part one    part two    part three    part four    part five    part six

When I preach the gospel to someone, I explain (1) that he is sinner; he’s not a good person, (2) that he deserves a penalty for sin:  death (physical, spiritual, and eternal death), (3) that Jesus died for him, and then (4) that he must believe in Jesus Christ.  Where I left off on number four, part of what it means to believe in Jesus Christ is to repent.  How do I explain that?

Jesus, Not Me

You cannot believe in Jesus Christ and in yourself both.  Sin is against the glory of God (Romans 3:23), so against God Himself, like David confessed in Psalm 51:4, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.”  Sin is my will, not His will be done.  The root of sin is self over God and wanting what you want instead of what God wants.  This relates to the first and the tenth commandments of the ten commandments.

Breaking the first commandment puts another god before God and violating the tenth means coveting.  Paul in Colossians 3:5 says covetousness is idolatry.  Disobeying the tenth commandment is also disobeying the first.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  He is the way.  To take His way, you’ve got to leave your own.  This is to deny self and follow Him, which is repentance.  Repentance, life faith, is not a work.  Acts 11:18 says, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”  God grants repentance, just like He grants faith (2 Peter 1:1, Philip 1:29).  “No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor 12:3).

No Longer in Rebellion Against Him

No one believes in Jesus Christ and remains in rebellion against Him.  He turns from his way to God’s way, from self to God, and from his sin to Jesus Christ.  The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:9, to turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God.  Rather than worshiping the creature, his self, He worships the Creator (Rom 1:25).  The Father is seeking such to worship Him (John 4:23).

In Luke 13:3, 5, both verses, Jesus commands, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”  In John 3:16, Jesus says, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you won’t perish, and in Luke 13:3, 5, he says, if you won’t repent, you will perish.”  Faith and repentance are two sides to the same coin.  To turn to Jesus Christ, which you do when you believe in Him, you must turn from something — your will, you way, and your sin.  Paul represents the two in Acts 20:21 in his preaching:

Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Repent and Believe

A couple of other places put the two together:

Mark 1:15:  “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Matthew 21:32:  “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”

Repentance is that moment when someone relinquishes control of his life.  This is seen in the sequence that Jesus preaches at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.  Someone recognizes his own spiritual poverty, he mourns over his sin, and then he is meek, that is, he gives God the charge of his life.  The word translated “meek” was used of the horse that was broken.  He now becomes useable.  This is your life, God, take and use it.  This is believing in Jesus Christ.

More Than Intellect, Also the Will

Faith that saves is more than just intellectual assent to facts.  It involves the will.  God knows when you have relinquished your self, your way, your life to Him.  Many will say, Lord, Lord, Jesus says at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  He will say, Depart from me, I never knew you.  It is he who does the will of the Father who is in heaven.  Someone who keeps going the same direction has kept his life for himself and will lose life as a result.

More to Come