Embracing Repentance: Transforming Our Perspective on Sin

as one of the old Puritans I believe put it that he's nothing but a mass of corruption that he's a festering s now that's the language that the scripture itself uses with respect to men in sin and it's a tremendous thing when we begin to get this new view of ourselves [00:15:22]

repentance and you see how important it is to Define it like this it isn't only a matter of actions it's a man's view of himself I say as well do we AB abhor ourselves job abhorred himself he said so he hated himself you can't read the Bible without seeing that all these men have come to know God [00:16:09]

self-defense goes when we repent we feel we deserve nothing but punishment we realize that we are popers that we are vile a man changes his view about himself and of course he changes his view consequently about everything his whole view of life is different before this you see his idea of life was well what the world is enjoying [00:17:00]

he sees himself now you see in the light of God and before God he sees life now as a journey in the direction of God not a place into which you come to settle down and just have a good time soal and let yourself go and live like an animal to the lust of the Flesh and so on no no he sees men now as someone under god [00:17:35]

and his view of right and wrong Behavior under goes a very profound change but and this is what I wanted to emphasize and have been trying to emphasize the conduct and the behavior are the end result of repentance not the beginning of repentance not the whole of repentance the conduct and the behavior must change [00:18:25]

the goodness of God and his forbearance and his longsuffering Were Meant to lead us to that and that patently therefore if we fail to come to that we are entirely misunderstanding the goodness of God indeed we are guilty of despising the goodness of God now God reveals this goodness and this forbearance [00:19:11]

the heart in scripture stands for the very seat and center and Throne of personality now there you see according to the scriptural teaching is the seate of sin the essence of sin is to be found there and nowhere else now I don't keep you tonight by showing you how completely that is in contrast with the modern view of sin [00:22:54]

the complete reversal of the modern view of sin now let me show you how this is the teaching of the scripture we've already had it indeed in chapter in the first chapter in verse 21 where Paul says because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations [00:23:31]

the trouble with men is not merely in his intellect it isn't merely in his mind there is trouble in his mind butas the trouble with men is very much deeper than that and that is where so many go wrong that is where all were not Christian go wrong that is of course at the basis of the pathetic belief [00:24:52]

man isn't just an intellect there's something in man which is much more powerful than his intellect and that is what is called his heart man doesn't matter how brilliant a brain he's got nor how Highly Educated he may be is much more governed by his instincts and by that which is Elemental in him than by his higher senters [00:25:51]

the goodness and the forbearance and the longsuffering of God are shining down upon mankind like the sun and they are meant to soften us and to melt us but what they do to these people is to harden them the sun does both things doesn't it it melts butter it hardens clay and according to the Apostle here it's one or the other always [00:28:40]

he is treasuring up for himself every time he misunderstands that he's adding to this think of the whole picture of a man treasuring up something he's a collector of pearls if you like he's a collector of anything and he gathers them and he takes them he unlocks his cabinet he puts the thing in he locks it up again [00:35:09]