ARTICLE 15 REPENTANCE AND SALVATION .
• £20:00 FAKE AND GENUINE IT’S NOT EASY TO SEE..... BUT THERE ARE CERTAIN WAYS WE CAN DISCOVER WHETHER ITS GENUINE OR NOT AND SO IT IS WITH OURSELVES AS CHRISTIANS THERE ARE WAYS WE CAN DISCOVER WHETHER WE ARE GENUINE OR COUNTERFEIT.
• 2COR 7. 10GODLY SORROW BRINGS REPENTANCE THAT LEADS TO SALVATION AND LEAVES NO REGRET, BUT WORLDLY SORROW BRINGS DEATH.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD - THE BIBLE CLEARLY STATES THAT ALL HAVE SINNED ( ROM 3:23). WITHOUT EXCEPTION. AS A RESULT WE ARE SEPARATED FROM GOD BECAUSE HE IS HOLY AND WITHOUT SIN. BUTR THE GREAT NEWS IS THAT WE CAN ENTER BACK INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST THROUGH REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. BUT THE BIG QUESTION FOR US - HAVE WE GENUINELY REPENTED AND COME TO A POSITION OF FAITH IN CHRIST?
1. WHAT IS REPENTANCE?
AN ACT WHEREBY WE TURN AWAY FROM OUR SIN AND TURN TO GOD FOR SALVATION. THE GREEK WORD FOR REPENTANCE IS METANOIA INVOLVES A CHANGE OF MIND (RECONGITION WE HAVE SINNED AND ARE SINNERS) IT INVOLVES A CHANGE OF HEART (EMOTIONAL ELEMENT WHERE WE EXPRESS A DEEP SORROW FOR SIN COMMITTED AGAINST A HOLY GOD- GODLY SORROW) AND A CHANGE OF ATTITUDE .(A CHANGE OF PURPOSE AN INWARD TURNING AWAY FROM SIN WITH THE NEED TO SEEK PARDON AND RESTORATION).
FACT! GOD ACTUALLY COMMANDS (NOT AN OPTION) EVERYBODY TO REPENT OF THEIR SINS (ACTS 17:30). ALTHOUGH GOD COMMANDS IT, PEOPLE ARE SLOW TO RESPOND, HENCE GOD’S PATIENCE ALSO LEADS US TO REPENTANCE (2 PET. 3:9) AS DOES HIS KINDNESS (ROM. 2:4). REPENTANCE IS IMPERATIVE TO SALVATION WITHOUT REPENTANCE THERE CANNOT BE ANY SALVATION.
IT WAS THE FIRST ITEM ON THE AGENDA FOR JOHN THE BAPTIST MATT. 3:1-2. REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR , FOR JESUS MATT. 4:17 . REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR, AND THE APOSTLES (MARK 6:12; CF. ACTS 2:38) THEY WENT OUT AND PREACHED THAT PEOPLE SHOULD REPENT. BEYOND REPENTANCE, FAITH IS NEEDED.
REPENTANCE IS INDISPENSABLE TO FAITH, AS FAITH IS INDISPENSABLE TO REPENTANCE. ACTS 20:21. TURN TO GOD IN REPENTANCE AND HAVE FAITH IN GOD.
SHOW A TWO SIDED COIN TO CONGREGATION: THEY ARE MINTED TOGETHER WITHOUT BOTH SIDES ITS ILLEGAL TENDER . REPENTANCE LEADS US TO FAITH AND FAITH LEAD US INTO ACTS OF REPENTANCE THROUGHOUT OUR FAITH. GOD CALLS US TO TURN FROM SIN AND TURN TO HIM.
• L BERKHOFF, SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, P. 487. WRITES....TRUE REPENTANCE NEVER EXISTS EXCEPT IN CONJUNCTION WITH FAITH, WHILE ON THE OTHER HAND, WHEREVER THERE IS TRUE FAITH, THERE IS ALSO REAL REPENTANCE. THE TWO ARE BUT DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE SAME TURNING—A TURNING AWAY FROM SIN IN THE DIRECTION OF GOD…THE TWO CANNOT BE SEPARATED; THEY ARE SIMPLY COMPLEMENTARY PARTS OF THE SAME PROCESS.
2. A COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIAN. 2COR 7: BUT WORLDLY SORROW BRINGS DEATH .
BIBLICAL EXAMPLE - (MATT 27: 3- 5. ) CONSIDER JUDAS HIS SORROW WAS A WORLDLY SORRY BECAUSE IT DIDN’T LEAD TO SALVATION WITH NO REGRET- HERE WAS A MAN WHO PROFESSED TO BE A FOLLOWER BUT ALL THE TIME HE WAS DECEIVING THOSE ROUND HIM, HE WAS A THIEF AND HE BETRAYED THE LORD FOR 30 PIECES OF SILVER – AFTER HIS BETRAYAL AND THE ARREST OF JESUS JUDAS , HAD A CHANGE OF MIND V3( METAMELOMAI) - HE ACKNOWLEDGED HE HAD SINNED V4 , HE EXPERIENCED REMORSE AND GUILT (EMOTIONAL ELEMENT) BUT THIS YET IT WAS LESS THAN GENUINE REPENTANCE (METANOIA) THERE WASN’T A CHANGE OF HEART AND ATTITUDE.(A CHANGE OF PURPOSE) RATHER RIDDLED WITH GUILT HE COMMITTED SUICIDE.
AN UNKNOWN AUTHOR WROTE, “THERE IS A RADICAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN NATURAL REGRET AND GOD-GIVEN REPENTANCE. THE FLESH CAN FEEL REMORSE, ACKNOWLEDGE ITS EVIL DEEDS, AND BE ASHAMED OF ITSELF. HOWEVER, THIS SORT OF DISGUST WITH PAST ACTIONS CAN BE QUICKLY SHRUGGED OFF, AND THE INDIVIDUAL CAN SOON GO BACK TO HIS OLD WICKED WAYS. NONE OF THE MARKS OF TRUE REPENTANCE DESCRIBED IN 2 CORINTHIANS 7:11 ARE FOUND IN HIS BEHAVIOR. OUT OF A LIST OF 10 MEN IN THE BIBLE WHO SAID, “I HAVE SINNED,” WE BELIEVE ONLY FIVE ACTUALLY REPENTED. THEY WERE DAVID (2 SAM. 12:13), NEHEMIAH (NEH. 1:6), JOB (JOB 42:5,6), MICAH (MICAH 7:9), AND THE PRODIGAL SON (LUKE 15:18).” - H.G.B.
IN THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH TODAY THERE ARE COUNTLESS INDIVIDUALS WHO BELEIVE THEY ARE CHRISTIANS AND YET THEY ARE COUNTERFIET.
A. FOR INSTANCE SOME HAVE A RELIGIOUS FAITH AND BELIEVE IN THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS OR RITUALS RATHER THAN REPENTANCE WHICH LEADS TO SALVATION. THEY ESTEEM HIGHLY RITUALS LIKE CONFIRMATION - BAPTISM - LORDS SUPER - CHURCH ATTENDANCE – FAMILY CONNECTIONS (DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM) . YET THEY HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED A GODLY SORROW WHICH BRINGS REPENTANCE LEADING TO SALVATION.
B. OTHERS ASK JESUS TO COME INTO THEIR LIVES AS THE ONE WHO CAN MEET THEIR NEEDS, GIVE THEM LIFE, EMPOWER THEM, FILL THE VOID INSIDE, GIFT THEM, WHO CAN SATISFY THEM DEEP DOWN. YET AGAIN THEY HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED GODLY SORROW WHCIH BRINGS REPENTANCE AND LEADS TO SALVATION.
C. OTHERS HAVE BECOME CHRISTIANS THROUGH A SIMPLE PRAYER BY SAYING SORRY FOR THEIR SINS ..... BUT ITS EASY TO SAY SORRY DEVOID OF ANY MEANING WHATSOEVER...... AFTER ALL THE MOST SPOKEN WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SORRY..... WERE ALL GUILTY OF SAYING SORRY TO OTHERS WHEN WERE NOT! WE MIGHT SAY SORRY IF WE’VE GOT CAUGHT IN SIN, SORRY THAT ITS AFFECTED OTHERS AND STILL REMAIN IN OUR SIN .... YET WE MIGHT EVEN BEEN SORRY BUT ITS A WORLDLY SORROW AS OTHER TIME WE SHRUG OF OUR GUILT AND SIN AND RETURN TO OUR SINFUL WAYS AND FALL AWAY.....
3. THE GENUINE CHRISTIAN 2COR710. GODLY SORROW BRINGS REPENTANCE .
BIBLICAL EXAMPLE - MATT 26:75- : PETER TOO SINNED AGAINST GOD WHEN HE DENIED HIS LORD 3X AFTER THAT EVENT HE REMEMBERED WHAT THE LORD TOLD HIM HE CAME UNDER CONVICTION OF HIS SIN AND HE WEPT BITTERLY. HIS MIND AND HEART WERE MOVED AND HE HAD A CHANGE OF ATTITUDE. HE SOUGHT OUT FORGIVENESS AND RESTORATION, HE CAME BACK TO THE LORD AND THE LORD ACCEPTED HIM.... 3X DENIAL 3X JESUS ASKED HIM DO YOU LOVE ME? YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU.....
YOU SEE LIKE PETER, GENUINE BELIEVERS WILL FAIL AND FALL INTO SIN - BUT THE DIFFERENCE IS FOR A GENUINE BELIEVER , GODLY SORROW WILL BRING REPENTANCE WHICH WILL LEADS TO SALVATION WITH NO REGRET. (THERE NOT LEFT WEIGHING UP SHALL I REMAIN IN THIS SIN – THERE SORROW WILL LEAD THEM TO CHANGE OF MIND- HEART AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS SIN....
THE GREAT EVANGELIST GIPSY SMITH TELLS THE STORY, WHEN I WAS IN SOUTH AFRICA, A FINE, HANDSOME DUTCHMAN CAME INTO MY SERVICE, AND GOD LAID HIS HAND ON HIM AND CONVICTED HIM OF SIN. THE NEXT MORNING HE WENT TO THE BEAUTIFUL HOME OF ANOTHER DUTCHMAN AND SAID TO HIM, “DO YOU RECOGNIZE THAT OLD WATCH?”
“WHY, YES,” ANSWERED THE OTHER. “THOSE ARE MY INITIALS; THAT IS MY WATCH. I LOST IT EIGHT YEARS AGO. HOW DID YOU GET IT, AND HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD IT?” “I STOLE IT,” WAS THE REPLY. “WHAT MADE YOU BRING IT BACK NOW?” “I WAS CONVERTED LAST NIGHT,” WAS THE ANSWER, “AND I HAVE BROUGHT IT BACK FIRST THING THIS MORNING. IF YOU HAD BEEN UP, I WOULD HAVE BROUGHT IT LAST NIGHT.”
1. THE FRUIT OF REPENTANCE WHICH LEADS TO SALVATION 2 COR 7: 8-11.
BRINGS CHANGE........FOR A GENUINE BELIEVER WHO IS SAVED AND FALLS INTO SIN AND FAILS THE LORD... LIKE APOSTLE PETER , KING DAVID AND OTHERS. WILL BE THATTHEY WILL COME UNDER CONVICTION OF SIN FILLED WITH GODLY SORROW OVER SIN AND BE BROUGHT TO A FRESH REPENTANCE AND RESTORATION WITH THE LORD. THROUGHOUT THE LIFE OF THE GENUINE BELIEVER THERE WILL BE AN ONGOING BATTLE WITH SIN BUT THE FRUIT WILL BE VICTORY OVER SIN AND FRESH REPENTANCE LEADING TO SALVATION. RATHER THAN SIMPLY ACKNOWLEDGING SIN (LIKE JUDUS) FEELING REMORSE AND GUILT WHICH LED TO DEATH. THEIR WILL BE A SORROW WHICH LEADS TO REPENTANCE AND RESTORATION WITH THE LORD WITH NO REGRETS.
YOU SEE IT’S EASY TO SAY THAT I’M SAVED.... ITS ANOTHER THING TO SHOW THAT YOUR SAVED IN YOUR DAILY LIVING BUT IT IS BY DOING BATTLE WITH SIN BY BEARING FRUIT WHICH IS IN KEEPING WITH REPENTANCE. JOHN THE BAPTIST CALLS PEOPLE MATT. 3:7-9. TO BEAR FRUIT IN KEEPING WITH REPENTANCE YOU SEE GOD LOOKS BEYOND SPURIOUS FAITH TO SEE WHETHER OUR CONDUCT BACKS UP WHAT WE SAY 24/7.
CHARLES HODGE WROTE, THE SURE TEST OF THE QUALITY OF ANY SUPPOSED CHANGE OF HEART WILL BE FOUND IN ITS PERMANENT EFFECTS. ‘BY THEIR FRUITS YOU SHALL KNOW THEM’ IS AS APPLICABLE TO THE RIGHT METHOD OF JUDGING OURSELVES AS OF JUDGING OTHERS. WHATEVER, THEREFORE, MAY HAVE BEEN OUR INWARD EXPERIENCE, WHATEVER JOY OR SORROW WE MAY HAVE FELT, UNLESS WE BRING FORTH FRUITS MEET FOR REPENTANCE, OUR EXPERIENCE WILL PROFIT US NOTHING. REPENTANCE IS INCOMPLETE UNLESS IT LEADS TO CONFESSION AND RESTITUTION IN CASES OF INJURY; UNLESS IT CAUSES US TO FORSAKE NOT MERELY OUTWARD SINS, WHICH OTHERS NOTICE, BUT THOSE WHICH LIE CONCEALED IN THE HEART; UNLESS IT MAKES US CHOOSE THE SERVICE OF GOD AND LIVE NOT FOR OURSELVES BUT FOR HIM. THERE IS NO DUTY WHICH IS EITHER MORE OBVIOUS IN ITSELF, OR MORE FREQUENTLY ASSERTED IN THE WORD OF GOD, THAN THAT OF REPENTANCE. EVANGELISM, A BIBLICAL APPROACH, M. COCORIS, MOODY, 1984, P65FF
BACKGROUND : CORINTH A CHURCH BEARING THE FRUIT OF REPENTANCE......PAUL SPENT AROUND 18 MONTHS IN CORINTH IN THAT TIME A CHURCH WAS ESTABLISHED – DURING HIS 2ND MISSION TRIP (ACTS 18). WHILST IN EPHESUS, COMING TO THE END OF HIS THIRD MISSION TRIP (53-55 AD) HE HEARS ABOUT THE PROBLEMS (1COR 1:11) ALSO A DELEGATION HAD COME FROM CORINTH TO INFORM HIM AND SEEK ADVICE SO PAUL (1COR 16:17). PAUL WRITES TO CORRECT AND HELP THE CHURCH , AS IT WAS IN A MESS.... PREVIOUSLY PAUL HAD MADE A VISIT WHICH HE CALLS A PAINFUL VISIT 2COR 2:11 WHICH WE NO LITTLE ABOUT - OTHER THAN IT WAS PROBABLY TO DEAL WITH THOSE WHO WERE UNDERMINING HIS APOSTLESHIP AND WERE THROWING THE BELIEVERS INTO CONFUSION.
WE FIND A CHURCH WITH 1COR 1:10. DIVISIONS WITH FALSE TEACHERS - CLICKS WITH CERTAIN TEACHERS, 1COR.3:1. WORLDLY BEHAVIOUR, 1COR.5. SEXUAL IMMORALITY 1COR. 6 LAWSUITS AMONGST THEM 1COR 11. DISORDER AT THE LORDS TABLE AND AT WORSHIP. 1COR 13-14 ABUSE OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS.
PAUL TACKLES THESE ISSUES HEAD WITH A PERSONAL VISIT WHICH WAS PAINFUL AND WITH HIS LETTERS. PAUL ADDRESSED SIN IN THE CHURCH - AS A RESULT HE CAME UNDER SEVERE ATTACK FOR IT. BUT HERE IN 2 COR 7:2 -15 IT HAS ALL BEEN WORTH WHILE..... PAUL IS FILLED WITH JOY BECAUSE THESE BELIEVERS HAVE RESPONDED TO HIS INSTRUCTION AND ARE BEARING FRUIT IN KEEPING WITH REPENTANCE V10-11.
V8- 11 THE REASON PAUL ADDRESSED THESE ISSUES AND SENT THESE LETTERS WAS NOT TO GRIEVE AND UPSET PEOPLE ALTHOUGH IT DID, BUT THAT THEY MIGHT COME TO THE POINT OF GODLY SORROW WHEREBY THEY REPENT AND HAVE A CHANGE OF HEART MIND AND ATITTUDE. PAUL’S PAINFUL LETTER AND VISIT ENABLED THEM TO FACE UP TO SIN AMONGST AS A RESULT THEY WERE FILLED WITH GODLY SORROW WHICH BROUGHT REPENTANCE WHICH LEADS TO SALVATION WITH NO REGRET.
JUST LIKE THE CHURCH IN CORINTH JUST LIKE PETER AND EVEN JUDAS WE TOO ARE PRONE TO WANDER.... WE TOO HAVE CONFLICTS WHERE SIN ENCROACHES INTO OUR LIVES AS A CHURCH/ INDIVIDUALS....HOW WE RESPOND TO SIN MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE TO WHETHER WE ARE GENUINE OR COUNTERFEIT BELIEVERS .... DO WE BEAR THE FRUIT OF GODLY SORROW THAT BRINGS REPENTANCE LEADING TO SALVATION WITH NO REGRET OR DO WE EXERCISE A SORROW WHICH LEADS TO DEATH?
WE ALL MUST EXAMINE OURSELVES....
