God's Grace of Repentance Pt.2

, good morning, Cornerstone family. thank you to Justin and the team for leading us in worship. it's my privilege to bring the, the word of God to the people of God this morning. And, As we get into the word, let's go ahead and, and bow in prayer, that the Spirit of God would speak to all of us through his preached word.

Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you so much for just the blessing of being together again, to hear your word preached, and we ask, Lord, that as we interact with your word, that your spirit, would, would fill each of us, and Lord, that you would help me to use, the gifts that you've given me to, to speak, with conviction and comfort as the oracles of God. And Lord, that we would all be instructed and encouraged and that we would find ourselves believing more this morning and looking to Christ and that we would find ourselves repenting in an ongoing basis and receiving that grace of repentance through your Holy Spirit.

we pray this in Christ's name.

All God's people said, Amen. When I was in college at Cal State San Bernardino, one of the emphasis that I had as an English major was early American literature. And one of my favorite characters and authors in American history was Benjamin Franklin. one of the works that we were exposed to was his autobiography.

And in his autobiography, he set out at one point in his life to achieve moral perfection. And the way he went about this is he basically had 12 different virtues that he tried to perfect himself in, and he would give a week to one virtue, and when he had felt like he'd perfected himself in that virtue, he'd move on to a second one and a 3rd 1. but he says in his autobiography, quote, as I knew or thought I knew what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.

But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined.

While my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another. Habit took the advantage of inattention, and inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. This is a man who in the age of reason, in the Enlightenment, admitted that while he was trying to perfect himself in various virtues, he failed at that task and found that his reason was not able to overcome his inclination. And I think all of us can empathize with Benjamin Franklin.

If you've tried to change any particular habit, you realize that habits are not easy to change. And that's really what we're talking about when we talk about the doctrine of repentance. We're talking about How is it that really anybody changes? What does the Bible have to say about the concept of change?

How does any one of us change our nature? Now, last time we surveyed the doctrine of repentance from a Google, Google Maps satellite perspective, and today we're going to drill down to more of a street view. last time we, we spent a good deal of time talking about, the meaning and the mistakes and marks and means of repentance. And so I wanna take a little time to just review and then we're gonna drill down to the street view and, and look at one particular aspect of the doctrine of repentance.

Remember, we talked about this in December of 2018, that repentance and At, at the base level means change. It's a movement from one place to another. one of the definitions that we gave is from Thomas Watson in his wonderful book, The Doctrine of Repentance. He says repentance is a grace of God's spirit, whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed, and we broke that apart that, that repentance is, is a grace.

It comes from the Spirit of God and it comes to sinners. It works inwardly to humble us, but it always reveals itself, externally, in a visible reformation. it's a turning of the heart, the will, and, the mind. We'll come back to that a little bit again today.

secondly, we said, we asked the question, what falls short or ruins or runs afoul of gospel repentance? Let me say it again, what falls short or runs afoul of gospel repentance or what are the mistakes that we can make about repentance? Augustine has been quoted as saying repentance damns many. And what he means by that is false repentance or repentance that's not connected and has a union with Christ, Christ and the cross.

we surveyed this concept that there are people in the Bible like Felix who had fear but didn't love and submit to Christ. Ahab mourned over his sin, but it was a true repentance. We have those who have shed tears, those who made confessions like Saul. Those who even gave him works of restitution like Judas, and those that were scared by terrors and so on.

And the difference between these repentances and true repentances is really their union. we suggested that. repentance that is not, does not have a union with Christ by faith, will not produce the legitimate, fruit of repentance, but will actually produce illegitimate fruits. And so our union with Christ by faith is really what makes the difference.

Thirdly, we asked the question, what does gospel repentance look like? That is, what are the marks of repentance? And we spent quite a bit of time again delving back into the definition. the, the marks of repentance are really the grace of the spirit that brings humility and outward reformation.

next time, the next time we hit this topic, we're gonna be talking about 6 different ingredients of the spiritual medicine of repentance, as Thomas Watson calls it. We'll be talking about the ingredients of a sight of sin, sorrow for sin, confession of sin, shame for sin, hatred for sin, and turning from sin. We'll bleed over that. into that a little bit today, but that's really for a future message.

And then lastly, the last point of, of last December's message was we asked the question, how do we get and grow in gospel repentance or what is the means of repentance? And, we suggested that repentance is something that we can ask for, that we can seek it, that God is a good father. If, if we ask for a fish, he's not gonna give us a serpent. And, and by the way, God does grant repentance.

It comes primarily through the preached word or as the word is heard, and then as it's engaged with the Holy Spirit. So those were the four main points that we covered in last December's message on repentance. And so, this morning, repentance, part two or God's grace of repentance part two, we really just have two points. And here's the first point that we're going to cover, and that is repentance is rightly required by God.

Repentance. Is rightly required by God. the scriptures tell us repeatedly both in the Old and New Testament that God requires repentance of all mankind. For instance, in Mark chapter 1 verse 15, Jesus, after being tempted of the devil in the wilderness, comes and says the time is fulfilled.

The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. These are commands. These are not suggestions.

these are commands from Jesus Christ himself. He says to repent. He says to believe in the good news of the gospel. And so Jesus comes as the Son of God, the divine, Son of God in the flesh, and commands us to both repent and to believe the good news.

These are two sides of the same coin. We're to have a change of mind and about our sin, about ourselves and about God, and to place our faith in Christ, in, in, in the gospel. And so it's a command in Mark 1:15. Also we see places like Acts 3:19 as the apostles go out and preach, 3:19, quote, repent, therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

This is a command to repent, to have a change of mind. And to be converted with the result that sins would be blotted out and so repentance is something that will result in sins being forgiven. Also, if you consider, remember, Paul on Mars Hill in Acts 17 as he's, preaching to the various Gentiles there, he says in his, in his, dialogue, therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine image is like gold or silver or stone, something, shaped by art and man's devising.

Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked but now commands all men everywhere to repent because He's appointed a day on which He will judge the world and righteousness by the man who he's ordained, and he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead.

And so Paul, when he's preaching the Gentiles in Acts 17, is telling them that God had previously overlooked this ignorance, these, idolatrous ideas of God, but now he's commanding all men. Everywhere to repent, to have a change of mind, a reorientation of worldview, a reorientation of the heart and the will. This is a command. We can also consider the Old Testament.

Yeah, the book of Hosea, last time we referred to Hosea as a wonderful primer on the doctrine of repentance. Hosaiah chapter 14 verse 1. The prophet says, O Israel, return. This is our Old Testament word for repent.

Return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. This isn't a command. Return to the Lord. Ezekiel gives a similar type of command.

Ezekiel 18:29-30. He says, yet the house of Israel says the way of the Lord is not fair. Oh house of Israel, is it not my ways which are fair and your ways which are not fair? Therefore, I will judge, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord, repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that the iniquity will not be your ruin.

So repent and turn from all your transgressions that iniquity will not be your ruin, the Lord says to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel. This leads Thomas Watson to say that repentance is a grace required under the gospel. So repentance is not contrary to the gospel, repentance is the other side of the coin of faith, and it is a requirement of the gospel. We see that it's commanded in the Old Testament.

We see it as part of Christ's initial preaching ministry, the apostles, the apostle Paul, and we see it in the prophets. So a change of mind, a reorientation of worldview. It is commanded. It's required.

It's demanded of Almighty God, of all of His creatures. All men everywhere are called to change their minds about sin, self, and God. But this now begs a problem. And the problem is.

That man refuses to repent. God commands repentance, but we see throughout the scriptures and in human history that human beings refuse to repent. And we see this throughout the scriptures for a number of different reasons. In Jeremiah 17:9, for instance, it says the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked.

Who can know it? The human heart is sick above all things. It's desperately wicked and we don't even know ourselves. It's a strange thing to think of two people who may be roommates and live together with one another and yet they don't know each other at all, and yet our bodies and our souls live together throughout a lifetime, and then we get in deep into our lives and yet our body does not know our soul.

They're strangers to one another. We have a veil that has come over our eyes that we don't even know ourselves. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Why?

Their foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Without the presence of the Spirit, they cannot be understood or discerned. We also see in First Corinthians. I'm sorry, in Romans one, Paul says, and even as, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting.

Human beings by nature, Paul says, do not want to retain a knowledge of God. They don't want their minds changed by God. They don't want their minds influenced by a biblical worldview. And so God responds and turns them over to what they want, to a debased mind.

And one of the ways that God turns them over is He gives them over to the ruler of this world, as it were. We see in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul says that even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe lest the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God should shine on them. And so God turns people over to a debased mind, and part of that turning over is the, is for them to be turned over to the realm of Satan, who is in the business of blinding people so that they cannot see the gospel, they cannot see the truth.

We see this, reiterated. Over in Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul is is reflecting back upon the the Ephesian Christians before they were born again, before they had been made alive. And he says, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, and we're by nature children of wrath.

In the previous verse, in verse two, it says, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. So you see the, the realm of the devil is overlapping with our own desires in the flesh and of our minds. And so God has turned us over so that we cannot do the things that perhaps we would wish to do, just like Benjamin Franklin trying to make changes in his life and he realizes that his constitution is against reason.

Turn over to Hosea chapter 11 again, this primer of repentance. Hosea chapter 11, we see an amazing discussion of Israel or here, they're called Ephraim. and their refusal to repent. Hosea 11:3 says this and following, I taught Ephraim to walk, the Lord says, taking them by the arms.

I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love. I was to them as those who take the yoke from the neck. I stooped and fed them, but they refused to repent. And the sword shall slash in their cities, devour his districts, and consume them because of their own councils.

My people are bent on backsliding from me, though they call to the Most High. None at all exalt Him. They are bent on backsliding. They refuse to repent.

The Lord says about Ephraim, about Israel. All of this reminds me of what Thomas Watson says in his book on the doctrine of repentance. He says, under a veil, a deformed face is hid. Persons are veiled over with ignorance and self-love.

Therefore, they see not what deformed souls they have. The devil does with them as the falconer with the hawk. He blinds them and carries them hooded to hell. Men have insight enough into worldly matters, but the eye of their mind is smitten.

What an amazing Image, what a horrific image that by nature we are like hawks on the arm of the falconer Satan with our heads hooded, being carried on our way to hell, and yet we think everything is fine in our ignorance and self-love, not seeing the deformity of our own souls because we are veiled. So that begs the question, God, he commands, righteously, rightfully commands repentance. And yet the problem is, is that we refuse to repent by nature. So what is the solution that brings us really to our second main point.

The solution is that repentance is graciously granted by God. Repentance is graciously granted by God. Think about this. You and I were commanded to repent, rightfully so.

And yet we have refused to repent in our lifetimes. And so God comes and does something for us that we could have never done for ourselves and that he, and that is he graciously grants repentance. Where do we see this in the scriptures? we're gonna look at a few different passages and then settle down on, on one of them, but consider Acts 11:18.

When Peter is explaining to the Jews how that God had done a work, in, in the hearts of Gentiles for the first time and how that the Holy Spirit had fallen on the Gentiles and had given them salvation, what was the response of these early Jewish Christians in verse 18? It says when they heard these things, they became silent. And they glorified God saying this, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. Notice these young Jewish Christians know something about the doctrine of repentance, that it's something that God grants, and that this is a repentance unto life.

This isn't a hope so repentance. This isn't a repentance that might result in life, eternal life. This is a repentance unto life because it's been granted by God Almighty. Consider also earlier in the book of Acts chapter 5 verse 31 when Peter is given testimony to the rulers or telling them to stop preaching in the name of Christ.

One of the statements he makes in verse 31 is this quote, God exalted Jesus to his right hand as Prince and savior in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. Peter is saying that God has exalted Jesus Christ as Prince and savior in order that he might grant repentance and forgiveness to Israel. Think about that. This is the same group of people that Hosea says they refuse to repent and they are bent on backsliding.

That's the bad news. Peter comes along and says, being filled with the Holy Spirit, that Jesus has come as prince and savior, and is now granting repentance to the same people group that are bent on backsliding. But I want you to especially consider, in fact, turn here to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2.

Where Paul is speaking to. the pastor Timothy of a, a young church in Ephesus. And, Timothy is, is dealing with his own issues in this church where there are those that are teaching false doctrine and trying to draw, Timothy into debates and things that would not be profitable. And perhaps Timothy is dealing with his own temptations as a young pastor to, to engage in, in debate, and to perhaps, even get angry and impatient, with those that are, are teaching false doctrine.

But notice what Paul says to this, to this pastor, chapter 2 of 2 Timothy verse 24. And a servant or a bond servant of the Lord speaking to Timothy. Must not quarrel, but be gentle to all. Able to teach patient.

In humility correcting those who are in opposition. Now notice this, if God perhaps will grant them repentance. So that they may know the truth and come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil having been taken captive by him to do his will. That's a mouthful, but let's break it down what Paul is telling Timothy.

He says Timothy, you're not the master, you're a bond servant. The Lord is the master here and so you can come and, and, and be gentle. You don't have to quarrel. You're not gonna lead anybody into the kingdom by getting angry and, and getting involved in, in quarrels that really don't matter and move away from, from Christ and the gospel.

So you don't, you can be gentle to all, you do need to be able to teach and rightly divide the word of truth as he had said previously, but you can be patient and you can humbly correct those who are going head to head with you. Why, why is it that he can be patient and humble and with those that are going head to head with him as a pastor? Because really, as a bond servant, a pastor, a minister, he's waiting to see if God will perhaps grant them a change of mind, grant them repentance in his timing.

And so it doesn't all rest on the shoulders of Timothy.

Yes, he needs to teach, yes, he needs to rightly divide the word of truth, but he can do so in humility and patience because he's just the bond servant. And he can wait to see if God is going to grant repentance to those that are standing in opposition to Him. Now, as Paul flushes out what he means here, we get a really good definition of what Paul means by repentance. If God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth.

So repentance involves knowledge. It's a change of mind, right? So that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses, that's another knowledge type term. Literally, this, the idea of this is that they would come out of their drunken stupor.

The idea of this is, is people who have been inebriated with false doctrine, and, and they're coming out. God's allowing them to sober up. So they, so they come to a knowledge of the truth. By the way, that word knowledge there means knowledge by firsthand experience.

Timothy can't force into them his own knowledge of Christ. He can't make these false teachers taste the honey that he, that he tastes with his own tongue. He can teach them and needs to wait for the Spirit to bring a firsthand experiential knowledge of God Himself through the Spirit. And so God is the one who's in the business of granting repentance so that they may know the truth, come out of their drunken stupor, and escape the snare of the devil.

Having been taken captive by him to do his will. So here's what we know about these false teachers, but not just these false teachers. This is, this is where we all were, and this is really where everybody is before they're granted repentance in the conversion sense is they have been taken captive by the devil to do his will. Just imagine that that throughout the earth, we have people.

All around us that are hooded. Like hawks on the arm of a falconer, they think that they're doing their own will, but really they've been taken captive by the devil to do his will. And as we go out to teach and to and to and to share the gospel with people, we can do so in humility and patience because we're just bond servants and we're awaiting God's movement we're awaiting the spirit to bring people out of their drunken stupor and to, to rescue them from themselves and from the devil.

I want you to, to look back with me at, Hosea 11.

Hosea 11. That same passage we were looking at a little bit earlier about Ephraim and Israel refusing to repent and being bent on backsliding, what is the solution that the spirit says to the prophet Hosea? Check this out. Verse 8.

Of chapter 11. How can I give you up, Ephraim? This is the Lord speaking to Ephraim. How can I give you up?

How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like Adma? And how can I set you like Zobohi? These are cities that were in the vicinity of Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah.

My heart churns within me. This is the Lord speaking. My heart churns within me. My sympathy is stirred.

I will not execute fierceness of my anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man. The Holy One in your midst, and I will not come with terror.

Now listen to this. They shall walk after the Lord. Ephraim shall walk after the Lord. He will roar like a lion.

When he roars, then his sons shall come trembling from the west, and they shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria, and I will let them dwell in their houses. The Lord will roar like a lion, and they will come trembling. Why will Israel come back to the Lord? These people who are bent on backsliding, who had refused to repent, they will come back to the Lord because the Lord who has a heart that churns within him and sympathy is stirred, roars and calls them back.

He grants them repentance. Now don't let verse 12 trick you. Verse 12 actually is pretty much like the beginning of another section. it moves in, the prophet Hosea goes back and forth in time.

There's like these time cuts throughout the movie, so to speak, where sometimes you're looking at the back and sometimes you're looking at the future. What we've just read is a future look at Ephraim slash Israel, how that the Lord roars and calls these people back who had previously been bent. On backsliding, God has a churning in his heart for His people. Reminds me of that hymn from Charles Wesley, that beautiful hymn and Can It Be?

Listen to these lyrics that you have sung. I'm sure many times where Wesley says long. My imprisoned spirit lay long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.

I woke. The dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free.

I rose, went forth, and followed thee. Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me. Charles Wesley in this portion of this hymn just so beautifully puts on display this aspect of the doctrine of repentance. That God is the one.

There we were in prison and in in chains without hope. In his eye diffuse a quickening ray, and we awaken out of our stupor. Suddenly there's light in this dungeon. Our chains fall off, and then what do we do now that the chains are off?

We follow. We have a change of mind. We now follow the roaring lion. Who wouldn't, once the chains are off and the hood has been lifted.

It doesn't mitigate against the fact that we still, we, we have this sense of loathing over past sin that we, we see the deformity of our souls, but now the body and soul that previously were not acquainted, are now acquainted with one another, and God by His mercy in his own strings for us brings about in us a recognition. Of the deformity of our souls. And the need And for his children to repent. So these are 2 points.

Very simply that God. Righteously requires repentance. And yet the problem that we have is we refuse to repent by nature. There's nothing in us that wants to repent.

If we were not overcome by the diffusing ray, we would continue to walk towards the cliff like the Catcher in the ride. We would walk over the cliff to our doom. But the Spirit comes and catches us. The Lord grants repentance to us mercifully, mercifully.

We awaken from our drunken stupor. The veil is lifted by Christ. And we now rise up and follow him. Let's make some.

some, some thoughts that we can draw from this doctrine, I'll call this repenting thoughts, repenting thoughts. First of all, God commands repentance and will give it to those who ask. When we think of the fact that God commands repentance, that should be an encouragement to us. That if he commands us to do something, that means if we attempt to obey his command, he will grant it to us.

What he commands you can claim. There may be some of you who might be saying to yourselves. How can I repent? I don't feel like I'm worthy to repent.

I don't feel like I'm able to repent. There may be many objections that are raised in your own mind or by the devil himself. Well, just know this, that if God commands it, you can throw all of those doubts away and do it. If God commands repentance, we can lay hold of that command.

He's not going to command us to do something and then leave us without the ability to do it. If you feel within your heart a desire to repent, you just cry out to Him and say, Help me, as the man who said, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Lord, I repent, help my impenitent heart. And the Lord is in the business of meeting you through Christ with the presence of the Spirit.

A second thought I would bring that arises from this doctrine of repentance is this, it is reasonable and kind for God to demand your repentance. It is reasonable and kind for God to demand your repentance. Think about it. If someone sinned against you, would it be right for you to expect an apology?

If a family member had violated a trust, if a close friend. had sinned against you in a, in a way that was very hurtful. Would it be unreasonable for you to expect an apology? Would it be unreasonable for you to, to wait for some.

some drawing clothes from your friend. No, it's very reasonable. And how much so, how much more so with God that when we have violated Him, the one who gives us the very air that we breathe and keeps our hearts beating and, and has given us the food and the families and the joy that we experience every day, and has given us Jesus Christ. And yet for years and years we trampled the blood of Christ underfoot.

How reasonable is it for God to command our repentance, and yet it's very kind for Him to do so. Romans 2:4 says, Do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? God calls us to repentance because it's a kind thing for Him to call us to repentance. It would be a wicked thing for God to want to leave us in the state of mind that we were in before Christ.

Those of us that were hooded and deformed and, and on the arm of the devil is a falcon on the falconer's arm, for God to stand back and let us remain in that state and not command us to repent, that would be the epitome of evil. But God, because He cares, God, because He is kind and merciful to his creatures, commands us. Just as God pronounced his name to Moses when he passed by Moses. In Exodus 34, how does he proclaim himself?

How does he name himself? He says, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, long suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands of generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Think of all that front load to the name of God that he's in the business of having mercy. Giving forgiveness of all kinds of sins, and it's not till the end of the statement of his own name that he says by no means clearing the guilty.

To those who hate him, by the way. And so our God is very kind and commanding repentance. So thirdly, I want to suggest another thought that rises out of this doctrine of repentance is that God is not far off. And so we can draw near to Him.

Paul told those on the Areopagus that he is not far from any one of us, and James chapter 4 tells us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. And that would be a, a, a passage for us to, to study in the future that we would just be reminded that God is the one who actually, while he resists the proud, he gives grace to the humble. And, and as we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us and grant us repentance and give us the, the mourning and the, and the howling that we need over our sin to, to see sin the way that, he sees it.

The Bible says there in in James 4, therefore, Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee.

There's no doubt about it. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded, lament, mourn.

And weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He'll lift you up. We'll talk more about sorrow and, and, and an upcoming message, but God is also in the business of granting us sorrow and loathing for sin, as we saw in our last message.

1/4 thought that arises out of this doctrine of repentance is you should repent today, not tomorrow. Repent today, not tomorrow. Thomas Watson says in his book on the Doctor repentance, Tomorrow may be your dying day. Let this be our repenting day.

we've had people that I know just this last week who have died of the coronavirus. I have friends who have died in auto accidents within the last year. We really don't know when our day of death is. It's been appointed for men to die once.

After this, the judgment. But the Bible says now is the day of salvation. It's today. There is no virtue in waiting until tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the devil's day. Today is the day of salvation. There may be those of you who are dealing with doubts or questions, about the gospel, about your own faith. I wanna exhort you to put away those doubts and obey this command.

This is not a suggestion. God is not saying let's enter into a dialogue to figure out whether or not you should repent. He is commanding your repentance. He is commanding that you would transfer your mind from your own works, your own dead works onto Christ, that you would repent from, a bad foundation onto a good foundation of Christ.

And so repent today. Not tomorrow. Fifthly, I would just say another thought that arises out of this doctrine is repentance is not so difficult as you may suppose. Repentance is not so difficult as you may suppose.

It is a grace after all. Grace means a gift. It is a free gift that God gives. A look to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.

He answers to the bronze serpent of Numbers 21 lifted up in the wilderness. The only souls that could not be saved were those who would not look. Will you look to the bronze serpent? If you don't know that story, check it out in in Numbers chapter 21, where God provides just a look for their rescue from the asp and the, the poison of the serpent, the serpent's bite.

Merely a look would cause them to be healed. And so the only people that would have died are those that absolutely refused to look. And so all it is is a look to Christ who died on the cross for your sins so that he could grant repentance to all who would call upon Him. It's merely a look at Christ, and God is eager to save and grant repentance and forgiveness of sins if we would merely look to Him.

Sixthly, I wanna say another thought that arises out of the doctrine of repentance is this, repentance is for everyone. Repentance is for everyone, it's not just for breakfast anymore. It's for unbelievers. We've talked about that, but I wanna especially at this juncture emphasize that it's for Christians.

Repentance is for Christians. Jesus tells us when he is teaching his disciples how to pray, part of, the prayer that he teaches his disciples is forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin. Against us and that's a prayer that's meant to be offered often regularly daily, the content of this prayer to, to pray, Lord, forgive us of our sins that's something that we're gonna do every day as we forgive the sins of others. And so the implication is, is that we're gonna need to ask for forgiveness daily.

We're gonna need to have a change of mind daily. And so we need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly daily, just as it says in Hebrews chapter 3, we mentioned this in the message in December, but in, in Hebrews chapter 3. we're told to exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you grow hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Just one day in our hearts, even as Christians can grow hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and therefore we need to get together and exhort one another daily in Christ, in the good news of the gospel.

it's Martin Luther that said in his first of the 95 theses, quote, When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, repent. He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. That's the very first of the 95 theses that Martin Luther wrote down. That repentance is something that is meant to be done by believers throughout their lifetime.

One of the things that Martin Luther has noted as saying that the Christian. Is always sinning. The Christian now is always sinning. Always repenting.

Always forgiven. Those are 3 wonderful truths that we need to consider that as Christians, just because we've become born again doesn't mean that we stop sinning in this life before death and before glory. There is still an indwelling sin problem. There are still things daily that we need to repent of and, and so while we sin daily, we have the opportunity to repent daily, to confess those sins, and to have a change of mind, to turn from sin.

And to recognize that we are forgiven, we'll talk more about the method of that. In our next message. But I, I wanna also just. To lay out this quote from a, a pastor named Burke Parsons, a wonderful article that he wrote on the gift of repentance.

He's speaking in part of this article to Christians and what repentance should look like on my part and your part on a daily basis. He says, quote, When we sin against God and man, again, he's talking to believers, we should be the first one to cast the stone against ourselves. We should find ourselves apologizing to our spouses, friends, and co-workers before they even have a chance to charge us with an offense. In that sense, we should be the greatest critics of ourselves, repenting of our sins, not only to those whom we have offended.

But to all who knew of the offense, that is sound advice to believers. That we should be the ones that are casting stones at ourselves and apologizing first as Milton has has told our congregation many times that we should be the foremost repenters, the first ones who repent. Let me just, Wrap things up here by just reminding us all that the reason that we have the opportunity to repent. It is because Jesus Christ came down to this earth and died on the cross for our sins, not for his sins, but for our sins, and was raised from the dead to demonstrate that we who have believed in Him have indeed been justified.

We don't repent to get justified. We repent because we're justified as Christians. And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ today, let me just tell you that God is a very kind God and that his heart stirs and turns for his children. Yes, children who have refused to repent.

Yes, children who have been bent on backsliding. He is in the business of rousing himself and roaring in the distance to call his children to come back and tremble before him and bow the knee, and he will enable you to do so if you simply look to Christ. Look to Christ on the cross. Look to Christ in the grave.

Look to Christ raised from the dead. Look to Christ seated at the right hand of the Father as he prays for all of his own. Look to Christ, who will call us to Himself, and we will see him one day, face to face. Benjamin Franklin is.

The founding father we mentioned earlier, who had tried to perfect himself. through various agencies trying to go from one virtue to another and finally gave up. He was asked about his religious faith a few weeks before he died. His response, quote, As to Jesus of Nazareth.

I have some doubts as to his divinity, though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it. And think it needless to busy myself with it now. When I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed if the belief has the good consequence of making his doctrines more respected.

And better observed. This is very sad that Benjamin Franklin made such a statement just two weeks before he died, that this man who is really one of the greatest minds our country has ever produced. Had never even studied. The doctrine of the divinity of Christ.

This is a man who tried to reform himself, and yet his repentance did not have a union with Jesus Christ. And so the fruit that was born of that repentance was illegitimate. If we're to have legitimate fruit. Of repentance, it must come through a union with Jesus Christ through faith.

And that is how the fruit of repentance will be truly born in the children of Almighty God through Jesus Christ and the power of His Spirit. Let's go ahead and, and pray. Our Lord, we thank you so much for the opportunity that we've had to look at your word and to consider this grace of repentance, this change of mind that you command rightfully and kindly of, of all people everywhere. And yet, Lord, we feel the problem within our own souls that there is something in us, even those of us that believe that there's something in our hearts that still strikes out against your kindness.

And Lord, we need fresh waves of your grace daily. We pray, Father, that You would continue to enable us to look to Christ, that you would enable us to look up to the bronze serpent, as it were. And Lord, that we would find that cure for our souls on a daily basis. We thank you, Lord, that, that Jesus' death on the cross has a, has, taken away all wrath.

And so as Christians, we're not dealing with the issue of justification. We're not dealing with whether or not we'll enter into final judgment. And yet we, Lord, we want to experience your nearness. We do not want to send you away or grieve your spirit with our own sins.

And so we pray, Father, Lord, that you would grant us an appropriate loathing for sin as we look to Christ. Lord, we pray for those amongst us who, may be in the camp of Benjamin Franklin, who think that they can perfect themselves, that they can moralize, themselves, and yet they are hooded. by the devil and being carried to hell, thinking they are doing their own will, but yet doing the will of those by whom they are bound. We pray, Father, that you would, cause a, a ray to diffuse from your eye into their chamber and that you would loose them of their chains as they see Christ and see their sin more clearly and find themselves calling out to you.

Lord, we pray for our children, many of whom have grown up in this church, who have heard the gospel time and time again, and yet we know that we are completely dependent upon Your Spirit to grant them repentance, and we pray that you would do so. And yet, Lord, we exalt you in your glory. Lord, you are the one who we worship, and we will worship you, Lord, for those that repent and are saved, and we will worship you, Lord, for your judgment and for those whom you damn. Lord, we pray, Father, that we would, just find ourselves being very patient with those who've been taken captive by the devil do his will that we would approach them in humility and love and kindness.

And Lord, realizing that we ourselves were once in the same state. Lord, give us boldness to teach the truth and love and in patience and humility. We pray this in Christ's name, and all God's people said, Amen.