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Repentance! There are a few things that are essential to “true” religion and without this foundation no or very little progress can be made in religion! The word “foundation” is important; what we believe is foundational to us, that is, it makes us who we are. If we do not have a right or proper foundation then the whole structure of our belief system will be off (use a building as an example). Among us there may be many items deemed essential in a belief system, one may hold a wrong opinion about baptism or tithing and these erroneous views may or may not condemn a person. Views of this nature if carried to an extreme have the potential to condemn an individual. For an example; if a person believes that he must be baptized in order to be saved he might be lead to put all his hopes of eternal life in baptism, thus ignoring other commands given by Jesus! There at least three things that I believe are essential or absolutely necessary in order for a person to have a right foundation to build on!(1.) The being of God; who he is and what can he do. This would also, of course, include Jesus. Here is the foundation for all that follows. Example; If Jesus were just a man then his work on Calvary would have no benefit for us. (2.) The purpose or will of God for all of his creation. One must understand the purpose of God in order to understand his own purpose for being! Included in this would be elements of the fall of man; without an understanding of the fall of man much if not all of the Bible would have to be very confusing and irrelevant to us. (3.) Salvation, and all that is included in this work of God on behalf of fallen man. Included in this the church and its’ mission or purpose in the world. Back to the basics or the foundation. The undoing of much if not most of religion is a misunderstanding of what is meant by believing and repenting (this would include all religion; Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and others). The failure in this area is devastating and eternal! It has been my opinion for a long time that the failure lies in a lack of understanding the depth dimension of these two doctrines. We live in a time of not only “easy believism” but also of “easy repentance.” The depth dimension in believing and repenting is left up to the subjective whims of the individual or to the religious instructor counseling the inquirer. The truth is, God alone knows the depth of the repentance or belief and he alone has the right to judge whether or not it is sufficient. We all know, all to well, the horror stories of some of our loved ones or friends who have been deceived into accepting a repentance that is shallow, or without any foundation of real hope. One of the problems comes from trying to define these concepts without a proper understanding of what God is trying to teach us. This would include going back to the original languages (Hebrew and Greek) and searching for the meaning to these words in the everyday use of the people. It is true that according to the everyday usage of the word repentance in the Greek language meant to simply change ones mind without any regard to how deeply their minds were changed. We have all changed our minds “somewhat,” only to find out later that we had to change again. A few years ago butter and eggs were all but eliminated from our diets only to find out later that they were not nearly as bad for you as first reported. I have repented (changed my mind) over many things of similar fashion only to find out later that what the experts said was misleading. Scientists have repented time and time again over how old the universe is and will probably repent again in the near future. This can not be the meaning of repentance as recorded in the Bible no matter how it was used in everyday conversation. It just does not probe the depth dimension of the word. Who knows whether or not that their repentance toward God will have to be repented of later! Many times I have believed a certain thing in the Bible, later on I would read a good argument on the subject and “change my mind,” then later on more information would be presented to me causing me to return to the first belief! I first thought that tithing was the best thing for me to do, later on I read an article that opposed tithing in favor of a free will offering, only to return later to my first opinion about tithing. There is no basis of solid concrete hope in repentance of this nature. If God does not change your mind then it will probably change again in the future. Here then is the key; only God can effect the change of mind (repentance) in us that will produce eternal security. Then and only then can we have the assured confidence that our repentance is the “real McCoy.” Farther more, God will let us know in some way that our repentance is of the genuine kind. This “true” Gospel repentance will “only” be accomplished through godly sorrow. Please read Paul’s statement about repentance as found in 2 Cor. 7:7-11, there you will discover the depth dimension of repentance especially in verse eleven! No easy repentance there, no shallow “change of mind” in these verses. Paul and the Spirit intends to probe the heart and mind (sometimes used interchangeably in the Bible) to let us discover for ourselves what our true motivations and intentions are. At this point I find myself very frustrated, as I always am, when I try to preach or teach on repentance and faith. The issues have became so muddled and complicated, complicated by sin, that it has become extremely difficult to sort it all out. We have a built in prejudice against the idea that the mind must be changed along with the heart, which farther complicates the issue. We ought to present what the Bible declares rather than abandon what is taught simply because the world has used it wrongly. Let me close with an illustration about the depth dimension of faith I used a few weeks ago in a lesson on justification. Since faith is essential in receiving the blessings of justification, then I need to know what true saving faith is! Before I can believe in Jesus I must know something about Jesus (faith comes by hearing). Is this not the function of the gospel, to tell people about Jesus? Faith and knowledge or not the same thing, but faith is not void of knowledge. No one knows all there is to know about Jesus, but we must have some knowledge of him. It may be a bare minimum, but it is something. Knowledge alone of Jesus is insufficient to save though. Next, a person must be convinced of the truth he has received (to be convinced of a falsehood about Jesus is of no value, e.g. Mormons). A person can be told he is lost but if he is not convinced of it, will he ever seek Jesus (the Holy Spirit does a wonderful job in this area; John 16:8)? Modern evangelism is constantly trying to get people to make a profession (that they believe) without any concern over whether they are convinced of the truth or not. It’s as if they’re saying, “Go ahead and make a profession, we will convince you of it later.” James makes a statement about Satan that is very interesting, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble (James 2:19).” From this and other places we can see that Satan has a knowledge of Jesus and is convinced of that knowledge (Mat. 8:28, 29). But something is lacking in Satan, he does not trust Jesus, in fact he hates him. This trusting in Jesus to save you is crucial to saving faith. Suppose I am in a tall building that is on fire, with all possible means of escape having been cut off except firemen below with a net. I may have heard of the valor of these firemen and of the quality of their net and am convinced that it is true. I may even have heard that just last week they rescued another person in a similar situation. But do I trust them to rescue me. This goes to the heart of the issue of faith, do I trust them with my life! At this point I can do one of several things; I can continue to look for another escape route or I can decide to stay in the burning building or I can trust the fireman (Jesus) and his net (his righteousness) and jump. This may be called a “leap of faith,” but is not a leap into the dark! It is not a leap of doubt either. “Oh, I hope he catches me,” misses the mark of true faith. At this point a person believes with all that he has that Jesus will save him. Ultimately God is the one who judges the depth of our faith. God and God alone has the authority and the right to somehow tell a person when he has truly believed and then saved. This is the first in a series of articles from our pastor, Eld. Terry Foster.
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