The Truth About Repentance

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Welcome to a Biblical Perspective Podcast where God's point of view matters.

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I'm your host, Prophet CT Johnson.

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This podcast is designed to expand you beyond the mind's cultural and theological limitations

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about the Bible and what it teaches.

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Prepare for the challenge of becoming a critical thinker, analyzing life from God's perspective.

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Boldly and unapologetically, I'll address the ills and issues of our day using scripture

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as the frame of reference.

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Get ready to empower your thinking and change your life.

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Now let's hear what God has to say.

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I want to deal with this subject tonight in regards to the truth about repentance.

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There's so much that we are hearing, so much that is being preached, so much that is being

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herald across the pulpit.

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Unfortunately, most of it is unscriptural, unbiblical, it's errant, and erroneous.

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And so I was led tonight to deal with this subject and to bring us back to a biblical

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and scriptural understanding of repentance and look at it from God's perspective and

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not from the perspective of culture, not from the perspective of secularism, not from the

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perspective of popular opinion, not even from the perspective of religion and or religiosity,

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but dealing with it, repentance from the scriptures, from the Bible, from God's perspective, because

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He's the one that allows for repentance.

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And that's a great segue into where we're going tonight in that, again, it is God that

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allows for repentance.

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And we're going to deal specifically with that statement as we go to the scriptures

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in a few, but I want to preface this tonight by taking us into that segue in regards to

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the statement that it is God that allows for repentance.

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We are living in a day where grace, the grace of God, another subject matter, another topic

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that is being taught and preached unscripturally, unbiblically, being taught from a secular

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perspective, being taught from a cultural perspective, that because we are under grace,

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that we are able and permitted to live in account to our own will in alignment.

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I should say that we're permitted to live in alignment or in accordance with our own

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will, with our own desires, because God is a God of love.

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And we use that as a cop out to say that because He loves us, He condones our behavior, He

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condones whatever it is that we will to do, that we desire to do, that is contrary to

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His will.

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And that is anything but truth.

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That is anything but Bible.

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That is anything except for what God has said, because the apostle Paul says to us emphatically,

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should we continue in sin, that grace may abound.

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So in other words, does grace permit, does grace authorize us as Christians living in

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accordance to our Adamic nature, according to our fallen self?

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He says, Paul, of course not, God forbid.

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He says, where sin abounds, grace much more abounds, however grace is not a free pass

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or a free ticket.

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So why did I mention that?

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Because of the erroneous grace message.

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We have also been taught that, listen, you can go out there and do what you want to do.

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He's a God of love, He's a God of mercy.

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We'll deal with that in a minute.

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And because He is, He will allow you to repent anytime, whenever you're ready to.

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God will stand there like the prodigal son, father, with His arms outstretched, waiting

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for you to come to yourself, waiting for you to realize that the father has a better life,

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that the father has a better will, that the father desires better for you.

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And when you realize that when you have your epiphany, He will be there with His arms outstretched.

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Well, the issue with that story is that it is void of scriptural biblical foundation.

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Because as I forementioned, as you're coming in, for those of you that are just coming

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in, share, share, share, and help me get this word out that we're dealing with a subject

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that is not dealt with, and that is repentance.

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Because we've been taught, because we are in this grace age, because we're in this love

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age, we have been taught that repentance is on your terms.

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And that because He's love God, because He's mercy God, that He will always be there.

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And then of course, you know, we have to go to scripture and use it out of context to

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validate our damnable devil's doctrine.

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And so as I unfold this tonight, I want you to stick with me and bear with me as we deal

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with the truth about repentance.

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What does the scriptures actually say?

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Well, let's look at Psalm 118 first and foremost.

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Psalm 118 and verse 1, the New King James, listen to this, oh, give thanks to the Lord,

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because this is one of the scriptures that we use to validate our wayward lifestyle.

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This is what we use, the scripture we use to give us a pass for backsliding, give us

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a pass for dipping and sipping, give us a pass for getting as close to the world as

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possible without actually becoming a part thereof.

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But listen to what the scriptures say, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

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We know that.

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There's an argument there, for His mercy endures forever.

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Let Israel now say His mercy endures forever.

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Let the house of Aaron now say His mercy endures forever.

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Let those who fear the Lord now say His mercy endures forever.

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And then Psalm 136 verse 1 through 26 was too much to put on a slide, but go in your

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leisure and read Psalm 136 verses 1 through 26.

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The entire Psalm is repetitive of the statement, His mercy endures forever.

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His mercy endures forever.

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That's the Word of God.

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The Word of God is infallible.

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The Word of God stands sure.

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The Word of God is what forever settled in heaven.

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God said that He places His Word above His name.

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So we're not arguing with what the Word says.

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But here's the problem.

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We cannot extrapolate from the scriptures what we desire, twist it to mean what it does

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not.

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Many use these scriptures in the Psalm, again, to belitify their backsliding, their infidelity,

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their behavior, because we've been taught, come back to Him.

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When you're ready, He will be there.

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Repentance will always be available.

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And that's not the scripture.

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And when the Bible tells us and or talks to us about God's mercy enduring forever, let

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me help us with what it does not mean.

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Okay?

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His mercy endures forever does not mean that God's mercy will forever be extended to you.

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Now let's sit on that.

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Y'all just sit on that because we have been taught incorrectly.

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We take these scriptures out of Psalms.

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I want you all to see the scriptures again.

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Let me bring them back.

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We take Psalm 118.

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We take Psalm 136, and we interpret it to say that because God's mercy endures forever,

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that there's nothing you or I can do to cause His mercy to be cut off or turned off toward

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us.

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And that's not true because the scripture even says in Genesis, God says, my spirit

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will not always strive with man.

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My spirit will not always contend with man.

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My spirit will not always battle with man, fight with man to do what is right, to do

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what is in alignment with my will, purpose and intention for their life.

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God says, I'm not always going to be forgiving.

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I'm not always going to wink.

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There's also in the scriptures where it says that God is no longer winking at the sin of

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Israel, winking at their waywardness, but that judgment was coming, but that repercussions

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were coming, but that consequences were coming.

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All right?

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See, these are words that we don't want to hear.

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These are words that we don't want to speak in reference to a God that's loving and a

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God that's full of mercy.

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But what we need to understand is that God's mercy, hear me and hear me well, because I'm

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teaching you Bible.

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I'm empowering your thinking with the word of God.

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I'm helping us to recalibrate our mind and align it with what God actually said, what

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God actually meant, what is actually stated in the scriptures, because God's mercy, he

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is mercy endures forever.

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This is what it actually means.

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Let's look at this, because the etymological meaning of endure is to continue in existence.

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So when Psalm 118 and Psalm 136 says that his mercy endures forever, it's not saying

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that you can do whatever you want to do and God's mercy will remain extended unto you,

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that God's mercy will always meet you, that God's mercy will always be that bridge that

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allows you to cross back over to God.

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That's not what the scriptures, that's not what the Bible is saying.

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The Bible is saying in God's mercy endures forever is that his mercy, he rather, will

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never cease to possess mercy because he is mercy.

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God doesn't necessarily have mercy.

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God doesn't necessarily, as far as possess or contain mercy, God is mercy.

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Just like God doesn't really have love, possess love, contains love, he is love.

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He is the substance thereof.

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And so when the scripture says that his mercy endures forever, this is what the word of

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God is actually saying to us, that his mercy will continue to exist.

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Nothing you can do, nothing I can do that will ever alleviate God from mercy.

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Nothing we can do, nothing we can become can eradicate the mercy of God, can cause it to

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not exist.

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That's what the Bible is saying.

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Now how does this tie in or connect with repentance?

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I'm glad you asked.

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Now again, this is not a favorable subject, but we need to understand, especially as we

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are progressing further into this technological age, as we're progressing further into this

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AI age, as there is so much out here that Satan is using tactical warfare, there is

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so much that he has at his disposal that he is using to deter, to detour and deter the

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saints from God's will, purpose and plan for their lives and to snatch them out of God's

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will, prohibiting God or impeding, I should say, God from progressing in his campaign.

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So we need to ensure that we are educated in alignment and in accordance with the scriptures,

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that we're not developing itching ears, allowing ourselves to be pulled away, to stray away

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by heresy, by damnable doctrine, by doctrines of devil, because we don't want to engage

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in discussions that are unfavorable and unpopular.

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We have to make sure that we are not informing the people of God, the children of God incorrectly,

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that we're not giving erroneous information, because in doing that, we are setting the

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saints up for failure, deceiving them in believing that you can go out there, that you can come

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in and out, that you can come in and out, that you can come in and out, that you can

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come in and out because he's a loving God, he's a forgiving God, that you can just repent,

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just repent, just repent, just repent.

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And that's not scripture.

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That's not Bible.

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That we can just go in and out, go in and out as though God is gullible, as though God

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is naive, as though God doesn't even deserve better.

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You understand?

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Now, let's look at this.

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Let's look at this.

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I'm getting to the main point.

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Let's look at Romans 9, Romans 9 and beginning at verse 15.

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Listen to the scriptures.

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For he says to Moses, listen to this, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy.

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Now, we can just stop right there for a minute because that verse alone debunks the statement

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that God's mercy will continue to be extended toward everyone.

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That's not what the scripture says.

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He says, I will have mercy on whomever I will, which lets us know that there are times that

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God decides I'm not going to extend mercy.

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So, y'all don't like that.

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Are y'all reading the scripture?

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For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy and I will have

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compassion on whomever I will have compassion.

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So, then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

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Romans 17, for the scripture says to the Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up

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that I may show my power.

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Now, listen to the Bible.

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That I may show my power in you that my name be declared in all the earth, therefore he

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has mercy on whom he wills.

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Listen to this.

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And whom he wills he hardens.

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Now, just let that sit.

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Because I'm trying to get us to believe the Bible and not necessarily those who teach

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it or preach it.

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Because everyone that's preaching and teaching the Bible is not teaching it and preaching

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it or, should I say, rightly dividing it.

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Everyone that wears a collar, everyone that bears a title, everyone that bears the name

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of Jesus Christ, every church that has church in their title, Christian in their title,

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does not necessarily mean that they are a church of the Lord Jesus Christ, that that

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pastor, that minister, that that leader is teaching in accordance with the word of God.

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All right?

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So, this is why we have to study to show ourselves approved and we ought to trust but verify,

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as they say, in the military.

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And make sure that we are doing our own due diligence and our own homework.

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And we are studying the word of God, that we are praying that we have a relationship

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with God, that we are maintaining that relationship, and that we are allowing the Holy Spirit to

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reveal truth, that we are allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us in whom we hear and lead

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us as it pertains to whom we listen to and whom we expose our spirit and our mind to.

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Because this teaching that you can come in and out, you can go in and out, and God will

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be there again like the prodigal son's father, waiting with arm stretch.

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You would not, if you had good sense, continue to allow people to misuse you, abuse you,

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and take advantage of you, knowing good and well that they aren't connected to you for

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the purpose of developing a legitimate relationship that has reciprocity, that's reciprocal, that

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they are not desiring to give back, but they are only connected to you.

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They are only in your life for the purpose of taking, for the purpose of gaining, for

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the purpose of being fulfilled.

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But they are never fulfilling.

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They are never giving.

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They are never planting.

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They are never sowing.

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They're always reaping.

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They're always gathering.

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If we have enough sense to mark people like that and eventually close the door, in other

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words, cut off their access to our resources, cut off their access to our possessions, cut

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off their access to our time, cut off their access to our availability, don't you know

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God has greater sense than we?

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And so again, what does the Bible say?

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So God didn't have mercy on Pharaoh.

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He didn't have mercy on Egypt because he had a point that he needed to make, because he

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needed to show himself strong.

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And so do not be deceived in thinking that the mercy of God in what the scripture says,

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as it pertains to his mercy, endures forever, meaning that it is consistently, continuously,

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forever extended toward you or I or said persons.

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No.

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Endure simply means to continue to exist.

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God's mercy will continue to exist.

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God mercy as it pertains to God will never cease to exist because he is mercy and God

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is eternal.

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God is going nowhere.

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God doesn't age out.

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God doesn't die out.

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And so his mercy will continue to exist because he is mercy.

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Again, God doesn't necessarily possess mercy, possess love, possess patience and all that.

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He is that he embodies that.

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And so as long as he exists, everything that he is continues to exist.

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So listen again, and I'm getting ready to move.

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I will have mercy on whoever I will.

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We can't dictate to God whom he will extend mercy to.

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But the point is that I'm endeavoring for you to see in the scriptures is that if the

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scripture says and it does that God has mercy upon whom he chooses, then that rules out.

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Everybody will continue to be a recipient of his mercy.

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And so I'm saying, do what you want.

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We make God seem as though that he doesn't have options, that he has to use us, that

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we are his only go to.

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Wasn't that the prophet problem?

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He said, I'm the only prophet left and God said, no, no, don't get it twisted.

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He said, don't get it twisted.

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But I have hundreds that have not bowed their knees to bail.

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We think God doesn't have options.

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We think that we are indispensable, that we're irreplaceable.

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But we are very much so.

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Now I only have two more places to take you and I'm done.

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Second Timothy, and I'm getting ready.

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Well, we're here right now.

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Second Timothy as it pertains to the truth about repentance.

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Now this is where I wanted to go tonight.

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Second Timothy 2, 25.

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Now this is a scripture that many don't even know exists in the Bible.

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But let's look at what the Bible says.

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In humility, 2 Timothy 2 and 25, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if

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God perhaps will grant them repentance.

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Did y'all read that?

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If God perhaps, see Paul is mentoring Timothy here and he's informing Timothy, instructing

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Timothy of what his responsibility, what his duty, what his role is as a pastor, as a leader,

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as a ministry leader.

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Talking to him about the responsibility and role of a ministry leader, really as Christians

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in regards to evangelism.

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And he says, you're responsible to correct in humility, not with arrogance, not with pride,

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but to correct with humility those who oppose God.

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He says, desiring, in other words, if God perhaps will grant repentance, see repentance

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for those, well, listen, God is the forgiving God.

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He is, but he has, as a sovereign, he has the right to choose who he will forgive.

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Will he continue to forgive over and over and over and over and over again?

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Jesus said, talking about 70 times 70.

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However, seven times 70, however, we need stop speaking for God as though he didn't

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already state his mind, that he didn't already establish his thoughts concerning everything.

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Now let me finish this out.

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In humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance,

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see God has to choose, or let me say it this way, God has to allow for the backslider to

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come back.

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And this is why the old saints would admonish us once you come in to God, stay in.

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That's why the saints threw out that lie years ago, those who preached the Bible back then,

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not a whole lot of people preaching the Bible now, but that there's no such thing as once

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saved always saved.

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The scripture says that no man can pluck us out of God's hand.

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However, the scripture does not say that you cannot walk out.

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It says that no man can pluck you out.

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No man can extract you.

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No man can take you out of the hand of God because nobody is more powerful than he.

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Nobody can strong, excuse me, can strong arm him.

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So no man can pluck you out.

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However, the scripture does not say that you can't walk out, that you can't turn your back

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on God, that you can't leave him, that you can't forsake him.

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And in the event we do, coming back to God is not automatic.

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Because Paul talked about God, can we just get back to Bible?

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Paul talked about God turning you over to a reprobate mind.

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God turning those persons, those individuals over whom have rejected his mercy countless

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times, whom have rejected his love, whom have rejected his way.

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God says you want that?

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I'm going to let what you want have you.

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See, you know, see, I can't get nobody to talk back to me tonight.

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I'm that unpopular prophet.

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See, God says what you want that's out of my will, that's out of my character, that's

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out of who you are as a new creation being.

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But you are persistent in pursuing sin, even though you have been freed from it, even though

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you have been liberated from it, even though sin's clutches is no longer, the hand of sin

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no longer has a hold on you, but you yet choose to go after it and reconnect.

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He says I'm going to let what you want have you.

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I'm going to let that desire, let that proclivity, let that lust, let that perversion have you,

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consume you, devour you.

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I'm turning you over to that reprobate mind.

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So, again, the Bible validates itself or the Bible interprets scripture interprets scripture.

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And so he says that if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the

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truth and that they may come to their senses, see, God has to allow the products.

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When we teach the prodigal son, when we teach that account, we teach it as though the prodigal

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son in and of himself came to himself.

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No, it was by the mercy of God.

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It was God that allowed, it was the spirit of God that allowed him to be awakened.

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It was the spirit of God.

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It was the love of God.

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It was the mercy of God.

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It was the grace of God.

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Yes, it was God, though.

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It was not the prodigal son in and of himself that just shook himself and like, oh, what

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am I doing?

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It was God extending mercy upon whom he willed.

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And God allowed him to awaken and allowed him to come back into his right mind.

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We aren't outside of God, outside of being born again, outside of being born from above,

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outside of becoming a new creation in Christ.

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We are inferior to Satan and his army and his company and his host.

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The only way that we are superior to Satan, the only way that we overpower devils, the

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only way that we become Satan's sovereign is through Christ, is through the new creation,

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is through being born again, being born from above.

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But we have been deceived by erroneous teaching that we can do it in and of ourselves.

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But it was God's grace and it was God's mercy that allowed.

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Thank you, Sister Paula Curry, give me some encouragement.

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I appreciate you.

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It was God that allowed the prodigal son to come to himself.

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He didn't come to himself by himself.

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Come on now, let's not be stupid.

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And so this is what the scripture is saying here.

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So if God, and I told you, many didn't even realize the scripture was in the Bible.

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If God perhaps will grant them repentance, we're talking about the truth of repentance.

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So you can go in and out and you know, well, I tried God, I tried Christ, I tried living

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saved, but I still need to go out and sow my royal oats.

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And when I get ready, I come back to God.

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And unfortunately, you have pastors and preachers and prophets and all of these people telling

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you that you can't, that you're going out here and listen, God loves you.

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Gotta be here when you get ready.

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You don't know that.

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Gotta be here when you come, when you decide that, listen, when you've tried everything

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else and everything else has failed, gotta be here waiting.

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God does not receive satisfaction from being the last resort.

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How would you feel?

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There are many of you listening.

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There are times that I felt that I was in my feelings that I got beside myself because

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people, they came to me as the last resort.

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As though they didn't believe I had the ability, they didn't believe I had the intelligence,

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they didn't believe that I could do it initially.

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So they overlooked me, went to all these other people, and then when they realized that those

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folks were the ones that couldn't do it, couldn't help, then they came.

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You don't feel good necessarily.

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You don't feel all happy and excited and full of glee.

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How do we think God feels?

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When we put him at the bottom of the list of priority, at the bottom of our choices,

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at the bottom versus at the top, when we put God as a resource and not the source.

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I just want you to just let the scriptures sink in tonight.

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Just having a fireside chat tonight.

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If God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth.

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So that they may know the truth.

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But in order to know the truth, see, God has to open up the way of truth.

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God has to illuminate truth.

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The Bible also talks about how God sends a spirit of strong delusion.

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God convinces people to believe the lie because he knows that their motives toward him and

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their intentions toward him, they aren't pure.

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And that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been

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taken captive by him to do his will.

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But it takes God.

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So this is the truth about repentance.

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You can't just repent when you get ready because repentance might not be an option.

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God extends to you.

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Oh, y'all don't like that.

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This may not be the option.

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You backslide or you slip in and dip in and you tattooing up and you just doing everything.

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And well, you know, you're only 21, you're only 21 once and you're only 31.

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And so you going out here listening to the world, listening to these preachers that are

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actual devils disguised as God's preachers and God's prophets, but they're prophets of

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Baal.

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And you listening to these folks thinking that you can come back.

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That God is that hard up, that God is that naive that you can come back to God whenever

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you get ready.

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Okay, you keep playing because repentance might not be the option again.

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Repentance might not be the option.

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God extends reprobate might be the option.

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And it might be the only option.

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All right.

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Last slide and I'm out.

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What does repent mean?

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So many people have their own interpreting.

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But repent, etymologically, listen to this.

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And this really ties in with where we just left off the scripture in second Timothy,

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but repent.

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We're talking about the truth of repentance.

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So the truth about repentance.

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Repent is to regret so deeply, go beyond just sorrowful, go beyond guilt.

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Because guilt and regret are not necessarily synonymous.

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They're not necessarily the same thing because you can feel guilty that you got caught.

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You can even regret that you got caught versus regret doing what you did or feel guilty about

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what you did.

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You regret not refining the plan good enough so that you wouldn't get caught.

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But to repent is to regret so deeply.

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See, we're about to move into an action.

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Repenting, repentance, true repentance deals with corresponding action.

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To truly biblically, scripturally repent, there has to be an action.

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There has to be an act.

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There has to be a dean.

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That demonstrates repentance.

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That proves repentance, that fleshes out repentance.

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So it is to regret so deeply as to change not the deed, but change the mind and or the

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mindset that brought about the action.

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The actions are consequences of a mindset.

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Action are deeds, actions, behaviors are consequences of a mindset.

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That's why Romans 12 talks to us about not conforming to the world, but be transformed

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to God's way, transformed to God's nature, transformed into God's being, new creation,

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transformed into God's new creation.

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How?

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By the renewing of your mind.

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And so to repent is to have a deep regret so that you change your mind or course of

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conduct in consequence and develop new mental and spiritual habits.

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And does that not tie in and connect with what is said right here in second Timothy?

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All right.

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In humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance

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so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses, that they would

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change their mind.

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And it's coming to their senses is changing their mental state from their endemic self,

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from their carnal self to the new creation self.

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It is the changing of their mind.

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It is a changing of their mindset.

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It is developing a new way of thinking that enables them to escape the snare, the plot

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of the devil.

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Are you seeing that?

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Well, believe it or not, I'm done.

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Thanks for listening to a Biblical Perspective Podcast.

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If today's episode empowered you, subscribe, rate, and review the podcast at cpnshows.com,

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00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,000
Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen.

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For more information about CT Johnson Ministries International, visit the website at ctjohnson.org

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or text EMPOWERME, all lowercase, no spaces, to 54244 to stay in the know.

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And connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at CT Johnson Ministries.

460
00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:45,240
Tune in next time as I continue to empower your thinking from God's perspective.