What is repentance unto life?

May not true believers fall away from the state of grace?

LARGER CATECHISM Q 79. May not true believers, by reason of their imperfections, and the many temptations and sins they are overtaken with, fall away from the state of grace? A. True believers, by reason of the unchangeable love of God,1 and his decree and covenant to give them perseverance,2 their inseparable union with Christ,3 his continual intercession for them,4 and the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them,5 can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace,6 but are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.7 ---------------------------------------- 1. JEREMIAH 31:3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. (ESV) 2. 2 TIMOTHY 2:19 But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” HEBREWS 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 SAMUEL 23:5 “For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire? (ESV) 3. 1 CORINTHIANS 1:8-9 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (ESV) 4. HEBREWS 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. LUKE 22:32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (ESV) 5. 1 JOHN 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 1 JOHN 2:27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (ESV) 6. JEREMIAH 32:40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. JOHN 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (ESV) 7. 1 PETER 1:5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (ESV)

Of the perseverance of the saints, part 1

CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 17: OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS 1. They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.1 ---------------------------------------- 1. PHILIPPIANS 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 2 PETER 1:10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. JOHN 10:28-29 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 1 JOHN 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 1 PETER 1:5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 PETER 1:9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (ESV)

Of good works, part 7

CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 16: OF GOOD WORKS 7. Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands; and of good use both to themselves and others:1 yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith;2 nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word;3 nor to a right end, the glory of God,4 they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God:5 and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.6 ---------------------------------------- 1. 2 KINGS 10:30-31 And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin. 1 KINGS 21:27 And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. 1 KINGS 21:29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house.” PHILIPPIANS 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. PHILIPPIANS 1:16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. PHILIPPIANS 1:18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, (ESV) 2. GENESIS 4:5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. HEBREWS 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. HEBREWS 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (ESV) 3. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. ISAIAH 1:12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? (ESV) 4. MATTHEW 6:2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. MATTHEW 6:5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. MATTHEW 6:16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (ESV) 5. HAGGAI 2:14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. TITUS 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. AMOS 5:21-22 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. HOSEA 1:4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. ROMANS 9:16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. TITUS 3:15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. (ESV) 6. PSALM 14:4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord? PSALM 36:3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. JOB 21:14-15 They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ MATTHEW 25:41-43 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ MATTHEW 25:45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ MATTHEW 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. (ESV)

Of good works, part 6

CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 16: OF GOOD WORKS 6. Notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him;1 not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God's sight;2 but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.3 ---------------------------------------- 1. EPHESIANS 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 1 PETER 2:5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. EXODUS 28:38 It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. GENESIS 4:4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, HEBREWS 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (ESV) 2. JOB 9:20 Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. PSALM 143:2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. (ESV) 3. HEBREWS 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 CORINTHIANS 8:12 For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. HEBREWS 6:10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. MATTHEW 25:21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ MATTHEW 25:23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ (ESV)

Of good works, part 5

CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 16: OF GOOD WORKS 5. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin, or eternal life at the hand of God, by reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the glory to come; and the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom, by them, we can neither profit, nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins,1 but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants:2 and because, as they are good, they proceed from his Spirit;3 and as they are wrought by us, they are defiled, and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection, that they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment.4 ---------------------------------------- 1. ROMANS 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. ROMANS 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ROMANS 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ROMANS 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: EPHESIANS 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. TITUS 3:5-7 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. ROMANS 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. PSALM 16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” JOB 22:2-3 “Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? JOB 35:7-8 If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man. (ESV) 2. LUKE 17:10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (ESV) 3. GALATIANS 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV) 4. ISAIAH 64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. GALATIANS 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ROMANS 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ROMANS 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. PSALM 143:2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. PSALM 130:3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? (ESV)