Kindly Led to Repentance

How does God draw sinners to repentance? What approach does He take to breaking down the walls of unbelief? How exactly are faith and repentance born for the first time in the soul of man? What does God use? Who does God use?

Many times you find yourself discussing spiritual things with an unbeliever and they are as hard-hearted as they come. You share all the right answers--to the best of your ability--from the Scriptures, and they stand unmoved. You plead with them to heed the words of Christ to enter His rest and stop attempting to work for their own salvation, and they work harder to justify their thinking. You warn them that if they do not repent of their sins and trust in the righteousness of Christ alone for salvation, then they will not enter the kingdom of heaven, but they take offense.

There are two passages that have come to my mind lately regarding this seemingly "stuck" situation that only God can free the lost soul from. The first is Psalm 7:12 and 13, which says:

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.

God feels a righteous and just indignation towards sin. He burns inside with a fury of wrath because sin is so entirely opposed to His character and His ways. And it is right for God to plan to punish sin because He is holy and just judgment is required for every sin, little and large. The unrepentant sinner unknowingly lies his stiff neck right down in front of the swinging sword of God.

BUT, the sinner might respond to these verses and say, "Well I don't know if it makes sense for God to scare people into believing; it doesn't seem to fit who I know God to be. I mean, seriously, does God really use 'scare tactics'?"

It is to this objection that the second passage comes savingly in to play. Romans 2:4 says:

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Ah ha! There is your answer! There is the Gospel of God's grace and kindness! There is the most compelling thought to cross an unrepentant sinner's mind to get him to repent! Just two verses before this, in Romans 2:2 and 3, Paul affirms the Psalmist's words saying:

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man...that you will escape the judgment of God?

So because of the holiness, righteousness, and justice of God, the sword of execution is being sharpened and the bow is bent and the fiery arrows are readied for release into the sinner's wicked heart. BUT, at the cross, the Shepherd of the sheep (Mark 14:27) was struck by that drawn sword of wrath. The diamond-sharp arrowhead of God's judgment for our sin was sunk into the heart of His Beloved and only Son. The death penalty for sin (Rom 6:23) has been carried out on the cross of Christ so that the free gift of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, may be given.

May the cross of Christ always stand as the crosshairs of the arsenal of God. And may sinners not take another breath before tasting of the goodness and kindness of God that leads to repentance.

The Wondrous Works of God in the Life of Joseph

Psalm 105, similar to the song of thanks that David gives in 1 Chronicles 16:8–22, is a lengthy psalm of praise to God for His covenant faithfulness to His people. The first six verses are a call to give praise to God ("Oh give thanks...call upon his name...make known his deeds...sing to him...tell of all his wondrous works...glory in his holy name...rejoice...seek the LORD and his strength...seek his presence...remember the wondrous works..."). The psalmist labors to exhort the people of God to recount and to rejoice in the wondrous works of the Lord.

The rest of the psalm traces God's mercy and faithfulness to Israel as a nation from the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 12:1–3) to the acquisition of the Promised Land in Canaan. In verses 16–22, the psalmist reflects briefly on the wondrous works of God in the life of Joseph:

Psalms 105:16    When he  summoned a famine on the land

and  broke all supply  of bread, 

17 he had  sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was  sold as a slave. 

18 His  feet were hurt with fetters;

his neck was put in a collar of iron; 

19 until  what he had said came to pass,

the word of the LORD  tested him.

So famine had come upon the Land of Promise. All supply of bread had been broken. Joseph had been separated from his family and sold into slavery. His feet were strapped in fetters or metal braces shackled together by chains. His neck had a collar of iron around it.

What was to be made of all of this? It sure is hard to see why this is a reason to praise God. In fact, it would seem fitting to blame God! BUT two penetrating truths of divine providence are found throughout these verses. Consider...

1. God is always at work, even when it seems that He is not (vv. 16–19). He is the One who sealed the clouds from dropping rain on the dry earth. He is the One responsible for breaking the supply of bread. He is the One who sent Joseph ahead of Israel as a slave taken into the heart of Egypt (note: Joseph was "sent" showing that God prepared a remedy for His people before the land was ever afflicted by famine!). God is proactive even in the darkest and most despairing seasons of our life! And He does not just react to our circumstances and choices so as to be caught off guard.

We often think of God as somehow indirectly involved in the trials that come upon us. We view Him as the parent sitting on the back porch watching the big brother in the sandbox pour sand over the helpless little brother's head. But God is no more than a foot away in times of trouble. He is not this distant; He is near. He is not capable of accidents on His watch. He is intimately involved in every affair of our life. We can take comfort in this knowing that no famine, or bucket of sand, can fall without His intimate involvement, care, and greater purposes in mind.

Psalm 105:20   The king sent and  released him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free; 

21  he  made him lord of his house

and ruler of all his possessions, 

22  to bind  his princes at his pleasure

and to teach his elders wisdom.  

2. God turns every situation into good, even when it all seems bad (vv. 20–24). Though harm, mistreatment, abandonment, and abuse befell Joseph by the hands of his jealous brothers and greedy slave traders, God had other plans and greater purposes for Joseph. God sees to it that Joseph is released, made lord of Pharaoh's house and ruler of all his possessions, and given the authority to bind princes and teach the Pharaoh's elders wisdom! From the pit to the palace! From being bound by fetters to binding princes at his pleasure! And it was from and through this strategic, exalted position in Egypt that God saw fit to provide for Israel in their season of famine.

We too can rest assured that the "trial of our faith" is intended to draw us nearer to Himself and to deepen our trust in our Sovereign God. I am not saying that everything hard that comes your way will disappear and be immediately replaced by that which is easy or plentiful. But no matter what evil is meant against us from any of the enemies of Christ, we have assurance in the promise of God that He means it for our good and to serve His greater purposes.

In Joseph's life, it was "to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today" (Gen 50:20b). In your life, it may be to bring many people to see that God can be trusted in trials. It may be to bring many people to hear a testimony mixed with suffering and sufficient grace to inspire hope. It may be to bring many people to conviction over their complaining. It may be to bring many people to comfort in God's providence and steadfast love.

God's providence is the silver lining on every dark cloud on the horizon of your life. It is His secret purpose in all things hidden from our eyes until He sees fit to show us. It is what we can depend on as creatures trusting our Creator. Nothing happens merely by chance; rather, all things work out "according to the counsel of his will" (Eph 1:11). What a comfort. What rest. What a great God who is worthy of our praise!

Great Purpose on Not-So-Great Days

"There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose."
- Alan Redpath

Job 1; Lamentation 3:31-33; Genesis 50:20; and Mark 14:36

The Widow Who Rung the Bells of Heaven

I came across a very vivid quote on persistent prayer by E. M. Bounds:

"'Good Prayers,' says an old divine, 'never come weeping home. I am sure I shall receive either what I ask, or what I should ask. Prayer pulls the rope below, and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly: others give but an occasional pull at the rope: but he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continually with all his might.'

That is the best kind of bell ringing--ringing the bells of heaven--making a sensation in the world celestial and pulling the power down upon the world terrestrial. Reader, do you know how to handle the bell rope, to pull it vigorously and constantly? We know some that do. Hell trembles when they seize the rope."
- E.M. Bounds

Think of this faith-filled, expectant, and persistent type of bell-ringing prayer in light of Luke 18:

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" 6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

The Complex and Complete Love of God

D. A. Carson in his book "The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God," speaks of the Scriptures laying out the love of God in at least five different ways:

1. The love of the Father for the Son (Jn 3:35; 5:20) and of the Son for the Father (Jn 14:31).
2. God's providential love over the entire universe (Gen 1:31; Matt 5:45, 46).
3. God's yearning, inviting, seeking, saving love (Jn 3:16; Ezek 33:11).
4. God's choosing love, his selective love (Deut 7:7-8; 10:15; Mal 1:2-3; Rom 9:10-12; Eph 5:25).
5. God's conditional love (Ex 20:6; Jn 15:10; Jud 21).

This has really made me think on a number of different levels. First, these are not five different "loves," but rather five different ways the Bible speaks of God's love. Second, I believe it has made things more clear as I consider this attribute of God in its complexity and perfection. Third, I am now more guarded against using so many different clichés about God's love.

For instance, do I always think of God's love as "unconditional" or are there instances when the Bible requires some condition to be met? And does God really love everyone the same way and to the same extent or is there a sense in which God's love for His children differs from His love for the unjust?

"Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever." Psalm 136:26