TITLE:  Monster in the Mirror
TEXT:  Acts 17:30-31
PROPOSITION:  Repentance demand that we see who we really are.
QUESTION:  How?
KEY WORD:  Facets
SCRIPTURE READING:  Same

INTRODUCTION:

1. Halloween – pagan origin – Druids
2. Adapted into religious calendar – day before “All Saints Day”
3. The night before “All Hallows Eve” – wild night before saints control
4. Similar to Mardi Gras (wild Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and Lent)
5. Let me make clear:
   1. I do not encourage the use of witchcraft and satanic practices
   2. I do not have a problem with children in costume – Trick or Treat
6. With all this time of fun – an important though is missing.
7. There are real horrors in our world – crime, terrorists, evil, wickedness
8. Today – Repentance is a forgotten doctrine
   1. Jesus and John the Baptizer demanded repentance
   2. Paul (our text) requires repentance
9. Three Facets to Repentance

Expressing Repentance

1. 1930’s movie – Frankenstein – monster is loose, everyone afraid, chasing him, enters a house, sees himself in the mirror – frightened, repelled, horrified – at his own image.
2. Bible illustration – David – Adultery with Bathsheba – Nathan – “You are that man.” (2 Samuel 12:5-9)
3. Psalm 51 is David repenting – after he saw the monster in the mirror
4. Jesus parable – Man with 2 sons – Matthew 21:28-32

Explaining Repentance

1. Repentance is a collision of perception with truth – Malachi 3:7
2. Repentance is a confusion of old thinking and new doubts – Haggai 1:7; Luke 5:32
3. Repentance is a consciousness of sin against God – Psalm 51:3
4. Repentance is a courage to agree with God and disagree with the world
   1. Psalm 51:4
   2. Isaiah 55:6-7
   3. Job 42:6 – Job sees the monster in the mirror
5. Repentance is a continuation in the new walk
   1. Many make resolutions, changes, turn over a new leaf
   2. We must continue in our changed way

Experiencing Repentance

1. Have you experienced repentance in your life?
2. Prodigal Son – Luke 15
   1. Wasted living – doing wrong
   2. In the pig pen – he saw the monster in the mirror
   3. Private Knowledge – came to himself
   4. Personal Inventory – Father’s servants better than I am
   5. Public Confession – Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight