Good morning. We will be continuing our series, this mini-series, such as it is over these today and next week until Dr. Talbot gets back, on what I call the fundamentals of being a Christian. They're not the fundamentals of the Christian faith. They're the fundamentals which you need to know and understand about what it is to be a Christian. Before we begin, I'd like to say in response to Elder Sullivan's reading today of 2 Thessalonians, that particular passage of Scripture of which interpretations are legion, as he stated. It wasn't until I came to the Reformed faith that I could take some comfort in the fact that there may be more than one way to interpret a passage, because John Calvin, when asked why he didn't write a commentary on the book of Revelation, he said there's only one person that knows what the book of Revelation means, and that's God himself. I'm happy with that. We can go through church history and see what men have wrote. We can see what men thought about the Word of God. Of course, teachers have been given to the church as a gift of God in order to steer the church of God. And so as we examine and study and meditate, we needn't be too upset by a variety of interpretations The fact of the matter is that the secret things belong to the Lord. Those things that He has revealed to us are for us and our children, and we can take comfort in the fact that someday all will be revealed to His children. Back to the topic at hand. Let's open with a word of prayer. Father, we're thankful for this morning. We're thankful for the fact that You have brought us together to examine Your Word and continue to look at some of these things. I pray, Lord, that You'll open our minds and our hearts for the truth that you have for us this day, cause us to be studious, cause us to be good students for no other reason but to live a life which is pleasing to Thee, to the testimony of the living God within. We give you thanks in Christ's name. Amen. So we're going to continue this mini-series. As I said, last week we touched on some facets of what faith is. And this week we're going to talk a little bit about repentance and perhaps get into good works. And next week we'll talk about assurance. These four things, faith, repentance, good works, and the assurance of our faith are what I consider to be the fundamentals and things that you need to understand and be able to articulate in order to say that you are a Christian, a blood-bought, born-again Christian, one who understands that he is a sinner and needs a Savior. One whose life exemplifies that fact through repentance and good works, and in time, comes to the assurance of that fact in their life that they are adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God. These four things. We're going to read from Jonah chapter 3 this morning just because it is probably the most classic example of what repentance is, how it works, and where it comes from in the life of a believer. Jonah chapter 3. Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the Word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk, and he cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. Then the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes. And he issued a proclamation, and it said, In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing, did not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so that we shall not perish. When God saw their deeds that they turned from their wicked way, Then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them, and He did not do it." I say this is a classic passage on repentance because we have all the components here of the things that we're going to talk about. Before we get into that, though, just to summarize a little bit about last week, which we talked about faith. Saving faith, we said, was a gift of God. We can't confuse saving faith with ordinary kinds of faith. There is a difference in that saving faith saves you. It saves you from the wrath of God and the curse of the penalty. It is a gift. Ephesians 2, by grace are you saved. Through faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God lest any man should boast. Faith is a gift. We also looked a little bit about the fact that faith does not have to be immediately, it is not something that operates immediately to its full force and impact in our life when we are saved. The truth is that faith along with repentance are seeds that are planted in our life. And we talked a little bit about the ordo salutis. They're seeds that are planted and they grow over time. That's important to understand because when we get to the aspect of assurance, we oftentimes wonder why I don't have the assurance of my faith. It's not the assurance of faith that the Bible talks about. It's the assurance of your adoption as sons and daughters of God. It is the assurance of the fact that you are saved. It is not assurance of your faith. And we're going to get into that in just a little bit. But faith, it is a gift of God. However big or however little faith you have, it doesn't require a lot of faith to be saved. We talked about the fact that the disciples said, Lord, grow our faith. The man who came to Jesus and said, Lord, I believe, but help mine unbelief. Faith! It is given to you as a seed at the time of your conversion along with The seed of repentance. Faith and repentance. We said go hand in hand. It is important that we all understand this. Faith and repentance go hand in hand and they're given to you as seeds. When are they given to you? Romans chapter 8 in the Ordo Salutis talks about that. Those who are predestined are called. Those who are called are justified. Those who are justified are glorified. Romans chapter 8 in that particular passage of Scripture is talking about what God does. God's responsibility in our salvation. Between the calling and the justification is the conversion. His conversion. And conversion is where we are given faith and repentance. Paul talks about exercising faith in Jesus Christ and repentance towards God in Acts chapter 20 in his farewell message to the Ephesian elders. Now bear in mind that we organize these events for our purposes. Much the same as we talk about the decrees of God and we talk about whether or not God had ordained and decreed to elect a people before He created or created first and then decided to elect. All of these discussions are for our benefit. Understanding that God, who knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning, does all things in a single thought anyway and upholds them by the Word of His power. So these things are not compartmentalized and sequential in God's thinking. They just have happened. But for our purposes, By virtue of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul writes down for us in Romans what we call this ordo salutis so that we can understand. You're predestined. You're called. The calling is made effectual at your conversion where you are given the seeds of faith and repentance simultaneously. Where you repent towards God, express faith in Jesus Christ. You are then justified, which that means you are declared not guilty or pardoned. We will always be sinners but we are sinners saved by grace. We are pardoned sinners now because we believe in the double imputation which is critical to where we are in our faith. There's a movement out there today which does not, in reform circles, which does not subscribed to double imputation. That is to say that my sins are imputed to Christ and Christ's righteousness is imputed to me. And that's the reason why I can stand before God without fear. Because I have the righteousness of Christ. Because I have been justified. But there are particular faith groups out there that say, no, my sins may have been imputed to Christ to have paid the penalty, but I have to earn His righteousness. and I earn his righteousness through works. And that's a movement that's infiltrating Reformed circles today and it's sad because it takes away from the glory of our God who saved us by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. So those of us who have been predestined have been called. The calling is made effectual at our conversion where we're given faith and repentance. We are then justified. And after justification comes what? Sanctification. This is our growth in grace and knowledge and our holiness. Our growth in holiness. That's what sanctification is. Last week we read specifically, this is God's will for you. Your sanctification. And we have something to do with that. Salvation is monergistic, that is by God alone. Sanctification, we have something to do with. And that has something to do with the choices that we make. And at some point we'll be glorified. All of this is of God and that's why it's called the Doctors of Grace. Back to the point, faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin. Look at it this way. Faith is how we attach ourselves to Christ. We attach ourselves to Christ by faith. We detach ourselves from our sin through repentance. Faith and repentance. Faith, we attach ourselves to Christ. Repentance, we detach ourselves from sin. The sin in our life. Faith and repentance. Both are needed. Both are necessary. And as I said last week, if you engage anyone that tells you that they were saved some time ago and are still living like they're not, the fact of the matter is, they're probably not. Because if you have been given saving faith, you will exhibit the fruits of repentance. You will exhibit a repentant lifestyle. And what that repentant lifestyle is, is obedience to the Word and will of God. As it is revealed to us primarily in the Ten Commandments. We don't need to be theologians to understand thou shalt not steal. You don't need a higher education to understand thou shalt not commit adultery. So faith is a gift of God along with repentance as a gift of God. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.25 that God may give them, may grant them the gift of repentance. And he's specifically talking about those who are contrary to sound teaching. In Acts chapter 11 verse 18. Luke says the same thing, that God had granted them the gift of repentance. So faith and repentance are both gifts and they're both necessary. You cannot have the gift of faith, saving faith, without having it be displayed in a repentant lifestyle. Why is that the case? Let's not forget that in Romans chapter 12, Paul tells us to be transformed. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed as a butterfly goes through a metamorphosis. Be transformed, how? By the renewing of our mind. By the renewing of our mind. We bring in the Word of God into our mind. We meditate on it. We study on it. We read it. We question it. We pray over it. By faith. And the Spirit of God takes the Word of God that we put in our mind and diffuses it throughout our body. We like to say He takes it from our mind, puts it in our heart. Our heart is just a term that we use to express the whole man. And the whole man is mind, emotions, and will. Mind, emotions, and will. And so, if a man is truly regenerated, and converted, his mind, his emotions, and his will will be affected by the diffusion of the Spirit of God using the Word of God in his life. Completely. Mind, emotions, and will. So, if you happen to be of the persuasion to be talking about a man who has the old sin nature and the new nature, I submit to you that you go back and you study a little bit more carefully, because we only have one nature. Prior to being saved, we had sin nature. We were totally depraved. After being saved, after having gone through the process of being deposited within the gifts of faith and repentance, being converted and justified, we're on this walk of sanctification now. After that fact, we only have one nature too. We only have one nature, and it is being sanctified, it is being made holy as we walk this life. Mind, emotions and will. The reason why this is important is because for those of us that have been around a little while and have been in different faith preferences, I can tell you exactly from experience how this works. When I was a good practicing Roman Catholics. Now remember, mind, emotions, and will. My will was activated. I was doing everything right. I was making my 9 First Fridays, and I was saying my Novenas, and I was doing the Stations of the Cross, and I was going to the priest every Saturday so that I could go to Communion every Sunday. I was the knight of the altar. I was doing all kinds of things. My will was activated, but I was unaware of the fact that I was a sinner. Mind. Reason. That I was a sinner needing a Savior. The mind. We have to have our facts right. I'm sure you know people who are doing all kinds of good things. Seemingly the right things. But they're totally oblivious to the fact that they are a sinner who is standing in judgment before a holy God and upon whose head the wrath of God rests. The last verse in John 3. We read John 3.16 all the time. And I hear it really frequently at services in prison that are being conducted by well-intended churches and ministers, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Well, the last verse in that chapter talks about the wrath of God abiding upon the head of those who don't believe. And somehow or another we never get down there. The mind. You have to know that you are a sinner. You are made aware of the fact that you are a sinner and you need a Savior. And how does that come? Last week we talked about the fact that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. It comes by hearing the Word of God. This is the ordinary means. Somehow, someway, the Word of God gets to you and God uses it and anoints it and opens your mind, opens your eyes and opens your ears, plows up your heart for your sin so that you cry out, My God, I am a sinner. What do I do? And then grace can be applied in Jesus Christ. That's the only way. So my will was activated as a Roman Catholic, but I was totally unaware of the fact that I was a sinner. I thought I didn't do everything right, but I certainly was not a sinner. Was I saved then? No. Because these three components, mind, emotions, and will. The will was activated. The mind was not. I didn't have the fact. when we did our stint in Pentecostal circles. Believe me. I knew my emotions were activated. And I saw Sunday after Sunday after Sunday all kinds of emotions activated. I could tell you some stories that would set your hair on fire about what we saw in terms of Pentecostal circles. And I'm saying well intended. But there was nothing about the need for repentance. Nothing about the need of a Savior because I was a sinner. And worse, very little about what I need to do about it in terms of a repentant lifestyle. It was all about emotions. What I'm saying to you is if one or two of those three things, all three are necessary for the whole man to be regenerated. All three are necessary for you to be born again. The whole Gospel is for the whole man. Now, you can know. This was another phase in my life, after I finally did realize that I was a sinner. You can know you're a sinner. You can be moved to tears and not repent. I don't know which situation is sadder. The point that I'm making is mind, emotions, and will, all three must be transformed. So when you're talking to your family, when you're talking to friends, this is an angle that you can use to explore their situation. Because I come across people all the time who tell me that they're saved because they came to an altar Cried. I've seen that a lot. Confession of sin. Good for the soul, but doesn't do a thing if it's not accompanied by repentance. Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, Paul, all of them. Repent, repent, repent, repent. Why? It is a turning away from your sin. You are detaching from sin and turning towards God. You're exercising faith which attaches you to Christ and you are detaching from the sin. Two sides of the same coin. So repentance is a gift. Repentance certainly is necessary. And the other thing about repentance is that it gives glory to God. Interestingly enough, if you do a study on repentance, you're going to find somewhere around 104 uses of the word repentance in the Bible. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke all use the word on a regular basis. And John does not. In the Gospel of John, repentance is not used one time. On the other hand, he uses it 11 times in the book of Revelation. And I just want to read two verses. In Revelation 16, 9, and men were scorched with fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. And they did not repent to give Him glory. They did not repent to give Him glory. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds. See, the last thing the devil wants you to do is to repent of your sins and do whatever is necessary for you to cut off, to turn away from that sin, perhaps that besetting sin, because when you do so, it gives glory to God. Revelation 16.9, they did not repent so as to give glory to God. Sometimes we wander around in a quandary asking questions. What do I need to do? What do I need to do to get God's favor? What do I need to do sometimes to give glory to God? Well, the first thing you can do to give glory to God is to sit in the pain of that besetting sin and not do it. To show the repentant heart. To show the fruit of the fact that you got that gift of repentance. That doesn't mean we're going to be perfect. But it does mean that we're in the battle. Elder Sullivan talked about being in the battle to warrior on whether we understand or not. And yes, we will be bloodied and we will be bruised and the battle can be fierce. But repentance, remember, is a seed that was planted and it grows. So the repentant heart and your ability to battle sin five years from now, hopefully, is five times greater than it is now. Because we are told to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We grow in grace. What is that? We already read from the Westminster Confession of Faith that faith is grace. Repentance is, the Westminster calls it an evangelical grace. We are to grow in these graces, faith and repentance. We grow in those and as we do, our life becomes holier and holier and holier. That's a term we don't like to use. Somehow it sounds just too pretentious. Too audacious. Your purpose in life is to become Christ-like. What does that mean? Once again, this is not rocket science. Is it more Christ-like to lie or not lie? To not lie. You find a wallet on the street with $100 in it and you do what you can to find the person and you give it back to that person. Is that more Christ-like or less Christ-like? It's more Christ-like. Why? It's obedience to the law of God. Thou shalt not covet anything of thy neighbor's. Not only, in fact, don't forget where there's a command, there's also a prohibition. Where there's a prohibition, there's a command to do something positive. So it's not only that I'm not supposed to covet my neighbor's goods, I'm supposed to be praying for him and help him prosper. To be in compliance with that commandment. So when I find a wallet and give it back to the owner, that's a good work. And it's a good work because it pleases God, because it's done in faith, because I'm obeying the Ten Commandments. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't obey?" Jesus said. So we go from faith and repentance being so closely intertwined, it's impossible to separate them really. We have faith our life will show a repentant lifestyle where I am what? Obedient. to the Word of God, the Ten Commandments, conforming my life to these Ten Commandments and all the corollaries to the extent that I can. And then as I do that, assurance comes because I am growing in grace and knowledge. My faith and repentance are both growing as a result of God's working in my life. Let's not forget that my sanctification is all in Christ as well. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. He is our wisdom, our righteousness, our redemption, and our sanctification. Exactly my part in that and God's part, it's impossible to separate. It's kind of like a scrambled egg. It's impossible to unscramble it. the Spirit of God in your life, it's impossible to separate sometimes when we are disposed to doing a good work. Is that you? Is that of God? Who knows? It doesn't really matter. In all things, I am supposed to act like the outcome depends on me 100%. But I pray like it depends on God 100%. And somewhere in the middle, the good work is done and God is glorified. I don't exactly have to explain how that happens. This business of repentance, you see, it is the sign. And we are at liberty, when we're talking to people who are not living accordingly, to ask them, how is it that they say they have faith without repentance? Without being sorry for their sin? It's a legitimate question, and it's probably going to wind up in an argument. And so what you're going to have to do, I'm going to give you the advice that I give to so many men, and that's that you be kind, you be patient, but you be in control. Your obligation is not to make them feel good. Your obligation is to confront them with the truth, so that God can use the truth that you speak into the moment to open their eyes. Faith come by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent? God uses truth. Whether you want to confront or not, it doesn't matter. We're not called to make friends. We are called to dispense truth that God can use to save a man if in fact, he chooses. And if he chooses not to, it's none of your business. We can preach and preach and preach and preach. How long did Noah preach? 400 years. And his only converts were his family. Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 6, when God said, who shall we send? And Isaiah said, send man. He said, how long shall I preach? And God said, until the cities are desolate. Until the cities are desolate and man is no more. There's no promise that our words are going to have the effect that we want them to have. Remember, this is all about God's divine decree. God's predestining, God's calling, His election, His justification, and finally, His glorification. Salvation is all of God. So repentance is a gift just like faith is. It is absolutely necessary. Without repentance, there is no saving faith. And repentance, in fact, gives glory to God. Back to the Jonah story. I say the story of Jonah has all the components of what we're talking about here. And bear in mind, Jonah did not want to go and preach because he understood that God would use His Word, and He did. Jonah didn't want to go to the Ninevites. He hated the Ninevites. And we oftentimes have to confess ourselves. Don't we? That some people are, in our estimation, impossible to be saved, but no one can outrun the grace of God. Or worse, we really don't want them to be saved. Anybody ever harbor that in your heart? You've come across somebody, you've had such resentment or bitterness or hatred in your heart for someone, in which case, by the way, you've murdered him or her already, that you don't want to take the time. You're given an opportunity to speak truth and you don't take it because you've let your opinion of that person and your disdain for that person, just like Jonah, overshadow your responsibility. And in Jonah's responsibility, he tried to run. He got swallowed up by a whale and wound up on the shore where he was supposed to in the first place. He went and preached. God saved 200,000 along with their animals. Jonah was upset after the fact. He said, I knew it. It's better for me to die. I just want to die. I knew, God, that You were going to save them. Even after he preached and they were saved and they were repented in sackcloth and ashes, Jonah leaves and he's crying and he says, I want to die. I can't believe that You saved them. God determines who gets saved and who doesn't. We are like, in the parable of the sower, we just sow the seed. Some on good soil, some on rocky soil, some on thorny soil. One out of four. Often times we see the seed that falls on the shallow soil spring up with joy, the Bible says. It springs up with joy, but then the sun comes out and quickly withers. We see that a lot. in our churches, in the evangelical circle. It springs up with joy. Praise the Lord, I'm saved! But we never see them again in church. They never come to Bible studies. They never inquire. One out of four, 25%. So when you go about your business and you're speaking truth into the moment to the cashier girl or to the guy at the gas station, at the grocery store, here, there, wherever, family members, and you find opportunity to speak truth, It's up to God. If God chooses to use it to save, praise the Lord. And if He does not, praise the Lord too, because God is sovereign. How unsearchable is the wisdom and the knowledge of God? How unsearchable are His ways? I only have a minute or two here. I want to deal with Hebrews 12, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. The reason why this verse is appropriate is because it's talking about running the race. When we're talking about repentance, we cannot help but talk about our failures and our besetting sins. Repentance is about turning from our sin. There are some sins that are easier to turn from than others. We talk about a besetting sin here. That sin that so easily entangles us. More times than not in the course of a week, I have 10 or 12 men at a minimum coming to me saying, Chaplain, I just can't get over this sin. I don't know what to do about this. It is a besetting sin. Notice what this verse says. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author, He started our faith. We have no question with the fact that the gift of faith is of God. At some point in time, that decree in eternity past, that calling, that effectual call was in fact made active and operative at a point in time in history for you so that your eyes were opened to see the truth, so that your ears were unplugged so that you could hear the truth, you were given the gifts of faith and repentance, and now you're in the process of being sanctified. He began our faith. Jesus, the Author, the Beginner, the One who began our faith. No question there. And the Perfecter, the Finisher of our faith. We're told in Philippians that He's going to complete that which He started. Our faith began in God, given to us as a gift, and He will complete it. We will be glorified. Romans 8. But what we're concerned about is what's in between. Okay, I don't have a problem. He began it. He's going to end it. But you want to know what my problem is? Right now. Right here and right now. Dealing with the sin that so easily entangles us. Let us run with endurance. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and furnisher of our faith, we're supposed to be having our eyes on Jesus. Yes, He began our faith. He's going to conclude our faith. Our eyes are still supposed to be on Him in this in-between period. fixing our eyes on Jesus. Right now, here and now, in between, yes, there's no question He began it. Yes, He's going to finish it. And right here and right now, usually the problem is I get my eyes off of Jesus and on me. And I get performance driven. I get duty oriented. I get obligation incensed rather than having my faith rust on Jesus. Remember, He is our sanctification. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. He is our sanctification along with our redemption and our wisdom and our righteousness. We need to spend more time with the Savior, the living Word, studying the written Word, so that my faith can grow. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God as I spend time in His Word. It strengthens me. It encourages me. It motivates me. It sanctifies me and makes me holier. The problem is we do not spend time in this book. That's the problem. We don't spend time here. We don't spend time meditating in it. Imploring God. God, show me. Strengthen me. When was the last time you sat alone in a closet praying and pleading with God to strengthen you? Pleading with God. I'm not just talking about, oh God, you know, make me stronger. And then you go do the thing. I'm talking about pleading with God. I see people shaking their head no. This is the problem. As the deer pants for the water brook, so my soul doth pant after thee. Oh my God! Does it? You'll have to answer that question yourself. Fixing our eyes on Jesus. The living Word. As I sit with the written Word. Faith. Faith. Encouragement. Motivation. Strength. I derive it. It is a promise. Faith comes by hearing the Word. Read it to yourself. We have all kinds of reading schedules. Reading through the Word of God in a year. There's as many different schedules as there are people that are doing it. Faith comes by hearing the word, fixing our eyes on Jesus. If I want to fix my eyes on Jesus, the living word, I will spend time in the written word. And then I am promised faith and repentance. Those gifts planted as seeds will grow. God is not a liar. They will grow. And at some point, you'll get the victory over that sin that so easily entangles you. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful for this time. We're thankful for Your Word. We're thankful that we can spend time in it. Lord, grow us up. Grow our faith. We have faith, Lord, but sometimes it just seems so inconsequential. But a promise that we have is that you will never leave us nor forsake us. We are in the palm of your hand and no man can lose us from it. We are the apple of your eye. We are the recipients of your eternal chesed, that loving kindness. And so Lord, in spite of our frailties, in spite of our sins, in spite of our apathy, our unwillingness, to even come to You in our need. We thank You for that grace that saves. We thank You for the mercy that spared us. We're thankful for that loving kindness whereby we can know our salvation and our redemption is all because of Jesus. As unworthy as we are, Lord, we just say thank You because it's all we can do. Give you thanks in Christ's name. Amen.