Volitional and Behavioral Attendants

Prayer for Teaching, Correction, and Confirmation

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, October 16, 2005, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Some months ago when I was listening to a taped sermon, the man preaching led in prayer before the ministry and prayed this very simple prayer that to me captures everything that we ought to desire when we come to the ministry of the word. He prayed, Lord, where we are ignorant, teach us. Where we are wrong, correct us. And where we are right, confirm us.

0:45 Now if God would do that for us, what more could we ask except to say, and where we need to see Jesus, show him to us. Well, let's pray together and ask God to do that for each of our hearts. Our Father, we do acknowledge that in many ways, the most mature among us is yet a mass of ignorance. We confess that we see, but that we see through a glass darkly.

1:19 And so we pray where we are ignorant, be pleased to teach us. And our Father, we know that there are many things about us that need the corrective, reproving influence of the word. And so we are where we are wrong, in love, in mercy, O God, correct us. And where our present understanding is what it ought to be, confirm us by your word that we may be more firmly rooted in the truth as the truth is in Jesus.

Review: Repentance and Faith, the Hinge of Salvation

1:51 And we pray that amidst our instruction, our reproof, and our confirmation, that we would indeed savor the fragrance of the presence of Jesus himself, drawing near and opening the scriptures to us, and causing our hearts to burn. Hear us, we pray, for the good of our needy souls, and that we may have additional reason to leave this place today full of praise, singing from our hearts, hallelujah, praise Jehovah. Amen. We come this morning in the ministry of the word to the seventh message in a series of studies which I have entitled, Repentance and the Word. Repentance and faith, the hinge on the door of salvation. And by way of brief review for the sake of our visiting pastors, and for the sake of any of our people who do not have perfect retention, let me attempt to condense some six hours of exposition into a maximum of ten minutes of review. We began by establishing, particularly from Acts 20 and verse 21,

3:13 that repentance and faith are both indispensable and inseparable in any saving experience of the grace of God. They are both indispensable and they are inseparable. And having established that fact to underscore that this was not an abstract doctrinal study about repentance, but that this was entering into the very nerve centers of life and of salvation, I then proceeded to underscore in your hearing that three things would be dominant in the course of these messages. As we deal with the subject of repentance, the scriptures will be our supreme authority. Secondly, the shorter catechism will be the organizing framework within which the scriptures will be open, and the image of a tree will be our visual aid. And then we began to consider what is that repentance that is unto life. The shorter catechism answers that question with these words, Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and

4:36 an apprehension or laying hold of the mercy of God in Christ does And so then we began to break down that definition with the scriptures and with the imagery of a tree. And we noted that the soil of repentance unto life is nothing other than the grace of God. Repentance unto life is a saving grace. And whatever the writers of that shorter catechism meant, surely they meant to direct our attention to the truth that is explicitly affirmed in three New Testament texts that repentance is the gift of God. And then we looked at what I call the taproots that are embedded in that soil without which there will be no tree of repentance, no fruit. Upon that tree and the taproots are identified, in my language, as a felt sense of one's own sin and sinfulness.

5:53 Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, not a mere admission of his sin, but a sense of his sin. That is, there must be this awareness, a felt sense. A felt sense of one's own sin and sinfulness to some degree, the degree being determined in God's sovereign dealings with all of His elect when He gathers them to Himself. But without it, the words of Jesus clearly apply, though those that are well and whole know no physician, and there will never be any fleeing to Christ in repentance and faith without a measure of a felt sense of one's own sin, and sinfulness. But then the second root is a believing grasp upon the mercy of God extended to sinners by Jesus Christ in the gospel. Wisely did the writers of that catechism indicate that true evangelical repentance, repentance unto life as it is designated in Acts 11, 19, is repentance that has been preached and is only experienced, in the context of the proclamation of the gospel,

7:17 in which the God who has a controversy with us because of our sin comes to us revealing His heart of mercy and compassion and goodwill to sinners in the person and work of His Son. And there can be no repentance unto life, not only without a felt sense of one's own sin and sinfulness, but to some degree, a believing grasp upon, on the mercy of God extended to sinners by Jesus Christ in the gospel. And then we considered thirdly the main trunk of repentance, the substance of repentance unto life, and at the heart of it is the little phrase, does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God. The trunk of repentance, the main distilled essence of repentance is a turning from sin, unto God. And I sought to open that up by demonstrating from the scriptures that repentance unto life is a God-focused grace. The Thessalonians turned unto God.

8:29 It is not a self-centered experience of the soul. It is not a man-preoccupied experience. But it is a God-focused grace. And secondly, it is a sin-repudiating grace.

Introducing the Volitional and Behavioral Attendants of Repentance

8:44 He turns from it unto God. Then last Lord's Day, we began to consider what I've called the necessary attendance of repentance. They would be the main branches that grow out of and are always found in connection with the main trunk. It is a turning unto sin, and you'll notice the prepositional phrases that are used.

9:09 He does with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it. He turns from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. And those prepositional phrases identify those inseparable attendings of repentance unto life. Wherever there is a true turning from sin unto God, it will all accompany with grief and hatred of sin, and with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.

9:45 And I designated those three attendings as first of all the emotional grief and hatred of his sin. Then the volitional, with full purpose after new obedience. And thirdly, there is the behavioral, there is endeavor after new obedience. The emotional, grief.

10:14 There is the volitional, purpose. There is the behavioral, there is endeavor. And we noted in our study last week that perhaps to be more biblically accurate, we should say that the emotional attendant is not grief and hatred for his sin, but grief, self-loathing, and shame for one's sin. And I say to my preacher friends, it's when I pursue the various commentators on the shorter categories, I found them far less compelling than the many proof texts that go from grief to self-loathing and to shame. And we looked at a number of texts, particularly in the prophecy of Ezekiel. And so we've considered together the first attendant of true repentance. I covered the six hours review in the ten minutes, and we come now this morning to the two remaining attendants, which are full purpose of new obedience, and endeavor after new obedience.

11:32 Full purpose of and endeavor after.

The Nature of New Obedience: Purpose and Endeavor

11:39 Now, the great question is, since new obedience is the object of the volitional, full purpose of new obedience. and it is the object of honest endeavor, and endeavor after new obedience, it is vital that we understand what the Catechism means, better yet, what the Bible means, expressed in those words, of new obedience. What is the new obedience that is the inseparable attendant of true repentance? What is that new obedience which every penitent sinner purposes in his heart with a full and undivided purpose to pursue? What is that new obedience which having gotten off his knees and expressed his full purpose of heart to pursue it, you watch his feet, you look at his hands, you listen to his words, you watch how he lives, and you say, that man is...

12:46 He is making an honest, sincere endeavor after what he said he purposed to pursue. You know, those old men were very, very wise. Very wise. Had they said merely pursuit without purpose, they would have bypassed the heart.

13:06 Had they stopped with purpose and not said pursuit, they would have left the door open for subjective self-deception. But they balked us in, and nailed us at the point of the heart, full purpose of, and then they nailed us at the place of our actual practice and endeavor after new obedience. Well, as we turn to our Bibles, what I'm going to attempt to do with you this morning is to persuade you that the Bible does indeed set before us a course of new obedience, which is the purpose and the pursuit of every true penitent, truly penitent sinner. What is the nature of that new obedience which every repentant, believing sinner sincerely desires and actually pursues as a way of life? Well, I want to open up with you, as time permits, four ways in which it is a new obedience. Number one. It is new as to its source or origin.

New Obedience: New as to its Source or Origin

14:16 It is new as to its source, or origin. Remember the soil, the grace of God. Repentance is a divine gift. And when God gives the gift of repentance, He does so by giving that which is the source of repentance a new heart indwelt by the personal Holy Spirit and thereby inclined to a life of obedience to the law of God.

14:48 Turn with me, please, to Ezekiel 3. Ezekiel 3.36. Ezekiel and chapter 36.

15:03 This is one of those wonderful prophecies concerning what God will do in the terms of the new covenant. Parallel passages, of course, in Jeremiah.

15:14 And this is what the Lord says He will do. Verse 25, Ezekiel 36. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

15:29 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances and do them. And then God goes, And then God goes, He goes on to give that heart of the covenant promise, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

16:07 He says concerning all those to whom He commits Himself in covenant bond, this is what I will do for every single one of them who enters into the experience of this covenant applied experientially to his or her heart. Notice, number one, the heart of stone is removed and replaced by a heart of flesh. Now what's the idea of the heart of stone? Well, perhaps one of the best helps in answering that question from the scriptures is Zechariah 7 and verse 12.

16:49 Zechariah 7 and verse 12.

16:55 Yea, they may be made as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit by the former prophets. Therefore there came great wrath from the Lord of hosts. A stone is unresponsive to touch. It's unresponsive to any felt impulses.

17:19 God says the heart of stone can have laid upon it the very words of God through the prophets, and it is utterly unresponsive. Surely the New Testament counterpart is Romans 8-7. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.

17:42 The prevailing internal spiritual disposition of any man, woman, boy or girl who is a stranger to God taking out his native natural heart is one clenched fist in the face of God. The carnal mind, enmity against God. Not just indifferent, but positively set against Him. And the manifestation of it is not the denial of His existence, but notice what Paul says.

18:11 The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. Out of the heart are the issues of life, and out of the fountain of a man's being, a woman's being, a boy's being, a girl's being, who has nothing but the heart mom and dad gave him or her, is this cleansing, is this adamant time disposition that says whatever I do, whatever I want, whatever I choose, I will not be subject to God from the heart. I'll be willing to incorporate into my head notions about Him that may not jar me and disturb me. I'll be willing to believe things about Him, but don't touch the citadel of my being, my heart, that determines my goals, the status, the standards by which I live, the way I think, the way I act and react. Don't touch that, the heart of stone. God says in the New Covenant, He will take out that heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. A heart that has a composition that can be acted upon, worked upon.

19:26 Second thing God says He does, into this heart of flesh, He says the personal, holy spirit will be given. Whatever is meant in verse 26, a new spirit will I put within you. This is very clear in verse 27. I will put my spirit within you.

19:46 God removes the heart of flesh, places in us, I'm sorry, the heart of stone, gives the heart of flesh a capacity to receive with joy the gift of the Holy Spirit whose internal presence will be the governing, principal of all of life and in so doing, what happens? This personal holy spirit actively and powerfully inclines us to a lifestyle of obedience to the statutes and the ordinances of God. Look at the text. I will put my spirit within you and by so doing cause to walk.

20:30 Not or purpose of to frame the statutes. You shall keep my ordinances and do them not but purposely, not actively but universally. And God says if you sit here this morning and you are within the orbit of the blessings of the new covenant including the promise that God is your God and in the Jeremiah passage that you have had all of your sins blotted out and in this passage that you've been cleansed from your filthiness, then sitting here you have within you the person of the Holy Spirit whose presence has so operated in the deepest recesses of your being that you have this inclination the ability to establish a lifestyle of obedience to the revealed will of God. And so when the framers of our catechism said that when there is repentance,

21:58 which is the gift of God, which is that working of God in conjunction with the whole complex of conversion in which God regenerates and as he brings us to repentance in faith, justifies and adopts, etc., etc., there is in the heart of every single one within the orbit of those covenant blessings this purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. And it is new as to its source and to its origin.

22:37 I will cause them not by external coercion but by inward inclination and spontaneous motivation. I will cause them.

22:50 Some of us can remember whose conversion was not very dramatic but we can at least point to the general time frame. What an amazement it was after years of having a conscience enlightened by the Bible in a Christian home under some measure of Christian instruction and reluctantly dragging our feet into the standards and ways of a Christian as much as we could wherever we could without crossing too much what else we wanted. We were in amazement to ourselves when we found ourselves wanting what to do when our wanton are ought to coalesce in our hearts and in our lives. Do you know that? If you don't for you know nothing of full purpose and obedience that is new as to its source or its origin. Secondly it is new as to its extent as to its extent.

New Obedience: New as to its Extent

24:03 Now think with me. By nature men may render various degrees of apparent obedience or external and selective obedience to the revealed will of God. Remember the rich young ruler? He comes to Jesus.

24:20 We have the account in all three synoptics. And he comes to Jesus saying good master what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus turns to him because he knows the poor young well schooled man is utterly ignorant of his heart. He says you know the commandments?

24:41 He says oh yes. I've kept them from my youth. I've kept my youth up. What did he mean?

24:48 He meant that in terms of the external patterns of behavior mandated by particularly the commandments of the second table of the law for that's where the attention focused.

25:00 He had kept them. There was no woman that could say you've stained my moral purity. There was no man no business establishment that could come and say you robbed me of shekels. There was no one that could say that this man had apparently openly said slandered anyone or had taken an oath and falsely borne witness.

25:23 There was a measure of consistent external obedience to the law of God. By nature men may render various degrees of apparent obedience and external and selective obedience. Remember what Saul of Tarsus said in Philippians 3 as touching the law I was what? Blameless.

25:45 Blameless. Nobody nobody saw anything in my life that they could bring some segment to pour on stick it under my nose and say hey Mr. Pharisee man hot shot young rising star in Israel what are you doing doing this when the law says this? He said I was blameless.

26:02 Blameless. You see it is perfectly possible from a number of factors to render apparent obedience external and selective obedience to the revealed will of God. But in true repentance the first thing fundamental desire and actively pursued goal is no longer external or selective obedience but it is universal obedience flowing from the deepest recesses of the heart. An obedience in which we long that the demands of God that start inwardly be recognized internalized and begin to govern the entirety of our inner life and that every facet of our external life will reflect that internal disposition as we seek in the language of the psalmist to have respect unto all of God's commandments. Now think of this for a minute. In the Great Commission as recorded in Matthew what did our Lord say? He said make disciples of all the nations baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit then he said this teaching them those who have been made disciples teaching them to observe

27:30 whatsoever I have commanded them commanded you what's the assumption? The assumption is that when people have been made disciples they stand in a posture before apostolic word and instruction of desiring both to know and to obey the Master who has brought them into his school who by his grace has come to them in the word and promise of the gospel and having repented and believed and openly declared that repentance and faith in their attachment to him in the ordinance of baptism their posture is I now belong to Jesus I'm his disciple he's my teacher I'm the learner all that I am from my soul my thought life outward to the farthest reaches of my external behavior farthest reaches is under the regal authoritative word of my Master and my teacher lay it on me it is assumed that all true disciples are ready to receive and obey what Christ has commanded they can now say with the psalmist I delight I delight

28:57 to do thy will oh my God yea thy law is within my heart because of the spirit's operation within I now have this full purpose of and this endeavor after new obedience Ashbell Green in his very very helpful lectures on the shorter catechism given by the way to young people he says and it would tax the minds of most men in the ministry see the difference how we've slid he was pastor in Philadelphia and president of the board of the initial formation of Princeton Seminary mighty man of God greatly respected for his godliness and his power as a creature he writes under this very heading it is new in regard to its extent impenitent men as we have seen may render a partial outward obedience to the commands of God but they never go further but the true penitent says with the psalmist then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments there is with him no taking of one duty and leaving another no satisfaction in obeying the second table of the law while the first is disregarded no separating the duties which we owe to God our neighbor ourselves

30:25 no severing of the feelings and affections of the heart from outward visible actions in a word a new obedience though imperfect in degree is impartial and universal in regard to its objects it says with David I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way first of all in myself new obedience though imperfect in degree is impartial and universal in regard to its objects you see one of the fundamental difference between mere nominalism and real vital saving religion is this if you're going to keep up your nominalism if you're going to keep up the respect of the religious community that maybe you are the real thing then there are certain things you have obviously got to do and other things you've got to be sure you don't do to maintain your respectable standing but there are a host of things where only you and God go in the depths of your heart in your thoughts when you lie in your bed in your thoughts when you interact with others in the deep musings and desires of your soul there are a host of other things you can do with your eyes

31:55 with your ears with your tongue that is not known to that community whose acceptance is very important to you for one reason or another you want to be part of the in-crowd of the respectable reform but your obedience is pathetically selective you allow your mind to welcome the hard footprints of thoughts of meanness and bitterness and uncleanness and self-pity trample in and out as it were has footprints all over those kinds of thoughts whereas if you were committed with full purpose of and in death never after new obedience you would be as meticulous that your thoughts be kept pure as you are meticulous that your outward life meet the standard of the community whose acceptance is important to you you'll be just as careful to inwardly grieve over a thought of unjust anger of a mean spirit to a brother or sister as you would be had that spirit broken out

33:23 in angry cursing in the presence of a hundred of the group whose acceptance you want it's not their eyes and ears that matter most to you it's the eyes and ears of God and therefore the new obedience is not only new with respect to its source but it is new with respect to its extent whenever sin is detected regardless of what human being may or may know about it is of no concern to you what concerns you is the eye of your savior are you actually dealing ruthlessly with anything that would hinder universal obedience if not how can you justify in the theater of your own conscience that you are experiencing full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience new as to its source new as to its extent thirdly it is new as to its motives new as to its motives motives motives are the motors that drive our actions motives are the motors

New Obedience: New as to its Motives (Love, Fear, Glory)

34:51 that drive our actions desires are the mother of our deeds when we were unconverted what was our motive in life our motive in life was to worship the god the world's trinity the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes pride of life but because repentance is manifested in that regenerating grace of god that registers in this whole new complex of motives that new obedience is an obedience a major part of which is the matter of transformed motives and let me suggest three of those dominant new motives that mark every sinner of any age of any background of any relationships that has experienced repentance unto life motive number one love to the person of jesus christ love to the person of jesus christ because the second tap root of all true repentance unto life is an apprehension a laying hold to some degree of the mercy of god extended to us in christ through the

36:20 gospel no sooner does faith apprehend christ but it bears a child in the heart of everyone who looks to christ in faith and that child is love faith immediately begets love to its object and when it begets love to its object paul says in galatians five six faith works energetically performs by love so no sooner in that penitent believing heart does god do his work but some measure of love to the object of that faith the lord jesus himself is born in the heart and that love to christ if it is not grieved and quenched by our sin and by carelessness as it grows and develops this is a major element in the whole new motivational complex of new obedience it is all beholding the christ whom he's persecuted now indicating grace and mercy and even taking him into the orbit of his saving purpose that causes him to cry lord what will you have me to do the instinct of that love born in his heart to the

37:49 apprehending savior is a commitment to do his will the motivation later on articulated so clearly in second corinthians five and verse four for the love of christ literally holds me in its grip not my love for him but his love for me so possessing me that it holds me in its grip it's the constraining element in my life jesus says in john fourteen fifteen then if you love me you will keep my commandments so what happens in the first beginnings of the actings of true repentance in faith there is at least the beginnings the incipient reality of love for the person of christ and the only sure undeniable evidence of love for his person is the commitment to do his will he that loves me not keeps not my word and that's why the apostle could conclude as we saw last week that letter first corinthians with the only gospel curse in all the new testament john pronounces a curse on those who mess around with god's inscripturated revelation but this is the only direct curse of that nature first corinthians 1622 if any man love not the lord let him be accursed oh lord come if any love not the lord let him be accursed

39:18 and i'm personally persuaded the apostle injected that at the end of that letter because working through all of the morass of the corinthian mess again and again he shows how if only they understood who jesus was and if only they were adjusting life and thought and relationships to who jesus is and what jesus has done his own heart is so filled with the wonder of christ that he says if anyone doesn't love so lovable a being let him be cursed of god and if we love so lovable a being the evidence is we obey him not when obedience is just convenient but when obedience cost us chopping off right hands casting them from us plucking out right eyes and casting them from us yes yes by the spirit we mortify it's out of the virtue of remembering our union with christ and that sin shall not have dominion over us reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin yes but no amount of prayerful spirit empowered absorption of romans 6 1 to 14 will pass the necessity of hacking and throwing and plucking and casting and there's precious little of that there's moaning and groaning about all

40:48 things and all the takeaways and dull we're gonna have some bonfires with our toys and bonfires with our trinkets and do what we need to do in the midst of a society that gluts us with stuff that all bleeds off so much of the nurturing of our love for christ when god lays hold of us in grace when he draws us unto himself takes out the heart of stone gives the heart of flesh not only will there be a purpose for new obedience that is rooted in that work of grace a purpose and endeavor of new obedience that is shaped with a passion to be universal but new as to its motive supremely love to christ but a second motive that makes it new obedience is the evangelical fear of god the evangelical fear of god and by that i'm simply trying to capture what jeremiah refers to in one of his new covenant promise passages jeremiah chapter thirty two jeremiah chapter thirty two

42:17 and verse thirty seven behold i will gather them out of all the countries whether i've driven them in my anger and in my wrath and in great indignation i will bring them again into this place and cause them to dwell safely they shall be my people and i will be their god the heart of god's covenant commitment i will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and of their children after them and i will make an everlasting covenant within them with them that i will not turn away from following them to do them good now notice i will put my fear in their hearts that they may not depart from me in the complex of blessings promised in this new covenant god says i will put my fear in their hearts that they may not depart from me what is god saying he'll do i will pursue them in sovereign grace to do them good and in doing them good i'll put my fear in their hearts to do two things to secure their commitment to and their perseverance in the way

43:47 of covenant faithfulness isn't that what he says i will put my fear in their hearts to what end that they may not depart from me my fear in their hearts will put them in the way of pursuing me and my will and covenant faithfulness and because i've placed it within them and i'm committed to sustain my work in them it will be the means of their perseverance in the way of covenant faithfulness and this fear is in conjunction with god's restorative mercy so what is this evangelical fear this fear that grows out of the announcement of and the believing reception of and incorporation into gospel privileges i have found helpful in my own mind to give what is a sort of collation of strands of thought from different sources and simply to state it is that fear which so regards god in his awesome being and in his astounding grace that pleasing him is my greatest delight and the thought of displeasing him my greatest dread that's the evangelical fear of god it is regarding god in his

45:16 awesome being you see the grace of god revealed in christ does not in any way soften the sharper angles nor the intimidating dimensions of the being of god it's simply beautifully and wonderfully beams them all down through the revelation of his heart of mercy and the person and work of jesus christ and like a prism breaks out in all the marvelous colors of his manifold grace but god does not cease to be a consuming fire it's in the context of the better things of the new covenant that the writer to hebrew says for our god not was under moses covenant but god is a consuming fire again setting out the privilege privileges of the new as contrasted with the old he said let us have grace whereby we may worship him with reverence and with godly fear and so one of the motives that is implanted in us that becomes part of that purpose of an endeavor after new obedience is evangelical fear of god the implanting of a disposition in which we stand in awe of who this god is and the thought of

46:45 incurring his frown is distressful to the heart the thought of having his smile is a delight to us and when we contemplate this god in the revelation of his astounding grace in jesus christ it binds us to him with a reciprocal covenant commitment that we shall be his and seek to please him and do his will that's why peter could say in first peter one seventeen we are to pass the time of our sojourning in fear knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot see what he says pass the time of your sojourning in fear fear that takes its contours from the certain knowledge that i'm redeemed but it is nonetheless a fear of god the god who judges without respect of persons the god before whom will stand as paul says in second corinthians five we must all be made manifest fully known for what we are before the judgment seat of christ knowing therefore the terror of the lord that gets implanted in the first actings of true repentance god is now regarded no longer as this

48:15 horrible ogre who makes these unreasonable demands and is out to just zap us and get us or is this big ubiquitous amorphous glob of undefined emotion called love wouldn't hurt a flea all except of god that he's all sternness and harshness or is this amorphous glob of guttiness and everything in between in the gospel we see him for who he is he's the god who has rights over us and we've defied him trampled underfoot his law we've incensed him because of our sin and the god who is so pure and so holy and just that he will not as it were give vent to the impulses of his love to pardon without his justice being satisfied and his holiness being magnified and so he sends his only begotten son he as it were mandates the inflection of the second person of the godhead taking upon himself true human soul and body that in that soul and body as true man joined to his divinity two separate natures in this one glorious person he lives the life we should have lived but have not dies the death we should have died but dare not is raised from the dead taken back to the right hand

49:45 of the father and now this god who could consume us in his wrath this god constrained by his own integrity could not forgive without satisfaction for sin this god has revealed his heart and his wisdom in the person and work of his beloved son and if repentance is a sinner out of the true sense of his sin and some measure of apprehension laying hold of god's mercy in jesus christ then surely when eyes are open to behold god's scheme of redemption in the savior the heart is suffused with some measure of the evangelical fear of god and that instinctively produces this full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience for the essence of that fear is so regarding god in the awesomeness of his being and in the wonder of his grace that displeasing him is our greatest dread and pleasing him is our greatest desire and then the third dimension of the new motive not only love to christ evangelical fear of god but it's the glory of god the third motive that makes it new obedience is that of living to the glory

51:14 of god when we read in romans the early chapters where paul is exegeting reasoning through to the universal sinfulness of all men regardless of their background religiously and any other differences he tells us in romans 318 that the crowning shame of man in sin is that there is no fear of god before his eyes romans 318 after this litany of the manifestations of human sinfulness drawn from the psalms and from isaiah and then he concludes with this word there is no fear of god before their eyes they do not have this regard that causes god's eye and god's presence and god's pleasure or displeasure to be the all regulating perspective of life so the crowning shame of man in sin is there is no fear of god before his eyes but in romans 323 we are given the crowning tragedy of man in sin and what is it for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god all have sinned and come short of the glory of god what was man made to be he was made to be image of god he was made as image of god let us make man in our image and after

52:44 our likeness god's intention being that as they fulfilled the mandate to be fruitful and multiply and replenish and fill the earth this earth would be full of accurate albeit human but accurate mirrors reflections of god in all the multi dimension glory of what makes him god in his essential moral character in his ways and works man is image of god if the absence of the fear of god is the crowning shame of man then failure to glorify god is what that's the crowning tragedy we're failing to be the very thing we were made to be we live to do anything other than glorify god we come into the realm of consciousness as little children conscious of our appetites our souls are full of voracious desires we want to we want to enjoy things we want to be accepted and we want this and we want that we are a mass of wanters and then we find we have senses that can receive pleasure and we want those senses gratified and satisfied and with a soul that is like an empty vacuum of desire and with all of

54:12 these capacities to enjoy things our life becomes obsessed with what fulfilling those desires and satisfying those senses so as I said earlier all that is in the world what is the world's trinity the lust of the flesh the desire to enjoy things the lust of the eyes the desire to possess things and the vain glory of life the desire to be somebody is the world's trinity and we all worship it by nature but what happens when God graciously deals with us brings us under some measure of felt awareness of what we are as sinners and we come to experience something of some measure and I am not about to dictate how much because the word does not that I am a creature accountable to God made to glorify God and I prostituted my very existence by living for myself 2nd Corinthians 5 15 and that Christ died for all he died that they who live should no longer henceforth live unto themselves Isaiah 53 6 all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned each and every one of us to his own way if God's glory must suffer in the process so be it if it

55:41 pleases me if it satisfies me if it seems to meet some felt need in me me me when God is pleased to bring us to some measure of conviction and show us what this horrible idolatrous nihism meant to incarnate deity and we behold his bruised bloody torn flesh upon Golgotha and we behold the blackened heavens and we behold something of the pressure of his titanic soul reaching the breaking point and crying my God God why have you forsaken me and we say my nihism cause that the death of my nihism grief and hatred of his sin does with what full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience for I know that the only way I can begin to glorify God is in the way of obedience to the God who made me for his glory who dictates how I can glorify him and then by God's grace I'm prepared right down to the most

57:10 base activities that make me most like the animals to have a passion to glorify God 1 Corinthians 10 31 whether therefore you eat that's what Fido does when he sticks his snoot in the bowl he eats whether you drink when he's lapping his water dish or whatever you do do all to the glory of God begin to live for the purpose for which you were made don't you see that it's subtle but I believe it's real and I know there is the dictum that every parable has but one central truth I'm not quite so sure I accept it I think in principle we ought not to look for all kinds of meanings in all the details but surely when our Lord is being accused of being the friend of sinners and says look I've come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance and then he gives a parable of what real repentance involves and what results from that repentance when that prodigal who thought all of life existed to please him hey pop give me my right of inheritance living under your roof with your rules with your ends with your purposes I can't be my

58:37 so off to the far country he goes the minute he comes to himself he has a totally different perspective about the father says and he came to himself and what's the first thing that registered how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and despair all these hard thoughts I've had my father how ludicrous how wicked his true heart is seen and even the way he treats his servants I will arise go to my father and say father I've sinned against you and against heaven no more worthy to be called your son you see the hatred the self loathing the shame no more worthy to be he didn't come hey pop your heart's been breaking for me ain't you glad to see me no no father runs to him throws his arms around him he comes back with what disposition I'm gonna live for my pappy's purposes I'm ready to go back and his purposes which I totally misconstrued and totally and prejudicially slandered he's a gracious father he's a father with a kind will and an open and I'm going back to put myself under his government and in his presence

New Obedience: New as to its Enabling Power

60:05 live to the purposes dictated by my daddy that's repentance that's repentance that's disposition and desire to glorify the father new as to its source new as to its extent new as to its motives then just touch on it in a word it's new as to its enabling power it's new obedience as to its enabling power because repentance unto life is the gift of God bringing a sinner into possession of all that is in Christ all the objective provision stored up in Christ I'm now united to him and they are miming him so that Paul can write Ephesians 2 10 I am you are his workmanship created anew in union with Christ unto good works well if he unites me to Christ by the spirit from the divine perspective by repentance and faith in particular from the human perspective to what end is he united me to Christ unto good works well if that's the end isn't he going to give me a disposition to pursue it yes and he does that when in repentance there is full purpose of and then ever after new obedience and now there is

61:33 enabling power so that the apostle can write in Philippians 2 when commanding the Philippians in verse 12 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you now listen both to will there is purpose there is endeavor for his good pleasure he works in you both to will and to work both the purpose and the performance the disposition and the deed God empowers us to live the life to which he calls us in being united to Christ in a way I cannot fully comprehend I am united to him in all the virtue of his distinctive redemptive acts when he died I died with him when he was buried I was buried with him when he was raised I was raised with him when he ascended I ascended and I'm seated with him so Paul can say I have been crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in or of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me yes we're called to mortify our sins in the ongoing struggle but Romans 814 says if you by the spirit I mean

63:02 not 814 814 if you by the spirit do mortify the 813 the deeds of the flesh you shall live for as many as are led by the spirit of God led by the spirit of God in what way to experience his enabling power in the ongoing work of mortification and whatever duties are laid upon us at the end of the day are not demands upon our frail impoverished humanity they are demands upon the grace of God to us in Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit therefore Paul can say in Philippians 4 13 I can do all things to him who strengthens me from within my grace is sufficient for you my strength is made perfect in the midst of weakness it's new obedience as to its enabling power it's not roll up your sleeves and get with it with what you've got in the storehouse of your own pathetically weak sin stained humanity it's in the grace of Christ and in the strength of Christ well I hope at least I've carried your conscience if not in every detail that when the old writers said that repentance which is unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner

Conclusion: The Inseparable Attendants and Self-Examination

64:29 out of a true sensitive sin in an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ doth with grief and hatred of it turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience the inseparable relationship grief self-loathing and shame for sin may be nothing but the sorrow of the world that works death if it is not accompanied with this full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience I close by giving you a taste of ash bell green it cannot be otherwise than that he who acts in the manner just described should have a full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience full purpose that is use his most strenuous endeavors to walk before God in new obedience a full purpose to yield obedience to all the commands of God may here be considered as opposed to a purpose that is partial or temporary or to one that is to be carried into effect at some future time how many are there who purpose to leave off the commission of certain sins and even do what they purpose

65:58 while they form no resolution to abandon others of equal , moral turpitude how many are there whose resolutions of entire amendment however ardently formed are broken and forgotten without being followed by any lasting change of outward conduct or inward disposition how many there are who propose and fondly flatter themselves that some future period they'll turn from sin to God and yet live and die impenitent and utterly unreformed but the execution of the full purpose we consider is commenced without any delay is directly against every sin become a fixed principle of the mind he who entertains it says with the prodigal I will arise and go to my father you see the prodigal not only said to himself I will arise and go verse 20 says he arose and went purpose yes but perform purpose of endeavor after hence it is that the catechism states that this full purpose is connected with an endeavor a full or strenuous endeavor to yield a new obedience to all the divine requisitions purposes without endeavors professed repentance without reformation declarations of sorrow for sin without forsaking and avoiding it are all empty

67:28 vain and useless they indicate nothing except the parties concerned deceive either themselves or others he who has a sincere and full purpose to obey will look to God in earnest prayer for grace and strength and in reliance on him will instantly endeavor with all his might to carry out his purpose into practice I ask you to be shut in with God's word what you presently know of yourself and with the prayer oh God search me and know my heart and honestly ask do I know those attendants of all repentance unto life not as a past experience but as the present disposition of my soul for as Spurgeon wisely said saving faith is not the act of a moment but the acquisition of a disposition that carries us to faith issues in sight and true repentance is not the act of a moment or a past period but a disposition that will be with us as long as sin is with us and it will be with us till we breathe our last or till we hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God may God grant that we will be able to say oh Lord you know

68:56 all things you know that by your grace there's been implanted in my heart this full purpose of and this endeavor after new obedience let's pray our father we prayed at the beginning of our time together that where we were ignorant you would teach us where we were wrong you would correct us where we were right you would confirm us we pray that you will be answering that prayer even throughout the hours of this day as we reflect upon the things we have concerned ourselves with this morning we ask in Jesus name amen