Real Repentance 40

August 14, 2015

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.

It is a hard thing, and a sore conflict, to renounce all sin, as sin, fully, finally, irrevocably; and probably many of those who think they do, never tried it, and are hidden from themselves. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

Adam points out that it may be that many of those who think that they have renounced sin have never tried it and are hidden from themselves. This is very sobering. While it must be made clear as we can make it that repentance does not and cannot bring free-grace but instead free-grace works repentance, yet repentance must be there. Without a real repentance we will perish and there is simply no question about that among those who hold to the glorious doctrines of grace. But again, it is a very hard thing and there is much conflict in the soul as God works in us to show us our sin and then for our hearts to be broken from self-effort renouncing sin in order that our renunciation of sin would be full.

This is not to say that a person that renounces all sin will be sinless or even remotely close to it. What it is saying, or at least as I perceive it, is that a person must renounce all sin as to what it is and then as sin is exposed the person will seek the Lord for grace to turn from that sin. That is not inconsistent with a person being turned over to sin several times over a period of years that the person may learn that s/he is far from perfect. While our hearts may reach the point of renouncing all sin that is far from meaning that we have the power to overcome all sin. This is an important distinction that we must be aware of. It is also the case that only those who have renounced sin will seek the Lord for the power to really overcome the power of sin.

It is also an important point that the sinner must renounce sin as sin. Many people will renounce moral evils because of the harm it does to people or because of the harm it brings to self. Many people will renounce certain moral evils because it is good for them to do so, but that is not the same thing as renouncing sin as sin. Many others will renounce sin in the name of religion and in the name of their branch of religion, but once again that is far from renouncing sin as sin. Many people will renounce a certain amount of sin, usually what they are comfortable with, but they will not renounce all sin. Still there are some who renounce a lot of sin and yet all of that sin is what they have the power to stop and it does not get at their idols of the heart. Sin must be renounced for what sin is and not renounced only for the harm it brings me or the religious attention it might bring me.

In order to renounce sin as sin God must be at work in the heart by His grace in order to conform the desires of the heart to Himself. While Scripture gives us several definitions or aspects of sin, we know that sin as sin is directed at God Himself in its primary relation. We are told that sin is to be at enmity with God and we are also told that sin is to fall short of the glory of God. Sin is to choose self and the loves of self rather than to have a heart that is oriented toward God and loves God. If we are to renounce sin as sin, therefore, we must renounce the enmity in our heart toward God as God and seek the Lord for a heart that will bow in utter submission to Him. If we are to renounce sin as sin then we must seek the Lord for grace to renounce all that we do for self out of self-love and seek Him for grace that all we do would be out of love for Him and His glory. If we are to renounce sin as our heart being oriented toward self, then we must seek the Lord for a great love for Him that all we do would be out of love for Him and that self would long to be tread upon in the dust that His glory would shine forth.

Real repentance requires our hearts to be broken from self and the love of self. Real repentance requires our hearts to be truly turned from the world and self to God. Real repentance requires a lifetime of repentance to where the heart will constantly be broken from self and to seek His glory. Real repentance is so hard that it is rarely even considered much less sought for. Real repentance is so far above the power of man that it takes light from the Lord to see what it really is. Real repentance is hidden from so many that many religious people think that they have attained it when in fact they are far from it. Real repentance is a gift of God and can only be worked in the soul by His power and free-grace. Real repentance cannot be the work of human effort as that is only self and self-love working, so it is only by free-grace and free-grace alone.

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Free Grace 17

August 13, 2015

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

Galatians 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

There is a huge difference between the one who preaches free-grace and the one who preaches faith alone in the modern way and sense. The way of faith alone focuses on the sinner and the need of the sinner to have faith, so the Arminian and the Calvinist (in name) can use the same type of preaching and say they have the same Gospel. Perhaps they do, but that is not the same Gospel as the Gospel of free-grace alone. The Gospel of free-grace focuses on the need of the sinner in light of the glory of God, but its real focus is on the God who alone can give a new heart which is a believing heart. The modern focus is on faith and the need of faith, yet the older way focuses on God and His ability to give the faith that is needed. The modern way is really just another man-centered method while the old way is the God-centered Gospel of free-grace. The modern way puts the focus on man and so man focuses on himself to come up with the faith that is needed, the older way focuses on God because He alone can save sinners and He alone can give a new heart. The differences, once again, are huge.

Some people don’t seem to see the huge differences between these two views. One could argue that they are simply blinded by the same language and cannot see beyond the words. On the other hand, it can also be argued that the real issue is the disagreement over the underlying theology. The Arminian is comfortable using words like “faith” and “grace” as long as they are used in a certain way, and for some reason modern Calvinists are comfortable using the same words in much the same way. When a person stresses the sovereignty of God and free-grace, however, the Arminian and the modern Calvinists will stand together against what they perceive as hyper-Calvinism. Without denying that there is such a thing as hyper-Calvinism, it is interesting that the Reformers, the Puritans, and many of the older Baptist writers were quite opposed to Arminianism and would not stand with them in their use of the words “faith” and “grace.” In the older days there were many volumes written specifically against the Arminian teaching. Perhaps, then, we should begin to wonder if modern Arminians and modern Calvinists are really standing together against old Calvinism or against the biblical teaching of free-grace.

Martin Luther wrote that unless a man had been humbled enough to where he denied his own free-will he was not ready to be saved. I would argue that when Luther wrote that a man is saved by grace alone through faith alone he was arguing for free-grace alone. When Luther argued that for grace to be grace it must be sovereign grace, he was arguing for free-grace. When Luther argued for justification by faith alone, he was arguing for free-grace alone. Words are important and even vital, so we must argue for the meaning of words and the concepts behind words in order to use words properly and to be sure we are communicating properly. I would argue that the words or term “faith alone” are being used differently than Luther used them and in fact are being used to set forth heresy in our day. I would also argue the same for “grace alone” as well. Words that were used to set out orthodoxy are being used in our day to set out heresy. We must get to the meanings of concepts that the words either use or even hide.

We must never think of faith as anything less than what God can work in the soul of man and He will only do that by grace. We must never think of grace as anything less than what God sovereignly and freely gives to man apart from anything man can be or do. Our theology and the Gospel that we preach must never contradict or go against the true meaning of faith and grace, but instead our theology and the Gospel we preach must flow in accordance with the true meaning of faith and grace because only then will they be in accordance with the truth of who God is. The Gospel is never contingent upon the response of man, but instead man’s response is always contingent upon God and His glorious grace. The glorious doctrine of God’s sovereign and free-grace will always oppose and militate against any doctrine that makes anything contingent upon man and his response. Men must learn to look to God alone for faith instead of self. Men must learn to look to God for believing hearts that they may believe. Despite using the same words, modern Calvinists (not all, but most) have joined with Arminians against free-grace. Regardless of what language is used, even when the language is biblical, when the content and meaning of what they are saying is not biblical, they are in great error.

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Free Grace 16

August 12, 2015

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

The Divine music is that of the glory of free-grace in saving sinners. God saves sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:5-7) and that is the only hope of any awakened sinner. Those whose hearts have not been the object of the convicting work of the Spirit may indeed believe that grace saves, but only those whose hearts have been worked on by the Spirit and delivered from any hope in self and self-righteousness (including the self-righteousness of a self-wrought faith) truly look to Christ alone by free-grace alone. The words of Scripture are that God will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy and He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious. This is the Divine music to the ears of those who have seen the light and have no hope in self.

The so-called “Gospel” that is proclaimed today in conservative and Reformed circles is one that is contingent upon faith. That is important to note. What should be proclaimed in accordance with Scripture and the Reformation teaching is that faith is contingent upon the grace of God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and of a true message of grace alone is not contingent upon anything in man or worked up by man. Man comes to God utterly undone and without anything in him or about him to commend himself to God. Man should seek the Lord for the gift of faith knowing that his seeking the Lord has no merit and will not make God more likely to save him, but it is fitting that man would seek the Lord and it is also one way the Lord uses to break man from his stubborn pride and hope in his own self-righteousness.

While the Scripture does teach the importance of faith, it never attributes salvation to men because they believe. The present preaching of the Gospel is all about what the Father has decided from eternity, what the Son has accomplished in time past, and what the Spirit applies in the present time. The Gospel is about the working of the triune God and must never focus on men and what he is to do in order to be saved. The sovereign work of the Spirit in regenerating sinners does not depend on the faith of men, but the faith of men can only come by the work of the Spirit in regenerating them and giving them believing (faithing) hearts. When we reverse the two things, faith and regeneration, we end up with something other than a free-grace and have a message where the salvation of men is contingent upon their own faith.

In the previous BLOG (Free Grace 15) I said that “Christ saves sinners quite apart from any faith they have in themselves or any faith they can place in Him.” What I meant by that statement is that sinners are not saved because of their faith and that they have no faith to put in Him. Instead of that, Christ saves sinners from their unbelieving hearts and gives them new hearts that are believing hearts. The Lord Jesus does not wait until sinners come up with a believing heart, but instead He gives them believing hearts and dwells in those hearts. Romans 4:16 is so clear that the reason we are saved by faith is in order that it may be by grace. This is an enormously important statement verse to grapple with. First, the word “by” must be understood. It can mean “because of” or it can mean “by means of” or “through.” If we say sinners are saved because of their faith, then obviously sinners are saved because of a work of faith that they have come up with. If we say that sinners are saved through faith, then even then we can mean at least a couple of different things.

What we must understand, however, is that God saves sinners and uses faith to save them in order that salvation would be by free-grace alone. Romans 4:5 puts it this way: “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” It is only to those who do not work for salvation or try to work up something to be saved on account of that who really believe in Him who justifies the ungodly. It is only those who have a type of faith that does not work or trust in itself in any way that have a faith that is credited as righteousness. Why is that faith credited as righteousness? It is not because the person worked up faith by himself, but it is because a person with true faith that comes as a gift of God has Christ as his righteousness. The person with true faith does not look to himself for that faith, but instead that faith comes to him as a gift and once a person has true faith that person has Christ. A true faith, which is given as a gift, cannot be separated from Christ. Therefore, a person with true faith will always have Christ. The Gospel, then, is always by free-grace alone and can never come because a person has faith, but instead a person has faith given by free-grace and that person looks to no one but Christ alone as his righteousness and for all things.

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Free Grace 15

August 11, 2015

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

Lamentations 2:14 Your prophets have seen for you False and foolish visions; And they have not exposed your iniquity So as to restore you from captivity, But they have seen for you false and misleading oracles.

In reflecting upon the state of preaching in our modern world it would appear that God has sent His judgment upon us. It is with an aching heart that I have heard sermon after sermon in the past years and I wonder why the living God has not been preached and why Christ and His cross was not exalted. I have heard a series of sermons on external morality or things that I must believe, but even in ostensibly Reformed churches I leave hungry for Christ and for the glory of God in Christ. I leave hungry for spiritual food as the message or talk has been on what I should do. I leave hungry because I have heard of all the conditions that I must meet rather than the free-grace of God which alone can work in me to meet any condition at all. My soul is longs to feed upon Christ and the glory of God in Christ which comes to sinners by free-grace alone, but alas I leave with hunger pains.

It is also true that I long to have my sin exposed by a faithful preacher who will not only tell me the external sins, but will preach to the inner sins of the heart and of the soul. When preachers do not expose iniquity (as in Lamentations above), then there is no restoration into the presence of God. When preachers to not take pains with their own hearts as they deal with Scripture, they will not expose sin as it should be exposed and so sanctification is stifled. When preachers do not take pains to deal with the sinful hearts of people, they will not take pains to expose the sins of pride and self-righteousness in the hearts of men and women and as such there is simply no way for them to preach free-grace.

It is a sad thing in our nation (and world) today that sin is essentially thought of as outward morality. Linked with that, then, what we see is men teaching an outward repentance and virtually and outward grace. Conditional grace is the cry of the pulpit today and conditional grace is what is taught for both unbelievers and professing believer. Over and over I hear that unbelievers are to place their faith in Christ in order to be saved. What faith does an unbeliever have? An unbeliever only has faith in self and so is the unbeliever to place his faith in self to have faith in Christ? Oh what a terrible state we are in! Christ saves sinners quite apart from any faith they have in themselves or any faith they can place in Him, though indeed that will sound heretical to some people. In the glorious Gospel of Christ alone and His free-grace part of the full salvation that Christ gives is to give His people faith. This is an important and even vital distinction.

The reason that the point made in the previous paragraph is important is because Christ does not save sinners based on a condition that they meet or can meet. Sinners should be told that they must look to Christ to give them faith rather than to place their faith in Christ. If I have a faith that I already have before Christ and I am to place that faith in Christ, then that is no longer salvation by faith alone as Luther taught. Luther taught that salvation is by faith alone because it defended the doctrine of grace alone or sovereign grace alone. Salvation is by a free-grace alone and that means there is no condition on my part or condition that I can work up in my own strength. I have nothing to commend myself to Christ and I have nothing with which to come to Christ with. It is a free-grace alone that can work conviction of sin in my heart, break my heart from pride and self, and then regenerate that heart and make it a believing heart. The Bible does not tell us to place our faith in Christ, but it tells us to be believing (literally, faithing) in Christ. This is to say that faith is not a once and done thing, it is a continuing action because Christ is united to and lives in the hearts of those who have faith and He gives them that “faithing.”

The modern day knows something of the word “grace” and perhaps something of the theology of that “grace”, but the modern day seems to be virtually clueless about a real grace or a free-grace. In sermon after sermon I hear of the conditions of grace, though some do not use that language. However, the concept is clearly there. As long as ministers refuse to give up or simply remain in the darkness of a conditional grace, they will be delivering false and misleading oracles. When we understand that the group designated as “wicked sinners” includes religious sinners and very moral people (at least outwardly), we will begin to see the utter futility of most preaching today. The hearts of men are not stripped to sheer nakedness and people do not see the horror of their inability and so they keep striving in their own strength. Some who strive in their own strength are the modern Reformed people who are really Arminians in a different dress (using differing words). The modern Reformed and the Arminian can get along because they are basically preaching the same thing. The glorious doctrines of free-grace, however, will bring the wrath of the Arminian and the modern Reformed. The same thing (in a sense) happened in both the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Reformation. Oh to hear the glorious Savior spoken of in the Divine language of free-grace alone!

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Real Repentance 39

August 11, 2015

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.

It is a hard thing, and a sore conflict, to renounce all sin, as sin, fully, finally, irrevocably; and probably many of those who think they do, never tried it, and are hidden from themselves. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

Real repentance is not a simple thing and far from easy. It is so hard that it requires the very denial of self and that is impossible for self to do, so real repentance is impossible for the self to do. Real repentance, then, has to come from a greater power than the power of self and free-will. There can be no real doubt for those who have dealt with sin seriously and spiritually that the only way to repent in truth is by the blood of Christ and free-grace. Real repentance is not as simply as an act of the will or saying a prayer or making a decision, real repentance is the work of God in the human soul. Oh, someone might say, if God does it then it is easy. No, that is far from the truth of the matter. God works real repentance in the hearts of His people by trials that stretch them beyond their strength and even sore trials that break them from any hope in themselves and at times it feels like there is no hope at all. Yet Christ is the Great Physician and He never wounds those He loves beyond what is needed and He is always standing there to apply the balm of Gilead to heal and restore.

Modern versions of Christianity sure appear to have lost the concept that God is truly sovereign over all things and that as sovereign He uses sore trials to bring His people to look to free-grace rather than anything found in them. Modern versions of Christianity lean upon secular models of psychology and they try to heal the hurt of the people through superficial means rather than recognizing that God may be at work in the souls of people. There is nothing that will cure a pain that God has brought but Christ Himself, though with all the current models and versions of things around people do try. We have forgotten that sin brings misery and so a person that is in misery may be there because of the misery sin brings and/or the hand of God who is working in or on that person to break them from the world, self, and pride.

It is so easy for ministers and counselors to give people easy methods to feel better, but that is not dealing with the issues. Not only is it a hard thing and a sore conflict to renounce sin in our day, it is a hard thing and a sore conflict to get ministers and counselors to deal with people in a way where sin is seen as a hard thing. These kind people will rush in to make people feel better are like those who put bandages on gaping wounds in battle and think that they have treated the wound. Only Christ can truly heal a soul and Christ only heals sinners who want to deal with their sins, though indeed the desire to deal with our sins can only come from Him as well. Christ did not come to help the strong, He came to help those who are too weak to help themselves. Christ did not come to help the wise (in their own eyes), but instead He came to help those who are fools in their own sight and need Christ alone.

The soul that desires to renounce all sin will soon realize that there are degrees of desire depending on the sin. We may want to renounce all sin that causes me trouble or that I don’t like that much anyway, but how much do we desire to renounce our pet sins and the things we love? It is beyond our strength to renounce and leave the sins we love. One reason it is so hard to renounce and leave the sins we love is because we don’t even see those things as sin. We love them and so we have made excuses for them and we have justified them in our own eyes. We are blinded to so much of our sin because we deny that it is sin. But we must know that real repentance is to repent of all known sin and then start on a path of repenting from more sin as it becomes known. If we refuse to repent of sin as it becomes known, then we are idolaters and love our sin more than Christ. We may love our legal righteousness or moral things that we practice and not see it as opposed to free-grace, but it can be. We may love our orthodoxy and all sorts of good things and yet they can be our pet or darling sins because we do them because we get honor from them rather than love for God. We may love the ministry because of what we get out of it rather than to stand for God and speak for Him out of love for Him. We must learn to seek a knowledge of our hearts and to renounce sin as sin or we will never learn what real repentance is and as such what free-grace really is.

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Real Repentance 38

August 9, 2015

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.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all Thy laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

The person that has had a real repentance worked in his or her own heart will not only want to have the world, pride, and self taken out of the heart, but will also want the laws of God written on the heart. While it is possible for a worldly person to want to be less worldly though for worldly ends, that is not the same things as wanting to be delivered from worldly ways and views because one loves God. It is possible for a person to want to have less pride, yet can desire that from a proud heart. A proud person does not want to be seen or known or even thought of as proud, yet that is not the same thing as longing to be rid of pride which is an idol because a person loves God. It is possible for a person to want some of self to be taken out of the heart out of love for self, and it is possible that a selfish person will want to appear selfless in all the religious acts that s/he does. Yet it is not possible for a person to pray and seek the Lord to cast out self out apart from a true love for God.

When we come to examine our own hearts, we must ask ourselves if we really want the laws of God written on our hearts. If we truly want the love of God written in our hearts, then we must really want the world, pride, and self to be gone. Real repentance is being turned from the world, pride, and self and being turned to seeking the Lord. Real repentance is to be turned from seeking the world, the things of pride, and the things of self to seeking the things of God. Real repentance is to be turned from the love of the heart that is expressed in seeking the world, pride, and self and to seeking the Lord out of real and true love in the heart.

What we desire if and when we desire for the law to be written on our hearts is really the perfect expression of the life and law of God (Christ) to take our hearts and conform them to Himself and to have His life in us expressed. The law of God, then, is not to be kept just when it is convenient and ignored when it is easier, but the love of God and our neighbor (the heart of the law) is to be what controls our heart and is in fact our life. It is not just something that is part of our life, but it is to be our life. Christ Himself is to be our life and we are told that it is His love that constrains us. A real repentance, then, is when the work of God in our soul takes us from being controlled by the world, pride, and self to where the life of Christ in us is in control.

We must ask ourselves if we really want the love of God and our neighbor written in our hearts. We must ask for the light of the Spirit to open our eyes and our hearts to know if this is truly happening. It is so easy to be caught up in the trappings of religion, even the kinds with orthodox doctrine and conservative morality, and yet not have the life of Christ in our soul. It is easy to be caught up with the Ten Commandments and yet miss the very heart of them because Christ is not our life. It is so easy to be caught up with what people call “fellowship” and become ensnared with moral religion, active driven religion, and perhaps doctrinally driven religion. Christianity, however, is to be driven by Christ Himself Who writes the laws of God on our hearts by living in our hearts and taking control in our hearts. Our morality must come from love for Christ. Our activity must be from love for Christ. Our doctrines must be developed and loved because they express Christ rather than just a love for logical consistency.

What we see, and I hope with great clarity, is that real repentance is all about the work of Christ and His work that is always done by free-grace and free-grace alone. The world, pride, and self can only be taken from our hearts that love them so much by a greater power and a greater love. Our hearts can only be overcome rather than our works overcoming those things. God can only operate through Christ and because of free-grace rather than anything we can do to move Him. Yes, we must have broken hearts, but He must break our hearts from self and that does not gain merit on our behalf at all. Yes, we must seek Him, but He must work in us the desire to seek Him and so that earns us nothing either. We are either driven by self or by Christ. If we have been delivered from self and now have Christ as our life, it is by free-grace and that alone. We boast in Christ alone and nothing of self.

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Real Repentance 37

August 8, 2015

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.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all Thy laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

It may seem odd to some that the topic of free-grace keeps coming up in the context of real repentance, but the point is that there is no real repentance apart from free-grace. The repentance that man can work in his own power is not a real repentance from the world, pride, and self. That is a type of repentance apart from grace and that leaves man still in his sin though he might have moved from obvious sin to religious sin. After a person becomes a believer, though some may teach that happens by grace, they make it appear that men are then left with grace to help them and that they can use the means of grace to get the help they need. In other words, it seems that men are left to themselves and their own strength to obtain grace and then to apply grace in repenting. This is not true repentance at any point. Repentance is either by free-grace or it is not real repentance at all.

King Jesus tells us that apart from Him we can do nothing (spiritual or good). The only true spiritual fruit must come from Him first. This should teach us that real repentance can only come from Him and that any repentance in name that does not come from Him is not real repentance. Apart from Christ Himself taking the veil from our hearts, we will not know what we need to repent of. Apart from Christ taking the world, pride, and self out of our heart, they will not be taken out. All of the efforts of self to get self out will do nothing but increase our level of deception. Our pride, which hides itself from us and hides our sin from us, may make a big noise about how we have died to pride and yet it is only hiding itself from us and deceiving us about the true nature of pride.

What we must see is that we must seek the Lord for a real repentance of these things by prayer, study, and meditation. A real repentance must come from Him and yet we must seek Him for it. Until we are seeking Him for it knowing that we don’t deserve to be granted repentance from these things, we will be seeking a self-wrought repentance in some way. We will think that by seeking it we can obtain it or we will think we can merit Him giving it to us. Oh no, that thought or any thought like it must be banned from our hearts. Real repentance comes to the seeking soul by free-grace and nothing else. While we are to seek it, our seeking does not merit a thing and our seeking does not put God under an obligation of any kind. What seeking does, however, is to teach our hearts that we are utterly insufficient and totally unable to repent of ourselves. When our hearts are taught that we are utterly insufficient and totally unable to repent, that is the Lord teaching us in our inner man.

This is so important. A repentance that is by free-grace alone is a repentance that is taught to us by grace as well. The soul that seeks repentance must know that it can never work repentance up and it can never assist itself in repentance, but instead in seeking repentance the soul is seeking the Lord to teach it how utterly insufficient it is to do one thing of its own. This is the broken and contrite heart that the Bible speaks of. This is the heart that the Lord has broken so that it knows that it has to be carried to a place to even beg (as Lazarus). We don’t have the ability to beg in a correct way and we don’t have the ability to seek at all (in reality) apart from grace working these things in our hearts.

What real repentance and real faith teaches us is the need for real grace which is free-grace and sovereign grace. Repentance is utterly necessary, yet we cannot do it. Does this diminish the need? No, but what this does is teach us to seek it from Him who will only give it by free-grace. Our seeking for true repentance does not change God, but He uses our seeking to change us and teach us in the inner man. Only King Jesus can take one that is seeking Him for something and make that sinner one that seeks Him for Himself. At some point He will lead His people to seek Him for repentance so that they may love Him more and more rather than earn something or obtain something from Him. The seeking heart has not really repented until it is seeking more grace for the sake of His name. We will never to that perfectly in this life, but we have some of it and long for more. The soul that has tasted free-grace wants nothing to come to it but by free-grace. The soul that has tasted of Christ wants nothing but what comes to it by Christ. The soul that has tasted real repentance longs to have less of the world, less pride, and less self that it may have more of Christ and His free-grace. Self is not just a wicked sin, but it is opposed to free-grace. So we seek and pray for less self that we may behold His glory in the face of Christ in giving free-grace. Real repentance is a privilege of the free-grace of Christ. We should desire it for His sake.

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Real Repentance 36

August 7, 2015

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.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all Thy laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

True repentance requires or involves taking the love of the world, love of self, and pride out of the heart and replacing those things with the laws of God. These things are circular in nature, which is to say that it takes the love of God to take out those things and then more love of God in the heart will work to take out more of those things. When God shines light into the soul, He reveals to the soul that it is full of the world, pride, and self. The believing soul longs to be delivered from those things and to be filled with the love of God, yet the more love of God that is given to the soul the more of the world, pride, and self are revealed. God loves Himself and shares that love for Himself with His people, yet that love is such that it will always reveal sin and this love moves people to turn from sin more and more. This love comes to sinners by free-grace and it is this free-grace that overcomes sin in the hearts of sinners.

While it sounds harsh to some to pound away at the need for people to repent of the world, pride, and self; this comes in a way that is different than modern religion teaches. True repentance can only happen in the heart where Christ is the life of that soul and where He overcomes sin by free-grace. This does not take away the obligations of human beings, but instead it transfers the obligations to another focus. Instead of it being the obligation of sinners to put away sin by the power of self, it is the obligation of sinners to put sin away by the power of grace. But since sinners cannot bring grace to themselves by what they do, it is their obligation to seek God for grace to put away sin and to truly repent of sin.

We can either pound away at people to repent of the world, pride, and self by the strength of self, or we can plead with people to seek the Lord to give them the grace to repent of those things. What can cause a person to repent of the love of the world except that person be given a greater love? What can cause a person to repent of pride except a greater power than pride and that is the power of Christ and His life of humility in the soul? What can cause a person to repent of self except the life of Christ giving a person love for Himself in the soul? Self can never cast out self because self would always remain there to cast out self. This is a great deception to sinners. They cast out self by the power of self and don’t realize that they have deceived themselves because self is there and is hidden in the dress of religion. This is one reason why the danger of teaching free-will or not teaching against free-will is so dangerous. As long as a person thinks that s/he has the power to repent of self, that person has not understand the insidious power and deception of the self. The self has no power to cast out self, but instead it can only deceive itself with religious actions in thinking that it has done so. In this case the self has really gained power over the soul as it is hidden better and disguised as religious action or even thought to be the power of God.

A real repentance from the world cannot happen from the self who loves the world. That self will repent of forms of the world but only for the appearance of it and only for the praise of men. A real repentance from pride cannot come from pride as pride can only strengthen itself in religious activities and blind itself from itself by a false humility that comes from pride. A real repentance of self cannot happen by the power of self as something apart from self must cast self out or it is just another form or disguise of self casting out self. What this teaches us with great clarity is our need of Christ and His grace in order to truly repent. Repentance cannot happen apart from Christ and apart from free-grace. No sinner can possibly deserve to be delivered from sin, but instead sinners deserve to be turned over to harder hearts and more sin. No sinner can possibly deserve to be granted repentance. What we can plainly see, then, is that we must repent, but that we must seek grace in order to repent. Only the Lord Jesus working in the soul can move it to repent and only Christ can do it by free-grace. There is nothing but free-grace in Christ and by Christ that could possibly deliver souls from the power of sin.

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Real Repentance 35

August 6, 2015

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.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all they laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

The short statement by Adam just above is simply profound. It can be understood from the vantage point of the believer or the unbeliever. From the vantage point of the unbeliever, God will make the man understand and feel his sin by which he will know the depths of his sin to some degree and understand his helplessness and inability before God converts the man be free-grace. From the vantage point of the believer, God shows the man his utter inability in spiritual things apart from Christ and shows man what he is and what he must do in order to grow in holiness. Man must seek the Lord to understand his own heart. Once man understands something of his own heart, the man will cry out to the Lord to take the world, pride, and self out of his heart. Not only that, however, the man will cry out to God to write His laws in the heart. All of this is by free and sovereign grace.

Real repentance has understanding and knowledge as a basis, but that understanding and knowledge can only come from the illuminating work of the Spirit of Christ. As David cried out for understanding of his sin and asked God to show him his sin, so we must cry out as it is free-grace to show us our sin. We don’t deserve to know our sin as God has turned us over to sin as judgment for sin. Strict justice demands that we be left in the prison and darkness of our sin because that is what we deserve, but free-grace says that for the glory of God Christ has suffered for sinners and fulfilled strict justice and so we must have light to understand our sin for free-grace to rescue us from our sin. Behold the glory of Christ in His freely opening the hearts of sinners to see what awful chains that binds them. Behold the sovereignty of Christ in opening the eyes of some who certainly don’t deserve to see and leaving others in darkness. Behold the wonder and glory of free-grace in teaching men of their sin. Behold the wonder and free-grace of our sovereign Lord who can raise up from stones children of Abraham and yet He raises enemies of God from the dead and makes them children of Abraham.

Behold the glory of free-grace in taking sinners who love the world and the things of the world and making them lovers of the living God. Ephesians 2:1-3 describes sinners who are born dead and then follow the ways of the world: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” Oh how the world had or has our hearts and we simply follow along as if we had a ring in our nose. We follow the courses or ways of the world which is set to the tune of the prince of the power of the air. In that course or way of the world we lived in the lusts of our flesh and indulged the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Behold the wonders of free-grace which alone can take sinners and transfer them to a different kingdom and instead of living by the lusts of the flesh and of the mind, they now are lovers of the living God through King Jesus.

As long as people think of repentance as simply stopping external sin or making a choice to turn from unbelief to belief (as if that is possible), they will not understand the nature of sin and certainly not the wonders and glories of free-grace in Christ Jesus. It is the Lord Jesus alone who has the power to turn sinners from sin of the heart and give them love for Himself. It is the Lord Jesus alone who can break the power of sin by His blood which He shed on the cross. Behold the Lord Jesus Christ and the freeness of His grace to sinners who are hopelessly bound in sin and hatred of God. Behold the Lord Jesus Christ and the freeness of His grace to those who have nothing but hatred in their hearts for the true God even though they may be deceived into thinking that they love God. Behold the Lord Jesus Christ and the freeness of His grace in granting to sinners a love for the true God by changing their hearts and then sharing His love for the Father with them. Lovers of free-grace don’t even want a free-will much less believe it. They want the freeness of grace that they may delight in the glory of God in the face of Christ.

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Real Repentance 34

August 6, 2015

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.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all they laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

The need to deal with issues of real repentance as opposed to one being deceived about repentance and an easy repentance which is a deception as well is a great need. It may be the case that we have a great need for a new Reformation and an awakening or revival (as leaders in the SBC stated), but we must also be aware that a real repentance is utterly vital for those things. Along with that it takes a real and true grace to bring those things to pass and free-grace (a grace that is not conditioned by the works of human beings or anything in the human) is the only kind of grace there is. Yes, God prepares the hearts of men and women and this is done as human beings seek the Lord asking Him to give them a new heart, but that is not even close to the same thing as telling people that if we repent the Lord will send an awakening. We must seek repentance from the Lord who only grants it by grace and that whether He sends a revival or not.

What men and women in our day must (absolutely must) get in touch with is that the duties and uses of the means of grace can also be nothing but pride and self-righteousness. When a man does something that he would call repenting, that repentance is either moved by God or by the self-love of the person. Since God only shows grace that is free of being conditioned by the works and merit of men, a true repentance can only come by His grace. Anything a person can do that comes from self-love and the merit obtained by self will never move God to show grace. This is a basic principle that we must never lose sight of.

Should the SBC seek the Lord for a true revival or awakening? Yes, they should. However, as a real skeptic regarding this, they SBC would have to seek the Lord to take the veil off of their hearts. If a revival or awakening is to come to parts of the SBC, they will have to know that they must seek the Lord to grant them repentance by grace from what they see if He is pleased to lift the veil. A true repentance is not in their hands or power to grant or work for themselves, which is a direct hit on the theology of those in the SBC. The first thing that they will have to repent of is their theology and the second thing is their practices of evangelism and church growth that flows from their theology. Arminian theology (at best) and Pelagian theology (most likely the what the greatest number hold) cannot and will not be the recipients of a true revival. It is that simple.

It may be that some of the leaders in the SBC would have to step down in order to seek real repentance from the Lord. It may be that many of the ministers of larger churches would have to step down in order to seek the Lord. The reason for that is that if they started preaching the truth of free-grace the people would not listen to them. If they started preaching the true Gospel the churches would empty quite quickly, but that may be necessary if the men want to seek the Lord in truth. Just because a “church” has a large number of people in it is no sign of the blessings of God. Just because a “church” has a large numbers of baptisms in one year is not a sign of the blessings of God. Those things may be signs that God is giving that “church” over because it has been preaching a false gospel that the people love to hear.

Will the leaders in the SBC really seek revival? Could it be that many of them would not want real revival if it came? It may be that they want a revival that they can control and that will make the numbers in the churches larger and the denomination more prosperous. True repentance that God works would empty the church buildings in the SBC unless the leaders repent of their theology and their practices. Preaching Christ is more than saying the word a few times and calling men to the front of the building, but instead one only preaches Christ when Christ is the center and core of all that is preached. Christ is only preached when the truth that Christ taught in preached. Christ is only preached when He is preached as the manifestation of the one and true God. Christ is only preached when the true God that is preached is sovereign. Christ is only preached when free-grace is preached. The SBC needs to learn what free-grace is, what true sovereignty is, and what real repentance is. When they learn those things in the depths of the hearts, then and only then will the talk of revival have any meaning. Until then, the talk of revival sounds more like another form of church growth.

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