John MacArthur : True Repentance

57 years i i asked her this morning if she was going to stay with me she said she would [Applause] for which i'm extremely grateful i uh have been so blessed to have patricia as a life partner and uh so blessed for both of us to have been given the privilege of being at grace church for over 50 of those 57 years what an amazing gift a lot of things go through my mind as i go from week to week trying to help all of us understand the word of god and something of the seasons in which we now live i haven't made really any comments about uh covid or the lockdown and whatever else is going on in what is called a pandemic i don't want to offer myself as any kind of an expert but a rather telling report came out this week and for the first time we heard the truth the cdc the centers for disease control which is the national organization government organization that is to report to us the truth about disease said that in truth six percent of the deaths that have occurred can be directly attributable to covid 94 cannot of the 160 000 people that have died 9210 actually died from covet there is no pandemic [Applause] that's what you've been thinking we um we have the responsibility i think as spiritual leaders to be patient until the truth emerges we've all been suspicious of the fact that um we've been meeting together now for weeks and weeks and weeks we don't know anyone who's ill nobody in our congregation's ever been to the hospital with this it's clear to us the fabrication of numbers because they're including people who had two or three comorbidities we know all of that we know there are reasons for this that have nothing to do with the virus there's another virus loose in the world and it's the virus of deception and the one who's behind the virus of deception is the arch deceiver satan himself it's not a surprise to me that in the midst of all this deception the great effort that is going on is to shut down churches that preach the gospel so this is not a political speech by the way but it does not surprise me that they want to shut down those who preach the gospel because the architects of this level of deception are not a part of the kingdom of heaven they're part of the kingdom of darkness deception is satan's stock and trade and he is the god of this world and he uses deception every possible way he can next week and sunday morning's message i'm going to show how the level of deception going on today matches up with the book of revelation but for this morning i i just i want to talk about the reality of of deception from a very clear narrative in scripture and i want you to turn to matthew chapter 26. now you're going to have to have your bible handy because we're going to do something like we've been doing and cover large portions of scripture together just to remind you of the fact that satan is a deceiver he planted he planted a deceiver among the 12 disciples right alongside the faithful this has always been his ploy i've been reading some surveys this last week or so in which quote unquote evangelicals have been surveyed evangelical is a term that comes from juan galizzo in greek which means to preach the gospel so supposedly gospel believers and i read that the majority of gospel believers believe that jesus was created by god the father the majority of evangelicals believe that god accepts any religion and less people into his heaven that's contemporary evangelicalism it is not true a true gospel believer does not believe jesus was a created being the survey said the third of evangelicals does not believe jesus is god no true christian would say that heretics say that apostates say that and those who reject the gospel say that but somehow it's become acceptable to believe that and still be labeled an evangelical if you think the pandemic has created confusion just remind yourself that that confusion has to do with temporal life the confusion on the spiritual level is infinitely worse because it has to do with eternal life but i want you to look at two other preachers that our lord tells us about in the wonderful story of matthew 26 and 27 this is a tale of two preachers and the tale of two sorrows it's a tale of two men that you know very well both had the most unique privilege both had the most unique opportunity that has ever been given any human being both were called by jesus personally both answered that call and both followed jesus for the duration of his ministry and both declared repeatedly their personal devotion to the lord jesus both were personally trained by jesus for ministry both were personally taught by jesus you could say in contemporary terms they were in his small group he taught them by precept he taught them by proposition he taught them by example he taught them to know god to know the will of god the word of god and to live it obediently both saw all the miracles jesus did both saw the comprehensive revelation of his divine nature every day both saw his power over demons his power over disease his power over death his power over nature both heard him answer every theological question perfectly truthfully clearly profoundly both saw him evaluate every person he ever met perfectly true to that person's heart condition both were daily confronted with the reality of sin and its effects the need for salvation both were taught about eternal heaven both were taught about eternal hell both received and used the available power of the lord jesus to do healing miracles and even exercise authority over demons both preached jesus as messiah and savior son of man son of god and they shared all of this together they were exposed to the lord jesus christ in exactly the same way and there's more both were sinners knew it well both experienced overwhelming guilt regarding their sin both gave themselves over to satan to take up his cause against the son of god both betrayed jesus boldly emphatically publicly and they betrayed him at the end of their years with him just before he was crucified both were devastated by what they had done one in spite of his wicked betrayal of the savior is considered so honorable a man so exalted a person that millions of people have been named after him through the centuries he is loved he is considered noble some of you even have his name peter rock stone the other one is considered so dishonorable so despicable that even though his name means praise no one has his name none of you do none of you would name your child with that name the name means praise it's the most hated and reviled name in the world it has even been illegal in some european countries to give a child that name his name is judas one we who belong to christ will all meet because that betrayer of jesus christ is in heaven the other those who reject christ may meet if there are meetings in hell because that's where he is along with other preachers like him one of these preachers ended his life a suicide hanging himself eternally banished the other ended his life a saint crucified upside down and taken into glory two men side by side 24 7 for three years with each other with jesus ended up separated as far as anyone can be separated as far as heaven is from hell one has his name always first in every list of the twelve the other has his name always last in every list of the twelve one enthroned in heaven the other consigned to hell and yet they both betrayed jesus they both regretted that betrayal they both were sorry one is honored in heaven the other is punished in hell what a contrast they couldn't have been more similar they couldn't have ended up more differently salvation can't be by works because essentially they both did the same things can't be by knowledge because they both have the same information we're taught the same truth what what made the difference what made the difference and this is an important message because churches are full of peters and judases and i'm convinced that there are many judases who don't know they are judas people sitting side by side hearing the same truth having the same experience seeing the same expression of divine grace and power in people's lives serving but in the end they're going to end up as far apart as one could ever be the story of both of these men is in matthew 26 let's because peter loved christ his betrayal did not send him to hell in fact in luke 22 a glorious moment in peter's life listen to verse 31 in response to peter's betrayal the lord says to him simon simon behold satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat yeah satan's been working in you just the same way he worked in judas but i have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and you when once you have turned again strengthen your brothers what was the difference jesus prayed for peter that his faith would not fail we sung it didn't we do you know the song he will what hold me fast my soul will not be lost he will hold me fast that's what john 17 is about the whole prayer in john 17 is the son of god praying to the father on behalf of all who belong to him and telling the father how precious they are to the trinity and how he will keep them the lord kept peter restored peter empowered peter and he's the powerful preacher as the church explodes first 12 chapters of the book of acts sin and guilt do not produce true repentance did you hear that sin and guilt which are normal human responses to sin patterns of sin the awareness of sin guilt over sin does not produce true repentance it can produce remorse it can produce regret it can produce suicide which is a kind of deadly sadness but awareness of sin and guilt for sin does not produce true repentance judas was sorry it didn't make him repent made him kill himself peter was sorry but even his sorrow did not make him repent what i'm saying is the ugliness of your sin and the reality of your guilt is not enough to make a sinner repent savingly you may have regret but not repentance what makes the sinner repent listen is not to see your sin but to see your savior judas looked in jesus eyes kissed him and went to hell peter looked in jesus eyes was crushed in tears peter loved his lord he saw him with eyes of faith and trust and love peter loved the lord earlier john 6 a lot of the disciples who followed jesus kind of the fringe disciples left him and he said will you also go away and peter said to whom shall we go you and you alone have the words of eternal life again jesus says to the disciples who do men say that i am and they said oh some say you're elijah or one of the prophets peter said you're the christ the son of the living god he didn't just know who jesus was he loved him as his lord and savior listen to peter's words go to first peter chapter one verse three here's a fully restored peter writing under the inspiration of the holy spirit and you can feel his own experience in what he writes blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of god through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time in this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary you've been distressed by various trials so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of jesus christ and then this and though you have not seen him you what you love him though you do not see him now you believe in him and you greatly rejoice with joy and expressible and full of glory obtaining the salvation of your souls that is the outcome of your faith you haven't seen him but what you love him you see him in the word do you not two followers two disciples two students two preachers indistinguishable even to their own close companions one a suicide who went to hell one a saint who's in heaven both betrayed jesus in very adamant public ways all the similarities did not lead to a common end they are forever separated by an impassable gulf judas hated jesus peter loved him hear the words of paul ephesians six grace be with all those who love our lord jesus christ with an incorruptible love what does it mean to be a christian it means to love christ what does it mean to love christ obey his word right in 2001 at the age of 86 charles templeton was dying dying an atheist according to people who were there these were his last words i miss jesus i miss jesus and he will forever that's the remorse that lasts forever

Channel: Walking In Truth Ministry

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Keywords: Christ, Jesus, Bible, God, Theology, Bible Study, New Testament, john macarthur sermon 2020, john macarthur preaching, John MacArthur grace community church, John MacArthur Matthew, Judas, Peter, sin, repentance, salvation, hell, heaven, Peter denies Christ, Judas commits suicide, ashamed of Christ, Peter repents, repent, jesus christ, passion of the christ, christian, Passion week, false teachers, false conversion, traitor of Christ, disciples, the 12 disciples of jesus, Peter and Judas

Id: AsABxbuoXT4

Length: 22min 59sec (1379 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 31 2020