OUTLINE:

“What Is the Gospel” 
– R. C. Sproul lesson
[Summarizing] The Gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ and His work. Period.

“What Is Repentance” 
– R. C. Sproul lesson
True repentance is confidently grounded in what God says about Himself in His Word, but it expresses itself in humility toward Him.

“What Is Repentance” 
– R. C. Sproul lesson
We come before our Creator with confidence that He is faithful and just to forgive our sins (1Jn 1:8-9), but we come humbly, refusing to believe or affirm that He owes us forgiveness.

“What Is Repentance” 
– R. C. Sproul lesson
Every act of divine forgiveness is an instance of the Lord keeping His promises to pardon His people, but it is at the same time a forgiveness we never deserve.

“A MAN AFTER MY HEART”
While God is perfect and man isn’t, He affirms this statement about David multiple times in His Word (1Sa 13:14; Ps 89:20; Ac 13:22) and David, His humble servant, reveals the truth of it (e.g. a repentant heart) multiple times in the Word (Ps 32, 38, 51).

God HATES Sin
It makes perfect sense that a “man after His own heart” would hate offending the One who’s saved Him from the throes of sin. Would we expect anything less???

HUMILITY!!!

The Gospel Call
A person who never shows up, mind, heart, and will…cannot receive the free gift of salvation by grace through faith!

“humble yourselves”
from tapeinoo - means to make low; ("show humility, true lowliness") happens by being fully dependent on the Lord – dismissing reliance upon self (self-government) and emptying carnal ego. This exalts the Lord as our all-in-all and prompts the gift of His fullness in us.

Mt 3:8
“Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

“he must deny himself”
Repentance involves the mind, heart, and will of man. A person unwilling to “deny himself” cannot follow Jesus, precluding them from His salvation.

Salvation
GOD does all the work in salvation, quickening a humble person to true repentance and saving faith in Jesus Christ. Unbelievers represent those unwilling to BE saved - as Jesus clearly stated, their issue is their attachment to the self-life (ref: Mark 8:34).

“he must deny himself”
Repentance involves the mind, heart, and will of man. A person unwilling to “deny himself” cannot follow Jesus, precluding them from His salvation.

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Rock of Ages - by Augustus M. Toplady

Unfruitful “soil”
Arrogance maintains an unrepentant “soil” that will not receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It will receive a different gospel from a different spirit regarding another Jesus (2Co 11:4), and it will even bear fruit after that kind, but it will never be fruit of the true “Vine” (Jn 15:5).

Ac 11:18
When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

“Then who can be saved?” (Mt 19:25)
How does an unbeliever, whose only faculty is the human flesh, go about repenting or even believing? Easy: God gives grace to the humble (Jas 4:6). “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26).

The General Truth About Demands
The Bible is chalk full of demands that are literally impossible for man to obey without the help of the One making them. While this seems paradoxical, it is nothing less than God’s grace. God is merely looking for willingness/humility in a man.

“a greater grace”
The power of God’s grace alone is able to save man from sin. His grace is “greater” than all enemies opposing it (the flesh, the world, and Satan). True repentance is a GRACE GIFT!!!

The General Truth About Demands
The Bible is chalk full of demands that are literally impossible for man to obey without the help of the One making them. While this seems paradoxical, it is nothing less than God’s grace. God is merely looking for willingness/humility in a man.

Salvation is never preceded by unrepentance.