Everything

Q: What does the Bible say about repentance toward God?

The Bible teaches that repentance toward God signifies a radical change of mind about our relationship with Him, acknowledging our sins and turning to His grace. In Scripture, repentance toward God is essential for salvation. It embodies more than just a change in behavior; it reflects a heartfelt turn from sin and a new mindset that centers on God. Paul emphasizes that true repentance is the result of spiritual life, leading to a complete shift in how we perceive our acceptance before God. This is beautifully encapsulated in the Greek word 'metanoia,' indicating a profound transformation in our thought process towards God. True repentance recognizes that nothing we do can earn God's favor and is ultimately a response to His grace, highlighting the goodness of God that leads us to repent.

Q: How do we know faith in Christ is necessary for salvation?

Faith in Christ is necessary for salvation as it is the means by which we receive God's grace and are accepted by Him. Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ is fundamental to the Christian faith as per the teachings of Paul, who describes it as critical for our acceptance before God. This faith is not merely an intellectual assent but a heartfelt trust in Christ's completed work on the cross. It assures us that our righteousness before God is not based on our merits but solely on the merits of Christ. The belief in His substitutionary sacrifice and the sufficiency of His grace is what fully and completely secures our standing before God, making it the cornerstone of our salvation. Thus, faith is our response to the revelation of God’s grace and a necessary component for salvation.

Q: Why is the grace of God important for Christians?

The grace of God is paramount for Christians as it provides the foundation for our salvation and ongoing relationship with Him. The grace of God is not merely a theological concept but the essence of Christian faith. It is through grace that we are saved, not through our own works or righteousness. This unmerited favor allows believers to approach God with confidence, knowing that our acceptance is based on Christ’s sacrifice rather than our performance. God’s grace sustains us throughout our Christian life, empowering us to live in a manner that reflects His character. As Paul illustrates in his ministry, the gospel of grace is the core message that affirms both our need for repentance and our faith in Christ, showing that grace is what enables us to fulfill the calling God has placed on our lives.

Q: What does it mean to declare all the counsel of God?

Declaring all the counsel of God means preaching the full truth of Scripture, encompassing both God's law and His grace. To declare all the counsel of God signifies a comprehensive proclamation of God's Word, covering die integral truths of the gospel. This involves teaching both the demands of God's law and the fullness of His grace revealed in Jesus Christ. Paul exemplifies this by stating he kept back nothing that was profitable to those he preached to, underscoring the responsibility of ministers to faithfully convey God's truth without reservation. This holistic approach ensures that believers are equipped with the full knowledge of what God requires and what He graciously provides through Christ, enabling them to understand both their need for salvation and the depth of God’s love.

I fell off a ladder yesterday and had to have two stitches. I didn't go as far as I knew I was going, but I started field six and went back home. I remember him and his brother. Happy birthday this week to Teresa and Loretta. Both of them have their birthdays.

Congratulations, you made it this far. Also, Julie is doing good. She's still in some pain, but the rehab is working out way decent, so we're happy with that. And Cynthia is still waiting to find out if she can move up her knee operation because she's experienced some serious pain over the days, so we're hurting her as well. Let's begin our worship service this morning. Hymn number 222. There's a fountain. You'll be good. Yes. Jess and I witnessed a horrific car crash Thursday night. Thank you, Mr. President. Okay. We'll do this. He's in a hurry, honey. He's coming back in June. Number 222, there is a fountain filled with blood. There's a fountain filled with blood from from the angels' wings.

And sinners' blood beneath that flood clears all their guilty sins. you. Where sinners' blood beneath their blood, Lose all their guilty stains. Abiding faith rejoices still, ♪ That fountain in His wings ♪ ♪ And there may I prove I was He ♪ ♪ Wash all my sins away ♪ ♪ Wash all my sins away ♪ I sing to thee, and there may I go while I sleep, but strong my sins away.

Dear guiding light, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. Till all the branch from church of God be saved to sing rest of ♪ Is safe to sing no more ♪ ♪ E'er since I played my song the string ♪ ♪ My flowing words of life ♪ ♪ Redeeming love hath been my theme ♪ ♪ And shall be dear to me now ♪ and shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. The evening glow has been my plea, and shall I'll be till I die. In the ages of old it's springtime, springtime. Life's silent in the green, green age. I'll sing After Scripture read the prayer of us, seeing number 334, be thou my vision. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the 20th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. If you read with verse 17, read through verse 27. And from Aelitus, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church, that is Paul the apostle.

And when they were come to him, he said unto them, you know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews.

And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, and have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit into Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost, witnessing every city saved, and bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither can I my life give unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel and the grace of God. Now behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I take you to record this day. I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned or declared you all the counsel of God.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you for great grace and mercy or poor and wretched sinners who could do nothing for themselves, who have nothing to offer you. We thank you for that blessed grace, that wondrous grace that saved our son. Father, we pray for those who are sick, those who are going through trial. Remember Julie as she's recovering from this knee operation. Pray that Cynthia, of course, will end soon, that she may be able to get operated on for her knee. pray for brother Eric as he's received this fall and for the others who've requested prayer for this family who is in this terrible car crash.

We ask the Lord that you would be pleased to show mercy and grace in those areas. Heal where it is according to your good pleasure, bring them safely back to us. Help us to look to thee in all things, to trust thee, to love one another and love you supremely. Help us this day to worship You in spirit and in truth as we hear the glories of our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us now, we pray in Christ's name.

Amen. Hymn number 334. Without my vision say that Thou art Thou my best, all mine. Waking or sleeping, Thine presence my light! Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true word! I ever with Thee, and Thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I like to see. Thou in me dwelling, and I in Thee one. When I inherit this, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, Thou and Thou only, my victory won.

May I be spread as joyful brightness sun, art of my own whatever may fall. Still be my vision, oh ruler of Father, in Him we approach in the name of Jesus Christ, our majestic Lord and Savior, our King, our Ruler, our Elder Brother, our purest Friend, that unspeakable gift that you have given to your people, and with Him freely given us all things that pertain to Godliness and light. We thank you, Father. Let us, as we render unto these that which belongs to thee, Let us do so with joy in our heart at Thanksgiving, knowing that what we have this side of eternity is all of thy grace and thy mercy. We pray in Christ's name, amen.

You, You, You, You, You, You, You I was talking over the phone the other day with my sister Ann. And I asked her to sing, but she can't. She was telling me she was looking for one particular song. And I said, yeah, sing that one. Sing that one for sure. Because that's Sylvester's favorite song in all the world. So she's going to sing that for us this morning. The one child, one sibling of all of us who got all the looks and all the talent. I don't know what my sister Anne is going to say.

Born a healer for the world, died the Christ of the cross. He healed it to suffering and shame. He died in my place, the purpose of God to fulfill. So I'll cherish the Christ of the cross, and before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of the Cross, for He is the King I must run.

Christ by the world has a wondrous attraction to Rome. O dear Lamb of God, who left His glory above to bear all thy sin on the tree, of the cross, and before his throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of the cross, for he is the King I must trust. In the Christ of the cross, at his blood so divine, a marvelous beauty I see. For He opened my eyes that long had been blind, to behold Him now on His throne.

So I'll cherish the Christ of the Cross, and before He's thrown, I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ on the cross, for he is the King of Glory. To the Christ of the cross I must ever be true His shame and reproach gladly bear For in love He constrains Till all shall be gained Together I'll share So I'll cherish the Christ of the Cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to Christ at the cross. For he is the King I must crown. I will cling to Christ at the cross. Thank you again.

Paul is aware of the fact that he's going to Jerusalem, and he knows by vision that he's going to be found there. And he'll never see these folks again, these folks here at Ephesus. And if you read the epistle to the Ephesian church, it's one of the sweetest, most precious epistles there is, and lacking in any way, anything said negatively to the church. It's just a wonderful epistle that says, of God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, the salvation of the elect, setting forth the doctrines of election and predestination, suretyship, acceptance before God without anything. These are the people that he's gathered together here to talk about him going to Jerusalem to be bound and put in chains. And he's aware of that possibility that he would never see these folks again. And he speaks as a gospel preacher preaching his last message.

It says in verse 22, and now behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnessed in every city saying that bonds and afflictions have lied by me. But none of these things moved me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching Preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more.

Generally, people who are at this place in life spend their time apologizing for what they might have done or seeking forgiveness from their heirs. Others might spend their last words trying to make sure their families would be kind to each other. Paul does some of this in verses 29 through 35 where he finally talks about how they help to treat each other and care for each other in the church.

He makes some very bold statements as a minister of the gospel, not because he himself feels bold as in himself, but he has absolute confidence in the gospel he preaches, the message he preaches. And trust in the Holy Spirit to take that message and apply it to the hearts of men.

Verse 20, Paul declares that he has given everything. He said, I've kept back nothing. I've kept back nothing that is profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly from house to house. He's given them everything that a human being, a minister of the gospel, could possibly give to anyone in reference to their relationship with Almighty God. He's kept nothing back.

Also, he declares that if any of these folks die in their sin, that it ain't his fault, because he's told them the truth, asserting that he's pure of the blood of all. The word there, men, is in parentheses or rather italics. It can be lifted. He's talking about all the elders at Ephesus and all to whom he preached.

He said, I'm free from your blood because I've told you everything you needed. I've kept back nothing. I've kept back nothing. He also declares that he's covered all there is to be covered. He preached all that needed to be preached. He declares that he's not shunned to declare all the counsel for all the purpose of God and the salvation of God's people. I've held back nothing. I've told you everything. I'm not guilty if you perish. I've told you all of God's purpose. All of this. All of this. I've held back nothing.

As I was reading this, I was thinking of one time Henry Mayhem was telling me about going to the hospital bed of a man who was dying. from his church, from his congregation. He preached to him for many years. And the fellow was soon to pass away. And Henry went into his room and sat down, had a prayer with him, and just asked him this question. He said, are you ready to go? And the man said, it is. I am if you told me the truth. What an astounding thing to say.

What a tremendous, thing is laid upon the heart and mind of every pastor. To keep nothing back. To make sure that he's pure in the blood of all men. To preach unto his brethren all the counsel of God. It also must be considered that this is not only Paul's testimony, but as all scripture is given for inspiration, this is what God is saying about Paul through the Holy Spirit. God inspired Paul to say these words and inspired Luke to record them as one of the acts of the apostles.

What would engender such bold things? What would make a man have that kind of boldness? How can anyone make such a forceful declaration? Paul answers the question in the most simple and profound way. He said that he accomplished these things by teaching, testifying, and declaring. That's what he said. From house to house. wherever I saw you, I taught you, I declared it to you.

This is hardly what most good church folks would call worthy or worthwhile in this day. Pastoring seems to be about counseling and organizing and building and programming and social and civil activities. Everything but the preaching of the gospel. Paul says that Preaching the gospel is about declaring all the counsel of God. Verse 24, Paul says, but none of these things move me, that is, all the things that might happen to me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, and this is the ministry, that I have received, Paul says, and this is the ministry that every man whom God has called to preach the gospel, this is it. This is the ministry to testify the good news, the gospel, of the grace of God. It ain't a gospel if it ain't the gospel of grace. And it ain't the gospel if it ain't the gospel of God.

This is what he says. He called it preaching the kingdom in another place, and that means preaching the sovereign rule of God. When John the Baptist came preaching, he preached repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. When our Lord came preaching, he came preaching the same thing in his early ministry, declaring repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. This is the ministry that he has received.

He didn't decide to become a minister. His decision was to go out and kill everybody who named the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and put that name off the face of the earth. That was his decision. But God had another decision that he had made from the foundation of the world that this man named Saul of Tarsus was going to be the chief apostle among the apostles. One born out of sin, but nonetheless the man who would travel more places and preach more gospel and write more of the New Testament than anybody else. He didn't know that when he was writing to Damascus. He didn't know that.

He thought, I'm getting rid of this crazy, this bunch of Christian people. I'm getting rid of them. God tossed him down on the ground and shone a long, bright light and blinded his eyes and said, why do you persecute thou me? Now the Lord was in heaven. He was in the right hand of the Father. How could he be persecuted by Paul? Paul was persecuting his body, the mystical body, his church. And Christ smelt every arrow and every dart that he threw. And he said, Lord, what would you have me do? What would you have me do? He sent him to a house, blind. There he stayed for many days, until God told Annas, who hated Saul of Tarsus, by the way, to go and preach the gospel to Saul of Tarsus. And he did, and the scales fell from his eyes, and then I saw him.

You've been chosen of God to witness the Lord Jesus Christ in this world, to see the just one and speak his name. This is the ministry that he received from the Lord, from the Lord. This, in short, is the ministry of those whom God calls as testifying The gospel of the grace of God. And let me be perfectly clear, there's nothing more to preach. There's nothing less to preach, and there's nothing else to preach. That's what the gospel preachers do. You can bear witness that you have been with me these almost five decades. Now, and this is the message every time I get in the pulpit. This is where I end up. I may not start there, but this is where I always end up with Christ and from crucify. Does this seem like an oversimplification? A lot of people think it is. A lot of people.

One lady told Scott Rich, all you do is preach Christ. He said, put that on my gravestone. All I do is preach Christ. That's all there is to preach. The hinge of time and eternity is a person named the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's see if we can make it even narrower. It's in what they call the Doctrine of Reduction. Paul bases all his bold assertions on these two plain things. He says this, he could say what he said in such a confident, courageous manner because he had preached what?

Two things, repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. He said, I've held nothing back. If this is what he said, What he meant by I've held nothing back. Repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the singular gospel coin with two sides. This is what is meant by keeping nothing back. Does this assure one that he's pure from the blood of all that you're in? Evidently. It did with Paul.

This is what, Is this what it is to declare all the counsel of God? It can be narrowed down to these two things. The whole thing for predestination and election and substitution and surety and assurance and propitiation can all be narrowed down to repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the ministry that the Lord gives His preachers. It is to testify. This is what it is to testify. of In fact, there's already two things in Scripture that religion is more ignorant of and more abusive of than repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. I grew up in religion, and I grew up with the idea of repentance. From an early age, they taught me repentance. It didn't mean what the Bible meant. It doesn't mean what Paul meant when he preached repentance. But I remember hearing a lot about it.

I remember when I was a young boy, a man came careening down Old Lexington Road and ran over a boy on a bicycle. He had been drinking, that man had. Killed that boy. And I remember when, a week later, I was at Antioch Baptist Church, and this man who had done that terrible thing came down, running down the aisle, weeping and crying and mourning, and they was patting him on the back and telling him he had repented of this awful sin.

He didn't change it. He was back on the road and back drinking right on, right on. But he was real sad about what happened. And that's what most religion believes. You listen to Billy Graham's son on TV, he said, oh, you got to do it until God's just sorry. That's repentance. That's not repentance, not biblical repentance.

From my youth, I was taught that repentance was ceasing certain unpleasant social or wanted to repent of the sin of adultery, he'd quit sleeping around. Usually, but not necessarily, this counting of some illicit behavior was to be accompanied with the beginning of some new and better behavior, such as going to church or making up for all the time at the bar by volunteering at some local crisis center to be a counselor. I'm always amazed at how many people who've been using drugs all their life and drunk all their life want to be counselors, but that's kind of what it is. For a person who is born an enemy of God, who is a sinner by imputation, nature, choice, and practice, who is incapable of understanding one spiritual thing, who can do nothing but sin, stopping one bad behavior and taking up a so-called good behavior is not dependence toward God. It's another form of sin. So-called good behavior is as much sin as the bad behavior, for the heart is deceitful and deceitfully wicked.

Who can know it but God? Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can the leopard change his spots? And how can you, who are accustomed to doing evil, do good? Disrepentance is nothing more than behavioral modification, what is commonly called reformation.

It has to do with particular behavior, nothing to do with God. except in a cursory, abstract, high power sense if you are in some sort of religion. This kind of repentance is the kind that is found under the old government, which is no longer enforced. It's restricted to turning from a bad behavior to a good behavior in order to get a blessing or avoid punishment.

That's not repentance toward God. Repentance toward God has to do with God, doesn't it? It's toward God. It must have something to do with God. And since God is spirit, such repentance must be spiritual repentance. First thing necessary to understand that there is no repentance where there is no spiritual life. If you're not alive in Jesus Christ, you ain't never repented of nothing. You might have changed your behavior. If you had bad behavior, I hope you have. Be a better citizen at least. But that's not spiritual. Only a regenerated person will repent toward God. And every regenerated person will repent toward God. And his repentance will be toward God, not toward a particular behavior.

Thus, repentance is declared in the New Testament as not a condition of salvation. It's rather the effect and the consequence of salvation. Repentance is not the cause of blessing. Blessing is the cause of repentance. It is the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance, scripture says. And though repentance will eventuate in many changes of behavior, such changes are not themselves repentance. Repentance in the New Testament in the original language means one simple thing. The word, the Greek word is two words, metanoia, which means a radical change of mind. toward God. Repentance, a radical change of mind toward God. Now we grow up in religion, I grew up in Oxford, having some kind of teaching about what pleases God. And it usually had to do with my behavior. People would say, well Jesus won't be happy with that. I heard that all my life.

Repentance in the New Testament in the original language means somehow changing your mind about your relationship with God and His with you. Repentance is an inward thing rather than an outward thing. Repentance takes place in the inward man, the spiritual man rather than the natural or physical man. Consequently, being in the heart and mind, it is not necessarily visible to the eye.

Religion wants a visible repentance. Part of my growing up in church was that if you was going to repent, you had to do it in front of the church. You had to come down front where people could see you and confess your sins. And that was called repentance. That's not repentance.

Reformations are by nature visible and are proved by sight. And recorded thusly, repentance is invisible and cannot be proved at all, and is real only to the repentor and the one to whom he is repenting. That's what repentance is. And what is this change of mind?

It cannot be understood unless the former state of mind is understood. Your mind cannot be changed unless was somewhere to start with, any more than you can come back from somewhere you've never been. If repentance, true repentance, is to change your mind toward God, then the mind must have thought something in reference to God at this point. If you're changing your mind, your mind must have been somewhere in order for it to change. And the only direction away from God through it is retransversed on many roads, all converge at the depot itself, where was your mind concerning God before God granted you true repentance in your mind and in your heart.

I can tell you where it was. I can tell you where mine was. It was about the business of somehow doing something to please God. That's what it was about. Somehow me doing something to merit God's favor or keep God from punishing me. This was what my religion was all about.

I had various reformations, performing good deeds to undo or override bad deeds, straightening up my life, cleaning up my act, turning over a variable forest of new leaves, and generally endeavor to make myself a more presentable version of myself in order to please God. Why? It was not because it was the right thing to do. It was not because I had repented toward God.

At the heart of it was the idea that somehow you would gain something by it. I believed that. I've used this illustration many times. I drank all the time while I was in the service. I'd go after an eight-hour shift, I'd go buy a six-pack of Country Club and go home and watch TV and smoke Camel Filters and drink Country Club every day. Every day.

When I got out, I said, I'm not going to do that anymore. And so I didn't. Ten years, never had a dropout call. You know what I thought? I thought, that plays God. I've done something good. I've done something good in my life. Didn't know God from a goose. But that was my idea of repentance. That was my idea. The state of mind. is in every son of Adam. I believe that as a human being, I can do something to recommend myself to God. I believe that. I believe that.

There's some of that still in us now. We don't want to admit it. We're not all Pharisees like we used to be. We're still all Pharisees. I like to say I'm a legalist. And I still find myself judging others for something they do that I do myself. It's what in all of us in the flesh.

I wanted to. have people say that's commendable behavior. And I went down front in church so many times that they often patted me on the back. But it's not a repentance, and in truth, it's what the old scholars used to call Splendida Picada, or shining sins. Ultimately, the reason for these acts was that they made me believe and feel that I was recommending myself to God. All this splendid activity would somehow count for righteousness and be enough to get us over the judgment deal when I died and had to meet God.

This is the state of mind of every son of Adam as he's born into this world. As soon as we're caught, we sow the fig leaves together. As soon as we feel like something's calling us, we go hide in the bushes. As soon as we're confronted with our sin, we can blame it on somebody else. And that's exactly what happened to me. That's exactly what happened to me.

This repentance towards self, and it's in the opposite direction from God. Repentance toward God is quite simple then, and it brings us back to this main simple thing. Christ is all. Repentance toward God. trusting him alone. If your mind is set on your doings recommending you to God, then a radical change of mind is to embrace the fact that nothing you do recommends you to God. That's a radical change of mind. To believe one day that what I do recommends me to God in order for me to radically change my mind is to the next day believe that nothing I do can recommend me to God. That's it. My prayers, My worship, my giving, my singing, nothing can recommend me to God. That's the change of mind.

When you talk about radical, that's radical. If you don't believe it's radical, tell somebody that. Tell some religious person, nothing I do or ever can do, will ever count with anything toward God. Nothing. That's a radical change of mind. That's a radical change of mind.

It is disowning the righteousness that I've been claiming when I find out by grace that it is an abomination to God. It stinks in the nostrils of God. It is submitted to and owning the righteousness that God has declared in the Gospel to be the only righteousness acceptable by Him and accepted by Him. Reformation or false repentance has to do with me toward myself. True repentance toward God is Jesus Christ. It is radical spiritual change of mind for a sinner saved by grace who spent his whole life believing that somehow he'd get over the mark if he'd done enough good stuff for him to say and to believe. that my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

Nothing less, nothing else, nothing more. And the flip side of the coin is this, faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else than believing from the heart and the mind that your acceptance before God and wholly, completely, and totally, and entirely based on the merits of Jesus Christ the Lord. Why will I go to heaven if I don't?

Old John Jasper, the black preacher who was a slave when the Lord saved him, preached all over the South. Only valid to preach funerals because black people couldn't preach in churches. So he preached the funerals. But he preached so well that people started attending the funerals so they could hear him preaching. Wagon loads of people would come and hear John Jasper preaching, one man, one wife. The preacher said one time, he said, John Jasper, what right do you have to go to heaven? John Jasper said, I'm not going on my righteous way. My righteousness is somebody else. That's my righteousness.

Faith for Christ is what you have when faith is sick, when faith itself is utterly destroyed. Faith for Christ is not faith in faith. It's not faith in your belief. It is trust in Christ as the only, absolutely only means by which God will accept you as the only thing in this universe, the only person in this universe that actually recommends himself to God is Jesus Christ the Lord. That radical change of mind puts your thinking in a whole new direction and that new direction is not about what you can do to impress God. It's about what Christ has done that has impressed God. Repentance toward God is a radical change of mind about what recommends you to God And faith toward Christ is resting and trusting and holding and believing who God has declared to be what recommends you to Him.

Do not consider your works. They will come. So what are they? I have no idea. And neither do you. Might be just getting up in the morning for all you know. But God has said, you are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus and two good works which God has foreordained. That you should walk in them. So I reckon that's going to happen. Because He said it was.

But don't you go looking for what they are. Don't look for your works. Don't look to yourself. Ain't nothing there. Do not endeavor to think of anything that you have or have not done. Do not begin to add up your prayers, your Bible reading, your membership in the church, or even your doctrinal purity. These are not to be bartered for acceptance with God.

Christ alone, the merit of His work, imputation, substitution, satisfaction, propitiation, upon which God has fully and freely accepted everyone at His leg on the basis of Christ alone. Well, I've done my best. I've tried my best to hold nothing back. I feel and I hope it's true that I am free from the blood of all of you because I'm not shunned to declare I do you. All the counsel of God. I don't believe I've kept anything back. God bless you.

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Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about repentance toward God?

How do we know faith in Christ is necessary for salvation?

Why is the grace of God important for Christians?

What does it mean to declare all the counsel of God?

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Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about repentance toward God?

How do we know faith in Christ is necessary for salvation?

Why is the grace of God important for Christians?

What does it mean to declare all the counsel of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Tim James

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