I would like us to consider four
divine imperatives. These imperatives we as God's
people know, but I would like us to consider today. As we look at these four divine
imperatives, I'd like us to consider who's speaking about these imperatives. And the reason we see that they're
divine imperatives is because they come from the lips of the
Master. They're not my opinion. They're
not your opinion. They're what the Master says. And he who is God incarnate in
the flesh spoke these words, spoke these four divine imperatives. So that should carry a lot of
weight for us as believers, shouldn't it? Because that's the words
of our master. Now we know the scriptures are
from God. They're from God. But they do
record things that the master said. Now people can tell us
things, and tell us things that are imperatives, but they don't
have the weight, because they have more weight when they come
from Him. The weight of our fellow humans
saying something we have to do, or something we have to say,
or something that has to occur, is based upon either them or
ourselves. But we will see that these divine
imperatives, spoken by the Master Himself, we cannot do on our
own. we have no ability to do them.
It's the work of God. Remember our master said, with
man these things are impossible, but with God all things are possible. These four divine imperatives
are only possible by the power and work of our great God. And
I'd like us to consider that. These are four things demanded
by God. Four things demanded by God. If you do not possess
and experience these four things, by grace and by the mercy of
God in Christ, you'll perish forever in your sins. If you
have not experienced these things by the mercy and grace of God,
you'll go off into a Christless eternity. And without these four
things, you must be damned forever. That's how important these four
divine imperatives are. And again, all four of these
things are stated emphatically by the Son of God Himself. And
we will see that these are not the words of a mere man. These
are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not the words
of a mere church. They're not a church confession. These are
the words of the Master. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. Here's the definition
of the word imperative from an English dictionary. Absolutely
necessary. So these four things we look
at today are absolutely necessary. These four divine imperatives
are absolutely necessary in order for us to see the Father, in
order for us to spend eternity in heaven. Absolutely necessary. And then, again, the English
dictionary says it's absolutely necessary or required. So these
are very important, aren't they? We will see that these things
deal with eternal things. So the definition of the word
imperative we see, and we can count that these four divine
imperatives that we'll look at are of absolute necessity. Of
absolute necessity or required. Now man in this world goes about
trying to establish their own righteousness, don't they? I
was there. I used to do that. I did that
when I was dead in trespasses and sins as a Catholic. I did
that when I was dead in trespasses and sins as a religious fellow,
thinking that I had prayed a prayer and the Lord had saved me. I
found out that that's what's called decisional regeneration.
And I used to go around telling people that I accepted Jesus.
I did it. Oh, how boastful in my own self-righteousness
was I. And man, again, tries to go about
to establish their own righteousness. Vicky and I were talking about
this today, or this week, actually. We were talking about how all
these different religions are all about man trying to establish
their own righteousness. Buddhism, they're trying to find
spiritual enlightenment, but they're working for it and striving
for it. Muslims, they pray multiple times in a day, trying to make
themselves right before God. And they're praying to a false
god. The Catholics, they bow down to Mary, and they do the
rosary, and they do all these other things. Just unrighteous
works. Unrighteous works. Trying to
establish their own righteousness. Trying to do something to make
them acceptable before God, because it's taught in their religion.
And I don't care if it's Muslim, or Sikhs, or Hindus, or Buddhism,
or Roman Catholics. They're all the same. It's all
works based. system anything that requires
you to do something for your salvation is a workspace salvation
I'm here to tell you that salvations of the Lord from beginning to
the end it's all him it's all his doing and these religions
is all about what you do check them out it's all about what
a person does to make themselves acceptable before God and you
will soon find out that they are just false religions man-made
religions Works, works, works. And like Brother Tim James said,
no merit, no merit, no merit. So what about, I saw something
this week, I saw something this week, this preacher goes all
around the world, and he was asked point blank, what happens
to all the Hindus and the Muslims? He says, well, I don't really
know. You know, maybe God will have a trap door or something.
He actually said that. My gosh, I'll tell you what,
if you're outside of Christ, you're going to perish in your
sins. That's why we say flee to Christ. What happens to people
who are outside of Christ who die? They go to a Christless
eternity. That's a reality. Oh my. There but for the grace of God
go you and I as believers. So these four imperatives, oh
my, they're eternally important. And then we will see, who made
us to differ? It's only God. It's only God. My, it's incredible. So man-made
religion has cooked up a God of their imagination, I was there,
hooked up a God of their imagination, who's at their whim, but it's
not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible, you cannot
be in his presence without being as holy as he is. My oh my. Listen to what Paul wrote. Turn
there if you would, Romans chapter 10. Let's look here. Let's look
what Paul wrote here. The Jews were very religious
people. They were very religious people. They were going about
trying to establish their own righteousness. See, nothing's
changed. The scripture says there's nothing
new under the sun. Nothing. Nothing new. All these
religious systems out there is simply man trying to establish
their own righteousness. That's all they are. That's all
they are. Look what Paul writes here about
the Jews. They were going about trying to establish their own
righteousness before God. How? By their works. And by the
works of the law, Romans chapter 10, look at this, verses one
to four. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now Paul
had an evangelistic heart, like all of us should, eh? Yes. That's
why he rejoiced when the gospel goes out from this place. We
don't know what the Lord's doing with it, but praise be to God,
out it goes, eh? Out it goes. Oh Lord, use it
for your glory, use it for your honor, use it for your praise,
use it to draw in your lost sheep, use it to build up your sheep,
oh Lord, please. Please, Lord. Look what it says
here. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They're zealous
in the things that they do, and we see that in man-made religion,
don't they? They're zealous about what they do. Oh my! Zealous, but not according to
knowledge. Not according to what the scripture
says. Look at this. for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness." Well, who's God's righteousness? Christ. He's the
Lord our righteousness. It says here, and remember the
state we were in before the Lord saved us, whether you were religious
or not. We were ignorant of God's righteousness. We were ignorant of Christ. We
may have sat in a pew and heard the gospel preached, and it went
right over our heads. We may not. We may have been
like the heathens, just going out, and that's where I was.
I was Catholic by name but not by practice. I was lost as a
Catholic and I was lost as a not attending Catholic. My oh my.
I was ignorant of God's righteousness. That was our natural state and
that's the state of the people out in following religion and
trying to establish a righteousness of their own by their own works.
They're ignorant of God's righteousness. Look at this, and going about
to what? Establish their own righteousness. How? By their
works, by following the law to the letter, supposedly when they
can't even fulfill one point of the law. But in their self-righteousness,
they think they're doing it. Brother Henry used to say, I
don't smoke, and I don't drink, and I don't hang out with people
I shouldn't hang out with. That's what their list says.
It's all about their own self. It's all about what they're doing
and what they're not doing. That's what it's all about. look
what it says here they've not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God they've not submitted themselves unto
Christ not at all that's what the scripture declares but look
at this all look at verse 4 for Christ see the Jews were trying
to go about establishing their own righteousness by the following
of the law. Now, we know that when the Lord
spiritualized the law, we are all dead, aren't we? We're already
dead trespassers and sins in our natural state. But when the
Lord spiritualized the law, when he said, you know, when he said,
if you're mad with your brother, you've killed him in your mind
and in your heart. My, oh, my. He just slayed everybody
with that. You know, when he said, when
you look upon a woman with lust in your heart, you've already
committed adultery. And that goes for both sides, too, right?
Yeah. See, when he spiritualized that
law, we're all guilty before God in the scriptures, plainly
declare that we are all guilty before God, every one of us.
But look at this for the believer for Christ is what the E. N. D. The end of the law for
righteousness. Why? Because he fulfilled it
in our place. And it says to everyone that
what believe Do you believe on Christ? Do you believe on Christ
right now? I don't care about a profession
years ago. Who are you believing right now? Who are you trusting
in right now? Right now, right this second. Well, Christ is
my all in all. Is he yours? I pray by God's
grace and mercy that he'd make it so if you could say no. I
pray that he'd save you by his grace because that's all he's
done for me. I'm just one sinner telling other sinners where to
find bread. He's been so merciful to us, hasn't he? So in light
of the scripture I just read in Romans 10 verses 1 to 4, Our
first divine imperative that I'd like us to look at is this.
You must have a perfect righteousness before God. You and I, in order
to be in the presence of God, must have a perfect righteousness. Well, the scripture declares
that all our righteousness is like filthy rags before the Lord. The old timers used to call this
an alien righteousness, simply because it's not ours. mentioned
we would look at the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn,
if you would, to Matthew chapter 5. And our Lord is telling his
disciples that he came to fulfill the law, just as we saw in Romans
chapter 10, verse 4, which again proclaims Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And
note those words again. I'll read them again. Christ
is the end of the law. For who? To everyone who believeth. That's everyone who believes
on Christ. To those who have been given God-given faith to
trust and to rest in Christ and Him alone. And we'll look at
that further in this study later on. Listen to these words of
the Master. Matthew chapter 5, verse 17,
we'll start there. He's speaking to his disciples
on the Sermon on the Mount. And let's read his words, starting
in verse 17, but the key verse here will be verse 20. Think
not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. He didn't
come to destroy the law. I'm not come to destroy, but
to what? Fulfill. Now think of this, he's absolutely
sinless, right? He's perfect. He does not have
a sin in thought, word, deed, anything. He's absolutely perfect.
So he's fulfilling that law for who? For you and me, as believers.
The law has no hold on him. The law has no claim on him.
But it sure has a claim on you and I, doesn't it? The law of
God. But it has no claim on him. He says, I'm not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Look at that. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, we
can't fulfill one, we break them all, beloved, and shall teach
man so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. Now look at this. For I say unto
you, look at this, that except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Look at that. So in verse
19 and 20 here, our Savior demonstrates the necessity of an infinitely
perfect substitute. The necessity of it. These are
very strong expressions by our Savior. His words here bring
that nothing short of a whole, complete obedience to the law
can justify a soul before God. Nothing but a complete, perfect
obedience of a soul before God can justify anyone. But we're
in a heap of trouble, aren't we? Outside of Christ. But for
those in Christ, He's what? The end of the law for righteousness. Hallelujah. Hallelujah! He's the end of the law for righteousness
for me! And if you're a believer, for you! Oh, and we see here
in this text the damning presumption of the scribes and Pharisees,
and what folly this shows, shows in modern-day Pharisees, because
religious folks are nothing but modern-day Pharisees trying to
establish their own righteousness. scribes and Pharisees now think
of who they were our Lord says accept your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees he shall
no case enter into the kingdom of heaven who were the Pharisees
while the Pharisees were in their day the most highly respected
and admired religious leaders They were the ones that people
looked to who weren't sick and said, surely, and you've heard
me say this before about them, would look at them and say, well,
surely if anybody's saved, it's them Pharisees. All outward,
all outward. Well, what did the Lord say?
Inward, they were like whited sepulchers. They cleaned the
outside up, didn't they? That's what a lot of people do.
They clean the outside up, but inside they're raving wolves.
Oh my. And so our Lord tells the disciples,
I'd accept your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees. You shall in no case enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Everyone stood in awe in their
day of the scribes and the Pharisees because of all their outward
appearances. And these words, they must have been astonishing.
to the people who heard them because the scribes were the
religious scholars of their day. They were men who copied and
expounded the scriptures. They gave their life to that
one great work and even consecrated themselves to that noble work.
So they were held in high esteem along with the Pharisees. And
here is our Lord saying, he declares this too, doesn't he? Accept
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. You cannot be saved. You cannot. That's a divine imperative, isn't
it? Is the Son of God here telling us that we are to do more and
be better than the scribes and Pharisees? Is that what he's
telling us? Is he saying that we need to
gain a greater measure of personal holiness than Noah's man had? No, not at all. In fact, he's
saying the opposite. The Lord Jesus Christ is here
telling his disciples, and we who read this today, that it
is utterly impossible for man to gain favor with God or to
inhabit the kingdom of heaven on the basis of our own personal
righteousness. That's what he's telling us.
That's what he was telling them, and that's what he's telling
us. There has never been a child of Adam upon this earth good
enough, righteous enough, holy enough to inherit or inhabit
the kingdom of heaven. Not one. Now notice I said child
of Adam, because we're all sons and daughters of Adam, aren't
we? We're born into this world dead in trespasses and sins.
And there never shall be a son or daughter of Adam that will
be righteous by their own works. Not one. But all the blessedness
of being found in Christ. Turn, if you would, to Philippians
chapter 3. All the blessedness to be found in Christ. Again,
those key words, those key words that we always talk about, in
Christ. Are you in Christ? Well, by God's
grace I am. Not that I did. It's all the
grace of God and the mercy of God. Look at this in Philippians
chapter 3, verses 8 and 9. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. Now remember
what Paul went through. He suffered more than most men.
persecuted for his faith in Christ. He says, and do but count them
but done, that I may win Christ. Look at this. And be found in
who? To be found in Him. To be found in Christ. Not having
what? Mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith. He says, I want to
be found in Christ. I want to be clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. And by faith, and by the grace
and mercy of God, He is. And that's so for everyone who
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's so for everyone who's
been given true God-given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm not talking about bow your head and repeat this
prayer. I'm not talking about walking an aisle, making a decision. I'm talking about true God-given
faith that makes you willing in a day of His power. And you
run to Christ. Do you flee to Christ? Absolutely.
Absolutely. You run so quickly to him by
God-given faith. My oh my. And we'll see why with
the next imperative. So we see the first divine imperative
is you must have a perfect righteousness imputed to you. You must be made
the righteousness of God in Christ or you must forever die under
the wrath of a thrice holy God. Second divine imperative, turn
if you would to John chapter 3. Again, the master's words. Second divine imperative I'd
like us to look at from our Master's lens is, ye must be born again. You must be. You must be. You
must be born from above. You must be born of the Holy
Spirit of God. You must be. It's a necessity,
an absolute necessity, in order to see the Kingdom of God. And
remember, these things are all by God's grace and mercy. We
cannot perform them. If you're born again, you're
born again because of the mercy and grace of God. If you're clothed
in the righteousness of Christ, you're clothed in Christ's righteousness
by the mercy and the grace of God. Look at this, John chapter
three, verses one to eight. Now Nicodemus, again, is a ruler
of the Jews. He's a man who teaches the scriptures.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God. For no man can do these miracles
that thou doest except God be with him. Look at his answer
right away. Look what our Lord says to him
right away. Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. That's a divine imperative. Look
at that. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto them, How
can a man be born when he's old? This is a natural man's response
right here. Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Well, our Lord's going
to say it again. So he's told them twice now.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born
of the spirit his spirit. Now here we go, look
at this. Now this is where he really puts the hammer down and
nails that nail right in. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye, what? Must be born again. There's a
divine imperative right there. Must be born again. It's an absolute
necessity in order for you or I to see the kingdom of God.
It must be. The wind bloweth where it listeth
And now hears the sound thereof, but can us not tell where it
succometh, and whither it goeth? So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. So again, verse 3 and verse 7, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. And then look at verse 7 again. Marvel not that I say
unto thee, you must be born again. My, oh, my. See the word again
in verse 3, where it says, accept a man, be born again. The Greek
word there means from above, from above. You must be born
from above by God, the Holy Spirit. And this is what the sinner in
the world or in religion needs. They must be born again. They
must be. Now, God cannot be seen or understood
until a man is born of God. And God grants us faith to believe
at the same time on the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ as God's elect is because we've been born
again. Again, what comes first, faith or regeneration? Regeneration,
always. It always precedes faith. It's
like a paper with two sides. You're born again and you're
granted faith to believe. They go hand in hand. They go
hand in hand. And see the word must in verse
7 there? See that? where it says, marvel not that
I said unto thee, you must be born again. Remember a few weeks
ago we looked at how Christ must go to the cross. Do you remember
that? And that word was a binding word? Same word. Our Lord had
to go to the cross. He had to undergo his sufferings
and his death and his resurrection and his ascension as our substitute
to obtain eternal salvation for us, for his elect. for us to
be saved by his mercy and grace. No sinner can ever believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. No sinner can have life. No sinner
can enter the glory of heaven. No sinner can ever be saved until
he's born again or she's born again, until they're raised from
the dead, from their natural spiritual deadness, resurrected
from spiritual death to spiritual life. translated into the kingdom
of our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's all
by the irresistible power and grace of God. You cannot resist
it. You cannot resist it. That's why we say, we preachers
say, God's going to get every one of his sheep. There's not
going to be one lost for whom Christ died for. Not one. He's
going to get them all. Praise God we're included in
that number, eh? Oh my. My, oh my. The third divine imperative
spoken by our master is this. You must repent. You must repent.
Turn if you would to Luke chapter, Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter
13. Luke chapter 13. We'll read verses
1 to 5. Luke chapter 13 verses 1 to 5. And we see here, we see here
the only one made us to differ is our great God. There were
present at that season some which told him of the Galileans, whose
blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered
and said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners
above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things, or
more than the other Galileans, that they suffered more than
them? I tell you, nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. And what I meant to say earlier
was repentance and faith is like the piece of paper. We're born
again, and then we're granted faith and repentance to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see here, though, I tell
you, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Or those
18 upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell and slew, think ye that
they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem, and
sinners there as debtors. We're debtors, aren't we? Oh,
my. He says this, I tell ye, nay, but except you repent, you
shall all likewise Now here's another divine imperative. Accept
your repent. You shall all likewise perish.
You must repent. And again, faith and repentance
are both a gift from God. Repentance before God is a gift
from God. Because before we were saved,
we didn't have repentance before God. Not at all. Now we're sorry
for our sins, aren't we? Now they bother us. Now we wish
we could sin never. One day we will never sin again.
And we can't wait for that day. We can't wait. Think of this,
to be in glory, to never sin, to have no pain, no sorrow, no
crying, nothing, no heartache, nothing, it'll be glorious, won't
it? It'll be absolutely glorious.
But we see here in verses three and five, except you repent,
you shall all likewise perish. So our Lord is showing us here
the desperate need for repentance, right? It's a divine imperative,
we must repent, but it's also, he's showing us too, that the
only one who's made us to differ is God. Because we're sinners
just like all them people who perished. Just like those Galileans
who blood-potted and mingled with the sacrifices, he had them
killed. The ones who the tower fell upon and killed them all,
it says here in Asylum, they were sinners, but they weren't
sinners above anybody else, they were all just sinners. See, in
God's eyes, we're all sinners, aren't we? We're all sinners.
From the top of our head, the scripture says, to the bottom
of our feet. Oh my. Think again, the weight
of these words that we're looking at today. They're not the words
of a mere man. They're not the words of a church
official. These are the words of God incarnate in the flesh. And he's telling us this. He's
telling the disciples this. This is for us too, isn't it?
People say, wow, that was 2,000 years ago. Times have really
changed. No, no. You must have a righteousness
perfect to stand before God. You must be born again. And you
must repent. Divine imperatives. Nothing's
changed. Nothing's changed. All men are
still guilty before God, even though now we call ourselves
modern men and women. Now we're still just guilty sinners
before God. We may have a few new gadgets
that they didn't have back in the day. but we're still just
sinners, aren't we? Now we're sinners with gadgets,
really, right? Nothing's changed. Okay, verse
three, I tell you nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. Verse five, I tell you nay, but except you repent, you
shall all likewise perish. So here's a word of warning,
isn't it? If we don't repent of our sins and turn to Christ,
we're perishing our sins. It says that whoever does not
repent, they're going to be cut off one day from the earth and
ushered into eternity, into a Christless eternity with no hope. Well,
they have no hope now. The question is here, are you
prepared to die? Am I prepared to die right now? I could go home this afternoon
and drop dead from a heart attack. I don't know. The Lord knows
when it's my time, but I have no idea. Are we prepared? Well,
there's only but one way for you and me to be prepared to
meet God in judgment. Well, we must repent. We must
trust Christ. So what is repentance? A brief
answer is that true repentance involves at least three things,
Holy Spirit conviction, faith in Christ, and turning to God,
turning to God. So these words before us, they're
very clear from the master's lips. It says, he says, repent
or perish. There's no in between, is there?
There's no purgatory, like the Catholics say, is there? There's
no place where people can pray into heaven. Not that, at all.
That's just a lie. That's just a lie. Oh, man, I
used to be a Catholic, and that's just a lie for people, the church,
to steal money from people. That's all that is. I'm gonna
call it like it is. That's all it is. Oh, my. When
you leave this world, you're either in Christ or you're not
in Christ. You'll either be ushered into
eternal glory by the grace and mercy of God and his love His
grace and mercy alone, or you'll perish in your sins and go to
a Christless eternity. There's no in between. Oh, my. You must turn from the world
to Christ. You must turn from your sin to Christ. You must
turn away from yourself and your ways to Christ. You must turn
from your religion to Christ. You must, by the grace of God,
repent of your sin and your false righteousness. If you do not
repent, you're going to a Christless eternity and into hell. where
the wrath of God will be upon you forever. Now we must never imagine, as
the deluded well-worshippers of this world universally assert,
that repentance is a work of man's imaginary free will, by
which he wins God's favor. You and I would never repent.
if God didn't grant us repentance. That's why we say, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. All
by the grace of God. All by the grace of God. The
repentance spoken of here by our master and the repentance
taught throughout the word of God is the work and gift of God
the Holy Spirit. Wrought and chosen redeemed sinners
called by us all powerful, effectual, saving operations of grace. And the persons, all the persons
of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, are all
engaged in the gracious work of creating repentance in His
chosen people. God the Father pledged to give
it. Listen to this in Ezekiel, chapter
36, verses 24 to 27. For I will take you from among
the heathen. Did He not do that for us? Did
He not call us out of the world? Has he not separated us? Think
of all the people we've known growing up. Think of all the
people we've known in our lives. And God chose me, and God chose
you. Oh, my. He says this in Ezekiel
36, 24. For I will take you from among
the heathen. That's where we were. And gather
you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own
land. God is a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation, beloved. Then I will sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you shall be clean. Clean from all your filthiness
and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also
will I give you. Oh, He's given us a new heart,
isn't He? One that hungers and thirsts after righteousness.
And then He says this, a new spirit will I put within you.
That's the Holy Spirit of God, beloved. And I'll take away the
stony heart out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of
flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
in my statutes and keep my judgments and to do them. Oh, wonderful
words. You notice who's doing all the
work? The Lord says, I'm going to do this. I've done this. He's
done that for us, hasn't He? For we who believe, He's done
all those things for us. God the Son has been exalted
as a Prince and Savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins. Acts 5.31 says this, Him hath
God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior for
to give repentance to Israel. To give repentance to Israel.
We're the Israel of God, beloved, as believers. To give repentance
to us and forgiveness of sins. Oh, hallelujah. How many sins?
All of our sins, beloved. That's Acts 531. It's wonderful. I'll read it again. Him hath
God, God's given to Christ. Him hath God exalted with the
right hand, with his right hand to be a prince and a savior. He's our savior. He's the prince
of peace. For to give repentance to Israel
freely. Freely he gives it to us. And
forgiveness of sins. And in God the Holy Spirit is
called the spirit of grace and supplication. He said to be poured
out upon every redeemed sinner. at the appointed time of love,
causing every heaven-born soul to look to him and him alone,
whom they pierced and mourned." Listen to this, Zechariah 12,
10. And I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace
and of supplication. That's wonderful. And they shall
look upon me. We've been given the spirit of
grace and supplication. Now we look to Christ, don't
we, as believers? whom they pierced, he was pierced. He died on Calvary's
cross for our sin. The sinless substitute died there,
pierced for us, nailed to that cross for us, for our sins. The perfect Lamb of God, God's
substitute, dying on the cross for chosen sinners. Crying it
is finished. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. See, it's wonderful, isn't it?
Absolutely wonderful. whom they pierced, and they shall
mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be
in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn. So we clearly see from scripture that repentance
is a work of God and God alone. We're granted faith to believe
on Christ, we're granted repentance. He gives us repentance, it says
in Acts 5.31. Repentance is not a condition
qualifying sinners for grace. It's not a condition qualifying
us for grace. But it's an evidence of grace
being given to us. See, religion says it qualifies
you for grace. No, it's an evidence. It's an
evidence of grace. It's an evidence of grace bestowed
upon us. Because only those who are born
again, only those who've been granted faith and repentance
before God look to Christ. And we only do it by God's grace
and by God's mercy. See, he gets all the glory, doesn't
he? He gets it all. There's no boasting for us except
the boast in Christ. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Unless the Lord God works repentance
in us, enabling us, and effectually causing us to turn to Him, just
like those described by Luke, except you shall repent, you
shall all likewise perish. It's only the grace of God that's
made you and I to differ. That's it. The fourth and final
divine imperative I'd like us to look at, spoken of by our
Master, is you must be converted. You must be converted. Turn to
Matthew chapter 18. And here we see the disciples
arguing over who will be the greatest. Oh, isn't that man?
See, they're just like all of us. Who will be the greatest?
Oh, who will be the greatest in the kingdom of God? Well,
we already know who's the greatest, right? Who's the greatest in
the kingdom of God? The Lord Jesus Christ, period.
It's over. But here's natural man thinking
of earthly kingdoms, right? Thinking of earthly ways, and
you know, a king always has certain people beside them. Maybe one
advisor really close to him compared to everybody else, right? And
they're all thinking, I wonder if we'll be like the number one
advisor. That's their thinking. They're thinking earthly. They're
thinking earthly. And they're arguing over this.
Who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And again,
well, we know it's Christ, but they're thinking in an earthly
manner. And in these verses, our Lord proclaims here that
you must be converted. You must be. He says, except
you be converted and become his little children, you shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven. He brings forth again the fourth
and final divine imperative. You must be converted. Let's
read Matthew chapter 18, verses one to six. At the same time
came the disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven? See? Oh, how we're still proud,
eh? Pride, pride just oozes from
us. I remember Donny Bell saying
one time in his sermon, I listened to recently, he says, I had enough
pride in me to burn all of Crossville down. Oh my, it's so true, isn't
it? Of all of us. It's so true of
all of us. Oh my. At the same time came
the disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him and sat him in
the midst of them and said, verily I say unto you, except you be
converted and become as little children, you shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven. Another divine imperative. Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same
as the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoso shall receive
one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall
offend one of these little ones, which believeth in me, it were
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned in the depths of the sea. So we see here in
verse 3, And said, verily I say, again, these are not the words
of a mere man. These are words of God incarnate
in the flesh. And he says this here. Verily I say unto you,
except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now the Greek word for
converted there means to turn around. Means to turn around.
Not what we would think, eh? Means to turn. Metaphorically,
to turn oneself from one course of conduct to change one's mind.
Now again, this is a work of God. In our natural state, we
could never turn to God, could we? We just keep going the way
we were. But he turns us. He turns us
to himself. He changes our mind, doesn't
he? He does it all. This is a work of God. The love
of God conversion is the turning of God's elect to Christ. How?
By the power of his grace and mercy, by his almighty power,
he turns us to Christ. Think of this. It's a turning
of rebels. It's a turning of those who are
enemies in their minds to God, to himself. Isn't that incredible?
A rebel turned into a child of God, a rebel at heart, a rebel
in our minds, rebel in our deeds, turned to follow Christ, to look
to Christ for everything. That's a miracle of grace, beloved.
That's a miracle. And it's a turning that is caused
by God's free grace. Nothing in us that causes us
to turn to Christ. Just the opposite. We're brought
away from him in our natural state. But he turns us by his
free grace and by his power. And then we turn to him because
we've been turned by his sovereign almighty power. And yet, unlike
regeneration and effectual calling, conversion is not something in
which we are passive. Conversion is both God almighty
turning us and making us willing to turn to him. He turns us and
makes us willing. And then what do we do? We run
right to Christ. Oh my. And it's all under the
influence of His grace and mercy. His sovereign, amazing grace. Conversion is the willing response
of the newborn soul. to the effectual call of God's
grace. Listen to how John Gill puts it. He says, conversion
lies in man's turning to the Lord actively under the influence
of divine grace. So we actively turn to the Lord,
but it's under the influence of divine grace. You and I are
made willing in the day of his power. Gill goes on being thoroughly
convinced that there is salvation in no other but in Christ. Isn't
that wonderful? We are, I'll read it again. This
is wonderful. Wonderful. Conversion lies in
a man's turning to the Lord actively under the influence of divine
grace, being thoroughly convinced that there is salvation in no
other but in Christ. Are you thoroughly convinced
that there's salvation in no other but Christ? Amen. And I
know, and you know, if you are, that that's only because of the
grace and mercy of God. What do we say? Praise ye the
Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Oh, my. Turn, if you would, to
Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11, we find that
repentance and faith and conversion always go hand in hand. They're
inseparable gifts of God's grace. We're almost finished here. Acts
chapter 11, verses 17 to 21. Oh, we're seeing these verses
that God's method of grace are put forth here. We know that
God has a people in this world, that he will save his elect and
his redeemed, and at the appointed time of God, his chosen people
will hear the gospel. They're here at the gospel. And
here give them life and faith and repentance through the preaching
of the gospel, all by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Look
at this in Acts 11, verses 17 to 21. For as much then as God
gave them the light gift as he did unto us, he gave them the
gift of faith, gave them the gift of repentance. They were
born again by the Holy Spirit of God, who believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's the key, right? All God's
true born-again, blood-washed believers believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. They believe there's salvation in no other. What was
I that I could withstand God? When they heard these things,
they held their peace and glorified God, saying, then hath God also
to the Gentiles, look at this, granted repentance unto life.
You and I are Gentiles. He's granted us repentance unto
life, who are believers. All because, look, it's so clear
there, isn't it? God does it. Not something we do. Now, we
do actively repent, don't we? But it's because God's granted
us repentance, so clear. And hath God also to the Gentiles
granted repentance, what? Unto life, eternal life. Now
they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose
about Stephen traveled so far as Phineas and Cyprus and Antioch,
preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some
of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were
come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord
Jesus. In the hand of the Lord was with
them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord." They
were converted. They turned. They turned because
they were turned. Isn't that wonderful? And that's
so for every one of us. So what a great emphasis, too,
is placed upon preaching, the gospel preaching. Our Lord uses
instruments, doesn't he? Oh, he does. He uses one sinner
to preach to another sinner, and then God takes those words
and and makes them effectual to whoever he wills. It's absolutely
incredible. Oh, we're new creatures in Christ.
Well, here are some things again to consider then. In closing,
we have seen from the scriptures that these four divine imperatives
come from the lips of God incarnate in the flesh. They don't come
from a mere man. They come from God himself. Four
divine imperatives. You must have a perfect righteousness
before God. You must be born again. You must
repent. You must be converted. And we
have seen today, beloved, that this is all a work of God. It's all a work of God. So if
you're a receiver of this grace and mercy, think about that this
week and give God all the glory. Give him all the praise for the
fact that he saved you by his grace and by his mercy, that
he's given you a righteousness for you to be able to stand before
God that you're born again by His Almighty Spirit, that you've
been granted repentance before God, and that you've been converted,
turned to look to Christ and trust in Him alone. Glory be
to God.