Turn with me to Romans chapter
two. Let me get started. Romans chapter two. Of course, I am still on the
same subject. Godly repentance. Godly repentance. This will be
my second message on the subject of godly repentance. And let
me read this one verse again. Chapter two, verse four. And
as I pointed out before to you, some of these places will go,
I'll move through maybe a larger portion of scripture, won't deal
with a lot of it, and maybe deal with its essential aspects and
then move on, but there may be other places we'll stop and park
for a while. Verse four of Romans two, Paul
wrote these words. Or despiseth thou the riches
of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering? That's a frightful
thing, isn't it? It's a frightful thing to think
anyone would actually do that, you know what I mean? But yet
it's even more frightful to me that I know that that is down
in here in this old man. It's down here in me in this
old man. Or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance? How much does God put up with
us, even as his people? and longsuffering, aren't we
grateful for the forbearance and longsuffering of God? I mean,
let me put it this way, and I'll qualify it later. Everybody likes
God's goodness, don't we? Until they're told God's goodness
is a person, Jesus Christ, the Lord. Oh, but how grateful we ought
to be for his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering. But that's
not the connotation Paul's giving here, though, is it? He's giving
it in the negative. Are you this well? Or despiseth
thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Now, last week, I told you I
would give you seven things concerning repentance. This is by no means
exhaustive, but the truth of repentance in this book will
fall under these seven things. I do not have the time nor the
ability to deal with repentance in all that it is. I gave you
four of those things last week, but before I mention those four
things briefly, just to bring us back up to speed and go through
the other three, that's five, six, and seven, let me remind
us of this. Now remember what I said, and
I wanna, I just go back in my notes here to make sure I say
it the same way I said it before when I preached. in this letter in chapters one,
two, and three, basically. Now, he doesn't leave the subject.
Chapter five, he'll deal with it some again. But Paul here
reveals how God's wrath is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men in three major ways. The first one, and it's seen
basically in chapter one, verses 18 through 32, it was man's perversion
of the natural order. God alone is to be worshiped,
but men worship everything else. And it's not good enough just
to worship God, worship other things as long as you worship
God. You either worship God alone
or you do not worship God at all. So that was in chapter one,
verses 18 through 32. Then the second thing was this,
man's finger-pointing and self-justification. And that's the passages, the
context we're in now. Of course, we've seen that in
chapter two, verses one through 29, and we've only got to verse
four so far. Man's finger-pointing and self-justification. But we also see that God's, Wrath
is revealed from heaven against man's ungodliness and righteousness.
In chapter three, verses one through 20, man's universal,
full, complete, total corruption. Most people do not understand. They do not have the spiritual
capacity to lay hold of the fact that the fall of Adam and the
whole human race therein is a result of God's judgment against sin. It's not, now I gotta be careful
how I say this, it's not an unfortunate consequence that God had to back
up and then consider and deal with. If Christ was as the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, then God, I'm gonna
put it this way at least, God knew there would be the need
of redemption from sin. but I will go so far as to say
God ordained to suffer sin to exist in this world. He could
have kept a tree out of the garden, but it wasn't his holy, wise
will because his free, sovereign mercy and grace would have never
been experienced by his creatures had Adam not fallen in the garden. And there's a passage, let me
see if I can find it. Can you bear with me just a moment? I
probably won't be able to find it. Somebody help me. But God be
thanked. Well, that's all right, I've kind of got it in my mind.
But God be thanked. This is what Paul writes in this
epistle to the church in Rome. But God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin. Weird statement, huh? But God
be thanked. Not that you used to be, but
that you were the servants of sin. But, now he goes on, but
thank God Thank God we are what we are by nature under his judgment
because now God shows us grace and mercy, goodness and forbearance
and long-suffering. The angels have no, I know I'm
not wording this correct, I'm sure, but they probably stand
in all of what God's doing for us in Christ. You know, they
are holy beings whose whole being, that's the ones who didn't fall,
they are whole beings whose whole being is about serving the master,
serving the creator. And one, Writer once said, a
preacher once said, and I believe it's certainly true, if God sent
an angel down to rule a whole nation, or sent an angel down
just to sweep the streets of that nation, both would do it
with equal zeal and love for God. But we on the other hand,
huh? We on the other hand, there's
that part of us that says, I want the big job, hmm? would feel
a little put off if God give us the street sweeping job. That's how bad our flesh is.
So, let's get back up, this brings us back up to speed. We're on
the part of where man, God's judgment is revealed against
man's self justification and finger pointing. About repentance. The first four things, things
we looked at last time. God commands repentance of all
mankind now. all mankind. And the sad thing
is, people want to argue and debate about, in the time of
this ignorance God winked at, and they want to debate about
that and argue about that. And you can do that until you're
blue in the face. But they don't want to deal with the real issue
that was stated there. But God now commandeth all men. everywhere to repent. Now, if
I don't understand the first part of that truth, that's one
thing. But bless God, I'm under the
second part, whether I understand it, like it or not. But God now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent. But he does not lead
all men everywhere to repent by his goodness, does he? because
it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. And
let me put it this way, that could be summed up this way,
it's the goodness of God that makes us repent. It's the goodness
of God that enables us to repent. It's the goodness of God that
makes us willing to repent. It's the goodness of God that
brings about that choice to repent. And we do choose to repent, but
only after the goodness of God leads us to it. So God commands
all men everywhere to repent. That's the first thing. Secondly,
he gives some men and women space to repent. He says this in his
book. One individual is actually told,
I gave her space to repent. Excuse me. And they do not. God has given all kinds of men
and women upon the face of this earth space to repent. But they
do not. Here's the third thing. Except
men and women repent, They shall perish. They shall perish. Now, I don't mean to say this
to be critical, but sometimes I feel that amongst God's people,
amongst those who have a sound understanding, at least relatively
so, a sound understanding of the truths of God's free and
sovereign grace, Repentance kind of seems to be over here to the
side, you know? It's a lot about believing Christ
and bowing to Christ, and don't get me wrong, we must believe
Christ. We must bow to Christ. But the
Apostle Paul made it clear to some folks. He said, this is
what we preach. We preach repentance toward God and faith toward the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you can't leave either one
of those out. but so-called Christian religion
is full of people who has one side or the other. They talk
a lot about repentance toward God, but they say very little,
if anything, about faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. But there
are others who talk about faith in Jesus, believe in Jesus, and
you better believe in Jesus, but they rarely ever speak, if
at all, about repentance toward God. And notice that it is repentance
toward God, but I'm, If I go into that in detail, I'll be
jumping ahead, because God willing, we'll look at that. So that's
three of them. Except men repent, they shall
all likewise perish. But we've seen this also. Some seek repentance carefully
with tears, but they don't find it. And I tried to illustrate
it with this. I mean, I'm not saying it's true
with all drunks that you would find under the bridge, but let
me also say that not all drunks are found under the bridge either.
But I'm just illustrating. Most of us have probably seen,
at least on TV, I knew of a couple. There was one in Princeton that
lived up under the back porch of the business I used to work
at, and he slept on cardboard that we'd have out there when
we unloaded the boxcars, an old nasty blanket. It was sad. But I just think most of those
people would rather live some other way than the way they're
living. But let me tell you, I know there are people, so they
all just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, quit being
so self-righteous. Quit being so self-righteous.
Because let me tell you something, God put that person there. You
hear what I'm saying? I can see me now in my self-righteousness
looking at the prodigal son down in the hog pen and say, oh, if
he would just pull himself up by his own bootstraps, he couldn't
until God brought him to the end of himself. Until God brought
him to the end of himself. And the problem is, it's not
a dollar bill or two that people need, this drunk needs, it's
the grace of God. And if God saves that drunk under
the bridge, he's gonna hear that gospel from a gospel preacher
of some sort. and that gospel preacher's gonna
seek more than just his soul. If that drunk believed Mason,
that gospel preacher's gonna try to get him in a local assembly,
get him some help. You understand what I'm saying?
So, some seek repentance carefully with tears, but they never find
it. When I was in religion years ago, oh, how many people came
forward crying tears. And I'm not, Ellen, I can't say
they weren't sincere. Come forward and their lives
in shambles. It's a mess. And who wants to
live that way? even if salvation's not the consideration. You understand what I'm saying?
Who wants to live to where husband and wife are at it all the time,
and fighting, and the children are rebellious, and who wants
to live like that? Sadly, I must say, I think some
people do. But not everybody does. But people
are there because of the judgment of God against sin. Let's move on. Here's the fifth
thing. Turn to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11, are you there?
Let me give the statement and then we'll look at the scripture
which declares this. You know, I know preachers and
even believers accused of you know, making a statement and
then just trying to find a verse that backs it up. That's not
what I'm doing here. I'm saying the truth was there
first. I seen it in God's word, so I said that's a valid point.
You know what I mean? Here's the statement. Here's number
five. God must grant repentance. God must grant repentance. Now there are other places that
say it in a little different words, but it's still the same
thing. God must grant, and what is a grant? Well, there's an
illustration to that. You can get, certain people can
get grants from the U.S. government. If you get a grant,
guess what? You don't even have to pay it
back. And we can say, well, it's given just for the asking, and
that's true. Now, you may have to go through
a bunch of red tape paperwork, but it's there just for the asking.
But look at what it says here. Verse 18 of Acts 11. When they heard these things,
and let me just give just a brief background of what, look at what
was said here in verse 17. For as much then as God gave
them the like gift as he did us, So this thing they're talking
about was a gift given. Do you see it? Not a gift offered,
but a gift given. For as much then as God gave
them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. I like this. What was I that
I could withstand God? Don't you like that? How many
people profess to be Christians today talk like that? Well, they
talk about withstanding God all the time. Because they say it
this way. If they don't say it outright,
well, I withstand God all the time. Man withstands God all
the time. They may not say it that way,
but they say God's done all he can do, now it's up to you. God
wants you. God doesn't want us to do anything.
God commands us to do what he commands to do. And God enables
some people to do what he commands to do. What was I that I could
withstand, God? When they heard these things,
they held their peace. Time to shut up at that, ain't
it? Just hold your peace. Hold your peace. And they glorified
God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life. You see that? Granted repentance
unto life. Now I will say this, God had
to give these Gentiles life before they could repent. But they still
had to be granted repentance unto life. Because you can't
even live the life of repentance until God gives you spiritual
life from the spiritual dead. Now, Peter's not dealing with
that here, but that is taught in this book. But what we're
on is this. They glorified God, saying, then
hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. And not only that, under this
fifth thing, God must grant repentance, but God must also give repentance
to men before they can and ever will acknowledge the truth. Second,
Timothy chapter two. Second Timothy chapter two. Now before I read the verse,
let me make sure I have the right one, yes, that's it. It's said that many people, I could probably
say most, but at least many people in professed Christianity think
of repentance only in this light. I'm real bad to cuss. And when
I repent, I quit cussing. You understand what I'm saying?
That's just one illustration. A drug addict, he or she's just hooked
on the drugs. And let me tell you something,
folks, those things do hook people. It hooks them, their body craves
it. It has to have it or they can
go into convulsion. Some may even die from it. But
most people think, here's that drug addict, and repentance is
quit being a drug addict and start, get straight, right? Well,
that is repentance. That is repentance. But think
about this. It's much more than that. Because
a lot of people quit drinking, quit taking drugs, but that is
not godly repentance. It may be, it may not be. You
see what I'm saying? Why do I say that? 2 Timothy
chapter two, and for the sake of time, just verse 25. In meekness,
oh God help me to do that. I remember for so many years
I didn't preach in meekness and I don't know if I'm doing it
too much now, but I'm trying. I'm trying. In meekness, instructing
those that, what did it say? Oppose themselves. And that's
what we are by nature. Well, I do this because I like
to do it. Yeah, you're opposing yourself.
Well, I enjoy doing that. You're opposing yourself. Well,
I just don't have the strength to quit. Well, you're opposing
yourself, even if you're telling the truth. Because if you realize
you don't have the strength, you ought to start looking to
someone who has the strength to help you. Huh? Look to God. Cry out unto
God for mercy. Cry out unto God for compassion.
Cry out to God for instruction. Ask God to take you down even
further. In meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves. And that's hard to do. Because
often people who oppose themselves are like this. Don't you tell
me about my problem. Not all of them are. Some of
them say, oh, I know, brother, I know. I know I need to turn
from this, I know I need to turn from that. I don't think, but
not everybody's like that. Some people, don't you tell me
about what I do wrong. In meekness instructing those
that oppose themselves, but then look at it. If God, and there
it is a true if. Now, it's not an if from God's
perspective, because God knows what he's going to do and what
he's not going to do. But it's an if from our perspective. We
don't know who God's going to do it for and who God may not
ever do it for. But if God, peradventure, will
give them repentance, not just to quit smoking cigarettes, you
see it? Now, if you think cigarettes
is wrong, it's a sin to you. I've got no problem with tobacco.
But if you think it's wrong, it's a sin to you. But look,
if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth. Now this is not just facts. Here it's the truth. And what
did Christ say? I am the way, the truth, and
the life. It is repentance to acknowledge
Christ as He is. Believe Him, receive Him, bow
down to Him, trust Him, give yourself to Him, submit yourself
to Him as He is revealed in this book. Not as we think He is or
as He ought to be, but as He is in this book. So you can quit
all the immoral things You can quit all the immoral things,
but if it doesn't have a repentance that acknowledges the truth,
it is human repentance. It is human repentance. But I
will go so far as to say this. If you acknowledge the truth,
but yet your whole life is about feeding your flesh and self,
that too is human repentance. You can accept all the glorious
doctrines of the grace of God, but if your life is still all
about me, me, me, I, I, I, it is human-wrought repentance.
It is not godly repentance. It is not a God-wrought repentance. It is not because God led you
by his goodness to repent. It's just because you got guilty
or whatever. I think we get older and we think
we're getting a little more holy, but you know what it is? We just
can't do the things we used to do. We're too daggone old and
tired. If I had the strength that I
have when I was 20 years old, God help me. Thank God I'm getting
older and some things I just can't do no more and things I
shouldn't be doing, Mason, but I just can't do them because
I'm too tired and too old. I forget too easy. And we look
at those things as advances in morality, and it's just getting
old, because all of that stuff's still in here. I know I'm forgetful. I am reminded of that quite a
bit, and I remind myself of that quite a bit. But my mind's still
relatively sharp, and I still, my mind wonders on self and sin
and Satan and the world. but get back in meekness instructing
those that oppose themselves. If God peradventured, my cries,
oh God, do that to me. This is not a one-time thing.
Again, in religion, in professed Christianity, some people think
repentance is like a one-time thing. You repent once, now later
you're supposed to confess your sins, but you don't have to really
repent. Boy, ain't that a pleasant world to live in. You make one
act of repentance, and you do pretty good for a while, but
then you start screwing up. Well, all you gotta do is confess it.
Well, you might as well go to a priest in a confessional booth,
right? but confession of sin is acknowledging
your corruption before God. It's not about just naming, Lord,
I did this and I shouldn't have done it. Now, you ought to do
that. I'm not telling you not to do it, but it's to confess
what you are before God as well, not just what you've done wrong
or what you should have done and didn't do. If peradventure,
God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
And many people read that and preachers preach that, but they
still don't, they really don't teach it. God's got to give you
repentance to acknowledging of the truth. And that's what Peter
was talking about when he said repentance unto life. It's actually
a life lived. Christ said, I come to give life
and give it abundantly. Now I know how some people talk
about that today, but there's abundant. Now when I not only
turn from idols, but I first turn to God from idols. Because repentance is, that's
gonna be my seventh point, but I'll give you this. Repentance
is turning away from some things. But you got to have something
to turn to first before you really start turning away from the things
you need to turn away from. Because if you just start turning
away from things you shouldn't do and you got nothing to turn
to, you're gonna come full circle and come right back around to
where you was before. Now, there's the circle. Here you are in your
bad state and you repent. That means you start this way.
But there's gotta be something that you latch onto with your
heart, mind, and soul that stops you in your tracks and you says,
right here's where I'm gonna camp for the rest of my life. But
again, I say Paul puts it this way concerning the Thessalonians,
and many of them were rank idolaters, folks. They worshiped idols and
stones, you know, idol and perverse immorality. But Paul says you
turned to God from idols. And I'm reminded of what our
dear Pastor Earl Cochran said years ago. If you try to turn
from idols to God, you'll never get to God because you got so
many idols, you'll never get rid of them first. So it's not
turning from your idols to God, it is turning to God from idols.
Now somebody said that's a play on words. Okay, maybe it is a
play on words, but it's the truth. It's the truth. God must grant
repentance. God must give repentance before
men will acknowledge the truth. Here's number six. Now my time's
about up as far as any kind of TV thing, but that's all right.
I'm not quitting quite yet. Here's number six. Turn to Jeremiah. Turn there
for Jeremiah chapter 31. I'll give you, I've got to give
myself time to get there too. Remember where I'm at, where
Jeremiah's at. Jeremiah 31. Let me see if I've got, yeah, that's
it. Okay, Jeremiah 31. Here's something else about repentance.
When God is pleased to yoke, to yoke, you know what the yoke
is, don't you? Like a big ol' ox, you have that big ol' yoke
you put on, it's like a, I don't know, it's called a yoke, but
it's just this massive thing you put over the beast's head,
down on its shoulders, and you put straps and other things to
it so that you can control that beast, right? So that you can
control that beast. When God is pleased to yoke,
bless God, you'll be yoked. And people say, well, I understand.
I believe you ought to preach sovereign grace, but don't tell
people, if you're one of God's, you'll come around one day. Really? Well, look at what the book says.
Here's what Jeremiah writes. Jeremiah 31 and verse 18. I have surely heard Ephraim. Now, who is Ephraim? It wasn't
just one man, although Ephraim was the daddy, but it's like
that whole tribe. They were bad folk. They were the depraved amongst
the depraved, if you know what I mean. I have surely heard Ephraim
bemoaning himself thus. And I think the thus is okay.
It's in italics, but because he's gonna describe to us why
he's bemoaning himself. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast corrected me. You see
it? That's what it means. Thou hast
chastised me. and I was chastised. Now has
God asked you your permission to chastise you? I ain't even
heard an Arminian say that. Have you? I've not even heard
him go that far yet because they say if you're one of God's people,
he'll chastise you. He don't ask you for your permission,
right? But what did Ephraim say? Thou
hast chastised me and I was chastised. And Paul lets us know no chastisement
is pleasant. It's not pleasant. But look,
thou hast chastised me when I was chastised as a bullock, unaccustomed
to the yoke. You see that? Now that big old
ox, that bullock, he don't like having that on him. I don't know, this is true, there
may be an ox out there or a bullock that does it, but I don't know
of one that you just hold up the yoke and he comes running
and sticks his head up in it. Now, a lot of crazy things happen
in this world, so maybe there is an exception to that rule.
You gotta get him. Find some way to keep him where
he's at. And put the yoke over him. Why? Because we, by nature,
are unaccustomed to the yoke. We hate the yoke. We want to
do, well, I've got to do this this Sunday. I just can't go
hear the gospel. I've got this to do, okay? Go
ahead and do it then. Go ahead and do it then. But
you are rebelling against God's yoke. And you remember what Christ
said? My yoke is easy. If it's his
yoke and he puts it on you, you'll be glad you got it on you. Your
flesh is unaccustomed to the yoke, but the new man is glad
to be yoked. It frightens the believer when
they think they're bucking against the yoke, does it not? And when
you found out you've bucked against the yoke, it's oh God, yoke me
again. Chase me down, put me in the
stall, tie my hands and feet, and put the yoke on me. Because
my flesh would throw it off all the time. Surely I have surely
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. Thou hast chastised me,
and I was chastised. Remember what I told you, when
God's pleased to yoke, you're yoked. As a bullock unaccustomed
to the yoke, turn thou me, That's repentance. That's repentance. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned. Now God don't do the turning
for you. He don't do the turning, but
he turns you. You see what I'm saying? Now
that may be another play on words, but still the truth. God don't
do the turning. God's not out there, he turns
and lets you go on your way. God turns you. God turns you. Turn thou me, And that's the
only way it's gonna be a true spiritual godly turning, godly
repentance. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned. For thou art the Lord my God. Even though I know I'm still
unaccustomed to yoke, I know you're God. I know you're the
Lord, and I like that, my God. My God. So again I say, when
God is pleased to yoke, Bless God, you'll be yoked. And he
goes on. Surely, after that I was turned, I repented. You see it? I repented. And after that I
was instructed. I smote upon my thigh. I was
ashamed. Yea, even confounded, because
I did bear the reproach of my youth. Now let me put it this
way. We as God's people will fail in this world. We will fail
and God will have to chastise us, correct us, turn us to repentance
over and over and over and over. And you'll never really get rid
of the shame of it. Because even when you become
older and older, God, your mind will think back on that time.
It's done gone and in the past. And shame will still start to
well up. Ever been there? Shame still. You're not gonna
forget it. You're not gonna forget it, but
God has. God has, and God's not winking
at it. He's not turning a blind eye,
is he? Remember, folks, he dealt with our failures and our sins
and our corruptions in our surety on the tree. Now He must still
deal with us in living in this world and walking after Him and
serving Him and must constantly correct us, but He does that
in love. As many as I love, I rebuke,
and that's hard, and I chase them. I correct, now don't you
like that? Surely after that I was turned,
I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. One preacher said,
and you've heard this before, even our repentance needs to
be repented of. Because even when we turn, even
when we're turned, and we, rephrase that, even when we're turned
and we repent, we still got self right there with us all the time.
One thing we can't ever get away from is me. I can't ever get
away from self. I can't ever get away from self. But there is, and if this is
not quite doctrinally accurate, that's all right, you fuss at
somebody else, don't fuss at me. I can't get away from self, but
I have another self, another self, a different self. It's
that new man created in righteousness and true holiness. And I know
that man's in here, Mason. And this is not bragging. I know
I love him because he first loved me, but I love him. And I know
you do too. You love him. You love him. And if you love something, what
do you do? You enjoy it. You submit to it. If you like
football, you sit there and eat chips and get fat and high cholesterol
because you love football, right? Huh? And there's a lot of other
things. If you love Christ, your mind
and heart's always constantly, constantly, constantly thinking
on Him, even when the old man is thinking on something else.
Am I telling you the truth or not? Aren't you glad for God's,
let me turn back to it. Aren't you glad for the riches
of God's goodness? Aren't you glad for the riches
of his forbearance? Aren't you glad for the riches
of his longsuffering? because God's goodness didn't
just lead us to repentance back yonder. It is constantly, constantly,
constantly leading us to repentance, and that lets me know I constantly,
constantly need it, need it. Heavenly Father, thank you for
your word, for your word, but also, Lord, thank you for your
spirit that enables us to hear it, see it, and believe it. And Lord, even strive and seek
to walk after it. We thank you in Christ's name.
We thank you for the food. Amen.