Tim Keller from his book The Prodigal God on the need to repent, not simply of our unrighteousness, but our righteousness also:

We must learn how to repent of the sin under all our other sins and under all our righteousness – the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord. We must admit that we’ve put our ultimate hope in both our wrongdoing and right doing we have been seeking to get around God or get control of God in order to get hold of those things.  It is only when you see the desire to be your own Savior and Lord—lying beneath both your sins and your moral goodness—that you are on the verge of becoming a Christian indeed. When you realize that the antidote to being bad is not just being good, you are on the brink. If you follow through, it will change everything—how you relate to God, self, others, the world, your work, you sins, your virtue. It’s called the new birth because its so radical”

• shared from Tullian Tchividjian at the Gospel Coalition: Repenting of Our Good Works

Renewal of the mind is impossible without regeneration (John 3:3). John Calvin writes, “Meditation on the heavenly life begins with regeneration. Before we have been regenerated, our desires lean towards the world, and rest on the world.” With regeneration comes a new mind able to receive God’s truth and a new desire to do His will. This will, Paul says in Titus 2:12, includes the renunciation of ungodliness and worldly passions. The apostle is characterizing the whole of the Christian life, which is a turning from all that Scripture calls unrighteous unto the Lord and everything He defines as righteous, whether or not the world recognizes it as such. In short, Paul calls us to a life of repentance. The grace of regeneration and the affirmation of sound doctrine not only move us to deny evil but to become good . . . We must submit to Jesus as Lord and work towards self-control, uprightness, and godliness, but let us never forget that pleasing God in these areas is begun and completed by grace. Augustine comments that we dare not attribute any progress in righteousness to ourselves but to the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Life in the Present Age

TITUS 2:12 “Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”

Among the other things Paul teaches in Romans 12:2, his admonition to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind” informs us that right thinking is necessary to right living. Those who believe the wrong things will not be the kind of people whom Christ is proud to call His brothers (Heb. 2:11). This link between proper thinking and proper doing is not a new revelation during the era of the new covenant; rather, it was known even under the old covenant. The Ten Commandments, for example, begin with the assertion that the creator God is the Lord and Savior of Israel (Ex. 20:1-2). Keeping these commandments was and is impossible for any person who does not trust in the Creator alone. Renewal of the mind is impossible without regeneration (John 3:3). John Calvin writes, “Meditation on the heavenly life begins with regeneration. Before we have been regenerated, our desires lean towards the world, and rest on the world.” With regeneration comes a new mind able to receive God’s truth and a new desire to do His will. This will, Paul says in Titus 2:12, includes the renunciation of ungodliness and worldly passions. The apostle is characterizing the whole of the Christian life, which is a turning from all that Scripture calls unrighteous unto the Lord and everything He defines as righteous, whether or not the world recognizes it as such. In short, Paul calls us to a life of repentance. The grace of regeneration and the affirmation of sound doctrine not only move us to deny evil but to become good — people who are “self-controlled, upright, and godly .. in the present age.” All three of these virtues were esteemed in the wider Greek culture of Paul’s day, but he invests them with Christian content, reminding us in context that such things do not please God apart from personal faith in the saving work of Christ (Titus 2:11-14). We must submit to Jesus as Lord and work towards self-control, uprightness, and godliness, but let us never forget that pleasing God in these areas is begun and completed by grace. Augustine comments that we dare not attribute any progress in righteousness to ourselves but to the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT vol. 9, p. 299; hereafter ACCNT 9). +

The renunciation of ungodliness and worldly passions is something that must be done daily and can only be accomplished by the grace of God through our reliance on the Holy Spirit. What ungodly behavior have you been indulging in that needs to be renounced this day? Turn to Christ from this temptation and ask Him, by His Spirit, to help you overcome it. Find another believer who can encourage you to do this on a regular basis.

• From Tabletalk Magazine, Friday October 2nd entry

• From Respectable Sins
• 2 Cor 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
• Ez 36:26 – And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

New Bible Commentary:

• The new element is that the Lord is seen here taking a decisive new part in their fortunes.
• It will be by his power that they will be restored to their land.
  • (This is the meaning, in effect, of the phrase restore your fortunes; v 3, see also Je. 29:14; 30:3.)
• Not only this, however, but he will create in them a new ability to be faithful.
  • This is implied by the phrase: The LORD your God mill circumcise your hearts (6); the same figure of speech in 10:16 had simply been an exhortation.
  • In some mysterious way the Lord will renew the relationship to make his people faithful (though their own need to repent is not bypassed; v 2). This is without lessening the need for their real obedience-, they are still responsible for their life with him.
  • The point may be understood in the light of the NT teaching about the role of the Holy Spirit in enabling Christians to overcome their sinful nature (Rom. 8:9-27; Gal. i:16-25).

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary:

• 30:1-10 In this chapter is a plain intimation of the mercy God has in store for Israel in the latter days.
• This passage refers to the prophetic warnings of the last two chapters, which have been mainly fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and in their dispersion to the present day; and there can be no doubt that the prophetic promise contained in these verses yet remain to come to pass.
• The Jewish nation shall in some future period, perhaps not very distant, be converted to the faith of Christ; and, many think, again settled in the land of Canaan.
• The language here used is in a great measure absolute promises; not merely a conditional engagement, but declaring an event assuredly to take place.
• For the Lord himself here engages to circumcise their hearts; and when regenerating grace has removed corrupt nature, and Divine love has supplanted the love of sin, they certainly will reflect, repent, return to God, and obey him; and he will rejoice in doing them good.
• The change that will be wrought upon them will not be only outward, or consisting in mere opinions; it will reach to their souls.
  • It will produce in them an utter hatred of all sin, and a fervent love to God, as their reconciled God in Christ Jesus; they will love him with all their hearts, and with all their soul.
• They are very far from this state of mind at present, but so were the murderers of the Lord Jesus, on the day of Pentecost; who yet in one hour were converted unto God.
• So shall it be in the day of God’s power; a nation shall be born in a day; the Lord will hasten it in his time.
• As a conditional promise this passage belongs to all persons and all people, not to Israel only; it assures us that the greatest sinners, if they repent and are converted, shall have their sins pardoned, and be restored to God’s favor.

Sanctification begins in regeneration. The Spirit of God infuses into man that new living principle by which he becomes “a new creature” in Christ Jesus. This work, which begins in the new birth, is carried on in two ways--mortification, whereby the lusts of the flesh are subdued and kept under; and vivification, by which the life which God has put within us is made to be a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. This is carried on every day in what is called “perseverance,” by which the Christian is preserved and continued in a gracious state, and is made to abound in good works unto the praise and glory of God; and it culminates or comes to perfection, in “glory,” when the soul, being thoroughly purged, is caught up to dwell with holy beings at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But while the Spirit of God is thus the author of sanctification, yet there is a visible agency employed which must not be forgotten. “Sanctify them,” said Jesus, “through thy truth: thy word is truth.” The passages of Scripture which prove that the instrument of our sanctification is the Word of God are very many. The Spirit of God brings to our minds the precepts and doctrines of truth, and applies them with power. These are heard in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to will and to do of God’s good pleasure. The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification. We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Do not say of any error, “It is a mere matter of opinion.” No man indulges an error of judgment, without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice. Hold fast the truth, for by so holding the truth shall you be sanctified by the Spirit of God.

• From Morning and Evening, July 4th a.m. entry

From Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

• 1.) The hearing ear, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of God.
  • All that have them have them from him.
• (2.) God gives not only food and raiment (fine clothing), but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom he does not give grace.
  • Many enjoy the gifts who have not hearts to perceive the giver, nor the true intention and use of the gifts.

ESVStudy Bible Notes:

• The heart is the organ of understanding and will in the OT; Deuteronomy focuses on the heart as the center of morality.
• Despite the emphasis on physical sight (vv. 2–3), real “sight” is with the eyes of faithful obedience.
• The heart must respond correctly to God (e.g., 6:5), but Israel’s heart is unlikely to respond to God in the right way (e.g., 5:29; 8:17; 9:4).
• Israel needs God to correct its lack of right heart, eyes, and ears. See 30:6 and note.
• In Rom. 11:8 Paul combines this text with Isa. 29:10 to explain why many of his Jewish contemporaries do not believe in Jesus.
  • Rom. 11:8 - as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
  • Isa. 29:10 – For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).

Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

• IV. By way of inference from these memoirs,
• 1. Moses laments their stupidity: Yet the Lord has not given you, a heart to perceive, v 4.
  • This does not lay the blame of their senselessness, sottishness (drunkedness), and unbelief, upon God, as if they had stood ready to receive his grace and had begged for it, but he had denied them; no, but it fastens the guilt upon themselves.
  • “The Lord who is the Father of spirits, a God in covenant with you, and who had always been so rich in mercy to you, no doubt would have crowned all his other gifts with this, he would have given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see if you had not by your own frowardness and perverseness frustrated his kind intentions, and received his grace in vain.”
  • Note:
    • (1.) The hearing ear, the seeing eye, and the under, standing heart, are the gift of God.
      • All that have them have them from him.
    • (2.) God gives not only food and raiment, but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom he does not give grace.
      • Many enjoy the gifts who have not hearts to perceive the giver, nor the true intention and use of the gifts.
    • (3.) God’s readiness to do us good in other things is a plain evidence that if we have not grace, that best of gifts, it is our own fault and not his; he would have gathered us and we would not.

• 2. Moses charges them to be obedient: Keep therefore, and do, v. 9. Note, We are bound in gratitude and interest, as well as duty and faithfulness, to keep the words of the covenant.

Regeneration is a subject that lies at the very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to make sure that we really are “born again,” for there are many who imagine they are, who are not. Be assured that to be called a Christian is not the same nature as being a Christian, and that being born in a Christian country and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is of no significance at all unless there be something more added to it. Being “born again” is a matter so mysterious that human words cannot describe it. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nevertheless, it is a change that is known and felt—known by works of holiness and felt by a gracious experience. This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation that a man performs for himself: A new principle is infused that works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects his whole life. It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive: Man can do the one—God alone can do the other. If you have, then, been “born again,” your declaration will be, “0 Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, You are my spiritual Parent; if Your Spirit had not breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life, I would still be ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ My heavenly life is wholly derived from You; to You I ascribe it. ‘My life is hidden with Christ in God.’ It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” May the Lord grant us assurance on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.

• Alistair Begg on Luke 24:16 from “Getting the Big Picture, Part A”
• Luke is pointing out to us that we cannot see Christ unless He wills to disclose Himself

32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

• There are two main themes of the first part of his sermon “A Prayer and A Promise, Part B” : Salvation and Religion
• Salvation
  • Both thieves hear the same thing, but each respond differently
  • The regeneration of the thief is a mystery of God
• Religion
  • Religion makes people confident in themselves
  • Religion makes people stand up on chairs and makes them look down on everyone else
  • Religion thinks God responds positively to people when they do good stuff
  • Religion thinks God owes us something for the good we have done

You have good reason to “hate evil,” for just consider what harm it has already caused you. What a world of mischief sin has brought into your heart! Sin blinded you so that you could not see the beauty of the Savior; it made you deaf so that you could not hear the Redeemer’s tender invitations. Sin turned your feet into the way of death and poured poison into the very fountain of your being; it tainted your heart and made it “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.” 1 What a creature you were when evil had done its utmost with you, before divine grace intervened! You were an heir of wrath just like others; you ran with the crowd to do evil. We were all like this, but Paul reminds us, “but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”– We have good reason, indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace its deadly workings. We were in such a sorry state that our souls would have been lost if omnipotent love had not intervened to redeem us. Even now it is an active enemy, always looking for ways to harm us and to drag us to perdition. Therefore “hate evil,” Christian, unless you desire trouble. If you want to cover your path with thorns and plant nettles in your pillow, then fail to “hate evil”; but if you would live a happy life and die a peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil right to the end. If you truly love your Savior and want to honor Him, then “hate evil.” We know of no cure for the love of evil in a Christian like daily communion with the Lord Jesus. Be often with Him, and it is impossible for you to be at peace with sin.

Order my footsteps by Thy Word,
And make my heart sincere;
Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
But keep my conscience clear.

1. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;”