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Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons : Grace for the Unwilling (An Exhortation to Preachers) by Michael Liao

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MichaelLiao
Member



Joined: 2011/4/24
Posts: 214
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 Grace for the Unwilling (An Exhortation to Preachers) by Michael Liao

"Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart." - Psalm 51:6

We have heard the saying: He can't, because he won't.

Or

People makes excuses to not surrender or repent towards God by saying they can't, when really they won't/not willing surrender or repent.

Men are unwilling to let go of their sin, their self, and cling unto Christ. There is a cost to the Christian life.

Jesus did say, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."

When Christ bids you to come to him, He bids you to come and die (Paraphrased from Bonheoffer).

But when men see the cost of discipleship, they are hesitant, not necessarily because of weakness, but because of the unwillingness to die, the unwillingness to submit, and the unwillingness to lose it all for Christ.

Now I've heard many preachers say this, "If you are unwilling to lose your sin, then stay unwilling, live like the world, and stick to your rebellion against God!" Yes, it is true, God is looking for willing people: Willing to lose it all for Christ and that those who are unwilling are heading towards destruction. But for those who are unwilling, my question to the preachers is, "Yes, you are giving hope for those souls who are willing to repent, but have you given any hope to those who are unwilling to repent?"

What do I mean by this? This will probably put me in hot water, but I pray that the grace of God will be seen in this article. The grace of God is not only for those who are weak (inability/ability), but also for those who are unwilling, scared, cowardly, and fearful (will/desire) to surrender, repent etc.

We read in Phillipians 2:13, "For it is God who works in us both to WILL and to WORK for His good pleasure." Willingness comes first before Action/Ability. A lot of the times, people come to a church and hear biblical preaching/hard preaching. Often times the preaching searches the soul of man. We do hear the preachers preaching against sin. I have nothing against that, I fully support it. When we get to the end of the sermon, we sometimes find the preacher say "REPENT OF YOUR SINS!" There is absolute truth in that proclamation.....Jesus says, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" -Luke 13:5. It is also true that those who are unwilling to repent of their sins will go to eternal damnation. It's only when the preacher talks about unwillingness to repent and the consequences of it, causes men to struggle in their flesh to make themselves willing. Men sitting in the pews, confronted with their sins, asked to repent, yet deep down in their hearts they are not willing to let it go. They will try to make themselves willing, only to tire themselves out. They can carry out some reformation and obedience in their life, yet the willingness, the purpose, the desire.....their hearts are not there!

My question to the preacher is this, "Do we have such a passion for souls that we are even willing to go after those who are unwilling to repent in their hearts?”

I have heard preachers say some things like this, “If you are unwilling to let it all go, then Jesus can’t help/save you. It’s all or nothing.” Yes there is truth in these statements. Or in counseling, “If you are not willing to let go of that sin, then there is no point in helping you any further.” My objection to that is, “THERE IS GRACE FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNWILLING! PREACHERS, IF YOU DO NOT WANT A SOUL TO BE DAMNED, OPEN THEIR EYES TO HOW VAST THE GRACE OF GOD IS!”

We all understand that men love sin in their hearts and that it is THEIR NATURE to hold on to sin and not be willing to let it go. They can’t, because they won’t, because ultimately....THEY REALLY CAN’T! This is where we can be honest with God and trust in Christ for the cure.

For any of you out there who are struggling with this issue of willingness to let go of sin, firstly, know that God is not angry with you when you are honest with Him. Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” God delights in you, or is happy with you, when you are honest with Him. When you are honest with Him about Your situation, He will be joyful saying, “Wonderful! Now I have someone to work on.” When you are scared or unwilling of letting go, surrendering, or repenting of certain areas in your life, ask God to make you willing and able to let go. Rest upon Christ to make you willing! Watchman Nee said, “God makes the demands, but He also fulfills those demands!”

If any of you have any addictions, sins, or whatever that you are unwilling to let go, do not stay in your unwillingness and do not try to make yourself willing. Trust in Christ to make you willing. The source of all true repentance anyways is from Christ Himself. Look to Him! Rest on Him! I mean what is repentance? Repentance is simply turning to Christ with your sins (which includes the unwillingness to repent – that’s a sin too) and trusting Him to set you free and MAKE/CAUSE you to obey against your sins with righteousness by His Spirit (Ezekiel 36:27, Zechariah 4:6).

If you love your sin, ask God to cause you to hate it.

If you are unwilling, be honest with God and ask Him to make you willing.

If you realize you have a heart of stone, turn to God and trust him for a heart of flesh.

If you are drinking down sin as though it were water without conviction, trust in Christ for the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

If you are trusting in yourself (self-sufficiency, self-righteousness, self-glorification), cry out to God for Him to help you to trust in Christ and Christ alone. Even faith/trusting in God, comes from God.

If you lack brokenness or have become indifferent to sin, ask God to give you brokenness. You can be broken over the fact that you are not broken enough. You are poor in spirit over the fact that you are not poor in spirit. Praise God!

If you are struggling to surrender to Christ, trust Christ to help you surrender, whether it is a willingness issue or inability. What ever it may be, Christ Himself is willing and able to help you in all aspects of your life. And when He’s the One carrying it out, all the glory goes to Him and Him alone!

When the man in Mark 9 cried out, “Lord……help my unbelief!” What he was really saying was, “Lord I believe that you can make me believe!”

“Lord, I can’t do this unless you do this for me.” –Tim Conway

“LORD, CHANGE MY HEART! SAVE ME! I’M LOST! LORD, YOU MAKE ME ALL OR NOTHING! I CAN DO NOTHING OF MYSELF! IT'S ALL ON YOU LORD JESUS!”

That’s repentance.

God is willing to make you willing
God is willing to make you able
God is able to make you willing
God is able to make you able

What is impossible with men is possible with God -Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27

Even if you realize that your repentance is not deep enough or was out of selfish motives, it’s not the end of the world. Ask the Father to help you repent properly and with good motives. Repenting of your repentance haha….

Ultimately, it is a turning and trusting in Him, who is from Everlasting to Everlasting, from Eternity unto Eternity, from Glory to Glory, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ our Lord! Salvation is simply faith alone in Christ. We must realize, that all surrender, repentance, faith, sanctification, redemption, wisdom, righteousness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and everything else in the Bible comes from one source, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30). We are never able to produce any of these things in and of ourselves, for they are contrary to the natural man. It is all Christ!

Christianity is CHRIST!

Preachers, be careful how you use your words. Sometimes what can damn a soul to hell for an eternity, is a lack of grace in your message. I'm not saying you shouldn't preach a message with conviction and repentance. I'm just saying that if you have such a great passion for souls, please offer hope to even those who are unwilling to repent, knowing that there is grace for them too. If a person comes up to you and says that he has a "rocky ground" heart, you better tell him to trust in Christ for some good soil. How great is my Lord Jesus! For He is full of mercy, grace, love, and compassion to those who are struggling, unable, and unwilling. After all, He came for the sick.

If we can actually show how vast the grace is God really is to the impenitent at heart, I wonder how many of those unwilling souls who are lost for an eternity, would have been swept into the Kingdom of Heaven…..

I will leave you all with a hymn:

Bear not a single care thyself;
One is too much for thee
The work is Mine and Mine alone
Thy work -- to rest in Me

God help us all....

Some good material on this topic are in the links below:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/what-we-believe-about-the-five-points-of-calvinism#FinalAppeal

https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=1800

http://www.teachtheword.com/watchman_nee_pdf/The%20Life%20That%20Wins.pdf

Your Servant in Jesus' Name,

- Michael Liao


_________________
Michael Liao

 2012/3/20 1:48Profile
brothagary
Member



Joined: 2011/10/23
Posts: 2556


 Re: Grace for the Unwilling by Michael Liao

amen,, it is god in you who wills,,,,god makes you willing ,,god grantes repentence
god deals to each of us a measure of faith

and know one can come to christ with out the drawing of the father
its all god ,and nothing to do with free will

about the only thing man does freely with his will ,is sin and blaspheem

but when god draws the man to christ ,by efecting his stubern sinfull will ,and bends his his will ,by drawing his will ,,then a man may become willing and except christ ,,out of a god efected will

all the glory and every bit thanks givern in this fallen world ,can be to god ,,,,,,,

it is god in you ,who both wills and does for his good pleasure

with out christ you can do nothing

that is why there will be no boasting ,for being willing
or for being a doer of good works

its alll gods doing ,and it is marvelus in our eyes

he even opend up lidas heart to heed the thing spoken by paul ///acts///

he opend up our HEART BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT TO HEAD THE THE SPOKEN IN SCRIPTURE ,OR BY the preacher

its all of the lord haliluyaaaa

 2012/3/20 3:10Profile
MichaelLiao
Member



Joined: 2011/4/24
Posts: 214
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 Re:

Yes brothagary,

As Spurgeon says, "It is all of grace."

In Christ,

- Michael Liao


_________________
Michael Liao

 2012/3/21 0:22Profile
daniel-
Member



Joined: 2005/8/25
Posts: 130
Germany

 Re: Grace for the Unwilling (An Exhortation to Preachers) by Michael Liao

Hello,

very good word. In my own life I have found this very thing to be true: In myself I am neither able nor willing to let go of what is dear to my flesh. When you have been a christian for quite some while and then you realize that in the heart, you still cling to idols and you are not even willing and able to let go, it is pretty humbling.

But I believe, in the end, it is this very inability that leads us to Jesus. As you have shared, it is all of Him. And then comes true humility, when I realize that I am completely dependant on Him for everything, even my repentance. True repentance is a gift, a supernatural work of God. We can try and put a lot of effort in changing our selfes but it'll never work ultimately. True repentance is a miracle, it is not something we can do. But one thing we can do just as shared: We can come honestly to God, simply acknowledging the truth about ourselves and ask for mercy. Thats it. And then you find that your are extremely loved even though you are such a mess. God so wants to bestow His love upon us! He is good.

Daniel


_________________
Daniel Sahm

 2012/3/21 7:52Profile









 Re: Grace for the Unwilling (An Exhortation to Preachers) by Michael Liao

Amen. Thank you.

 2012/3/21 8:30
MichaelLiao
Member



Joined: 2011/4/24
Posts: 214
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 Re:

Hello Brother Daniel,

It is true. You cannot change yourself for God, only God can change you for Himself!

One of the things that I've realized is that if we preach the Gospel of Christ and we make the little mistakes of not putting enough emphasis on grace (even for those who are unwilling to repent), there will be little opportunity for those unwilling souls to turn to Christ and we will end up damning those souls to hell.

Personally I may have my own convictions on predestination, election, and what not. But when it comes to preaching the Gospel, I want all men to have an opportunity to repent (receive grace) and fulfill the Lord's desire, "That it is not in His will that any should perish, but that ALL may come to repentance."

Like Zac Poonen says, "When I preach I'm an Arminian, when I pray I'm a Calvinist. That means when I preach I say, 'It all depends on you brother, if you don't turn you're finished; you're doomed!' But when I pray I say, 'Lord, it all depends on You!' Otherwise, how could I pray 'Lord, SAVE THAT MAN'S SOUL'"

Sometimes, in order for men to be saved on the spot, we just need them to cry out to God for the grace of repentance. In the end, that crying out is already repentance. If Christ has given us so much grace (willingness and ability) to let go of our sin, how much more should we give that kind of grace to others who are just like who we were before coming to Christ!

In Christ,

- Michael Liao


_________________
Michael Liao

 2012/3/21 18:30Profile
MichaelLiao
Member



Joined: 2011/4/24
Posts: 214
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 Re:

In all honesty,

Keswick Deeper Life material is very good at helping a person get saved. I just think that Keswick's "Victorious Life" is simply the Reformed Doctrine of "Salvation."


_________________
Michael Liao

 2012/3/21 18:36Profile





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