The Gospel Of Repentance

This article will be another angle on God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility regarding coming to Christ. I recently listened to a message where a theologian attended a college to interview students regarding if they believed they were “good enough” to go to heaven. Most of the responses were typical: yeah, I’m a good person. I’m not as bad as some other people. I’m nice to people and so on. But, what does the Bible have to say about our own righteousness? Let’s review some passages. Isaiah 64:6a says, but we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags. Proverbs 20:6, 9 says, most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man? Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?                         Nobody. In Daniel Chapter 4 King Nebuchadnezzar tragically attributed his power and might and glory to him...

To answer that question in a word, yes. You may be asking what type of miracles has Satan performed? Well for starters, let’s go to the temptation of Jesus. In Matthew 4:8-9, Again the devil took Him (Jesus) up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him all these things I will give to you if you fall down and worship me. Now to some this may not seem like a miracle at all, but the writer believe that it was.  The devil was somehow able to display to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world at one time. Obviously this did not astound Jesus, but it proves the devil can perform miraculous signs. In the book of Exodus we see just as Moses and Aaron rods turned into snakes, Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers did the same. Obviously the magicians and sorcerers power came from Satan, not from God (Ex 7:10-12). In the future Jesus told the disciples that false christs and false prophets will be able to perfor...

I’m sure you are wondering what do these three words have to do with theology? Well, there are many “professing Christians” who believe in Jesus only to escape the fires and tortures of hell. They do not have a desire to change their wicked lifestyle or to live holy which the Bible demands we do once we are born again (Lev 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7; I Pet 1:16). It is what some have called easy believe-ism or cheap grace. A person who only wants a “fire-insurance-salvation”, does not have true salvation, but on the way to the hell they think they are avoiding. Shame on anyone who would cheapen the atonement of Christ as common, and not the single most solitary expression of love ever committed in history (Heb 10:29). Let us think about this for a moment, since God was willing to send the very best He had, His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to come and die a sinner’s death for us, wouldn’t one think that the least we could do as believers in Christ is live holy lives th...