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Charlie, and we'll do the first four stanzas. 51C. God be merciful to me, on thy grace I rest my plea. When, just in compassion, Thou, God, have my expressions now, ♪ Wash me, make me pure within ♪ ♪ Cleanse me from my sin ♪ ♪ My transgressions I confess ♪ ♪ Breathe and heal my soul oppressed ♪ ♪ I have sinned against thy grace ♪ And the Lord be to thy face a judge of justice. ♪ Teach lest I my mercy drown ♪ ♪ I an evil boy in sin ♪ ♪ Thou leadest my heart, O my Savior, I ♪ ♪ Teach thy wisdom, grace bestow ♪ ♪ Watch me, my deaf and the dumb ♪ I haven't judged him just. Let my lips from my insult hide my face.

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Lord's Day. We thank you for the privilege to give morning and evening worship services. We are so encouraged when we see Revelation and the Book of Revelation and the Lord Jesus in the lamp, or in the midst of the lampstands, to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto you through Jesus Christ your Son. Even now, Lord, we pray for the forgiven.

We'll look at The five paragraphs here, I'll just read beginning in paragraph one. Such of the elect as are converted through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them with the prevalency of temptation doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and skill in own sins particularly. Such is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the covenant of grace, a sinner out of a trace of his sin, an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it to paragraph 2, the elements of repentance in paragraph 3, the duration and duty of repentance in paragraph 4, and then finally the provision. Some suggest the context is probably linked with chapter 10. If you look back to chapter 10, specifically at paragraph 3, it's probably handicapped is what is viewed in the latter portion of paragraph 3, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.

So, justified by God's grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And that faith is a repentant faith to be sure, but the emphasis in justification is on faith, the instrumentality of faith. Again, a repentant faith, but nevertheless the emphasis is on faith. Sometimes in the hands of some preachers, repentance becomes a bit of a work. You need to clean up your act and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Well, that's not the scriptural emphasis.

When Peter says in Acts 2.38, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, I would argue again that he's using terms synonymously, two sides of the same coin. Because later, those who received the word are identified as those who had believed. So belief and repent are used synonymously in the book of Acts that but the specific emphasis is on believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We've got to be careful not to preach repentance as a work in order that you may be saved.

That's not what is being presented here. What is being presented here is that in the covenant of grace God communicates or provides this blessing for us such that when we do sin we repent of it not so that we may be re-saved or so that we may then recommit ourselves, but because we are saved and God has blessed us with these provisions such that we can maintain communion with our Lord. So the riper years thing again indicates that with reference to repentance, Look at paragraph one, such of the elect as are converted at riper years, having sometime lived in the state of nature, and therein serve divers lusts and pleasures, God in their effectual calling giveth them repentance unto life. I think there's another thing that we ought to observe here is that when it comes to somebody, let's say you lived a life of debauchery and sin and wretchedness, and then at the age of 55, God saved you. And it was, you know, a radical conversion. It looked something like Paul on the road to Damascus. What do we typically refer to that as? Does anybody know? A crisis conversion.

Somebody was in the pig pen, they were lusting after the food that the hogs were eating, and then thought, you know what, I'm going to go cast myself upon my father's mercy. Not in genuine repentance. I don't believe that first overture on the part of the prodigal was repentance. I think it was after God saved him that there was a genuine change of mind about his sin. He wanted out of the pig pen, he wanted food in his belly. So he thought, I'll go cast myself upon the mercy of the Father. Well, of course, the Father then comes and blesses him and conveys upon him all these good gifts.

That's a crisis conversion. So, we might recognize that in the Christian life, or in the realm of Christianity, there are crisis conversions. But we also need to understand that there are non-crisis conversions as well. And I think this happens sometimes when people are brought up in a Christian context, they believe the gospel at an early age. they make a profession of faith publicly, they get baptized, they join the church, and then there's always this kind of doubt, or perhaps there might be this doubt, well I never had a prodigal son experience, I never had an Apostle Paul experience, I never had this crisis experience. So while the Bible indicates that there is a crisis conversion, the Bible also indicates that there's a non-crisis conversion as well.

And so there are such of the elect that are converted at riper years, having sometime lived in the state of nature and therein serving diverse lusts and pleasures, God in their effectual calling giveth them repentance unto life. But that does not militate against a non-crisis conversion where somebody is brought up in a Christian home. They didn't go live in the hog pen. They didn't go abandon every principle that they had ever known and basically ruin their lives.

There is a non-crisis conversion, but in Chapter 15, Paragraph 2, it tells us that even in a non-crisis conversion situation, repentance is a necessity, whether crisis or non-crisis. And with reference to this crisis versus, or not versus, it's not a crisis, I had a crisis conversion, mine's better. But you know, that's how it's sometimes promoted, right?

You know who goes on testimony circuits in churches? It's not the guy that was brought up in a Christian home, that was catechized as a child, and made a good confession of faith at the age of 10, and never went and left and was a prodigal, and never went and squandered his father's loot on prostitutes and drugs. They don't get invited to share their testimony. It's the guy who was a Satan worshipper. It was the guy who smoked meth every day. It was the guy who...

Those are the ones that we seem to think, wow, there's as much wow in the first scenario as there is in the second scenario. The same effectual power of God that saves that man out of the pig pen is the same effectual grace that saves our children being brought up in a context where they're catechized, where they're schlepped to church every week, where they're encouraged to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's every bit as much effectual power there.

In fact, turn to 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy chapter six. If you had to, you know, I've already given it away, the Apostle Paul, excuse me, the Apostle Paul had a crisis conversion. I mean, probably the preeminent crisis conversion, on the road to Damascus, extradition papers in hand, he's going to Syria, he's gonna arrest believers, he's gonna bring them back, they're gonna be judged, they're gonna be prosecuted, they're gonna be punished, and all the while, he's gonna be there with hearty consent to that whole scenario. Well, of course, Jesus saves him on that road to Damascus, a real crisis. Well, with Timothy, his was not a crisis. In fact, before you go to 1 Timothy 6, look at 2 Timothy 1. Paul understood that Timothy's background was not the crisis conversion sort of a situation.

Notice in 2 Timothy 1, 3, I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did. As without ceasing, I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. So, it wasn't a crisis with Timothy.

He was brought up, he was catechized by a godly mother and a godly grandmother, and at some point he believed the gospel. Notice in 1 Timothy chapter 6, specifically at verse 11, But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Fight the good fight, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called. The same effectual call that brought Paul out of darkness into marvelous light on that road to Damascus is the same effectual call that brought Timothy out of darkness into marvelous light. So we ought to appreciate the work of God's grace, whether it is in the former Satanist or it's in the former elementary kid that believed the gospel. It's the same power, it's the same regeneration, it's the same glorious display of God's grace.

And I say this because I think at times there is that tendency, and I've seen it when young people make a confession. I was never really out in the far country. I always have believed on the Lord Jesus. And it's almost like it's suspicious. It's almost like I should go out and get addicted to heroin and then repent so that we all know it's for real.

No. What is the issue? The issue is, what think ye of Christ? Are you believing on the Lord Jesus Christ? And if the answer is yes, you have been the recipient of God's effectual calling. You have been the recipient of God's graciousness in providing you faith and repentance.

Listen to Flavel on this whole distinction. Conversion, as to the subjects of it, may be considered two ways, either as it is more sensibly wrought in persons of riper years, who in their youthful days were more profane and vile, or upon persons in their tender years, into whose hearts grace was more insensibly and indiscernibly instilled by God's blessing upon pious education. In the former sort, the distinctive acts of the Spirit as illuminating, convincing, humbling, drawing them to Christ and sealing them are more evident and discernible. In the latter, more obscure and confused.

They can remember that God gave them an esteem and liking of godly persons, care of duty and conscience of sin, but as to the time, place, instruments and manner of the work, they can give but a slender account of them. However, if the work be savingly wrought in them, there is no reason they should be troubled, because the circumstances of it are not so evident to them as they are to others. Let the substance and reality of the work appear, and there is no reason to afflict yourselves because of the inevitance of such circumstances." In other words, it's not requisite that everybody was addicted to heroin before they came to Jesus. You could be brought up in a godly home.

And brethren, that's the emphasis. And I think this is a paedo-baptist sort of, I don't want to say attack, because that sounds a bit too pointed or calloused, but you don't care about your children. You don't care about, you know, you treat them like he that. I'm sorry, I don't know that paedo-baptism is required to have a love for our children and a desire to see them saved.

We have the same emphasis. We bring them to church. We do family worship with them. We encourage them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And all things being equal, this is the context with which we should, dare I say, expect to see God work. We don't negate the reality that God works oftentimes in families. I often bring that out preaching to the young people here.

It's no accident that you're in a Christian home. It's no accident that you've got parents who fear the Lord. It's no accident that you come to a church that preaches the gospel. These are God's providences that bespeak good things for you and to you, so therefore come to the Savior. You're not living in Timbuktu. You're not living out in the bush. You're not the heathen out there. You are blessed by God providentially to live in a home, to live with parents, albeit imperfectly.

Okay, that's not a requisite. Our parents must be perfect before we can come to the Savior. Just like it's not requisite that we must be addicted to heroin before we come to the Savior. Parents doing the best that they can, pointing their children to the Savior.

Brethren, I would suggest that is something we should be looking for and praying for. Not, okay kid, you're 18, go out, live in the distant country, so that if you do make a profession of faith, then we know it's legit. No, we want to see them converted before their riper years and God willing before they go out and make many of the wretched decisions that we made before that.

So this riper years emphasis does not militate against ongoing repentance to everybody at all times in the Christian faith. And notice then, secondly, the necessity of it. In paragraph two, whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not, and the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption, dwelling in them, with the prevalency of temptation, fall into great sins and provocations, God hath in the covenant of grace, mercifully provided that believers, so sinning and falling, be renewed through repentance unto salvation. Excuse me, so the confession underscores the universal problem of sin. It's a universal problem, whether you're ripe for years, whether you're not ripe years, you've got a problem. Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not. We know that from scripture. We know that's the consistent testimony from Genesis to Revelation, the doctrine of total depravity, the doctrine of total inability. Every one of us is messed up. Every one of us has sinned. Every single one of us.

We may not have been addicted to heroin. We may not have been addicted to methamphetamine. But if we were an elementary school child with lust in our hearts, that is enough sin to damn us to an eternity of hells. So, you know, sin is sin, brethren, and the elementary school child grown up in Free Grace Baptist Church needs the same effectual calling, needs the same graces of faith and repentance, needs the same blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse them from their sins.

That's universal. So the universal problem of sin, whereas there is none that doth good and sins not. But then notice the personal problem of sin. So not only is there a general principle, whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not, it goes on into the personal and particular, and the best of men.

The best of men. Now, if you read in that me, not me, Jim, but you, whoever you are, you're probably not reading it properly, because if you're thinking you're the best of men, you're probably not. Because the best of men are usually humble. The best of men don't project themselves onto the pages of a 17th century confession. It simply means that the best of men, and I always think of the two classic examples, Old Testament and New Testament, David and Peter.

David was a man after God's own heart, 1 Samuel 13. David was specifically selected by God, who doesn't look on the outward but looks upon the inward, 1 Samuel 16. David fought for the glory of God most high at the Valley of Elah in 1 Samuel 17. Who is this Philistine who's mocking or insulting the armies of the living God? Who is this uncircumcised wretch? And of course, David, that man after God's own heart, who was primarily concerned with the worship of the true and living God, sinned grievously. I mean, by the time you get to 2 Samuel 11 and 12, you're screaming at your Bible, don't do it, David, go out to battle, don't send Joab, don't go up on your roof, David, don't, right?

It's heartbreaking, but it's gospel. I have sinned against the Lord. What happens? Nathan says, the Lord has put this away. The Lord is atoned for this. If David hadn't done David things, we wouldn't have Psalm 32. If David hadn't done David things, we wouldn't have Psalm 130, three and four. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? There is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. If David didn't do David things, we wouldn't have Psalm 25, 11. For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. So David did David things, and God saved him nevertheless. And then, of course, the case of Peter.

So the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in that, remaining sin, remaining corruption, The Bible doesn't teach perfectionism, and this chapter reinforces that in spades. So there's no perfectionism to be obtained on this side of glory. It's just not a reality. Wesley was wrong. Those who follow Wesley were wrong. It is not the case that you can achieve a perfection on this side of glory. Now, again, I'm not saying Wesley is therefore damned to hell and burning and frying, but he was wrong in the doctrine of Christian perfectionism.

The confession underscores that the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption, dwelling in them. Of course, the classic passages on remaining corruption are Romans chapter 7, excuse me, 14 to 25, and then Galatians 5, 17. Now, there are those who take the Romans 7 passage as not really speaking about Paul as a Christian and not a struggle with remaining corruption, but Paul prior to his conversion. I think the better interpreters give us the proper understanding that it's Paul as a Christian. It's Paul struggling with remaining corruption.

It's Paul saying, the good that I wish to do, I don't do. The evil I don't want to do, I find myself doing. Because later in Romans 8, he's going to say the carnal mind is enmity against God. It does not subject itself to the law of God. That there is this desire on the part of Paul to want to please God bespeak saving grace in his heart.

But then, of course, Galatians 5.17, the spirit lusts against the flesh, flesh against the spirit. These are contrary to one another so that you don't do the things that you want.

So remaining corruption is a reality, and the best of men face that, vis-à-vis David, Peter, Simon Peter. So the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them, then notice the remaining problem of temptation, with the prevalency of temptation. This is, you know, part of life. We have remaining corruption and we have remaining temptations, right?

Why do you think Jesus taught us to pray, lead me not into temptation? What's the point? The Lord Jesus seems to understand all too well the principle that if we get too close to temptation, We're probably going to end up in sin. That's why Solomon says to his son, remove your way far from her and don't go near the door of her house. Doesn't even say don't go near her bed. He says, don't go near her door because if you go near her door, Most likely, it's a couple steps further and you'll be in her bed. So the prevalency of temptation is a reality in the Christian life. Now, we need to understand that and not only pray to the Lord God to lead me not into temptation, but then to not willingly jump into temptation itself.

And again, I'm not the guru up here. Brethren, I've mastered this. Listen to me, I've got words of wisdom. I'm in the same boat, right? We pray to God, lead me not into temptation. We need to live consistently then with that petition and not then jump into temptation. We're just not that strong. I was reading the Prophet Haggai the other day, and there seemed to be a question with reference to the priest, and the question seems to go this way.

Can something holy be defiled by something unholy? Yes. Can something unholy be made holy by something holy? No. It's defiled. The defilement seems to have the upper hand, at least in that little scenario that God is addressing through the prophet Haggai with the priests.

We need to be careful. I think, again, and I've said it many times as we've gone our way through the confession of faith, one of the things I appreciate about the confession is its practicality. It's utility, it's willingness to face head on the Bible and experience and things that is oftentimes vacant in treatments on holiness in the Christian life. These brothers tell us the best of men may through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them with the prevalency of temptation.

So they're not hiding the reality of the Christian life. Yeah, you just believe on Jesus and everything's always going to be great. Never have a struggle, never have a temptation, never have a trial, never have a doubt, never have a sorrow, never have an affliction. They don't say that because they're not liars. Anybody who tells you that within the Christian life there's no struggle against sin, there's no prevalency of temptation, there's no potential with the hymn writer to sing prone to wander, prone to leave the God that I love, they're lying to you.

Again, David stands as a beacon. Peter stands as a beacon. These men show us that God's grace is great in the fact that they were received, that they were forgiven, but the fact that God's grace in a believer's heart, we can still do some pretty messed up things. It's unfortunate.

Right? We can do some messed up things so that when we hear a piece of news, we go, man, I can't believe so and so, you know, that happened. I don't want to sound too cynical, but in light of a David, in light of a Peter, we should be able to at least theoretically believe that the best of men are men at best. And there is a potential in all of us, if we are not guarding our hearts, if we are not identifying those temptations and seeking to avoid them, and praying daily for God to protect us and to grant us the grace necessary, acknowledging that we're prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love, we don't engage in this seriously. then it's going to be detrimental to our spiritual well-being. And then notice the potential fall into sin. It doesn't say every time, but it does say that men may, the best of men may fall into great sins and provocations.

That's terrifying, isn't it? I mean, when you read through 1 and 2 Samuel, again, you're looking at David thinking, how could this man fall like he does? In fact, turn back to 1 Samuel chapter 26. 1 Samuel chapter 26. I may be wrong, And I acknowledge that, but as I've thought through this over the years, how could David be a man after God's own heart and do the things that he did? Well, I think there's several answers you can give.

First, the grace of God. the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. I would suggest those are the theological, that's the theological rationale, so that we'd get a Psalm 130, three and four, so that we'd get a Psalm 25, 11, so that we'd get a Psalm 32. I think that that's part of it. But as well, David's heart never turned away from Yahweh. Even in his psalm of repentance in Psalm 51, it's almost as if David gets up next to God to condemn David. And it's just like in his confession in 2 Samuel 11, I have sinned against the Lord.

I mean, we'd like more, wouldn't we? You've got to crawl on your belly, David. You've got to cry. He just said it. What am I going to say? I've got no excuses. I can't blame Joab. I can't blame Bathsheba. There are those who blame Bathsheba. You know, if Bathsheba hadn't have been up there, you know, bathing naked, then David... Come on, David sinned, brethren. As much as a fan of I Am of David, that was a David thing. But David didn't turn his back on Yahweh, even when he's found out in sin.

Now, again, there's that period of silence when he kept quiet and his bones ached, according to the Psalter. But even then, why? Because his guilt was much. Why? Because he lived in light of Yahweh. So there's the potential of him being cast out of the promised land.

Notice in 2618, and he said, why does my Lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand? Now therefore, please, let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the Lord. For they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. That's what pained David. The thought of being cast out of Yahweh's land is what affected him. Why?

Because he loved the Lord. David is the one who writes Psalm 63 about loving God in the wilderness and saying, because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will praise you. David says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. So for all of David's faults, and there were several, for all of David's sins, and there were many, David never turned back from the true and living God. That is why, again, I could be wrong, but I think that's at least from a human perspective why he was a man after God's own heart. So the confession doesn't shrink back from displaying, describing, evidencing, and indicating what?

What is potential for all of us if we are not careful, if we are not listening to Romans 13, 14? Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. Or 2 Corinthians 7, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Brethren, holiness and righteousness, we're not saved because of that, but we're saved unto them and it is consistent with what God has called us unto in the Christian life. So carefulness and repentance and constant looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what the confession is setting forth before us. Notice it then speaks of the provision of God for all believers. At the last part of paragraph two, God hath, in the covenant of grace, mercifully provided that believers, so sinning and falling, be renewed through repentance unto salvation.

It's a blessed reality. We don't live at peace with our sin. We don't just conclude, well, Jesus died for me. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses me from all sins. And you know, I heard in a theology study, and I believe this to be the case, that in justification, When my sins are forgiven, they're not only my past sins, my present sins, but my future sins.

So therefore, it really doesn't matter how I live. That's antinomianism, and that's condemned. That's wrong. We are to live in a manner that is consistent with our high calling in the gospel of our salvation. Philippians 1, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel.

So brethren, holiness and perseverance and assurance and all the things that follow now in the confession are crucial. And they're the necessary consequences or the fruits of the justification that is articulated in chapter 11. So Christ is our soul and whole righteousness, to be sure, in our acceptance with God. But remember, that faith that is alone doesn't remain alone, but it's accompanied by all other saving graces, such that faith and repentance in the Christian life are two sides of the same coin.

And we always are believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we seek to destroy the sins. We seek to guard ourselves against those places of temptation. We don't knowingly and willingly enter into a thing or a scenario where we jeopardize potentially our souls. We learn from David, we learn from Peter. We pursue holiness without which no man will see the Lord, Hebrews 12, 14.

All these things are paramount in the minds of the people of God, but they're provided for us by the God of the people in the covenant of grace. God hath in the covenant of grace, notice, mercifully provided. God knows there's remaining corruption. God knows when he saves us, when he regenerates us, when he effectually calls us, when he justifies us freely by his grace, that there's a particular David episode waiting to happen, that there's a particular Peter episode waiting to happen. that there are particular episodes waiting to, and I don't want to say this in a curseful, vexing way, waiting to happen to us. I'm not throwing any mojo on us that's bad. I'm just saying, God knows the propensity and the tendency.

He knows that we're but dust, Psalm 103. He pities us as a result, and then he mercifully provides for us repentance. So those who preach repentance as a work in order for salvation get that wrong as well, because repentance itself is a gift. That brings us to the elements of repentance. Notice in paragraph 3, this saving repentance is an evangelical grace. How do we know that must be the case? And if you say the Bible tells us so, praise God. But how do we know that it must be an evangelical grace?

Can a dead sinner believe the gospel? No. Can a dead sinner repent from their sins? No. You go to the cemetery today and you tell those dead people to get out of the tomb, go brush their hair, and put on a fresh set of clothing, they're not going to be able to respond because they're dead. Remember, total depravity doesn't speak of just a bit of a problem with sin. You are dead in your trespasses and sins.

Such if there's any good that's ever going to obtain for your life, it must come from God, from whom all blessings flow. And so it's an evangelical grace. We see that with faith in the scripture and in the confession, but with reference to repentance. Turn to Acts 5. Acts chapter 5, we see that repentance is a gift given by God. Acts chapter 5 specifically at verse 31, Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. Notice in 1118, notice in 1118, Specifically, verse 18, when they heard these things, and this was basically the discussion over what happened with reference to the Gentiles' conversion.

Remember, Peter goes, he goes to the Gentiles, he goes to Cornelius, these filthy, horrible dogs. Peter preaches the gospel, God saves them, God pours out the spirit, and then Peter has to give an account. What are you going to those dogs for? What are you doing?

Peter says, it's great, it's just like when God saves us, and that's exactly it. Notice in verse 15, And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us, notice this too, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? Notice the interchangeability of belief and repentance, and why I say two sides of the same coin. Because in verse 18, when they heard these things, they became silent and they glorified God, saying, then God also has granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. So belief and repentance, two sides of the same coin. If you're a believer in Christ, you're a repentant one. If you're a repenter before Christ in the proper sense, you're a believing one. It's a believing repentance, it's a repentant believing. The two go hand in hand and oftentimes interchangeably used in the book of Acts, but the emphasis there at the last portion of verse 18, then God also notice has granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.

The implication, just as he did with us Jews, We didn't have this intrinsically or inherently. It was in the effectual call, gifts of the Spirit, faith, and repentance. In other words, Jews, you're not saved just because you're Jews. You're not saved because you've got the blood of Shem running through your veins. You're saved by God's grace through the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit. through the provision of the graces of faith and repentance.

Not just because you're sons of Abraham physically. In fact, Jesus disavows any notion of that in John's Gospel. If you were the sons of Abraham, you wouldn't try to kill me. So Peter likens the conversion of the Gentiles to the conversion of the Jews.

Belief in Jesus and repentance unto life. And then notice in 2 Timothy 2.25. 2 Timothy 2.25.

Remember Greg Bonson using this particular passage for your Thanksgiving table. We might say at this time of the year, your Christmas table. You're gonna be around family, you're gonna be around friends, and some of them might not be converted. And some of them might like to poke the bear. Some of them might like to say something, you know, pretty challenging to the believers at the table. How do you respond? Do you get up and scream at them? Do you get up on the table and point your finger at them, take that turkey away, get out?

No, look at what he says. Verse 23, but avoid foolish and ignorant disputes knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient. See, that's what should characterize us at the Thanksgiving or Christmas table. If the, you know, uncle, Joey loses his mind and starts, you know, mocking Jesus.

Yeah, you don't have to listen to him blaspheme. You'd cut him off in that. But again, jumping up on the table, hitting him with a drumstick, and saying, you will believe. That's not what Paul's tactic is. Notice, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. So you do correct Uncle Joey, you just don't do it when everything's super volatile and everything's super epic. But you don't let him go unchallenged, you can correct those who are in opposition.

Now note, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. Turn back to the Psalms, Psalm 80, Psalm 80. Verse three, restore us, O God, cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved. Same emphasis in verse seven. Restore us, O God of hosts, cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved. And again in verse 19. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts, cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved.

Jeremiah the prophet, chapter 31. Jeremiah 31. Verse 18, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself. You have chastised me and I was chastised like an untrained bull. Restore me and I will return for you are the Lord my God. And then Lamentations chapter five. Lamentations chapter five. Same emphasis, specifically at verse 21. Turn us back, well, verse 19.

You, O Lord, remain forever, your throne from generation to generation. Why do you forget us forever and forsake us for so long a time? Turn us back to you, O Lord, and we will be restored. renew our days as of old, unless you have utterly rejected us and are very angry with us."

The recognition that repentance and restoration and the proper pathway comes from God. It's an evangelical grace as the confession stipulates there. And then it goes on to indicate the elements involved. And we'll just get through this part and then we'll close. But notice, this saving repentance is an evangelical grace whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit. You'll notice that often in our confession.

It doesn't let you forget your dependence upon God. It doesn't let you forget your dependence upon the triune God. The Holy Spirit does this through faith in Christ so that we may walk before God. Trinitarian, but it's also theological. You are dependent upon God for these things.

So this saving repentance is an evangelical grace whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin doth by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it and self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and strength of grace with a purpose and endeavor by supplies of the Spirit to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things.

So the first thing is a sense of sin. Notice, whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin. Notice that it occurs. but it's not quantified as to how much it occurs. Does everybody understand that? For two years you got to agonize under this feeling and weight of sin. And once you're there, then you can cast your gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

This sense of sin is always present, right? Jesus said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. David again in Psalm 133, if you Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord who could stand, There's always that sense of sin, but how much of a sense of sin? We cannot impose that upon somebody who is now sensible of their sin. Well, I just don't think you're sensible enough. I just don't think you are as in tune with your godlessness as you think.

I think it's been the experience for all of us, I would imagine, when you get converted. Let's think way back to, you know, if you've been in the way for a while. What usually happens? The big sins go first, right? Let's just say you were addicted to meth. Let's just say you visited prostitutes. Usually, after that effectual call, that sense of sin, you realize, you know what? I can't visit prostitutes anymore, and I shouldn't be smoking meth.

But as you've been a Christian longer, the sense of sin becomes even more honed in. more refined. You start to see sins in yourself that you never imagined, right? So to quantify it for somebody that's, you know, I'm sensible of my sin. Well, how sensible of it are you?

That ought not to be our response. If you're sensible of your sin, look to the Savior in whom alone there is forgiveness for those sins. And we can rest assured that sensibility of sin, like it does in everybody else that's ever named the name of Christ, is probably going to grow.

We can't make it a two-year, five-year, ten-year plan. I think I've shared with you before, when the kids were little, we read Bunyan's Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and finally had to say no. And I love Bunyan. I love Bunyan. I love that book, Grace Abounding to the Chiefs of Sinners.

But I didn't want my children to think that unless they went outside and they saw that the creation itself was going to swallow them up for their sin, that they couldn't be saved. What was true for Bunyan cannot be true for every other non-Bunyan. That there's a conviction for sin, go to the Savior. How much of a conviction of sin?

That ain't up to us. Right? When Matthew is called by our Lord Jesus and Jesus says, follow me, Matthew gets up and follows him. He doesn't say, well, Lord, I'm guilty of the sin of being a fraud in my tax services, but I haven't really wrestled with how bad I am to my wife, how bad I am to my kids, how bad I am to my parents, how bad I am at Walmart. I really need to get sensible. Follow me.

That there is a sense of sin, yes, amen. It's consistent across the board. But how much a sense of sin? There's bunions in this world. And then there's non-bunions as well. They hear the love of Christ. They understand their sin. They look to the Lord Jesus. Brockle's very good on this. In a Christian's reasonable service, how do men come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus? Sometimes men are terrified and they run to God for refuge. Sometimes men are, you know, wooed by the love of Jesus and come.

That's okay. You don't have to have had the thought that the earth itself was going to open up and swallow you because of your sin in order to then come to the Savior. That there is a sense of sin, that there is a conviction of sin, yes. But how much of a conviction of sin? We're not the arbiters of that. No elders, no individuals, no churches can stipulate or say, well, I'm not sure you really have come to grips with your sin. Who of us have really come to grips with our sin? Seriously, if you stop and think about it, how many of us are in tune with how bad we really are as God's people, even on a Lord's day, okay? We got big problems. So to then impose that upon some sinner that's now newly convicted of his sin, well I just don't think you understand sin like you ought. Well, okay, can he come to the Savior?

Yeah, that's kind of the whole point. The same with the parallel from John 3, 14 and Numbers 21. You got bit. What do you do? You look up. You don't wriggle in your pain for years and then think, oh, now I'm fit to look. There's almost that built-in fitness.

I'm qualified now because I know how bad sin is. Brethren, that is pernicious. It can be a work too. Throw that in on the conscience of a sinner? Oh yeah, you gotta have this kind of an appreciation or rather understanding of your sin. No, that you're a sinner? Yeah. That Christ is a Savior for sinner? Yeah. Come to Jesus, and then you're probably going to grow in your sense of sin. It's just the reality of it.

Notice as well a humility before God with godly sorrow. But again, don't miss the theology. Whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of manifold evils of sin doth by faith in Christ. That's why this is repentance unto life. This isn't just stop smoking meth, stop visiting prostitutes, lose 200 pounds. That's not what this is. This is a by faith understanding of our sin.

Humble himself for it with godly sorrow. And notice in Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 6, this is the emphasis in our battle against remaining corruption. Verse 1 sets the tone for the argument, and it's like Paul does a lot in Romans. He's dealing with questions, and I would submit that they weren't, you know, theoretical questions he hatched up in his office.

They were questions he heard at the back of synagogues after he preached justification by faith. When he told Jews, look to Jesus, you'll be forgiven. You'll be cleansed in the blood. You'll receive a righteousness by which you can stand before God. Do you think that Jews who had their minds set on not Jesus first, but as well, some sort of Torah obedience in order to be saved, you think they responded favorably to justification by faith alone? If you do, just keep reading through the book of Acts, because that's not how they received it.

They got upset. And especially when Paul would say revolutionary things like, well, since you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we're going to go to the Gentiles. Well, they lost their minds then. You're going to go to the Gentiles with Israel's Messiah? You think that's legit? That's what brought the persecution down upon him.

But in Chapter 6 of Romans, verse 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Notice the logic of the apostle. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not.

Remember the Ten Commandments. That's not what he does. And Paul's okay with remember the Ten Commandments. Paul uses that tactic in other places. But here specifically before, Commandment keeping, in terms of sanctification by the Spirit, it's gospel pondering. In other words, how do you fight sin first and foremost? You understand that you died to sin and therefore you're not to live in it any longer. His Gospel motivation comes first to silence the critics. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

And if the critics are unbelieving Jews, he could have with all perfect sensibility said, oh no, we're bound, normative principle, normative use of the law, Ten Commandments are binding. Of course we're not supposed to steal. Of course we're not supposed to commit adultery. Of course we're not supposed to...

But he grounds sanctification, first and foremost, in what Jesus has accomplished for us. In other words, it's a by faith in Christ repentance. So then after speaking of what has happened, he summarizes in verse 11, likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So in other words, the indicative of the gospel, and then comes the imperative as the blood-bought children of God who have the Holy Spirit, verse 12.

Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under law, but under grace. And I don't think he means under law there by you don't have any relationship to the Ten Commandments whatsoever. That's not what he means.

We have a normative use of the Ten Commandments for a pattern in the Christian life by the Spirit through faith in Jesus, but the emphasis for the apostle in countering this objection, what shall we do? Or what shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

No, first and foremost, consider the fact that you died, you were buried, and you've been raised with Jesus Christ. Consider that, and then don't present your members as instruments of unrighteousness. That's what's laced in theologically to chapters and paragraphs like these. It says, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, not being made, you know, by your mother, by your father, and if they're speaking truth of God, that's a blessing, and the spirit can use that, but if your mom says, you know what, son, I don't like you being a shoe salesman, you should go, my mom forced me to go do this. No, no, it's the Holy Spirit that makes us sensible. Or if your mom or your dad says, well, I don't like that you drive that color car. No, no, it's the spirit making you sensible of these sins, but then it's faith in Christ, humble himself for it with a godly sorrow.

Beautiful, theological, wonderful language calculated to promote in us a genuine repentance that looks like what God intended for it to look like. Not as a mercenary enterprise. I repented from all my sins, so therefore God is going to give me eternal life. No. Faith and repentance, two sides of the same coin.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And built into that along the way, with reference to your Christian life, you put to death the deeds of the body. You make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. You let your life adorn your doctrine. It's a beautiful thing and an arrangement by which God gets glory, honor, and praise.

But as well, a detestation of sin. A detestation of sin. And this is, you know, just a practical observation. I don't think I hate sin the way I should. And I'm probably not alone, and I'm not scolding anybody or lecturing anybody, but we really should hate sin. There should be a detestation of it and a self-abhorrency of it and a bit of a distrust in us in terms of it.

When we hear of men who fall, or when we hear of women who sin, or when we hear, let's not have a presumption or a pride that, oh, that'll never happen to me. Well, no, by God's grace, it'll never happen, but it's on your own strength. by the supplies of the gifts of faith and repentance, by the Spirit, and by a genuine faith in Christ. And then I love this as well. You get it more in the Westminster Shorter Catechism or the Baptist Catechism, but as you continue on after this self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and strength of grace. In the catechism it says, excuse me, Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. And apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. So yeah, we hate sin, but we also apprehend the mercy of God in Christ. Does that make sense? If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand but? apprehension of God's grace and mercy in Christ. There is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.

It's exactly what Judas didn't have. He didn't have an apprehension of the grace of God. He understood sin. I mean, he felt bad. And he killed himself as a result of it. I mean, I don't know that most of us hate that sin or hate sin as much as Judas did, at least in that account. He despised what he had become. He despised what he had done.

But there was no apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. There was no recognition of, there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. And just not liking the consequences associated with sin doesn't necessarily mean we have a genuine apprehension of the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

There might be times where you could convince a sinner, you know what, it's not good for you to visit prostitutes. It's not good for you to smoke methamphetamine. It's just not good. Yeah, you're right. But again, no apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. That's what distinguishes repentance from behavior modification. I just stopped going to bad places. Well, that's not repentance. By faith, I stopped going to bad places. Faith in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and with this newfound detestation of sin, this understanding of the prevalency of temptation, that's repentance, and that's what God gives in the covenant of grace.

So the presence of all these things are essential, but again, the presence of all these things are gonna differ from person to person. It just is. Brethren, if you impose upon everybody whatever happened to you, you're going to have problems, right? These elements are present. Yeah, guy's going to hate sin, guy's going to appreciate the cross, guy's going to look to the cross, guy's going to believe, guy's going to live in light of that. But to the degree that he does is going to differ. Justification, remember, no differences, no degrees. No gradation, no progress. Paul wasn't more justified than us. Spurgeon wasn't more justified than us. Justification is a legal declaration.

Sanctification, it's going to differ from person to person. And I know that at times we get frustrated, especially with those closest to us, that they're not as sanctified as we are. We need to be careful that we don't impose upon people. I mean, that those broad categories are there. There's a sense of sin, there's a hatred for sin, there's an understanding of these, you know, faith in Christ, great. But you cannot look for your degree of wonderfulness in every one of your fellows. It's just not usually how it works.

And there's a Pharisaism that can attach itself in the realm of sanctification where we become the judges and the juries of everybody else. Let's remember the judgment of charity. Let's remember graciousness and kindness. Let us remember to continually point our fellows to the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well, let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this section on repentance unto life. We thank you for what the Bible teaches concerning it, and we thank you that you have freely given it to us. We praise you for effectual calling. We praise you for justification by faith. We praise you for the life of sanctification and what you're doing in us by the power of your Holy Spirit.

And we look forward to glorification when we enter into that eternal state. Until such time, help us to be faithful, help us to be persevering, help us to be dependent always upon our Lord Jesus Christ and the benefits of the gospel of our salvation. And we pray this in his name, amen. Well, unfortunately, there's no time for comments or questions, unless it's real quick. I'll be a cam and say, you've got 33 seconds. Anyone? Yes. So it's very helpful. I never struggled with that.

But what are you doing? How would this inform preaching and also just living with others? How do you navigate that then without of course having a judgmental attitude? When people are genuinely, even me, I sin and when a brother comes to me and points it out, you know, I'll pull up against that. But it is helpful for me to grow and be able to understand. Well, that I'm not a professional at this, my wife can testify. So yeah, when you figure out the particular process, let me know. I think that a lot of it has to do with the end game. Are we super critical? Are we imposing our standards? I think it's always essential, first and foremost, did the person sin?

Right? Like husbands and wives. They might irritate the daylights out of each other on certain things. But did they sin? You always have to identify that. Did somebody sin? If somebody sinned, then I have the framework to deal with their sin. Right? When somebody sins against us, we have one of three options. One, well, if I sin against somebody and I go to worship God and I remember they've got aught with me, I need to go fix it. If somebody sins against me in terms of Matthew 18, I can go to that person and seek to win them. Or I can 1 Peter 4 it and let love cover a multitude of sins, right? Those are my options. If I choose the Matthew 18, this person is in sin, whether it's against me or it's not, and I want to try and help them or encourage them, I think that says everything.

If I come to you and I say, brother, I noticed this, that, or the other about you, and I'm not here to pick on you, I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here as a brother to encourage you, the way we see in the book of Hebrews, exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest we be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. I think people, for the most part, if they're blood-bought children of God and they've got the Holy Spirit, know that when persons come to them, which is already a difficult thing, I mean, it's not as difficult for husbands and wives, but brother to brother, sister to sister, it's a bit more difficult. You know, I've got to talk to you about something. It is tough. So if you're putting it in that context and it's remedial in nature, Yeah, there's always gonna, if you said, hey brother, I see this sin in you, I'm gonna get defensive, I guarantee you.

I'm gonna, what about you? But in a few moments, because I have the spirit and because I am blood bought, I'm gonna go, you know what, you're right. And I'm a lot worse than you could even imagine. So I think the motivation behind it, the disposition involved with it, and again, the end game, What is it that I'm hoping to achieve here?

And when I use the husband and wife paradigm, we can be obnoxious to each other when we expect certain things our way without ever addressing it in a non you've sinned against me sort of context. I don't know if that helps, but I think that you can either A, go to them, Matthew 18, or let love cover it. And if you do go to them, you go in love, you go with a genuine desire to see good things, and, you know, within reason, too. I mean, if the, you know, in the husband and wife thing, yeah, I mean, we could nag each other all day, every day, until Jesus returns on, you know, minutia. So, you know, if a brother has a one-off, you know, people ask that question, when do you let love cover a multitude of sins?

I usually put it under a category of, if it's a one-off, Or, you know, he had a bad day. Because everybody does. And everybody, at least in my experience, screams at their kids once in a while, or is a fool. You don't judge a man based on a bad day. I just don't think that's legit.

But so is it a bad day or is it a pattern? If there's patterns of a particular sin, even if it's not a great big sin, if it's a pattern of a not as great big sin, that could be something too that would evoke, hey, you know what brother, you're doing this regularly and it is sin and you should stop. But how do we ever get to the point where we're not defensive? Yeah, that's part of the curse and the remaining corruption thing, because it is.

I mean, take a husband and wife scenario. Honey, I want to talk to you about something. What is the, again, I can only think of my context. Well, what about you? You know, it's just, it's sick. It's miserable. It is terrible the way that especially we sin against those we love the most. Right? I mean, we should prize our spouses above everything, and yet they oftentimes see the very worst of us. And I don't know how better to explain that, or how more crudely to explain that, that it's just kind of the way it is. The more we know each other, the more we sin against each other. So yeah, patterns, gravity, disposition, love, genuine desire for a remedial end, and harmony in the relationship.