Repentance Part 1: The Spirit of Obedience

The bottom line, you hear that term, the bottom line. Of course, in business, if you're talking about the bottom line, you're talking about the profit. You know, what you clear, because obviously in business, the bottom line is what you make, because if you don't make enough to make a profit, you don't stay in business, because you're a business, not a charity.

So let's take that term, the bottom line. And let me apply it to a few questions here. And let's answer those questions. What's the bottom line on baptism and the laying on of hands?

What's the bottom line on baptism and the laying on of hands? What's the bottom line on being covered in the blood of Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit? Like I said, the bottom line with business is making a profit, because if you don't make a profit, you don't keep the business. You go under eventually. Lose it to bankruptcy, or have to sell, or close out, whatever. What's the bottom line on being covered in the blood of Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit? What is the bottom line on continuing to be covered in the blood of Christ and continuing to receive God's Holy Spirit? I will put it into some other words. In other words, what gives validity to your baptism?

What keeps it valid? Once valid, always valid. Once saved, always saved. Once valid, it should remain valid, but it's not guaranteed to remain valid. So what's the bottom line? What allows you to be a receptor?

What allows us to be a receptor of God's Holy Spirit, and that keeps us as a receiver of it? In other words, what is brought in at the very beginning of the process that must remain in the process for the process to remain?

It is a word that expresses really a very, very comprehensive condition. And we find it in Acts 2, verse 38. We are coming up on the annual renewal memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His shed blood, His death, and what that accomplishes for us.

And that event, that commemoration, that memorial is not very far ahead of us. Just basically, well, not the way. And it's time to be renewing and refreshing some things in our mind, some of these spiritual realities.

Then Peter said to them, and notice the very first word, repent.

You could put a one there if you wanted to, because you could number some things in this verse. First, number one, repent. And then number two, based on that, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

And number three, there's a progression here, there's a process.

You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent, or repentance. That is, this is the key that opens it all up.

And it's the key that keeps it open. This condition, this spiritual atmosphere, must be put in place and never, ever lost.

How thoroughly do we really understand it?

It's more than just an attitude, more than just a perspective or a mindset. It is actually a spiritual atmosphere. It is the spiritual atmosphere in which God's work in us takes place. And to the degree that we understand it and apply it, that is, to the degree we live it. We live in it and we live with it. To that degree, we truly do grow and develop and become what God has purposed us to be. Because when God stated in Genesis 1.26 that man, both in the counterparts of male and female, were made in his image after his likeness, he is also establishing right there a very profound purpose that we are to truly become like God and Jesus Christ, our elder brother.

And to the degree that we become like that is going to depend very greatly on the spiritual atmosphere in which God can do that work of shaping us and forming us. So how thoroughly can we understand it? From its basic points to its deepest issues? Well, let's explore some of that today. Thoroughly understanding it equips us to monitor ourself. Now, you'll hear the term. Some of our speakers may give sermonettes or splits or sermons on examining self. We talk about it's a time of the year when we need to personally examine self.

Well, if you're going to examine yourself and monitor yourself, wouldn't it make sense that you have to understand what some of these bottom lines are? If you're really to be able to accurately monitor yourself, the more we understand this whole issue, the better able you are to know if you have it, repentance, you're able to be honest with yourself, how much are you using it, are you growing in it, or conversely, am I losing it? Have I lost it?

It lets us self monitor our own personal condition and deal accordingly. We hear the term, in Christ, and people like to use that term. We hear that all around us, for that matter, in the Christian community. People talk about being in Christ, and that's a good term. But one can never be in Christ without it. Without this bottom line of repentance, one can never be in Christ. They can profess Christ. They can do certain good things and all based on their understanding. But if they don't have this true repentance, they're not going to be truly in Christ.

And here's the thing, and again, I'm pointing this more to us members of the Church, one can never remain in Christ without it. It's at the beginning of the process, it's at the finish of it, and it's all along the way. And here's something else about repentance. There are core elements of true repentance that will remain for eternity. Now, let me give us this word of assurance. When you are resurrected and you become a glorified spirit being, you will never, ever, from that point on, you will never, ever have another sin of thought.

You will never, ever have a sin of word. You'll never, ever have a sin of deed from that point on. There will be no sins from that point on to repent of because you won't sin from that point on. And boy, that's a wonderful, not just concept to think about, but a wonderful reality to look forward to. But there are certain elements that make up true repentance that are eternal and will be with us forever. And these core elements that will be there for all eternity, every eternal being will be encased, unmovable forever in this spiritual condition that is generated by these core elements of repentance.

See, in this life, how often do we have to say, Father, forgive me, I messed up again. I shouldn't have thought that, or I shouldn't have said that, or I shouldn't have done that. Please forgive me. And He forgives us, cleanses us in the covering blood of Christ. There are elements of it that will always be. And this spiritual condition allows for a never-ending relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. True repentance has fruits, doesn't it? And God looks for them.

You know, I have an apple tree over in the side yard, and last year, when it bloomed, it was absolutely gorgeous. White and pink and red. I mean, it was so loaded. It was stunning. I would just sit on the front porch and look at it sometimes, stare at it for a while. It was so beautiful. But you know what the fruit is? Grab a house. And little bitty ones. Not a whole lot to get excited about on the fruit, that's for sure. But God looks for fruits.

Regardless of how something looks, there are certain fruits He looks for. Why? Because fruits serve as proofs. Fruits are proofs. Proofs as to whether true repentance is really there or not.

I'm not going to turn to Matthew 7, but in Matthew 7, verses 16 and 20, it says, By their fruits you know them. Somebody could take you over to that apple tree of mine blindfolded, and you don't even know what kind of apple tree it was, but as soon as you bite into one of those crab apples, you know what kind of tree you're standing under.

Notice Matthew 3, verse 8. I said true repentance has fruits, and God looks for them because fruits serve as proofs. Proofs as to whether true repentance is really there or not. And so here in Matthew 3, and I'll pick it up in verse 7, But when He, that is John the Baptist who was baptizing at the Jordan, when He saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to His baptism, and they were the religious leaders, they were supposed to be setting the pace, so to speak, spiritually supposed to be, but He saw them come to His baptism.

And, of course, He knew that they were only coming because it was the politically correct thing to do. It couldn't hurt. It might get them a few extra votes, keep them in good with the people, whatever. And He just went to the heart of the matter, oh generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

And then He says in verse 8, Bring forth, you produce. Bring forth, therefore, fruits, meat, or fitting for repentance. So that is, you go and produce fruits, which are proofs that you have repented, and that you have true repentance because they did not have it. And boy, He called a spade a spade. They had no proofs of repentance. And He called them on it. So true repentance really is a pretty big subject. But you can break it down into parts, and you can break it down into its basic components. And we're not going to try to deal with every single component of it today. We're going to limit to a major one, a major component of true repentance.

I would say, what is the first fruit of true repentance? What is the first proof of such? This is the major one that affects and determines the whole process. And you can see from this that this is one that will be part of our eternal makeup. Even when we are in a condition, composition, existence where we no longer can sin. Don't sin. Don't have sins to repent of. This part of true repentance that has to be there for true repentance to take place is a part that we will need forever.

And that is the spirit of obedience. The spirit. And I really do emphasize spirit. The spirit of obedience. So let me give you a full title. A full title for the sermon is, Repentance Part 1. Repentance Part 1, colon. The spirit of obedience. Repentance Part 1, colon.

The spirit of obedience. It never can get off the ground. It has no chance. Repentance can never truly take place. It can never have its fruition without the spirit of obedience. Notice Acts 2, verse 37. On the day of Pentecost, the criteria is laid out. And in that multitude where God was extending opportunity to understand and giving opportunity to respond to what He was giving them to understand through Peter and the others.

In verse 37, Acts 2, verse 37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart or their conscience and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

They wanted to take action. They wanted to be right with God. They wanted to be in Christ. It is interesting, again, that the very first word that comes out of Peter's mouth as an answer is repent. That's the bottom line. That's the bottom line on the validity. Repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, then you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

They were willing to obey. They had a spirit of obedience. They said, tell us, tell us, just tell us what we're supposed to do. Tell us what to do. We'll do it. I mean, that was their attitude. They were willing to obey and to obey fully.

See, this deep spirit of obedience didn't reside in the Pharisees. It wasn't there. If you go with me to Mark 7, verses 1 through 9, Mark 7, verses 1 through 9.

And, of course, this was recognized by John the Baptist. I mean, he was well familiar with this vacuum in them, this lacking in them. Because that spirit of obedience was not there. Therefore, there were not fruits of, which were proofs of, repentance because there was no repentance there. So in Mark 7, verse 1, But outdoorsmen, construction people, many a time, we lay the hammers down, the soles down, growing up, building houses with my father. We put the tools down. We went to the shade. We got our lunch boxes. We went to the shade. There might be some water available, or it just might be the only water that we had was our drinking water in the igloo, you know, that was iced.

And we didn't use that, but a lot of times, just brushed our hands off good and sat down and ate. And I have lived to tell about it. It didn't kill me. And anybody who knows that a little dirt doesn't kill anybody, or a lot of us never would have gotten grown, because we ate our fair share of dirt as kids one way or the other. Anyway, for the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands, often they eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. Now, again, we're talking about an issue here that's a separate issue, us washing our hands, in terms of the germ society we live in today. And when they came from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received hopes, such as the washing of the cups and the pots and the vessels, and a lot of ceremonial stuff. A lot of it got into ceremonial stuff that they counted as greatly spiritual. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, why do Your disciples, why do they not walk according to the tradition of the elders, and eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and said to them, well, has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honors Me with their lips, but their heart, their motivation, what they really care about, what really matters to them, is far from Me. How, be it in vain, do they worship Me? Notice, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

See, you're here today on the seventh day because this is not a doctrine of men. This is a doctrine of God, and that's why we're here. There will be many that meet tomorrow, but that's a doctrine of men. That is not a doctrine of God. For, lay notice on the heels of teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and that's the real issue, laying God's commandments aside. Verse 8, for laying aside the commandment of God, why do they lay it aside? Because it makes room for what they want to do that is contrary. You hold the tradition of men as the washing of pots and cups, and many, many other...it's a pattern here. It's a lifestyle with them. Many other such-like things you do. And He said to them, and again, this goes to the heart of it, which shows they did not have a spirit of obedience. Full well, you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. Let's go forward to Acts 7. Let's go forward to Acts 7, when Stephen is before the Sanhedrin. These are the learned men. These are the religious men. These are the prime leaders of the nation, religiously. And Stephen is giving this message to them. And if you read the whole thing sometimes, he's doing a very commendable job. And the further he gets into it, the more what's inside them shows up on their faces and their body language. And you see a break in his approach to them in verse 51. He switches in his approach. And he notates a spiritual reality, which is unspiritual, but you know what I mean. It's a reality about them spiritually. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart. And everyone before him is circumcised. Those men are all circumcised physically. They're Jews. They're circumcised. And they'd like to use the term, many a time, you uncircumcise Philistine. I mean, that was one of the slang terms of that time in previous. So he is telling them, uncircumcised in heart, you are carnal. You are not converted.

God's Spirit is not working with you. In fact, I mean, they got the message. Uncircumcised in heart and ears. And notice, he says, you do always resist the Holy Spirit. You resist it. You're not yielded to God and His Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

This spirit of obedience has to be in place. And it has to stay in place because repentance can't take place without it or remain without it. If I were to ask one of you ladies, if I gave you the ingredients to bake a cake, I gave you vanilla, I gave you the flour, the sugar, vanilla, and you know, just basic ingredients. And I said, make me a chocolate cake, but you can't use anything but what I've just given you. It's impossible for you to make a chocolate cake with those items. It's impossible to have true repentance without the Spirit. See, people can select. They can be selected. They can pick and choose what they will obey. Well, yeah, I'll do that, but I won't do that. Oh, well, I see God says, do that. I'll do that. Oh, I see God says, do that. But, no, I don't think I'll do that. That is selectivity. That is not a spirit of obedience. There are some acts of obedience involved, but it's not a spirit of obedience that umbrellas over your life.

And it's only in true repentance can we be led and grow and develop. Let's turn back to Acts 5. Only in true repentance can we be led and grow and develop. Verse 29, Acts 5, 29, Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, and of course, this is something that we all came to realize as we wanted to be accepted by God. We realized we ought to obey God rather than men. Any time there is a conflict between God's law and man's commands, we obey God's law. We put God first. And why is it so important to obey God rather than men? I'll ask you like this. Is there anyone in here, including me, who can become what God wants me to be, can grow, can develop, can overcome, can have Christ formed in me over time, grow up into Him in all things, fulfill the profound depth of in our image after our likeness? Is there anyone of us in here or anywhere that can ever accomplish that without God's Spirit involved? No. Nobody can ever attain to what they are to be without God's Spirit involved. And if you look on down to verse 32, where Peter went on to say, we are His witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Spirit whom God has given to them that obey Him. How do we come to be what we're supposed to be without God's Spirit? And how do we have God's Spirit if we don't have the Spirit of obedience? Makes sense, doesn't it? And how can Matthew 28, 20 be put into practice without true repentance? When Christ, the way Matthew ends, the way the book of Matthew ends, that last verse where Christ told them, He says, teaching them to observe, Well, guys, look, if you teach at least 50% of what the truth is, what I've told you, what I've taught you, if you'll just teach at least 50% of it, that's good enough. And better yet, let's make it 55%, because that would...well, I'll really cut it close. Let's go with 51%. That's the majority. 49 doesn't get taught. 51 does. That's pretty good. That's a majority obedience. He said, to observe all things, all things, whatsoever I have commanded you. Again, there's no gainsaying that. Matthew 28, 20 is put into practice because there's true repentance whose underpinning is the spirit of obedience. Okay, let's go to the purpose of baptism. What is the purpose of baptism? I'm counseling with someone over in Alabama right now. Well, actually, I'm not counseling anymore per se, because they are ready for baptism. And he will be baptized between now and Passover. But what is the purpose of baptism? To be buried in Christ. To be buried into Christ, into His death, to pay the penalty so that we don't have to experience the death of eternity, or that is the second death, extinction. To be buried in Christ, that His blood cover our sins, that we be forgiven, and that we stand clean in His sight. Remember the progression? Repent, which is the bottom line on your baptism, makes it valid. And then you're baptized into Christ. And then because you're in Christ under His covering blood, God, when you're cleansed through that, God looks through that covering blood and sees you as a clean vessel in which He will put His Holy Spirit. We stand clean in His sight. What is the purpose of the laying on our hands? To receive God's Spirit, obviously. That we may be partakers, as Peter said, of the divine nature. That that divine nature can be seated in us and can expand and grow in us. That we, again, may be led and grow and develop. Coverage of sin and reception of God's Spirit depends on repentance.

Keeping that coverage. You say, I have that coverage. I say, I have that coverage. Yes. Good. Great. Wonderful. Keep it. Keeping that coverage. Continuing to receive His Spirit depends on keeping repentance. Never letting it get away from us. Keeping repentance. Romans 2.13.

People will sometimes misread this.

Generally, in the body of Christ, we don't. In the church, we generally don't. But in the world of religion and Christianity, it's often misread, misinterpreted, misunderstood. Romans 2.13 says, For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

And of course, you read that in some circles, and they say, well, you're saying that by works, you're justified. That's not what it's saying. Read it carefully. And the King James puts it in a good way. It says, For not the hearers of the law are just before God, those who are just here, there must be action, but the doers of the law shall be justified or cleansed or made right with God.

Does it say that the doings of the law? Doings is an object. Does it say the doings are the works of the law, justifier? Or does it say the doers? Doers are people. It is a category. The word doers is a descriptive, defining term of obeyers. That's what they are, obeyers, people who obey. Doers of the law is a category. It's obedient ones. This is why Samuel told King Saul. King Saul had his army. He's preparing to fight. He wants God with him when he goes to fight the...

and he kept looking at his watch. Samuel's not here. Where is Samuel? We've got to have a sacrifice before we go. We've got to make sure God is with us. I'm a king. Samuel is the priest. He's supposed to be here. He's running late. His army wasn't filled with a lot of courage. He noticed lines of men here and there just kind of fading away into the woods and the hills. His army is shrinking a little. He's getting nervous. So he decides, well, I've got to do something.

I'll do the sacrifice. And just like the little boy that as soon as he sticks his hand in the cookie jar, Mom walks in, catches him red-handed. Samuel shows up. Well, I made myself do this. I forced myself, you know, etc. You can go through the account. There's more that you could add to the account. But Samuel told him something. You'll find this statement. I'm not going to turn back there. But 1 Samuel 15.22 and 1 Samuel 15.22.

Samuel told him, Saul to obey is better than sacrifice. To obey. That's what God is looking for, Saul. He's looking for obedience. To obey is better than sacrifice. Sacrifice does not cleanse one. The only sacrifice that cleanses is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His body and blood. Sacrifice, no matter how physically elaborate, doesn't cleanse one. In fact, sacrifice could simply be a form of penance. One could sacrifice without a true spirit of obedience being there. If you go with me to 2 Corinthians 7, 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 10. It's interesting it says in 2 Corinthians 7 verse 10, For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation.

You know, those men who said, men and brethren, what must we do on the day of Pentecost? They were broken up. They were healed. They felt sorry for their sins and what they had done, and their conscience was cut. Godly sorrow. And what did it work? It worked repentance in them. And repentance, again, you see a process here, for godly sorrow works repentance to or unto salvation. It results in salvation, not to be repented of. In other words, that kind of repentance results in what we want into salvation that we don't have to have any regret about.

But the sorrow of the world works death. The sorrow of the world works death. And we see this happens all over the world about the sorrow of the world working in death. I mean, the guy gets up in the morning, and he's caught in the mouth, and he's got a splitting headache, because he pulled a big one the night before, and he says, and there is no way I'm going to do this again.

I feel awful until that night, or the next night, and he repeats the process. And you find that people will do penance many times. People who do penance but who do not change, people tend to confuse penance with repentance. We've seen the scenes, the movies, whatever, where the priest is often seclusion by himself, and he's got a whip, kind of like a cat of nine tails, whatever, and he's flogging himself, and it shows the back of his shirt, and it's got blood on it. That's penance. I remember in Mexico City, going to one of the famous churches on tour there, and watching some of the locals, or pilgrims, coming up the cobbled street on their hands and knees doing penance, and their hands are bloody, and their knees are bloody.

I don't know how far they had crawled or walked like that. That's penance, trying to, quote, pay for your sins, and it can come in different forms and fashions and degrees, types, ways, amounts. It's not repentance, because it does not contain the deep and abiding spirit of obedience, because when that which is truly expected of God is shown, there's resistance to it.

I want you to notice, let's go to Daniel, Daniel 10, and again, with the focus being on the spirit of repentance, Daniel 10, because that is heart and core to true repentance. Daniel 10 and verse 12, and without, again, getting into laying out the context, other than to say that Daniel, Gabriel, the archangel Gabriel, was sent to Daniel. And the archangel Gabriel is talking to Daniel here, and says to Daniel in Daniel 10 and verse 12, think about God's archangel, one of his archangels, appearing to you and saying this to you, fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you did set your heart, you set your resolve, your heart, to understand and to correct yourself from the very first day that you set your heart to understand and to correct yourself before your guide, your words were heard.

I don't know if the wind caught the door or not, but it's okay, folks. From the first day that you... See, who noticed that? Did Gabriel say, I noticed that, I see that, I'm going down there and talk with him, and... No! Gabriel's a messenger. God notices that. The Father, the Son. For from the first day that you did set your heart to understand and to correct yourself before your guide, there is a spirit of obedience that is here that was so strong and deep in Daniel. Your words were heard, and I'm coming for your words. This is a deep, steadfast setting of the spirit of obedience, and it takes this to depart from iniquity. There's a scripture in 2 Timothy 2.19. You don't have to turn there. I'm not going to turn there, but I want to reference it. 2 Timothy 2.19. It says, let everyone who names the name of Jesus Christ depart from iniquity. If you're going to name the name of Christ, don't even name the name of Christ. Don't even put his name on your lips unless you're willing to turn from iniquity. Down in deep Georgia, years ago, when I was a young man, I went over into an area to meet one of our members. He was an older man. I was a very young man at that time. And we were going to go over to McDonald's and get a cup of coffee and have a nice minister member visit. He said, I'm going to warn you. He said, there's an old gentleman over there. He likes to argue religion. He likes to debate. And he's likely to be there. He hangs out there a lot. And I wound up with a lot of conversations with him. But I don't know if we'll have privacy or not. But just letting you know, we walked in. Sure enough, there was that old gentleman. And he popped up and he was introduced to me. And I shook his hand and he started in. And I said, well, I said, you know what 2 Timothy 2.19 says? Let everyone who names the name of Jesus Christ depart from iniquity. Boy, his mouth closed. He sat down. That's all I said. We went to a table. We had a nice private visit. Something about it. It was interesting. 2 Corinthians 7 again.

Verse 9-11, this time. 2 Corinthians 7, verses 9-11. Paul wrote them. He says, Now I rejoice. Not that you were made sorry, and it just stopped there.

But that you sorrowed to repentance. You had the right kind of godly sorrow that led to repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world works death. For behold, this self-same thing that you sorrowed. And this is true of every child of God that is growing and developing. You sorrowed after a godly sort. What carefulness it wrought in you. We become much more careful and vigilant. Yea, what clearing of yourselves. Yea, what indignation. Yea, what fear, respect. Yea, what vehement desire. Yea, what zeal. Yea, what revenge. In all things, you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. This allows a person, when you read that section and you really think about it, and that spirit of obedience that flows through it, that allows a person to be cleaned out of their carnal ways over time. It's not done overnight. You can be forgiven overnight, but it takes a long time to really get cleaned out because of what's so ingrained in us. But it allows for God's Spirit to flow more and more. I want to stop for a moment and focus on a crucial, in the flow of this. Let's just stop for a moment and focus on a crucial reality.

We know Christ died. We know He died for sin. What kind of sin did He die for? Christ died for repentant sin, sin that is repented of. Christ's sacrifice, this is not what the world likes to hear. Christ's sacrifice will never cover sin that is not repented of.

It simply will not. It cannot, it will not. It will never cover unrepentant sin. Think about it for a moment. If it did, there would be no call to repentance. There wouldn't have to be. If it did cover unrepentant sin, everybody would automatically be forgiven, period.

There would be no need for the word repent in Acts 2.38. It would be carte blanche, salvation for all. No repentance required. Just give your heart to me. Just accept me. But it is a need. It's a prerequisite. It is a condition. I have to meet it. One has to meet it. One has to stay in it. Christ's blood cannot and will not cover sin unrepentant of. And this is why, too, this is the day of first fruits. The vast majority don't have opportunity. But this is why this is the first time of salvation offered, and it's offered only to a few at this time.

And this is why there's a millennial reign where Jesus Christ will rule and offer salvation during that millennial reign. And it's also why these vast numbers of this age will come up in the last great day to be given their opportunity. And in each case, it requires true repentance to occur and take place with each and every one.

And the opportunity will be there. But His blood cannot, will not cover sin unrepentant of, not in this age or the age to come. But let's look at what it will cover. Here's what the blood of Christ will cover. It will cover any thought of sin. It will cover any word of sin. It will cover any deed of sin, barring none that is repented of. There is no sin of thought.

There is no word, sin of word. And there is no sin of deed that is unforgivable if it is repented of. And to those God is calling and who respond, God leads them to see this. I have had people say to me sometimes, I'm not sure God can forgive me of my sins. If you knew what I've done in my life and in my past, what's on my record, you might agree with me, Mr. Bing. I'm not sure God can forgive me. Will you know what that presents then? Okay, sir, ma'am, you're telling me that the Creator of all life, who became flesh and blood, and His life was in His blood.

The life is in the blood. And He spilled His blood and gave up His life. That your sin is greater than the Creator's blood. That doesn't match. That is not meant to be by the person of form of arrogance. But they're lessening the blood of Christ and saying that the blood of the Creator of God is not great enough to wash this particular sin away or that. There is no sin that Christ's blood cannot cover if it's repented off. It's that simple. It's interesting, God is involved in our repentance, isn't He, through what He leads us to see and realize. Let's go to Romans 2.4. Romans 2. Romans 2, verse 4. Paul writes, "'Or despise you the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that.'" Now notice, the goodness of God leads them to repentance.

The goodness of God leads them to repentance. God is involved. He turns the light on in our mind. He gives us an opportunity to respond. He gives us understanding. He gives us knowledge. He gives us the ingredients. He provides the ingredients that can lead us to repentance.

And He says in Acts 11, verse 18, Acts 11 and verse 18. And again, not covering the whole context, but just reading this. It stands on its own. Verse 18, chapter 11 of Acts. "'When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, "'Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.'" Granted the things necessary. Why did you repent? Because God began to show you what He expected of you. He began to open your mind to turn the light on.

He began to give you knowledge. He gave you opportunity to begin to act. Otherwise, you would have gone right on in the religious darkness of this world. He has initiated and operated the same process among those Gentiles that He was calling into the church as the Jews and Israelites that He was calling into the church. And the requirements for them are the same. Notice Acts 26.20. Acts 26.20, "...but showed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do what works meet for repentance." I read that and I can't help but think of John the Baptist's words to the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Matthew 3.8 about bringing forth fruits that are fitting, fruits that are themselves proofs of repentance.

That repentance is taking place. "...give God the same proofs that come through a spirit of obedience, and in the repentant turning to God, where does He lead us?" With the spirit of obedience, which makes us very leadable, if I can put it that way, where does He lead us? He leads us to that which expresses His nature, which expresses His makeup, which expresses His whole way of existing and being.

1 John 5.3 1 John 5 in verse 3. "...For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." You can't be disobedient and keep His commandments. You have to be obedient to keep them. You're obedient. We keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. You sometimes read Matthew 5, 6, and 7, what they call the Sermon on the Mount, and read it with the thought in mind about it expressing the depth of God's law and how that it is so much more than just what first meets the eye, and how the letter and the spirit both make the fullness of it, and how transgressing that is what sin is.

And again, a scripture that is so germane and intrinsic to God in His law and obedience, and lack thereof, is 1 John 3.4.

This is the definition that's given, and the King James, I think, puts it the best, given 60-something years after the Church began in the 90s A.D. John says, Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.

And in repentance, we turn from transgression of this, and we turn to the full keeping of it.

When I say turn to the full keeping of it, that's our approach. We won't do it perfectly. We all know that. God knows that. But we keep pointed that way, resolved that way, to follow, to obey. We keep the spirit of obedience, and in true repentance, we are dealing with the pursuit of full obedience to God. If I were to say to you, it is my opinion of myself that I have a better and more full understanding of what it means to obey God, and I feel like that I am able to do that better than I could ten years ago, or twenty years ago, or thirty years ago. Wouldn't that make sense if I'm growing, and developing, and overcoming? Of course, that pursuit of full obedience to God is what allows God to forgive us. Doers of the law. Those who are obedient, obeyers.

And, of course, right here in John 3 and verse 24, he that keeps his commandments dwells in him. We want to be in Christ, and he, we want Christ in us and the Father in us through Christ, and he in him. Hereby we know that he abides in us by the spirit which he has given us.

In closing, I want to siege to do a little test. It's a personal test as to our own personal level of repentance in the spirit of obedience. You know, one of the things that I am glad that I don't have to do as a pastor, I'm glad that I don't have to contact each brother or sister in Christ, that God has not put it on me to say, Contact each one and go sit down with that person in a private place and examine them to see where they fit in the spirit of obedience and where they fit in the proper framework of examining themselves. No, I'm so thankful. I don't have to do that. And if one of you were to call me and say, I want to come by and examine you, I probably would say, no, thank you. God wants us and expects us to take the time with him through prayer, study, etc., maybe fasting. Do that to yourself. Do that with yourself. But one of the things we can do many times is we can test ourselves. There are things we can do to help us to know. So in closing, I want us to just give ourselves a little test, a personal test, as to our personal level of repentance and the spirit of obedience. Because there are levels of it. There are levels of it, and there are degrees of it, to a degree.

But if true repentance is there, and if the spirit of obedience is there, a person will understand more and more as time goes on. They will see more and more what is expected of them. There will simply be more and more light, more and more realization. And that light and realization will be toward God and also toward oneself.

In other words, there will be an increase, number one, in your understanding of God and His will.

And if that's going on, that's wonderful. There will be an increase in your understanding of God and His will.

And number two, there will be a corresponding understanding of yourself.

There will be a corresponding understanding of yourself, of your needs, of your shortcomings, of your faults, and your sins.

So, if that is happening, then true repentance and the spirit of obedience is alive and well in you.

That's part of the test. But there's another part of the test.

Question.

And you have to ask this of yourself, Is there a sin in my life that I have accepted?

Is there a sin that I'm aware of?

Now, what you don't know, you don't know.

And if there's sin that you don't know about, God can turn the light on so that you see it and realize, Well, yeah, there's sin that I'm involved in. I didn't realize I was involved in, but now I do.

And then what do you do? Is there a sin in your life that you know is a sin, but you have accepted it?

And we word it a little bit further.

Is there a sin in your life that you've just decided to live with, to tolerate? Well, I'm fighting this one, and I'm fighting that one, and I'm fighting that one.

And I've just about... I'm putting up a good fight against sin, but, well, there's this one over here I just... I can live with it.

I can live with this sin. I'll just tolerate it.

If so, and you die, you will die in that sin.

Are you comfortable dying in that sin? Are you confident in that condition?

I can tell you the answer for me.

I would not be. I would tremble with great fear to die in a sin that I know is sin that I have chosen to just accept and live with.

I will close with Revelation 21, verse 7.

In Revelation 21, verse 7, it says, He that overcomes shall inherit all things. He that overcomes shall inherit all things. Without true repentance, there is no chance of overcoming. He that overcomes, there's no chance of having God's Spirit. There's no chance of continuing to have God's Spirit. He that overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His guide, and He shall be my Son. The spirit of obedience, of true repentance, will achieve the positive outcome of Revelation 21, verse 7.