In verse 9 of 2 Peter chapter
3, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness, but is longsuffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now God is going to bring all
of His people All of His people are going to be brought to repentance,
every single one of them. And the Lord's not slack concerning
His promise. You know, we keep waiting for
somebody to fulfill their promise. They said they'd do this, they
said they'd do that, and we keep waiting and waiting. Well, God's
not slack. I mean, when His time comes,
it's going to happen. That's just the way it is. And
you know, And the reason he's going to bring all of his people
to repentance is because it says here, you know, he's not slack
concerning his promise. Now, he's made a promise that
his people's going to come to repentance. He's made that promise. And he made the promise, first
of all, to the Lord Jesus Christ. All that the Father giveth me,
they're going to come to me. They're going to come. And that's
why Paul stood and said, you know, that Acts 17 and 30, that
God had the point of the day in which He's going to judge
all men through the Lord Jesus Christ, and He commandeth all
men everywhere to repent. But here He made a promise to
Christ. All that the Father give me, it's going to come to me.
And secondly, He's got a promise, He made a promise to us in the
covenant. He made a covenant. We're going to have the sure
mercies of David. We were given to Christ, and God made a promise
in His covenant, I'll be their God and they shall be My people.
And I'll give them a heart to know Me, and then they'll have
a heart to follow Me. And then He made a promise to
all of His children. Every one of His children He
made a promise to. They shall all be taught of God.
Is God going to teach us? Well, the one thing he's going
to teach us, he's going to teach us repentance. He's going to bring
us to repentance. And the covenant, talking about
this promising in the covenant, the covenant is built on two
things. You can look at it in Hebrews 6 yourself. The promise
is, first of all, based on a covenant. The covenant is based on, first
of all, a promise. God made a promise to Abraham,
and that all of his seed, And secondly, it's confirmed by a
note, because I can swear by no greater, I swore by myself.
So it's based on two things, a promise and a note. And then
it looks as what it says here, the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise. The promise to Christ, promise
in the covenant, the promise to his children. And then he
says he's longsuffering toward usward. Toward usward. Who's usward? All of God's elect
here. People use this as a verse of
scripture for universalism. That God means to do all something
for all people, but this is talking about a special people. Loathsuffering
to usward. Usward. He distinguishes the
people that he has loathsuffering towards. Usward, all of God's
elect. All of God's elect, not willing that any should perish.
And all of God's elect will come to true repentance. And they'll
come to Christ, but they'll all come by repentance and faith. When Paul left the Ephesians,
he said, I cease not to declare unto you, day and night, from
house to house, teaching every man, everywhere, repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, you see, in our
Lord Jesus Christ, he gave four ultimatums. Four ultimatums our
Lord Jesus did. And they're to be heeded, they're
to be listened to, they're not to be debated, they're not to
be argued over. And these are the four ultimatums
that he gave. He said, except a man be born
again, he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. He said,
except your righteousness, except the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you can't enter the kingdom of God. And except
you be converted and become as little children, become as a
baby, become as helpless as a child, humbled, contrite, brought down,
acknowledge your inability, except you be converted and become as
little children, you came into the kingdom of God. And except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Now I want you to see
something over with me in Luke chapter 13, just a moment, talking
about repentance. These are four ultimatums that
our Lord Jesus Christ gave me. And there's no arguing about
it, no debate about it. Except your man be born again,
they see or enter the kingdom of God. Except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees, you can't enter
the kingdom of God. Except you be converted and become
as a little child, you can't enter the kingdom of God. And
except you repent. Look here in Luke chapter 13,
verse 1. They were present at that season,
Seasons of sacrifices, some that told him of the Galileans whose
blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, the Roman sacrifices
to their gods. And our Lord answered unto them,
Supposing that those Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans
because they suffered such things, I tell you nay, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon
whom the tyrant Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that
they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell
you, no, they weren't. But except you repent, ye shall
all likewise perish." Everybody looked at somebody else and said,
boy, they must have really been wicked for that to happen to
them. But our Lord Jesus Christ says they're not any worse sinner
than anybody else. And except you repent, you're
going to perish the same way they did. And so, beloved, let
me tell you something here about these four things and this repentance.
All four of these things, the new birth, your righteousness
being given, being converted and becoming as a child, and
repentance, all four of these things happen at the same time
and have to do with exactly the same experience. When you're
born again, you get a righteousness. When you're born again, you're
converted and you become as little children. And when you're born
again, when you have the life of God, you turn to God in repentance,
is what conversion is. And you see, they're not separate
things. They're not things that happen
at different intervals. They all happen at the same time.
Let me tell you about when a man's born again, when God gives him
life. quickens him from the dead. And he begins to turn toward
God, and that's what conversion is. It's turning from himself.
When he has that new birth, he starts turning toward God. That's
what conversion is. And then he turns in repentance,
and he turns in faith. And all the repentance and faith
is like the same piece of the same paper, which comes first. They come together. Repentance,
you know, when you're returning from your sin, you're turning
in faith. And you can't turn in faith without
turning from your sin. And that's what it is, is turning
to God in repentance and faith. And you can't turn to God unless
you turn from idols. And you can't turn from your
idols unless you turn to God. When one of these things are
present, all of them are present. Is that right? It's like I just
read to you David's psalm. There's an example of a man in
which all these things are happening at the same time. You look at
his psalm there, and he's crying out in repentance, and he's looking
toward faith. And he told, God created me a
clean heart and a right spirit, created me a new heart. Worship
me, and I'll be whiter than snow. So he's talking about, I was
shaping in the nickel. Oh, God, have mercy on me. I'll
gift you and you only of my sin. There's his repentance, and saying,
God, do something for me in here. You desire truth in the inward
part. And that's why Paul, all these things were present in
him. And Paul, when he says in Romans 7, 18, he says, I know
that in me and my flesh dwells no good thing. The will is present
with me, but how to perform. That that I wouldn't do, I do,
and that that I would do, I don't. Oh, wretched man that I am. And
that's Because he's got that heart, he's got that life, he's
got that repentance, he's got that faith, he's got that righteousness
that he's turning from himself. And let me tell you, true repentance,
this repentance, this biblical repentance, salvation, scriptural
repentance, like the new birth, you know where it starts at?
It starts in the inward man, not the outward man. That's why
David said, create in me. Paul said, Oh, wretched man,
there's something in me. And oh, God, you've got to give
it to me. And you see, that's what our
Lord Jesus said. The Pharisees, they said, they
clean the outside cup of the platter. They make everything
look good on the outside. He said, but within, within,
you're full of ravening wolves and wickedness. You see, repentance
is a thing of the heart. Of the heart. God does something
in the heart. It's not something you do with
your hand. And repentance has more to do with the motive that
a man has than with the manner in which he acts. And it has
more to do with a man's attitude than his actions. God said, My
son, give me your heart. Give me your heart. I want your
heart. I've got to have your heart.
If I've got your heart, I've got you. A man can do all kinds
of things in religion with his hands. He can give all kinds
of language with his mouth. He can do all kinds of actions,
but until God does something in his heart, he don't know nothing
about repentance. Let me show you that over in
Matthew chapter 15. Matthew 15. Oh, this is something that I... Everybody looks on the outward
appearance, but God looks on the heart. God looks on the heart,
and I'm sure, certainly thankful He looks on the heart. Look here
in Matthew 15 and verse 17. Do you not yet understand that
whatsoever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly and is cast
out into the draft? But those things which proceed
out of the mouth cometh forth from the heart, and they, that's
what defiles the man. It's what comes out of the heart
that defiles him. For out of the heart proceeds
evil thoughts. Everybody says, you know, if
I ask you what's the worst sin a man can commit, everyone of
you come up with something different. God said an evil thought. An
evil thought. That's what he starts with. Murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These
are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unworshipped
hands, that does not defile a man. So if you see, these fellows
right here, they was looking on the outward appearance of
God's people, because they saw them eating with unworshipped
hands, and they was looking at outward actions, outward manners,
outward motives, and they missed repentance. They missed Christ.
Don't you see? And a man's relationship, now
listen to me, a man's relationship can't always be known by the
action of his hands. But it always can be known if
you see his heart. If you can see his heart. When
you've seen David with Bathsheba, you say, there's no way in the
world that man knows God. But listen to him in Psalm 51.
Listen to him when Nathan goes to him and says, David, you're
the man. David said, oh, his heart got to breaking and he
got to weeping. He got so sorry over his sin.
And when you couldn't look at his heart, you couldn't see what
was going on in his heart. You're just judging by his hand
and judging by his motive and judging by his manner. And oh,
just like when Nabal, David went up there and asked him for some
food from his young men. He protected all other things
that Nabal had from all those war tribes around him. And he
sent some young men down to get some food from him. And you know
what he done? He ridiculed those young men. Who is David? Who
is he? Who does he think he is? And
he cut those young men's skirts off and sent them away. David
got his sword and said, that fellow is going to die today.
I'm going to cut his head off and everything into his house.
That was in his mind. I mean, you talkin' about that
flesh, kid. And Abigail come runnin' out there with two or
three asses loaded down with all kinds of food. She said,
Nabal is his name, and Nabal he is. Nabal means fool, and
the fool he is. Don't defile yourself by goin'
killin' that man. And David's heart smote him.
Oh, you know, if you seen David with that sword, you said, oh,
but that's what I'm talkin' about. You couldn't see his heart. You
couldn't see his heart. And a man's relationship with
God isn't always seen in his actions. Always seen in his actions. Oh, David got the sword, going
to kill Nabal. Elijah stood on Carmel, Mount Carmel,
faced 850 false prophets, prayed 63-word prayer, and fire fell
from heaven. Destroyed all of them. And, boy,
if you'd have stood there, my word, truly, this man's God is
the God of Israel. This man's God, the God of heaven
and earth. This man's God, fire falls from heaven and destroys
all of His enemies and all the sacrifices. And then you follow
Him with that. Jezebel said, I'm going to kill
that man. He run just like a dog with his tail between his legs,
sat down under a juniper tree and said, Oh God, let me die.
Just let me die. Phil said, sorry for his sin. Couldn't see his heart. Couldn't
see his heart. Oh, ain't you glad that God looks
on the heart, not on outward appearance. And that's another
reason why. Believers, believers, true believers
can see another believer do something and not hold it against them,
not hold it against them. You know why? Because we understand
just how corruptible this flesh is. And a man's relationship
with God can't always be clear in his manners, but his motive is always for
the glory of God. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
that Simon Peter, told me, said, you're going to deny me three
times. And he said three times with
his mouth, I don't know that man, but our Lord Jesus Christ
said, Simon Peter, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know.
His manner when you stood there was awful. But his heart, I'm
sure his heart was grieving all the time he died. He went out
and wept bitterly. He said it with his mouth, but
his heart was something else. And you look at all of God's
children in the Scripture. You look at Abraham. He talked
to the Lord, prayed to the Lord, and then he said, Who am I but
dust and ashes? Who am I to question God? Who am I but dust and ashes? Jacob, all Jacob, got down before
the Lord and said, Oh, I'm a worm. What can I do? And you see, repentance
is an inward word. That's why Job says, The root,
the root is in me. The root is in me. The root is
in me. And let me tell you, let me tell
you. So repentance, biblical repentance. We'll get to what
repentance means in a minute. But listen, it's something that's
done of the heart. It's something God does inside.
He starts with the heart. But there's an outward form.
There's an outward form of repentance that a lot of things can bring
it about. That when you look at it, it's more impressive to
the natural eye than this inner work, than this work that's done
in the heart. You see, a man, the natural man,
he can't see the heart. All he can do is see external
religion, and he's often impressed with that. Look at Luke 15 with
me just a moment. He's impressed with what people
do on the outside. He's really impressed. That's why people say, you know,
he really loves the Lord. You see what he did? You see
how he acted? He really loves the Lord. Well, he may not even know the
Lord, so you can't say he loves the Lord. Look here in Luke 15. Excuse me, Luke 16 and verse
15. Look what our Lord said. He said unto them, Ye are they
which justify yourselves before me. How do you justify yourselves? Oh my, you dress, you pray long
prayers. You wouldn't dare go out into
public and have a meal at a restaurant or something like that without
bowing your head and going through some kind of ritual. Let everybody
know you're a Christian. And you know you're going to
put some crosses on your bumper. You're going to put crosses around
your neck. You're going to have sacred pictures,
you know. And you're going to have all
this wonderful stuff that's going on. And listen, You justify yourself
before men. But listen, here's the difference.
God knows your heart. What's highly esteemed among
men, what man sets up there and says, boy, that's it. That's
everything there. Boy, that fellow's arrived. That fellow's doing
the right thing. That fellow, if he don't know the Lord, nobody
does. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abominable
in the sight of God. Oh, beloved, the flesh is easy
to impress. Oh, the flesh is easy to impress.
All spirituality. That's why our Lord Jesus said,
They do their works, their works, for to be seen of men. Huh? They make broad their phylacteries. They want everybody to know how
much Scripture they understand. And oh, they carry their Bible
with them everywhere they go. And there are outward forms of
religion and conversion and repentance that's brought about by so many
different things. Let me tell you one of the main
reasons how people repent. And they have this false conversion.
And first of all, they're afraid of punishment. They're afraid
of hell. And I'm afraid of hell. But I
fear God more than I fear hell. Oh, I fear being separated from
God worse than I do fear punishment. I do. God's my witness of that.
I fear God more than I fear Him. You know what? God said, fear
Him who can destroy both soul and body from Him. And that's
who I fear. Oh, I'd rather know Him. And
that's the thing about it. We don't want to be separated
from Him. And here, a fear of punishment, that'll produce an
outward repentance. That'll produce a form of religion.
Cain says, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Here I brought
the best I had, and God came down and says, your brother's
blood cries unto me. My punishment's greater than
I can bear. Simon Magus, he sold all of his books. And he was
a sorcerer. And everybody pulled magic on
people. They said, oh man, this guy here
is something else. Well, he believed and was baptized
and continued. And then one day he saw the Peter
and John laying hands on men and them receiving the Holy Ghost,
receiving the Spirit of God. He reached in his pocket and
said, here's some money. How much can I get that gift
for? Peter said, oh, you wicked-hearted
man. See, he had all kinds of religion
and repentance, but it exposed him. You wicked man. Your money
perish with you. You thought that the gift of
God could be bought with money? And I tell you, great trials
and troubles and sickness, that'll always have an outward form of
repentance in religion. I've seen this so many times.
A house built in a storm, you'll tear it down when the sun comes
back out. Won't you? You'll tear it down. It's like Pharaoh. You know,
you go through exodus and you'll find Pharaoh repented nine times. He repented and said, I sinned
nine times. Nine times he said, I sinned. And oh, David spared Saul's life. And Saul said, oh, David, I'm
so sorry. I sinned. And I'll never let,
and I'll never bother you again. And David knew right then he
was lying. He was going to come after him again. He told him,
I'm sorry. He said, I'm not going to bother
you again. I've sinned. And oh, I'll tell you something else
that will bring this outward form of religion and conversion
and outward form of repentance. Emotional response to strong
preachers and preaching. Oh, my, how many people get emotionally
involved because of a strong preacher and strong preaching
and how it impresses them. Herod, the scripture said, heard
John laughing, called him a holy man. Oh, John, oh, my, what a
preacher John is. He's a holy man until John told
him, you're living in adultery. And never bothered Herod. Herod
didn't care about that. but it bothered the woman who
married him. She said, I want that man's head. He heard him
gladly, but still took off his head. Felix trembled at Paul's
preaching, and then he turned around and said, your much learning
has made you mad. And look over here in Hebrews
with me, chapter 12. A temporary repentance Often
comes and mourns the loss of a benefit. And this happens all
the time. The loss of a benefit. Somebody
will lose something, give something up. Lose a wife, lose a child. You know, through their sinfulness,
through their wretchedness, they give up their blessings, they
turn from them. And then all of a sudden, you
know, they realize what I gave up, what I've lost. And then it says, look what happens
here in verse 15, a temporary repentance that mourns the loss
of some benefit that they had. He said in verse 15, Hebrews
12, looking diligently, lest any man fail, fall from the grace
of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and
thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane
person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
For afterward, for you know how that afterward, when he would
have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found
no place of repentance, no way to change his mind, though he
sought it carefully with tears. I've lost it! He wept and cried
and did it back, but time was too late, too late. And oh, what
produces repentance? I'm going to show you quickly.
Look over in Romans chapter 2 with me, just a moment. Romans chapter
2. What is it that produces this
repentance in the heart? What is it? You know, you see people all
the time. Oh, I'm sorry. I won't do that again. I'm sorry.
I'm going to change. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I said this. I'm sorry I acted that way. I'm
sorry that I've done this against you. I'm sorry that I've done
that against you." But until it's something that's done in
the heart, you're really not sorry. You're sorry because you
lost a benefit. You're sorry because you gave
up a blessing. You're sorry because you lost a family. You're sorry
because you got caught up in something. You're sorry because
some preacher preached real hard at you, and you said, oh, I feel
guilty for that, so I'm going to repent of that. That's not
repentance. God's got to do something in
the heart. And what causes repentance? I
know one thing that don't cause it. Judgment don't cause it. Terror won't cause it. A tornado
won't cause it. There was a preacher preaching
one time, and he's talking about, you know, trying to get somebody
to accept Jesus in a funeral. Somebody lost their son, and
they said, oh, nice to lose your son. He said, do you want to
go to heaven with your son? Don't you want to go to heaven
where your son's at? So, oh, please accept Jesus. And oh my,
somebody told him after service says, it's not the death of that
person's son that's going to bring them to Christ, it's the
death of Christ, God's Son, that brings men to Christ. It's not
somebody else's death, it's the death of Christ, the Son of God
that brings men to Christ. You can lose your whole family
and it won't bring you to faith in Christ. It's the Holy Ghost
in Christ that brings you to Christ. It's the death of God's
Son. That's the thing that breaks a man's heart. When he views
that bleeding limb of God, when he looks at that broken body
and shed blood and that suffering in his stead, that will break
a man's heart quicker than anything. When Simon Peter was standing
there and our Lord Jesus looked at him, the Scripture says he
remembered the words. And he went out and wept bitterly.
And oh, what produces repentance? Romans 2, 4 says this. Or despises thou the riches of
his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing,
oh, God forbears with us his goodness, his longsuffering? You despise God's riches of his
goodness? You despise his long-suffering
and his forbearance. Not knowing that this goodness
of God leads you to repentance, surely you would despise that.
The goodness of God? Oh, you know, let me tell you
some people that didn't repent. You know, the rich man in hell
did not repent. He went to hell. And he never
said one word about, I'm sorry for the life I live. I'm sorry
that I never gave ladders to crumbs from my table. I'm sorry
that I rode by him every day, fair and sumptuously, and ignored
him. I'm sorry I didn't say that.
He said, I'm sorry I didn't give my goods to feed the poor. You
know, the thing he said was, would you send ladders down here? And let me tell you something,
there'll be multitudes, multitudes, look in Revelation 16. And here's the thing about it.
This is what I'm talking about, repentance is of the goodness
of God. Men cannot, look in Revelation 16, 8 with me. When a man leaves
this world, he's going to leave this world in the nature he was
born with unless God does something for him and works in him repentance
in a new way. If a man goes to hell without
Christ, he'll stay in hell without Christ. That rich man went to
hell and still yet did not ever shed a tear. Never shed a tear. Never said, I'm sorry. If you
let me come out here and give me another chance, I'll tell
you, I'll change the way I live, and I will give all my money
away. I'll take care of every poor
person I come across. He never said one word like that.
And people can say all those things, but unless God gives
a man a new heart. And this business of salvation
starts in the heart. And look what it says here in
Revelation 16 and 8. And the fourth angel poured out
his vial upon the sun, showing you that judgment or terror doesn't
produce repentance. And it was given unto him to
scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over
these flags." And listen here, "...and they repented not to
give him the glory." You see that? We ain't gonna give Him
the glory. Not gonna give Him the glory. You know how many people I've
heard say, you know, when I go to hell, I have plenty of company? If God don't like the way I do
things, well, He can do what He wants to about it. Oh, they're
not. And I tell you, not only is it
the goodness of God. The goodness of God. God don't
have to bring judgment on you. Judgment's on you. He don't have
to bring condemnation on you. Condemnation's on you. He don't
have to leave you in darkness. And it's the goodness of God
that starts bringing a man to Him. It's the goodness of God
that works in a man's heart. We've already sent enough in
this service to send a world like ours in danger. Ain't we? Do we really have to? And they
said, we're not going to give God the glory. I don't care what
anybody says. He's not going to get the glory in my salvation.
I'm going to hold to my free will. I'm going to hold to my
experience. I'm going to hold to my altered
spirit. I'm going to hold to those tears.
I'm going to hold to my heart and all the things. I'm going
to hold to them goosebumps. And they'll hold to them until
they perish. It's the goodness of God. Oh,
how good is God that He brought me to repentance? Nineteen years
old, standing with both hands up, can't write in His face saying,
I dare you to kill me. I can't live and I can't die.
I can't even blow my own brains out here with a .45 up against
my head. I was in such agony. Why didn't He send me to hell
right then? I despised His goodness. I despised
his long-suffering, despised his forbearance. But God was
not slack concerning his promise toward us, not willing that any,
and I was one of those any, should perish, but should come unto
repentance. And one day, the goodness of God worked in my
heart, sending me a preacher, opening his word to me, and making
me see, and making me understand, That all my life was just nothing
but wretchedness, but yet God said, come unto me, and here
I come. Here I come. Couldn't help but come. And not only is
it the goodness of God, but it's a gift. It's a gift. Peter says, you know, over in
Acts 11, he said, He said, they got on to him, all the Jews got
on to him for going down and preaching to the Gentiles, the
Cornelians. And he got back and he says,
you know, he said, God gave them the Holy Ghost as he did unto
us. And they said, well, then we see that God has granted repentance
unto the Gentiles. He grants it. He gives it. God
hath exalted him to be a prince and a savior. To give repentance,
give repentance unto Israel. And oh, beloved, that's what
produces the goodness of God, and it's a gift. Now, let's talk
about, you know, I don't like evidence as much, but yet there
is repentance. Let me tell you how you can tell
if I've really repented. And repentance is a change of
mind. Now, let me explain that to you. A change of mind is,
what did you used to think about God? What do you think of Him now?
What did you used to think about sin? What do you think about
it now? What did you think about your
own righteousness? What do you think about it now? What did you think about your
own strength and ability? What do you think about it now? Huh? That's what we're talking
about, repentance. Your mind changes and it's a,
I mean, it's a, it's a, it's more than a dream. You know,
it's more than, you know, what did you think about God before?
Now, what do you think about it? What do you think about yourself? Now, what do you think about
yourself? What do you think about sin? Just some mistakes we made. We
quit our sinning when we got converted and throwed away our
televisions and our cigarettes and our lipstick and our pants
and joined the church. No, no. Well, let me tell you
what real repentance is. Real repentance and conversion,
turning to God. First thing it does. It acknowledges
God's sovereign right to do what he will with his own. That's
the first thing you say, God, you do with me what you will.
You don't have to save me here. You don't have to do a thing
in the world for me. But, oh, beloved, you'll say, oh, God,
but if you will. You see, that's the thing about
it. We acknowledge God's sovereign right to do what he will with
his own. When Samuel told, and he was just a young lad, when
he told Eli, he said, God's going to kill both your sons, Phineas
and Hockney. You know what Eli said? After I've served Him all these
years? After I've been in the priesthood all these years? No,
he said, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. He's going to
do exactly what's right, and if it seems good to Him to kill
my two... Who am I? Who am I? Job. God took everything
he had. And you know what he said? Well, I'm just going to quit
serving the Lord. He can't treat me no better than
that. I'm just going to quit serving Him. You know, I've worked hard for
all this stuff, and then He takes it away from me. I'm just going
to quit. No, no, he shaved his head, fell down before the Lord,
said, The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be
the name of the Lord. Now, I'm not saying that's an
easy thing to do. That's not an easy thing to do.
But it's in a believer's heart to do that. It's in our heart
to do it. That's why I say, God sees the
heart. And in all real repentance, that's why our Lord Jesus Christ
said, You know, I thank you, O Father of Heaven, Lord of Heaven
and Earth, you've hid these things. Hid them. from the wise and prudent
revealed among the babes. And real repentance and conversion,
it owns the holiness of God. God is holy. God is infinitely
holy and infinitely righteous and says, oh, in light of Him,
I'm so sinful, I'm so corrupt. You know, Isaiah, when he said,
when I saw the Lord, when I saw the Lord and I saw His glory,
And I heard those seraphims crying, holy, holy, holy. He said, hallelujah,
I see the Lord, I see Jesus. No, he cried out, woe is me,
woe is me. Not only woe is me, but I'm undone. I'm undone. How am I going to
be put back together? How am I going to be put back
together? I'm undone. I'm undone. And oh, my David,
you know, Joel said, oh, I've heard about you. With the hearing
of the ear, now my eyes sees you. And I abhor myself. One of the blessings of the covenant
over in Jeremiah 32, I believe, is that they shall loathe themselves. And Job said, Oh, I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes. And oh, real repentance and conversion. When a man repents and turns
toward God, he justifies God in his judgment against sin wherever
he judges sin. David said, It's against you
and you only that I've sinned and done evil in your sight.
I know else will saw me commit sins. I know that my wife saw me commit
sin. I know my servant saw me commit
sin. But he says, you know, that don't
bother me near as much as you saw me sin. It's against you
that I've sinned. And I've done this evil in your
sight, so that when you judge me, when you judge me, I'm owning
up to my guilt, my sinfulness. When you judge me, You'll be
doing just exactly right. I'll clear you in your judgment.
You're just to do it. Let me ask you four questions.
Must God punish sin? Must God punish sin? Second question, is God just
to punish sin? Is He just to do it? Third question, would God be
just to punish my sin? Fourth question, how then can
God be just and justify me? And you know what? That's what
we first started out with. We asked God, You do what You
will with me. Oh God, You're holy and I'm sinful. I'm corrupt. And God, when You
judge me, You do what you want to with me, you're still God,
you're right to do it. And oh, beloved, but then we
understand how God can be just and justify us through His Son.
Real repentance, and that turning to God owns, confesses that it
lies with God's sovereign will and His pleasure to leave me
in my sin or save me by His grace. He can either lead me in my sin
or save me by His grace. I read, you know, over in Matthew
8, this leper came to Christ and said, Lord, they fell down
and worshiped him. He said, Lord, if you will, you'd
make me clean. He did not say, I'm a leper.
I can't change that. Nothing I can do about that.
But if you will, if you will, you make me clean. Now, I read
a version of the Scriptures, this version of the Bible, this
new one that came out, and you understand how they describe
that? A leper came to him, asking him, if you want to, if you want
to, you make me clean. But there's a difference in want
to and will. If you will, you've got the power, you've got the
authority, you've got the right, and you're the only one that
has it. If you will, it's up to you. If you don't do it, I'm
no worse off. I'm just right where I started." And he said, I will. You see,
you can clean me, you can leave me in my sin, or save me by your
grace. The Canaanite woman said, Lord have mercy on me and help
me. Well, I ain't fixin' to give the children's bread to a dog.
Oh, Lord. Even the dogs, even the dogs,
oh Lord, you know. That's your truth. That's right.
Everything you say is so. And even the dogs get crumped
from the master's table. You know, she took her place,
rightful place. And old David Brainerd faced
this thing right here. You read his diary and the things
he said. He was a man who tried his best
to get acceptance with God by prayer, by going to church, by
fasting, by memorizing scriptures. I mean, he tried his dead level
best to get acceptance with God, but he never found peace. And
finally one day he was out walking and he got mad. He got angry
at God. He got so angry at God. He said,
here I am, I'm doing everything in my power to be righteous,
to be holy, to get you to give me peace.
He said, if I had a gun and could get to you, I would assault you. And then he was out walking one
day. God came to him. and revealed to him his sinfulness
and God's right to do with him what he want to. And he repented
on the spot. He's turned toward God on the
spot. And he shotgunned down. Oh, real repentance and conversion
receives humbly and genuinely the grace of God in Christ. What
else is going on? And we claim no merit of our
own. No merit of our own. Romans 3, 19 with me. Just a
moment. Real repentance. Real repentance. That heart that God brought to
know its sinfulness, its inability, gave it faith to cause it to
turn towards Christ, turn towards God. They receive humbly and
genuinely the grace of God in Christ. They claim no merit of
their own. Romans 3.19, Now we know that
whatsoever things the law saith, it saith them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. I'm guilty of not loving God.
I'm guilty of not loving my neighbor. I'm guilty of covetousness and
idolatry and everything else you can think of. And I'm guilty.
My mouth is shut up. I ain't got nothing to plead.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight." The law came and made me know my sinfulness. But
now, wait a minute, the righteousness of God. Without that law, it
was witnessed by the law, by all the sacrifices, by the law
showing us that we couldn't keep it, and the prophets. What righteousness? The righteousness of God. By
the faith of Jesus Christ unto us, all that are born of Him
that believe, and there ain't no difference. Oh my! Can you bow to that? Can you
bow to Christ and the grace of God in claiming no merit of your
own? Huh? And the first thing people ask,
let me tell you this, the first thing people ask when God starts
dealing with them and starts bringing them to grace and pure
grace, free grace, they start saying, well, what about my Mother,
what about my dad? What about this one? What about
that one? Forget about what about. What about you? You can't change. I've heard
fellows debate over whether Martin Luther was saved or not. He'd
been gone 300 years. You know, there's a debate whether
he is converted or not. You're talking about idiots. You don't answer a fool according
to his policy. I know one thing that God's done
just exactly right by Martin Luther. I do know that. True
repentance vows to sovereign, free grace of God in Christ and
claims nothing of its own. And here's the last thing. If
you've repented and God's Word of repentance is in your heart
and faith and calls you to turn toward Christ, you keep on repenting. It's not an isolated act. It's
not just something you come to the front, you do one time, and
it's over and done with. Once God works it in you, it
just keeps on working. You repent of your thoughts.
You repent of your motives. You repent of your attitude.
I remember Brad, years and years ago, he prayed and he said, Lord,
not only forgive me for what I've done, forgive me for what
I am. That's what repentance is. Repentance
and faith as a state is a condition of the heart. And repentance
and faith won't be finished until we're all in glory. And repentance
is on God's side and agrees with God no matter what happens. And
it's a change of mind, but oh, what a change of mind it is! It's a turning, but oh, what
a turning it is! Men can produce religion, but
only God can produce life. Men can impress other men and
produce affectation, but only God can produce the root, the
life, and put Christ in a man's heart and a love for Him and
an allegiance to Him. Only God can do that.