A Message About Repentance and Faith (Evangelism Series 5 of 6)
Gospel Affirmations and Promises
Gospel Events
The good news is that in order to satisfy himself, to manifest the fullness of his glory, the eternal second person of the Godhead took on humanity in his birth. Then he lived a sinless life for us and died a sinner's death in our place. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserved to die. And on the third day he was raised from the dead. Later he ascended on high to the right hand of God. And one day he is returning to make all things new. There is an already and a not yet in the gospel.
Please be very careful to follow this logic: Because of what Jesus did (Gospel Events), Jesus is now Lord and Savior (Gospel Affirmations). Because of what Jesus did, in his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension (Gospel Events) the good news is that God has now made him Lord–the one who can now demand submission and Savior–the one who can bestow salvation (Gospel Affirmations).
Gospel Promises
And because Jesus is now Lord and Savior, he can make promises that are absolutely astonishing:
New Status
He can promise forgiveness and a new status before God based on the perfect record Jesus earned for us with his life of obedience.
New Nature
He can also promise us a new nature. This is the promise of a new heart with new affections and desires he gives us by placing his promised Holy Spirit in us.
New World
And he can promise us a new world. The ascended Christ, as Savior and Lord promises us the restoration of all fallen creation when he returns to make all things new.
Gospel Demands of Repentance and Faith
Because of what Jesus did, God has made him Lord and Savior. We can also say he is Prophet, Priest and King. And as our Prophet, Priest and King, he can make promises of a new record, a new heart, and a new world. And each of those promises contains many other rich promises.
This raises the questions, “How can I appropriate these promises in my life? What is the means by which these promises become a reality in my life? How can I receive God’s forgiveness, a new status, a new heart, and a new world to come?”
In the New Testament you find references to three key words through which God means for these promises to become realities in our lives: faith, repentance, and obedience. John Stott calls these the Gospel Demands
In many passages of Scripture you’ll find an emphasis on only one of these words. For instance, looking at only the words of Jesus in John 6, we would think the only imperative is for us to believe, to have faith.
But then in other passages, like Mark 1:15, Jesus calls us to “repent and believe” this good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand. So in this passage it’s not just faith but also repentance. And in other passages of Scripture, we find the call to “obey” as the key imperative.
It’s important to understand that when we are referring to repentance, faith and obedience, one assertion is really central – that is it through faith alone, sola fide, and Christ alone, that these gospel promises of God become ours.
So how do repentance and obedience fit into that primacy of sola fide, "faith alone?”
It’s helpful to understand the nature of biblical repentance, faith, and obedience and see how they relate to each other. For example, to have faith is to obey God. God now commands everyone, everywhere, to repent. And to repent is also to obey God.
The biblical concept of repentance is that it is one side of faith. Repentance is turning away from something and faith is turning to something and trusting in it. This is why repentance and faith should be seen as two sides of the same coin. As we are turning from our sin, self-trust, and idols in repentance, we are also, at the same time, turning to Christ in faith and personal trust. And while we’re repenting and believing we are obeying God.
This understanding frees us from a moralistic or a legalistic understanding of obedience. This is what the Puritans used to call, “Gospel obedience.” In the first thesis of the 95 Theses, Martin Luther wrote that when Jesus said, 'To repent,' he meant that all of life is repentance. Luther understood that if you're truly repenting, you must also be believing. And if you're truly repenting and believing, you are obeying.
At the commencement of his ministry recorded in Mark 1, Jesus said “The time has come. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent, and believe the Good News.” The call of Jesus is for us to repent and believe the Good News that our God reigns, through his Son, who has taken on humanity, lived a sinless life, died a sinner’s death, been raised from the dead, ascended on high. And he promises us that the spoils that are his will be ours, if we simply repent and believe.
Notice how Jesus is not calling us to pray and receive him, but to repent and believe him. There's no place in the New Testament where people are called on to pray to receive Christ. They are called to repent and believe.
A meritorious understanding of the nature of faith is saying, “If I offer to God my faith and trust in him, he will take that good work of my faith and give me forgiveness, a new record, a new heart, and a new world to come.” A lot of people actually think of their faith like this, as somehow meritorious to God. They arrogantly think and sometimes say, “I have been good enough to believe, why can't you be good enough to believe?”
Faith and repentance are not meritorious. They are instrumental. It is through the mystical means of repentance and faith by which we appropriate the promises of Christ. Remember, it’s not meritorious. It’s instrumental.
True, biblical repentance involves renouncing yourself as being adequate in any way to do that which could make you acceptable to God. It involves a confession to God of your sinfulness, of your guilt, an attitude of mind that desires to turn away from your sins. True repentance involves turning away from your sinful self so you might turn to Jesus Christ in faith.
In the New Testament, when people heard this good news, the bible tells us they were pierced to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter responded by calling them to repent and be baptized (Acts 2).
So what is faith?
True, biblical, saving faith is not just intellectual assent. Lutherans call this fides, which is simply “I believe something. I believe something is true.” Faith that saves, delivers, and appropriates the promises of God in Christ is not merely intellectual assent. And it's not merely trusting in God's general provision. This is the reason why 20% of the people in the world, one-fifth of the world population is nominal Christian. They wrongly believe that mere intellectual assent is true saving faith.
It’s common for merely nominal Christians to say something like: “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And when I’ve had problems in life, I have prayed to him, and trusted him.” They're saying they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and they’ve trusted him all their lives to help them. The problem is someone can do that still not be a true believer in Jesus Christ.
The brother of Jesus, James tells us that even the demons believe. He writes, “You believe that God is one? You do well. The demons believe, and shudder.” So it's just not intellectual faith, fides. It's what the Reformers called personal trust, fiducia. It's not merely believing in propositions about Jesus. It’s trusting in him as a resurrected, living ascended Lord and Savior.
When you repent and believe in a biblical way, you are not just believing propositions or promises, you are trusting in a resurrected and ascended person. It's not by trusting in the orthodoxy of Gospel truth. You are saved by trusting in a person.