21. Repentance is all about the divine grace of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We speak of human responsibility but it really refers to God's awesome grace alone in progressive sanctification. In progressive sanctification, we care able to cooperate with God and His Spirit because of a new nature in Christ. We have been spiritually awakened and born from above. The grace of God moves us and helps us and dives us and keeps us going. No force in heaven, hell or earth can stop God's gift of repentance unto remission. There are many devils in this world that seek to undo us. I remember when others of non-Christian cults sought to undo me because of man-made traditions rather than the written Word. The battles were long and hard but a simple word of no fellowship would suffice and stand my ground, or a Scriptural quote from the written Word to convict the sinner of sin if the Lord would be gracious! We get the divine command of contrite repentance from God's divine Scriptures. Many non-Christians in world religions think they are good. Others think they do not need the divine command to repent and believe the gospel. The Bible says that no one is good and no one is righteous in and of themselves. The only good we possess is the good that Jesus Christ brings to us through His perfect life and perfect death. Jesus never sinned one single sin in breaking the divine law of God according to the divine Scriptures. However, people are sinners and we will never stop sinning until the awesomeness of divine glory. We cannot stop sinning through the flesh. There are times, however, in a reprobate's life that they can resist sin but only for a short time. I suggest to you it is not the same thing as a Christian who is able to resist sin. We ought to resist sin by His Spirit. It is possible to resist sin by reading His Word and the all-dominating presence of God's Spirit in us and upon us. Many gossip about a Christian who has many faults and sins. Why are you gossiping about a Christian's particular sins and wrong habits? Shouldn't you be praying for him or her to abstain or avoid this sin instead of using your tongue set on fire by hell? No Christian is without sin touching the flesh. However, the Bible clearly teaches that the soul is sinless but the shadows on the soul are the sins of the flesh. The great saint Samuel even sinned but all Christians like Samuel use their spiritual freedom by God's all-powerful and all-effective grace to repent and return to God for divine mercy and forgiveness and cleansing and holy grace! If someone sins, pray that God humbles that person through His Word being preached so that they can grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The written Word preached changes us only by His accompanying divine grace through His Spirit alone to transform our minds in renewed obedience and He conforms us to the very image of Jesus Christ. Constant repentance is necessary for holiness. Are you committed to constant repentance over against sins of different degrees? There is no sin that can outdo the Cross of Jesus Christ. The difference between a unbelieving reprobate and a Christian is adherence to the call of holy repentance through Christ alone. I suggest to you that if you turn to anyone besides Christ you have fallen into a different gospel or another gospel. He alone has the divine and spiritual ability to save you. There is no other intercessor that is divinely sufficient to save than Jesus Christ. I do not mean to suggest that the Word does not speak of the Spirit of God as our Comforter. The Spirit of God is indeed our Comforter but man's tradition or extra-biblical visions seeks to add to even the Spirit of God. The Spirit enables us to repent and through repentance we have God's sheer mercy. Are you conscious of God's divine mercy upon you? No one should add something to God's absolute mercy like good works, meritorious works, purgatory, merits of others, or sacrifices that contradict the divine atonement of Jesus. Mercy is the result of repentant hearts. We repent because God has given us His divine grace. We repent because it is necessary to enter into a holy relationship with God. If you repent, you are in a healthy relationship with God.
22. What is the spiritual solution for America and the world around us? We do not hear people speaking of contrite repentance before God unless its to the wrong God. First of all, we ought to never repent to a false "deity." We ought always to repent to the God of the Bible alone apart from any man-made traditions, viewpoints, corrupt theology and worldly philosophies. The Bible in Jeremiah 18:8 speaks of a nation turning from its evil way and God will relent from His calamity. Has America or the world turned from its evil way? Have abortions stopped? Why now homosexual marriage? What about government corruption? I suggest to you that if people understood the absolute holiness of God and their total sinfulness, they would repent and turn to God in obedient submission through His design. I would like to tell the world or anyone who reads my few "fishes and loaves" to repent and turn away from your sin. Sin could be anything like sexual evil or gossip or hatred or murder or stealing or coveting or plagiarism. If you repent to God, He will surely bless you with spiritual mercy. However, we ought to understand that repentance does not save us, but Jesus Christ in His active and passive obedience. What now is that? His active obedience is His perfect life and His passive obedience is His perfect death. Some people nowadays reject His active obedience. I do not understand why this is the case in light of the divine Word. I would like to point out that sinners want to earn their spiritual salvation on their own but we are unable because of our sinful nature. Jesus earned spiritual salvation through His sinless life in our behalf. We need to apprehend it by simple child-like trust. It is hard to trust God because of our remaining corruption. We are sometimes faithless but God is faithful and He will see us through no matter what. However, we have ignored the Lord and rebelled against Him. We have even excluded Him from our public schools, but when monsters arise and disaster strikes, people want to know where God is. We have thrown Him out of our public schools and banished Him from our minds. By nature, man wants nothing to do with thoughts about God. If public schools do not want Him in their classrooms, it is no doubt a great sin that leads many into mistaken thinking. We have also taken Him out of our judicial system and our legislative system. I ask to the responsible people, why have you done this to our country? We have committed sin and wickedness and lawlessness. There is no excuse but to go to God and ask for His pardon and bear fruits of repentance. If God turns a person over, it is no doubt judgment. Homosexual marriage, abortions, killing the elderly, replacing the Bible with the Quarn, denial of prayer in public and sexual abuse are all evidence of God turning a world over to itself. I suggest to you that this means judgement. We must admit we have fallen into great sin and return to God who made the heavens and the earth! If we reject Him, there will be further consequences. We need God's divine restraining grace but we are a godless people, but may God remember mercy when He decides to judge in His fury, indignation and wrath. America is presently experiencing God's wrath, because we refuse to live the way God says. He says in His written Word that our thoughts are not His thoughts and His ways are not our ways. I submit to you that America needs to change and I am speaking of a reformation of all society! It begins with allegiance to the sole supremacy of His written Word and loyalty to Him in an abandonment to repentance unto obedience. I suggest to you that according to Romans chapter 1, God has given America over to the lusts of her impurities, immoralities and spiritual ruin. She has exchanged the divine truth of God for a lie and served the creature over the Creator. However, there is still hope for us. Do not fear! The hope for America and the world is the same hope Israel possessed in ancient history but we must never surpass the truth in an abandonment to unrighteousness! I am not calling a nation or the world to morality but trust and faith and repentance towards God the Trinity alone. I suggest to you that this is our only hope and confidence! The remedy for restoration is through repentance and faith. How many of you will turn away from your sin and trust the God of the Bible alone? May God grant a remnant of the spiritual seven thousand to bow the knee to Him this day! Amen. (Sermon Reference: Smith/June 24, 2007/"Repentance Is the Remedy For Restoration"/1 Samuel 7:3-17).
This blog web site is for the in-depth, sound and basic exegetical study of the Bible in Reformed apologetics; that is, I shall expound upon the inerrant and infallible Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. There shall be biblical studies in world religions and non-Christian cults. I also quote and research reformed writers and I am happy to study from them. May the Lord bless everyone who reads this blog with spiritual riches in Christ which is His imputed merit by faith alone.
