All right. For the past few weeks,
I've been dealing with the subject of true godly repentance, looking
into the scripture that we might know and understand what repentance
really is and what it's all about. I've made this statement. I said,
most people who think they have repented really don't know what
repentance is. And so I've used as a basic text,
a verse in the book of 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3 and verse 9, where
the apostle Peter wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the
Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Now Peter is speaking
specifically of God's promise in the gospel. the salvation
of sinners, the preservation of His people unto glory, which
means the second coming of Christ. Christ is coming again. And we
pray like the Apostle John, even so, Lord, come back, come on. Every generation, I think, since
the death and resurrection of Christ has thought that their
generation was gonna be the last one. You know, Paul dealt with
that in first and second Thessalonians, but we don't know when he's coming
back, but we know that he is. And we know this, his return
is not delayed. He's not waiting on us or anybody
to do anything. It's already set. The Lord God
knows when he's coming back and nothing's going to change that
one second earlier or one second later. He's not waiting on a
temple to be built in Jerusalem. He's not. He's coming back on
that day that he knows. But I know this, he's not slack.
That means he's not slow, he's not hindered in any way. As some
men, unbelievers he's talking about, scoffers, count slackness. So somebody comes up and says,
well, you know, hadn't come back yet, that means he's not coming
back at all. No, he's not slack concerning, he keeps his promises.
He never fails. All of His promises are in Christ.
Yay and amen, sure and certain. But God is long-suffering to
usward. God has a point in time and it's
because of the salvation of His people, the us there. God is
long-suffering, He's patient, He's enduring toward us. Now who is the us there? That's
His elect people. whom he gave to Christ before
the foundation. The Bible says their names were
written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of
the world. And God's not up there writing
in names and erasing out names and all of that, that's false
religion. But he's long suffering to his
people and it says, not willing that any should perish. That
is his people, the us, his elect. God's got a people and he's gonna
save them. And he's not willing that any
should perish. And how's he gonna do this? How's God gonna bring
them into the kingdom? How's he going to accomplish
it? He says, but that all should come to repentance. That's the
goal. God's gonna bring them to repentance.
So as this us in 2 Peter 3, 9 refers to God's chosen, justified, redeemed,
adopted people, the Lord will not return until the last one
of them is brought into the kingdom, brought to repentance. Now, repentance,
let me say that most people think of repentance as reformation,
but repentance is not reformation. Now, reformation will follow
repentance. You understand what reform, reformation
is? It's people changing. They may
change like the Apostle Paul, as we read in Philippians chapter
three, from false religion to the religion of God's grace.
from thinking themselves to be righteous in God's sight because
of their accomplishments, to being humbled by God to see that
they have no righteousness in themselves. They're totally at
the mercy of God, only a sinner saved by grace. That's what I
am. That's who you're listening to. I heard a man say about one fellow laborer of mine, He said,
a guy walked out of the service, after hearing a gospel message,
and he said, well, I'm not coming back here. That preacher's a
sinner, too. Well, you're listening to a sinner. If God were to give
me what I deserve, it would be nothing but death and hell. But
thank God, it's by grace. And that's how the Apostle Paul
was changed on the Damascus Road. He came from high religion and
morality and sincerity and zeal and dedication to being laid
in the dust. He came to repentance. He saw
everything that he before saw as right and good and pleasing
to God. He said, I counted all but loss. For what? For the excellency
of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, my Lord. When I see Christ,
the glory of his person, This thing's not about who I am. It's
about Christ. He's God manifest in the flesh.
Why would I want to get up here and brag on me when I've got
the message of the Son of God incarnate? Let me tell you who
he is, because that's what you need to know. You don't need
to know who I am. That's what John the Baptist said. I must
decrease. He must increase. Our old pastor
in the preacher school up there, he said, preach Christ and then
get out of the way. That's how I feel. Who he is. Let me tell you about what he
has done. It's not about what I've done. Shouldn't I be working
for the Lord? Shouldn't I be obedient? Yes,
but it's not about me. It's about Christ crucified and
risen from the dead. Let me tell you about his obedience
unto death. That's what ought to mean something
to us. That's our hope. That's our ground. Let me tell
you about His blood, His precious blood shed on that cross to put
away the sins of His people by which He hath perfected them
that are sanctified forever and ever by His one offering. He's
my surety. He's my substitute. He's my redeemer. He's my Lord. Let me tell you
about His righteousness. You want to talk about yours?
Well, I wouldn't have much to say because you don't have one
in yourself. I talk about His, the merits
of His obedience unto death, charged to my account. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? Christ died,
yea, rather He's risen again. He's my intercessor seated at
the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession. That's how he repented, how God
brought him to repentance, and that was his reformation. You
say, well, Paul, I'm finally glad you stopped taking drugs. Paul never took a drug. Paul,
I'm glad that you stopped drinking alcohol. He never drank alcohol.
What kind of reformation you talking about? He didn't have
a testimony about coming from the gutter to the pew. No, he
repented of something we all must be brought to repentance,
our own self-righteousness, self-love, our own pride, and be humbled
in the dust at the feet of Christ. But there may be another kind
of reformation that comes with it, like Ozikias. He was a wretched,
rotten, thieving publican. He told the Lord, he said, this
day I'm gonna, if I've cheated anybody, I'm gonna return fivefold
what I got out of. You think he was doing that for
salvation? Absolutely not. That was a product. That was
a fruit. But Ozikias had to be brought
down from the same high horse that Paul had to be brought down
from. His own bad thoughts. So repentance is not reformation,
though reformation does accompany repentance. Repentance is not
just feeling sorry for your sins. That's what most people today,
I think, really believe. You just feel sorry enough to
change. But that's not repentance. Now,
feeling sorry for your sins will accompany repentance to some
degree or another. And the way I say it that way
is, look, I do feel sorry for my sins, you feel sorry for your
sins, but shouldn't we be sorrier in ourselves? Think about it.
Only a sinner saved by grace. God brings his people to repentance
through faith in Christ. That's how God does it. How do
I get to repent? You see, both faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works and idolatry, which the scripture
calls it, are both gifts from God. You see, if you've been
brought to faith and repentance, don't be proud of yourself. You
didn't make that difference. God gave it to you. Gifts of
his grace from Christ. Listen, all whom God chose before
the foundation of the world, all whom God justified by the
blood of Christ, based on his righteousness in Peter, all whom
God has adopted into his family, all whom Christ redeemed on the
cross, all of them, without exception, will be born again, will be given
the gift of faith and repentance from Almighty God. And what I
want to know, and what you want to know, is God giving me that
gift? It didn't come out of me. It
didn't come out of my goodness, my power, or even my will. By
grace are you saved, through faith. That's not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
bow. You see, when it comes to my salvation, I didn't make the
difference. God did. It's of the Lord. Now, when I was in false religion,
I really thought I did make the difference. But you know what?
God gave me the gift of repentance and I had to repent of that. He brings his people to repentance
through faith in Christ. Like faith in Christ, it's a
gift by the power of the Holy Spirit. And when in the new birth,
he changes our minds. That's what the word repentance
means. It's a change of mind, your thoughts, your ideas, your
preconceived notions. How do you think about God? What
do you think of when you think of God? Now ask yourself this
question. Are my thoughts of God, are they
based upon what God says about himself in this book? And if
it's not, your thoughts about God are idolatrous and you need
to repent of it. You need to turn from that false
God to the true and living God. That's what Paul said about the
Thessalonians. How you turn from your idols
to serve the living God. God as he identifies himself
in this book. That's what most people need
today. They carry Bibles, but they don't
know the word of God. They don't know the Bible. They say, well, you interpret
it your way. No, it's not like that. You see, if that's the
way it was, we'd all be in a mess. God, the Holy Spirit, in the
new birth, gives us a new heart, the mind, the affections, the
will. He changes our will. He makes us willing in the day
of God's power. You see, the natural man will
not receive these things, will not believe them. He doesn't
want them. They're spiritually judged, and we have no spiritual
judgment by nature. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. We're ruined by the fall. If left to ourselves, we'll
reject it all of our lives. and perish with all unbelievers. But He changes our mind. He changes
our whole view and judgment in matters concerning salvation
and a right relationship with God. That's what repentance is.
It's a conversion by the power of God where He changes my whole
view, how I look at everything. and Randy and Jim were talking
about, turns our world upside down. That's what happened to
Paul. He said, that which was valuable to me, that which I
thought recommended me unto God, I counted all but lost, even
dung. What a change, what a reformation. That's something, isn't it? But
it's a change of mind concerning these issues of salvation. and
a right relationship with God. In the new birth, faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works and idolatry. And here's what
he says now over there in 2 Peter 3 now, he says, God's gonna bring
his children to repentance. Now what I need to know and what
you need to know is has God given me that gift of repentance? That's
what I've been dealing with in these messages. Somebody said,
who are God's elect? I'll tell you how you know them.
They've been brought to faith in Christ and repentance from dead
works. You know, Peter said in 2 Peter
1, verse 10, he said, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. How are you gonna make your election sure? How am I
gonna be sure that God chose me before the foundation of the
world, that my name was written in the Lamb's book of life? It's
by your calling. And what is that calling? It's
the calling of the gospel, the true gospel, wherein Christ is
revealed in the glory of his person and the power of his finished
work, his righteousness, It's in the calling of that gospel,
in the power of the Holy Spirit, that brings a sinner to faith
in Christ and repentance. That's what it is. Now what I wanna just deal with
a few minutes here, a few more minutes, is repentance as a way
of life. If you've been brought to faith
in Christ and repentance, Both faith and repentance is your
way of life. It's not just a Sunday morning
thing. It's a way of life. First of
all, there is an initial repentance. Repentance begins in the new
birth. Look here at 1 John 1. Listen to what he says here.
Verse one of 1 John 1. He says, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled
of the word of life. What John is saying is what I'm
telling you is what I've seen firsthand. This is not a myth. This is not a hoax. This is not
just a folk story. I saw it, John said, with my
own eyes, handled it with my hands. This is not a pipe dream. And he says in verse two, for
the life was manifested and we have seen it. What did Christ
say to his disciples? I am the way, I am the truth,
I am the life. John says, I've seen it. And
I bear witness. I'm not just telling you a story.
I'm not just trying to entertain you and keep your attention.
I'm telling you what I've witnessed. and show unto you that eternal
life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, that
is through the Son. Verse three, that which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship
with us. That's the goal. Now, how does
God bring a sinner who by nature is ruined and dead and unbelieving? idolatrous, even the morality
now, even the religious. How does God bring one into his
fellowship? Well, he says, by that which
we declare unto you, what we're telling you. This is a message.
This is the calling unto faith and repentance. And he says,
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son,
Jesus Christ. Over in the book of 2 John, verse
nine, he makes this statement. He said, he who transgresses
and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. But he who abides in that doctrine,
he has both the Father and the Son. How do I know the Father?
Only as the Son reveals him. And how is the Son revealed to
me? Through the preaching of the gospel in the power of the
Holy Spirit. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes. Peter said we're brought
into fellowship with the divine. The divine nature, what is the
divine nature? It's God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit. Peter said in 2 Peter 1, we're
made partakers of the divine nature. That means we're brought
into fellowship. It's the same word that John uses here for
fellowship, that word partaker. He says we're brought into fellowship
with the Father and the Son, with the divine nature, by the
promises of God revealed to us. What are those promises? The
promises of my salvation. based upon the blood and righteousness
of His Son. That's how. And he says in verse
four of 1 John 1, these things write we unto you that your joy
may be full. We joy in the Lord. That's Christian
joy. It's not joy in the world that
passes. There's joy and peace in believing, Paul wrote. Believing
what? Believing God's Word, believing
the gospel, believing in Christ, resting in Him, pleading His
righteousness. There's joy there. If I try to
plead my righteousness, there's no joy there. Why? Because I've
been brought to repentance. I know who I am. Somebody said,
we know who we are, but we haven't seen the half of it. We're like
those two farmers from West Virginia who decided to take a trip to
the ocean standing on the shore. They'd never seen anything like
that. One farmer said, man, look how big that thing is. And the
other one said, that's just the top of it. That's us. But my joy is full with the fullness
of Christ. I'm forgiven of all my sins. You know what I used to think
about the forgiveness of sins, what I've repented of? I used
to think that I was forgiven of my sins when I rededicated.
You ever done that? Man, I used to keep the aisles
hot. Especially during youth revivals.
And I knew what it was, I sold my wild oats and I had to walk
that aisle to rededicate. Now I'm fine. Now I had peace
over that. That's a false peace. That's
a false peace. But now my joy is full. because
it's in the fullness of the Son of God incarnate. It's in the
fullness of His righteousness. And so he says in verse five,
this then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare
unto you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
Now you know what that light does? That light is the light
of Christ. It's the light of truth that not only reveals the
true and living God as opposed to our idols by nature, and reveals
the true person of Christ and His finished work, it's that
light, but it also exposes our depravity, exposes our sin. John wrote about that in John
3, 19 and 20, when he said, this is the condemnation that light
has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light. because their deeds were evil.
Those deeds, what men by nature hold in high estimation, that
which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God.
What deeds is he talking about there? He's talking about our
religious deeds. He's talking about our morality, which we
hang our eternal lives on by nature. And we like that covered with
the darkness of false religion, false professions, false experiences,
but when the light comes along and exposes that, we see that
which we're so proud of, we've got to repent of. That's repentance. Now, are you beginning to understand
why most people don't want to hear what real repentance is?
They really don't. He says here, and he says in
verse, Verse five, he says, we declare unto you that God is
light and in him is no darkness at all. Verse six, if we say
that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not the truth. See, he brings us to repentance
from that darkness. And we walk in the truth of Christ. And verse seven, but if we walk
in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses
us from all sin. He brings us to thinking that
we make the difference in that issue of forgiveness, whether
it be by our acceptance of him or not. This is like I heard
one preacher say. He said, what is the condition
for you to receive forgiveness? He said that condition is repentance.
Not so. If you've come to repentance,
you'll repent of that. You say, well it says if there, look at
it. If we walk in the light. Understand
this, now this is a very, very important rule of interpretation,
interpreting scripture. The if passages. There are conditional ifs. You young people in school, if
you study, take the test, and make a good grade, that was conditioned
on you, isn't that right? That's a conditional if. If you
don't study, and if you don't answer the questions right on
the day, you'll fail. That's a conditional if. But
when it comes to salvation, all conditions have been laid on
Christ, and he fulfilled the conditions, And the if here is
not a conditional if, it's an evidential if. It evidences that
you're in Christ. You say, well, how do you know
the difference? Well, you gotta understand the context. This is about the gospel. This
is not the law. The gospel says that Christ fulfilled
all conditions and the evidence of his people being his people,
justified, redeemed, adopted, regenerated, is this. They walk in the light. They
walk by faith in a continual attitude of repentance. And what
does this say about? It says the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses them from all sin. Christ took care of it. Repentance,
Last week I've dealt with this. In this initial repentance, it
brings us to repentance and righteous judgment. Judgment based on God's
word. Our judgment of who God is and
what he requires changes. Our judgment of ourselves and
our sins change. Our judgment of who Christ is
and what he accomplished in his death changes. Even our judgment
of saved and lost changes. And again, that's not to say
that we can know everybody who's saved and everybody who's lost,
but here's what we do know. Everybody who's saved is saved
by the grace of God, the sovereign grace of God based on the righteousness
of Christ. They believe the gospel and all
who are lost believe not. Our judgment even of what pleases
God and what does not. And this brings us to that repentance
that continues throughout our lives as believers.