Thank you, Brother Bill. I have
enjoyed your hospitality. It's been overwhelming. I speak
for Debbie. We've just, it's been such a
good trip. The Lord has blessed us and we
really, I know now I have brothers and sisters in Oregon. I can
say that we love you and we pray for you. And maybe you can get
down to South Georgia sometime. When it's real cold up here,
come on down there. You enjoy it. I thank you for
your... Debbie and I both, we thank you
for everything. And we'll keep you in our prayers. Our church, your brethren in
Albany, we'll do that and you pray for us. Alright, I want
to talk to you a little bit about gospel repentance. If you look
at the passage that Brother Norm read, 2 Peter chapter 3. Gospel repentance. Sometimes when we talk about
repentance and what all it involves, what it means scripturally, we
need to understand that you can't talk about repentance without
talking about faith. You can't talk about faith without
talking about repentance scripturally. They come together. They're both
gifts from God. Neither faith nor repentance
are things that we well up within ourselves or bring within ourselves
because in spiritual death we don't have that capacity. And
we can do a lot of things even in our spiritual death. We can
do a lot of religious things and we can appear to be certain
ways but we cannot express faith in Christ until God gives us
faith. It's the gift of God. And he
does that through the new birth under the preaching of the gospel.
And the same thing with repentance. One man said that faith and repentance
is like a piece of paper. You've got two sides and you
always have two sides. One of the things that I believe
we're taught here in our passage, which mainly is verse nine, 2
Peter 3, nine, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Now Peter's speaking specifically
of God's promise that Christ will return. He came the first
time to put away sin. He'll come the second time without
sin. And He'll come to gather His
church unto Himself. The Bible says He'll come as
a thief in the night. Now that doesn't mean it'll be
a secret rapture. What it means is He'll come when
you least expect it. That's all that means. There's
no secret rapture. He's coming in the clouds with
trumpet sound. to gather His people unto Himself.
A very public thing. And so He's coming to gather
His people, but He's also coming to judge the world. To reveal. That judgment is declarative.
And so He's not slack concerning His promise. Unbelievers, the
scoffers that Peter mentioned here, are those who would say
He's not coming or He would have come by now. But God's time scale
is not like ours. You see, and that's why he says
1,000 years. A day is like 1,000 years to
God and 1,000 years as one day. Time doesn't mean anything in
the nature of God. He never changes. He's infinite. So as we look at our watches
all the time, God doesn't look at his watch. He's determined
beforehand what's going to be done. He knows right now the
exact day that the Lord is going to come. We don't know that. And it's foolish for any of us
to try to figure that out. We just know He's coming. We're
to live in anticipation that He will come any day, any time,
before this message maybe. I don't know. But I know He's
coming. And what our concern ought to
be is right here. He says, the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. He's not
waiting for anything. He's not waiting for a temple
to be built in Jerusalem. He's not waiting for the Jewish
nation to become obedient. They never have been obedient.
And they never will. God has a spiritual people whom
he brings to obedience. And that's who Peter's talking
about here. But is long-suffering to us-ward. Now there's your
key. Who is the us-ward here? That's God's elect. How do you
know that? Well, just flip over real quick
to 2 Peter chapter one. And listen to what he says, Simon
Peter, verse one, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them
that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That's who he's talking to, believers.
And over in 1 Peter chapter one, he mentions them in this way.
He says in verse two, 1 Peter chapter one, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God, the foreordination of God, the
Father through sanctification of the Spirit, That's God bringing
them to faith, unto obedience of the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. This
is written to God's people. So over here in 2 Peter 3, 9,
he said he's longsuffering to us. Now what does that mean?
God has an appointed time that is specifically marked out for
his people, and he's going to bring them into the kingdom of
God. Some of the old commentators
used to say, when the last one of the usward is brought in,
that's when Christ is coming again. And who are the usward? Well, God's not willing that
any, any of them should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now what does that tell me and
you? We ought to know something about repentance, shouldn't we? One old writer said that, how
do we get to repentance? Well, we don't get there. God
gives us repentance and he brings us to repentance by way of faith
in Christ. Faith is turning to Christ. Repentance is turning away from
everything else. Everything else. And so he calls this the day
of the Lord, verse 10. The day of the Lord. The second
coming of Christ. When I began to hear the Gospel
with the ear of faith, one of the first funeral messages that
I heard Brother Mayhem preach had four points to it. Four words. Life, death, judgment, and eternity. And he said, we all have a life
to live. We all have a death to die. We all have a judgment
to face, and we all have an eternity to spend. And it's one of the
best funeral messages I've ever heard. I've used it myself in
funerals, and even in just preaching messages. But the day of the
Lord is the day of his second coming, and it also refers in
that context to the day of judgment. And you know that truth, the
truth of judgment, is very disturbing to unbelievers. They either totally
deny it, not desiring to be held accountable to anyone at the
judgment, or knowing that nothing but righteous people will be
judged worthy and live forever in the perfect, glorious world
to come, they seek to define righteousness on their own terms
rather than God's terms. What will you plead at the judgment? What will be your reason in answering
why you should be brought into glory? What ground will you stand
upon at the judgment? And the fact is this, there's
going to be a final judgment. Now, it's a sure thing. It's
appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment.
It's coming. And it's true that the only ones
who will pass the test or the requirement or the measure of
judgment are righteous people. Did you know that? If you're
not righteous at the judgment, what's the consequence? Eternal
damnation. That's the absolute and certain
promise of God. And not only is the Lord going
to keep His promise, He's not even slow or reluctant to keep
it. No delay. All is going according to God's
plan and God's purpose. Listen, in God's eternal mind,
everything's happening just on time. At the right time. But many want to take this verse
when they say God's not willing that any should perish but that
all should come to repentance. They want to portray God as some
kind of a reluctant dictator. Reluctant to bring all of this
about because He doesn't want to condemn anyone. He wants everyone
to be saved and He's trying to save everyone. And their view
of God is that He's a sentimental deity who loves everybody, who's
doing His best to save everybody. But He just can't because you
won't let Him. So He's waiting. Delaying. And that's not the
God of the Bible. It's not the case. This verse
is teaching that God has a people whom He's going to save without
fail, and the way He does it is by bringing them to repentance. He's going to bring them to repentance.
Of whom is this verse speaking? As I said, he's speaking of God's
elect, people who've been given to Christ before the foundation
of the world, who've been redeemed by the blood of Christ, justified
by his righteousness imputed, and they'll be born again and
brought to faith in Christ. They'll be brought to repentance,
given the gift of repentance. How do we know this is the case?
Because God says it. God says they'll all, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out." They're the beloved of God. And
if we're to follow the Lord's commandment here, when he says
like in verse 10, he says, but the day of the Lord will come
as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with
a great noise, and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat.
That's global warming. The earth also and the works
thereof shall be burnt, seeing then that all these things shall
be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
you to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" He sets the stage,
doesn't he? What is it that we desire? Peter said this over in 2 Peter
chapter 1. He said, give diligence to make
your calling and election sure. How are we going to do that?
is by it being confirmed in the word of God. Think about it.
God's not willing that any of them should perish, but all should
come to repentance. Have I repented? Have I been
given the gift of repentance? What is repentance? Well, let
me begin this way. First of all, let me talk to
you about the need of repentance, even the necessity of it. Turn
to Luke chapter 13. It's clear that the Bible teaches
us that without repentance, sinners will perish. Isn't that right? Listen to what the Lord says
in Luke 13. Luke records this. He says in
verse 1, there were present at the season some that told him
of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate, you know who Pontius
Pilate was, Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. In other
words, they were killed as they were going to sacrifice, these
Galileans. Pilate had them killed. We don't
know all the details of this, but we know they were slaughtered.
These people were slaughtered going to perform acts of religion. And so verse two says, and Jesus
answering said to them, suppose ye that these Galileans were
sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things?
You know, it's kind of like, you know, people say, well, you
know, if they hadn't been great sinners, that wouldn't have happened
to them, you know, that kind of thing. Well, listen to what
the Lord says. I tell you, nay, no. This didn't
happen to them because they were greater sinners than everybody
else. But except you repent, you shall likewise perish. You
religious people. You know, we can look at the
drunks and the drug pushers and the immoral people. We can readily
see they need to repent. But what about the churchgoers?
What about the religious among us? Do they need to repent? That's what Christ is saying
here. What do they have to repent of? Their evil thoughts about
God. their evil thoughts about salvation
and how God saves sinners. Here's a person going to church
thinking that God's gonna bless them for their works. You need
to repent. You see what I'm saying? But
look on, he says in verse four, or those 18 upon whom the tower
of Siloam fell. and slew them. Think ye that
they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem." Now,
that's what we call a natural disaster. It's what the insurance
companies call an act of God. It's kind of like when the hurricane,
I think it's Katrina, came through New Orleans, and I heard all
kinds of false preachers going on TV and talking about, oh,
that wicked New Orleans. Oh, that was so wicked. That's
why God did that. And here's what Christ says.
He says, suppose ye, those who fell in that tower,
think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
He said, I tell you, nay, but except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. Do we need to repent? I quote
another verse all the time. I want you to see this. Look
at Acts chapter 17. This is Paul preaching on Mars
Hill to Greek philosophers and religionists, and he preaches
unto them the unknown God, the God that they don't know. And this is the case. If you
don't know the true God of the Bible, you don't know God at
all. And he talked about how the Gentiles
were left to their own auspices for the most part, and how God
looked over that. In other words, God didn't bring
His wrath down upon the earth and just destroy the whole mess.
He says it this way in verse 30, the times of this ignorance
God winked at. But now commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. Now he's talking about the preaching
of the gospel going out into the Gentile world. And the preaching
of the gospel is a preaching of God's commandment to believe
and repent. And he says, to repent. And here's
the basis and the issue of repentance. Look at it in verse 31. Why do
I need to repent? What do you mean by repentance?
In what way do I need to repent? Look at it, verse 31. Because
God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, in that
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
him from the dead. You see, repentance can only
come in light of the revelation of Jesus Christ crucified and
risen from the dead. That's what it's all about. It's
God's purpose to bring all of his chosen people to repentance
through the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy
Spirit. This is why the Lord said, Luke
15, 17, let me just read you these verses. Christ said, I
send you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth more than over 99 just persons which need no
repentance. Luke 5, 32, Christ said, I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Think about it. John the Baptist
stood and faced the Pharisees and the Sadducees and he said,
bring forth therefore fruit to meet for repentance. So is there a need for repentance?
You bet there is. Repent or perish. Well, here's the second thing.
What is the nature of God-given repentance? I believe that Acts
1731 passage speaks volumes there. Many have confused notions of
what repentance really is. A lot of people, they'll say
repentance means you feel sorry for your sins. And you feel sorry enough to
reform, reformation of conduct. Now, let me say this. That will
accompany repentance, but that's not repentance. Just feeling
sorry for your sins, unbelievers can feel sorry for their sins,
feel guilty. In the Old Testament, the word
repentance is a change of direction of life and walk brought about
by a change of heart. And it's not just veering off.
You're headed this way and you veer off. It's a 180 degree turnaround. You're walking north, you go
south or south and you go north. In the New Testament, the word
means a change of mind. It literally means a change of
mind. Now, that doesn't mean that some preachers say, well,
this is more than just a mental thing. Well, yes, it is. But
it still means a change of mind. It's a change of mind brought
about in Holy Spirit conviction that reaches the inner man, the
new man, that which God has given us, a new heart. It's a hard
work concerning issues of salvation and a right relationship with
God by His grace in Christ. And as I said, it's a gift given
by the power of God to all of His people. Repentance is a God-given,
God-worked change of mind. It's the product of the new heart
that God gives us in the new birth. And the Bible tells us,
if left to ourselves, our own natural hearts, our own natural
wills, we will not repent. Not this repentance. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. So it's a gift from God. The Bible says in Acts chapter
5 and verse 30 where it is preached that the God of our fathers raised
up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. I believe this is
Peter's message. Him God hath exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance
to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. The gift of repentance. And repentance comes from God-given,
God-wrought faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said, it's
that 180 degree turn. Not just veering from one doctrine
to another or from one church or denomination to another. It's
not just reformation of character and conduct and habits. It comes
with God-given faith in Christ. And faith is the gift of knowledge
revealed and taught by God in His Word that we cannot deny. It's a conviction. And I've always
said this, I've mentioned this several times. If the Holy Spirit
convicts you of the truth of the gospel, of how God saves
sinners by His grace through the blood and righteousness of
Christ, you cannot ignore it, you cannot deny it, and you cannot
leave it. Amen. Faith and knowledge and trust.
It's not biblical to say one has faith but has not repented.
Nor that one has repented but has no faith. Why is this so? Repentance is a new way, think
about this. Repentance is a new way of judgment
based upon God's judgments in His Word. Repentance comes in
light of judgment. Think about that Acts 17 passage
again. Repent, why? Because God has
appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.
by that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. What
is that telling me? If I think that God is going to receive
me into his eternal glory based on anything but the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ, I need to
repent. I heard a man say one time, he
said, well, he said, I'm not perfect, but I've not done anything
bad enough to go to hell. You need to repent. What is the
standard of judgment? The righteousness of Christ.
If you think it's anything less, if you think that God's going
to say, Well done thou good and faithful servant, based upon
your works, your love, your efforts, your sincerity. Huh? You need to repent. To enter heaven's glory, I must
be as righteous as God's Son. I don't find that in myself,
but I find it in Him. My only plea, Christ died for
me. Repentance has to do with our
judgment of who God is and what he requires. Somebody says, surely,
surely God will accept my works, my goodness, my life, even though
I'm not perfect. You need to repent, you're worshiping
an idol. Any God, think about it, I don't
care what you call Him, any God who will accept and receive anything
less than the perfection of righteousness in Christ is an idol. Paul wrote
to the Thessalonians, he said, you've turned from idols to serve
the true and living God. How does God save sinners? By
His grace. His free, sovereign, undeserved,
unearned grace. Through the righteousness, the
blood of His Son. Anything else and anything less
is idolatry. You need to repent of your idol
and turn to serve the living God. Isn't that right? Repentance
has to do with our judgment of ourselves and our sins. My friend,
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I have no claim
upon God, His blessings, His benefits, except that which He
gives me by His grace through the blood of Christ. I'm telling
you this. Here's how it is. If God were
to judge me right now, me standing behind this pulpit preaching
His Word based upon my goodness or my efforts or my works, I
would be damned forever. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? I'm in need of His grace every
second of my life. No part of salvation, not any
way, not any stage, not any degree is conditioned on me. If it were,
I would be damned. If you think that you could do
better, you need to repent. You need a change of mind, a
change of heart. Look over at John chapter 16
with me. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit in conviction. And the Lord says in verse seven,
talking to his disciples of John 16, he says, nevertheless, I
tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. That means it's necessary that
he go away. Now, where was he going? Well,
he was going to Jerusalem, yes. He was going to the cross, but
it wasn't gonna stop there. He was going to the grave, wasn't
gonna stop there. He was gonna be raised again.
He's going to the Father. As the Redeemer of his people.
The surety, the substitute, the Redeemer. And so he tells the
disciples, it's necessary for you that I go away for. If I
go not away, the Comforter, speaking of the Holy Spirit, will not
come unto you. What is the Holy Spirit's work?
It's to apply the resurrection life of Christ, the spiritual
life, to his people in the new birth. And here's what Christ
is saying. If I don't do my work on the
cross, if I don't redeem you from your sins, if I don't accomplish
and establish righteousness for the people, there'll be no life.
No life to give. So the comforter will not come
unto you, but if I depart, I'll send him unto you. And when he's
come, he will reprove, he will convict or convince the world
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now who's the world
there? It's the ones who are convicted of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Now look at the standard here.
He'll convict us of sin because they believe not on Christ, believe
not on me. Sin can only be measured by the
glorious person and finished work of Christ. Anything less
is sin. Verse 10, of righteousness, because
I go to my Father and you see me no more. How did he go to
the Father? As the one who established righteousness
for his people through his death on the cross. That's the righteousness
that I need to get by at judgment. And then of judgment, he says
in verse 11, because the prince of this world is just. What that's
saying is that he convinces God's people that God has already,
now listen to this, God has already judged me for all my sins in
Christ on that cross. Somebody said, well, you're saved
by grace, but at judgment, God's gonna measure your works and
pass out rewards. No, that's not scriptural. The
only judgment we'll have to face is a declarative judgment where
God reveals to the whole universe who we are in His Son. And that's
it. That's issues of repentance,
you see. Our judgment changes in repentance,
our judgment of who Christ is and what He accomplished in His
death. Not only the constitution of his person as God manifest
in the flesh, but also his offices and his surety and substitute
and redeem. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
five. Let me show you this. And this really helped me on
this issue. 2 Corinthians chapter five. And look at verse 14. He says in verse 14, the love
of Christ constrained us. I believe what he's talking about
there is Christ's love for us. Hearing His love, not that we
loved Him, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Because we thus judge that if
one died for all, then we're all dead. You know what that's
saying? Literally it says, if one died for all, then all have
died. Whoever Christ died for, they died with Him. And if they died with Him, they'll
be raised again with Him. Romans 6 teaches that. So this
is our judgment, that whoever Christ died for, they died with
Him. Whoever He was raised for, they're
raised with Him. You see, that's an issue of repentance.
If you think those who die and perish, that Christ died for
them, you need to repent. But go on in verse 15, he says,
and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose
again. Wherefore, henceforth, from this
point on, from the time that God opened our eyes and granted
us faith in Christ and repentance of dead works, we know no man
after the flesh. We don't judge these things of
salvation by what we see. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Think about
Paul the Apostle before he was converted. How did he judge Jesus
of Nazareth before his conversion? He judged him to be a blasphemer.
He assessed that this was a false prophet. That Christianity was
a false religion. But when God opened his eyes,
his judgment of those things changed. The one whom he assessed
and judged as a false prophet now became the Lord of glory,
his whole salvation. That's repentance. Paul, read Philippians chapter
three. That's one of the best examples
of faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. Remember what
Paul said? We're the circumcision, talking about spiritual circumcision
of the heart. We worship God in the spirit
and rejoice or glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. And remember he said all those
things that he used to judge as being pleasing to God. I was
a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees is touching
the law blameless. But those which I used to think
recommended me unto God, now I count loss. I judge as loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus my Lord,
of whom I suffered the loss of all things. Everything I used
to put in the profit column, now I put in the loss column.
And everything I used to put in the loss column, I now put
in the profit column. That's repentance. Faith in Christ
and repentance. He said I counted but dumb. That's
his judgment now, that I may win Christ. I can remember when I first began
to listen to Brother Mayhem preach. I didn't want to have anything
to do with the God that he preached or the Christ that he preached.
But God changed my mind. He brought me to faith and repentance.
And in repentance, our judgment of saved and lost changes. Now
that doesn't mean that we set ourselves up as judge and jury
or that we can know for certain everyone who's saved and everyone
who's lost. But God has changed our standard
of judging what salvation is and what it means to be lost.
That's why Paul says, we know no man after the flesh. Somebody
says, well, I look at this person and they're so kind and they're
so sincere and they're so generous. And those are all things that
we all should be. But without Christ, now here's where repentance
hits the fan, so to speak. Without Christ, it's all sin
in the eyes of God. If you don't believe that, you
need to be brought to repentance. In order to be accepted with
God, it must be perfect. I don't have that in myself or
anything I do or think, but I have it in Christ. He is my perfection. I'm washed in His blood and clothed
in His righteousness. And then lastly, when God brings
us to faith in Christ and repentance, you know it becomes our whole
way of life. We walk by faith in Christ, by
the grace of God, knowing that we're saved and secure in His
grace. His blood, His righteousness
cannot be condemned by the law because our sins are not charged
to us. We have His righteousness imputed. We have the motives
of grace, love, and gratitude, which is implanted in our hearts
by the Spirit of God, serving God in newness of life, warring
against the flesh by the Spirit of God, We live and walk in the
knowledge that if God were to mark iniquities, we wouldn't
stand. Lord, don't let us go. We run the race of grace, looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. We follow
him and his word, now fighting that warfare of the flesh and
the spirit in a godly way, even though imperfectly in ourselves.
We seek to glorify God, not ourselves. And we promote godly sorrow over
our sins. God brings us to be sorrowful. We pray, Lord, let our lives
be consistent with your grace. Change us, not in order to be
holier or better or to earn more or to be righteous, but because
we already are in Christ. You see, He's changed our minds.
He's changed our hearts. He's changed our way of living.
Everything about us. Because He's brought us to faith
in Christ and true repentance. And that's to enable us in His
grace of preserving us to persevere in that faith. The faith of God.