Repentance Is Of God Alone

​In and among many Christians (a Christian is defined, as someone who has repented and trusted alone in Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation from the wrath of God against sin); there are many who speak about repentance, and some who never mention it. I believe that we must get this right, because so much is at stake, an eternity with God. Repentance is very important to God, so important, that in Acts 17:30-31 the word says; “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." This is why repentance should be both understood, and talked about, and must be a part of every gospel message.

​Now I believe that the bible declares all men to be radically depraved and totally incapable of coming to God on their own. There is no greater passage in the Bible than Romans 3:10-18 to explain this.
“as it is written,
"There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one."
"Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,"
"The poison of asps is under their lips";
"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness";
"Their feet are swift to shed blood,
Destruction and misery are in their paths,
And the path of peace they have not known."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

​A man will not, nor cannot come to God on his own, because it is not in his nature to do so; that in order for a man to come to God on His terms, a man must repent. To repent quite literally means to change your mind. A man will not change his mind; he will fight tooth and nail to declare himself right. Even in the face of insurmountable evidence against him, and proof to the contrary, the closest he will come to changing his own mind is in saying; “Will yeah, but!”. But what? But what he is really saying is, “But I’m not going to fully concede.” Repentance is a super natural work of the Holy Spirit done through the hearing or reading of God’s word, whereby the Holy Spirit takes out the man’s heart of stone, giving him a heart of flesh, so that he will then capitulate (give up). Repentance is throwing up your hands and saying, “I surrender Lord, you are right and I am wrong. What would you have me to do Lord? I am Yours and Yours alone, do with me as You will.”

​There are some that believe a man must be baptized in order to be saved. I do too, but before you think I’m a heretic for saying this, allow me to fully explain. Read to the end of this note, so that you might understand what I mean, and what I believe the Lord is saying to us about baptism in Mark 16:16. I have recently looked at Mark 16:16 in a different light, I try to step back from what men have told me, and look at the word of God as it was written. I never thought that it was about Baptismal regeneration as some will claim, but I now do! Allow me to explain. "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned." (Mark 16:16)

​It is obvious what The Lord is saying here, that you must believe and be baptized to be saved. Now what is He talking about here? Is he talking about a physical water baptism or something else? I believe something else, and here is why.

​"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). So therefore, Mark 16:16 cannot mean a physical water baptism, because that would be a result of works; so what then does it mean? And since the Lord is saying to us, that “he who believes and is baptized will be saved”, I think that it is a good idea to find out what He is saying.

​At the end of “The Gospel According to Luke”, The Lord commands His apostles; "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) Now what did He mean by clothed with power from on High? Take a look at what He tells them at the beginning of Acts for the answer. "Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5) Hmmm, could it be that Jesus meant what He said in Mark 16:16, that “he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved” (baptized with the Holy Spirit that is)?

​I think Jesus really drove this home with Nicodemus in John chapter 3 when He said; “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) Then he said, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6) Some will take the first part of verse 5, “born of water”, to mean physical water baptismal regeneration, again it cannot mean that, because of what he said in verse 6, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” So then what does He mean by water and the Spirit?

​Propitiation! Romans 3:25 says; “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” As you can see, propitiation has two parts; blood and faith. One without the other does not equal propitiation, and without propitiation there is no redemption, and without redemption there is no salvation from the wrath of God against sin. But, where you have both the blood of Christ, and faith in Christ; you have propitiation, you have redemption, and thus salvation.

​So what are the water and the Spirit that the Lord was talking about in John 3:5? Earlier, I mentioned that in order for a man to repent, the Holy Spirit must take out the man’s heart of stone and give him a heart of flesh. Take a look at this in a passage from Ezekiel 36.

​“For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:24-28)

​Propitiation; “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;” we are cleansed from all of our filthiness and idols by the blood of Jesus Christ! “I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes” repentance, being born of the Spirit!

​There are many, who have head knowledge of Jesus Christ; that He is the only begotten Son of God, which He has died for the sins of men, and arose from the grave on the third day. But in order to be saved, you must be born again, be born of the Spirit of God, where He takes out your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh, putting His Spirit within you; being baptized with the Holy Spirit, causing you to then walk in His ordinances. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

​ In order to be saved, you must repent and believe. We know, and trust brethren; that the gospel, is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, and that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (See Romans 1:16, 10:17) So we faithfully preach the gospel, and in doing so, we are totally dependent on God. For when we tell people, that they must repent and believe in the gospel; we are both telling them exactly what they need to do, to be saved, and at the same time we know, that they are totally incapable of doing this on their own, without a super natural work of the Holy Spirit, causing them to be born again, believing and being baptized by the Holy Spirit. "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned." (Mark 16:16)




Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

Obey the Son

The past couple of mornings I’ve been reading “The Gospel According to Mark” and a thought came to mind this morning that I find quite interesting. During Jesus’ earthly ministry whenever He heeled someone He told them not to tell anyone. But what did they do? They would go out from there and tell everyone. “And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.” (1) He even told His disciples when they rightly answered whom He was, not to tell anyone. “And He warned them to tell no one about Him.” (2) Even when the Lord took Peter, James, and John up on the mountain, and He was transfigured before them, “He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead.” (3)

Now the thing that is so interesting about what He told Peter, James, and John; was for them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. Of course they did not understand at that time what He meant by “rose from the dead”, but in this statement, He indicated to them, that there would come a time when they were to tell people what they had seen and heard, but at a time of His choosing.

Now take the flip side of this, after the Lord rose from the dead He no longer told His disciples not to tell anyone about Him; quite the opposite, He commanded them to tell the world. So throughout Jesus’ ministry, you have people heeled by Jesus who were commanded by Him not to tell anyone, and they told everyone. He told His disciples, not to tell anyone until He rose from the dead, and they did not; He rose from the dead, and told them to go tell the world about Him, and they obeyed. The world was disobedient, but His disciples were obedient.

In John chapter 3, John the Baptist gives a prophetic word of what a believer in Jesus Christ looks like. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of god abides on him.” (4) So His disciples (the Sheep), were obedient to His word, when He said not to tell anyone, and the people of the world (the goats), were disobedient to His word, when He said not to tell anyone. After He rose from the dead He said; “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (5) And they were obedient in telling the world about Him without fear of the appraisal of men, even when it meant their own torture and death.

Jesus spoke about this, saying what this would look like. "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (6)

The English preacher from the 19th century, Charles Spurgeon said these words about the disobedient church goers of his day. "They wander in on a Sunday morning, sit down, get their hymn book, listen to the prayer without joining in it, hear the sermon, but might almost as well not have heard it, go home, get through the Sunday, go into business. With them there is never any secret prayer for the conversion of men, no trying to talk to children, or servants, or friends, about Christ, no zeal, no holy jealousy, no flaming love, no generosity, no consecrating of the substance to God's cause! This is too faithful a picture of a vast number of professing Christians. Would it were not so." (7)

Today we have many who profess to be Christians, who are disobedient to the command of our Lord whom said; “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (5) There are sheep and there are goats, there are bad fish, and there are good fish, there is wheat and there are tares; are we then to go gather up the goats, bad fish, and tares? “But he *said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn." (8)

Am I saying in any way that a man is saved by going out and telling people about Jesus Christ? In the words of the Apostle Paul, “May it never be!”; there is only one way that a man is saved from the wrath of God against his sin, by the grace of God, in the blood of Jesus Christ through faith. Look specifically at what John the Baptist said; “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of god abides on him.” (4) It is clear by what John the Baptist said, that salvation and eternal life is solely by faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is also clear, that the one, whom believes in the Son, has a lifestyle that is marked by obedience to the Son of God. This is also clearly seen in what the Apostle Paul said. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (9)

There are two very specific commands that the Lord gives to His disciples:

1. To love one another, to love the church. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (10)

2. To go into the world and preach His gospel, obedience to the great commission. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (11) " Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (5)

The life of every believer should be marked by two very specific things; the love of His brother (the church), and the love of the Lord in preaching His gospel to the world. After reading this and you find yourself disobedient to either command of the Lord Jesus Christ. To love the church (the brothers and sisters in Christ), and or to glorify Him through preaching His gospel to all the world, I encourage you to do what the Apostle Paul said to do. “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (12)



Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ



Quotes,the translation used is the NASB: (1) Mark 7:36, (2) Mark 8:30, (3) Mark 9:9, (4) John 3:36, (5) Mark 16:15, (6) Mark 8:34-38, (7) C. Spurgeon, (8) Matthew 13:29-30, (9) Ephesians 2:8-10, (10) John 13:34-35, (11) Matthew 28:18-20, (12) 2 Corinthians 13:5

I'm An Offense

From my birth I have been an offense, I offended my parents and siblings; the first people I knew.

From my childhood I offended my classmates, my teachers, and friends.

As I grew into adulthood I offended coworkers, friends, and aquatintists.

I've offended my wife, my children, my church.

I've offended people in my community, people on the street, and people in stores.

I've offended people on the Internet, people of other countries; if I haven't offended you, just give it time.

But the worst offense of all, I've offended The Lord God, my creator and sustainer, the One who gave me life.

While I will never make amends to the people I've offended The Lord God is all satisfied with me in Christ. He lived a sinless life satisfying the righteousness of God. He died in my place satisfying the justice of God. Through faith in Him I'm justified before God and I'm no longer an offense to God, because the Holy One of God, Jesus Christ, became an offense on my behalf, satisfy the wrath of God.


Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

Why Can You Not Understand What I Am Saying?

Jesus said "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." We, who are in Christ, sometimes get frustrated with unbelievers, as to why they cannot see the truth, and it is frustrating I agree, and God is just to punish them for their sin, but never forget we were dead in our trespasses and sins "but God." Just as a dead man cannot get up and walk, the spiritually dead cannot hear. The spiritually dead cannot chose to hear the word anymore than a dead man can chose to get up and walk, they must be born of God, transformed. It is all of God! (Ephesians 2:1-10)

What event occurred in your life that you had no control over and nothing to do with whatsoever? The answer; your birth! Do you not find it of up most interest that Jesus said you must be born again to see the kingdom of God? (John 3:3) We tell people in our proclamations of the gospel to "Repent and Believe" (Mark 1:15) and this is the biblical call to an unbeliever, but it is also something that is impossible for them to do unless they be born again; "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13 NASB)

I just spent this past weekend in Atlanta, GA preaching the gospel with several wonderful brothers in Christ. While there, I continued with my memorization of "The Gospel according to John." The verse that I happened to be meditating on while there was John 8:44, and I saw the reality of that passage played out in so many ways before me while there. The combination of this passage and all that was going on around me, The Lord used to bring to a deeper understanding the nature and heart of man, and man's total inability to repent of his sins, and trust alone in Jesus Christ. The only way a man in his natural state can turn from sin to God in Jesus Christ as if his nature is changed; he must be born again, born of the Spirit of God.

"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44 NASB)

We deserve the wrath of God for our sins; salvation is a gift of God granted by the grace of God through faith in the Holy One of God, Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24-25). This gift is not from birth right, this gift is not through religious works, this gift is not from our own will; it is by the grace of God through faith. Saving faith does not come from within a man, it is granted by God! (John 1:13) And it must be all of God, because man in his natural state is incapable of repentance, God grants repentance (1 Timothy 2:25).

Why is man incapable? Man is incapable of repentance because he is of his father the devil and wants to do the desires of his father (John 8:44). What are the desires of man? The lust of the eyes, getting all the things this world has to offer; money, cars, homes, vacations, coveting what is his neighbors and pursues obtaining those things in hopes of these things bringing him happiness. The lust of the flesh, which includes but not limited to; sexual desires, fornication's, adulteries, over eating, gluttony, drunkenness, drugs, and he peruses these to feel good physically. The pride of life; to be put up on a pedestal, to be well known, to be well thought of, to have people adore and worship you, to be a god. (1 John 2:16) In order to fulfill his desires man will dishonor mother and father, he will murder his neighbor physically like in abortion or it may be manifested in selling his neighbor out or walking across his neighbors back, he will lie, and he will steal.

This is not limited to what you would call large things, it can be found in what you might think of as the little things. Have you ever been angry with someone because they somehow interfered with you getting what you desire? This can be manifested in something as simple as a waitress getting your order wrong at a restaurant and what do you do? Think about the differing things that can occur from this scenario; you may just think evil of him or her in your mind, you might talk about him or her at the table with the other people, you may talk about him or her with the manager, you may not leave a tip (which is how wait staff are paid), or you may say something directly to him or her belittling them. Don’t forget what Jesus said; “You have heard that the ancients were told, ' You shall not commit murder ' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. 'But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ' You good- for- nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” (Matthew 5:21-23 NASB)

This is just one example of many and I’m sure you can think of many others now that the door of understanding the human heart has been opened. Yes it is true; "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 1:9 NASB)

While in Atlanta I saw many different things all of which were sinful. Idolatry, many people worshiping a game, a team, and individuals, all the while ignoring the God who created them; as my brothers and I preached the word of God hundreds if not thousands walked by with disdain as the word of God was proclaimed, some mock worshiped, some blasphemed and insulted, but most ignored and laughed. The men that I was preaching with would read scripture and expositorily preach on the passage of the word of God that they were reading, and then follow that up with the heralding of the gospel. I had two different men on separate occasions come up while the glorious word of God was being proclaimed and say; “You know all you’re doing is driving people away. I’m a pastor and this is not how you do this.” So I said, “We are preaching the word of God, did Jesus not say to go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15). At this point each man on differing occasion became angry and belligerent, so I said let us reason through the scriptures, neither was willing to open the word of God or hear the word of God; and we wonder why there are so many false converts in America when there are men with the title of pastor who hate the word of God. Next we had people nearby our assigned location who were all of condemnation, and I mean condemnation period. No word of God, no law, and no gospel; they held up signs that were purposely offensive, and meant to bring anger, and were condemning without any justification for condemnation, and without a gospel to save from condemnation. They did not preach, they did not open the word of God, they did not give the law or gospel, just hatred and condemnation.

Then there was Corey, the conversation I had with this young man Saturday evening wound up being the highlight of the time in Atlanta and at the time I didn’t even know it. Here is a picture of Corey and me talking while another brother, Adam Avila, read from the word of God and preached.

I saw Corey standing beside the blue pole in the picture; he had stopped and was texting someone on his phone. I was passing out gospel tracts while Adam preached and a thought entered my mind that I should go talk with this young man. I did not want to, I had already talked with several that day who blasphemed the Lord and I was tired; but as I kept handing out tracts he was not going anywhere so I knew I was being disobedient, so I repented and walked up to him, to speak with him. I don’t remember all the words of this conversation but a few highlights. I walked up to him, he is Jewish; you can see from the picture that he is wearing a Yarmulke Cap on his head. So as I walked up to him I wanted to acknowledge his Jewish heritage so I said to him; “Do you know Yeshua?” (The Hebrew word for Jesus). He answered; “Yea I know who He is, look you don’t want to talk to me about this, trust me you don’t.” I said; “Can I give you this?” He said; “What is it? I said; “It is a gospel tract, it speaks about justification for our sins.” He said; “No thanks, I don’t need that.” So I said; “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions to see if that is true?” He agreed to do so, and we talked about the Law of Moses, about sin, righteousness, and judgment; with salvation being in the blood of Jesus Christ through faith. He had no way of being justified before the Lord but was counting on his heritage (not of blood) and his overall goodness, that he was better than most (nor of the will of the flesh) to save him. We also talked about the Old Testament and the New Testament, about other religions as he brought them up in his attempt to cast aside salvation by faith in Christ alone, but we always returned back to sin, righteousness, and judgment; with salvation being in the blood of Jesus Christ through faith. I said to him; “Jesus said, ‘You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.’” He said; “But no one is perfect.” I said; “Jesus is and He took our punishment on the cross and offers to us his righteousness before God through faith in Him.” It was at this time he decided he needed to leave; we shook hands and parted ways. I saw no contrition in him, no change of heart, or of mind. He appeared to be unchanged by the conversation except for some display of anger in his attitude as he departed.

I then walked up to the group with the condemning signs who were near us, while the majority walked by ignoring us or with disdain as we preached the word of God this group was drawing a very large crowd. While the messages on the signs were condemning and the people in the crowd were throwing out insults and cursing back at them, it was very worldly so the world was drawn to it. So I took the opportunity to walk amongst that crowd and distribute gospel tracts. I walked back to our corner and began to recite aloud the gospel according to John. I was very bothered by all that was going on around me and had a need to proclaim the word of God unstained by my words, so I did not talk about the word of God, I heralded the word of God as it was written from John. I prayed with another brother and then he preached, once he was done, the air was silent of the word of God so I prayed with a couple of brothers and then began to preach expositorily on Romans Chapter 3 and concluded.

By this time I was very tired and my voice was spent, I knew that I was done preaching for the day. I was tired and thirsty so I sat down and began to drink a bottle of water. Corey (the young man I had talked to earlier) came walking up with a grin on his face and said; “I have been thinking a lot about everything you said; can I have one of those cards that you tried to give me earlier?” So I grabbed one of the larger gospel tracts (I think it was the one that explains what it means to be born again, but I’m not sure) and he took it, and then thanked me for talking with him. He said; “I really enjoyed talking with you, and I’m going to keep thinking about these things and read.” I saw in him at this time a total shift in the way he acted and the things he had to say. He walked off and I sat there humbled, I thanked God, and prayed for Corey. What I had just witnessed, I knew was of God, I could do nothing to change that young man’s mind, “But God”. The Holy Spirit used the words of Christ and the gospel that I had spoken to change his mind. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) He had departed with anger and disdain in his heart and mind, but came back with a changed heart and mind. What had happened during the interim? God!

Now I don’t know if Corey has truly repented and believed in the gospel at this time, but I could see that God is working on Him through the Spirit, so I do believe that God maybe saving him. Jimmy Wilson, Bobby McCreery, Chris Blair (Chris preached for the first time that weekend), Debra Mehaffey, Bill Adams, and myself all prayed together to the Lord before starting to herald the word of God and gospel that weekend; our prayer was that the Lord would use the proclamation of His word to call His sheep out of this lost world. Glory to God!



Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

Made Alive in Christ

We cannot at anytime lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), we must always look to the word of God because we can so easily be deceived by our emotions. How many people do you know who commit willful sin whom you would consider nice and likable people. One of the most prevalent of this willful sinning in our society is the sin of fornication. It is so common place in our society that almost no one gives it a second thought, that is why Hebrews 10:26-30 seems so poignant and harsh to someone who has not been transformed through the Spirit of God.

"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of A fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “ Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, "The Lord will judge His people.” (Hebrews 10:26-27)

Now while fornication is exceptable in society; it is not exceptable to God who is Holy, righteous, and just. The bible is very clear on this; that no fornicator will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9) and sexually immoral persons will go to hell (Revelation 21:8). God the Father gave His precious Son and punished Him with all of His fury for our sins. Can you imagine the anger God has towards sinful men who trample the blood of Christ under foot and count His sacrifice as unclean by forsaking Him to continue in their sins? Now while I used fornication as an example this is true of all willful sin!

One of the most magnificent passages in scripture is Ephesians 2:1-10. This passage so clearly depicts that salvation is The Lord's alone, and that the one He has saved has been transformed.

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

There are so many versions of what is called Christian it just astounds me and I cannot understand it. We have one source to reveal to us who Jesus Christ is, anything outside of that source is a lie and comes from men. It is time to stop giving out opinions and to read the scriptures, the scriptures are the only source to reveal God to man.

Jesus revealed the Father to us (Matthew 11:27). If you believe in Jesus but don't believe the bible you are an Anathema (outside the body of Christ) the bible is the only source on earth to reveal Jesus Christ to us. If you say that you believe in Jesus but don't believe everything the bible says you are not a believer in the Jesus of the bible, you are believing in a different gospel. This kind of thing is a Perversion of the Gospel and has been happening since the gospel was first preached by the apostles and is prevalent in society today.

" I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" (Galatians 1:6-9)

There is nothing you can do to be saved, Jesus said "It is finished" (John 19:30) all work for salvation has been completed by God in Jesus Christ on the cross in His blood through faith. Salvation is a gift of God, by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. There is nothing you can do to be saved, salvation of sinful men is for the glory of God alone The Lord shares His glory with no man.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." (Romans 3:23-28)

Turning away from sin and following the law of God cannot save you, however a refusal to turn from sin will condemn you. We are justified solely by the grace of God, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, by His perfect Holy sacrifice on the cross, bearing the full wrath of God for our sins in His blood through faith. Fully satisfying the anger of God against sinful men for our sins through faith. Turning away from sin cannot satisfy the anger of God for our sins, the blood of Jesus Christ did that through faith in Him alone, Jesus said "It is finished". Now while turning away from sin cannot save you, and faith in Jesus Christ alone does; a refusal to turn from sin will condemn you. So what must we do in light of this news of God's hatred of our sin and Jesus Christ completed work on the cross, the gospel of Jesus Christ? Repent and believe in the gospel.


Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

God's Wrath Must Be Satisfied

I hear many of my brethren speak often about repentance. Repentance is missing from much of what is called the modern American evangelical Church. There has been a movement afoot; a remnant as you will who has come forward and began to proclaim the truth of the gospel that you must repent. Sometimes I think some have gone too far with this, going the other direction, falling into legalism, putting more enfaces on repentance than they do faith in Christ. A large portion of pastors in America never mention repentance and create many false converts who think that they can have their sin and heaven too. So we must preach sin, righteousness and judgment; preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, telling all men everywhere to repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ alone. There are a few who make so much of repentance that they almost never speak of faith. You must repent, that is true, but repentance does not satisfy the wrath of God for sin. No one has ever been saved from the wrath of God by turning from sin. You must turn from sin; the word of God makes that very clear. “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26-27)

Now while remaining in sin and refusing to turn from sin will condemn you; turning away from sin will not save you from the wrath of God for the sins you have already committed. The story about two of the kings of Judah; Manasseh who sinned and Josiah who repented in 2 Kings, demonstrate this very well; that the justice of God must be satisfied. That you can repent and turn from sin but that will not satisfy the justice of God. Payment must be made; God's wrath against sin must be satisfied.

King Manasseh sinned greatly against the LORD and made Judah sin with idols (2 Kings 2:11); “therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.” (2 Kings 2:12)

Now Josiah, who is the grandson of Manasseh, became king of Judah and he repented and turned Judah from idolatry and reinstituted the Passover. “Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him” (2 Kings 23:24-26).

Now while it was good that King Josiah repented and turned Judah from Idolatry this did not satisfy the wrath of God. Sins had been committed, and payment had to be made; “all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22) God’s righteous justice demands the shedding of blood for sins. "However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him." (2 Kings 23:26)

So why do I bring this up? Because if we put anything ahead of our equal to Christ completed work on the cross, they are but filthy rags before a Holy and Just God. Salvation is a gift from God; by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Now while repentance is essential in coming to faith in Christ we are not saved by repentance; we are saved by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone! Repentance is a must for a truly converted heart and mind, but repentance does not save you from the wrath of God. The only thing that saves us from the wrath of God is the blood of Christ through faith. Praise The Lord that the wrath of God for my sins was satisfied in full by the blood of Jesus Christ through faith. For more on this read (Romans 3:21-28), I think, the most important passage in all of scripture. "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." (Romans 3:28)



Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

Let Us Do Away with Cliché’s

I suggested last week during a bible study, that the cliché; “God hates the sin but loves the sinner” is unbiblical and stated that God not only hates sin but He hates the sinner as well. This caused some to be a little upset. A couple of days later with regards to this being on my mind, I said on my facebook account; “Many Christians have a hard time excepting the Biblical truth that God not only hates sin but abhors the one who does iniquity. (Psalm 5:5) This is not something to reject but a truth that makes the gospel all the more beautiful. That God would pour His righteous Holy wrath out on His Son, who never sinned, redeeming by His blood through faith the object of His Devine hatred, evil and wicked men. It is beyond words, it is Amazing Grace!” This too caused some others to become angry, you would think that I had spoken against some great and honored doctrine of the church.

First of all I retract from my original statement that “God hates the sin but loves the sinner” as being unbiblical, to say it is unbiblical would be to say that there is no truth in it at all. First of all this is not a doctrine that I am dispelling it is a cliché’ and a modern American evangelical cliché’ at that. So it’s not totally unbiblical, it has truth in it, but just enough truth missing to mislead, and isn’t that the deception of the modern false gospel. Isn’t that the deception of many false gospels, just enough truth to deceive even the believer to thinking it is the truth; “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” (Mathew 24:24)

Before I talk about what is wrong with this cliché’, what about the cliché’ is true? First of all God does hate sin! In fact no one would deny that God hates sin. In Hebrews 1:9 God the Father said of Jesus Christ, God the Son; “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions." Secondly God does love the sinner! “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

So what is wrong with the cliché’? But! That’s right, But! But implies instead of something; “God hates the sin but loves the sinner” the word but put in the sentence, implies that instead of hating the sinner as justice would demand, God loves the sinner instead. I find that absolutely repulsive and grotesque, because the implication is that God is unjust. God is righteous and will always do what is right and just, always; “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne” (Psalm 89:14).

"The cliché, God hates the sin but loves the sinner, is false on the face of it and should be abandoned.
Fourteen times in the first fifty Psalms alone, we are told that God hates the sinner, His wrath is on the liar, and so forth.
In the Bible, the wrath of God rests both on the sin (Romans 1:18ff) and on the sinner (John 3:36)." ~D.A. Carson

One of the arguments that people have given in their reviling against the biblical truth that God hates the sin and the sinner both; is that in order to see this outside of the Psalms and Proverbs you have to imply that every where scripture talks about the wrath of God being against sinners, that God hates the sinner. In other words they are saying that unless the scripture specifically says God hates the sinner as it does in (Psalm 5:4-6, Psalm 7:11, Psalm 11:5, Proverbs 6:16-19) then he doesn’t hate the sinner and it cannot therefore be implied. You have to make that implication in the New Testament, because it doesn’t use the exact words hates and sinners. First of all God is the same God in the New Testament as He was in the Old Testament, He is never changing. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) So if it says in the Old Testament that God hates sinners; then God hates sinners. Secondly if God’s wrath abides upon the sinner it does mean that He hates the sinner given what it means to hate. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him.” (John 3:36)

Let’s define hate. To hate; is a desire to destroy, to make something no more, and to be done away with, a want or desire to kill. I hate abortion (the murder of children in the womb) I desire for abortion to be done away with, for it to no longer exist. That’s the real issue and the real reason why it makes people so uptight when you say that God hates the sinner, because they know what that means. Their consciences testifies to the fact that they have broken God’s laws and are therefore a sinner; so if God hates sinners, that means He hates me the sinner and desires to destroy me. It is offensive for many to hear that God hates them. This is why the apostle John said; “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15) because to hate someone is a desire to see them dead. God is righteous (Psalm 89:14), God’s hatred therefore is righteous; God’s desire to kill the sinner (Ezekiel 18:4) is because it is the right thing to do.

Even believers in Jesus Christ, who have repented of their own personal sins and put their faith alone in Jesus Christ will revile at this. David Platt said; “It is one of those places where we can find ourselves in a bit of trouble for quoting the bible.” The reason for this I believe is the same reason that the majority of believers do not evangelize (do not go out and preach the gospel as Christ commanded). They have this vale of unbelief that somehow everyone is ok. They believe the gospel on a personal level that Christ has paid for their sins in full but are under a delusion that all of their friends, families, coworkers and people that they consider nice in general are ok. But when you say that “God hates all who do iniquity” (Psalm 5:5) it destroys the façade, the illusion that they are ok and causes them to almost revile at the notion as much as an unbeliever reviles at the gospel itself. Now understand, I am not advocating that we preach condemnation, saying to the unbeliever “God hates you.” This is in all since a deeper understanding of the revelation of God and the gospel.

What I am advocating is; let us do away with worthless; misleading cliché’s and preach the word of God and gospel of Jesus Christ. We must accept Scripture in its entirety, and scripture alone is the authority of God on earth. The truth that God hates the sinner is explicit in scripture (Psalm 5:4-6, Psalm 7:11, Psalm 11:5, Proverbs 6:16-19). The truth that God loves the sinner is explicit in scripture (John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5). So the question isn't does God hate the sinner; the question is why does God hate the sinner? The answer is because God is righteous and just, "Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your thrown" (Psalm 89:14). The question isn't does God love the sinner; the question is why does God love the sinner? The answer is because, "God is love" (1John 4:8). How can these two attributes of God reconcile in-regards to sinful man? At the cross of Jesus Christ; it was at the cross that the wrath of God and the mercy of God collided, it was at the cross that the hatred of God for sinners and the love of God for sinners kissed, it was at the cross that the sinless Son of God was crushed by the Father for the sins of man, it was at the cross that God the Son stood in the law place of His people. God the Father crushed His Son under the Holy wrath of God for sinners "to demonstrate His righteousness" (Romans 3:25). Jesus bore the full wrath of God for sinners, for His people "to demonstrate His own love toward us" (Romans 5:8). Jesus said; "'It is finished' And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit" (John 19:30). Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). “Repent and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:15)




Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ