Repentance and Faith – Rooted & Built Up Lessons 3 & 4

Rooted and Built Up Series (Col. 2:7) – Lessons 3 & 4 // Holland Bible Series // Fall 2013

“Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

Repentance

Necessity of Repentance:

• Is. 40:1-3; Malachi 3:1; Mark 1:1-5; Acts 19:4 – Jesus’ way was prepared through repentance (via John the Baptist’s ministry of repentance)
• Jesus says:
  • At beginning of His ministry:
    • “Repent” (Matt. 4:17)
    • “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
  • During His ministry:
    • “Fall and be broken by Him” (Matt. 21:44)
  • At end of His ministry:
    • “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all” (Luke 24:47)
• Church preaches:
  • “Repent…” (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 8:22; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20; Hebrews 6:1; etc.)

Definition of Repentance:

• Not remorse (Matt. 27:3-5; 2 Cor. 7:10; Hebrews 12:17)
  • Compare Judas (Matt. 27:3-5) with Peter – both denied the Lord, both were sad, but only one repented
• Greek: “metanoein” = to change one’s mind – “not an emotion, but a decision” + Hebrew: “shub” = to turn; to return; to turn back – action
  • Example: Prodigal son changed his mind (v.18) and turned back to his father (v.20).
    • Turn away from “dead works” (Heb. 6:1), and “toward God” (Acts 20:21)
• Compare Matthew 12:41 with Jonah 3:10 – Jesus defines repentance as turning from evil ways.

Repentance is not the doing or ceasing to do of certain deeds (e.g. helping the poor, ceasing to get drunk, etc.).  However, such acts will always follow repentance.

Repentance is initiated by God (Acts 5:31; 11:18).  It is a decision to submit your heart to Jesus as Lord, and the actual act of submitting your heart to Jesus as Lord.  Repentance and faith always lead to deeds, but repentance itself is a surrendered and penitent heart toward Jesus.  The deeds that follow are the evidence that repentance and faith have happened.

The Way to Repentance:

• John 6:44 – God draws people to repent
  • Jews (Acts 5:31) and Gentiles (Acts 11:18)

1.  Psalm 139:23; John 16:8; 2 Cor. 7:10 – God reveals sinfulness to us

2.  Philippians 2:13 – God works in us the willing and doing

3.  Matt. 25:24-30; Phil. 2:12 – We must choose how we respond

• Examples:
  • Song of Songs 1:4 – “Draw me away!…The king has brought me into his chambers…”
    • Bride couldn’t draw herself to the king, but cried out for him to draw her.
    • The king did.
  • Luke 15:20
    • “He arose and came” 
    • “When he was still a great way off, his father…ran…”
      • He made the first steps in the right direction, and his father ran the greater distance to bring him back home

The People Who Need to Repent:

• Luke 13:1-5; Acts 17:30 – All people
  • 2 Cor. 7:9; Hebrews 6:1; Rev. 2:5,16,21-22; 3:3,19 – including Christians 

——————

Faith

• Heb. 12:1-2 – Biblical faith is authored and perfected through Jesus
• Faith is produced when God’s word (Gen. 15:6; Luke 8:11; Rom. 10:17; Heb. 3:7) is received in the heart (Luke 8:15; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Thes. 5:8; Heb. 3:7-19).
• Faith is focused on the present, yet unseen/invisible realities of God (Psalm 27:13; John 11:39-40; 2 Cor. 5:7; 1 Pet. 1:5-9; Heb. 11:1).  
• True faith ALWAYS produces “something” (Luke 8:4-15; 1 Thes. 2:13).
  • The ”something” produced by faith:
    • Comes exclusively through God’s Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13)
    • Finds outlet in the tongue (Mt. 12:34; Lk. 6:45; Rom. 10:9-11)
    • Will be love (Gal. 5:6, 22-23; 1 Thes. 5:8)
    • Will be hope (Rom. 4:18; 5:1-5; Heb. 11:1; 1 Pet. 1:3)
      • Hope concerns future events (Heb. 11:1; 1 Pet. 1:3-4)
      • Hope takes place in the mind (1 Thes. 5:8)
    • Will be visible (Psalm 27:13; John 11:39-40; Heb. 11:1, 3)
• This faith must:
  • Continually come as God’s word is received (Rom. 10:17)
  • Rest on God’s power, not human wisdom (1 Cor. 2:4-5)
  • Be built up by Spirit-led prayer (Jude 1:20)
  • Be tested (Job 23:10; Prov. 25:4; Isaiah 48:10; Zech. 13:9; Malachi 3:2-3; Luke 22:31-32; James 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 1:5-7; 4:12-13)
    • Through trial and persecution (Mt. 13:20-21)
    • Through worldly “success” (Mt. 13:22)
• Scriptural pattern: hear → believe → see
  • Gen. 1:3ff; Gen. 45:27-28; Prov. 20:12; Luke 24:13-32; John 21:4-12; Rev. 1:10-12
  • God first revealed Himself through O.T. Scriptures, then by coming in the flesh 
  • Nature: a child in the womb hears first, sees blurry later, then sees fully

Excerpted from Derek Prince’s, Faith To Live By:

P. 114–

There are three words, each beginning with the letter f, that we must put in their right order: facts, faith, feelings.  The facts are found in the Word of God, and they never vary.  Faith takes its stand with the facts of God’s Word and confesses them as true.  Feelings may waver, but ultimately, if faith stands fast, feelings will come into line with the facts.  On the other hand, if we start at the wrong end – with feelings rather than facts – we will always end up in trouble.  Our feelings change hour by hour and moment by moment.  If we base our lives on our feelings, our lives will be unstable as our feelings are.  “The righteous man shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17)–not feelings!

Pp.116-118–

It is important to correctly evaluate the evidence of our own senses.  God does not ask us to close our eyes and ears and walk around as though the physical, material world around us did not exist.  Faith is not mysticism.  We do not question the reality of what our senses reveal, but we do question its finality…

Abraham’s sense [in Romans 4:16-21] told him that he was physically incapable of fathering a child and that Sarah was likewise incapable of bearing one.  Yet God has promised them a son of their own.  Abraham did not pretend that what his senses revealed to him about his own body and about Sarah’s body was not real.  He simply refused to accept it as final.  When God’s word promised him one thing and his senses told him another, he clung tenaciously to God’s promise without letting his senses cause him to doubt that promise.  Finally, after their faith had been tested, the physical conditions both of Abraham’s body and Sarah’s body were brought into line with what God had promised.  They actually became physically capable of having a child.

It will be the same with us.  There may be a period of conflict between the statements of God’s Word and what our sense tell us about a particular situation.  But if our faith is valid, and if we cling to it as Abraham did…in due course the physical condition confronting us through our senses will be brought into line with what God’s Word has to say about it.