26. The fact that His punishment does not immediately follow sin is not a proof of His powerlessness; it is a proof of His patience.
27.
28.
29. When you realize what you really deserve and how good God is, you would ever be thankful.
30. Implies a radical change in one's view of things (specifically a change of mind about sin), and in one's estimate of matters and a change in one's purposes, a change in one's thoughts and in one's conduct.
31. Is a change of mind that results in an action of the will. If a sinner honestly changes his mind about sin he will turn from it. If he sincerely changes his mind about Jesus Christ, he will turn to Him, trust Him, and be saved.Spurgeon describes repentance as follows...<br />A man may hate sin just as a murderer hates the gallows, but this does not prove repentance. If I hate sin because of the punishment, I have not repented of sin. I merely regret that God is just. But if I can see sin as an offense against Jesus Christ, and loathe myself because I have wounded Him, then I have a true brokenness of heart... What if I say that repentance is like the cry of a newborn babe, which indicates that the child is alive? That cry of quot;
God be merciful to me a sinner!quot;
(Luke 18:13) is as sure a sign of life as the song of cherubim before the throne...To hate sin because it caused the brow of Christ to be girt with the thorn crown, and the face of Christ to be dishonored with the spittle, and the hands of Christ to be pierced with the nail—this is repentance—not because I am afraid of hell, not because sin brings pains and penalties with it, but because it made Jesus Christ to suffer for me such pangs unutterable....Repentance and faith are like Siamese twins. If one is sick the other cannot be well, for they live but one life. If ever you are asked which comes first, repentance or faith, you may answer by another question: quot;
Which spoke of a wheel moves first when the wheel begins to move?”<br /> Spurgeon adds that <br />Repentance is not a preparation for looking to Christ. Do you not see that? The looking is put first, and the mourning after-wards. Yet you have said, quot;
We must mourn for sin, and then look to Christ to pardon it.quot;
That is not God's order. There will never be a tear of acceptable repentance in your eye till you have first looked to Jesus Christ. If you weep for sin without fixing your gaze on Christ, you will have to weep again over your repentance, for it is itself another sin.quot;
And again says quot;
We are to tell of the source of repentance, namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is exalted on high to give repentance. Repentance is a plant that never grows on nature's dunghill. The nature must be changed, and repentance must be implanted by the Holy Spirit, or it will never flourish in our hearts. We preach repentance as a fruit of the Spirit, or else we greatly err.<br />“Most people never think like that you know. How about you? What do you think about the goodness of God? Has God’s goodness lead you to Repentance?” <br />Pastor Charles)<br />GETTING USE TO EXCHANGING GOD’S JUSTICE FOR MERCY<br />Romans 2:5<br />Charles E. Whisnant, Pastor/Teacher<br />April 25, 2010<br />Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, (NASB:<br />“BUT after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God: who will render to every man according to his deeds:”<br />People see themselves as deserving. “Well, I am not so bad!” They never are thankful for life. They just take it for granted and get the idea that they deserve it all anyway.<br />RESULT IN TODAY MODERN CHRISTIANITY: It’s all about self image, worth and value. How I look, how big my house is, the brand of car I drive, the cloths that I wear.<br />GOD’S POINT OF VIEW ABOUT US WOULD BE? Sinners.<br />Today salvation is viewed as “what can it do for me, and not how it effects God. <br />To many of us are indulging ourselves in God’s mercy<br />HOW DO WE SEE THE JUSTICES OF GOD?<br />Child dies? Wife/Husband dies? Sickness? Can’t find a job? Too many things are going wrong?<br />As a result we question God’s love, mercy and goodness. <br />MY QUESTION IS “HOW CAN PEOPLE QUESTION GOD’S GOODNESS” <br />TAKE A NOTE OF HOW GOD WORKED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT DAYS?<br />He turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt.<br />Told Abraham to burn up his son.<br />Send a bunch of snakes into the camp of Israel.<br />Fire kills hundreds in Elijah times.<br />35 sins in which God prescribed the death penalty.<br />We misunderstand the SIN principle. We don’t see what we do as sin against God. We don’t see SIN as a blow at God’s character, or misrepresentation to God’s image, or His intention for us. We don’t see it as insulting to God. <br />Originally all sin required death. But God been merciful, by the time of the Mosaic Law you have 35. <br />We have gotten so used to God’s mercy, and grace, getting away with our sins, not been punished, getting accustom to Grace, we have just abuse it. So when God does act in justice we believe He is unjust. <br />GOD DOES CHOOSE AT TIMES NOT TO BE MERCIFUL?<br />If God didn’t chose to act in justice, think how worse this world would really be like.<br />Truth of the matter is, more of God’s justice should be seen.<br />If there were no examples of the consequences of sin we would go one joyfully, plenteous trading on with a though on His mercy. We get use to exchanging God justice for mercy.<br />I Corinthians 10:11: “for our example.” <br />To build into our hearths an attitude of thanksgiving.<br />“Every day we live we should say “Thank you God for your mercy, and for overlooking my sin today, which should caused by death.”<br />Never allow the tolerate of insubordination, disobedient, that God does show us mercy.<br />Luke 13:1-5 The Jews of the first century believed that all suffering was due to God’s judgment on sin. This concept is shared by some Christians today when they ask, “Why do the righteous suffer? The Scripture teaches that God allows temporal disasters to happen for various reasons-one of which is to lead people to repentance. Why God Permits Accidents? One answer would be lead to repentance. <br />SO WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU KEEP ON BEEN STUBBORN ABOUT YOUR SINS?<br />God's wrath, though it come not on you yet, is like a stream that is dammed up. Every moment it gathers force. It bursts not the dike, yet every hour it is swelling it. Each moment of each day in which you remain an unbeliever you are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath when the measure of your iniquity is full.<br />You are storing up divine fury that will be turned loose on that day of wrath. The Great White Throne of God.” And you keep trading on God’s mercy and you will feel the eternal damnation of God for ever in Hell. <br />So be grateful of God’s mercy today and come to God in a repented heart and turn to Christ. <br />Today if you sense the wind of God’s Spirit coming over you, today is the day of salvation.<br />