Heaven and earth shall all pass
away, but there's something about that name. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's something about that
name. Now, we're going to school this
morning. I want you to listen to me. I've got something to
say. As Brother Barnard said one time,
I know when I'm preaching. And my subject today is true
repentance glorifies God. True conversion glorifies God. Now, judgment does not produce
repentance that glorifies God. Wrath converts no man. Now, this is absolute, absolutely
contrary to what you hear today. But wrath converts no man. Fear alone will never convict
a man of sin or bring him to Christ. It just will not do it. Let me read a text. Revelation
16, verse 8 and 9. Now this is shocking, but it's
true. Revelation 16, 8 and 9. Judgment will not produce true
repentance. wrath converts no man. In Revelation 16 verse 8, and
the fourth angel, you'll never read any more wrath than this,
the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power
was given unto him to scorch men with fire. This may or may
not be an atomic blast, I don't know. But men are scorched with
fire, and men will be scorched with great heat. And they're
blaspheming the name of God. Here they are burning to a crisp. And they fell on their knees
and they cried, Lord, forgive us because we've been so wicked.
No, they damn you, God. That's their reaction. They curse and blaspheme the
name of God who has power over these plagues. They came from
God. God sent them. God brought them
to pass. And they blaspheme His name who
brought them to pass, and they repented not to give Him glory. They will not give Him glory.
They will not give Him glory. As one of our preachers said
last night in the service, They will not have this man reign
over them. The fire and wrath and judgment
of God falls upon men on the earth, and they're scorched with
heat and thirst and pain. But they repent not to give God
the glory. They will not bow, they will
not honor Him, they will not glorify Him, but they'll blaspheme
Him instead. Judgment does not produce grief
over sin. It does not produce conviction
of sin. It does not produce true repentance. Let me show you that. Don't turn
to this. It may take some of you a few moments to find it. But I want to read you a scripture
in Amos. Listen to this. God said to Israel, I've given
you famine. I've given you cleanness of teeth
in all your cities. You don't have enough to eat
to get your teeth soiled or dirty. I've given you want of bread.
And yet you have not returned unto me, saith the Lord." He
said, I've smitten you with blasting and mildew. When your gardens
and your vineyards were almost ready to pick, I sent the worms
to devour them. What did you do? Fall on your
faces and plead for mercy? No. He said, you would not return
unto me, saith the Lord. I've overthrown some of you as
I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. I've slain you young men with
a sword. You were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. Did
it do any good? Did it bring you to your knees?
You did not return unto me. Isaiah said, why should you be
smitten? Why should you be afflicted?
You'll only revolt more and more. Judgment does not produce repentance.
Any preacher that thinks that it does is fooling himself and
deceiving the people. You can go to the people and
hold up hellfire and wrath and judgment and all these things,
and it will not make one bad man better. It will not bring
repentance. There's no repentance for sin
in hell. There's no sorrow for sin in
hell. The rich man begged for a drop of water, but he didn't
beg for forgiveness of sin. He begged that Abraham would
send somebody back to warn his brothers, but he did not beg
for mercy because of his transgressions. He did not acknowledge his sin.
He did not acknowledge any wrongdoing. And my friends, judgment and
wrath may produce a form of repentance. Men fool one another. They even
deceive themselves. That's how come religions so
popular today and religious organizations are making so much headway, is
we're deceiving others and deceiving ourselves. We are deceivers,
we're seducers, we're dupes. We have been duped by merchandisers
of souls. Judgment and wrath and hellfire
preaching, they say, give them hellfire and brimstone, won't
do any good. It won't bring repentance, it
won't bring conviction. It won't bring true repentance
that glorifies God. It may bring a form of repentance. It may bring a form of concern
and a form of conversion. It may bring a mock conversion
but not genuine repentance. I'm going to show you that. Judgment
and wrath may bring a form of repentance. For example, Cain. He experienced a form of repentance. He experienced a form of repentance
that was born of what? Fear of punishment. What did
he say? When God said, when God pronounced
upon him this judgment, he said, My punishment is more than I
can bear. My punishment. That's where his
thoughts were. His thoughts were not upon his
guilt. His thoughts were not upon the blood of his brother,
which he had shed. His thoughts were not upon his
crimes, which he had committed. His thoughts, gentlemen, were
on his punishment. I don't want to go to hell. I
don't want to perish. My punishment is too great. God,
you're too severe. A repentance born of a fear of
punishment. I'll tell you another kind of
repentance that's born of judgment. And that's a repentance that
is temporary. And it disappears with the disappearance
of the plague and the judgment. Pharaoh. Moses came down there
and said to Pharaoh, said, God said, let my people go. And Pharaoh
said, well, who's the Lord that I should obey Him? And Moses
says, He's I Am. He's the God of heaven and earth,
the God of creation. Pharaoh said, I'm enjoying these
slaves too much, they're going to hang around. So Moses turned
the water into blood, and Pharaoh said, now that's going to be
bad for the crops, so I believe we'll let them leave. I believe
we'll let them go out there and worship their God just about
two miles out in the desert, and they can leave their children
here. Moses said, no! Not a hoof or a hair will be
left behind. We're all going out. So God sent frogs and lice
and God sent all these different things and Pharaoh changed his
mind every time and he said, maybe I ought to let them go,
you know, this is pretty tough. And finally God killed the firstborn
in his home and every home and he said, get out! Get out! He's
truly repentant. He's truly broken. But he let
the Israelites get out there so far and he changed his mind
again. He got over his sorrow. Huh? He got over his trouble. Even the death of a firstborn
after a while, time healed it. And he went after those Israelites. So there is a temporary repentance
and there's a temporary mourning and there's a temporary concern. when plagues come upon us and
trials come upon us. You see that all the time. Here
the preacher's been trying to win Brother Jones to the Lord,
or Brother Smith, or Brother Brown to the Lord, and Brother
Brown's wife dies and he gets real religious. You know, and
the preacher goes to see him, and they sit down and talk, and
they shake hands, and he cries, and they read a verse of Scripture,
and he says, well, I'm going to meet Maude in heaven. I'm going to give my heart to
Jesus." You know, he shakes the preacher's hand. There he is
Sunday morning. Everybody's so glad. There's old brother, Brother
Brown. He's right there in church this
morning. Maude's dead, and he wants to meet Maude in heaven.
And the preacher preaches, and Brother Brown gives a good gift
that Sunday. Boy, he loads her up that Sunday.
He's real religious now. He's repented, he's trusted the
Lord, and he gives his offering. He's the first one. Wednesday
night at 7 o'clock there he is sitting in prayer. He's the first
one there. Next Sunday morning he's the first one there. And
then it kind of fades away. Old Malty gets forgot pretty
quick, you know. And when Malty's forgot, Jesus
is forgot. Because Malty was his salvation. Malty was his repentance. Malty
was his conviction. You see what I'm saying? There's
a temporary, and I'll tell you something else, there's another,
I've seen this too much. It doesn't fascinate me anymore.
When people make professions at funerals, and during trials,
and during pestilence, and famine, a fella gets sick and goes to
the hospital, and somebody calls me and says, ski down or down
to see him? I'd heap by the way till he gets well. Run down and
talk him into a profession of faith. You go talk him into one.
Because I know it's not going to last. I've seen too many of
them. Brother Spurgeon said the only thing wrong with deathbed
repentance is they forget it when they get well. Trial and judgment never produces
true repentance. Never! It never will. It never will. It produces a
repentance that stops short of the vital issues. Huh? Thirdly, it produces a repentance
that stops short of the vital issues. Hillary! Heard John?
In fact, he made a big effort to hear it. He made a big effort
to hear it. He liked John. He respected John.
He admired John. The Scripture says he did many
things. There's one thing he didn't do.
He didn't part from his old ways. He stayed right in the way he
was living all the time. And he never budged out of it.
He never budged out of it. though he wept, and though he
did many things, and though he admired the preacher, and though
he went to hear him, and though he supported him, and though
he sure hated to cut his head off, but he stayed right in his
old ways. That's not true repentance. That's
temporary repentance. I'll tell you another so-called
repentance that comes as a result of trial, and that is when a
person mourns the loss of benefits. They mourn the loss of blessings.
Lost his birthright. And the scripture says he cried
about it. He cried about it. He wept. He wept. And then there's
a repentance that will lead to despair. Judas came back and
said, I betrayed innocent blood! And he went out and hanged himself.
That's despair. That's repentance that leads
to death. Now this is what I'm saying. And I'm telling you the
truth. It doesn't get a big following.
It doesn't make folks happy. It doesn't dignify the flesh,
but it's true. Paul said, have I become your
enemy because I tell you the truth. I'm sworn and dedicated
to telling you the truth because I'm going to be truthful to myself.
I don't want to miss Christ. If I miss him, you're going to
miss him if I preach to you, if you believe me. A fellow said
one time, said, be careful what you preach. Somebody might believe
you. Judgment and wrath and fear does not produce true conversion. Judgment and wrath and fear does
not produce true repentance. Trial, whether it be prosperity
or whether it be poverty, trial does not make bad men better. It makes wise men better. That's right. Trial, poverty,
prosperity will make saved men better. You think God will bring
a trial into the life of one of his children? It'll make him pray more, love
more, trust more, wait on God more. That's right. Trial will
bless. David said, it's good for me
that I've been afflicted. Good for me. Trials are good
for me. And trials will make a saved
man better. But it won't make a bad man better.
It'll make him profess to be better. It'll make him put on
a show. It'll make him tremble over his
loss. It'll make him tremble over his
loss of benefits. It'll make him make all kind
of professions. But it won't make his heart any
better. He's still the same man. Tell you something else, affliction.
Affliction will teach a son, but it'll harden a rebel. It
hardened a rebel. Men may weep over the fact of
punishment, but they never weep over the cause of it. The cause
of punishment is sin. God's wrath is against sin. God
deals with men in judgment because of sin. And they'll weep over
the fact of punishment, over the presence of punishment, over
the pain of punishment, but they'll never weep over the cause of
it. Men may weep over the loss of
heaven. I wanted to go to heaven. But
they won't weep over that that kept them out of heaven. That's
their sins. To prove to you beyond a shadow
of a doubt that misery does not produce repentance is Satan is
no better because of his misery. Satan still hates God and is
not a better theologian on the face of the earth than Satan.
There's not a person, James says, you believe in one God, the devil
believes and trembles but doesn't repent. Misery does not produce
repentance. Pain does not produce repentance. Affliction does not produce repentance. Hell will not produce repentance. Not true repentance. Well, you say, why preach those
things? Well, we've got to be faithful in our preaching to
the Word of God. all the way through this scripture, it says
it's appointed unto me and wants to die. I've got to preach that.
I've got to be faithful to this congregation. After that, the
judgment. That's just a fact. As sure as
there's a God in heaven, you're going to die. As sure as this
book is His Word, you're going to face God in the judgment.
If you're without Christ, the soul that sinneth shall surely
die. That's what my Lord says. God will bring every work into
judgment, whether it be good or whether it be evil. God will
by no means clear the guilty. But my friend, I add to all of
that, wrath converts no man. It's the grace of God that saves.
Wrath converts no man. Turn to Romans 2. Wrath, judgment,
fear of punishment, fear of hell. It'll bring a temporary concern,
it'll bring a temporary conviction, it'll bring a temporary repentance
that's based on fear of punishment, fear of loss of blessings and
benefit, based on all of these things, but it'll never bring
true repentance that glorifies God and leads to salvation. In Romans 2, verse 4, the Scripture
says, the last line, it's the goodness of God that leads men
to repentance. It's not judgment, it's not wrath,
it's not condemnation, it's not fear of hell. It's the grace
of God that brings repentance. It's the goodness of God. Now
let me give you an illustration. Any man here, any woman here,
you say, I fear no man. I'll bow to no man. That depends
on how strong he is. That depends on how much power
he's got. I'm not saying that as a believer a man will put
a gun to your head, a maniac, put a gun to your head and say,
deny Jesus Christ. No, you wouldn't do that. I don't
believe any believer here will do that, wouldn't want to. But
if a man's strong enough and powerful enough, puts a gun to
your head and said, get on your knees, you're going to get on
your knees. If he says, crawl to the door there, you'll crawl
to the door. You want to live? Crawl to the door. That's overwhelming
force. That's an overwhelming power.
If there's a tornado coming here at 50 miles an hour and we've
got a basement down here and our only hope is to go hide in
the basement and get up in the corner as far as we can, we're
going to ski-daddle down there if we've got any brains. That's
an overwhelming force. Men bow before an overwhelming
power and force. That's sheer power and sheer
force and sheer majesty out of sheer fear. Only a true repentant son will
bow before the throne of God because he wants to, out of respect and love and awe
and worship. God can make you bow and force
you to bow, and someday you will. Every tongue shall confess and
every knee will bow. But true repentant bows without
being forced to. You see what I'm saying? Judgment. God could announce it. He could
send me this morning as his preacher and his prophet and say to you,
if you folks don't make a profession of faith and be baptized tonight,
I'm going to wipe you out Monday morning at 8 o'clock. Well, we'd
just all of us have to baptize all night long, wouldn't we?
If you were convinced I was telling the truth. If you're convinced
I was telling the truth, that's the reason these preachers get
up and say, Jesus may come tonight, they're trying to scare you into
the baptismal pool. That's exactly what they're doing.
You may die tonight. Keeps you feeling your heart,
and right then it just feels like it's getting bigger and
bigger, you know. Preacher Jesse Henley preaches and people take
their pulse rate. He preaches on hell every time
he gets up to preach, and somebody will go, Joe Henry Hankins, that
fellow does it, and people will grab their seat, they're going
to make it through the service, you know, so they can get out in
front and make a profession of faith. You can show that picture,
the roaring infernos, that's what Billy Graham put out, and
have a hundred conversions that night, show hell, show them hell,
hell come down. That's not true repentance. That's
not true repentance. That's not true repentance. That's
not a repentance that glorifies God. Well, preacher, what is
a repentance that glorifies God? The grace of God, the love of
God, the goodness of God that produces in the heart of a son
godly righteousness and repentance, godly conviction, godly mourning
over sin, a godly consecration and trust in Christ. Let me give
you about five or six. Turn first of all to Job chapter
1. Job chapter 1. How does true
repentance glorify God? They repented not to give God
the glory. True repentance glorifies God. How? First of all, true repentance,
true repentance, true repentance acknowledges sincerely and most
heartedly and willingly acknowledges God's sovereignty and God's majesty
and God's right to do with his own what he will. That's true
repentance. That's true repentance. Now watch
Job 1. They came to Job and told him
that all of his children were dead, his cattle were gone, his
oxen were gone, his she-asses and sheep and everything. And
verse 20 said, Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his
head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. And he
said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall
I return thither the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.
Praise the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's true repentance. True repentance acknowledges,
acknowledges lovingly and willingly. and most heartedly that God Almighty
can do with me what He will. He has that right and that privilege
because He's God. That's true repentance. And Eli
said the same thing. Eli had some sons that were real
rebels. And God came to Samuel and He
said, I'm going to deal with Eli's sons. He hasn't dealt with
them. He hasn't rebuked them. I'm going
to kill them both. And Samuel came and told Eli what the Lord
had said, and listen to what Eli said. Listen, this is true
repentance. It's the Lord let him do what
he will. Now that's true repentance. That's
repentance, that's a conversion, and that's a submission. And
that's what repentance is. I know people say, well, it's
a turning. I know, but a fellow can turn and not repent. Well,
it's a change. Yeah, but oh, what a change.
It's not only a change of manners, it's a change of masters. It's
a change of mind, a true change of mind. And this is repentance. Repentance is submission. Submit! Not because I made you, not because
you're scared not to, because you want to. That's true repentance. Because you want to. Of course
you're afraid of the next blow that's coming down on your head,
but it's God! Let Him learn to blow! It's God!
Let Him deal with me! It's God! It's God. This should be the name of the
Lord. Our Lord Jesus even prayed that way. He said, Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, Thou hast hid these things from the smart
alecks and revealed it to babes. It seemed good in Your sight.
I thank You. I thank You. I thank you. In everything give thanks, this
is the will of God for you. Can you? Repentance does. Repentance does. I tell you,
preacher, I just can't give thanks for my afflictions. Repentance
does. I just can't give thanks for
my trials. Repentance does. Because you
know who sent it. God sent it. That's true repentance. I'm telling you the truth. That
glorifies God. You see, they repented not, Charlie,
to give God the glory. Now repentance is going to give
God the glory. Repentance is not going to give
the church the glory because they won you to Jesus. Repentance
is not going to give the Sunday school teacher the glory because
he taught you the good and right way. Repentance is not going
to give the preacher the glory because he won you to the Lord.
Repentance is going to glorify God. True repentance. He's God. God, whether I believe
it or you believe it. And repentance knows it. Secondly,
true repentance glorifies God by admitting his righteousness
in my evil. That's the way Jay prayed a while
ago. Show us who you are one more time. And I know good and
well if he shows us who he is, we're going to find out who we
are. Men do not find their sins looking at the law, they find
their sins looking at the holiness of God. That's right, I'll show
you that in the Bible. I'll go all the way through the
Bible and show you that men saw themselves only when they saw
God. Isaiah knew the law, and in Isaiah
5 all he said was, woe is you, woe is you, woe is you. He thought
he was blameless before the law. But then in Isaiah 6 he said,
I saw the Lord, and I said, woe is me. Read it for yourself. Daniel saw the Lord and his crumbliness
melted into corruption. Good old Job, righteous Job,
who feared God and hated evil, yet he didn't really see himself
until he saw God. And when he saw God, he said,
I abhor myself, I hate myself, I've been popping off at the
mouth. I'm not going to say anything else. I'm a vile creature. True repentance acknowledges
God's holiness, righteousness, and true repentance admits my
evil and my sin. This is a struggle. It's hard.
One day our Lord Jesus Christ showed His power and His might
to His disciples by letting them catch a whole net full of fish
when they had toiled all night and caught nothing. And when
Peter, Simon Peter saw the power of Christ and the presence of
Christ and the control and dominion of Christ even over the fish
of the sea, he fell down on his face and said, Lord, depart from
me. Get away from me. I'm a sinful
man. I'm not worthy of your presence.
I'm not worthy of your blessings. I'm a wicked man. Lord, you've
got no business being in my company. Well, how many here this morning?
I ought not even ask that, should I, you know. That put us all
under conviction. Feel like you know that you and the Lord are
pretty close. It's only by His grace, if you
are. Nothing came from your side. You resisted and rebelled against
him all you could. Somebody asked an old colored
gentleman one time, said, how did you get saved? He said, well,
the Lord saved me and I did the rest. He said, you did the rest?
What was the rest? He said, I bucked him and rebelled
against him and ran from him. I did the rest. True repentance glorifies God
by admitting his righteousness. God's holy, awesomely, fearfully
holy. In His presence, it's all such
pure light that not one glimmer of darkness can invade it. You
don't want to stand there without the righteousness of Christ.
You might as well crawl in that blast furnace down there as to
walk into God's presence without Christ. You'd stand a lot better
chance. God said, Moses, you can't even
look on me and live, let alone get in my presence. True repentance,
thirdly, Glorifies God by acknowledging His sovereignty. The Lord gave
and the Lord taketh away. True repentance glorifies God
by admitting His righteousness, His righteousness and my sinfulness. Thirdly, true repentance glorifies
God by confessing the justice of God's judgments. Now, if I
hadn't already buried us, I'm going to bury us here. And I
mean bury us in the sands and dust of true repentance. Let
me ask you some questions. Will God punish sin? Yes, sir. He not only will, but He has.
He will punish sin. All sin? Yes, sir, I believe
that. Is God just to punish sin? Is
He righteous and just to punish sin? Should He deal with sin?
Should He punish sin? Yes, sir, He should. You believe
that? Really believe it. Yes, I do.
I believe God is holy and men are unholy. Well, you're halfway
to repentance. All right, let me ask you another
question. Would God be just to punish your sin? Your sin. Would God be just to send you
to hell? I mean, right now, with your shoes on. Open the ground
and swallow you up like He did the sons of Cora. Just take you
to hell with your shoes on, right now. Do you believe God would
be just to do that? What about your son and daughter?
Would God be just to send them to hell? Would God be just to
punish their sins by the wrath of His eternal fire and brimstone? You're going to get mad at God
if He does that. And I'll support you, I'm not. Then you are repentant. That's right. Turn to Psalm 51. You're not repenting. You're
not repenting. You're not repenting until you
can justify God, not only in His holiness, but in His judgments.
I'm telling you the truth. Psalm 51. True repentance. I'm talking about that repentance
that glorifies God. I'm not saying that I want to
go to hell. I'm not saying that I want God
to punish me. I'm not saying I want God to
punish my son or daughter or good friend or his daughter or
son. But God would be just if he did. That's what I'm saying. He'd be righteous. David said
here in Psalm 51, verse 4, Lord, I've sinned against you. Against
thee and thee only have I sinned. I've done this evil in your sight
that you might be justified when you speak and clear when you
judge. I clear God of all responsibility. Do you? My fault. It's his fault. It's their fault. It's her fault.
It's all our responsibility. I clear God. I clear God. He
sends me to hell jail. I clear Him. He's clear. He's
just. He's righteous. I had a man tell me one time,
standing by his mother's casket, well, if my mother's not in heaven,
nobody's there. Hang on there, buddy, just a moment. God's there.
God's there. And he is there before your mama
was born. And he'll be there if your mama goes to hell. Now,
let's just face it, God's just. Don't you get mad at God. That's
the worst thing you can do, is entertain thoughts of rebellion
against God's justice. That's the worst position you
can find. My friend, God deals in mercy! Mercy! Any man who wants to face
God and demand justice is going to get it. I guarantee you he'll
get it. But I don't want justice. And
I don't want justice for Jay, or Halper, or Richard, or Bob,
or Paul, or Eddie. I don't want justice. I want
mercy, don't you? A lot of it. A whole lot of it. I need a lot of it. I need it
more than anybody. But I'll tell you this, if he
doesn't give it to me, that'd be all right, too. That'd be all
right. I don't deserve it. Psalm 130,
let's look at that just a minute. Psalm 130. Now this is true repentance. You want to know if you've repented?
Well, don't you listen to some silly preacher come and say it's
to change your mind about something. Well, that's part of it. It's
to quit your meanness and start walking right, that's part of
it. But true repentance that glorifies God acknowledges His
sovereignty, His majesty, vows in worship and fear and all. It acknowledges His righteousness
and holiness. It takes my place before God
as a wretched, wiggling maggot, a worm unworthy of His presence. Lord, depart from me, I'm a sinful
man. And it justifies God in His judgments. If He sends a storm and a flood
to Ashland, Kentucky tomorrow, we ought to be wiped out. I hear
people, they get mad at God. Why did the Lord do that? He
ought to have done more. It's just His mercy that kept
Him from doing more. A flood came and there are a
thousand people homeless. By all acts of righteousness
and justice, they all ought to have been homeless. It's just
His mercy that kept Him from consuming everybody. We had a loss, a financial loss
in our family. I wonder why God did that? He
ought to wipe you out completely if you got what you deserve.
You justify God in His judgments? Listen, Psalm 130 verse 1, Out
of the depths of sin and misery and despair and wretchedness,
I cried unto thee, O Lord, hear my voice. Oh God, let thine ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplication. Lord, if you
should mark iniquity, if you should charge sin, if you should
deal with sin right now as it ought to be dealt with, oh Lord,
who shall stand? Huh? I believe that. It's time we started preaching
in the language of the Scriptures. Lord, who shall stand? Lord,
if you should mark iniquity, Who would stand? If you, right
now, right now this morning in this nice, sweet congregation
of lovely people who believe in Jesus, who try to pay their
bills and treat their neighbor right and try to live honestly
and try to give a tithe and a little gift here and there and keep
the missionaries on the field that God Almighty should mark
iniquity. Right now, just a stain and spots
and wickedness in your heart, I want to know who could get
to His feet here this morning. Anybody want to stand up? I want
to get out a little lower, don't you? See if I can get on this
rug here. If God should mark iniquity,
who shall stand? That's repentance. Oh, we're so high and mighty
and haughty and proud. I just detest it, don't you?
The more a fellow tries to convince me of his righteousness, the
more persuaded I am that he's a rebel. The more a fella tries
to persuade me how good he is, I know there's more hell in him
than anybody walking. Outward claims cover inward corruption,
usually. Outward piety covers inward putridness. That's right. If Christ lives
in your heart, you're not running around trying to convince anybody
of it. It'll leak out on you. Spite all you can do, Rob said.
Four, true repentance glorifies God. Watch it now, you still
with me? I told you the truth so far,
I hadn't a joke. This is true. True repentance acknowledges
God's sovereignty, willingly and lovingly, and agrees to it
and loves it. True repentance acknowledges
God's righteousness and holiness in my sinfulness. True repentance
says, whatever you do, Lord, it's right! It's right! Whatever
you do, I bow! Your judgments are just, clear
when you speak. Now watch it, true repentance.
Glorifies God by owning that it lies only with His sovereign
mercy to graciously save me or justly damn me. Can you go with
me there? Can you? You got that much grace?
Have you got that much repentance to save the children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil? that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. It was said to her,
the elders shall serve the young. I love Jacob. I hate Esau. What shall we say then to these
things? What you going to say? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Huh? God forbid. For he said to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. So then it's not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
True repentance glorifies God by owning that it lies totally
and completely and wholly with His sovereign mercy to justly
damn me or graciously save me. That's so. And I tell you, a
man hasn't repented. He may have religion, but he
hasn't repented. He may have a profession, but
he hasn't repented. until he acknowledges that everything
that he has, everything that he knows, everything that he'll
ever be, is by the grace of God through Christ Jesus. Free grace,
wholly by grace, without any works on his part or contribution
on his part. God loved him from eternity past
and redeemed him at the cross of Calvary and called him by
his grace and kept him by his love. It's all of grace. That's true repentance which
glorifies God. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. Nobody is ever saved by accident.
Nobody is ever saved by his own free will. Every man who is saved
is saved by the free will of God. I will, God said, be merciful. To whom? I will. Free will of
God. That's so. He didn't have to
save me. He did it because he wanted to. He said, I can't take that. Well,
my friend, I wish you would, because it's the Bible. It's
the way it is. It's scriptural. It's what God
says. It's what God says. He's on the throne. He created
the world as it pleases Him. He's the God and Sovereign of
Providence. He's the Sovereign God of Providence, and He is
the God and Sovereign and Ruler and Majesty in salvation. See,
we were dead in trespasses and sin. He quickens whom He will.
That's what He said, the Son quickens whom He will. Out of all of this world, He
chose a sheep. He had the right to choose them.
He had the power to choose them. And Christ died on that cross
to redeem a people. He didn't die for the angels
in outer darkness. He didn't die for the devils
in hell. He didn't die for the rebels in hell. He didn't die
for the Judases and Pharaohs and Herods walking this earth.
He died for believers who trust Him, who rest in Him, of all
generations. It's just so. It's what God said. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. I give them eternal life. They'll follow me. True repentance
glorifies God in owning, publicly, privately, secretly, and out
in the open, salvations of the Lord. From Alpha to Omega, it's
all of God. That's good news. It's good news
for somebody to tell me God can do what I can't do. It's good
news for somebody to come and tell me there's a way out. God's
made the way. It's good news for somebody to
come and tell me that what I can't do, Christ did! What I can't
supply, Christ Jesus has amply and effectually supplied sufficiently. That's good news. Election's
not my enemy, it's my friend. If God didn't choose somebody,
nobody'd be saved. If Christ didn't die for somebody,
nobody'd be saved. Everybody'd go to hell. I'm so
glad. And I'll tell you this, if He
died for sinners, He died for me, because I'm one. If he died
for the ungodly, he died for me. I'm ungodly by nature, by
birth, by practice, by thought, by imagination, by association.
Huh? Aren't you? So I'm going to claim
it. I'm going to claim what's mine.
He says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden.
That's me. I'm going to claim what's mine. He said, all you
that are hungry, come. I'm hungry. I'm going to claim
what's mine. Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come to the water!
I claim that I'm thirsty! If it flows for the thirsty,
I can furnish the thirsty sinner. If Jesus Christ died for sinners,
here's one! God's looking for sinners, He
needn't look any further. Jay's here. That's right, isn't
that right? I'm glad! The grace of God not
only sent Christ to the cross, but showed me I needed Him. And
I'm glad. I'm glad I'm a sinner. You say,
you're proud to be a sinner? Yes, sir. Proud to be a sinner.
My Lord died for those kind of folks. I'd hate to be what I
know some folks think they are. Because there's no hope for them.
I rejoice that God showed me my sin. I want to get a good
look at it every day. A good look at it. I don't want
to hide it. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper. If we say we have no sin, we make God a liar. I
don't want to be with that outfit. I don't want to be with those
folks who claim to be perfect. They're going to hell. Everlast
one of them. That's right. Christ died for sinners. The
fifth thing, quickly, let me show you this. True repentance
glorifies God by receiving the grace of God as it's presented
in Christ Jesus. You want to glorify God in true
repentance? Kiss the sun. Oh boy, bow to the Son. God's
going to honor those that honor His Son. Preacher, you want God's
honor? You want God's favor? You want
God's smile to rest upon you? Preach Christ! Preach Him in
the morning! Preach Him at noon! Preach Him
in the evening! Preach Him at night! God will
bless you, I guarantee it. He that honors my Son, God said,
I'll honor Him. whose service shall confess me
before me, and I'll confess him before my Father which is in
heaven. I own publicly and openly before every one of you, before
the congregation of the righteous, without any reserve, that Jesus
Christ is my hope. He's my righteousness and holiness. I have none without Him. He's
my refuge and my strength. That's the reason I read Psalm
62. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, though He be crucified. It's a power of God unto salvation. A fella said to me last week,
said, wouldn't you like to be baptized again and confess Christ?
I said, come think, I believe I would. Why not? Wouldn't you like to tell the
world that your hope's in Christ? We believe and assure that thou
art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Make no bones about
it. Make no bones about it. I don't want to be with that
crowd that gives any glory to anybody or anything else. Worthy
is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is
the Lamb. Let that be repeated over and over again. Let it be
preached. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Talk about
it. Rejoice in it. Preach it. Review it over and over again.
Worthy is the Lamb. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame. I wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground, all other ground, all other ground
is sinking sand. Whatever else you talk about
in the sixth place, you better find that refuge. There's no refuge anywhere else.
Other foundations can no man lay. No other name unto heaven
given among men. I am the door, Christ said. No
man cometh to the Father but by me, because I am the way,
the truth, and the life. In the sixth place, and I close,
true repentance glorifies God. Listen to me. True repentance
glorifies God by living the rest of my life walking in fellowship
with Him and submission to His Word. Huh? That shows repentance. I'll tell you this. You can come
with me up to this point, Joe, and not repent. I believe that. You can come with me right up
here. True repentance acknowledges His sovereignty, acknowledges
His righteousness in my sin, acknowledges His justice, whether
the head or the heart, acknowledges His justice. True repentance
confesses the justice of His judgment It owns that it's in
God's power to save or damn me. It looks upon Christ Jesus as
the only Redeemer. But I'll tell you this, it receives
Him and walks with Him, our fellowships with Him. Turn to Colossians.
I want to read one scripture in close. Colossians chapter
1. In other words, true repentance will persevere. If it does not
persevere, it's not true repentance. True repentance will continue
in the faith. If it does not continue in the faith, it is
not true repentance. I don't care if it's this preacher
standing here, or that assistant pastor, or these preachers down
front here, or who it is. That repentance that does not
continue is not repentance. That's so. Brother, I was thinking the other
day, Brother M. Adkins was on the pulpit committee that called
me as pastor. of this congregation would be
30 years ago this year, September, 30 years ago. He's been a deacon
in this church and a faithful attender. But Am knows this and
I know it too. If he turns his back on Christ
now, you'll perish. Isn't that right? Well, you know
that and I do it too. And I've stood in this pulpit
30 years, but you know this in your heart. If I turn my back
on Christ, I'll perish. That's so. The Word teaches that. It just shows John said they
went out from us. He didn't say how long he'd been
there. He didn't say how long he'd been there. You know who
finishes the race? That crosses the finish line.
I don't care if that horse ran right up to about two feet from
it and fell over dead. He didn't finish. And he can't
win. Isn't that right? Sure, that's
right. He may have run, he may have
outlinked every one of them for three quarters of the whole race.
And he saw a flower garden out there and took off through the
gate. Well, that's where he'll die, right there in the flower
garden. He'll never wear the laurel crown. That's what Scripture
teaches. He says in Colossians chapter
1 and you, verse 21, you, you that will sometime alienate enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight if you continue
in the faith. Grounded and settled. And be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel. You know what
I'm saying, my friend? If you can leave Christ, here's
what I'm saying. You never really knew Christ
because to know Him, there's nothing better. There's nothing
to turn to. There's nothing better, is there? Nothing sweeter. There's
no water sweeter than the water of life. There's no bread sweeter
than the bread of life. There's no lover more wonderful
than the lover of my soul. There's no foundation more firm
than the foundation which is Christ Jesus. There's no peace
like His peace. There's no joy like His joy.
And if you can turn from it, you never knew it. That's what
I'm saying. You never knew it. No way you
could have known it. No way you could have known it.
No way. You don't lay down life and pick
up death if you know what life is. Don't do it. That's repentance
that glorifies God. It bows to Christ and finds... Let me tell you something. He
said, take my yoke upon you. My yoke's easy. It's easy. My burden's light. Delightful. No better way than His way. Our
Father, bless this word in your own way, for your own glory. Strip us where we need to be
stripped. Break us where we need to be broken. Teach us where
we need to be taught. Do what no man can do through
the power of your Spirit. Do for me, for my beloved ones
here, right here, for every one of us. And we trust your beloved
brethren in the Lord Jesus. Give us true repentance. Lord,
don't let me be deceived. Don't let these be deceived. Don't let us be wrapped up in
a religious profession and play church in your sight and glory
in those things that are an abomination to you and justify ourselves
before men. God, open our hearts to your
word and to your spirit, to your truth, and bring us down right
now in our hearts to bow before Christ in whatever office or
character he's revealed to us as sovereign king, lord, master,
ruler, judge, reigner, whatever, even afflictor. Thou art my God
and my Lord. Do with me what you will, but
be merciful to me. For Christ's sake I pray. Amen.