True Repentance through Faith I want to say upfront that there is no other way to faith except through repentance.

There is no other way. Any other way that claims to get you there is simply a deception. True faith is impossible without repentance. The New Testament reveals this and that there is a foundational doctrine that forms the basis of the Christian faith. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 6:1-3, Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. There are two thoughts here that we must combine, first you must have laid a foundation for without it you cannot build but once laid do not continually go back and re-lay or rebuild the foundation. Rather continue on to the point of completion. And as you see in verse 1 it is the foundation of the principles of the Christian faith and it lists six doctrines of our faith: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Repentance from dead works Faith towards God Doctrine of Baptisms (plural) Laying on of hands Resurrection of the dead Eternal judgment

And as you see it follows the natural progression of our faith from its beginning to its end for all eternity. I want you to see that our Christian faith does not terminate in time or this life or this world, for it takes us beyond this world into the unending vastness of all eternity. Many Christians today have no concept of our eternity as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:19-20; If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. If you do not have a vision that carries you beyond this time then you are the most wretched. You walk in complete misery. If this is your walk then you will suffer many disappointments in this life for this time on earth is not the fulfillment, rather it comes in eternity.

So these six doctrines take us right from the beginning through repentance right through our resurrection and judgment. So before I speak about repentance from dead works, I would like us to look at verse three; And this we will do if God permits. We will go on to completion if God permits. You cannot move forward without His permission. You may ask yourself, Why wouldnt God permit us to go on to completion? Lets look at the analogy of home building. In this county you must first have a building plan and submit it to the housing authority in order to get a permit. Only after that may you start your foundation, and then your home will be inspected step by step until its completion. But only after a thorough inspection of your foundation may you move forward towards your homes completion; for if the foundation is not solid your house will collapse. Salvation always requires Gods enablement and consent. Listen to what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:24-25; And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth. Did you hear that He would grant or permit them repentance? In John 6:44-45 we read; No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him in the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be taught by God. Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. It could be said that if your foundation is not right then God will allow you to go on forever in an elementary level of the Christian faith. You will never come to maturity for you never had the right foundation. So it is imperative that we study these six truths for they are the foundation of the Christian faith. Repentance from dead works, so what are dead works? Dead works has been defined as evil deeds or works that lead to death. Romans 6:23,For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. For additional descriptions read 1 Timothy 1:8-11,

Additionally dead works can also be defined as anything we do that is not done in faith to God. Anything not done in faith is a dead works. The only thing that brings life into us is done in faith. So you may have been a good church member, you may have donated money to the poor and you may have said many prayers but if it was not done in faith then it was all dead works. And I must tell you that I am guilty on all fronts. I have to turn away from everything not done in faith, what about you? Its faith alone that gives life to what we believe and what we do. This doesnt necessarily mean that we have been living a sinful life. Have you been alive to God? Does faith live in your heart? Lets look at what repentance is; first, repentance is not an emotion. You often see that today where a Preacher will work up the congregation into an emotional frenzy and then call them to faith in Christ. And after the emotional high has ended you will very often be left with nothing. Repentance is a decision. You can repentant without any emotion but you cannot repentant without a change of your will. You may hear that the definition of repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ. I believe that definition is good but equally that repentance seems to be more of a hard-wired decision and not simply an emotion, one that comes from the will; to completely turn from sin after looking into the mirror of Gods law, to see your sinful reflection and to do a 180 degree turn around and to never look back. When you reach a persons will and turn their will you often see a lasting conversion. I believe that many of those converted in todays church will not last for the converts will was never changed. We ask those people whose emotions are high to recite a man-made forgiveness prayer without ever mentioning the need of repentance. And sadly, as todays church fallway numbers indicate their conversion will not last. I think we need to briefly speak about this common practice of asking people to say a sinners prayer to receive Christ. Will tell them that a simple recital will insure their place in Heaven. Since personal faith in Christ must involve an actual decision of the will, it is often very helpful to express that decision in spoken words, and this could very naturally take the form of a prayer, as it often does, to Christ in which we tell him of our sorrow for sin, our commitment to forsake it and our decision actually to put our trust in him. That said, such a spoken prayer does not in itself save us,

but the attitude of heart that it represents does constitute true conversion and the decision to speak that prayer can often be the point at which a person truly comes to faith in Christ. Will you take Him as Lord, as King, as the Ruler of the universe? Will you follow His commands without hesitation or reservation? Are you His bondservant? What were the first words spoken by Christ as He started His ministry? Mark 1:15, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel. What were His last words given to the apostles before He was carried to heaven? Luke 24:46-47 Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise again the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem. And finally, as the risen Christ, in Revelation 3:19 He says to the church at Laodicea, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. As we saw when we looked at the use of the Law that when Jesus encounters people personally he requires them to turn from their sin before they come to follow Him. Whether it be speaking to the rich young ruler and asking that he give up his possessions (Luke 18:18-30), coming to the house of Zacchaeus and declaring that salvation had come to him that day because he had given half his goods to the poor and had repaid fourfold anything that was stolen (Luke 19:1-10), speaking to the woman at the well and asking about her husband (John 4:16) or speaking to Nicodemus and rebuking his rabbinic unbelief and pride in his own knowledge (John 3:1-21). Jesus consistently put his finger on the area of sin most influential in that persons life. In fact, we may ask whether anyone in the gospels ever came to sincere faith in Christ without repenting of his sins. In the book of Acts we see the same pattern. After Peters sermon at Pentecost, the crowd asked Men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter replied, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the Holy Spirit.(Acts 2:37-38)

In his second sermon he spoke in the same way, Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.(Acts 3:19) And again in Acts 5:31 when the apostles were on trial before the Sanhedrin, Peter spoke of Christ, saying, Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And when Paul was preaching on the Aeropagus in Athens to an assembly of Greek philosophers, he said, Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.(Acts 17:30) In Romans 2:4 he writes, knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? and he speaks of godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation in 2 Corinthians 7:10. So what does repentance mean and what should it look like to us? And most important how does God respond to us when we do? You know that there are two main languages in the Bible, Greek and Hebrew. In the Greek the definition of repentance is (Strongs Greek word # 3340) to change ones mind or purpose, to change your mind and live for Jesus; and in the Hebrew (Strong Hebrew word # 5162) to make a strong turning to a new course of action, to turn around. Youve been facing one way, the wrong way with your back to God and you willfully turn around and face God saying here I am, My Lord, what would have me to do? Now with these two together you have a complete picture of repentance. Faith comes only after repentance; the summations of all Gods messages in the Bible are Repent and believe. I heard a Pastor say that if you that are struggling for faith, the truth may be that you are not struggling for faith but rather you have never met the condition of repentance. If you dont have repentance in place first then your faith will always be shaky for repentance is the first of the 6 doctrines of the Christian faith. Have we truly surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus? Or do you catch yourself saying if I do this Jesus what will you do for me? I know I have. Do you think He will bargain with you? When you are repentant you do not think like this, rather you say to yourself, If I do this will it glorify Jesus or when I do that will it glorify Him?

Are you a double-minded man? Today is your aim to please Jesus or are you in it to please yourself? What about Friday and the rest of the week? In all things ask yourself continually is what I am doing right now bringing glory to Jesus? The most perfect illustration of repentance is the parable of the Prodigal Son. Perhaps it should be called the parable of the caring Father. We are all very familiar with this parable. It was one of Jesus longest and most detailed parables. The prodigal son is an example of sound repentance. Turn to Luke 15:17. Most of you know this story well, the second son of a wealthy family decide to get all of his inheritance from his father. The request that he made to his father was a shocking request especially in the Jewish culture as it was equivalent to saying that he wished his father were dead. It was actually grounds for the son to be stoned to death. He was not entitled to any inheritance while his father still lived. Yet the father very graciously fulfilled the request, giving him his full portion, which would have been one-third of the entire estate because the firstborn, being the eldest was to receive a double portion. The son evidently took his share in cash and left his father and headed off to live a life of wasted extravagance and excessive immorality. But as happens so often in real life he soon became financially broke about that time a severe famine hit. So there he was without a home, in rags, in a foreign land, feeding pigs and wishing he could eat the husks that he was feeding them. This would have repulsed listeners of this parable for swine were considered to be the worst sort of unclean animals. So lets read Luke 15:17; and there it is, the moment of truth, the instant that repentance happenedBut when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." ' And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no

longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry. Thats the point you have to come to yourself, what I call the moment of truth, you have to see yourself as you really are, and you have to see yourself as God sees you. And he made a decision; he arose and came to his father. To turn around, to change his mind and go back to the father that he had offended thats repentance. Making a decision and carrying your decision out; Going back to the father that loves you. Crying out to Him saying, Ive made a mess of my life, I cant run my life and I need you! Will you take me back? The wonderful thing was he had planned to say to his father, take me back and make me as one of your hired servants, but when he started out his father was watching for him. And here is whats most beautiful, that is how God is, He is watching out for you and when you begin to turn, He waits for you. And when the Father saw him a long way off and ran to meet him, thats how God is. Thats how He meets us and He kissed him. And He never let him say make me one of your hired servants. Instead what did He say, but bring out the best robe and put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet and kill the fatted calf. Thats the result of true repentance. Its worth repenting to be welcomed like that by God! How eager is God to forgive! Repentance in action! When his sin left him bankrupt and hungry, he was now ready for salvation. Praise God! Everyday of our lives we should have heartfelt repentance for sins that we have committed, and faith in our Lord to provide for us our needs and to empower us to live for Him. Repent and believe!