This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day three of our Look Through Matthew chapter 11. We're talking this
week about what to do when we face barriers to our faith. What do you do when
you face doubt?

We talked about it in day one. You tell Jesus about it, you listen to what he
has to say, you look at what Jesus is doing in the world. What do you do when
you have a critical spirit?

We talked about humility yesterday, the power of humility in our lives. Today
we're going to see what Jesus has to say about one of the greatest barriers of
faith, indifference. Not active doubt or active criticism, but just bland
indifference.

That keeps more people from faith, that keeps more people from living the kind
of life that God has us to live than any other thing. In verses 20 to 24, Jesus
said this, "Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his
miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin,
woe to you, Bethsaida, if the miracles that were performed in you had been
performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and
ashes.

But I tell you, it would be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the Day of
Judgment than for you and you, Capernaum. Will you be lifted up to the skies?
No, you will go down to the depths.

If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would
have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for
Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you. " Wow.

Jesus has some strong words to say about indifference, because he knows how
dangerous indifference is. Now, by the way, he talks about Chorazin and
Bethsaida and the miracles that he did there. We don't read about any of those
miracles in the Gospels.

Remember John at the end of his Gospels said, "I suppose if all the things that
were ever done by Jesus were written, it wouldn't fill all the books in the
world. " There are so many miracles that Jesus worked, so many things that he
did, we don't even get to read about. Just think about all that he did while he
was on this earth that we don't even know about.

But he does talk about them seeing all these miracles, and Capernaum, where we
do read about several miracles. And he says, they turn their back on him, and he
says, because of that, you're going to face judgment. He has some very frank
words here for those who struggle with apathy and indifference.

This is what keeps many people from coming to faith. It's not that they're angry
with God. They just don't care.

For those who have faith in Jesus, who come to a place of faith, apathy and
indifference can begin to erode and eventually overwhelm your life. One day you
were passionate about sharing your faith, or passionate about prayer, but now
you wake up and you realize, I don't care that much anymore. How do you change?

What brings you to faith when you're an indifferent person, and what keeps you
growing in faith as you struggle with indifference in your Christian life? The
answer in one word is the word repent. Jesus says in verse 20, it's because you
didn't repent.

In verse 21, they would have repented long ago. So Jesus teaches us here that
the answer to indifference is not a slow answer. I'm going to slowly become more
excited about life.

No, it is a sudden answer. It's repentance. God does not ask for perfection in
our lives.

He understands our sin, but he does ask for repentance. One of the reasons that
we become indifferent in our life as a Christian is we stop repenting. Let me be
clear here.

You only need to repent once of your sins to be saved. You don't have to repent
again and again. Every week can be saved again and again.

The first time you repented, you were saved. God forgave your sins, past,
present, and future. But as a Christian, once saved, you have to regularly
repent of heading in the wrong direction, of having the wrong kind of heart, and
ask God to change you.

When you do that, Acts 3 19 is empowered in your life. I love this verse, which
says, "Repent therefore in return, that your sins may be wiped away in order
that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. " It is easy to
miss the beauty of the end of that promise, times of refreshing coming from the
presence of the Lord.

It's easy to miss the beauty of what I'm talking about in a changed life because
of the very word that I'm using, the Bible word "repent. " That word conjures up
images of a sweating, hellfire, and brimstone preacher pounding the pulpit, spit
hitting the first row as he yells, "Repent! " Maybe I didn't need to include the
part about spit, but you were thinking it anyway, so I included it.

This word "repent," it brings to our minds this crazy end-of-the-world prophet,
complete with long hair and beard and robe, holding a sign on a busy street
corner with this word scrawled and dripping red paint, "repent," and then "or
die" underneath. I have a conviction that Satan is running a smear campaign on
this word. The truth is, the word "repent" is one of the most beautiful words in
the English language.

It just means to turn around, to start over, to make a U-turn with your life.
The way to change indifference is not slowly, as I said earlier, but in a
U-turn, immediately. That's what repentance is all about.

I need to think differently today, not tomorrow, not next week, today. God would
you help me to think differently. Repentance is more than just turning over a
new leaf.

Repenting means that you turn and you begin to live a new life. That's what God
wants to do in your life. Once you see what this word really means, that's when
the joy of the promise of repentance starts to shine in your life.

God can give you the power to change. God can give you the power to do a 180.
Things do not have to stay the way that they are.

The feelings of indifference that you have right now, they don't have to stay in
your life. Satan tells you that they do. Of course he does.

He's a liar. But they do not. No matter what you've done, no matter how bad
things are, no matter how long you haven't cared, he is calling you to return to
him.

And when you do, he gives times of refreshing. Several of the churches in the
book of Revelation who were struggling, the message that God had to give to them
was, in order for you to renew my will, my direction, your passion, in order for
those things to be renewed in your life, you've got to repent. It's like a
springtime in your soul.

Your circumstances may not change, your struggles might stay the same, but you
change. You do the 180. And that changes everything.

Repenting means taking a radically different direction in life. And if you
don't, if you don't regularly repent, take a radically different direction in
life, you're going to find yourself being swept up in the thoughts and the
direction of this world. And this world will eventually erode away your love and
your passion for Christ.

When you wake up one morning thinking, "I just don't care anymore," what's the
answer when you feel that way? Repent. Repent.

Do a U-turn, a 180. Trust in him again. Let's take a minute to do that right
now.

Just say to him in prayer, "Father, I don't want to be indifferent. I don't want
to be a person without a heart and a passion to live for you. And so right now,
I come to you and I repent.

I repent of those things that I've allowed to come into my life that have been
eroding my love for you, or thoughts, or gossip, or images, or words, or other
pursuits, whatever it might be. God, I want to turn around. I want to talk about
the things that you want me to talk about.

I want to look at the things that you want me to look at. I want to be the man
or woman that you want me to be. And so God, right now, I ask that my heart
would do that 180, would do that turnaround as I turn to you.

Lord, I'm trusting you, not for my feelings right now. I'm trusting you for the
actions that I take in my life today. I want to act in the ways that you want me
to act.

And I trust that out of that, I will begin to feel the joy again. I'll begin to
feel what only you can do in my life again. But I start by trusting you and not
me.

I don't want to live this way the rest of my life. I want to live a life of
passion for you with a heart of love for you. And so I turn, I intentionally
turn, I head in that direction right now.

In Jesus' name, I do this. Amen.