We are working through what we began last time using Pastor Al Martin's illustration of repentance as a tree. A very helpful illustration, I think, and so we're continuing with that with the last aspect of it. We have looked at the root of repentance last time, or soil, and then the roots, the trunk and branches, and then today we begin with the fruit of repentance, which corresponds with the latter phrase of the Shorter Catechism answer to question 87, what is repentance unto life? Let me quote that again for us to remind us. Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. Now that last phrase, as you see on the board, is what comprises in Pastor Martin's illustration, the fruit with full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience. Now, let's consider Psalm 32 to begin with in the scripture today and verse five. Psalm 32 and verse five. With full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience, the purpose there obviously relates to the fact that a conscious decision has been made on the part of the repenter. That person has come to the place where they know I must take action according to the scripture and the leading of the Holy Spirit, the convicting ministry that he is working in my heart as a child of God. And so there is something I must do, which reminds us again that while repentance is given by God, it is not divorced from the fact that man must make a conscious decision to repent. And we've covered that already in the several calls we find in the Bible to men, whether they be sons of God who need to repent of remaining sins, or whether they be lost men who need to repent unto life. The call still goes out to put the responsibility on all to repent. And in Psalm 32 and verse 5, David puts it this way, in his own experience. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou didst forgive the iniquity or guilt of my sin. Now, notice first of all, there's acknowledgement, and then there is confession. And within that, we find a full purpose of and endeavor after walking into obedience. That's extremely crucial, and the last part especially is the part that I believe doesn't get enough emphasis in press among Christians. That is, to endeavor after new obedience. While we may find ourselves, and many Christians will, very willing, as the Spirit convicts and the Scripture constrains and instructs us to repent, We may look at it simply, if we're not careful, as another action to be taken, especially in regard to a repetitive sin, and that the next time that sin is committed, we'll just go back and do the same thing. And if we have that mindset, we are missing the point that the scriptural parameters of true repentance must include that we purpose in our hearts with all our might to never walk in that sin ever again, but instead to walk in new obedience. Now, the new obedience is an important statement as well, because it doesn't say that we haven't been obeying already. It just means that we need to renew our commitment to obey Christ. Obviously, if we haven't already been walking in obedience, that means we're not even a child of God to begin with. And then at that point, the repentance we need to exercise is not repentance unto sanctification, but what? Repentance unto salvation. Because we've never been saved if we're not already walking in obedience. But this is an endeavor after new obedience, and specifically in the area where we have fallen, where we've committed sin. We may be able to look at our life and say, as far as I can tell, Lord, as You know my own heart and I look at my own experience, as far as I can tell, there is but this one area where I have a problem with not obeying You. And it has surfaced more than once. And if that be the case, of course most of us, let's face it, can find more than one area, can't we? But even if we can come to the place where there's only one, where we have willfully transgressed God's law or either passively failed to obey, then in that area we need to pray for the grace to exercise new obedience, an obedience that is renewed and revived. It is a measure of a spiritual revival, really and truly. When the child of God truly repents from known sin, it is in some measure a manifestation of what revival is in the fullest sense, which is God's people turning back to God. And while we may not, and we pray that we aren't in that situation, where in many areas of our life we're in disobedience, yet even in that one area where we need to exercise new obedience, our turning will be a sort of revival. And some of you have already experienced that, I know, and you realize what I'm talking about, that when you do mortify that deed of the flesh, by God's help and grace, and you purpose after new obedience, there is a freshness in your Christian life and in your walk with Christ that comes. It is a wind of reviving, and that's certainly a blessing that God bestows to acknowledge that we've done what we should do in obedience to his commands to repent. So, we want to look now at two errors that are avoided by applying these truths. That is, the truths of repenting with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. Here are two errors that we can avoid if we do these things the way Scripture commands. The first one is we will avoid the error of self-deception, which is most prevalent in our hearts. That self-deception that gives us a claim of repentance without an actual forsaking of sin. So only claiming stating repentance without actual forsaking. We will avoid that self-deception. In other words, to put it more succinctly, hopefully, just saying the words, I repent, Lord, without a real purpose of an endeavor after no obedience is not repentance. In the same way that Someone saying Jesus is Lord as a lost man doesn't mean that they are saying it unto salvation. In fact, Paul says in Romans, no one can say Jesus is Lord in the biblical, salvational sense except by the Spirit of Christ. Now, he doesn't mean nobody can say those words, right? If somebody has the capability to speak, they can say the three words, Jesus is Lord. But Paul's emphasis is, yes, but they can't say it with heartfelt, biblical spirit given meaning, except the Spirit enliven them and quicken them. Well, in the same way here, we will avoid the self-deception that simply because we say, I'm sorry for that, Lord, and keep right on our path without a real purposing to obey in this area, that we've really repented. Because when we're reminded that we must exercise full purpose of, that's leaving nothing lacking, that's covering all the bases, that's dealing with every possible Temptation and incitement to that same sin again, as well as others. And endeavor. Endeavor is a word we don't use that much anymore in modern English, in conversational English especially. But it's a good word because it pictures a striving. It pictures effort, doesn't it? Not simply just passively saying, I'm sorry Lord, forgive me. Glad you forgive sinners. Well he does, and we are glad. But this emphasizes much more. So the self-deception will be avoided. And then also, and perhaps, I don't know if we could say one occurs more than another, it would depend on the individual, but certainly this one has a high degree of occurrence in our lives as well. We will avoid the area of legalistic perfectionism. Now what does that mean? Well, it basically means that we will avoid the error of being continually downhearted and downcast because we examine ourselves too much for every tiny disobedience and sin to the point that we never spend any time magnifying and focusing on Christ and His mercies, but we're always turned inward looking for the tiniest. And understand what I'm saying. All sin is sin. I'm not demeaning that or doubting that, but looking for the tiniest misstep And then the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one. And all we spend our time doing is seeking for an absolute perfectionism that, let's face it, folks, is never going to be attained this side of heaven. This was the trap the Pharisees fell into. And what it made them ultimately become, and so always tend to this, is hypocrites of the first order who majored on the minors, and who were very meticulous in outward obedience, so much so that they felt they'd come to the place that they were perfect. But we know by what we read about them in the Gospels and Jesus' indictments of them that they were far from that. In fact, they had given their hearts over to all sorts of violence, hadn't they? See, legalistic perfectionism tells a lie, as all errors do, and it tells us this lie. The more you major on rooting out every tiny disobedience and spend all your time examining yourself from head to toe spiritually and dealing with every little misstep, the more you do that, you will ultimately reach the place where sin is no longer any sort of issue for you in this life. What really will happen is exactly the opposite. Because the more you seek to ferret out every tiny disobedience, the more sin will grow. It's proven. Look at the monastic orders. Some of the most vile sins that men can commit with others are in the hallowed halls of monasteries and nunneries, aren't they? Now, we would think if this was true, those places would be heaven on earth. I mean, ritual prayers daily, hard labors, much time in the Scripture and instructions, self-denial, all those things, right? And see, legalistic perfectionism, the lie of the enemy, comes along and says, don't you see how holy those folks are? And you can be that holy, too, if you will just make sure that you're, for example, as a man, that your hair is not touching the collar. And a woman, that your skirt is always at your ankles. And you've got a head covering on. And on and on it goes. And again, I'm not despising anybody who feels convicted to do that. Don't misunderstand me. All I'm saying is, when it's done, and many times it is, as a badge of righteousness and to show that that person has attained a holier stand than others because they are either doing these things or not doing those things, looking this way or not appearing that way, then legalistic perfectionism has taken over. You see, the person will see no achievement of total and final forsaking of sin when they embark on this path. Let's look at Paul's own experience in Romans chapter 7 that most of us know very well, and if you're like me, this is one of the places that you run to quite often for comfort for yourself. I certainly do in my struggle with the old man that still remains. Romans chapter 7. Beginning in verse 15, the entire chapter is extremely important in regard to what we have for the sake of time. We'll begin at verse 15 and read through 21. Paul says, For that which I do, I know not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that I do. Ever feel like that? If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, very important point, dwells no good thing. For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not do, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do what I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, a guiding principle of life, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Actually, it comes out in the Greek, evil is right there beside me all the time. Right there beside me. Again, you ever have that feeling? When I do good, evil is my constant companion. Now, as I said recently, and I'll mention it again, whether we take the perspective that Paul is writing of his experience in his former life before Christ or writing after he's become a Christian, the emphasis and the truth is still the same and remains applicable to us. I personally believe he speaks as a Christian here. But I wouldn't argue the point with a sincere brother who saw otherwise, but I would just appeal to the fact that I've just said, whether he is or isn't saved at this point, the truths remain, don't they? The struggle with the flesh. And so this person who falls into the error of legalistic perfectionism will never be finished with their task. You know why? It's a very simple premise, really. They are trying to do in the flesh what Christ has already done by Himself completely and fully. And they will never attain it. Never! Christ has made perfect in the Father's eyes all those who trust in Him. Has He not? That doesn't mean they don't still commit sin. I didn't say that. But what about their standing before Almighty God? You see, that's really the answer to this whole situation, isn't it? If we are clothed in Christ's righteousness, as Paul says in Colossians, then it is no more us that the Father looks upon, that is certainly in our flesh, but it is his Son that he looks upon, and we in him. And that's really the hurdle that the legalistic folks have to get over. Sadly, many of them never do, but continue throughout their lives dealing with this problem. So, these two errors will be avoided. Galatians 5.17 quickly also mirrors for us, I think, exactly what we're talking about here in Paul's instruction. Galatians 5.17, which is another reason, another text that makes me very confident that the Roman 7 passage is him writing as a believer at the present time. You know the verse, for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other. And let me stop right there. If that is true, and it is because it's in God's Word, since that's true, then the next question we need to ask is, are we totally in and of the Spirit right here and now? Is there nothing of the flesh left of us? Well, I think the obvious answer would be no, there is flesh left. So, that being the case, then what Paul says here is, A maxim, as he says in Romans 7, we just read it, a law, a guiding principle, that as long as you walk this earth as a Christian, you will have this ongoing battle. Count on it. So that, what winds up happening at the end of the verse, you cannot do the things that you would. Now, he doesn't mean by that statement that you never do any good, poor God. Obviously, the Holy Spirit enables you to do that. We do walk in good works prepared beforehand by the Father. We are created in Christ Jesus unto them. But his point is that many times you wind up not doing the good, but rather doing the evil. Now is that excusing? No. See, there are so many side issues that if we really took the time to park here, we would have to spend much time dealing with. But let me just speak to that before we go on. Does Paul mean here that there is an excusing of sin? And the fact that we're still yoked with the old man to a certain extent. That while he is crucified, he has not disappeared. No, he does not mean that. In fact, Romans is the same letter that he also takes great pains in chapter 6, before he talks about the battle with remaining sin, to prove that nobody can say, shall we sin therefore that grace may abound? What's his response to that? God forbid! How can we who died to sin live any longer therein? So certainly what we're saying here in this second point That while we should not strive for legalistic perfectionism, it's not going to happen anyway. It's ultimately going to feed the flesh rather than starve it. It's going to enliven it rather than mortify it. While all that's true, we must be holy. See, the companion truth here is, from Hebrews, without holiness, and it doesn't say partial holiness, It doesn't say attempts at holiness. It doesn't say at least desiring to be holy while you never really are. It says without holiness, no man will see the Lord. So there is enough emphasis on that point to make us walk circumspectly, right? And on the other hand, there is enough grace in Romans 7 and Galatians 5 to remind us that when we fall, we are not outside of Christ if we're His to begin with. Because we sin, it does not prove that we've never been born again. Once again, the great balancing that is found on this doctrine, as in all others in the Scripture. We just need to seek it out, search it out, and study it to show ourselves approved. Alright, the conclusion then of this, as we look at repentance as a tree, is that repentance of sin in the believer is both universal, it covers all of us, And all our sins, and it is continual, you will never stop needing to do this in this life. You'll never stop needing to do this. I've told before one of my favorite stories from a fellow who I was privileged to pastor, who's now gone on to be with the Lord. He was teaching a GED class, and two boys that went to his GED class didn't have a ride, so every week he would pick them up and carry them to the class, carry them back home that he taught. One time he had a box of number two pencils, brand new, to give out to the students in the back of the car. Well, as he had tried to do along, he had talked to these boys about the Lord and found out quickly that they were of a charismatic, connected persuasion. And so this particular night, when he picked them up, they began to talk about the things of the Lord. And both the boys said, do you know, Brother Billy, that we've reached a place of absolute sanctification? We don't see any more. And he said, is that right? And he said, well, tell me about that. So they told him what they believed about themselves. He took them on to the class, then he took them home. Now, this was a full box of pencils that he did not have to give out that night. He said when he got back to his house, he said, you know, Brother Burns, I looked in that box and about half those pencils were gone. And he said, those boys didn't ask for those, which they would have, I would have given them to them. But he said, they stole them. And he said, I'm wondering how that squared with absolute sanctification. Well, it doesn't. And again, the point is well taken. Repentance is universal for the Christian and must be continued. Because until we meet Christ face to face and are transformed like unto His glorious body and see Him as He is, until then we will struggle with this particular problem. Alright, any questions or comments at this point before we continue to the next article? All right, then we will move to Article 4, Chapter 15, which reads as follows. As repentance is to be continued through the whole course of our lives upon the account of the body of death and the motions thereof, so it is every man's duty to repent of his particular known sins particularly. I love that last phrase, his particular known sins particularly, which basically means be specific. Be specific in confession and repentance. Now, we all know, and I do that as I pray at church in the pastoral prayers, and when we get together to pray in other contexts, the men's meetings and the young adult meetings and any other setting in which we find ourselves, when we pray with one another, what do we normally say? Lord, forgive us our sins. Because that is appropriate in a group, to simply say in a general sense, forgive us our sins. When you get along with God, don't let yourself get by with simply saying, Lord, forgive me my sins. That's the point. Now let's go back to Romans 7 and consider verse 24, which again is the cry, I am convinced. by the scripture and my own personal experience that every believer is going to have on a fairly regular basis. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That is, there is my deliverance. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Again, repentance is to be continued for the whole course of our lives on account of the body of death. That's the key, and we've already expounded on that. Now, so then it is every man's duty to repent of his particular known sins particularly. Let's go to the Gospel of Luke next. Luke chapter 19. Luke 19 begins with the Lord passing through Jericho in the familiar story all children learned in Sunday school about the small wee man that climbed a tree to see Jesus, Zacchaeus. But what is the theological truth that is here? Well, among many, we find one fundamental one in verse 8, and that is Zacchaeus repenting of his particular known sins particularly. This is what it says, And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. Now what does Jesus say in response? Verse 9, Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. What's the point? Repentant of particular known sins, particularly. And that's extremely important. We must be specific, folks. You say, well, doesn't God know all things? Of course. Well, then when I say, forgive my sins, he already knows every sin. That is exactly right. But the Bible encourages us to be specific, not for God's benefit, but for our own. You see, we must look our sins in their ugly face, each and every one of them. to have a heart of true repentance and to seek a true amendment in our life and a purposing of new obedience, as we've talked about. We've got to stare them in the face. We've got to see them as best we can, and this will never be completely done, this side of glory, but as much as we can in our mortal frame, we've got to see them as God sees them. The vile, filthy, abominable, Christ-desecrating things that they are. We've got to see them that way. Every single sin. And the only way we're going to do that is by naming them, calling them up from remembrance and dealing with them particularly. Now, once again, as we've already said today, you must be balanced in that and not spend too much time on them. Remember that one of the great stories that's told about Luther prior to his actual conversion was that he used to wear out his superior monk in the monastery with confessions for hours of every little tiny thing that he ever even thought he might have done. to which the exasperated priest finally said, Brother Markham, please refrain from coming to me until you have something to truly confess about. And so we don't want to go that way, as we've already said. But we must be specific about the sins. We must deal with them in the face and own up to them. And in addition to that, because our memory and our brain power being touched with the infirmity of the flesh will tend to either on purpose sometimes or by default, put sins into the dark shadows of our memory and we don't call them up. And so it's very necessary for us to pray David's prayer at that point. Search me, O God, right? And know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And here's the key. And see if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. That's the end of Psalm 139. And the point there is exactly what Zacchaeus does. He says, if I've taken anything from any man, I probably have, is what he's saying. I don't have maybe direct memory of it, but if I've done that, then I'll restore fourfold. I want to make it right. And so the particular confession of non-sins, particularly, is very, very crucial. Let's go now to 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Beginning in verse 12, Paul is reciting his background and his sins prior to his conversion. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, he says, who has enabled me for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. That text, if you recall, I dealt with a few weeks back and preached to you on that particular statement of Paul saying he's the chief of sinners. And if you have any remembrance of that, You might remember that I said we would back away from that and say, now, Paul, I know you did a lot of things. And you even oversaw and gave your blessings upon and directed and called for the murder of members of Christ's church. I know that. And as Jesus himself said to you when he knocked you off the horse on the road to Damascus, Saul, you're persecuting me. But even at that, Paul, really, come on, the chief of sinners? See, we would give him more benefit of the doubt, wouldn't we, than he gives himself. Which shows, dear ones, listen to me now, that we give ourselves more benefit of the doubt than we should. Paul says, I need to list all these sins and remind myself, as I tell you, Timothy, my son, that before I was this and this and this and this, but I've taken mercy. See, we have to deal with sins as they are. And if we don't see sin as the vile thing that it is, then we must pray and seek the Lord and search the scripture until we come to the place where we can at least begin to see it in all its vileness and filthiness. Because it truly is, in every case, a sin for which Christ was crucified. And we put it in that perspective. And see our sin, I'll tell you something that has helped me before, and maybe it'll be a help to you so I'll mention it. What has helped me before in this area is that when I call up a known sin, to actually see that sin as it were written as a banner or a poster, just a brief description of it, the basics of that sin, and then see that as it were being thrust into Christ's body as He hung there. I don't know if that might help you or not, but it has helped me in the past because I see the direct correlation between my sins today in 2008 and the Son of God 2,000 years ago hanging on crossbeams for my wretched son. And we must do that or something like it, whatever we can do to get a hold of that truth. All right, we must continue in repentance all our lives due to this abiding body of death and be specific in the confession of and repentance from all known sins. All right, Article 5. Such is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the covenant of grace for the preservation of believers unto salvation, that although there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation, yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that repent, which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary." Now, here's the point of the confession here. God has made such provision that while every sin is worthy of damnation. And we must agree to that, right? Now, you know, we understand that to be theologically accurate, when any lost person goes to hell at the end of their life on earth, they do not go to hell for smoking and drinking and dancing and chewing and whatever else. Those are contributing factors and those are expressions of the sin. But they go to hell for one reason. They reject Christ, right? And as Paul says in Hebrews, when having been made known to them the purification of their souls that's available, and they turn from that, there's no sacrifice for sin remaining but a certain fearful expectation of the wrath of God. But it's still important to understand this truth as well, that even though rejecting Christ is what sends people to hell, every sin is worth sending someone to hell because it is a sin against the Holy God. And it can't abide in His presence. That's why it's so telling for us to, when we get to that point, to go through Romans chapter 1 and see that list of the sins of mankind, which is certainly not a complete one, but it gives a general overview of all the sins of mankind. And Paul is saying by this, any one of these, or any one of the categories it heads up, is more than worthy and sufficient to send you to hell. And that's the point here. On the other hand, the grace of God through Christ is to such a degree that there's no sin that will bring damnation on those who repent. And that is the key, on those who repent. Since that's the case, the constant preaching of repentance is absolutely necessary. What we can say is this, the covenant of grace provides for the preservation of the saints, which is God's Word, and the perseverance of the saints, which is our responsibility. Let me say that again so you won't misunderstand. The covenant of grace provides for the preservation of the saints, which is God's work. God is the one who preserves us in Christ, right? And the perseverance of the saints, persevering in faith, love, holiness, good works, which is our responsibility. Now I did not say our works on purpose, because it's not our works that accomplish that. But it is our responsibility to obey the commands of God and to rely totally on the strength that Christ gives in order to keep holding on to him, right? Remember the cryptic words of Christ as he began to teach about the times that would follow his ascension all the way, I believe, ultimately to the very end of the age as he spoke of in all of that discourse? What was that cryptic statement that has direct application to this? He that endures to the end, the same shall be said. See, that puts a great responsibility on us continuing to hold on to Christ. But all the while, we know that if it were not for the preserving power of Jesus Christ, we could not hold on to him, could we? And so they are not exclusive. They are not contrary to one another, but exactly complementary. All sin deserves damnation, but for the saint, no sin brings damnation. However, the fact of remaining sin makes necessary the constant preaching of repentance. Let's go to Matthew chapter 4 to begin with here. Matthew chapter 4. And verse 17. And we've referred to this already under this heading. It'll be important to see it again. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Constant preaching of repentance is absolutely necessary. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. Again, familiar passage. 337, to see what prompted Peter's answer, what was the question? Now, when they heard this, that is, his preaching of Christ, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Notice the phrase, what shall we do? Now, before I read verse 38, let me submit to you that Peter does not say, oh, you do nothing, because Christ does everything. Although that really is true. Christ does do everything. But what does he say in verse 38? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The men said, What must we do? Peter said, Repent. And then in chapter 17 verse 30 in the book of Acts. Paul, of course, has been preaching on Mars Hill, and he notices all the different idols and statues that are built to every god that the Athenians knew about. And in case they left one out, they had one, as we read in verse 23, that bore the inscriptions of the unknown god. And Paul, very wisely by the Spirit, says, you know this one over here that you call unknown? I'm going to preach to you about him. And he does, and he winds up. In verse 30, saying, In the times of this ignorance, that is, this idolatry, this darkness, this worshiping false gods, God winked at, that is, He in His mercy forbear. He bore along with it. But now, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Constant preaching of repentance is absolutely necessary. for those who need salvation and for those who need to advance in sanctification. And that's all of us who are in Christ. Romans 6.23 from our confession. I just wanted to give you a few extra scriptures in regard to this, but now we'll look as we close at the ones printed for us. Romans 6.23. The wages of sin is death. that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then in Isaiah chapter 1, verses 16 through 18. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Now, let me pause right there. If there was an end to the chapter and an end to the train of thought, an end to the paragraph at the end of verse 17, men might falsely conclude, and we even might as well, that all that God asks is for us to do all these particular works and then we'll be right with him. But you see, it's contextual. There is a need for man to be responsible, as we've said, and to repent, to wash himself, to make himself clean. But then verse 18 says, here's the only way it can happen. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with a sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken yet. And then chapter 55, the wonderful, wonderful chapter of the great invitation to come to Christ. Verse 7 reads, Isaiah 55, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Again, all sin deserves damnation. For the saint, no sin brings damnation. But the fact of remaining sin in believers makes necessary the constant preaching of repentance.