True repentance can only take place when a person responds by faith and agrees with the light of God's conviction in their heart. This is how God turns us from ourselves and our sin unto Him and that is grace.
And I consistently teach that salvation is a response to the efforts of Sovereign God, specifically in His ministry of Conviction as the Comforter.
To turn from what the old sin nature produces in our life through the flesh, it is going to take the cross (death) to do that
Sorry, but I have to disagree with that. Christ died once to save us, and the life He has saved us to live is not a matter of revisiting the Cross, but a matter of progression that combines the ministry He performs in our lives, which is conforming us to His image, and the means by which He does that which is similar to His ministry of Salvation...by teaching us.
We do not simply look into the Word and intellectually arrange data to bring a result of understanding which we can them implement in our lives. Rather, just as we were dependent in God revealing divine truth to us in our natural state, even so we are dependent of that in our salvation.
And God reveals truth, I believe, according to the diligence of the student. Some groups speak about being "zapped" with supernatural knowledge, when for many of us...there's quite a bit of homework we have to do.
Paul would not have said "study to show thyself approved unto God" if study were not something for the believer. Diligence in Doctrine was not for Timothy or leadership only.
And God is a great Teacher, presenting the information to the believer according to his ability. We don't give Algebra exams to first graders, and neither does God give strong meat to those incapable of digesting it.
Paul rebukes the Corinthians because their practice evidenced a character that apparently he felt should not be the case. He had to treat them as babes.
and not some form of pseudo repentance or even obedience to the commandments.
So will you acknowledge there is a true repentance in the lives of believers?
As far as obedience to the commandments, we have to look at which commandments are in view, and the motive for keeping them.
I think we could conclude that the commandments we are under are far more complex than those which men under Law were under. That Age could be compared to "youth" in the TimeLine of Redemptive History, whereas this Age represents at least the "young man" analogy John speaks about.
Many try to conform to what is right instead of being crucified in their experience that they might have life.
Well maybe you could explain to me how my being "crucified" contributes to the Sovereign Work of God in Salvation.
We do not obtain Eternal Life through any contribution we make. Christ died alone on the Cross...no man contributes to Atonement, and no man contributes to Reconciliation.
I do not see any crucifixion of a believer as relevant other than the image of our being dead with Christ. But we have to remember that Christ died alone.
Any form of repentance that does not include the cross, conviction of the Spirit and the grace of God is dead, just like the letter of the law.
So what repentance do you speak of? Before salvation? During the process of salvation whereby the Holy Spirit brings repentance through enlightening the natural mind to the reality of sin and it's consequences? After salvation where the continuing ministry of the Comforter leads us into all truth, still bringing conviction of sin>
It's a broad subject. I would agree for the most part, because I do not see genuine repentance as something that takes place apart from the revelation of God in regards to sin.
If any man wants Jesus to be the Lord of their life they must go to the cross and allow the death of the cross to be worked in so that the life of Christ can be made manifested in their mortal bodies.
Not sure I could agree with "working the Cross in" so that one can receive life. That is the central focus of eternal life...the Cross.
Christ died that we might have life.
And while the Cross remains a central focus in our understanding, that doesn't mean we do not also recognize the Resurrection, as well as the life which He now lives in us, which is not just about the Cross, but about our interaction in a fallen world.
Before we can experience resurrection life their must be first a confrontation with death concerning all the desires, appetites and lusts of the flesh.
Not sure I can agree with this either: "resurrection life" is the very thing we receive when we are born again. Christ did not bestow that Life prior to the Cross, and bestows that Life through the Reconciliation He died to give.
That has nothing at all to do with a believer's progressive sanctification, other than the fact we have been resurrected spiritually through New Birth. A believer achieving mastery over sin is seldom instantaneous, and in my view never complete, not to the point where the believer can sit back and say "I have arrived. I no longer sin, and isn't God very pleased with me."
What I have found is that the minute I gain mastery over one sin...God shows me another area of my life which I need work in.
Again, He is the One revealing to me a better understanding of sin, and He does so within the framework of the progress I am making. I now understand sin in my life which when I was first saved, would never have even been considered sin.
God bless.