Lam 3:21-23; I recall this to my mind, and it gives me confidence
Because The Lord's mercy never fails; His grace provisions never cease,
They are renewed every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
In our study of the doctrine of the winner believer. Heb 12:2; Rev 2:7; We noted that winner believers are the unknown, unsung heroes of history. 2Cor 6:9;
The winners are those who are not considered by the world to be wise or noble 1Cor 1:26-29; but they are the crisis personalities who stand in the spiritual gap and preserve the nation during the course of human history. Ezek 22:30-31;
We have noted that the individual who becomes a winner exploits God's grace to the maximum so we have taken up a study of grace in the context of being a winner.
The winner understands the essence of God rationale that means that for God not to jeopardize his essence His policy toward mankind must be grace. This means that the issue is not human good works. The issue is faith or capacity from God's Word of truth. Gal 3:11;
This is why the issue is Jesus and his work of propitiation on the cross that freed God to bless mankind without compromising His integrity. To maintain His integrity God cannot accept any human good works from mankind. Faith and Grace are mutually excusive of works Eph 2:8-9;
God is free to consistently express His love to mankind without compromising any of the attributes of His essence because he expresses it from His perfect righteousness, justice and love through grace.
Last time we noted that the first time the principle of common grace is mentioned in the Bible is in Gen 6:3; "Then the Lord said, "My Spirit (Holy Spirit) shall not strive with mankind forever. For he is also flesh (spiritual death at birth). Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years (before the flood would occur)."
The Spirit's "striving" refers to the convicting ministry of God the Holy Spirit in making the Gospel information clearly understandable to everyone who is willing to listen.
The 120 years was as long as they would live before the flood would come and destroy them if they failed to believe which is what happened because only Noah and his immediate family were delivered from the flood.
In other words, God provides everyone with the chance to believe in Christ as long as they are physically alive. God will condemn everyone who dies physically without believing in Jesus Christ to the second death in the lake of fire. John 3:18,36; Rev 21:8;
The Holy Spirit's "striving", is a reference to the convincing ministry of the Holy Spirit that is part of the Holy Spirit's ministry of common grace.
The Mechanics of Common Grace are described in John 16:8-11;
v 8-9; "And He (God the Holy Spirit), when He comes, will convince the world (unbelievers) concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me."
Verse 9 explains exactly what sin the word "sin" in verse 8 refers to. In salvation personal sin is not the issue. The only sin that Christ could not die for was for failure to believe in His person and work on the Cross. So the only sin in view regarding salvation is the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ.
The idea of repenting of "personal sins" has nothing to do with the Gospel presentation. Unbelievers, who repent of their personal sins but fail to simply believe that Jesus is the Son of God, may be reformed, but they are not saved.
Repentance from sins is not an issue in salvation because personal sins are not the issue in salvation. The issue for salvation is to believe in Jesus Christ and nothing else.
Faith in Jesus Christ is the only solution for personal sin because it addresses all of the unintended consequences of personal sin including its impact on God's perfection aka His Holiness.
In verse 8 the reference to sin refers to rejection of Christ. So the issue is belief or unbelief. God the Holy Spirit never picks up repentance, or baptism, or anything else and carries it to salvation.
The only thing God the Holy Spirit can use is faith in Christ. John 3:18; "...He that does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the unique Son of God."
Personal sins are not even the issue at the Great White Throne Judgment where the unbeliever is condemned to the lake of fire. The only thing that comes up there is the human good works that the unbeliever tries to substitute for belief in Jesus Christ. Matt 7:22-23; Rev 20:12;
Only something that was not judged at the cross could be used as the basis for condemnation at the last judgment. Personal sins were all judged in Jesus on the cross so they are not a factor at the last judgment.
The only thing not judged on the cross were the human good works that are comprised of the good deeds or works that are produced from motivation from the strong side of the unbelievers' old sin nature.
God condemns the unbelieving do-gooder who rejects Jesus Christ and then attempts to atone for their sin by doing good works for humanity instead of simply believing in Jesus Christ.
John 16:10;"and concerning (imputed) righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you no longer see Me."
This is a reference to the righteousness of Christ during His first advent in unglorified humanity. This is the righteousness that He produced by His application of God's Word under the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
This is the righteousness of Christ we share by imputation through the baptism of the Spirit that occurs at salvation when we believe in Jesus Christ. 2Cor 5:21;
Spiritually dead mankind cannot produce God's perfect righteousness. Isa 64:6; "Our righteous works are as filthy rags in His sight." Under common grace God the Holy Spirit's makes this issue clear.