Laying The Foundation
Part 3 - Through Repentance to Faith For the grace of God
that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously
and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope
and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us
from every lawless deed and purify for Himself
His own special people, zealous for good works. And if you wonder what God
is going to get out of history, why He tolerates the wickedness, and the injustice
and the suffering so long? The answer is: God is going
to get a people for Himself. That’s God’s ultimate
objective in the present age. Now we’re going to turn to the third
session of 'Laying the Foundation', and the title of this message is:
Through Repentance to Faith. I want to say right at the beginning
there is no other way to faith except through repentance. Any other way that claims to
get you there is a deception. True faith is impossible
without repentance. Let me go back now
and remind you briefly of what we have been
studying together. First of all, the foundation of the Christian
faith, the personal foundation, is Jesus Christ. And everyone who is
to be a true Christian has to build his or her life
on that foundation. I suggested to you that the
confrontation between Jesus and Peter,
when Peter declared 'You are the Christ, the Messiah,
the Son of the living God', is a pattern of what needs to
happen in each one of our lives in its own particular way. I said there were four
elements in that encounter. Number one, confrontation. Jesus and Peter stood face
to face, there was no mediator, no priest,
no third person in between them. Second, there was a revelation
given by the Spirit of God of the eternal identity of Jesus,
not the carpenter’s son, but the Son of the living God. Thirdly, Peter received and
acknowledged that revelation. He didn’t refuse it,
he embraced it. And fourthly, he made a
public confession of his faith. And those, I believe,
are the elements that must be at the basis of every really successful Christian life. Confrontation, revelation,
acknowledgment and confession. And then we looked at the very
important practical question: Once you’ve laid this foundation,
how do you build on it? And from the parable of the wise and
the foolish man, which Jesus told, we saw that building on
this foundation, first of all, consists in acknowledging the
Bible as the written Word of God and Jesus as the living Word, and hearing and doing
what Jesus said. So, building on the foundation, is hearing and doing
what Jesus said. Then we looked at the authority
and the power of God’s Word. I pointed out that the word authority
comes from the word author. So, the authority of any book
depends on the author. The authority of the Bible
depends on the author, and the author is the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of God, God Himself. So the authority of
God is in the Bible. And then I pointed out that there we have the
Word in two forms: the written word,
and the personal word. Jesus, the Word
of God made flesh. And I tied this in with your
personal relationship to the Bible. I said, and I say it again: You do not love God more
than you love His Word. You do not obey God more
than you obey His Word. If you want to find out what
place God has in your life find out what place the Bible has because they are the same. The Bible is the written Word
Jesus is the personal Word. Through the written Word the personal Word
comes into our lives. Now I want to go on today by discussing the
doctrinal foundation. We’ve looked at the personal
foundation which is Jesus Christ. But the New Testament also reveals that there is a
doctrinal foundation. This is a revelation which has escaped
the notice of millions of Christians but it is very clearly stated
in Hebrews chapter 6, verses 1 through 3. We’ll turn there now,
Hebrews 6:1-3, which says:
Therefore, leaving the discussion of
the elementary principles, [or the basic truths] of Christ, let us go on to perfection
[completion or maturity] not laying again the foundation
of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands,
of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. And this we will do
if God permits. Now there are two thoughts
there which you have to combine. First of all, it’s essential
to lay the foundation. If you’ve never laid the foundation
you can never do the building. But once you have
really laid the foundation then don’t keep
re-laying the foundation but go on to a complete building. Those are the two combined thoughts. But you’ll see in Hebrews 6:1
it says the foundation. This is the doctrinal foundation
of the Christian faith and it lists six doctrines
which I will go through again. Number one, repentance
from dead works. Number two,
faith toward God. Number three, the doctrine
of baptisms, plural. Number four,
the laying on of hands. Number five,
resurrection of the dead. And number six,
eternal judgment. And if you follow that through, you’ll see it takes us from the very
starting point of the Christian faith to its ultimate fulfillment
in eternity. And it’s very important to see that the Christian faith
does not terminate in time it does not terminate in
this life or this world. It takes us beyond this world,
beyond time into eternity. I fear that many,
many Christians today hardly have any vision of eternity. They act and think as
if everything that matters is going to happen in time. And actually Paul says, if we only in this life
have faith in Christ we are of all men the most
miserable, the most to be pitied. If you do not have a vision that takes
you beyond time and into eternity your condition is pitiable, and you will suffer very
many disappointments. Because time
is not the fulfillment. The fulfillment comes
in eternity. And so, these six doctrines take us from the starting
point, which is repentance right through the resurrection
and judgment. Now I want to begin
to speak about the first foundation doctrine, that is,
repentance from dead works. But I want to point out to
you something first of all, a very remarkable thing,
in verse 3 of Hebrews 6. The writer says:
This we will do if God permits. We will go on to completion
and fulfillment if God permits. Now you might ask: Well,
Why would God not permit? Surely He wants us all to go on. I’ll answer you from a little,
simple example from building. In any major city of
the civilized world today, in order to build a building
you have to have a plan, you have to get a permit
from the authorities and they have to
approve your plan. Then they will come and inspect
your building stage by stage, as you go through with it. The first thing they’ll really
inspect is the foundation, because they know that if
the foundation is not secure the building will not be secure. And if your foundation
isn't solid, they will not issue a permit
to continue the building. And God deals with you and
me exactly the same way. He says, I need to inspect
your foundation. And if it isn’t laid according
to my requirements I’m not going to give
you a permit to go on. You can just go on forever in this elementary stage of the
Christian faith, never maturing, never coming to completion,
never coming to fulfillment, because you haven’t
laid the right foundation. So you see how
absolutely essential it is that we master
these six doctrines which are the foundation
of the Christian faith. And we’re going to look now
at the first one, repentance from dead works. First of all,
what are dead works? Most of the modern
translations say: works or deeds which lead to death.
I don’t believe that’s correct. I believe dead works
are anything we do when it’s not done
in faith to God. Anything not done in faith
is a dead work. The only thing that brings
life into our activity is faith. So, you may have been a very
good churchgoer, you may have given money to the poor,
you may have said prayers, but if it wasn’t done in faith it was all dead works. We have to turn away from
everything not done in faith. Faith alone gives life to what we believe
and what we do. That doesn’t mean that you’ve
necessarily been living a sinful life but you just haven’t
been alive to God, because faith hasn’t
come into your heart and brought the life of God. Now, it’s very important that we
understand what repentance is. Repentance is not an emotion. I’ve seen many times preachers will seek to work people
up into an emotional attitude and then call them
to faith in Christ. And very, very often
that leads to a let down because the emotion runs out
and they’re left with nothing. So bear in mind repentance,
as defined in the Bible, is not an emotion.
It is a decision. It doesn’t spring from the emotions,
it springs from the will. If we can reach people’s will, and turn their will,
we will see permanent conversions. Many of the so-called conversions
in the church today are impermanent because they have never really
changed the will of the person. They’ve had an emotional
experience, they got excited, maybe they felt wonderful for a few
weeks, or months or even years. But, in the end they don’t have
what it takes to go through because their will
has not been touched. Now, you know there are two
main languages of the Bible, Greek of the New Testament, and Hebrew of the Old. And each of those languages
has a specific word for repent. But only if we put
the two languages together do we get the full
meaning of repentance. The Greek word, in secular
language, is always translated to change your mind
to change the way you think. So first of all, repentance
is changing your mind about the way you’ve been living. I’ve been living to please
myself, to do my own thing. From now on I’m going to live
to please Jesus, my Savior. It’s a decision. As I said before,
it is not an emotion. You can repent without
any obvious emotion, but you cannot repent
without a change of your will. And then the Hebrew word
—and this is so typical of the Jewish people because
they’re a very down-to-earth people. They want to know,
Well, what does it work out as? And the Hebrew word for repent
means literally to turn around. You’ve been facing one way, the wrong way
with your back to God, you turn 180 degrees, face toward God and say,
God, here I am. Tell me what to do
and I’ll do it. So you put the two
together and you have have a complete
picture of repentance. Faith comes only
after repentance. The whole message of the Bible
is in this order: repent and believe. There are lots of people, and some
of them are here this morning, who are struggling for faith. The truth is you’re not
struggling for faith, you’ve never met the
condition of repentance. You see, it’s the first of the
six foundation doctrines. And if you don’t have that
foundation stone in place, your building will
always be wobbly. I have counseled over
the years hundreds of people, hundreds of Christians who’ve come with
their personal problems. After a lot of experience
I came to this conclusion: At least fifty percent of the problems of professing
—or real—Christians are due to one fact: They have never truly repented. They have never really
changed their mind. They’ve never really
made a decision. Tthey’ve never really surrendered to the Lordship
of Jesus in their lives. They’re still thinking about
decisions from this point of view, Now, if I do this,
what will it do for me? And if I do that,
what will it do for me? When you’ve repented,
that’s not the way you think. You think, If I do this,
will it glorify Jesus? If I do that,
will it glorify Jesus? And so we have
multitudes of people, I think especially young people
but not only young people, who are double minded. The Bible says a double minded
man is unstable in all his ways. He doesn’t have a solid foundation, he can’t produce a stable building. So I invite you just
where you are right now, quietly to reflect
for a few moments and ask yourself,
Have I ever really truly repented? Or, am I still double minded? On Monday my aim
is to please Jesus, on Tuesday my aim
is to please myself. You see, you’ve got the worst
of both worlds, actually. You’d be better off just living
in the world, living for yourself because you’re a double minded
person, you’re a split personality. Now we have to go on with
the nature of repentance. There is one parable
that Jesus told which is the most vivid and perfect
illustration of true repentance. It’s the parable of what we call
the Prodigal Son. Somebody else has said it should
be called: the Caring Father. You remember the story in
Luke 15, most of you know it. The second son of
a wealthy family decided to get all his inheritance
from his father right now, and went off to a distant
country and lived it up. He did all sorts of sinful things. And then, when he’d
spent his whole inheritance a famine came,
and the only job he could get was feeding pigs. And you have
to remember he was Jewish, so for him to feed pigs was
just as low as he could come, without any
slight on pig farmers. We’re not saying anything against
them but it just so happens that for the Jewish people,
the pig is right outside. And so here he is,
in rags, feeding the pigs, hungry, wishing he could fill his stomach with
the husks that the pigs are eating. And then this is what happens. Verse 17 of Luke 15: When he came
to himself he said... That’s the point you
have to come to. You have to come to yourself, what I call the moment of truth. You have to see yourself
as you really are. You have to see yourself
as God sees you. When he came to himself, he said: How many of
my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare
and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, Father, I have
sinned against heaven and before you. I’m no longer worthy
to be called your son. Make me as one
of your hired servants. Now you see
the two elements? Because it goes on to say: And he arose and
came to his father. He made a decision
and he turned around. That’s repentance. Making a decision
and carrying your decision out. Going back, to the father
whom you have offended, to the God who loves you, saying,
I’ve made a mess of my life. I can’t run my own life.
I need you. Will you take me back? The wonderful thing is he
planned to say to the father, Make me as one
of your hired servants. But when he started out
his father was watching for him. I think this is so beautiful.
That’s how God is. When we begin to turn, He’s watching for us
and waiting for us. The father saw him a long
way off, and ran to meet him. That’s how God is.
That’s how He meets us. And he kissed him. And he never let him say
those last words, Make me as one of
your hired servants. He said:
Bring out the best robe, put a ring on his finger,
sandals on his feet, and kill the fatted calf. That’s the result
of true repentance. It’s worth repenting, to be
welcomed like that by God. That’s the picture. Just think
about it for a moment yourself. He came to himself. He said, I’ve made
a mess of my life. I’ve wasted everything
my father gave me. But I’m going to make
a decision. I’m going to turn around, I’m going to go back to
my father, and say I'm sorry. He turned and went. Think about that. That is true repentance.
Repentance in action. Now, there can be
a false repentance, which we in English
today call remorse. Judas experienced that, described in Matthew 27. Verse 3 and following: Then Judas,
the betrayer of Jesus seeing that he had been
condemned, was remorseful, and brought back the
thirty pieces of silver to the chief priest
and elders, saying: I have sinned by betraying
innocent blood. And they said,
What is that to us? You see to it. Then he threw down the
pieces of silver in the temple and departed
and went and hanged himself. Judas had remorse
but he never changed. In fact, I believe he’d passed the point
where he could change. And to me this is
a solemn thought. People can in this life
pass the point where it’s possible
for them to change. I think the most significant
moment in any human life is the moment when God
begins to deal with you about repenting. And if you shrug your
shoulders and say: Well, I’m not interested,
maybe later. There’s no guarantee that God will ever
deal with you again. The most critical moment
in any human life is the moment when
God says: Repent. I’m willing to take you back.
I love you, I want you. I’ve considered what I’ve seen
in people’s lives and in the Bible. I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s one thing
that makes God really angry. And it is despising His grace. He freely offers us His grace, but if we despise it
He turns in anger. There’s one person who
despised the grace of God. Do you know what his name was? Esau.
And he’s described in Hebrews 12. I want to look at that
passage for a moment, because there’s
a lot of the Esau in people like you and me. We want to be careful that Esau
doesn’t make our decisions. This is what it says in Hebrews 12,
beginning at verse 14: Pursue peace with
all men and holiness without which no
one will see the Lord. Notice that, without holiness
no one will see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest anyone
fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble,
and by this many become defiled. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane or godless
person like Esau who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
[Now we have no record whatever, that Esau ever
committed fornication.] but his attitude in God’s eyes, was just as bad as fornication. What was his attitude? For one little bowl of soup
he despised his birthright. He had the birthright
as the elder son. All the inheritance could
have gone to him. But just because he
was physically hungry and could smell that delicious
soup which Jacob had prepared... This is very vivid to me because I lived amongst
the Arabs for some time and they make exactly
what Jacob made soup of lentils. They call it
in Arabic surabit addis. And it has the most delicious
smell, it permeates the house. And I can picture Esau
coming back from his hunting, tired, hungry, and he just
smells this delicious smell. And Jacob says, the
bargainer that he was, listen, you sell me your birthright,
I’ll give you the pottage, the soup. And I suppose he thought, What good will my birthright
do to me now? I’m hungry. I’ll just take what I’ve got
offered to me. And it says
Esau despised his birthright. He made God extremely angry. And later on through
the prophet Malachi God said: Jacob I have loved,
Esau I have hated. That’s a very solemn thought. If you deliberately
despise the grace of God and the inheritance which
He offers you in Jesus Christ, turn away for some cheap,
temporary pleasure of this world, you make God very angry. And then it says, going on with that story:
For you know that afterward when he wanted to inherit
the blessing he was rejected, [rejected by God,] for he found no
place of repentance though he sought it diligently with
tears. Now the Greek makes it clear. He wasn’t seeking
the place of repentance, he was seeking the blessing. But he was rejected
because he found no place, no way to repent. And I do believe that in this life a person can pass the
place of repentance and never be able to get back. I want to urge upon you, this is
a very, very solemn thought. Far too little is said today in many congregations
and many denominations about the need for repentance. But without true repentance
there can never be true faith. You’ll always have a wobbly
up and down experience, in one day and out the next, because you haven’t laid
the first foundation stone which is repentance.
A decision of the will to turn away from self-pleasing
and doing your own thing, to turn back to God,
to face up to God, and say: God, here I am.
Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. That’s repentance. There are some of you here today
who have never truly repented. I want to suggest to you it’s the
source of many of your problems. Your up and down experiences. You feel good one day, have a
wonderful meeting in the church, you think it’s wonderful. The next
morning something else happens and you’re down. You’ve never really laid
the first foundation stone. All you have is a wobbly edifice which one day will collapse. Now I want to emphasize that repentance must go
before faith. There is no true faith
without repentance. This is emphasized all
through the New Testament. In Matthew chapter 3 we read about the ministry
of John the Baptist who was sent
to prepare the way for the coming of
the Messiah, Jesus. And what was his message
in one word? Repent. In other words,
repentance was essential before the Messiah
could come. Repentance prepared the way for the coming of Messiah.
Until God’s people, Israel, had been through this
experience of repentance they could not be ready
to meet their Messiah. In Matthew 3
verses 1 through 3 it says: In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness
of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. For this is He who was spoken
of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one
crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord.
Make His path straight. How did he prepare
the way of the Lord? By calling God’s people
back to repentance. And repentance is the
only way we can prepare for the Lord to come into
our hearts and lives. And then when John
had finished his course Jesus Himself, in fulfillment
of John’s prophetic word came to continue the ministry
of the gospel. And it says in Mark 1:14-15: Now after John
was put in prison Jesus came to Galilee,
preaching the gospel and saying: The time is fulfilled and
the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe. You cannot truly believe
unless you have first repented. The first word of command that
ever came from the lips of Jesus was not believe but repent. I remember being in a meeting in Southeast Asia, let me say
where a certain preacher had preached a
message on healing. He’d spoken very eloquently about God’s will
and plan to heal, and quoted some of
the promises about healing. But he had not said
one word about repentance. Then he called
the people forward, and most of them came from
a background of idolatry, and they had no idea
what they had to do to receive what God was offering. I know because I got involved
in counseling them, Ruth and I together. And it was such
a lesson to me. With all his good intentions
and his sweet language he had totally
confused those people because he’d given
them the impression that they could come
to God without repenting. He never used the word
repent once in that message. I don’t say this
to criticize a preacher, I just say this because
I learned a lesson. And I’m afraid there are
many, many people in many, quote, gospel churches
and gospel services who are confused, because all they’re being told
is what God will do for you. But they are not being told
what God requires from you. The first thing He
requires is repent. Change your mind,
turn around, make an 180-degree
turn and face up to God. Say: God tell me what to do
and I will do it. That’s repentance. Now if we look on
to the end of Jesus’ ministry His message never changed. In Luke 24,
after His resurrection, Jesus gave instructions
to His disciples. In Luke 24:46–47: Remember, this is
after the resurrection, just before He left this world. Then He said to them,
Thus it is written and thus it was necessary
for the Messiah, the Christ, to suffer and to rise from
the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in
His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.
[Notice the message?] Repentance and then remission
or forgiveness of sins. But no forgiveness
without repentance, and that is the message
that was to begin in Jerusalem and be preached to all nations. Repentance, then forgiveness
through His name. And then when the church
came into being in public view on the Day of Pentecost, the great outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, and a multitude
of Jews gathered and wanted to know
what was going on. and Peter stood up and
preached that famous message from the second
chapter of Acts. And then at the end
they were convicted and they said to Peter,
What are we to do? This is the first time the church as such had
been asked by sinners: what must we do?
[Let me read this.] Acts 2:37: Now when they heard this,
that was Peter’s message, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and
the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do? And I want to tell you that
if you ever come to the place where you sincerely want to
know what God wants you to do and you’re willing to do it, God
will not leave you in any doubt as to what He wants. His difficulty is not telling you, His difficulty is bringing
you to the place where you want
to know and do it. And as soon as these people
under real conviction of sin, said to the apostles: Men and
brethren, what shall we do? Peter, as the spokesman
of God and of the church gave them a clear,
precise, practical answer: Then Peter said to them,
Repent. What comes first? Repentance, that’s right. Let every one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. There’s a three-stage promise. Number one, repent. Number two, be baptized in water. And number three,
receive the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe God’s
program has ever changed. I believe that’s exactly what
God wants sinners to do today. I believe that’s the message the
church should be proclaiming: Repent,
be baptized in water, receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit. And in places where that
message is preached it happens exactly as it did
on the Day of Pentecost. People repent, they’re baptized
and they receive the Holy Spirit. I’ve seen this happen many times.
Many times, coming up out of the water at baptism
they are filled with the Holy Spirit. Why should we water
down the message? We have no authority to do that. The only authority
we have is to proclaim the message of
the New Testament: Repent, be baptized in water,
receive the Holy Spirit. When we give the message,
God gives the answer. It isn’t God who has changed, it isn’t the message
that's changed, but in many cases it’s
the church that has changed. And let me say something
which may shock you, but I cannot find
from the book of Acts onwards any person who claimed
salvation from Jesus without being baptized in water. See if you can find one. Because Jesus said
he who believes and is baptized shall be saved. What right have you or I to take out the words
and is baptized? Salvation is believing and being baptized.
And when you’ve done that you’re a candidate to
receive the Holy Spirit. That’s the message of the
church; it’s never changed, as far as God is concerned. And then we look at
the ministry of Paul the great apostle of the Gentiles. We’ll see, as it’s recorded
in the book of Acts. First of all, Paul found
himself in Athens which was a very intellectual
and idolatrous city. He ended up by preaching to them. I don’t think he had any intention
of doing it but he ended up where they wanted to know what
he believed and he told them. He concludes his message
in Acts 17:30 and following, speaking about all the time
that they’d lived in idolatry and ignorance of God he says: Truly these times
of ignorance God overlooked but now commands all men
everywhere to repent. That says so clear, God now
commands, now commands all men everywhere to repent. No place and no person is excepted.
That’s God’s universal requirement from humanity. He’s willing
to overlook the past if we will repent. And then it says: because He (God)
has appointed a day on which He will judge
the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to
all by raising Him from the dead. And notice also another feature
of the preaching of the apostles which is often dropped out, Jesus is not only the Savior
He’s also the judge. And He’s just as thorough and efficient
in judgment as He is in salvation. If you don’t meet Him as Savior you will meet Him as judge. Again, this is dropped out
of so much preaching. People talk about the Savior but
they never mention the judge. Actually, in his message to the men of Athens
Paul never mentioned a Savior. All he said was the judge. And I’ll tell you, people will
live very different lives if they’re not aware of the fact that they’re going to face
the judgment of Jesus. There’s a carelessness
and a sloppiness in so much
contemporary Christianity because we have not
faced up to the fact that not only is
Jesus the Savior but He is also the judge. God has appointed a day in which He
will judge the world in righteousness. What’s the issue of judgment?
It’s righteousness; how we have lived,
what kind of people we’ve been. It’s not a question
of our denomination our nationality,
our social status. There’s only one issue in judgment,
it’s righteousness. And in the first epistle of John,
John said: All unrighteousness is sin. It’s like if you wanted to
know what crooked is. I’m not a geometrician but I’ll just show you
a straight line and say anything that deviates
from that line is crooked. It may deviate by one degree, or it may deviate by 90 degrees, but it’s all crooked. And, all unrighteousness is sin. Anything that is not
righteous is sinful. There’s no third category. I’ve observed in so
many believers today they kind of have a third category, Well, it isn’t righteous
but it isn’t sinful. That category doesn’t
exist in God’s thinking. Anything that is not
righteous is sinful. And then we look on in Acts 20, to Paul’s description of
his ministry in Ephesus, where he’s had
some of the greatest results of his whole ministry. He’s speaking now to the
elders of the church in Ephesus because he’s about to
leave them and he says, You’ll never see me
again in this world. He has this message of love
and concern for those men. He says in verses 20–21, about his ministry in Ephesus: I kept back nothing
that was helpful. I’ve often pondered on that
phrase, I kept back nothing. It implies that there might
be some motivation not to preach the full truth because it might cost
you your social position. If you’re a minister
in a denomination it might cost you your
position in the denomination. If you’re a popular society figure it might cost you your popularity. So Paul says, I thought it over and I decided that nothing
was going to influence me to keep back any of the message. I kept back nothing
that was profitable but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly
and from house to house I like that,
his message didn’t change, whether it was in a big meeting
or in a home group. It was the same message.
What was it? ...testifying to Jews,
and also to Greeks repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. What comes first? Faith or repentance? Repentance. Repentance
toward God. God, I’m sorry. I’ve been a sinner,
I’ve led my own life. Then faith toward Jesus. Jesus,
I believe you took my place. You died for me on the
cross, you took my sins. But you cannot have
true faith in Jesus unless you have first true
repentance toward God. See, the New Testament
is so consistent. I think it’s something of which
the church needs to repent, that we have so often
watered down the message deceived people,
given them a false impression of what it means
to become a real Christian. You cannot become a real
Christian without repentance. There is no faith
without repentance. The Bible says all men
everywhere have to repent. You might say, why
all men everywhere? Let me give you an answer
from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 53:6 says this: All we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way. You see, that’s our problem. We haven’t necessarily
committed murder or idolatry, or stolen anything,
or maybe not even lied. But we’ve all done one thing we have turned to our own way.
And our way is not God’s way. That’s one thing we
all have in common regardless of our denominational
or racial background. Whatever the color of our skin we have all turned
to our own way. And then it says: The Lord has
laid on him (that is, on Jesus) the iniquity of us all. That’s a very strong word,
iniquity. What is turning to our own way? It’s iniquity, it’s rebellion, it’s putting myself ahead of God. And that’s why God requires all
men everywhere to repent. Because we have all
turned to our own way. We’ve all been doing
our own thing, we’ve been pleasing ourselves and leaving God
out of the picture. God says, I’ll accept you,
I’ll forgive you, because of what Jesus did,
if you will repent. That’s the bottom line,
repentance. Now I want to say that
repentance starts with God. Everything good starts with God, we’re always dependent
on the grace of God. Apart from God’s grace, apart
from the moving of His Spirit, we cannot repent. This is brought out
so clearly in Psalm 80. Psalm 80, the same phrase occurs
three times in this psalm. In the version that I’m reading
it says in verse 3: Restore us, O God,
cause your face to shine and we shall be saved.
But where the translation says restore us,
the Hebrew says: turn us back. In other words,
cause us to repent. That comes three times. In verse 3: Turn us back, O God,
and we shall be saved. Verse 7: Turn us back
and we shall be saved. Verse 19: Turn us back, O Lord,
and we shall be saved. You understand?
You cannot repent, unless God turns you.
The turning starts with God. That’s why it’s such a vital moment in our
lives when God begins to turn us because if we shrug
it off and turn away we cannot repent
left to ourselves. We’re dependent on God
to initiate repentance. And then in the book
of Lamentation, 5:21. Lamentation is the mourning
of Jeremiah over the destruction of Jerusalem because of its
continued rebellion against God. And It says– Lamentations 5:21, and in this
translation it says: turn us back. It’s the same word
that’s used in Psalm 80: Turn us back to you, O Lord,
and we will be restored. [Or returned.] Turn us back and we will turn. This is a very,
very solemn thought. You cannot turn unless God
starts to turn you. That’s why that is such a
sensitive moment in every life. I know of one young man who
was my companion in the army. When I got saved he
was the only witness. He knew of the
change in my life. And later on in the same
unit I started a Bible class. I thought, I got to do something. I had no idea how to run a Bible
class; I didn’t know where to begin, I thought,
begin at the New Testament. Where do you begin?
Chapter 1. So I began with the genealogy of Jesus. I went on and I had about four or
five of my fellow soldiers attending. This was in the desert
in North Africa. And then this friend of mine—
he really was a good friend came to me and he said,
I’m sorry old chap, but I won’t be coming to
your Bible study anymore. I said, Why not? He said, Because I know if
I do I will be converted. Years later I met him in totally
different circumstances. He was the most
miserable person I know. He plead with me to help him.
And I did everything I could. I’m experienced in leading
people into the Lord and I could not help him. I’d helped his wife,
she was saved. I don’t know what his end was
but oh, what a warning to me. You think you can turn
when you want to turn. You can say, God, I’m busy
now but come back later. You cannot do that. When he wanted
to turn he couldn’t. I don’t say that he passed
the place of repentance, I don’t know what
his ultimate end was. But what a lesson
that was to me! It didn’t suit him at that moment
when God was speaking to him, to accept salvation. When he wanted salvation
God didn’t speak to him. Who knows what his end was. Now, the Bible says there’s only
one alternative to repentance and this is stated in
Luke chapter 13, Luke 13, the first few verses,
in the ministry of Jesus: There were present at that season
some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had
mingled with their sacrifices. Apparently Pilate had had them
executed while they were actually performing some sacrifice. You’d think that that would
count for their good but Jesus answered and said:
Do you suppose that those Galileans were
worse sinners than other Galileans because they suffered
such things? I tell you no. But unless you repent you will all likewise perish. All those eighteen on whom the
tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were
worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?
I tell you no. But unless you repent
you will all likewise perish. There’s only two alternatives:
repent or perish. Those are the words
of Jesus Himself. Now, we said repentance
is the way to faith. Let’s begin to consider a little
bit about the nature of faith and then we’ll go on
in our next session. In Romans 10:17 which
I quoted to you before it says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by
the Word of God. That’s a very important principle. Faith, as used in the Bible means always faith
in the Word of God. It can come only from
one source, God’s Word. It has only one focus,
God’s Word. You see, we can say in
contemporary English, I have great faith in my doctor. Or, I have faith
in a political party or I have faith in a certain
kind of medicine or diet. That’s legitimate, there’s nothing
wrong with using those words but it’s not the scriptural
use of faith. Faith in the Bible is always
based on the Word of God. Anything that is not based on the
Word of God is not biblical faith. And then in Hebrews 11
we have a definition of faith. I think it’s the only word that
the Bible actually defines. I can’t think of another word that
is actually defined in the Bible. In Hebrews 11:1 it says: Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, a sure persuasion
concerning things not seen. So, there’s a relationship
between faith and hope. I’ve discovered a lot of people have
hope when they think they have faith. Faith is here and now
hope is for the future. Faith is a substance, something so real that it’s called
a substance. It’s in our hearts. On the basis of faith we can have a legitimate
hope for the future. But, any hope that is not
based on legitimate faith is just wishful thinking. But bear in mind, faith is a
substance in our hearts. It’s right there right now. Romans 10:10 says: If you confess with your
mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
you will be saved. Notice, biblical faith is not
in the mind, it’s in the heart. And then Paul goes on to say:
For with the heart man believes to salvation. In the New Testament
believing is a word of motion. It’s not a static thing. It’s not taking an
intellectual position. It’s something in your heart that
leads you to something new. Faith is a verb of motion. By faith we believe
unto salvation. You can have intellectual faith
and never be changed. You can embrace all the doctrines
of the Bible intellectually and remain completely the same. But when you have
faith in your heart, it leads to salvation. Faith is in the present,
hope is in the future. Faith is in the heart
hope is in the mind. In 1 Thessalonians 5:8
Paul speaks about both. It’s a very interesting
picture that he uses. 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Paul says: But let us,
who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love and as a helmet
the hope of salvation. You’ll notice there
are two items of armor. Faith is the breastplate. What does the
breastplate protect? The heart, that’s right. But hope is as...
Hope is a helmet. What does the helmet protect? The head, that’s right. Faith is in the heart, hope is in the mind.
Now, hope is very important because every true Christian
should be an optimist. If you’re a pessimist, actually
that’s a denial of your faith. I define hope as this: a confident expectation of good
based on the Word of God. And every one of us
who is a true believer has a confident
expectation of good. Because, no matter
what happens in this life we’re going to be
with Jesus forever. If that’s your hope, you can get depressed, you can get
downcast, but you never give up. because you have a hope,
a hope that’s based on faith. Then we go back to Hebrews 11 for some more statements
about faith. This wonderful eleventh
chapter of Hebrews, the great faith chapter. In Hebrews 11, in verse 3,
it says: By faith we understand that the ages
were framed by the Word of God so that the things
which are seen were not made of
things which are visible. It’s very important to understand,
faith relates you to the invisible. Faith is not based
on what we see. Faith takes us beyond
the realm of the senses into the realm of the invisible. And in 2 Corinthians 5:7
Paul says: We walk by faith not by sight. Notice, they are alternatives. When you see
you don’t need to believe. You only need to believe
when you don’t see. So Paul says, we walk by faith. We’re not walking
by what we see, we’re walking
by what we believe. And outside the tomb of Lazarus,
Jesus said to Martha: Did I not tell you
that if you would believe, to see the glory of God,
you would see it. So which comes first?
Believing? Or seeing? Believing, that’s right. So many people say,
Well, when I see, I’ll believe. No, that’s not true because when
you see you don’t need to believe. You need to believe
when you can’t see. We walk by faith, not by sight. I’ve met so many people who
say, Oh, if I only could see, I’d believe. But that’s not true.
You wouldn’t need to believe. You need to believe
when you can’t see. We walk by faith, not by sight. And then I want to say in the original
languages of both Greek and Hebrew, faith is not primarily
a doctrinal issue, it’s a matter of character. We’ve got it wrong in our
evangelical thinking. We tend to talk about faith as an
intellectual embracing of certain doctrines. Primarily, faith is a
matter of character. This is true of the Hebrew, emanau,
the Greek, pistos. Both of them primarily mean: faithfulness, loyalty,
commitment. Jesus said to His disciples, You are those who have
continued with me in my trials. That’s faith. It’s continuing with Jesus. It’s a personal
commitment to a person. Faith relates us to Jesus as our
high priest when we confess it. Hebrews 3, verse 1 says: Consider the apostle and high
priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. Remember that.
It’s very, very important. Jesus is the high priest
of your confession. If you say it He’s your high priest.
If you keep silent, He cannot be your high priest. That’s why it’s so important
to confess your faith. And then in Hebrews 4:14,
it says: Seeing then we have
a great high priest, who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast our confession. We confess, we’re tested,
but we hold fast. And as long as we hold fast
Jesus is our high priest. But in Hebrews 10
it takes us a stage further. Hebrews 10:21 says: Having a
high priest over the house of God... Verse 23: let us hold fast
the confession of our hope without wavering. Notice we’ve
progressed from faith to hope. We have a hope
that’s based on our faith. We confess our faith and
now we confess our hope. And it says without wavering. Why do you think it says that? Why would it say
without wavering? Why would it say hold fast
the profession of our faith? The reason is because there’ll be
a lot of forces that will oppose us. A lot of pressures
that will come against us. A lot of things that will seek to
discourage us and undermine our faith. This is a battle of determination. It’s a battle of endurance. Finally I have to tell you,
reluctantly, faith will be tested. Untested faith is of no
value in the sight of God. Jesus said to
the church of Ephesus, I counsel you to buy of
me gold tried in the fire. That’s real faith.
That stood the test. In ancient times gold that
had not been tested by fire was not considered
worth anything. Faith that has not been tested is not valued at all by God. Let me quote to you in closing
James 1:2–4: Count it all joy when you
fall into various trials knowing that the testing of
your faith produces endurance. But let endurance have
its perfect work that you may be perfect and
complete, lacking nothing. Do you want to be
perfect and complete? You have to let endurance
have its perfect work. That’s the trial that
you go through. And Peter says elsewhere that by various trials
we have been grieved that the genuineness
of our faith being much more precious
than gold that perishes, may be found to praise,
honor and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. And let me say one
final word to you, which you probably
will wish I hadn’t said, there’s only one way
to learn endurance. Do you know what that is? Enduring. That’s right.
God bless you! For DPM UK visit:
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