God Loves… Himself

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

So long as we are joined to the world; acting in the main for worldly ends; attached to its interest; oppressed with its cares, or devoted to its pleasures; we must either totally reject, or explain away the gospel. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

Who here today is not saved but could be before the service is over. Somebody here not churchy, not a good Bible person, does not live for the Lord; you are a half step from repentance. You are the person the Lord reaches a hand out to and says: “Are you ready? I am ready to forgive all.” (Anonymous Pastor)

Someone sent me a recording which I tried to write down with some degree of accuracy. I am sure it is not perfectly accurate, but it should be quite close. It is the quote from the anonymous pastor just above. Here is an example of what real repentance is not, though there are other issues as well. Notice the contrast between what the anonymous pastor (AP) says and what Thomas Adam says. True repentance and the Gospel of grace are really the same thing, though one looks at them differently. The soul that is joined to the world and has worldly ends and is devoted to its pleasures is not compatible with true repentance or the Gospel. The “invitation” that AP is giving is based on the ignorance of the person rather than a person seeking to know about the truth. The person that is seeking the world and ignoring the things of God is said to be but a half step from repentance, which is most likely thought of as turning from not praying to praying a prayer.

AP is essentially telling people that they don’t need to truly repent but all they need to do is to pray a prayer. After all, the Lord is said to be reaching out His hand to them and ready to forgive. On the other hand, in Luke 13:5 Jesus told the people after a tower fell on some that “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus did not hold out His hand and tell them that He was ready to forgive, but instead He told them to repent or that they would perish. Neither did He preach to people and tell them that they could be saved before the service was over. Salvation is of the Lord and is not up to men in regard of its timing or whether God will save that person or not. God is sovereign and He saves by grace alone and He saves when He wants to save. He never asks whether a person is ready or not. It is the Lord Jesus who makes them ready or they will never be ready. Since He makes them ready, He knows if they are ready and it is not contingent on their will or sense of timing.

What AP is saying is quite the opposite of what men in history have taught. They taught that sinners must come to the Lord by seeking Him for a broken heart and to break them from all hope in themselves and that He would grant them a real repentance and a true and real faith which alone can come from a new heart. Sinners were not told that Christ was holding out His hand asking if they were ready and then He would forgive, but they were told that He was sovereign and would only forgive by grace alone. They were taught that they needed to have broken hearts in order to seek true grace and real repentance. While AP is certainly speaking in a way which can tug on the feelings of people in order to get them to pray a prayer, the hearts of these people (if they are as He is describing) are not ready for Christ at all. Christ must make the heart ready to be His home. They are not prepared by Christ by not going to church, not reading the Bible, and not living for the Lord. They cannot live for the Lord until they really repent. They are not ready for Christ if they are not going to hear preaching and not reading the Bible. Faith comes by hearing and not by ignoring.

This post was not meant to ridicule any pastor as such, but to use a situation that actually happened to make a point. Simply praying a prayer does not mean a person has repented in any way much less has the person really repented. In essence AP was telling sinners that it depended on them which shows that they had not repented of their pride and self-love, so there is no real repentance there either. Real repentance happens in the inner man and can only happen when God grants people repentance from self-love and self-sufficiency. The Lord Jesus Christ does not stand ready to forgive at any moment a person decides to pray a prayer, but instead He must make the person ready for Himself and that does not happen apart from real repentance from the heart. As long as self-love and self-sufficiency are in a person, those things rule the person and there is no room for Christ on the throne of that heart. Christ is King and He will tear self from the throne when He decides to take up residence there. Let us call on pastors to repent of teaching such things that leave men as ruler of their own hearts. In the thought (not exact quote) of Solomon Stoddard from centuries past, when men do not preach that the hearts of men must be prepared for Christ, it makes one wonder if they are converted themselves. If he was right, then the vast majority of the pulpits of this land appear to be filled with unconverted ministers.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

So long as we are joined to the world; acting in the main for worldly ends; attached to its interest; oppressed with its cares, or devoted to its pleasures; we must either totally reject, or explain away the gospel. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

While many think of the Gospel as saving them from an eternity of wrath, the Bible also speaks of being saved from the power of sin. The Gospel is good news for both now and eternity, though especially for eternity. One aspect of the good news is what is done to relieve the misery of sinners. The nature of sinners is that they have a sinful nature, so the good news is that God gives them a new heart. Sinners are born dead in sins and trespasses, so the good news is that God gives them life. Sinners are born in bondage to sin, so the good news is that God purchases them from their bondage. Sinners are born slaves of sin and of the devil, so the good news is that God releases them from their slavery. Sinners are locked into the world in the sense that they follow the path of the world which is following the prince of the power of the air, so the good news is that God takes them from following the world and now they have a new King to follow. Sinners are under the dominion and power of darkness, so the good news is that God translates them from that dominion into the kingdom of His Beloved Son. Sinners are born under the curse of the law, so the good news is that God delivers from that and gives them a kingdom of grace.

Clearly, then, there is a huge difference between an unbeliever and a believer, though indeed saved sinners will see more corruption in their own hearts than they can see in others. As one is given more light the more sin s/he will see in themselves. But the difference is real and it is huge. This is to say that there must be a real repentance and it will be a willing repentance from the inner person, though again there is a battle to fight and a war with the flesh, the world, and the devil. This does not mean that believers will have an easy life with sin nor does it mean that they will be close to perfect for one minute. But it is to say that they have a new heart, a new nature, a new King, and a new life.

Scripture is quit clear that a true believer is a new creature in Christ Jesus and is not longer the same person. When God gives a person a new heart, a new mind, and a new controlling love, those people are different than they were before. The good news (or at least an aspect) of Scripture is that God does change people and deliver them from themselves, the devil, and the world. Instead of being joined to the world, the believer has been joined to Christ and is one with Christ. Instead of being united (one joined with) to or married to the world, we are united and married to Christ. Instead of the world and its thinking controlling us, we are compelled by the love of Christ.

Instead of acting for worldly ends, we now (to some degree) are to seek the glory of God in what eat, drink, or whatever we do. God is now our primary/chief end or goal in what we do. Instead of being a slave to the world and attached to the interests of the world, we are now attached to the interests of Christ and His kingdom. Instead of being oppressed with the cares of the world, believers have their thoughts on the things of Christ and His kingdom. Instead of being devoted to the pleasures of the world, believers live for Christ alone and have true joy in Christ as given by the Holy Spirit. These things are both inward and outward, but there is a huge difference.

As long as people deny this real repentance of the inward man which comes with a new heart and an indwelling Christ, they are rejecting and explaining away the Gospel of grace alone. This great change is not because people work hard, but instead this great change is by grace alone. Sinners are taken out of bondage and are given a participation of life and holiness in Christ which is life itself. The Gospel has promises of Christ and of grace, yet as long as people are joined to the world they show that they are not united to Christ and do not have indwelling grace. Real repentance is not a work, but instead it is a free gift of God in taking His people out of slavery and bringing them into the kingdom of His beloved Son. A message that denies that is not the Gospel of grace alone.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

‘Till we are so convinced of sin, as fully to pronounce the sentence of condemnation upon ourselves, we shall not receive mercy, as mercy, but consider it as a debt. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

The statement by Adam just above is liable to misunderstanding on at least two sides. One, some will think that until one says the words that one is under condemnation that one is not ready to receive mercy. Two, others will think that in some way this self-condemnation is a type of work that one must do. However, neither of those two points is in line with Scripture or the writings of Thomas Adam. Since we are trying to think of real repentance in terms of an inner repentance, in some way the issue should be relatively clear. However, the deceiver is always at work in the area of spiritual Christianity or the life of the inner man.

The soul must become so convinced of sin, which points to the inability of man in his depravity to do good at all apart from Christ, that it sees that it is only worthy of a sentence of condemnation. Instead of viewing some good things that it does as a balancing sin, this soul arrives at a point where it sees that even its righteous acts are as filthy rags. Instead of viewing itself as having some sin and some good things in the religious acts that it does, it sees that its religious acts are vile in the sight of God because they too are done out of pride and self-love. The soul must arrive at the point where it truly sees that all it does is sinful and nothing but sinful before it can be rescued by mercy and nothing but mercy.

Mercy, in terms of definition, is relieving the misery of those who are unable to relieve their own misery. The soul that is not willing to pronounce condemnation upon itself, then, is able to relieve itself and so is not in need of mercy. The soul that does not think it is worthy of being condemned does not think of itself in need of mercy. Mercy is not just helping people in order to make it easier, or mercy is not just helping a person do something that is just out of their reach, but biblical and Divine mercy is to rescue those who are in utter need of rescuing and can do nothing to help themselves. Divine mercy reaches out to those who are dead in sins and trespasses instead of those who are a little sick or even quite sick.

Real repentance is when a person repents of the sins of the inner person but also of its sinful nature and sinful, unbelieving heart. This turning from self to Christ and from a nature that is at enmity to God to where one loves God is not an act that sinners can help with. Divine mercy reaches those who are dead and makes them alive. It is when sinners are made alive in Christ that sinners can and do truly repent. The command to repent is not a command that a person can do in his or her own natural strength, but instead it is a command to do what we cannot do unless God grants mercy to us and grants us a new heart.

The sinner that has not arrived at the inner conviction of the depths of his or her sinful nature and sin that flows from that nature has not arrived at an understanding or conviction of his sin. Corresponding to that, the sinner has not arrived at a real understanding of Divine mercy and is in reality just asking for help rather than to be saved by the mercy and grace of God alone. This shows us how far modern versions of the Gospel and of sin are removed from the biblical Gospel and teaching on sin. Not only do we just try to get people admit that they are sinners rather than to teach them and urge them to seek the Lord to teach their inner man what desperate sinners they really are, but we try to get them to say a prayer or walk an aisle as if that moves God to have mercy on them. Real repentance requires a real understanding of sin from the depths of the soul and for a person to know that s/he deserves nothing but eternal flames. It is only when a person arrives at that point in truth can a person look to Divine mercy in truth. Real repentance requires a real turning from self and pride and looking to Christ alone to save as He is pleased. Real repentance requires a new heart that is the work of mercy and grace alone. Real repentance comes when a proud, condemned soul is turned and becomes a humble and delivered soul.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

Generally speaking, it is to be feared we do not dread sin, but the punishment of it; and yet till we hate sin, as such, and feel our misery under it, it is vain to talk of repentance. Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

It used to be the case that sin was thought of in terms of pride, self-love, and self-centeredness. When one considers Romans 3:23 and the teaching that sin is falling short of the glory of God, it is seen that man does not love God and seek His glory in what he does, but instead man seeks his own glory rather than God’s. Man loves himself rather than God and is centered upon himself rather than God. When this is seen, real repentance is no longer just external acts which are considered bad, but real repentance is for God to change the heart and for those who have truly repented to hate sin as sin rather than just to dread the punishment of sin.

Unconverted sinners are full of pride and self, which means that their hearts are all about themselves and the things they want and the things they want to avoid. The unconverted sinner (and that can include very religious people) will avoid sin, but s/he will not avoid sin out of a hatred for sin as sin, but will avoid sin for the fear of getting caught and the punishment of it. The unconverted sinner can avoid a lot of sin out of a fear of punishment or perhaps a fear of being seen by others as a sinner. The unconverted sinner, however, is still operating under the power or pride and self-love. While it seems to be the case in modern versions of Christianity that as long as people seem to stop their outward sin that they are viewed as having repented, that is simply a soul-damning teaching. Real repentance has only happened in reality when the heart has been changed. One sign of that change is when a person begins to hate sin as sin and sin as against God.

In the Matthew 3:7-9 passage above, John tells them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Real repentance will show a certain kind of fruit and a false or deceptive repentance will bear a certain type of fruit as well. Sensitive souls, however, will note that their hearts are not perfect and so will be concerned that they have not repented when they have. On the other hand, proud hearts will be quite sure that they have truly repented when they have not. It is vital to note that a true repentance does not mean that a person has repented of everything 100% and is now perfect and will now love God with all of his or her being all of the time and will hate all sin with all of the heart all of the time. As a fruit tree will not bear fruit that is 100% perfect 100% of the time, so Christ gives sinners a new heart and yet leaves enough of the flesh in them that they should be humbled from self and depend on Him and on Him alone.

What must be noted is that a real repentance has occurred when there is some love for God as God in the soul and some (even a small amount) hatred for sin as sin is in the soul. In the soul that has truly repented there will always be mixed loves and mixed hatred for sin. The question is not whether it is mixed, but is there something of a real repentance in the soul. The sensitive soul that has truly been granted a real repentance will see the pride and self-love that are left and think that s/he may not be converted. But that sensitive soul, even though it may be through tears and doubts, should look to the mixture and take strong notice that it is a mixture. The question is not whether we have a perfect repentance or not, but whether we have a perfect Savior or not. We have a perfect Savior and it is His work in life, His suffering and death, and His resurrection which saves sinners. Those who have Christ are perfect in the sight of God because of Christ. If Christ is our life, then there will be evidences of Christ in the soul who is our life. He will manifest Himself by working a true love for God in us and giving us a growing distaste for sin as sin and sin as against God.

The proud heart, however, misunderstands the things of God and so concludes that s/he is saved. The proud heart will think it loves God because it has high feelings for God because it thinks that God has saved it. Yet the sinful heart loves those that it thinks love it. The proud heart will hate sin out of self-love and the damage it might to its own honor, yet this is out of nothing but self-love and so it does not hate sin as sin. The proud heart will hate sin in one sense because it thinks it should and because its creed may say that it should. This proud heart has a repentance that it will repent of sooner or later because it is not a true repentance granted it by grace alone. It is nothing but the works of self and self-love. Since it has not been turned from self-love, all it does is from that self-love and so all of its outward repentances are from self-love rather than love for God.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

The repentance which precedes faith, consists chiefly of a sense of danger and a fear of punishment; but when we come to have a lively apprehension of pardoning love, and our adoption in Christ, it is a genuine filial sorrow for having offended God. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion, International Outreach)

We have looked at the repentance which precedes faith in the last couple of posts, but there is also a repentance that comes with faith. While the repentance that precedes faith “consists chiefly of a sense of danger and a fear of punishment” and involves fleeing from sin because of the danger, real repentance occurs in the inward man and happens because of love and a true sorrow (filial) for sin as against God. This is a profound statement by Thomas Adam. It really gets at the issue between a legal or outward repentance and a true or real repentance.

Instead of men repenting from outward things in an outward way from self-love, true repentance is when men repent of outward and inward things from a love for God. Instead of men repenting of outward things in an outward way from a fear of punishment, real repentance is when men repent of outward and inward things from a love for God and a sorrow for offending God. Outward repentance is from self-love and real repentance is from love for God. Outward repentance, being from love of self, can be repented of when love for self changes its perspective. Real repentance, being from love for God, cannot be repented of since it is God who works in the soul to persevere. There is a profound difference between the two.

Men who have a fierce self-love and a strong self-will can become very religious and externally moral and be quite deceived from their external repentance and morality. But they have not repented from their chief sin which is an unbelieving heart that loves self and does all for self in reality. These men can become ministers and professors at colleges and seminaries, but that does not mean that they have really repented and have Christ. The Pharisees had a strong pride and a strong self-love and they had a strong external form of holiness, but they did not have a real repentance and a real faith in Christ. A man that has a fierce self-love and a strong self-will is really a person that loves self and lives for self, which is to say that all of that man’s religion is idolatry and is from unbelief.

We are given many examples of men who believed (they say) and have had great transformations in their moral lives, but later on they fell away. These are given as illustrations or examples of men who have lost their salvation, of men who are now professing atheists, and of why religion does not work. They are simply illustrations and examples of men who were satisfied or deceived with an external repentance instead of seeking the Lord for a real repentance. These men are classic examples of why we must make the distinctions between outward repentance and real repentance clear to the people. When we take the first sign of repentance as a sign of salvation, we are setting ourselves and others up for a great deception.

It is interesting that professing churches that want to be careful about those they let into membership (which is a noble and good goal) set out standards, but usually those standards are for an outward repentance. Let us also remember that an outward repentance that is only from self-love also has an accompanying deception. Since Scripture tells us that people love those who love themselves, the deceived person that thinks that s/he has repented will think that s/he loves God and will tell many of their love for God. But that love for God is not the true love from God but instead is only fueled by self-love. When the fuel of self-love runs out because they think God fails them, that person will spin off to another way to love self.

Real repentance is fueled by love for God and that love only comes from God. So true love never fails, though indeed it can wax and wane according to the sovereign hand of God. Real repentance is to repent of self-love, so the turns from God that self-love will work are avoided to some degree. A real repentance is also the work of God so a real repenter is one that continues to repent as grace and love are worked into the soul by God. Real repentance means that Christ is now the life of the soul and that the soul lives by grace. Real repentance now has real faith which means that the soul receives and lives by grace whereas false faith lives by trust in self and love for self. The difference is simply profound, yet in the modern day this difference appears to be lost and so many who repent of external things only are truly lost. This is one reasons why the modern professing Church is so much like the world, and that is because without real repentance it is the world.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

The repentance which precedes faith, consists chiefly of a sense of danger and a fear of punishment; but when we come to have a lively apprehension of pardoning love, and our adoption in Christ, it is a genuine filial sorrow for having offended God. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion, International Outreach)

The evangelism of the modern day does not realize or recognize that there are two kinds types of repentance taught in Scripture. There is the repentance that men have that they repent of, then there is the godly sorrow that brings a repentance that is not to be repented of (II Cor 7). We also know that Esau repented in an outward way and yet he sought repentance with tears and was still rejected. He was not granted true repentance. But modern evangelists, not recognizing the inward nature of true repentance, settle for the outward repentance as a sign that a person has prayed a prayer or will pray a prayer. Sadly, it appears that few even look for any kind of repentance at all.

Jonathan Edwards spoke of a legal repentance and an evangelical repentance. This is a vital distinction for those who wish to be physicians of sick souls or those who think they are converted when they are not. There is a turning from outward sin or having some distress over outward sin and yet it is not a godly sorrow and as such is not a real repentance because it is the outward man alone and the inward man remains unchanged. As the Pharisees and the Sadducees in the text above supposed, they had Abraham for their father and they were very religious. But as Jesus said later, they were like whitewashed tombs full of dead bones.

Despite all the negative things that have been said and should be said about outward repentance, this can still be an important part of the soul as Christ leads that soul to Himself. This is seen below in the answer to Westminster Shorter Catechism question 31, what is effectual calling?

A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

According to this question and answer, part of the effectual calling is when God’s Spirit convinces men of their sin and misery. It is at this point (and others) that modern evangelism falls far short. Men must know of their sin and misery before they can understand the true nature of what Christ has done in the Gospel. If men are not convinced of their sin and misery, they will not be convinced of Christ and His glory. During the time that men are being convinced of sin and misery, they will try to repent and they will have several efforts at a legal repentance. They will try to repent of outward sin and yet they will keep falling into it. Until the Spirit enables them to embrace Christ by His renewing work of regeneration, these people will continue to make efforts at legal repentance. It is vital, therefore, for men to understand that there is a repentance before faith and it is not a repentance that necessarily comes with conversion.

As with all religious men who have not been truly converted to Christ, they will make many efforts at achieving repentance, faith, and salvation in their own strength. When Christ awakens men to their danger of damnation, their first thought and first action is to try to escape that damnation by exerting themselves in their own strength and power. If the Spirit does not regenerate these religious men or they never see beyond what they can do in their own strength and power, they may (many do) put forth a great effort in the thing of religion. They can become pastors, elders, and missionaries and yet be in the service of self and pride rather than Christ and His grace. They can become scholars and professors at seminaries and yet have nothing but an outward repentance. The failure to understand that men will try to repent and actually have an external repentance without true faith and regeneration is a colossal deception by which many souls are deceived. True regeneration precedes true repentance.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

The law is not satisfied by an outward observation of it, but by the inward disposition of the heart; we break it as much by a bare outward keeping of it only, as by living in an avowed neglect of it. Perhaps the best of men may find, upon consideration, that they never performed one act of true and pure obedience in all their lives. What conviction is here and what a terrible blow is this to our pride! (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion, International Outreach)

It is vital for people to understand the true nature of sin in order to understand the true nature of repentance. If one thinks of sin as simply external actions, then repentance is nothing more than to refrain from an external action. But once one begins to understand the spiritual nature of the law, things begin to change. If the law has a spiritual nature and reaches the depths of our souls, then real repentance must be spiritual and reach the depths of our souls as well. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about how much they misunderstood the real intent of the Law when they did not take it to the inner man. They thought of adultery as the external actions, but Jesus instructed them and us that if we lust in our hearts we have committed adultery.

This is simply shattering to the person who thinks of sin as in the external actions alone. A person can be very chaste and outwardly moral and yet commit adultery with thousands and thousands of people in his or her heart. A person can be very moral and even religious and not realize that minute after minute his heart is committing spiritual adultery against God over and over again. The law is far more concerned with the inward disposition of the heart than it is just the external actions. When the soul of a person comes to the realization of this, it can be quite the shattering experience. But even more, when the person begins to deeply understand that this is the very nature of his or her heart, this person will be crushed and see that s/he has no righteousness in self.

The inward devastation reaches far and wide to those who begin to understand the spiritual nature of the Law and then to understand how it speaks to the very condition of his or her heart. These people will begin to see that the spiritual nature of the Law speaks to the sins that are actually carried out and committed, but they will then have their heart opened to them and they will see their sins of omission as well. They will see that they have sinned by not loving God with all of their being and all of the things that they have not done. When the eyes of the soul are opened by God and He shines His holy light in the soul and a man or woman sees with great horror that s/he has never performed one act of true obedience or true holiness, that person is utterly devastated. Their righteousness unravels like that of Isaiah in the presence of a thrice holy God.

What can a person do when the Lord in His great kindness shows us our sin like that? A person can only cry out to the Lord for mercy and grace because that person has no way of turning from sin since sin is the nature of the regenerate and that person has no real ability to do anything but sin. There is no way to pay for sin with sin and there is no way to turn from sin by turning from one sin to another. Oh how the soul feels its conviction at this point and sees itself with horror and anguish. The pride of a person is crushed by this but certainly not eradicated. What can I do cries the person who has his or her eyes opened? How can I stand before God on that day?

Yes, the soul must have a true repentance but that can only happen from the heart and by grace. The heart must be changed from a proud heart that loves self and lives for self to a person that loves God and lives for His glory. The heart must have a new fountain, source, and object of its love and desires. Real repentance is when God turns the heart from it being a throne of self to being a throne of God. Real repentance is when the soul is turned from exalting self in its own eyes and turned to exalting God. Real repentance is when the soul is turned from pride as the chief motive in the heart to God being the chief motive in the heart. Real repentance can only come when Christ is the teacher in the soul and the soul learns from Him more about the Father and what true humility and meekness is. Real repentance is when the soul mourns for the presence of self and pride when before it mourned that it could not have the desires of self and pride. Real repentance requires all, but grace must do the work.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

The law is not satisfied by an outward observation of it, but by the inward disposition of the heart; we break it as much by a bare outward keeping of it only, as by living in an avowed neglect of it. Perhaps the best of men may find, upon consideration, that they never performed one act of true and pure obedience in all their lives. What conviction is here and what a terrible blow is this to our pride! (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion, International Outreach)

We live in a day where repentance is thought of (when at all) as a person simply stopping an external action. It is as easy to do as an act of the will, they say. Faith, which is grossly misunderstood as a simple act of the will or choice as well, is also so easy to do in the modern world. The Pharisees seemed to think the same thing as well, that is, that religion consisted in the external actions. They could hardly be more wrong. While the external actions can be a reflection of the fact that a heart has not been changed and so a true repentance has not occurred, the simple matter of an external change does not reflect that an inward change has occurred.

John the Baptist referred to the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the most religious groups of his day) as a “brood of vipers.” Surely, they thought, he does not know what he is talking about. But John told them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, which is to say that they had not truly repented from the heart. The Pharisees were so concerned about the small things of the law and keeping the legal requirements of it, but they were blind to the true nature of the law and the true nature of holiness. It would appear that their blindness continues in religious institutions across the land (and world). The external focus on repentance and external behavior continues to this day. The nature of inward and spiritual Christianity seems to have been lost. The commands of God reach the inner man, Christ dwells in the inner man, and the Holy Spirit works His fruit in the inner man.

The Pharisees were so stringent about the outer man keeping the commandments, yet John called them a brood of vipers. He told them that they could not look to Abraham, but instead they were to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. But of course they thought that they had nothing to repent of. But are we any different (essentially) in the modern day? For some the issue is praying a prayer, walking an aisle, or something like that and having the slightest bit of moral change (if at all) and all is thought to be good. For others, it seems to consist in ascribing to a creed, doing the sacraments, and living a moral life. But the real issue is that for both the religious actions are nothing but external issues.

What a person must come to the realization of is that not only MUST there be a repentance of external things; it is the heart that MUST repent as well. It is the inward part of a person that must be turned from love of sin and of the world. It is the inward part of a person that must be turned from love of self and pride. It is the inward parts of a person that must love God and seek His face with some earnest desire. It is not enough to refrain from the outward actions when the inward person is violating the whole law each moment of his or her existence. It is not enough to put a piece of gauze over a gaping bullet wound to the abdomen, but there must be work done to repair the damage that the bullet did to the inside of the person. The main damage that a bullet does is to the inward parts, but so is sin. Unless sin is dealt with on the inside, there is no real dealing with it at all.

One of the great problems with dealing with sin in the inner man, however, is that man cannot change his own sinful heart and nature. It is when men start dealing with their own hearts in truth that they will begin to see that it takes grace to change the heart and it takes grace to truly repent from the heart. Man no more has the ability to repent from the heart as he does to jump over the moon with no mechanical help. As a man cannot create himself in the first place, so he cannot make himself a new creature in Christ Jesus. When the whole law is seen as essentially internal and of the heart, it is then that man may come to the conclusion (as the quote above) that he has done nothing but sin his whole life even in the best things he has done. When men see that their sin is of the inner man and is of their nature, they see that true repentance is in the depths of the soul and must be by Divine power.
3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

The law is not satisfied by an outward observation of it, but by the inward disposition of the heart; we break it as much by a bare outward keeping of it only, as by living in an avowed neglect of it. Perhaps the best of men may find, upon consideration, that they never performed one act of true and pure obedience in all their lives. What conviction is here and what a terrible blow is this to our pride! (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion, International Outreach)

We live in a day where repentance is thought of (when at all) as a person simply stopping an external action. It is as easy to do as an act of the will, they say. Faith, which is grossly misunderstood as a simple act of the will or choice as well, is also so easy to do in the modern world. The Pharisees seemed to think the same thing as well, that is, that religion consisted in the external actions. They could hardly be more wrong. While the external actions can be a reflection of the fact that a heart has not been changed and so a true repentance has not occurred, the simple matter of an external change does not reflect that an inward change has occurred.

John the Baptist referred to the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the most religious groups of his day) as a “brood of vipers.” Surely, they thought, he does not know what he is talking about. But John told them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, which is to say that they had not truly repented from the heart. The Pharisees were so concerned about the small things of the law and keeping the legal requirements of it, but they were blind to the true nature of the law and the true nature of holiness. It would appear that their blindness continues in religious institutions across the land (and world). The external focus on repentance and external behavior continues to this day. The nature of inward and spiritual Christianity seems to have been lost. The commands of God reach the inner man, Christ dwells in the inner man, and the Holy Spirit works His fruit in the inner man.

The Pharisees were so stringent about the outer man keeping the commandments, yet John called them a brood of vipers. He told them that they could not look to Abraham, but instead they were to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. But of course they thought that they had nothing to repent of. But are we any different (essentially) in the modern day? For some the issue is praying a prayer, walking an aisle, or something like that and having the slightest bit of moral change (if at all) and all is thought to be good. For others, it seems to consist in ascribing to a creed, doing the sacraments, and living a moral life. But the real issue is that for both the religious actions are nothing but external issues.

What a person must come to the realization of is that not only MUST there be a repentance of external things; it is the heart that MUST repent as well. It is the inward part of a person that must be turned from love of sin and of the world. It is the inward part of a person that must be turned from love of self and pride. It is the inward parts of a person that must love God and seek His face with some earnest desire. It is not enough to refrain from the outward actions when the inward person is violating the whole law each moment of his or her existence. It is not enough to put a piece of gauze over a gaping bullet wound to the abdomen, but there must be work done to repair the damage that the bullet did to the inside of the person. The main damage that a bullet does is to the inward parts, but so is sin. Unless sin is dealt with on the inside, there is no real dealing with it at all.

One of the great problems with dealing with sin in the inner man, however, is that man cannot change his own sinful heart and nature. It is when men start dealing with their own hearts in truth that they will begin to see that it takes grace to change the heart and it takes grace to truly repent from the heart. Man no more has the ability to repent from the heart as he does to jump over the moon with no mechanical help. As a man cannot create himself in the first place, so he cannot make himself a new creature in Christ Jesus. When the whole law is seen as essentially internal and of the heart, it is then that man may come to the conclusion (as the quote above) that he has done nothing but sin his whole life even in the best things he has done. When men see that their sin is of the inner man and is of their nature, they see that true repentance is in the depths of the soul and must be by Divine power.