I promise as your pastor in faithfulness
to your soul, I will never preach to you with the presumption that
you know God. I will never preach to you with
the presumption that you know God. I'm fully aware that the
vast majority of people who think they know God are utterly ignorant
of Him. I've had the privilege in the
past 50 years of preaching of seeing God work strangely in
the lives of men. I recall a good many years ago,
a lady I'd known for a long time down in Rocky Mount, Virginia,
she'd been in church all her life. When she was over 80 years
old, God was pleased to save her. Had the privilege, out in
Wichita Falls, Texas, several years ago, baptizing a lady 94
years old. God was pleased to save her just
before she left this world. Brother Sonny Duke's mother and
dad, devoted Catholics, had been all their lives. And he got them
listening to the messages preached here, and they were both 84 years
old. I baptize them. I don't presume that because
people are religious, they know God, or even because the religion
appears to be genuine to me, that they know God. I want you
to know God, our Savior, personally, by the personal experience of
his grace. I want you to know what it is
to repent of your sins. to turn to God to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. What will it take to bring you
to Christ? What will it take to break you? What will it take to bring you
down? I promise you, you will never
be healed by grace until you're wounded by grace. You will never
be lifted up by grace until you're brought down by grace. You will
never turn to God until God turns you to himself. What will it
take to bring you to repentance? That's my subject. That's the
title of my message. What will it take? What will
it take to bring you to repentance? My text is Isaiah chapter nine,
verse eight, through chapter 10 and verse four. The gospel
of Isaiah chapter nine, verse eight. The Lord sent his word
unto Jacob. The Lord sent his word into Jacob. What a blessing of grace. God
chose Jacob above all the people of the world to be the recipients
of his word. He sent his prophets one after
another in unbroken succession for 2,000 years into Jacob. That's a remarkable distinction. And it hath lighted upon Israel
Not only did they hear the bare letter of the word, God caused
the light of his truth to be plainly revealed to the nation
of Israel. By his prophets, by his law,
by his sacrifices, by his priest, he made Israel to know the meaning
of his word. No other nation in the world
before or since has been so distinctly blessed of God. And yet there
is certainly more here than just a word concerning the blessing
of God upon that physical nation so many years ago. The Lord sent
his word to you. The Lord lighted upon you. And yet these Jews were a people
in the pride and stoutness of their heart, we're told in verse
9, who rejected the counsel of God against themselves. Because
they despised his goodness and rejected the counsel of his word,
God turned his back upon that nation and stretched out upon
them the rod of his wrath to destroy a rebellious people who
despised his word, his goodness, and his grace. In the chapter
before us, we have a record of Israel's obstinate impenance
and God's just judgment upon them. Look at verse 8. The prophet
here tells us that the Lord God raised up the Assyrians, the
Syrians and the Philistines to invade and devour the land in
judgment. And yet they repented not. The
Lord sent his word into Jacob and it has lighted upon Israel.
And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant
of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks
are falling down, but we will build with hewn stones. The sycamores
are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. Doesn't matter
what happens, we will improve ourselves. Therefore, the Lord
shall set up the adversaries of resin against him and join
his enemies together, the Syrians before and the Philistines behind,
and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this,
His anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out
still. Then in verses 14 through 17, we're told that the Lord
God sent greedy, self-serving magistrates and prophets of deceit,
such prophets as the people desired, and cut off the whole nation
in one day, and still they repented not. Therefore the Lord will
cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush in one
day. The ancient and the honorable,
he's the head. And the prophet that teacheth
lies, he's the tail. For the leaders of this people
calls them to err. That is the preachers are responsible
for the ungodliness of the people. And they that are led of them
are destroyed. Therefore the Lord shall have
no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless
and widows. For everyone is an hypocrite
and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this,
his anger is turned not away, but his hand is stretched out
still. Then in verses 18 through 21,
We see that the Lord God sent darkness through the land. And
when God sends darkness, oh, how great is the darkness, political
darkness, moral darkness, economic darkness, and spiritual darkness. And yet they repented not. For
the wickedness burneth as fire. It shall devour the briars and
thorns and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest. and they
shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath
of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall
be as the fuel of the fire. No man shall spare his brother,
and he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, and he shall
eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied. They
shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm. Manasseh, Ephraim,
and Ephraim, Manasseh, and they together shall be against Judah. For all this, his anger is not
turned away, but his wrath is stretched out still." If you
can't see the application of those words to our generation,
to this day in which we live, this nation, which ought to be
constantly on its knees before God, then you read the words
with a blind eye. That which is spoken here is
as true of this day and this generation as it was in their
day. Chapter 10, verse 1. The Lord
sent desolation after desolation upon Israel, and even reasoned
with them, and yet they repented not. Woe unto them that decree
unrighteous decrees, and right grievousness which they have
prescribed, to turn aside the needy from judgment, to take
away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may
be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless. And what
will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall
come from far? To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory? Without me, they shall
bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the
slave. For all this, his anger is not
turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. We have
in our nation, and I will speak only for our nation, in our generation,
And I will speak only with regard to our generation in this matter.
We have seen the relentless hand of judgment, divine judgment,
all the days of our lives upon this nation. Is there anyone
here who doubts that? continual blindness, continual
darkness, continually increasing moral decadence, continually
increasing ungodliness, continually increasing rebellion, continually
increasing religion, and yet no knowledge of God and no repentance. Four times we're told, for all
this, God's anger is not turned away. but his hand is stretched
out still. Why was God's wrath set against
Israel? Why did that nation perish? The
prophet tells us in verse 13 of chapter nine, the people turneth
not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord
of hosts. As I read this chapter, I couldn't
help but to think of Revelation chapter 16. I want you to turn
there. There's a tremendous parallel
between what's written in Isaiah 9 and 10 and what we read here
in Revelation 16, verse 8. Revelation 16 comes to the close
of this gospel age and the pouring out of the vials of God's wrath
upon the earth. And the fourth angel poured out
his vial upon the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men
with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over
these plagues." Isn't that amazing? scorched with great heat. Whatever
the heat was, whatever the scorching is, scorched with great heat.
But rather than repenting, they blasphemed God. And they repented
not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out
his vial upon the seat of the beast. And his kingdom was full
of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues
for pain. and blasphemed the God of heaven
because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their
deeds. And the sixth angel poured out
his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof
was dried up, and the way of kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits
like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the
mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
For they are evil spirits, spirits of devils, working miracles,
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
world, to gather them to battle of the great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed
is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, the garments of
salvation, the garments of grace, the garments of righteousness,
lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. And there came a great voice
out of the temple of heaven and from the throne saying, it is
done. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings. And
there was an earthquake, a great earthquake, such as was not since
men were upon the earth. So mighty an earthquake and so
great. and the great city was divided into three parts. And
the cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance
before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness
of his wrath. And every island fled away, and
the mountains were not found, and there fell upon men a great
hail out of heaven. Every stone about the weight
of a talent, every stone about a hundred pounds, And men blasphemed
God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof
was exceeding great. Now here John describes the terrible
judgments of God upon men and women, by which he warns all
of wrath to come. Learn this. Would to God I could
make everybody hear this. judgment of providence is but
a forewarning of judgment to come. Every hurricane, every
tornado, every avalanche, every earthquake, every flood, every
sickness, every bereavement is but a warning. Soon you must
meet God in judgment. How will it be for you in that
day? Here, John describes these terrible
judgments by which God warns men and women and warns them
of wrath to come. Here, men and women are scorched
with great heat, gnawing their tongues for pain. Can you picture
this? Gnawing their tongues for pain. Suffering the consequences of
droughts. more horrible than tongue can
describe. And at last multitudes are beaten
to death with hailstones weighing a hundred pounds each. Surely,
surely, surely men and women who suffer such terrible acts
of judgment from God's almighty hand will be broken, humbled
and seek mercy. Surely no heart could remain
hard and unmoved before such evident acts of God. Think again,
think again. When those men and women were
scorched with the fire from heaven, We read here, they blasphemed
the name of God, which hath power over the plagues. They blasphemed
the name of God, which hath power over the plagues. As they gnawed
their tongues in pain, they blasphemed God because of their pains and
sores. When the hail stones fell out
of heaven, crushing them to death, they blasphemed God because of
the plague of the hail. And though God displayed His
power and wrath, warning sinners of judgment to come, they repented
not of their deeds, they repented not to give God the glory. We see it every day, every day. In the light of these two passages
of scripture, I ask you to consider this question. What will it take
to bring you to repentance? What will it take to break a
sinner, to bring him down before God, to bring him down in repentance,
confessing his sin and trusting Christ? What will it take to
produce genuine repentance in the hardened heart, self-willed
man who's a rebel against God? The scriptures we've read make
this one thing evident. The judgment of God never produces
repentance in man. The judgment of God never. produces repentance in the heart
of man. Let me show you, as God will
enable me, four things taught in this book about repentance.
And that's the first. Divine judgment will never produce
true repentance. Now, we must be careful here.
I do not suggest that which is contrary to Scripture. I do not
say that God does not use acts of providential judgment to arouse,
impress, subdue, and humble his elect and bring them to repentance. He most certainly does. Psalm
107 gives us numerous examples of that very thing and tells
us, oh, that men would lay these things to heart. God does use
providential judgment, but providential judgment by itself never changed
the heart of any man. It takes the judgment of God
accompanied with the grace of God and the revelation of God
in the gospel to produce repentance. But I'm telling you, God will
bring you down. As he came to Zacchaeus and said
to Zacchaeus, come down. So when God comes to the sinner
in saving grace, he says, come down. The prodigal must be brought
to himself. And that prodigal son would never
have been brought to himself had he not left his father's
house in pride and haughty rebellion. Had he not wasted his father's
substance in riotous living, had he not been brought at last
down to feeding the husk that the swine did eat, he would never
have come to himself. But finally he came to himself. What a strange word by which
to describe a man coming to know his sin, being brought down. He was brought from his madness
to realization of himself, what he is, what he's done, what he
deserves. And when he came to himself,
he said, how many hired servants are in my father's house who
have bread enough in the spare? And I perish with hunger. I'll
go to my father and I'll make my plea with my father. Father,
I'm not worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired
servants. And when his father saw him a
great way off, he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him and
kissed him and kissed him and said, welcome home, son. That's
the way of grace. That's the way of God. But I
am saying this, divine judgment in itself will never produce
repentance. I recall back in 1969, shortly
after Shelby and I were married, The fellow I'd gone to school
with, we used to run the roads in Winston-Salem together, he
was as wild and ordinary and mean and hellish as I was, Thurman
Fain. First day of school, went to
Bible college my second year in school, and Thurman Fain showed
up. I was as shocked to see him as
folks were shocked to see me there. I was just shocked. And
I asked him how the Lord had dealt with him. I was more shocked
by this. He said, well, I got so low,
I couldn't do anything else. And it didn't last very long.
God may bring you down outwardly, and bring you down physically,
and bring you down mentally, and bring you down emotionally,
and never break your heart in repentance. Judgment never produces
repentance. Satan, after being under the
wrath of God for thousands of years, has not mellowed or repented
in any way. Many who live in poverty, with
sickness and disease, suffer earthly hardships of every kind,
are hardened against God rather than helped to repentance by
the judgments of God. The heart of man is so obstinately
proud, so obstinately hard, that even the torments of the damned
in hell produce no repentance. There's no repentance in hell. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine that? If you dare, go in your mind,
to the very gate of hell and look into the pit and see if
you find any repentance there. I see there a proud Korah, Dathan
and Abiram still cursing God. I see there in the torments of
the damned, a fearful, fearful Agrippa, still fearful and still
cursing God. I see there in the torments of
the damned, a Judas, a Judas still throwing his 30 pieces
of silver and still cursing God. There's no repentance in hell.
No changing in hell. Men blaspheme God's name forever
and forever. They curse God for their pain
and for their torments, but they repent not. You see, true repentance
arises from faith in Christ and hope in him. And there's no faith
in Christ in hell. And there's no hope for the damned
in hell. True repentance is by the blood
of the Lamb and no blood is to be found there where the worm
dieth not and the fire is not quenched. How often, how often
they were called to Christ. I know a good many there to whom
I preached the gospel as best I could and called them as earnestly
as I know how. as I call you now to believe
on the Son of God. And in hell, there's no call. They've despised mercy, and mercy
now is taken from them forever. There's no repentance in hell
where God's greatest judgments are executed. If that's so, then
the lesser judgments of providence certainly will not change a sinner's
heart and produce repentance. Someone said, affliction makes
good men better and bad men worse. And I suppose that's so. But
affliction will never make good men bad or bad men good. Wrath converts no one. It's grace that saves, not judgment. Judgment doesn't soften the sinner's
heart, it only hardens it. Men and women, who have read
about Isaiah, that we've read about here in Isaiah and in Revelation,
were led by the judgment to blaspheme God, but they repented not. The people turneth not unto him
that smiteth them. Turn to Proverbs chapter one.
We read this portion of scripture frequently in this place. It
needs to be read and heard frequently by everybody. The consequences
of neglected warnings and despised grace are irreversible hardness
of heart and eternal ruin. The consequences of neglected
warnings and despised grace or irreversible hardness of heart
and eternal ruin. You who trifle with God trifle
with judgment. You stick your fingers in your
ears and say, I will not hear. You harden your back and stiffen
your neck and say, I will not bow. You trifle with everlasting
damnation. Proverbs 1.23, hear wisdom speak. The Lord God, our savior says,
turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit
unto you. I will make known my words unto
you. Turn to it. He says, I'll pour
out my spirit on you. I'll make known my words to you.
Well, I've turned to God and you didn't do that. You hadn't
turned to God. Turn to me, I'll pour out my spirit, I make known
my words, because I have called and you refused. I stretched
out my hand and no man regarded, but you have said it not all
my counsel and would none of my reproof. I also, here's the
result, here's the response, here's the justice, here's the
retribution. I also will laugh at your calamity,
I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as a desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and
anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call on me, but I
will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of
my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
Therefore, therefore, now listen to me, listen to me, You who
hear me now, hear me. God help you to hear me. Oh, God help you to hear me.
If you go to hell, you who hear my voice, if you go to hell,
you'll go to hell scratching and clawing and fighting against
God all the way. You'll go to hell because you
fully deserve the wrath of God. Therefore, verse 31, shall they
eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own
devices. Keep it up, God'll let you have
what you want. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them. And the prosperity of fools shall
destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely. and shall be quiet from the fear
of evil. The time for repentance is now. Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your heart. Now is the day of salvation. Behold, now is the acceptable
time. You may not be able to repent
tomorrow. The long-suffering goodness and
forbearance of God should lead you to repentance. But if you
despise God's goodness to you, he sent his word. He sent the
light of his word. He said, I won't have it. I won't
have it. If you despise God's goodness and harden your heart
in the day of his goodness, you'll find it impossible to repent
in the day of his wrath. We read in Hebrews chapter 12
and verse 17 of a fellow by the name of Esau. He had the birthright. God's covenant blessing in his
hand. It was his as the eldest son. He had it in his hands and he
sold it for a mess of beans just to gratify his momentary lust. And later he would have repented. And he sought the blessing with
tears, but he obtained it not because he despised it when it
was in his hand. Noah's generation heard Noah
preach for 120 years while he built the ark. They heard him
preach for 120 years. And they said, Noah, you're a
fool. Noah, you're a crackpot. Nobody's
ever talked like you do. No preacher in the country ever
talks like you do. Who would ever listen to you, Noah? You've
lost your mind. And then the clouds gathered,
and the rains began to fall, and God had already shut Noah
and his family in the ark, and there was no way of entrance
for them. They were shut out. I recall
listening to Ralph Barnard years ago. I was just a boy. He preached
a sermon called Watching Men Die. He was pastoring in Borger,
Texas, and it was a rough oil town. And he went to bars and
preached, and he went down the streets and preached, and he
tried to minister to folks best he could. Finally, one night,
the local dance hall queen was shot, and she was dying. Roth had preached to her many
times, and she called for the preacher, and Roth came to her
room, sat down beside her bed, talked with her, reasoned with
her, and he said, Dixie, repent. Dixie, repent. And Barney said,
she looked me in the eye, and I could see hell in her eyes,
and she screamed as best a dying woman could, my God, preacher,
I can't repent. And if you refuse, the day will
come when you can't repent. Here's the second thing. There
is a repentance to be repented of. Turn to Psalm 78. Psalm 78. The repentance that is often
produced by acts of judgment or the fear of judgment. is a
false repentance that needs to be repented of. I don't think
I'll ever forget the first time I made a profession of faith.
I was seven years old. The preacher had everybody scared
to death of the great white throne judgment and the fires of hell,
and they gave an altar call and lots of folks came forward, me
included. Everybody made a profession of faith. Didn't last long, but
scared the hell out of everybody. I wasn't in Danville any time
and all of the churches in town, the conservative and the more
liberal, the fundamentalist and the Pentecostals and the Baptist
and Presbyterians and all the folks got together out here at
Boyle High County High School and they had big advertisements
up. Wanted me to join in the hoorah.
They were gonna show a movie called The Burning Hell. You
may remember it. Just scared everybody to death.
Lots of folks made Professions of Faith. Nobody got saved by
it. Nobody. Nobody. I wouldn't have anything to do
with it then and I won't now. Nothing but foolishness. Nothing
but prophets of deceit. Look here in Psalm 78, I'll show
you. The wrath of God came upon them, verse 31, and slew the
fattest of them and smote down the chosen men of Israel. For
all this they sin still and believe not for his wondrous works. Therefore
their days did consume in vanity and their years in trouble. When
he slew them, then they sought him. And they returned and inquired
early after God. Boy, they're zealous. They're
praying early in the morning, praying at midday, reading the
Bibles at night, witnessing to everybody on the tracks, on the
streets passing out tracks. And they remembered that God
was their rock and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless,
they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him
with their tongues for their heart was not right with him. Neither were they steadfast in
his covenant. Many by providential acts of
divine judgment, sickness, bereavement, economic hardship, domestic trouble,
personal tragedy, are brought to repentance after a sort. They
turn to God, perhaps even reform their lives and they hope to
ease their consciences. Preachers are like ambulance
chasing lawyers. They chase folks down in the
hospital room and in the funeral parlor, and when they're sick
and they get them to make a profession of faith, strike while the iron's
hot, strike while the iron's hot, and talk them into something
they're not interested in. And folks repent. But it's repentance
that caused only by judgment and legal fear. Such repentance
is always false. I didn't say Lindsay occasionally,
it is always false repentance. Find me an example in this book
that says otherwise. Carnal repentance caused by the
fear of punishment like that which Cain had. My judgment's
greater than I can bear. Didn't change a thing. Didn't
change a thing. Temporary repentance. Repentance
that comes because a man's suddenly seethed with fear. How many times,
going through the book of Exodus, did Pharaoh repent? How many
times did he repent and he never repented? Fearful sorrow, Herod. gave the head of John the Baptist
on a platter, and he was sorry. But it didn't change a thing.
Didn't change a thing. And others have despairing remorse,
which causes them to show signs. Do you reckon Judas really repented?
Go to hell and ask him. No repentance. I betrayed innocent
blood! Didn't change a thing. He still
perished in the wrath of God. You see Cain and Pharaoh and
Herod and Judas, all repented of the evil they had done because
they saw the judgment of God upon them because of evil, but
they weren't saved. They weren't born of God. They
repented not to give God the glory. Such repentance as those
men experienced only hardens the hearts. and usually keep
sinners from true repentance. Thomas Boston rightly observed,
trees may blossom fairly in the spring on which no fruit is found
in the harvest. And some have sharp soul exercises,
which are nothing but foretaste of hell. Number three. Only the revelation of Christ
in you will produce repentance. Only the revelation of Christ
in you by the gospel will produce repentance. Turn to the book
of Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 12. When I was in college One
of the first classes we had, my first year in school, and
one that we had in various ways throughout the time I was in
school was on evangelism, soul wedding. And they taught you
how to sneak up on a fellow's blind side and get him to make
a profession of faith before he ever knew what he'd done.
Does that sound like a good thing to do? What foolishness, what
ungodliness, what blasphemy, what deceit, what corruption.
Repentance comes by the revelation of Christ in you by the gospel. No one will ever repent of his
sin and turn to God in repentance, in faith, in genuine conversion
until he sees Christ as his only sin-atoning, all-sufficient substitute. Zechariah 12, verse 10. I will
pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the spirit of grace and of supplications. I will pour my spirit, my spirit
of grace, which will cause them to make supplications, and they
shall look upon me whom they have 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. Look at chapter 13, verse what?
In that day, when God pours out on you the spirit of grace and
supplication, in that day, there shall be a fountain open to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. When God pours on you the Spirit
of Grace, He opens to you a fountain for cleansing. And while he is
the one who sprinkles your heart from an evil conscience, he by
his grace causes the sinner willingly to plunge into the fountain for
cleansing and for uncleanness. Repentance is the tear that drops
from the eye of faith. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes. Repentance is the gift
of God the Holy Ghost. It is the result of converting
grace and gospel instruction. You don't need to turn there.
Listen to this word from the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah 31
verse 19. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented. And after that, I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. It is good that
a man bear the reproach of his youth. It's good for a man to
bear the reproach of his youth. Jeremiah tells us that in Jeremiah
chapter, or Lamentations chapter three. Oh, how good. When the Lord God turns you and
causes you to turn to him. When the Lord God instructs you
and causes you to smite your own thigh as he smote the hollow
of Jacob's thigh and causes you to blush with shame before him
and bear the shame of your youth, the reproach of your youth before
him. Repentance. is the response of
the heart to the promise of God in the gospel. He says, let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Turn to him, and he'll
have mercy on you. Seek him and you'll find him. Call on him and he'll answer
you. I'm here to tell you, you can't
come to him without being accepted by him. You can't seek him without
finding him. You can't call on him without
being heard by him. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. You see, repentance arises not
from the dread of punishment and the fear of wrath, but from
the love, mercy, and grace of God in Christ Jesus. Displayed
by that woman who came with an alabaster box and fell down at
the Savior's feet. and broke the alabaster box of
ointment and poured it upon him, and washed his feet with her
tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and picked
up his feet and kissed them. Why? Because to whom much is
forgiven, the same loveth much. Judgment hardened sinners. Law
terrifies the heart. But one look at Christ crucified
breaks the center in repentance. Let's turn back to Psalm 32 and
I'll wrap this up. One more thing. I'll tell you something that
true repentance does that no form of repentance can. True
repentance glorifies God. We read in Revelation 16, they
repented not to give God the glory, but those who truly repent
by their repentance, give him the glory. They turned to him
that smiteth them and seek the Lord of hosts. This is what David
did in Psalm 32. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven. Blessed is the, He whose sin
is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no guile.
And then David says, when I kept silence, I refused to confess
my sin. My bones waxed old through my
roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin. If we confess
our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I acknowledge my sin unto thee.
Mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sins. Look in chapter 51, Psalm 51.
He's dealing with the same thing, his repentance. The psalmist
says, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness.
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions, wash me throughly from my iniquity, and cleanse
me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned, and done this great evil in thy sight, that thou
mightest be clear when thou judgest. Might it be just when thou speakest,
and clear when thou judgest. Behold, I'm nothing but sin. I was shapen in iniquity, and
in sin did my mother conceive me." True repentance takes sides with
God. acknowledges his justice, both
the justice of his wrath and the justice of his mercy, recognizing
that the only way God can forgive sin is through the precious blood
of his darling son. And true repentance takes its
place before God, like the publican, before the mercy seat. God, be
merciful, be propitious to me, the sinner. And every sinner,
every sinner, every sinner, That includes you, Bobby Estes, and
me. Every sinner. That includes you,
and you, and you. Every sinner who takes his place
before the throne of God at the mercy seat and seeks mercy through
Christ's sacrifice goes down to his house justified. Amen.