Grant repentance Oh Lord our God

Ezekiel 22
Israel had defiled themselves. They had turned from the God who saved them and brought them to Himself. Though they called themselves Jehovah's people, they had no regard for God or His Sabbath.

Look at the professing church in North America and we don't see much different. Ryle, Spurgeon, and Pink would consider the Lord's Day the Christian Sabbath, but to mention it today, is to be considered a Puritan in many people's eyes.

It is now "acceptable" to go to church in the morning and spend the afternoon in sports, entertainment, satisfying the flesh, and still be a christian. How things have changed from historic Christianity and turned away from the great confessions of faith.

Oh that God would grant repentance to cause a great turning of hearts back to God and away from the world.

Why repentance?

The message of John Baptist, Jesus, Peter, and Paul, was repent and believe the gospel. This was preached to unbelievers. Sinners were to repent of sin as identified by sin against God.

Calling to repentance is love for God's glory which the sinner wages war against.  If you love God, you don't like to see people waging war against the God you love.  Therefore, as God's ambassador, you call them to repent, turn from their war against God.

Calling to repentance is love for the sinner, seeking to turn them into a lover of God versus a hater of God, and turn them from the justice of God to the grace of God.  If they continue on their way, they remain separated from God, and ultimately will face His eternal justice and condemnation.

This message of love is given to every member of the church to deliver.  Everyone who is given the Spirit of God is a witness of Christ and for God.  His grace is praised, His love declared...but also why grace and love are so special.  In light of the justice and wrath you deserved, God has demonstrated Himself gracious and loving through repentance and faith, giving you what you do not deserve.

Will you encounter sinners in your travels today?

Love God and sinners as Jesus loved you.  He called you to repent and believe the gospel, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

A gift from God

To be saved, you must repent and believe the gospel.  There is no other way on earth to be saved, but to repent of your sin against a holy God, and believe in the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord for the immeasurable gift of His Son.

But, is that the only gift in salvation?  No, NO, NO!

The giving of the Son, Jesus Christ, is the greatest gift from God, is worthy of praise, honour and glory, worship, falling on our face in thanksgiving, and the list should go on, but Jesus' death in the place of the sinner is not the only gift in salvation.  Jesus died to save believers.  I won't ever get over that, but there are many other gifts from God in salvation.

Every aspect of salvation is a gift from God. Here are some more:
Being made a child of God
Receiving the Holy Spirit
Justification
Sanctification
Forgiveness of sins

The reason for all these being given to a believer finds its source in Jesus Christ.  We can never get away from the death, burial and resurrection, because every aspect of the gift of God in salvation finds its root in the Son, and what He did for His sheep.

Every aspect of salvation is a gift from God.  Do you believe that?  Would you say it is only because of what God did?  Someone might say, well, I did do something.  I repented of my sin, confessed it before God, and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, because everyone who believes in their heart and confesses with their mouth shall be saved.  Romans 10

True, if you are a believer, you did those things.  But, did they spring out of your heart because of something in you, or were they also given to you by God?  What does the Bible say?

The Bible, God's word, says that repentance and faith are both gifts from God.  No one repents or believes unless God gives them the gifts of repentance and faith.  Don't take my word for it.  Look at what God says in the Bible:

Acts 11:18  When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."
2 Timothy 2:25  correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

God grants repentance to those who repent.  Very clear teaching of these two passages.  Those who repent, do so because God gave them repentance as a gift.  It wasn't because of their ability to repent.  Anyone who repents, does so because God has given it to them.  The same is true of faith.

2 Thessalonians 3:2  and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.
What were you before the Lord saved you?  Wicked and evil.  Wicked and evil people do not have faith.  Where does faith come from then?

Philippians 1:29  For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

Faith is granted to a person who believes in Jesus, not for your sake, but for the sake of Christ.  Oh, that His name would be priased right now!

To believers, Paul writes the following:
Romans 12:3  For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

God has assigned faith, and a certain portion at that, to each believer.  Paul is writing that chapter to those who are brothers by the mercies of God.  One of those mercies is faith.

So, do you believe the gospel of God?  Praise the Lord, because it is all a gift of God through Jesus Christ the Son.  Praise the Lord.  Give Him all the glory, boast in nothing that you have done, because God has done it all, to His praise, of His glorious grace.

All praise to the name of the Saviour who reigns.  Jesus.  The Son and Jehovah, who came as a man to save all His sheep.

Jesus' wife

There is talk of Jesus' wife in the news.  A manuscript was found with the name Jesus, and him saying Mary is his wife.

What does the Bible say?  Was Jesus married?  The Bible says yes.  Surprised?

Ephesians 5, Paul writes that a husband is to love his wife as Jesus loves the church and gave Himself for her.

Revelation speaks of the bride of Christ, the church.

That is the only wife of Christ that is spoken of in the Bible.

Jesus loves His church and her alone.  Jesus had and will have no other wife, but His church.

Jesus was looking forward the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The news is going to discredit Jesus.  You must turn to the Bible and believe the truth about Jesus.

The Goodness of God

How should goodness be measured?  God is the measure of goodness.

When thinking of God, there are many angles that this can be looked at.

God is perfectly holy.  He is not like any of His creatures.  He is good.

Jesus says, why do you call Me good.  There is only One who is good, and that is God.  Jesus is speaking about God's righteousness (context: the person asking wants to know how to get to heaven).  God is good.

God does not give sinners what they deserve, but is patient and kind to lead sinners to repentance.  God is good.

This is not an exhaustive list.  There are many other aspects of God's goodness.  But, all three of these are related to the gospel and to each other.  Let us consider this briefly.

God is perfectly holy, which is different than righteous.  Holy means separate, specifically, separate to God and His glory.  When God made a people holy, He brought them apart for His glory and name.  The reason He finally gave them over to captivity again, was because they were not set apart for His glory and name.

God is perfectly righteous.  The law is a description of the righteousness of God.  The law is not external to God, but is the very heart of God.  The spirit of the law eminates (comes from) the heart of God.  To love God is to honour & worship Him.  It is the right thing to do, because of who He is.  To love and respect other people, is to respect and honour the Creator, who made other people.  Ultimately, the law is about love as Jesus loved, which was and is perfect righteousness.

This identifies our need of the third aspect of God's goodness: His mercy and grace.  There is no one who is set apart to God.  If He were to look at our day today, He would find us often set apart for our glory and name still, even if we are Christians.  He could rightly give us over to captivity, to justice, and He would still be good.

There is no one who keeps the perfect righteousness of the law.  Have you ever loved God perfectly and loved your neighbour as Jesus loved?  No, there is none that has, nor ever will in this world.  That doesn't excuse us, and it doesn't mean we ought to lower the target.  God's standard of perfection doesn't change.

No, we are in need of mercy and grace, and that is where God's goodness through the cross comes in.  Are you not amazed that God hasn't given you what you deserve today?  Why hasn't He?  Because this is the time of patience and kindness to sinners that we have the opportunity to confess our unholiness and unrighteousness and turn to God and seek His forgiveness through Jesus Christ His Son.  God's goodness is demonstrated in not giving you what you deserve, and in giving His Only Son, what you don't deserve, that you might be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ, which is given to make atonement for sin.

What a Good God!  What a Kind God!  What a God, worthy of worship for who He is, and for His goodness in His grace and mercy.

Praise the LORD!