Cheapskate Repentance - [Luke 24:36-49]

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The doctrine of repentance. If someone were to come to you, and they're an unbeliever, and they say to you,
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Do I have to repent for God to save me? Must I repent in order to be saved?
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What would be your response? Do I have to repent in order to go to heaven? What is repentance?
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Is it a command? Is it a gift? What does it mean? How important is it?
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I think in our day, the lingo of the world is not repent. It's tolerate.
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We tolerate things. We have a permissive attitude about everything, including sin.
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What does the Bible say about sin? The response, because of sin, is to repent.
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Let's take our Bibles and open to Luke chapter 24 this morning, as we discuss the doctrine of repentance.
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It is getting pillaged and sacked from every different angle, and people are trying to attack this doctrine.
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So I want to make sure this morning that you understand what repentance is. And if you're not a believer,
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I want you to repent. And if you're a Christian, I want you to be glad for your repentance. And if we've got a wrong view of repentance, then maybe like Martin Luther in his 95
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Theses that he nailed on the Wittenberg door, to repent of our improper view of repentance.
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So we're going to talk about repentance today, and what does it mean, and how do we preach the gospel, and how do we be thankful for the
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God of all grace. Now, before we get into our passage in Luke 24, verses 36 and following,
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I think I'm going to read all of Luke 24 to set the stage. Not only to set the stage, but also because I just love this chapter.
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I don't know if there's any chapter in all the Bible that is so wonderful as Luke 24.
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So let me read Luke 24, verses 1 through 35, as our context for verses 36 and following when we talk about repentance.
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Luke 24, But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
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And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they went in, they did not find the body of the
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Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
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And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?
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He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the
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Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified? And on the third day rise.
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And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
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Now it was Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.
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But these words seemed to them an idle tale. They did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb.
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Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened.
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That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
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And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking, discussing together,
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Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
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And he said to them, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still, looking sad.
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Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?
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And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who is a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him.
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But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
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Verse 22, Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
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Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the woman had said, but him they did not see.
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And he said to them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
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Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?
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And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
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So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly saying,
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Stay with us for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them.
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When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight.
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They said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?
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And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together saying,
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The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
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Now we move to our passage, verse 36, emphasizing physical bodily resurrection.
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And as they were talking about these things, Luke 24, 36, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
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Peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.
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And so here is Jesus now on the scene, and they think he's a ghost. And it's startling.
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He just appears among them. And they're amazed. They're startled.
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And Jesus is going to try to comfort them. He's going to try to console them. They think they're seeing a ghost.
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I don't know when's the last time you saw a ghost, but probably never. But if you were to see a ghost, a
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Middle Eastern looking ghost, the response is not,
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Oh yeah, it's another ghost. See them every day. See, even the young people, they listen.
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Young at heart too. Now Jesus is going to take their doubt and now reveal himself more.
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Look at what the text says. He's going to move from just sight to touch. Can't touch ghosts.
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And he said to them, Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
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That's in fact what they were, troubled. Can we believe our eyes? You can almost imagine people who wake up in the morning and they've got to get the sleep out of their eyes so they can see properly.
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You've got to get your glasses on so you can kind of navigate the French press. I can't believe what I'm seeing. Is this a ghost?
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Is this Jesus? Who is this? Why are you troubled?
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And why do doubts arise in your heart? See my hands. Ghosts have no hands. And my feet.
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Phantoms have no feet. That it is I myself. It's me. It's Jesus.
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The resurrected Jesus. Touch me and see. Some think maybe all of his loose clothing that he would wear, a
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Middle Eastern person would wear, it's hard to figure out is there really a body in those clothes or not.
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Touch me and see. Spirits, disembodied spirits, don't have flesh.
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They don't have bones. They don't have skin. They don't have density. There's nothing tangible. And while they still disbelieve for joy, this isn't doubt.
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This is I can't believe what I'm seeing. And we're marveling.
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He said to them, have you anything to eat? Just think about it. They're marveling.
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They're disbelieving for joy. We can't believe it. It's true. What God said was true. The Messiah, what the Old Testament said, it's all true.
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By the way, could I have something to eat, please? But see, He's helping them. And you can think about food.
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What does food do? Well, it shows that you're a human. If I had kids,
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I would say if you put some food in a ghost's mouth or what you thought was a mouth, where would the food go?
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Just drop to the ground because there's no esophagus. There's no anything. It just drops down. But also, how about something to eat?
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Now, if I say come on over to my house to eat, hopefully you think that's going to include fellowship. That's going to include communion and getting together and being around one another.
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That's what it meant back in those days. They're realizing this is Jesus. This is kind of like the people in Acts chapter 12.
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Let's just pray for these apostles to get out of jail. And then when they hear the knock at the door, they're like, well, that couldn't be them.
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In Luke, regularly, when you see the word marveled and they disbelieved for joy and were marveling, it's a reaction to something that's miraculous.
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It's a reaction to something wonderful being taught to us. Luke chapter 9, verse 43.
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I'll just give you an example. When you see the word marvel in Luke regularly, there's something supernatural going on, either wonderful teaching or miraculous events.
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Luke 9, 43. While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him.
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But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. Verse 43.
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And they were all astonished. Are they marveled at the majesty of God? Something supernatural has happened.
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Jesus has died. He's been buried. He's been raised from the dead. And they are marveling.
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Joy, amazement. And Jesus is trying to remove their doubts. What did they do?
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Verse 42. They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it in his hands, his resurrected body.
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He took it and ate it before them. He has been raised from the dead, just as he has said.
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Then he said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you.
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Didn't I already tell you about this? That everything written about me in... Now he breaks it up, the
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Old Testament, into three categories. The Law of Moses. That's the first five books.
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The Prophets. The Jews would have Prophets. Joshua through second Kings. And then what we call the
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Prophets. Major and minor Prophets. And the Psalms. The writings. Starts with the
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Psalms and the rest of the wisdom literature. Everything about the Old Testament talked about me.
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The Old Testament is written about me. I am the topic. And it says, The Law of Moses and the Prophets and the
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Psalms must be fulfilled. Comprehensively, everything in the Old Testament preaches
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Jesus. He is the topic. The Old Testament is a Christian book.
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It's a book about Jesus with Jesus front and center. I told you while I was with you all these things from the
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Old Testament. You guys should know this. But it was hard for them to figure it out. It was hard for them to understand.
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Especially that suffering part. The suffering Savior when Jesus is supposed to be the Messiah who rules and reigns on the earth.
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Look at verse 45. And He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to them,
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Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer. See that's where they really stumbled. And on the third day rise from the dead.
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It's pretty amazing. He taught them new hermeneutical principles. Some of you were in my hermeneutics class on Tuesday nights.
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And we've learned things like context, context, context. We've learned description versus prescription.
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We've learned different genres. Jesus isn't giving them a lecture on the art and science of biblical interpretation.
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He opened their minds to understand these things. Instead of the Spirit's illumination, now we have
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Jesus illuminating the minds. Yes, what Judaism didn't teach, that is the Savior must suffer.
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They should have taught it. It was in the Old Testament. It's in Psalm 31. It's in Psalm 22. It's in Isaiah 53.
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He gives them insight. Yes, it's all about Me and this is exactly what the
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Old Testament prophesied. Now this is amazing because in Luke 9 verse 45 it says right after Jesus was supposed to be delivered to death,
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Jesus' words, they did not understand this saying and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive.
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They didn't understand. They couldn't understand. Same thing in Luke chapter 18.
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These disciples could understand some of the prophecies, but the suffering was a stumbling block for them.
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Luke 18 verse 34, but they understood none of these things that Jesus would be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon and flogged and be killed and rise on the third day.
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This saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp what was said. But now they get it.
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Jesus opens their mind and now they realize that's right. Psalm 16,
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God wouldn't let the Holy One undergo decay. That's right. He's going to be raised from the dead and He opens their mind.
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And what's the response to this kind of message? Or what's our message to the world? And here we come to our passage in our key word for the day, verse 47, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.
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Now if I ask you to respond to the words Great Commission, what would you say? What's your response to the
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Great Commission? Well, some of you might say Matthew 28. Right? Go into the world and you make disciples.
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Some of you might say, along with S. Lewis Johnson, that the Great Commission, capital
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T, capital G, capital C, is an eternity past where the Father sends the Son.
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He gives Him the marching orders to go rescue the elect, His bride. But many have forgot that this is the
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Great Commission as well. It's Luke's version of the Great Commission and repentance should be proclaimed in His name.
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Whose name? Jesus' name. When you think of the Old Testament, in His name, in His name, according to all
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Yahweh's attributes, all of His justice, all of His faithfulness, all of His omnipotence, all of His omniscience, in His name, in His authority.
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Now you go preach repentance with the authority of Yahweh, that is Jesus the Son. Jesus, the glorified
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Jesus, has all authority, complete authority, utter authority. And you're to preach repentance. This is just a wonderful word that shows the response of this kind of preaching.
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But where is repentance today? Who preaches repentance today? Doesn't it seem kind of easier just to tell people you should believe?
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Of course you should tell them to believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. But what do we do with this? If this is the goal of Christ's message, repentance and forgiveness of sins, what is repentance?
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How often should we preach it? And I've got a question for you. If someone says to you, I'm enslaved to heterosexual sin,
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I'm enslaved to homosexual sin, I'm enslaved to drunkenness, I'm enslaved to whatever kind of sin enslaves me, and I need relief, and I realize
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Jesus is the only God, He's the only Savior, He died on the cross as a substitutionary sin -bearing death,
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He's raised from the dead. But I try to believe, and I can't believe. I try to repent,
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I can't believe. I try to repent, I can't repent. What would you tell that person? Someone says,
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I'm enslaved to sin, I want out. What do you tell them? Do you tell them to believe? Do you tell them to repent?
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Do you tell them God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? I mean, what do you tell them? I'm enslaved to sin,
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I need to be rescued. What do you tell them? What if they say, this question, here's the rubber meeting the proverbial road.
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Must I repent in order for God to save me?
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Do I have to repent? You say, Mike, this seems like it's technical, this should be kind of a Southern Baptist Theological Seminary class you should be teaching.
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No, I want you to understand repentance, and here's why it's important, because I'm going to do everything
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I can from this pulpit to guard sovereign free grace. In other words, this message today is going to try to drive you to say that Jesus is my
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Savior, and even my view that I thought I repented, and that's what saves me,
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I want you to repent of such thinking. So here's what we're going to do, in the rest of the time we have, let me give you some reasons why repentance has been ravaged, or damaged, so that we can bolster ourselves against this.
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We want to preach repentance to unbelievers, we have to be thankful for our repentance if we're Christians, and so I want to talk about the doctrine of repentance for the time we have left.
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Luther, his first thesis of his 95 thesis, he knew repentance was important, he said when our
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Lord and Master Jesus Christ said repent, he called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
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It's important, in other words, that we understand repentance, and then I'll answer the question, when someone says, must
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I repent in order for God to save me, what is my answer? How do I evangelize? The first reason we might need to repent of our repentance, is because repentance has been damaged by being ignored.
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Sometimes we just ignore it. It's too caustic of a word, I mean today to talk about repentance, again, permissiveness and tolerance, and kind of go along to get along.
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I read of a certain French preacher, Southern France, Reformed Church, 1600s, he preached 50 sermons in a row from one text, and the text was, you must repent.
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50 sermons, you think I go slowly. And his one sermon, they clocked at four hours and a half on the topic of repentance.
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I want to say this is the kind of thing they tell you in seminary, you preach a sermon, and until the congregation gets it, you just keep preaching it.
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So they must not have been getting it. Charles Hodge said, there is no duty which is either more obvious in itself, or more frequently asserted in the
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Word of God, than that of repentance. Sometimes people just ignore it.
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And here's how it comes in evangelical circles. The Gospel of John, the I Am statements, the great miracles of John, it's written so that you might believe in the
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Son of God and have faith. And the word repentance is never used in the
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Gospel of John. So why would we tell people to repent when John doesn't tell people to repent?
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What would be your response? My response is, just because it's not in John, I just got done telling you in Luke 24 that repentance should be proclaimed.
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And just because the word isn't used, the concepts are everywhere in the Bible, including the Old Testament. Incline your heart unto the
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Lord, Joshua 24. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, Jeremiah 4. Wash your heart from wickedness,
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Jeremiah 4. Break up foul old ground, Hosea 10. Turn from their wicked ways,
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Jonah 3 .10. Turn from idols to serve a living
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God, 1 Thessalonians. We can't ignore repentance. It's everywhere. Number two, biblical repentance has been ravaged by redefining repentance.
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It's been ravaged by redefining it. We might need to repent of our view of repentance because we have the wrong definition.
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What is the definition of repentance? Say you have your kids come to you and you say, Daddy, what's repentance?
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What would you tell them? Daddy, what's repentance? Maybe your friend at work says, What is repentance?
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It's kind of a word that's out. By the way, when my kids were little and I wanted to teach them these concepts, how do you talk about abstract concepts and repent and stuff like that?
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So here's what I would have them do. We'd always have kind of a visual Bible story. I remember when we'd get to Lot's wife, they would all have to put their hand out and I'd put salt on their hands and they'd have to lick it.
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When we had someone anointed with oil as a new king, I'd pour the olive oil in their hands and they'd have to rub it around.
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I wonder what happened when I got to the passage where David was feigning rabbit insanity and the saliva was coming out of his mouth.
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I let her roll. Made all the kids stand up, march around the table seven times.
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That was one of them. And for repentance, I had them all stand up. They were little at the time. They couldn't walk.
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They just waddled. And so they would waddle and I would say, You have to keep going like this and when
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I say repent, you turn around and walk the other way. And I'd let them get to about a quarter of a centimeter, their nose to the wall.
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Don't stop. I'd see them get to the wall. I'd have them repent and they'd turn around to turn.
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See, the word in its root means to change your mind. That's what it means.
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Literally, it means to think after. You do something and you think after, but more so it'd be to change your mind.
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And some have said that's all it means. But if your mind has changed, everything else will change and you'll be going in a different direction.
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Listen to the Westminster Confession for a great definition of repentance. Who talks this way these days?
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A sinner out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, as contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God, and upon the apprehension of His mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, so grieves for and hates his sins as to turn from them all unto
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God, purposing and endeavoring to walk with Him in all ways of His commandments.
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When you change your mind, you change your mind about who God is.
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I thought He was kind of like Grandpa George Burns, oh God kind of God. I thought He was indulgent. I thought
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He was only a God of love. Now I understand He's a God of love and holiness and gracious.
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I understand the biblical view of God. You have to understand yourself differently when you repent. You think, you know what,
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I'm really not good. There's no good thing in me. I see myself as the Bible sees me. And when the x -ray
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MRI scan shows my soul, it just shows blackness and it shows somebody who's depraved and unable to save themselves and extract themselves out.
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I'm like one of those mastodons in the La Brea tar pits on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.
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And once you get in the tar, you cannot extract yourself out. That's what I am. I thought I was good.
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We have to repent of things like religion. I thought I could just do a few things for God and He would commend me for that and I would just do a few spiritual things, a few religious things.
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And when we repent, we realize our mind is changed so that Packer says, so that one's views, values, goals are changed and one's whole life is lived differently.
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The change is radical both inwardly and outwardly. Mind and judgment, will and affections, behavior and lifestyle, motives and purposes are all involved.
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Repenting means starting to live a new life. Of course it means to change your mind, but if your mind is changed, your body will follow if you will.
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It leads to a change of life. A Sunday school boy was asked, what is repentance?
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He says to be sorry for your sins. The girl in the back seat raised her hand and she said,
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I think it's being sorry enough to quit. And when you study Thomas Watson in his book
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Repentance, who has read that book by the way? Repentance, Thomas Watson. Okay, there's a few elect people here,
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I'm glad for that. The rest of you ought to repent, change your mind, read that book. It's a great book and he puts together kind of six components of repentance and it helps us because we hear the word repentance and what does it mean?
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And so he'll say it means things like being sorrowful for your sin. Where Peter the cock crowed and he wept bitterly afterwards.
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2 Corinthians 7 Sorrow that produces repentance.
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You come to the side of your sin like the prodigal son when he came to his senses and then you realized, it's not that I'm sinning and going to hell, it's
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I'm sinning against this great God. I've offended this God. It's holy agony.
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Thomas Watson calls it. Sorrow is good but it leads to repentance.
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Watson says people have four qualities in their tears. They're moist, salty, hot and bitter.
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Watson said it's true of repenting tears. They are hot to warm a frozen conscience.
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Moist to soften a hard heart. Salty to season a soul putrefying in sin.
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Bitter to wean us from the love of the world. And then Watson says when you repent, you see your sin, you're sorrowful over it and then you confess.
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You say the same thing as God. What's confession? I agree with you God. The way you see sin,
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I see sin. The way you see holiness, I see holiness. Turn your Bible if you would to Ezra please, chapter 9.
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There's something else that the world discounts but the
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Bible shows as a wonderful fruit that goes along with repentance and that is shame.
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Shame for sins. Don't shame children. Don't shame students. Don't shame anyone.
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The response to our sin should be shame. That's part of repentance.
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I'd rather be ashamed of my sin now not as it is coming the second time. Ezra chapter 9 verse 5 the
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NAS says, having Ezra say this, Ezra 9 .5
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But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation even with my garment and my robe torn.
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Those are the external things that the Jewish culture did to show repentance and sorrow. And I fell on my knees,
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I stretched out my hands to the Lord my God. I said, Oh my God, I'm ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to Thee.
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That's part of repentance. Shame. We're the people like that today. I'm ashamed and embarrassed my
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God for our iniquities have risen above our heads. It's like we're drowning in them.
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And our guilt has grown even to the heaven. And then when you think about your sins like that then that final component,
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Watson says, you'll turn from your sins and bring forth fruits keeping with repentance.
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Luke 3. John the Baptist, Matthew 3. Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance.
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John Murray said repentance, there's four things involved. It's a change of mind, respecting
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God. Two, respecting ourselves. Three, respecting sin. Four, respecting righteousness.
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And if you think differently like that your change in your life will show itself.
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Luther's thesis number three out of 95, Wittenberg door. Yet it's meaning repentance is not restricted to repentance in one's heart for such repentance is null unless it produces outward signs in various mortifications of the flesh.
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Or you flee fornication. You flee idolatry. You flee the love of money and you pursue righteousness, faith and love.
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2 Timothy 2. Number three. Biblical repentance has been damaged by being included in the gospel.
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It's been damaged by being included in the gospel. Please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 if you would.
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Is repentance part of the gospel strictly speaking? And I think the answer is an obvious no.
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We have a gift, we have a promise and the response to that is repentance. The response is a demand.
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The response is a command. But the gospel means good news and there's nothing good news about me trying to repent of my sins.
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The good news is Jesus died on behalf of sinners for you, like you rather. Let's look at this passage right here.
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1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 5. Maybe the most wonderful definition of the gospel in all of Scripture, 1
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Corinthians chapter 15. Now I want to remind you, chapter 15 verse 1, brothers, of the gospel
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I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, is great good news.
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And by which you are being saved, not only saves, it sanctifies. If you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in Bain, there is a kind of faith in God that's in vain.
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For I deliver to you, this is technical language, I'm going to give you some important document. This is notary kind of language.
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As of first importance, everything in the Bible is important, this is at the top of the list. You get the gospel wrong, everything else is damaged.
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And that's something I received, by the way, that Christ the Messiah, the
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Old Testament anointed King, the Holy One, died, not for His sins,
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He was virgin born, He didn't die, He didn't sin. For our sins, that is what kind of language?
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Substitutionary atonement language. There's a penalty for sin breaking, Jesus pays the penalty in our behalf.
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He died for our sins, and it's all over the Scriptures, including the Old Testament, in accordance with the
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Scriptures, that He was buried, it was a real death, and He was raised on the third day, in accordance with the
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Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. So, when
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I heard that guy in Dublin, on a little soapbox, preaching the gospel, I've told you the story before, but it's illustrative of this point, and he was saying, repent, turn or burn, flee from the wrath to come.
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I was happy that he was saying Bible things. You would probably be happy too. I mean, I wasn't there for ministry,
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I was there, you know, shopping for sunglasses or something. So, who am I to say? But I thought, you know what,
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I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The gospel and the response to the gospel.
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Law and the gospel. Demands of the gospel, gifts of the gospel. Gospel being good news, and my responding to the good news, something completely different.
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And so I said to him, I went up to him, he had kind of like a bodyguard next to him, and I made it over to the other side, and I just put my head like this, sheepishly, because I wasn't trying to challenge him, and I said, don't forget to tell people the good news about Jesus died on the cross, was raised from the dead.
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And then I just walked off. And as I walked through, I mean, there was a thousand people there. They weren't all listening, but he was in the middle of a thousand people.
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And then he got it, because we're so, we live in such a works world, that sometimes even that's what we only preach, is the law, and are the demands of God.
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And he said, Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners like you, and in light of that, you must repent of your sins, and believe on the risen
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Savior. I didn't do that with my arms, but I did that in my heart.
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Of course Jesus didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. But friends, what
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I'm trying to remind you of is, the gospel is good news, and the response to the gospel is necessary, it's mandatory, but it's not to be confused.
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Herman Bobnik said, Strictly speaking, there are no demands and conditions in the gospel, but only promises and gifts.
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Faith and repentance are as much benefits of the covenant of grace, as justification. So when you preach the gospel, and you tell them about what
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Jesus did, these indicatives, of course the response for them is, repentance and faith.
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But don't forget about the indicatives, because if you just tell people, stop sinning, change your mind, don't do that anymore, there's nothing there that can save them, because that's not the gospel, that's a response to the gospel, that's a law that proceeds from God's holiness, to make them think they need the gospel.
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This next Saturday I go to the Cape, and I'm going to sit on an ordination council, and I'm going to ask a pastor some questions, and then watch him squirm.
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Now I'm going to tell you the answer to this one question I'm going to ask him now, and it will help you realize, grace, response, indicatives, imperatives, law, gospel.
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I'm going to ask him this question, and I'm going to say, will you affirm this statement, or will you deny it?
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I'll be nicer than that, but that's my preaching voice. And I might even write it out, so he can see it, because even as Thomas Boston said, it's a little difficult in its wording, for you grammarians, you'll quickly catch that, so I'll say it a couple of times, but I want to know, is this sound or not?
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Is this biblical or not? And remember, my whole point here is, that you understand repentance, so much so, that you see grace as pure grace, sovereign grace, amazing grace, and you never let grace and works mix themselves together.
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That's what I'm after. Here's the question I'm going to ask him. Could you affirm this statement, and it's known as the
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Octor Arter Creed, 1717, Scottish Presbyterian, Church of Scotland.
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And it was asked, by the way, to William Craig, the Presbytery of Octor Arter. It is not sound, okay, it's not sound, and orthodox, to teach, so this isn't sound and orthodox, to teach this following.
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It's not sound and not orthodox, to teach the following. We must forsake sin, in order to our coming to Christ.
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Would you affirm this statement, or would you deny it? It is not sound and orthodox, to teach, it's wrong to teach, you've got to forsake sin, in order to our coming to Christ.
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They asked that of William Craig, 1717. He would not affirm it.
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And this actually, this creed was condemned later, by the General Assembly of the
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Church of Scotland, as unsound and detestable. But there were some other men that said, listen, we've got two camps here.
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The Merrow Men, don't you like that for a name, by the way? The Merrow Men. The heart of the
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Gospel, the Merrow. I think that's a new discipleship group, that I've got with the men. The Merrow Men.
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I'm not kidding, that's such a good name. The Merrow Men, and the
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Neonomians. Kind of sounds like a spooky trilogy. The Merrow Men and the
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Neonomians. Like, well, what does this matter? Well, when you see something in a historical context, it helps you hang your thoughts on that, and then you remember.
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Just like when you study the downgrade controversy with Spurgeon, you go, now I get it. The Merrow Men, twelve men, standing in front of everybody else in the assembly.
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Thomas Boston was one of the men. Ebenezer Erskine. Anybody named Ebenezer is alright by me.
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And Ebenezer's brother, Ralph Erskine. They said, it's poorly worded, but it's true.
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It is not sound and orthodox to teach that we must forsake sin in order to come into Christ.
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And the Neonomians said, it is sound. And what's Neonomian mean?
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It means new law. So now we've got a new law. If you want to come to Jesus, you've got to repent first, so that He can save you.
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The Merrow Men said, no. There is no necessity to forsake sin, in and of yourself, before you are united to Christ.
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What power do you have? People are dead in trespasses and sins. And you say, do you know what?
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Alright, now your friend comes to you and says, I've had people do this to me before. They've come to my house in the middle of the night, back in California.
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I'm enslaved to sin. I know I'm going to go to hell if I die today. And I know I'm not forgiven. I want to be forgiven.
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What do I need to do? Panic stricken. I know I'm going to go to hell. I'm positive. I could die at any time.
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My life's a vapor. And I just can't stop sinning. What do I tell him? What would you tell him?
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I'm enslaved to sin. What do I do? Friends, now let's think big picture for a second. Salvation is from the
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Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is all of God's work.
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From the beginning to the end. He's the Alpha and the Omega. He's the author. He's the finisher.
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When you get down on your knees and thank God for your salvation, do you say, God, I'm so glad you did 99 % of it, and I've just got to keep that one little bit of repentance from me.
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I repented. Why are you different than your loved ones who aren't saved? Because you repented of your own strength?
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Must a person forsake his sins in order to come to Christ? Now, most of the time, my friends don't say, Do I have to stop sinning so I'm made savable?
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That's not what they say. They say, What must I do to be saved? I can certainly tell them,
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Believe. Repent. Trust. Follow. After I've told them the good news,
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I can say all that. I must say all that. But if the technical question is, Do I have to stop sinning to make myself savable?
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The answer is, You can't. But you must. Can anyone stop sinning when they're not united to Christ?
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Thomas Boston said, It is impossible for any to forsake their sins until the Spirit has determined him to come to Christ as Prince and Savior, exalted to give repentance and remission of sins.
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Which comes first? Grace or repentance? Which comes first? Union with Christ or belief?
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And the Neonomians said, Repentance comes first. Because I'm responsible to do it, it must come first.
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And the Meromans said, You're destroying grace. We will not. We must not.
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Is repentance a cause of grace? Is belief the key that unlocks grace?
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No. It's the response of grace. It's the response of God's sovereign grace.
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Your penitence doesn't save you, friends. Your belief doesn't save you. Repentance didn't die on a cross, and neither did belief.
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If your repentance could save you, then Jesus was killed horribly and without purpose.
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Now, here's how we solve this conundrum in our mind to make sure we don't offer a conditional offer of the
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Gospel like these Neonomians. A new law. I don't have a new law for people. Stop sinning. Make yourself clean.
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Then God could save you. Instead of a condition that you fulfill,
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I wanted to make it biblical, a means through which God works. So here's how we solve the problem.
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I hope you're listening. Before the fall, Adam was supposed to tend the garden.
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He was responsible to do it. It was his pleasure. And could he do it? Could he garden, tend, cultivate, be fruitful, multiply?
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He could do all that God asked. True? After the fall, God said,
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You know what? You're a slave to sin now, Adam. You're spiritually dead. And I know you can't do these things
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I ask anymore, so I'm going to change my laws for you. And my law is no longer a reflection of my holy nature.
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It's just abandoned. So you just do whatever you can't do, which is nothing. You don't have to do anything because I've removed my laws now.
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No. God's holy standard stays the same because He is immutably holy, always holy, perfectly holy.
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But now man has fallen. He can't do anything. Eve couldn't do anything either, but God's commands are still here.
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They didn't change. So after the fall, man is responsible, but he's not what?
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Able. So here's how we all unlock this whole thing. Repentance is both a command and it's a...
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Someone says, I'm enslaved to sin. Must I stop in order for God to save me?
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What do you tell them? I can't stop. I'm enslaved to sin.
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What do you tell them? Just pretend like we're in the South for a second. What do you tell them? Okay.
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Who said that? Raise your hand. Thank you. That's just earned you heaven.
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I tell them to do what they can't do. So here's what I'm thinking. You must repent. You must be born again.
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You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Simultaneously, my mouth is doing that and my brain is going,
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God, give them the faith. God, give them the repentance. They can't do it on their own. If the person asks, and I doubt they ever will, if they say, according to the
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Octorotor Creed in 1717, must I stop sinning so that God can save me?
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The answer is, you can't stop sinning. But the way you're saved is through me preaching the good news to you about who
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Jesus is, what He's done, and your response must be repentance and faith.
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That's what I say. Their faith, their repentance, isn't salvific. Let me show you both the command and the gift of repentance.
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Go to Acts chapter 3. We've got to wrap this up. Acts chapter 3, 5 and 11. We're going to look at that. And so, if you remember that before the fall,
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Adam was able and responsible. And after the fall, we with Adam are responsible but not able.
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You will understand the conundrum of preaching to dead people even though they can't respond.
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Kind of sounds like Ezekiel, doesn't it, to you? Go preach to some bones. That's why, by the way, if you're in my
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Merriman class, I take you right over here to this cemetery, this Catholic cemetery. You have to open up the Bible and you have to preach to the tombstones.
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Why do I make them preach to the tombstones? Well, A, it's memorable. B, my neighbor Phil Philbin over here then asks me questions about it and I get to preach the gospel to him.
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But it gives the student this, unless God attends to His Word when I evangelize, nothing's going to happen to the people.
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It sounds like, doesn't it to you, Jesus going to the tomb of stinking
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Lazarus. King James, He stinketh. And what does Jesus say? Just wake up so I can save you.
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Wake up so I can revive you. Wake up so I can resuscitate you. You just make that first little bit.
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Lazarus says, Jesus, if I must wake up on my own in order for you to wake me up all the rest of the way, must
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I do it? What would you tell Him? Jesus would say, Lazarus, arise.
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God saves through the preaching of the gospel. That kind of sounds stupid to me. That sounds foolish to me.
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That sounds like 1 Corinthians 1 to me, the foolishness of preaching. We tell people to do things they could never do in their entire lives.
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But God is often pleased to save through the instrument of preaching. My preaching doesn't save you.
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Your repentance doesn't save you. Your belief doesn't save you. But without repentance, there's no forgiveness of sins. Without faith, you can't get to heaven.
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It's a command and it's a gift. Take a look. Acts 3 .19. Repent, therefore, and return, that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the
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Lord. Everyone here would have to believe that repentance is a command. John the
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Baptist, repent. Jesus, repent. Ezekiel, repent. Isaiah, repent.
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Jesus, repent. John the Baptist, repent. Peter, repent. Paul, repent. But it's also a gift.
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Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. It's a gift. So remember the fall. You can save yourself a lot of theological headaches when you remember the depravity of man and Romans 5 and the fall.
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Most people, when they can't understand election, it's because of the fall. They can't understand effectual call.
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It's because of the fall. They can't understand repentance. How can it be a gift or responsibility? William Craig, the
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Neonomian, didn't understand the fall. Acts 5 .31. He is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as a prince and a savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
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One last verse. Acts 11 .18. There are more. You could go to 2 Timothy 2. But Acts 11 .18.
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And when they heard this, see, God doesn't just grant repentance to Israel. I'm glad He grants repentance to Gentiles too.
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They quieted down and they glorified God saying, well then, God has granted to the
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Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. Friends, when you have an unbelieving loved one, you pray for their salvation and pray that God grants them repentance.
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And then you tell them, you must repent. Let me tell you about the Jesus in whom you must look to via repentance and faith.
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Repentance is a gift and it's a command. So friends, if you have been made a
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Christian, God made you a Christian. He chose you in eternity past.
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He had a son die for you at Calvary. The Spirit made you born again. And when the Spirit united you to Christ, He gave you the gift of repentance and faith.
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That's why when you praise God from whom all blessings flow, except for my duty of repentance. No. So if you're a
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Christian, when you preach, tell them about Jesus and then tell them, you must repent. You must believe.
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And pray simultaneously, God grant them what they could never do on their own. That's how you save.
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Because the fall is real and your grace overpowers the fall. If you're a
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Christian, you ought to say, I'm going to heaven because God granted me these things. When was the last time you said,
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God, thank you for granting me repentance. And if you're an unbeliever here this morning, you must repent.
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Say, well, I'll do it later. Thief on the cross, he repented later. Let me sow my wild oats,
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I'll repent later. See, I've got my own life to live. Thou said, deathbed repentance is burning the candle of life in the service of the devil than blowing the snuff in the face of God.
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Stern said, whatever stress some may lay upon deathbed repentance. It is but a weak and slender plank to trust our all upon.
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How many deathbed repentances are in the Bible? One. Why only one?
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Well, some say it's because we don't want to be presumptuous and say, you know, yeah, people, everybody just dies on their deathbed and repents.
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Spurgeon said, a little hope have I for deathbed repentance, never trust them, I beseech thee. My conviction is that they have been very, very, very, very, very, very few.
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In fact, I do not remember a case in which the person who recovered has been at all what he said he would be when he thought he was on the borders of the grave.
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We read in the scriptures only one who was saved at the last, the dying thief on the cross. That's why you shouldn't go any longer without repenting.
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We don't want to be presumptuous, but, you know, we can be hopeful. When we're at the deathbed of a loved one and they have not followed
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Christ and they have not believed and you preach the gospel of them, you should be saying to yourself, God, I know you have the power to save on the deathbed because a 70 -year -old life full of nothing but sin can be redeemed because Christ's death is so great.
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Venning said, late repentance is seldom true, but true repentance is never too late. And so if you have not repented, you must repent.
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I will tomorrow, that I will. I will be sure to do it. Tomorrow comes, tomorrow goes, and still you are to do it.
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Thus still repentance is deferred from one day to another until the day of death has come and judgment is.
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Let's pray. Father in heaven, we are very thankful that you have granted us repentance.
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Maybe even more thankful as we reflect on just how holy you are and how holy your laws are and how holy heaven is that you granted us a change of mind which led to a change of life.
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It's all grace. Father, would you help us to be thankful people this time of year?
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We're not better than anyone else. In fact, we're probably worse. But we are objects of your love, objects of your affection.
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And like Israel, it's not because we're great, it's because you just loved us.
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That's the answer. And so, Father, help us to speak the truth to our loved ones. Help us to speak in love, through love.
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And, Father, would you overwhelm them in the gospel preaching so as to grant them repentance and faith?
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Father, if there's anyone here this morning who has not repented and believed on the sovereign risen
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Savior, Jesus, the Lamb of God, I pray that you'd give them no rest and no peace until they rest in you.