turn and is required in order to be a Christian.
When John came preaching, his message was to repent (Mat. 3:1-2).
Jesus said to repent (Mat. 4:17).
When Jesus sent out the disciples to help in his earthly ministry, they preached repentance (Mark 6:12).
When the gospel was preached to bring men into the church it began with repentance (Acts 2:38).
Jesus said without repentance you will be lost (Lk. 13:3,5).
Jesus said repentance was required for the remission of sins (Lk. 24:47).
Paul preached that God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).
When Jesus spoke to the churches of Asia in Revelation 2 & 3, he told them to repent and added these words, (Rev 3:19) “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”
If you travel east on Hwy 74 towards Waynesville there is place where the Blue Ridge Parkway crosses over the highway. The overpass is right there above you and a sign on the bridge clearly marks it as the Blue Ridge Parkway. But there is NO entrance going east. In order to get on the Parkway you MUST make a U-turn and come from the other way. Jesus said there is no way to get to Heaven unless you repent, so make that turn!
- Tim Orbison