Now in that passage that Brother
Wages read, we find one of what is known as the warning passages
of the book of Hebrews. And these warning passages are
not just mere threats of hell or straighten up or die or whatever
like that. They're not legal warnings. In
fact, the warnings in Hebrews mainly are to flee from legalism
to Christ. That's what it's about. But these
warning passages, they are exhortations. An exhortation is a command.
It's an encouragement. For people who profess to believe
in Christ, like all of us today, I profess that my faith is in
Christ Jesus, the God of all grace, through his blood and
righteousness. That's my profession. That's
my hope of salvation. So these warnings are to people
like us who profess to believe the gospel, to not be satisfied
with a mere profession without a diligent use of the scriptures
in self-examination, in understanding the word of God, which he calls
the oracles of God and the word of righteousness here, to examine
ourselves whether we really be in the faith. You know the first
warning passage of Hebrews, remember he said don't just drift on by.
You know, when he talked about that back in chapter two, when
he said, he said, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation? Talking about drifting on by,
in other words, just coming to a church service, a worship service,
and just sitting there in a stupor, you know, just, you know, well,
you know, wonder what I'm gonna eat today. That kind of thing.
And it takes some effort. I mean, listen, I realize it
takes some effort for y'all even to hear me. I mean, I don't understand
exactly all of that, but I'm just teasing. But it does take effort, doesn't
it? Because, I mean, we have so much, especially today, we
have so much that consumes us in our families, in our jobs,
in our daily things that we have, you know, it takes some effort
to listen. So don't just drift on by. Examine
yourself, whether you be in the faith, In other words, am I truly
trusting Christ, the Christ of this book? And I think that's
important. That has to be emphasized today.
Because when you understand that the Lord said to his disciples
and to us that in the last days, one of the greatest signs of
the nearness of his coming would be false Christianity. Do I know
the difference between false Christianity and true Christianity?
Do I really? Well, that's why I entitled this
sermon based upon a phrase in verse 14. And it's called to
discern good and evil, discerning good and evil. Do you know that
false Christianity is evil? True Christianity is good. Now
we can talk about issues of morality and immorality. We can talk about
the evil and the good that even the natural man recognizes. Do you understand that? God has
given every man and woman a conscience whereby they can discern good
and evil in some sense on a human level. But when it comes to spiritual
things, When it comes to the things of God, the honor God
and dishonor God, when it comes to the things of salvation, when
it comes to the things of true faith or counterfeit faith, am
I skillful enough to discern both good and evil? Can I tell
the difference? That's what this passage here is about, right
here. One of the major messages for
professing believers is the danger of apostasy. An apostasy, now
you understand what that is, that's a falling away. Now this book, this book of Hebrews,
it was written about A.D. 67, somewhere around there. The
writer of this book, the human writer, is not mentioned, and
so some people, when we refer, when we preach through Hebrews,
we talk about the writer of Hebrews. I personally believe it was the
Apostle Paul. Some people believe it was Barnabas.
Now, in reality, it doesn't really matter who the human writer is,
does it? Because this is the Word of God.
And that's the way we're to look at it. I heard a Bible scholar,
so-called Bible scholar, one time say that Paul wrote this,
but the Holy Spirit told him not to put his name in there
because he was so hated by the Hebrews. He was so hated by unbelieving
Jews, and that's who this is written to. This is written to
professing Christians among the Jews. Hebrews, that's why it's
called that. But the purpose of this book
was to present the Lord Jesus Christ. of the Bible as perfect
and as superior in comparison to anything under the Old Covenant
law, and especially better than anything under the perversion
of the Old Covenant that the unbelieving Jews had to offer.
That Christ, listen, we've been talking about it here in Hebrews
chapter 5. The priesthood of the Old Covenant,
the priesthood that descended from Aaron in the tribe of Levi.
It had its purpose for 1,500 years, but that's gone, and it's
over, and we have someone so much better. We have a great
high priest who has passed through into the heavens, into the very
presence of God. It wasn't an earthly tent or
tabernacle or temple. It wasn't an earthly holy of
holies. But it was the very presence
of Almighty God. He's Jesus Christ, the righteous,
who by His death on the cross satisfied the justice of God
for His people. He who is God and man in one
person. Aaron couldn't claim that. None
of the Levitical high priest or the Levitical priest could
claim that. They were sinful men. When the high priest of
Israel went into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, he
went in there with the blood of an animal that could never
take away sin, but it did symbolize and picture the one who could,
the Lamb of God. And when he went in there, he
went in there as a sinful man for his own sins and for the
people. But our great high priest, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is God and man in one person, went into
the very presence of God with his own blood for our sins, charged
to him, not for his own. And he's satisfied, he's sat
down at the right hand of God. And he ever lives to make intercession
for us. And he alone is our hope. He
alone is our salvation. He alone is our forgiveness.
He alone is our righteousness. And that forever and ever. And
that cannot be taken away, it cannot die, it cannot even be
contaminated. That's how much better. And so
that's what he's trying to do. And we've seen thus far the greater
superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ in his high priestly office
over and above those earthly priests. And as the one true
great high priest of God's elect, according to the terms of the
everlasting covenant of grace and the new covenant, which is
the accomplishment in time of the everlasting covenant of grace
by his own precious blood, Christ, Jesus, accomplished for his people
what those sinful earthly priests could never accomplish by the
blood of animals. Hebrews 10, 4. It's not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. That's
not possible. These earthly things, as I said,
they were types, they were pictures, they were foreshadowings of Christ.
But Christ is the superior. He's the better. His priesthood
was not of the earth. It was not wrapped up in and
concerned with temporal ceremonial duties that pertained only to
the flesh. His high priesthood concerned
the spiritual and eternal matters of the purging away of sins before
a holy God. Forgiveness, forgiven, how? By the blood of Christ. You understand
now. You know, there are some segments
of false Christianity that'll tell you this. They'll tell you
your sins are forgiven as they're washed in your tears of remorse
and repentance. That's a false gospel. Can you
know that? Did you know the difference? You understand what I'm saying?
How does the forgiveness of sins come? What does it say in 1 John
1? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
me from all sins. Justification before God. How
is a sinner just before God? Is it by his works? Is it by
his faith plus his works? No, it's by the blood of Christ. It's by his righteousness imputed
alone. The righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel. Hebrews 9.13 says, if the blood
of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, and that's
what those Animal sacrifices did. It set the Jewish nation
apart according to the flesh. But it didn't forgive sin. It
didn't make a sinner righteous. It didn't satisfy the holy law
of God. Verse 14 says, how much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from what? Dead works. to serve the living
God. Now we're going to talk about
dead works a little bit. Well, a devout Jew might ask
the writer of Hebrews, Paul or Barnabas or whoever it was, might
ask him, well, since Jesus of Nazareth was not born of Aaron
or of Levi, what right did he have to occupy the office and
be called the one true high priest of God? And the answer is this. As I said, Christ's priesthood
was not according to the old covenant. His priesthood was
and is spiritual, eternal, according to the terms of the everlasting
covenant of grace. And the writer of Hebrews uses
a person named Melchizedek to show this. Back in verse six,
he mentions Melchizedek. Look at verse six. It says, as
he saith also in another place, thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. What he's saying there is that
the Lord Jesus Christ did not descend from Aaron and the Levitical
priest. But he was a priest after another
order called the Order of Melchizedek. Now if you don't understand all
that, I'm going to get to that later because the writer of Hebrews
picks up in especially chapter 7 describing that. But Melchizedek
was a priest before the Old Covenant. He was a king and a priest. His
name means the King of Righteousness. And what he was, he was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His priesthood had no descendancy
from any from Aaron and the Levitical priesthood, we don't know where
he descended from, and that's the point. Christ's priesthood
was not based upon human genealogy. He was a priest forever, appointed
by God before the foundation of the world. Humanly speaking,
he was born of another tribe, the tribe of Judah, the royal
tribe. And so he's our priest king. And we'll talk about that
later on too. But here's what he says. He talks
about it here, verse 10. He was called of God and high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. And listen to what he says here.
Now this is where I want to start. Of whom we have many things to
say. This Christ priesthood after
the order of Melchizedek. And hard to be uttered. Not because
they're so deep. Not because they're just hard
to understand, but here's the problem, and here's the first
point. Diagnosing a hearing problem. Seeing you're a dull of hearing.
Now why are these things hard to deal with? Why are these things
difficult? It's not because it's some kind
of a deep doctrine that only the most mature Christian can
grasp, or only the highest of intellects can understand. The
reason that he said it's hard to deal with, with you, is because
you've got a spiritual disease. It's called dullness of hearing.
In other words, he's not saying the doctrine's the problem. He's
saying you're the problem. Now I'm not speaking, I hope
none of you are in this problem, but if you are, we'll diagnose
it this morning. That's what a good doctor does. He diagnoses
the disease properly and prescribes the cure. But there's a problem. They're dull of hearing. Dull,
and of course, what's he talking about? He's talking about spiritual
hearing, isn't he? He that hath ears, let him hear. How many
times did the Lord say that in his discourses? Spiritual hearing
is a gift from God. Let me show you that. Turn to
Matthew chapter 13. And when we talk about spiritual
hearing, we're not just talking about something that is within
earshot, something that you can just hear physically. If you
can't hear me physically, just move up to the front. There's
the problem solved. Isn't that right? But this problem
goes deeper. You remember when they asked
Christ, the disciples asked Christ, why do you speak in parables?
And he said, look at Matthew 13, look at verse 10. The disciples
came and said unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? And
he answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it's not given. You see, if you know the mysteries,
that is, what is a mystery in the Bible? Now, a mystery in
the Bible is this, it's a truth that must be revealed by God.
Man by nature, by intellect, by searching, cannot find this
out. It must be revealed to you by
God. And he says in verse 12, for
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he that hath more
abundance, but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken
away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing see not. They have physical sight,
but they don't see these things that I'm talking about. That's
what the Lord say. Hearing they hear not, neither
do they understand. He says in verse 14, and then
them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith by hearing
you shall hear and shall not understand. Now here's what it
tells us. The hearing that we're talking about is an understanding. It has to do with heeding what
is being said. In other words, it's not just
a mental understanding that doesn't work by God's power into the
heart, which is the mind, the affections, and the will. But
he says they really don't understand because if you understand the
gospel, you understand this is my only way of salvation. This is my only way of hope.
This is life and death. This is not just religion. It's
not just human relations and socialization. It's not just
giving my kids something to do. It's not just going to church
and jumping up and down and holler and having a good time. This
is life and death. This is the difference between
eternal damnation and eternal life. This is the difference
between eternal separation from Almighty God. and a life of glory
and eternity with him. Do you understand that? That's
what this means. This life, what is it? What is this life? That's it. Compared to eternity, it's nothing. It's like that old cowboy in
that movie said, life's short, shorter for some than for others.
And that's it. Some are cut down in the prime
of youth. Some live an old age. There was
Abel, the first murder. And you know what the issue was?
The gospel. Abel saw it as life and death through the blood of
the Lamb, which he knew to be Christ, the coming Messiah. Wasn't that much of a big deal
to Cain? And when Cain saw that Abel's
testimony was this, Cain, your works are dead works. Your works
are dishonoring to God. Your works are evil. What'd Cain
do? He hated Abel, rose up and slew
him. Abel, cut down in the prime of life. Then there's old Methuselah,
969 years, and he died. And that's really all said about
him. We know what his name means. Has to do with the prophecy of
the flood coming. But that's it, he died. You say,
well, somebody, and I always get tickled when I read the paper,
see the news, and they'll have somebody who's lived to be 100
or 110. And they say, what is the secret to a long life? They
don't know. One woman said smoking cigars
and drinking beer. They don't know. I know. Hebrews
9 tells us, it is appointed unto men once to die. God appointed
it. That's the secret. And the secret
remains with God. You don't know how long you're
gonna live. I don't know how long I'm gonna live. I'm surprised
I've lived this long. But we don't know. We may think
we know. The doctor may say you've got
six months. You may live six years. He may
say you have six years, you live six months, you don't know. Only
God knows. Read Ecclesiastes 3. There is
a time, a time, a time. Why is there a time? Because
God appointed the times. You see that? Do you understand? That's what he's saying. Look
at verse 14 of Matthew 13. He says, and seeing you shall
see and shall not perceive. Verse 15. This people's heart
waxed gross." Now what does that mean? That means it's grown hard. Brother Mahan used to talk about
people who were gospel hardened. They've heard so much truth and
it really doesn't matter to them, you can't get through to them.
That's what he's talking about. He said, their ears are dull
of hearing. Now you realize he's talking
about lost people here. Their ears are dull of hearing.
Same word as in Hebrews chapter 5. Talking about lost people.
In Hebrews, he's talking to professing believers who are dull of hearing. He said, their eyes they've closed,
lest at any time should see with their eyes and hear with their
ears, and should understand with their heart, with their mind,
their affections. And we know that understanding
is a gift from God, isn't it? Listen to what it says here now.
Listen to this, don't let this slip by you. They close their
eyes, they shut their ears, and lest at any time with their heart
and should be converted, and I should heal them. What is it
they don't want? They don't want conversion. What does conversion involve?
Well, hold on to that thought. Look at verse 16. But blessed
are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear. That's
a gift from God, isn't it? Go back to Hebrews 5. Dull of spiritual hearing, that's
a gift from God. The problem with this dullness
of spiritual hearing is it leaves a person with a terrible symptom. And that's the way you doctors
diagnose diseases. You look at the symptoms first,
don't you? And then you seek the cause. Well, what was the
symptom that was going on here? Look back down at verse 14. He
says, but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,
even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil. That was the problem. They couldn't
tell the difference. between the good and the evil. It's kind of like those people
back in the book of Judges. Or no, it's back in Isaiah, I'm
sorry. In Isaiah where he said, they call good evil and evil
good. And you know what Isaiah was
talking about? He was talking about religious people. He wasn't really talking about
the homosexuals, you know, like today. They call that good. We
know it's evil. Because God says it's evil. But
he was talking about, Isaiah was talking about religious people.
In fact, he went so far as to talk to his religious generation
and told them this. He said it's so bad religiously
in Jerusalem, in Judah, that if God didn't save an elect remnant,
that's what he says now, isn't that right? He said if God hadn't
saved, chosen and saved an elect remnant, the whole nation would
perish like Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, if I'd have been Isaiah,
I'd have had a shield in front of me. Wait a minute, Isaiah, you're
telling me that Israel, Judah, the temple, the worship, we're
no better off than Sodom and Gomorrah? You know what they
did in Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah said, you're worse off.
in your religion, your religious efforts. It was religion without
truth. It was religion without grace. It was religion without Christ. It was religion without heart. Think about it. And he says,
you don't know the difference between what's good and what's
evil. The cause of dullness of hearing
is doing what? Well, what's described in chapter
6. Look at chapter 6. Now I'm going
to start with chapter 6 next week and we'll go down through
these verses some. But listen to what he says. Therefore leaving
the principles. You might have in your concordance
the word of the beginning. In other words, this is how faith
in Christ starts. This is the fundamental principle
of the doctrine of Christ. What's the doctrine of Christ?
It's the doctrine of His person, who Jesus Christ is. Who is He? He's God in human
flesh. He's God manifest in the flesh.
He's God with us. The doctrine of Christ is the
doctrine of His accomplished redemptive work. It's not what
he tried to do, but it's what he accomplished, leading us to
know this, that because of his death on that cross for God's
chosen people, they are sure and certain to be saved, preserved,
and glorified. Anything less is not the doctrine
of Christ. You understand me? Think about
it. You say, well, I don't agree
with that. Well, maybe you don't know the difference between good
and evil. You may say, well, I don't want to hear that. Well,
that's shutting your eyes and closing your ears. Don't want
to be converted. You understand? Now again, I
realize it takes the spirit of God for any of us to come to
these conclusions and understandings. Isn't that right? I know it did
me. I know when I first heard the
true gospel, I was a seminary student, and I went and heard
a man in Ashland, Kentucky preach the gospel, and I hated just
about everything he said. I didn't want to hear it. And if God had left me to myself,
I'd have walked away from there and never come back. But because
of my dear mother, who was a believer, I stayed. This was my mind now. For her sake, I stayed. But I
didn't know the difference between good and evil. Oh, I knew it
was evil to go out and get drunk and speed and get killed in a
car wreck. I knew it was evil to take drugs and do all that.
I knew it was evil to steal and all that. I knew it was good
to stay away from all that stuff, to be a kind and moral and generous
citizen. I knew that good and evil. But when it comes to the honor
and glory of God, the salvation of sinners, I didn't know the
difference between good and evil. I call good evil and evil good.
That's the symptom right here. That word, he says, leaving the
principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on into perfection.
That's completion is what he's talking about. You see, when
God converts his people, he brings that conversion to a completion.
Now, we grow in grace and knowledge, but these principles have already
been laid and sealed in our heart. That word principle means the
word of the beginning. Again, the foundation truth of
Christianity revealed in the oracles of God, revealed in the
word of righteousness. And he says, not laying again
the foundation of repentance of dead works and faith toward
God. You see it? And what the writer is saying
here to these people here, he's saying, you need someone now
to teach you again what you first claimed to receive when you made
your profession of faith. You have need of milk now and
not solid food. What's the use of me talking
about Melchizedek when you haven't even settled the issue of repentance
of dead works and faith toward God? How can we go on? Think about it. He says in verse
one of chapter six, therefore leaving the principles. That
doesn't mean we leave these truths behind and forget about them.
It means we build upon them. It means we grow from them. We
go on unto perfection, completion in the way of being convicted
and converted to the reality of what's good and what's evil. Who's in danger of falling away
from their profession? Those who can't tell the difference
between good and evil. Who's in danger of being fooled
by false religion? Those who can't tell the difference
between good and evil. What sheep is in danger of being
eaten by a wolf? Now we know if they're true sheep,
God's gonna bring them to fruition and he's gonna bring them to
salvation. But that's what he's talking about. Here was a group
of people who claimed to believe the true gospel of God's grace
through the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were being tempted,
tested, even persecuted to try to get them to compromise or
totally forsake Christ, His truth, and the fellowship of believers.
You remember later on he says, don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. Why were they doing that? Because
they didn't want to be identified with true Christians. They didn't
want to be persecuted. ridiculed, and so they just stayed
away. They tried to be closet Christians,
in other words. One of the things emphasized
here is that Christ is the only way of salvation in life. All
else, even the old covenant law, it's
priesthood, it's sacrifices, it's worship, dead works. Dead works. And so to forsake Christ and
return to false religion is to forsake the only hope of salvation
for sinners. That's forsaking it. You see,
when God the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life and knowledge
to Christ's sheep, he brings them to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. And that's the foundation that
he lays in the hearts of all of God's people. Now what are
these dead works? Let's cover it all. Any religion,
any deeds, any experiences before God brings us to a true saving
knowledge of the true Christ as he's described and revealed
in this book. Dead works. Paul spoke of it in Philippians
3, didn't he? He said, that which I used to
think recommended me unto God, when I saw the glory of Christ
and the righteousness of God in him, I counted all but loss. That's the repentance of dead.
I counted but dumb that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith or the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness of God, which is by faith, which we receive by
God-given faith. Look back at Hebrews chapter
nine, I quoted this earlier. Look at this. Verse 13. Hebrews 9, 13, if the blood of
bulls and of goats, the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctify through the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God purge your conscience. Now you know what
the conscience is. How do you know what your conscience
is like? What is your standard of right
and wrong? That's what the conscience is. That's the seat of judgment
in our hearts by which we measure righteousness and sin, evil deeds
and goodness. Well, when the blood of Christ
is applied to our hearts, our consciences by the Spirit of
God, our consciences are purged from what? From dead works. to serve the living God. And what the writer of Hebrews,
go back to verse five, he's saying these things ought to be settled.
Look at verse 12. He says, when the time, you ought
to be teachers. Now that doesn't mean that everybody's
gonna have a pulpit ministry or a lectern ministry or have
the gift of teaching. It means you ought to know what
the teacher knows. That's what it means. The teacher
of truth. You ought to know better than
this, that's what he's saying. You have need that one teach
you again, which be the first principles of the word of God,
the oracles of God. In other words, we, you haven't
got, this is not settled in your mind and in your heart. He says, and are become such
as have need of milk and not strong me. Now we all need milk.
Peter said that, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may
grow thereby. But we ought to grow, that's
what he's saying. Grow in grace and in knowledge, Peter wrote.
He says, and what's the problem? Verse 13, for everyone that useth
milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. Isn't that
interesting? You want to know righteousness? You want to know
goodness? What does God's word say? You know this, anyone who claims to be a Christian
But who thinks that righteousness can be found in their works or
within themselves is unskillful in the word of righteousness.
Because the word of righteousness, which is the gospel, which is
the word of God, tells me this, that if I'm going to find righteousness,
if I'm going to have righteousness, I can only find it in Christ
crucified and risen from the dead. You're not going to find
it anywhere else. You can look for it. And if you
find it, somewhere else, it's nothing but self-righteousness.
In other words, it's evil. These preachers go around talking
about, well, I have righteousness within myself. You know what
righteousness is? Perfection. Is the best prayer you've ever
prayed, is it a righteous prayer? only as it is presented to God,
washed in the blood of Christ. Do you understand that? You say,
I don't wanna hear that. I prayed a pretty good prayer
last night. I prayed for hours. I gotta put patches on my knees. Listen, our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags, scripture says. My righteousness is Christ. Anything
else is dead works. And if I do anything, it's pleasing
to God. You know how it's pleasing to
God? It's accepted in the beloved. Our praises, our hymn singing,
our worship. It's a sweet smelling savor unto
God. Do you know what that picture,
you remember the labor, the fire that went up in the holy place?
The smoke going up? You know what that's a picture
of? It's a picture of the prayers of the saints going up to God
through the intercessory work of the high priest based on his
blood and righteousness. That's what it was. Somebody says, oh man, that was
a beautiful prayer. I know God was really impressed. Huh? God's only impressed. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. Is that settled
in your mind, you see? He says those who are unskillful,
they're babes. Now that's talking about believers. My friend, this is going to be
settled in your minds if you're going to claim to be a believer.
He says in verse 14, strong meat belongeth to them are of full
age, mature. They've been brought to completion.
In other words, they've been brought to repentance of dead
works, from dead works and faith toward God. You cannot turn to
Christ without turning away from self. He says, those who by reason
of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. How
do you exercise your senses? You look into the Word of Righteousness,
the oracles of God. What does God's Word say? Let
me show you one verse, and I'll quit. I've gone too long this
morning, but Romans 7. Let me show you this. You say,
well, that may apply to the unbelieving Jews under the old covenant,
but how does it apply to me? Well, Paul here's talking to
both Jews and Gentiles. And look at what he says in verse
four of Romans 7. He says, wherefore, my brethren,
you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. That's
our legal standing before God, based upon the blood and righteousness
of Christ. Now, the fruit of that, in order
that you should be married to another, even him who is raised
from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Married
to Christ, the union of faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit brings
us to know Him, believe in Him, trust Him, rest in Him for all
salvation, for all righteousness. Now look at verse five. For when
we were in the flesh, that means when we were unbelievers, when
we didn't know the true Christ of this book, this Bible. The motions, the passions of
sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. That's the dead works. Everything
I did in religion before I came to a saving knowledge of the
Christ of this book, dead works. And God brought me to repent
of them. You know, repentance is not just feeling sorry for
your sins. We ought to feel sorry for our sins, but repentance
is a change of mind and heart. This is the new creation right
here. We thus judge no man after the flesh now, how he appears
outwardly. It's all by the word of God.
And he says, but now we are delivered from the law, the being dead
wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit
and not in oldness of the latter. Legalism, false religion. The truth will not mix with a
lie, will it? And it takes the spirit of God
to bring us through the word of God to know the difference
between good and evil. And as long as we stay in that
limbo of dullness of hearing, We can take no true assurance
from God's word. We have to repent. And repentance is a gift of God,
just like faith. It's all a gift from God, isn't
it? All right.