OUTLINE:

“great was its fall”
No structure ever erected by mankind will ever stand the test of time. Only God's gracious plan is able to save man. The plans of the so-called rich and the wise will all crumble.

Lk 13:3
“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Charles Spurgeon
A sinner can no more repent and believe without the Holy Spirit's aid than he can create a world.

Charles Spurgeon
Another proof of the conquest of a soul for Christ will be found in a real change of life. If the man does not live differently from what he did before, both at home and abroad, his repentance needs to be repented of and his conversion is a fiction.

A Heavenly Change
Salvation is radical, and totally a miracle of God, truly changing a person from the inside out!

Charles Spurgeon
Learn this lesson: not to trust Christ because you repent, but trust Christ to make you repent; not to come to Christ because you have a broken heart, but to come to Him that He may give you a broken heart;…

Charles Spurgeon
…not to come to Him because you are fit to come, but to come to Him because you are unfit to come. Your fitness is your unfitness. Your qualification is your lack of qualification.

Ro 5:6
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

The Simplicity of the Gospel
- Lk 18:9-14 - Conversion (repentance & justification by faith): Parable of Pharisee & Tax Collector
- Lk 18:15-17 - Simplicity (faith of a child): Entrance into the Kingdom
- Lk 18:18-25 - Rejection (refusing to deny self): Parable of the Rich Young Ruler
- Lk 18:26-27 - Grace: God saves!
- Lk 18:28-30 – Salvation: Eternal life in the Kingdom

Lk 18:17
"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."

In Lk 18:9-30, Jesus Was NOT…
- Preaching a different Gospel than Paul's
- Saying that simple means 'void of repentance'
- Preaching anything fundamental beyond salvation, proper
- Preaching works

Jn 10:27
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Is 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Attrition vs. Contrition
True repentance is an act of contrition, not attrition. Contrition is from contrite (Latin: “to be worn out, ground to pieces”); vs. attrition (Latin: “abrasion, scraping, to rub one thing against another”). (Psa 51:17; 34:18; Is 66:2; Ro 10:10; 1Jo 1)

If there's no sincerity in repenting, it's not repenting. It's just lip service to "cover one's butt".

Ps 34:18
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Attrition is void of remorse.
Contrition is tantamount to it.


Lk 13:5
“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Conversion
Conversion implies repentant faith. That is to say that a saved person must be granted both repentance and saving faith from God (Ac 5:31; 11:18; Eph 2:8-9; Jas 2:14-20).

False Gospels
A gospel that accommodates man’s flesh is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Danger In Being Religious
Mental assent alone to the things of God or Christ is a dangerous game of self-deception.

A Willing Heart Means...
God's grace performs the miracle of giving eternal life to a spiritually dead man, granting him repentance and faith in Christ that saves him, and no one will snatch him out of the Lord's hands. Jn 10:27-30