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This is Part 6 of an ongoing series on Salvation.
In this post we cover a couple of aspects of being saved that are often incompletely understood, Repentance and Confession. I've attempted here to provide a basic, accurate understanding of both with the idea that we can study more together. I hope you learn something, and are edified by this teaching. God has called everyone to repent of their sins, and desires that we all Confess "Jesus is Lord"
A summary of all posts can be found here:
Salvation Page.
Please take your time and read each post in turn, you'll get a better picture of what's going on.
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A.
Repenting of Your Sins.
Do you hate the evil in this world? I do, and I
believe God does too. Many people use the excuse of evil to disbelieve in God.
I wish they’d consider how their own personal evil affects the world around
them. Many times people like to play a game where they compare their sins to
the sins of others. When we do this, we neglect one important fact: We sin
against God. Let me say that again, We Sin Against God. One more time, just in
case, WE SIN AGAINST GOD. He is Holy. He is utterly and completely different
from sin. When He created Humans, we owed Him our work, and when we sin, we
take from Him. Sin is such a big deal to God, He promises judgement on the
wicked. If we are to love God, if we believe His promises of Life to us, we
must learn to hate evil, no matter how small, no matter how much we do or continue
to do. Our sins required payment, and God’s payment was nothing less than the
blood of Jesus: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in
him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). I
would like to therefore propose to you something maybe you’ve heard before, and
maybe not.
When
you sin, Jesus’ suffering on the cross was that much more. When you sin today,
Jesus’ suffering was that much more then. God isn’t limited by time and space,
but has been working since even the very foundation of this world to bring all
to Him. His efforts have been all because of your sin. God does not desire that
we continue in this sin! It is an affront to His Holy nature, and sin is
against the purposes for which He has created you. Sin brings death, and God
brings life. Therefore, if we would receive life from Him, we must rid
ourselves of the cause of death, and put aside our sins! Jesus says it like
this: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) “Do
you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans,
because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent,
you will all likewise perish.“
He wanted to stress that point of
repentance so much that He repeats that instruction to repent in Luke 13:5!
When a woman caught in adultery is brought before Him, He does not condemn her,
instead He calls her to repentance saying, “from now on sin no more”. The
Apostles echo Jesus’ instructions to repentance. When the crowd on the day of
Pentecost asks, “What should we do?” Peter replies for them to “Repent and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Not long after,
he tells people gathered at Solomon’s Portico: “Repent therefore, and turn
back, that your sins may be blotted out…” Since we are to repent, two questions
obviously present themselves for consideration. What is repentance? How do we
repent? In considering these things, we will look at scripture for definitions,
and we will also need to look within ourselves. I have to warn you, in either
case, you may find some things out about yourself that are unpleasant. I know I
will. That’s the point. When we define repentance, we are defining new life.
“Repent” in the New Testament, as Jesus
commanded, as the Apostles taught literally means “Change your mind”. When
Jesus says “repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” He wants you to
change your mind! When Peter says “Repent and be baptized for the remission of
your sins” he wanted those people (and us, the promise is for all who the Lord
God calls) to change their minds. When God delays Judgement on this earth, the
delay is because He desires all to change their minds! (2 Peter 3:9) We need to
change our minds about who Jesus is. If Jesus is, in your mind, just a good
man/teacher/prophet, but is not the son of God: Change your mind! If Jesus is,
in your mind, one choice among many: Change your mind! If Jesus is not Lord of
your mind: Change your mind! Paul describes repentance without saying
repentance like this:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies
of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to
God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what
is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
In this description we begin to answer the how of
repentance. When we change our minds, we change our actions. When we change our
actions, we begin to see things God’s way. As we begin to see God’s way, we
find more and more in us that needs to change! That’s repentance. We constantly
change and move toward God. We must move away from worldly thinking. This
affects our entire being, especially when you consider all the things the world
does that are good, but subtly warped away from God’s purposes. We must change
our minds.
Much of what we do as Christians is the same from
person to person. We believe the same things about Jesus, we confess the same
things about Jesus, we’re all baptized into the same body of Christ, but
repentance takes things to a more personal level. Just as we are all
individuals, we have individual sin, and circumstances that need to be handled.
In short, no one can really tell you how to repent, but they can hold you to
account that you do repent. That’s part of what makes our relationships in church
fellowship so special. We all have different weaknesses and in Christ, we can
complement and build each other up in holiness and love. To know what you need
to repent of, look to Scripture. God’s word is “profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God
may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
By reading, learning, and practicing scripture, we build the habits we need to
excel in all the good works God has for us to do. Changing our minds through
repentance brings the church together in a very powerful way. We see and do God’s
will through His word, and we begin to understand the cost to God for Him to
extend to us His Grace.
What do you need to change in your mind, so that
it changes your actions?
B.
Because we Confess that Faith
Jesus said, “And I tell you, everyone who
acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the
angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the
angels of God.”
There’s something specific about Jesus that we must identify. Confession is
linked to faith in that we apply our faith with our voice. The things we
confess are what we believe about Jesus. We believe Jesus is the Christ, Son of
the Living God. That simple but dividing statement is what begins to set
Christians apart from other people and religions. Most religions require some
sort of faith, and a turning away from sin and “the old ways”, but Christianity
requires that we Believe in Jesus and Proclaim this to others. We also confess
that Jesus is Lord. When we make that confession, we must understand that Jesus
is in Heaven, at the right hand of God, ready to bring judgement for the world,
and deliverance to His people. I love the description of Jesus in Revelation
19:
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white
horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are
many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is
clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The
Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure,
were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with
which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He
will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his
robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Many before Jesus have attempted to wear the
title of King of kings, Lord of lords. Nobody obtained their Kingdom quite like
Jesus. Jesus did not consider using His status of equal with God, but instead
used obedience to the Father to achieve His Lordship, so that every knee should
bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Confession and repentance go hand in hand. Simply
put, if you change, people need to know why. Conversely, if you say you have a
reason to change, they need to see the change. If you believe Jesus, and if you
believe what He says, you will believe Him when He talks about repentance, and
you will confess Him before others. This confession is a continual process, usually
starting with a formal announcement to the Church at Large that you believe
Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God, that He is your Lord and
savior. It continues in confessing His lordship when before others. I did this
when I was about ten and a half, before the congregation of Alexandria
Christian Church on June 12, 1988. I confessed to them that I believe that
Jesus is THE Christ, the SON of the Living God. My confession echoed Peter’s
words to Jesus when Jesus asked His disciples, “who do you say that I am?” Who
do you say Jesus is, is He the Christ? We also must acknowledge Jesus is King
to the world. This is a little trickier. When the Apostles were first taking
the Gospel message to people, the message itself was contraband. It denied a
central tenet of the state: that Caesar is a god. Many Christians were
persecuted for their “atheism” by the state. Their confession was serious
business, something they didn’t take lightly, nor did they give it without
considering what Jesus said about suffering for His name. Even in modern times,
the government doesn’t like competition. Throughout history, the state has opposed
the church, to the point where people must keep their church meetings secret. In
America, we have “freedom of speech” and “freedom of religion” but much of that
freedom is restricted by rules, laws and social norms meant to enforce the de facto
state religion of pluralism and humanistic philosophy. Some people will look at
you crazy if you confess that Jesus is the King of kings. They believe they have
no king but themselves. We seek to be different. We seek to align ourselves
with the Creator of the Heavens and the earth. We seek the King who set Himself
aside to do God’s will, and who then rose from the dead to proclaim full life
to those who believe.
We’ve talked so far about faith, repentance, and
confession. These things are all part of the obedience to the Gospel, but they’re
not the full story. Jesus and the Apostles, have left us with one more thing to
think about before we can say we’re done. We’ve talked about what we do when we
believe, repent, and confess, but now we must consider what God does with us
when we’re baptized into the Body of Christ.
