The Unconverted “Believer” (20): Biblical Repentance 07/04/2021

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Thank you Normally pastor Jason would be preaching today being the first Sunday of the month, but because of the events going on in his family.

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I Thought we would handle this week. And so he'll be before us next Sunday Lord willing

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Okay, I'm gonna shut off this mic now Judah By the way for the last year and a half.

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We have not publicly taken a fellowship offering that I recall during service and And so I we're gonna resume that today.

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I believe the ushers will be at the back And so, you know, that's a wonderful actually

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Tool for the ministry. We're able to assist people encourage people through that fellowship fund 100 % of it, of course is given to people in need and It's a blessing to people.

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So just be mindful of that Well We'll begin this morning by reading a passage of scripture and don't let the number of pages

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Be daunting to you. There's no way in the world. We're gonna get through 12 pages, but we want to get through some of them in addressing this matter of biblical repentance

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But we want to read a passage in the New Testament that really encapsulates the entire

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Story of redemption history the purpose of God in history as set forth by the

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Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 15 20 through 28 Here he set forth the life and work of Christ on behalf of his father in subduing and Reconciling the fallen world through his death resurrection and present reign over the kingdom of God as Lord as King of the kingdom of God and so here

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Again, Paul stands back. Here is the entire picture of the Bible in in a paragraph

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But now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep

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Those would be Christians speaking about their bodies in the grave For since by man came death a referral to Reference to Adam by man capital

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M Jesus Christ also came the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die even so in Christ all shall be made alive

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But each one in his own order Christ the firstfruits Afterward those who are

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Christ said is coming then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the

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Father when he puts an End to all rule and all authority in power for he must reign

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Till he has put all enemies under his feet and the last enemy that will be destroyed is death

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For he has put all things under his feet But when he says all things are put under him It's evident that he who put all things under him is accepted.

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That is God the Father And now when all things are made subject to him Then the son himself will also be subject to him who put all things under him that God may be all in all

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Paul set forth Jesus Christ as the first among his people who was resurrected from the dead the firstfruits

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After his crucifixion and burial, of course in the garden tomb He is the first who was raised of all those who belong to him for they too will one day be raised

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They'll come forth from the dead They will not be raised until the second coming we read

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It is coming again and that according to Paul here in this paragraph will signal the end of history and just by Interjecting a word here.

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There's no place here for a two -stage second coming of Christ No place here for a future thousand -year

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Jewish millennium No place here for a thousand years You know between the resurrection of the just and the unjust and then to judgment, but it's one single event

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It would appear then comes the end He will have accomplished the full expansion and completion of his kingdom this implies of course that he was coronated and his kingdom was inaugurated upon his resurrection and ascension into heaven

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At his second coming and the resurrection of all the citizens of his kingdom he'll present his kingdom to his father

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For he will have accomplished the purpose for which the father had sent him into the world he will have conquered all of God's enemies and Have brought all things into willing submission to his father and that is

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God's purpose in history And by this work he glorifies himself, of course

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Whereas the entire world had rebelled from God and Adam's sin because of which

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They all reject God as their King who had created them. God is The King because he is the

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Creator nevertheless, the Lord Jesus had recovered his people from their fall and brought them into subjection onto himself and Then in the end he will present them onto his father as loving devoted committed citizens of his kingdom

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Now, although the unsaved are not specifically mentioned here Of course They too will be brought into subjection

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Through his defeat of them and through his judgment of them at which time they will all bow the knee and confess

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With their tongue Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father So in this one paragraph we really have the timeline of the history of redemption set before us

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Now the subject that we want to address this morning is that of repentance

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How does repentance fit into our understanding of this great work of God in history by reconciling the world to himself

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In The beginning Adam and Eve of course led the way and rejecting God their creator as their rightful

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King they had embraced the lie of the devil and insisted on becoming their own

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Lords gods unto themselves that was the Temptation that the devil put before them and So rather than ordering their thinking and actions according to God's law that he established for them

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They after Adam and sin every human being Entered this world thinking that they are the

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Lord of their own existence They could determine for themselves what they believe and how they would live

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And this is really the essence of what sin is To not order your life according to the laws of God who is a creator who established his law for all his creatures

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But God purposed and promised to call forth his blessed son to establish a mediatorial kingdom

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In which its believing citizens would be pardoned of their sin reconciled to God through him

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Our initial repentance from sin that is when we became Christians Our initial repentance from sin through faith in Jesus Christ was really our willingness and purpose to turn from our self -ordered existence

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And submit unto Jesus our Lord and Savior We came to see and believe and transfer our allegiance

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To Jesus Christ our Lord as our King having entered his kingdom through our new birth

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Jesus told Nicodemus you have to be born again. Are you not going to see or enter the kingdom of God?

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We entered the kingdom of God when the Lord caused us to be born anew

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Of course and after having become citizens of the kingdom of God in which Jesus Christ is our

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King our ongoing repentance as Christians is our humble acknowledgement and turning from sin that we've committed against our

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Lord and Savior and That of course is our practice throughout life

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Repentance is a fruit of our having been regenerated or born again Repentance Is not the of course basis of our

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Justification before God faith is but repentance itself is a fruit of faith

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We turn from our sin turn on to the Lord Jesus Christ Because we believe it so we believe who he is and we believe who we are and we believe that we need and should

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Bower knee bow our hearts on to him and that's what saving faith is in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and therefore through our initial repentance and faith in Jesus Christ our

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Lord that God had initially pardoned us from our sin and we became compliant and committed citizens of the kingdom of God and It's through our ongoing repentance as Christians Our ongoing repentance from sin that we manifest our profession that he is

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Lord and we are his citizens now in our current series

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That we this is the 20th Lord's Day in which we've addressed this issue of nominal

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Christianity the problem of nominal Christianity We've mentioned the importance of repentance rather frequently and I did a word search and found it.

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I Mentioned had mentioned it numerous times over the last 19 Sundays, but really we we did not deal with the matter of repentance in a thorough way

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Explaining the nature of it define it and explain how it is wrought in the heart and life of God's people and Frankly, I believe that there are many nominal

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Christians in evangelical churches who have false assurance of their salvation Because they have not experienced they have not manifested with the

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Bible sets forth Respecting repentance and how it touches on biblical salvation and I also believe that many true

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Christians are troubled and do struggle with a sound assurance of their salvation for they Misunderstand what the

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Bible teaches about the ongoing life of repentance. It is the experience of every true child of God And so I pray that today's study will clarify these matters somewhat for us

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May the Holy Spirit guide us and help each of us to understand and believe the words of Holy Scripture respecting what the

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Bible calls repentance that leads on to life and So let's first consider the meaning of biblical repentance.

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I Wish we had time we don't but we would show that repentance is not penance as Rome teaches, of course

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Penance is something you do in order to atone for your own sin. The Bible nowhere teaches penance.

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It teaches repentance The Greek word translated into English by the word

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English word repentance is metanoia. No, yes sometimes the the noun form metanoia and It literally means to change one's mind.

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No, I asked is a Greek word for mind meta is to change or to turn And so it describes a great change in the heart and thinking of someone who turns from sin and embraces

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Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior repentance is Turning of one's understanding and conviction from one way of thinking and living into another way

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So that the entire aim and direction of life is transformed Now sadly, there are those

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Who deny that biblical repentance has anything to do with turning from sin on to a life of faith and obedience?

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to God in Jesus Christ They say that metanoia the Greek word simply means to change one's belief as to who

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Jesus is and oftentimes a

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Crusade evangelism is seen in this they preach about Jesus. They say you need to believe on Jesus for who he is

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He's got a man. He died But there's never a word to the person that you need to turn from your sin because they don't believe that's what repentance is it's just changing your mind who

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Jesus is and It's it's very clear about half of evangelicalism has that wrong view of repentance and It's promoted and proclaimed and written in books

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They say that biblical repentance occurs when the sinner who had no understanding or belief in the deity of Jesus Christ came to understand and believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and so they say repentance is

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Outside of you not anything you do only what you believe

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They deny that repentance involves turning from sin but say it's only changing your opinion regarding the person of Jesus Christ This is the position of classical dispensationalists not progressive dispensationalists who this is one of the things they corrected thankfully and again about half of all evangelicals in America believe this errant understanding of biblical repentance in Many efforts to proclaim the gospel in our world today.

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This aberrant view of repentance is proclaim Sinners are urged to believe on Jesus But nothing is declared to them that they must turn from their sin and submit to Jesus the

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Lord. That is a false gospel folks That is a faulty view of biblical salvation.

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The Bible teaches no such thing That's what nominal Christianity is

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This kind of thing is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace He's the one that coined that term before World War two

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And it's a common teaching in our land even in our world cheap grace offers forgiveness of sins without repentance from sin

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William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army in the 19th century who was quite

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Christian when he said the greatest danger to Christianity in the next century is promising forgiveness where there is no repentance and I think is one of the major reasons and causes of nominal

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Christianity Charles Spurgeon once addressed this errant view of repentance that it even existed in the 19th century

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He wrote these words together with Undivided faith in Jesus Christ there must also be unfaith

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Repentance from sin of sin Repentance is an old -fashioned word not much used by modern revivalists

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He's hitting Charles Finney back in the 19th century Who popularized it? Oh said a minister to me one day.

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It only means a change of mind See taking that the Greek word. This was thought to be a profound observation only a change of mind, but what a change a

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Change of mind with regard to everything Instead of saying it is only a change of mind

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It seems to me more truthful to say it's a great and deep change even a change of the mind itself

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But whatever the literal Greek word may mean repentance is no trifle You will not find a better definition of it than the one given in the children's hymn

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Repentance is to leave the sins we loved before and show that we in earnest grieve by doing so no more

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True conversion Spurgeon wrote is in all man attended by a sense of sin

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Which we have spoken of under the head of conviction by a sorrow of sin or holy grief at having committed it by a hatred of sin which proves that its dominion has ended and By a practical turning from sin, which shows that the life within the soul is operating upon the life without True belief and true repentance are twins

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It would be idle to attempt to say which is born first all the spokes of a wheel move at once when the wheel moves and so all the graces commence action when

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Regeneration is wrought by the Holy Ghost. That's the new new birth Repentance. However, there must be no sinner looks to the

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Savior with a dry eye or a hard heart Aim therefore at heart breaking is giving instruction on soul winner to soul winners aim therefore at heart breaking and bringing home condemnation to the conscience and weaning the mind from sin and be not content till the whole mind is deeply and Vividly changed in reference to sin

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That's a whole lot different than the message which is often proclaimed which is rightly characterized as easy believism

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Produces nominal Christians Repentance is a work born of faith.

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It must be present if true saving faith is present More specifically what is biblical repentance look like well

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First let's describe what biblical repentance is not First repentance is not simply acknowledging.

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You're a sinner Pharaoh did that much We read in Exodus then

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Pharaoh said for Moses and Aaron said to them I've sinned this time the Lord is the righteous one and I and my people are the wicked ones a

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Lot of people think that you know, that's that's sufficient for a person coming to Salvation.

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No This is the kind of repentance generated by a hard heart Pharaoh had a hard heart

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Second repentance is not simply acknowledging. You're a sinner and are fearful because of judgment

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Demons do that much they tremble They declared before Jesus what do

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I have to do with you Jesus son of the Most High God I beg you do not torment me This Is the kind of repentance that can be generated by an evil heart demons

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Third repentance is not merely Acknowledging you're a sinner and being sorry for it.

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Judas Iscariot did that much? This is the kind of repentance that can be generated from a regretful heart repentance involves more

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What then is true repentance Well biblical repentance is acknowledging sin and turning from it and Further repentance is present when you try and undo what you've done when you've done harm to others

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That is you make restitution if it's appropriate and possible like Zacchaeus It was faith in Jesus who embraced him.

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Come on down Zacchaeus today I must spend time with you in your house. And then the people began to murmur

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Zacchaeus was concerned about the glory of Jesus and so he pronounced what he was going to do

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He didn't want to discredit Jesus who was being so loving and kind to him. Behold Lord half of my possessions

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I will give to the poor and if I've defrauded anybody of anything, this is a public announcement

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The crowds were there. I'll give back four times as much and Jesus responded to him today salvation has come to his house

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He repented but it was his faith in Jesus That led him to do so Biblical repentance involves these elements first true repentance involves a full turning to God We forsake former attitudes about God we begin to submit to his rule

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Striving to live before him in righteousness. We cease our rebellion We capitulate we surrender

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We cast down the weapons of our former warfare against him and we sue for peace and Secondly, we adopt new attitudes and ways toward God.

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We worship him. We look to him for guidance we love him and we seek to honor him and Third true repentance involves a full believing on the

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Lord Jesus Christ True repentance involves a commitment of one's life to follow him and to obey all his commandments

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There is a commitment to learn of him and his ways are set forth in the Bible in other words

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There's an acknowledgement and there's a surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all of life

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Now Next week pastor Jason will preach and I think probably two weeks from today

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I'm I've got to address the problem of sin the Christian Because we you know, we all struggle with that in some ways and I feel

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I need to address it more directly and clearly We'll do that The false teachers and referred to in Jude's epistle denied the

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Lordship of Christ even while they promised salvation They turned the grace of God into licentiousness or lasciviousness a license to sin

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Doesn't matter how you live as long or as long as you believe the right things is what they're told

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After all, you're not saved by words. You're saved by grace through faith alone That is that sounds might sound good to the ear, but it's a subtle error it matters how we live

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The scriptures make it clear There's no salvation for those who do not repent or turn from their sins repentance from sin is absolutely essential to a sound hope of eternal life again

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Spurgeon wrote as Long as God lives there can be no promise of mercy to those who continue in their evil ways and refuse to acknowledge their wrongdoing

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Surely no rebel can expect the king to pardon his treason while he remains in open revolt

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Repentance and forgiveness are joined together in the experience of all believers There never was a person who unfaithfully repented in other words, you know truly repented

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Of sin with believing repentance that was not forgiven on the other hand There never was a person forgiven who had not repented of his sin

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I do not hesitate to say that beneath heaven there never was there is not and there never will be

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Any case of sin being washed away unless at the same time the heart was led to repentance and faith in Christ Repentance is a work of God's grace and It's evident in every true child of God Of course, we have to affirm that our repentance in no way contributes to our justification before God our faith in Christ alone

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Brings us into a state of justification but the same faith that saving the believes on Christ sincerely turns from sin to Christ and so true faith and good works will

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Always be found together Thomas Watson my favorite

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Puritan writer wrote a very good book entitled the doctrine of repentance and it's reprinted by Banner truth

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And he described the nature of repentance. He wrote I shall show what gospel repentance is

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Repentance is a grace of God's spirit in other words he does it in the soul whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed and For a further amplification know that repentance is a spiritual medicine made up of six ingredients

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One site of sin to sorrow for sin three confession of sin for shame for sin five hatred for sin six turning from sin

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That was over for just the introductory words in a chapter and then the rest of the chapter he was expand he expanded on each of these

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He says if any one of these six is left out it loses its virtue and Then there was a

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Scottish pastor John colloquial or colloquium Wrote a book entitled

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Evangelical repentance. Sometimes it's just entitled repentance and he wrote these words the repentance then which is in the

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New Testament required of sinners is such an entire change of mind or views and sentiments respecting sin and salvation as discovers itself by a genuine sorrow for sin a firm resolution to hate and forsake it and a sincere endeavor

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So to return to God in Christ as to walk with him in newness of life The sincerity of which is to be evidenced in fruits meat or fitting for repentance

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Now after having Showed forth what repentance is according to the

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Bible. I think it's very important for us to understand the distinction Between the repentance of a guilty sinner turning to Christ in initial saving faith

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From the repentance of the true Christian exercising repentance from sin throughout his Christian life.

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There's a difference and I don't see this emphasize a great deal and So let us consider these two forms of repentance on to conversion after conversion and how they may be distinguished from one another and So first let us consider our initial repentance on to salvation

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There are a number of places in the New Testament in which repentance is set forth as the action of a sinner Who turns from his life of sin on to submission to the

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Messiah the promised King of Israel? This initial act of repentance results in bringing that believing sinner to receive salvation from sin and so the synoptic

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Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke Begin the story of Jesus ministering to his people through the pronouncement and commandment of John the

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Baptist He called upon the Jewish people to repent of their sins because the kingdom of God was about to Manifest itself and so his message was simple and clear

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Repent for the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is at hand and those two expressions kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God Are synonymous they say the same thing and so the words of Matthew in those days the

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John the Baptist came preaching to the wilderness to Judea Judea said repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and Then he said this kingdom, of course is what was prophesied in Isaiah The long -promised kingdom of the

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Messiah was about to be realized Then it described John how he is dressed now.

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He's baptizing and Some of the Pharisees said you see came from Jerusalem and they want to be baptized too and John refused

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I'm not going to baptize you you brood of vipers Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

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Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance See repentance has to bear fruit.

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It's seen in a person's life Do not think to say to yourselves.

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We have Abraham as our father Notice here having Abraham as their father did not qualify them for baptism

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Doesn't matter who your daddy is. It matters what you do. Do you believe have you turned from your sin?

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Where I say God is able to raise up children Abraham of these stones even now the axis laid to the root of the trees

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Therefore every tree that means every individual who does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire

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I indeed baptize you with water on to repentance He who is coming after me is mightier than I whose sandals

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I'm not worthy to carry He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire and his winnowing hand and his innocent hand

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He's gonna be separating the people of Israel into his disciples and all others So John only baptized those who believed his message that the promised kingdom of God was about to be inaugurated and that anyone and Everyone who desired to enter that kingdom must acknowledge and turn from their sins repent

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Of course, it was faith in what he was saying that moved them to do so Now after King Herod Arrested John the public ministry of Jesus of Nazareth formally began up north in Galilee But we read in Matthew 4 that Jesus began to proclaim the same message that John the

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Baptist had proclaimed before him And so in Matthew 4 we read about when

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Jesus heard that John had been kept put into prison he departed to Galilee and Then again a prophecy from the

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Old Testament is shown to be fulfilled in this Jesus the great light of God being shown in Galilee and Then we read in verse 17 of Matthew 4 from that time

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Jesus began to preach and say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand same message as John and Throughout his earthly ministry.

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Jesus proclaimed the need of repentance from sin in order to enter the kingdom of God Which was to be understood as the realm of salvation for the people of God The people who heard

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Jesus knew his message was a proclamation of the soon arrival of the promised King the Son of David The Messianic Kingdom The people who heard

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Jesus knew that his message was a proclamation of this soon arrival of the kingdom Now they did not immediately recognize

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Jesus as the promised King nor did he announce himself as such He revealed it gradually, of course

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To his disciples until the father revealed it to them completely and fully but the

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Lord Jesus repeatedly commanded people to be convicted of their own sinfulness that they needed to turn from their sin and purpose to live holy lives with view to the promised

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King's arrival and Inauguration and he spoke in this way of repentance throughout his earthly ministry.

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We read it about math in Matthew 9 He didn't come to call the self -righteous but rather sinners on to repentance and Then after his cross and resurrection he commissioned his

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Apostles with the same message Only of course it's now infused with who he is and what he did

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Jesus said to them this is after the resurrection a post -resurrection appearance thus It's written thus

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It was necessary for Christ to suffer to rise from the dead the third day and their repentance and remission of sins

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Should be preached in his name to all nations Gentiles, too, but notice the proclamation of repentance

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And he said by the way, I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit that will enable you to be successful in this and Then in the book of Acts we read the message of repentance continued to be proclaimed wherever the gospel was preached on the day of Pentecost Peter pronounced to the gathered

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Jewish crowds in Jerusalem their responsibility repented their sins Why because Jesus Christ had been enthroned by God the

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Father the Son of David Came forth from the dead Let all the house of Israel know assuredly

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God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ That was a declaration that Jesus was the

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Son of David now enthroned in heaven The kingdom of God had been inaugurated and you

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Jews who crucified him are on the outside. So what were they to do? They were cut to the heart

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Peter said to them repent let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the

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Holy Spirit and Then a short time later Peter again proclaimed to that city repent

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Therefore be converted that your sins may be blotted out notice your sins will not be forgiven or blotted out unless you repent and then afterward

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Peter recounted his ministry among the Gentiles there in the house of you know of Cordelia's and Then he went back to Jerusalem and he was kind of called on the carpet by his fellow

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Apostles for having been in the house of the Gentiles and he recounted what happened The Holy Spirit came upon them as he did upon us in the beginning and so the

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Apostles in Jerusalem concluded well When they heard these things they became silent. They glorified

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God saying then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life Repentance is tied up so all of these passages that we read clearly present the importance and centrality repentance in the

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Proclamation of the gospel in order to bring people to salvation through Jesus Christ Repentance unto salvation involves a sinner.

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Now. This is critically important Repentance unto salvation involves a sinner coming to understand the nature and importance of the kingdom of God Over which

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God's Son Jesus Christ became King when he ascended into heaven after his cross and resurrection from the dead biblical repentance unto salvation involves a sinner turning from having formally lived a life in disregard of God's laws transgressing

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God's laws and Coming to submit to Jesus as Lord as King Fallen man had lived as though he were the king over his own kingdom

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But at his conversion he laments having lived in independence and rebellion to God who is the rightful ruler over creation?

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And so in saving repentance, he turns from his former belief in practice that he was the

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Lord of his own life one who thought he was free to order his life according to his own will and that is what characterizes an unregenerate person a non -christian

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If you think and you order your life as though you are king of your existence

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You need a Savior you need a Lord You need to come into the kingdom of God.

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Jesus Christ is Lord and you're not and when a person becomes a

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Christian they have come to see that and believe that So they submit to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in repentance

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The sinner changes from a rebel toward God into a devout loyal Submissive and compliant citizen of the kingdom of God over which

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Jesus Christ is King. Jesus is Lord The biblical repentance unto salvation is tied to the

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Lordship of Jesus Christ Jesus is the enthroned King to whom all who would be saved from their sin acknowledge confess and submit and this is why the gospel is

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Referred to in the New Testament as the gospel of the kingdom of God It's not a different gospel than the gospel of grace as so many teach

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Repentance, of course, it's the fruit. It's a work of God's grace That has wrought in the new birth and regeneration that the

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Holy Spirit works in the soul of the sinner That God has purpose to say it is also a manifestation of justified faith in Jesus Many Christians trouble themselves about the grace of God and justification

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Because they think that until they repent God will not forgive them of their sins and that is a wrong way to think

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In other words, they believe there must be a change in their life before they can savingly believe on Christ No, you got it backwards

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We were to first believe on Christ as sinners and Embrace embrace the gospel the promise of the gospel that God forgives us of our sin and reckons

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Christ Righteousness to us as believing sinners God's promises that he justifies the ungodly

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He doesn't promise to justify repentant sinners He promises to justify believing sinners and then they repent

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Repentance is a manifestation of faith But many people wrongly think

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I have to repent before God will accept me or receive me No, no, no come to Christ as a sinner

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Not as a repentant sinner Believe on Christ. He justifies the ungodly through his life and his death

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And then when you can bask in the forgiveness of sins respond in love turn from sin.

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He's the Lord And I think there are many troubled souls That have reversed this

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God has promised to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies who the repentant know the ungodly

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His faith is counted for righteousness repentance then flows forth from that believer as a further evidence of the grace of regeneration or the new birth that brought him to faith and therefore both saving faith and repentance from sin are the fruit of regeneration that God had sovereignly wrought in the soul of The one that God purposed to save from his sin and translate him into the kingdom of God We referenced earlier

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John Colquhoun Whom we quoted earlier and his last chapter of his book

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I thought was very a Very good chapter and the and the title of it the priority of justification to the first Exercise of true repentance notice how he put justification before now they happen at the same time but technically it's justification and then our response is is repentance and so repentance coming to salvation is turning from a self -directed sinful life and defiance of God and Acknowledging Jesus Christ as King and He's Lord and I'm believing on him and I'm entering into a life where I purpose as he enables me to order my life with him directing me as my

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Lord and my Savior and That's what that's what repentance is.

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That's what faith is. He's the Lord But we have to address this before we close

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To consider the blessings that are ours through our repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ our

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Lord After we initially repented and believed on the Lord We now continue to repent throughout life

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But really it's manifested in a different way and it's critically important to understand and embrace

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What happened to us or rather what happened on our behalf when we first repented of our sin and believed on Jesus?

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Christ as our Lord and Savior, of course It's through our faith alone and Christ that God justified us by his grace.

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And what is justification the Westminster Shorter Catechism addressed it this way Question 33.

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What is justification answer justification is an act of God's free grace God does it wherein he pardoned us all our sins and he accepts us as righteous in his sight

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Only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone

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And that's what happens when a person turns to Jesus Christ the Lord in faith

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God declared that he had reconciled us unto himself He counted or reckoned our sins who have been born by Christ on his cross who paid our debt to God's justice

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And so upon our faith God began to regard us as righteous as his own dear son

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If you're a Christian you were as righteous as Jesus Christ himself It was granted freely to you as a gift his righteousness and so in our justification we came into a state of peace with God and that our former hostility to him and his former hostility to us had come to an end and so we were brought to a place where we could

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Anticipate the promise of God of glorifying us one day with him Romans 5 1 & 2 declares this therefore having been justified by faith.

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That's what happened when we turned from our own selves as being our own Lords and we believed on Jesus as The Lord over the kingdom of heaven kingdom of God.

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We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ It's not saying here. You feel at peace.

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It's a you have peace. It's a state of peace that God declared Through our

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Lord Jesus Christ who whom also we have access by faith into this grace This is how we got came into the state of justification and it's it's this state in which we stand

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It cannot be changed and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. In other words one day.

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We will be glorified When we stand before him upon our resurrection and so our justification before God Which occurred once for all time will never be rescinded by God nor can it ever be forfeited by us once justified eternally justified

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It cannot be undone because it was what God declared you were justified

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When you turn from I'm no longer the Lord Jesus is Lord I believe on you

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King Jesus and I humble myself to you and I purpose as you help me

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God because I can't do it without you I Purpose to order my life according to your will as you've taught in your word all your word

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You're justified God justified you and you cannot become unjustified

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Thankfully now that's security a sense of your justification will ought to settle the matter of assurance in the soul

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But Not only did God justify us upon our faith in Jesus the Lord, but he adopted us into his family the family of God God became our father and we became his sons and daughters as Co -equal heirs of the glory that he promised his son

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Jesus would inherit all things and we will share in that inheritance as joint heirs with Christ you think about that We Can't fathom it we cannot fathom the glory that will be manifest one day of our adoption as his children and In addition when

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God justifies through faith in Christ God change in the way which we related to the law I have to Affirm this because this is one of the main reasons why people are troubled about assurance.

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So I have to hit it on this When God justified us through faith in Christ God changed in the way in which we related to his law

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The believers relationship to God's law underwent a monumental change Through the death of Jesus Christ and our union with him at his death

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We were delivered from the capability of God's law to condemn us The law can still instruct us and guide us the law can no longer condemn you

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There is no sin that can condemn your soul if you're in Christ Before we were in Christ the law condemned us

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We had been under God's law and its sentence of eternal death was upon us but when Christ was condemned on his cross and thereby satisfied the demands of God's Justice in his law.

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We were enabled to come into union with Jesus Christ. And so after Through faith in Christ, we were delivered from the ability of the law of God to condemn us

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The law of God cannot condemn you in Christ Paul reasoned it this way in Romans 7

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Do you not know brethren for I speak to those who know the law that the law is dominion over a man as long as he lives

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What kind of dominion does the law have over a dead person none? And they uses the analogy of a widow for the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long

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As he lives, but if the husband dies, she's released from the law that husband So then if while her husband lives, she marries another man, she'll be called an adulteress

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But if her husband dies, she is free from that law Now he's not dealing with exceptions for adultery here whatnot that's dealt with by the

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Lord in other places He's talking about the general principle One man one woman for life and nothing separates or divides.

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It's until death, you know Part us it is an ongoing relationship that God acknowledges

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But if her husband dies and she's free to marry another she'd know adulteress Although she marries another man and then verse 4 is the application

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Therefore my brethren you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another

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That is married to Christ who was raised from the dead that we should bear fruit to God For when we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to Death but now having been delivered from the law having died to what we were held by by held by so that we should serve in newness of the

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Spirit not in the oldness of the letter and So for the one who had initially repented of sin who believes on the

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Lord Jesus Christ the law of God can no longer In fact, it can never again bring him into condemnation

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There is no sin that condemn your soul if you're in Christ Because sin by definition is a transgression of God's law

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You're married to Christ now Through your union with Christ and his death you died with regard to your former relationship to the law

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Before faith the law of God condemned your soul but because of the death of Jesus Christ satisfied the full demands of the law of God and That he bore the punishment of God's law upon you when he died upon the cross

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You're now fully and wholly free from the authority of God's law to condemn you not from the authority of God's law to instruct you but from the authority of the law of God to condemn you and That's why

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Paul could later wrote right in Romans 8. What should we say to these things if God is for us who could be against us?

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He who did not spare his son, but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

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Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? And It's a rhetorical question meaning no one why because it's

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God who justifies Who is he who condemns it's Christ who died? and So he says we're more than conquerors who anything and everything nothing is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ That's security, isn't it?

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It ought to be a basis of sound assurance And Paul wrote in Romans 8 1 and 2

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There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus For the law the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death the law can no longer

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Condemn you for your sin and bring about its sentence of death because Christ bore that penalty when he died on the cross and So if you're in Christ, then sin cannot condemn you.

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Oh Yeah, it can make your life miserable and it should but it could grieve you it can grieve

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God But it cannot condemn you for you had initially repented of your sin when you abandoned the rejected being

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Lord of your own life You submitted and committed in faith to order your life with Jesus Christ as your

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Lord as your Savior And so your sin may incur God's displeasure and his chastening action may be upon you which is designed to lead you to Christian repentance, but your sin could never again incur

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God's curse and condemnation No sin can condemn your soul to hell for you are justified in Christ Thankfully But again

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Paul goes on further than that not only did Christ death Deliver us from the punishment of the law, but through God's through the death of Jesus Christ and Our living with him he brought us into a place where the

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Holy Spirit could enable us to even keep the righteousness of the law It was impossible before we became

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Christians because the carnal mind is at enmity with God He cannot submit himself to the law of God's impossible.

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I don't want to do God's law because that will cramp my you know Life of pleasure and what

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I want to do But when we become Christians He put it within our heart

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The law was written on our hearts We if we could the true Christian even though sin is pleasurable even though it's attractive if we really could if you all this

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Well, he asked us if we honestly answered if I could I would never sin again I would do everything think everything that pleases

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God That doesn't come forth from a fallen heart That's a product of regeneration the new birth

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And so before our initial repentance and faith Jesus in Jesus Christ We're both unwilling and incapable of submitting to God our

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Creator and the King over his creation the carnal mind That is the mind of the non -christian is enmity against God It's not subject to the law nor indeed can be but the law of God the law of God was objectionable to us

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We rejected it we viewed it as stifling and enslaving His precepts were not only unappealing to us but distasteful to us

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But that all changed when we were regenerated by the Holy Spirit He put new desires holy desires within us and the

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Lord promised he would give us the Holy Spirit To enable us to obey him

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And and so he's he's he empowers Them and they're thinking and they're living in order to live an increasing conformity to the law of God, which is a lifelike Christ we become

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Christ's light Gradually over life. The Lord's going to see to it and So what about repentance in the life of the true

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Christian and I trust that you'll take time to read through this Again, the

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Christian initially repented of his sin when he first trusted submitted to Christ but because We had at one time repented when we initially came to Christ.

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Does that mean the matter of repentance is complete? No Repentance is is a grace that we're always repenting the first thesis of Martin Luther's 95

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That stimulated the Protestant Reformation was this word when our

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Lord and Master Jesus Christ said repent He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance

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Number one in the 95 theses and So as the Christian continues to commit sins for there's not a just man on earth who does not

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Do who does good and does not sin or when strains or defections occur?

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They will the Holy Spirit brings to mind these things and we repent repent of fresh

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Repentance is the way of life for the Christian Yes, we must repent but but we do repent and If we refuse and resist then the

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Lord will do whatever he has to do to bring us to repentance He chastens us, but it says a father chastening a son not as a judge condemning the convict

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And that's why as a Christian you have to think in those terms God's your father now

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He is not the father of the non -christian he is the creator he is the judge

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He is the ruler but he's not the father of anyone except the one who embraces

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Jesus Christ in faith we become adopted children of God through faith in his son

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Jesus Christ and Then the favor of God as father tender -hearted who desires

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What is absolutely best for us He'll deal with us and he'll not allow anything to prevent him from that purpose and that course and So the repentance of the

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Christian must be distinguished from the initial repentance coming to Christ We don't repent because if I don't repent

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I'm going to be damned. I Can't be damned. What what am I doing delighting and going off into this stuff?

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That I know is displeasing to my father and dishonoring to my Lord Help me

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Lord Jesus put it within my heart to hate this thing and give me the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to Resist temptation or escape out of it

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And so we trust the Lord Jesus to do in us and for us that which we cannot do ourselves

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He put the desire within us But there's no ability in us to do the things of God that has to come from Jesus Christ daily through the

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Holy Spirit Without me you can do nothing and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned as a

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Christian young Christian is that although I have the love and desire for Christ I don't have an ounce of power to do anything about it

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Everything I touch You know is faulty and fails only he can enable his people to live a godly life.

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That's why we need a king because you and I are helpless and we need a king to deliver us and empower us and Direct us in the course of God's will amen

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May the Lord help us in these things. Thank you our father for your word. We thank you for this biblical

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Notion of repentance we lament our God that it's not popularly proclaimed and and Commonly understood among your people.

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We pray that you would help us to see and understand these things rightly We do pray our

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God that you would empower us by the Holy Spirit That you've promised it in Christ that we can go forth from this place

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Resolved our God to turn from sin and live unto you for we pray our father in Jesus name.