In this lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia continues going over the fundamental truths of salvation according to the Bible. In part 2, Pastor Dave discusses what role man has in salvation by conversion (repentance and faith).
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
all right well let’s get started good morning welcome to Sunny school thank you for being here especially right at the start let’s pray before we get into it heavenly father thank you for your word thank you for the truth that is a light unto our path thank you for Jesus Christ who is our light unto salvation God I pray that you would help me to be able to explain this new material today summarizing what your Bible teaches and help us Lord to be in awe of the Gospel of what you actually do in Salvation And also aware of our responsibility in Jesus name amen okay well we are continuing in the fundamentals of the faith course and remember what this is all about this is about laying a Biblical or laying a foundation of biblical Theology and practice this is to reinforce our convictions this is to fill in gaps in our understanding and it is to bring us to Greater Unity as a church we began last week looking at the topic of salvation what is the Bible’s teaching regarding how a sinner is saved from sin and from God’s Wrath as I mentioned last week we can divide the Bible’s teaching on salvation into two main categories what God does in Salvation and what man does in Salvation and last week we looked at God’s role in Salvation and what is it that God does in Salvation everything everything we looked at this in depth but from graciously choosing before the foundation of the world to providing atonement through his son to regenerating to bringing the gospel to giving faith and repentance to sanctifying to glorifying God does it all man is not able to do any part of this because he is spiritually dead he is reliant on God and God’s power man can do nothing good on his own God must do it all logically and the Bible says in fact that he does do it all for his own Glory but this doesn’t make the same person just a passive absorber of all that God does within the Sovereign working of God man does respond to God’s work a saved person actually does something in response to say that another way the saved sinner has a role in his own salvation what is that role what does he do that’s what we want to talk about today so this is salvation part two and to get you thinking more about man’s part in Salvation let me post to you a multiple choice question don’t answer this out loud just think about it put together an answer in your own heads according to the Bible which of the following marks the exact point of salvation for a person you can look at that point and say that’s when salvation took place is it a baptism before Witnesses is it B public confession of Jesus says Lord is at see a spoken prayer of God asking for salvation D is it silent prayer to God asking for salvation or is it e none of the above let’s take a second to think about it well what is the correct answer while answers a to d are closely associated with genuine salvation and may even appear moments after salvation occurs the correct answer is eat none of the above because what is it what is it that marks the exact point of salvation for a person okay that is correct but I want to be a little bit more specific you say the spirit opens their minds and hearts to respond to the word of God but looking for man’s side what what happens or what does a man do that marks the point of salvation yeah good local responses okay now repentance and Faith Wayne says where does that take place is that something you say out loud is that where repentance and Faith takes place it’s in the heart it’s in the hearts this is the mysterious beauty of the gospel and a frustrating fact for any person looking to work his way for salvation there is nothing you can do to bring about salvation not even praying a prayer whether spoken out loud or silently and if you consider this list of possibilities for what is the exact moment of Salvation can people do a through D and not actually be saved absolutely and we probably know people who have done this maybe we ourselves did that in the past you were baptized but you didn’t really know the Lord or you spoke a prayer or said a prayer in your heart but you didn’t really know the Lord and this is because what actually saves a person is a change of heart and acquiescence to the truth of the Gospel so that a person in his heart lets go of his sin and false means of Salvation and entrust himself holy to Jesus now often this change of heart is expressed immediately in a prayer to God expressing sorrow over sin and trust in Jesus as the only Lord and savior and so if you look back to your own experience you say Oh I thought I was saved when I prayed a particular prayer that probably that prayer was the immediate result of the Salvation it wasn’t the prayer though that saved you it was the faith it was the true belief that saved you or to be more accurate it was Jesus who saved you and you became connected to him you received the Salvation from him when you had a new real faith in your heart believing in Jesus now we don’t have to just look experientially to see this truth there is a very interesting Bible passage that corroborates what I’m saying so if you would please take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 10.
Acts chapter 10 verses 34 to 48.
this is Page 1100 actually 1101 if you’re using the Pew Bible context of this passage is that the Apostle Peter is visiting a man named Cornelius a Roman Centurion and God fearer now by God fearer I mean someone who believes in the god of the Jews but is himself not a Jew and he’s not yet heard the Gospel of Jesus so he believes in Yahweh but he’s a gentile you know in the earlier part of Acts 10 we hear about Peter being supernaturally summoned to go speak to Cornelius and Peter actually goes to cornelius’s house which was a big deal because Jews considered entering the house of a gentile as ceremonially defiling but because of the Revelation given to Peter he goes and Cornelius meanwhile brings together his relatives and closest friends to hear whatever message God is going to give Peter to say well in Acts 10 34 we hear Peter begin to speak to Cornelius and the gathered relatives and friends all these Gentiles and listen to what Peter says or rather follow along with what the text says Peter says acts 10 34.
opening his mouth Peter said I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him the word which he sent to the sons of Israel preaching peace through Jesus Christ he is the Lord of all or he is Lord of all you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea starting from Galilee after the baptism which John Brook Lane you know of Jesus of Nazareth how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him we Are Witnesses of all the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem they also put him to death by hanging him on a cross God raised him up on the third day and granted that he become visible not to all the people but to Witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God that is to us who wait and drank with him after he arose from the dead and he ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins let’s pause there for a second we could say much about what Peter just said but let’s just summarize what is the message that Peter is explaining here okay Jesus is The Sovereign one but we have a short term for the message that Peter is essentially explaining Danny this is the gospel this is the gospel this is the good news about Jesus you’ll notice about Jesus’s life his miracles his death his resurrection and the fact that he is the judge of the he’s going to judge the living and the dead and he is also the one God raised up so that whoever believes in him will have forgiveness of sins this is the gospel Cornelius is looking for whatever message Peter has from God well the message that God has for Peter to say is the gospel now notice carefully what happens next in the text verse 44 and following while Peter was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also for they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God then Peter answered surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did can he and he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and they asked him to stay on for a few days now the visible falling of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles here is significant because what does that indicate Jews okay yeah so now we have the Holy Spirit on the Jews and Gentiles but what’s so significant about that Dwayne did they receive salvation just like it that’s right this is this is an indicator of salvation of being accepted being brought in by God and being given all the blessings that are in Jesus you’re much more in the New Testament about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and its indwelling of a person but when the church first started God showed the visible or God showed the indwelling of the Spirit by a miraculous visible coming upon a person where they even began to speak in languages that they didn’t know before these were human languages but this happened for the Jews in the day of Pentecost happened for the Gentiles right here this is God giving his holy spirit in a very visible way as a seal and proof of the Salvation of these individuals that itself is very significant because according to the text when did the Holy Spirit fall on these Gentile Believers was it after they were baptized no they get baptized after the Holy Spirit comes out upon them was it after they made a public confession if Jesus says Lord no they hadn’t said anything yet wasn’t after they prayed to God either out loud or privately but we don’t know what’s going on privately but they’re busy doing something so it’s not likely that they’re praying something in their hearts because what are they doing according to verse 44 when the Holy Spirit falls upon them they’re listening because Peter’s still speaking verse 44 it says while Peter was still speaking these words he’s not even done his gospel presentation but notice in verse 43 Peter had just declared that those who believe in Jesus which he would receive forgiveness of sins so what is it that happened between verse 43 and the Holy Spirit falling on the Gentiles they believed they believe that was it they just had a change of heart in that moment where they heard Peter explain enough of the gospel and they say or they’re not even saying uh it’s not even being necessarily consciously articulated in a full way in their hearts but they they believe and immediately the Holy Spirit comes upon them these Gentiles have put their trust in Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes upon them now this is a pretty clear demonstration of how salvation actually works from a human perspective now some other things that are associated with salvation even though this is an internal change some of the things that are associated with salvation in an external way they manifest pretty quickly they do begin miraculously praising God in these tongues they get baptized immediately but it wasn’t the baptism it wasn’t the praising that saved them it was the belief in the heart so this is the point I want you to see from this passage it’s simply faith in Christ that results in Salvation and that’s a change that takes place in the heart now today we want to look more closely at faith and its counterpart repentance these together make up what is theologically called conversion and that’s a Biblical term you do see it in different places what is conversion it is the Turning of heart that brings salvation and asking what man’s part in Salvation really is it’s this it’s conversion it’s repentance and faith of course that’s a gift from God we’ve already talked about that by looking at man’s side he must repent and believe to be saved now as I said in the little Prelude to our lesson today we’re going to be using the workbooks part of this lesson so if you’ve done the homework already you’ll be well prepared we’re going to go over some of the questions here we’re going to look at these two concepts in more detail faith and repentance or repentance and faith and before I go on though let me let me do another question our repentance and Faith actually two separate actions or are they really just two ways of talking about the same idea of conversion that’s right they’re actually just two ways of looking at the same thing and this is an important realization because otherwise you’ll be confused about how the Bible talks about what humans must do to be saved because otherwise it seems like the Bible’s inconsistent sometimes the Bible says that only repentance is required for salvation for example acts 17 30 acts 17 30.
Paul’s preaching and he says therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance God is now declaring to all men that all people everywhere should repent wait what about faith no he says repent that’s acts 17 30. so sometimes only repentance is mentioned other times the Bible says that only faith is required only belief is required and you know this from one of the most famous statements in the Bible John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him not repents and believes believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life oh so I guess faith is the only thing that we need well sometimes the Bible says that both repentance and Faith are required fewer instances of this but one notable one at least in Mark 1 14 to 15 Mark 1 14-15 this is actually Jesus preaching it says you know after John had been taken into custody Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God message of Salvation and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel why isn’t the Bible consistent on this well that’s because these are really two sides of the same coin there’s not really an inconsistency here this is just using one term or the other to emphasize the different aspect of saving conversion each one of these terms emphasizes a different aspect of what a man does to be saved it is accurate for you to say we are saved by faith alone don’t have to have somebody come by and say no you forgot repentance now repentance is included in the idea of saving Faith sometimes you have to bring that out more because people have forgotten that that’s actually part of Saving faith these days it is important that we clarify what repentance really is but to be clear the Bible does teach that it is faith alone faith and repentance it is faith alone in Christ alone that saves there’s nothing else that can save and nothing else is necessary to be added to Faith to save baptism is not necessary the Lord’s table is not necessary verbal confession is not necessary prayer is not necessary good works are not necessary to be saved God has ordained that only simple change of heart simple belief in one’s heart that connects one to Jesus Christ immediately results in justification sanctification adoption and glorification some of that in part and some of it is received in full the rest is still to come but we’ve been through this a little bit in our last lesson God accounts us righteous he accepts us fully simply on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ this fits the pattern of the father of Faith Abraham Genesis 15 6 Genesis 15 6 then Abraham believed in the Lord that is Yahweh and he God reckoned it to him Abraham as righteousness all he did was believe and God says you are considered righteous I account you as righteous and of course the same truth is beautifully expressed in many verses of the New Testament including one that we know and love Ephesians 2 8-9 Ephesians 2 8 9 for by Grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast let’s never forget that this is why the gospel is such good news and why it’s so foreign to all self-righteous religious systems of the world God says you simply must believe in Jesus and you will be saved that’s it just believe that’s so generous that’s so simple and easy well in a sense yes it is simple and easy another sense faith is extremely hard and costly many people think they have exercised faith in Jesus under salvation when they have not really they do not understand faith or they do not understand the repentance that is part of true faith according to the Bible so that’s why we want to look at these terms more and let’s do that starting with repentance if you haven’t already open your workbooks to page 49 and look under 0.2 conversion and even section a conviction of sin whenever I ask someone at the mall if they’ve ever heard the term repent or repentance before I sometimes get the answer yes but when I follow up and ask them what does it mean to repent I usually get oh it’s feeling bad about your sin right I was feeling bad about your sin the same as biblical repentance no though it is connected part of it but that itself is not repentance what is repentance well if you have your workbooks and you’re astute Observer you will notice we have a definition provided for us at the bottom of page 49.
bottom page 49 it says repentance means turning away from sin turning to God that’s a good definition repentance means turning away from sin and turning to God and the one coin of conversion the repentance side emphasizes what you’re turning away from Faith emphasizes what you’re turning toward in Christ repentance emphasizes what you’re turning away from so repentance means turning away from sin from all that dishonors God so that you may go to God himself and it’s a full turning it’s the Turning of the entire self your entire Inner Man to God we could break this down specifically you turn in your understanding you turn in your emotions you turn in your will everything that makes you makes up you and the Inner Man this ultimately results in returning of behavior how you live but the repentance itself is that inward turning the turning in your understanding emotions and will I’ve sometimes heard biblical repentance to find this way repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action that too is a good definition of repentance because it’s actually based off of one of the biblical terms for repentance in New Testament Greek we have met on when the noun form metanoia which literally means to change your mind or a change of mind that is what repentance is it’s a change of mind about Sin about yourself about God but the change never stays in the mind if there’s been a true change of mind or a heart those are synonymous terms in the Bible it always results in a changed life let’s look at this with some biblical passages true repentance first of all includes a change of understanding a turning in the understanding this is important because most people think that they are good people not in danger of God’s Wrath were some people pretend to themselves that there is no God and therefore there is no judgment I don’t have anything to be worried about so for anyone to be saved there must be a massive turning a massive change in understanding how does that happen well look at the first question in your workbooks a number one what has God given people to reveal their sinfulness they’re given Romans 3 20 as a little anchor passage to answer that but what is the answer what has God given people to reveal their sinfulness the law what’s the law the Commandments where so certainly in the Old Testament but we could put we can consider the Bible as a whole the Commandments of God especially expressed in the Old Testament it uh but it’s actually three Romans 3 20 say through the law comes the knowledge of sin now Romans 2 we won’t look at this specifically Romans 2 says that even people who don’t have God’s Bible even don’t have a written version of God’s law they still have God’s law testifying against them how so that’s right it’s already written in their hearts it’s imprinted in their hearts now it often gets twisted it gets fuzzy but it’s already there in their Consciousness and in their hearts and it’s alternatively excusing or accusing or excusing or accusing them but either way God has put his law both in our hearts and especially in his word to show us our sin how does this happen well in Repentance ultimately if this results in Repentance God uses his word to show us who he really is what his standard really is to be considered acceptable to him to be righteous before him and what is the penalty for those who don’t meet that standard what does God’s law reveal that God is who God is he is the holy Creator and lawgiver who rightfully deserves all worship and obedience his standard for his creation is to be holy just like he is perfectly all the time Jesus even says this Matthew 5 48 therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect those who do not meet the standard of perfection according to the law we’ll suffer Eternal death under the holy wrath of God for rebelliously willfully refusing to give to God what is his just do and that’s bad news because how many of us have met God’s standard none we know this so what is our just sentence from a holy God death it’s Eternal condemnation it’s hell which is why Romans 3 23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God nobody’s met the standard Romans 6 23 8 adds for the wages of sin is death this is what you earned this is your just recompense all of us stand condemned could additional good works make up for our imperfections no why not because even those Works fall short and also if you’re already imperfect are you ever going to become perfect again no matter what you do James 2 10 whoever breaks the whole or whoever breaks one aspect of the law will be considered guilty of breaking the whole law before God and even our good works are themselves corrupt according to 60 Isaiah 64 6.
now this is new information for most people they don’t know this so for someone to be saved then and more specifically for our purposes for someone to repent there must be a change in their understanding there must be a change in their understandings if that person ends up confessing in his heart saying the same thing as God does about himself and about his sin God now I see from your law now I see from your word you are a holy God and I am guilty before you I am justly condemned to Eternal wrath to Hell Fire unless you provide a merciful intervention another way of describing this realization of guilt is conviction of sin and we see an example of this kind of conviction even as part of true repentance in Acts 2 36-37 that’s part of the next question in your workbook question A2 when the people realize their mistake that they made in crucifying Christ how did they feel in their hearts according to that verses says now when they heard this they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Brethren what shall we do they had the message proclaimed to them the word of God and that message pointed out their sin and how they are under the condemnation of God and they realized it there was a turning in their understanding and they were pierced and they said we need rescue so true repentance must include a change in understanding where you say I am not good before God I am guilty but there’s not merely a change in understanding the repentance is not merely intellectual if someone truly understands the magnitude of his sin before God there will also be a change in his emotions there will be the introduction of a new Godly sorrow a hatred of sin and a Zeal to be free from guilt look at question 1B in your workbooks under repentance from sin this refers to the passage of the story about the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18 and the question is why did the tax collector cry out to God in the temple I’ll read that verse to you in case you don’t have it in front of you actually why don’t you turn there because there’s some things I want you to see Luke 18 13.
Luke 18 13 this is Page 1046 in the Pew Bible the question is why did the tax collector cry out to God in the temple and let’s see what the verse says but the tax collector standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying God be merciful to me The Sinner so why did the tax collector cry out to God that’s right it’s just like what we were talking about there’s been a change in his understanding he’s convicted of sin but he’s not indifferent to that he’s like oh I guess that’s a that’s reality I need to acknowledge he’s broken over it he’s now crying out to God he’s emotionally affected and he’s asking for mercy and this is quite a contrast in this story that Jesus tells because you have the Pharisee right before this who’s basically congratulating himself when he prays to God he says I’m so righteous thank you God that I’m so righteous he doesn’t realize his own sin he doesn’t have any Godly sorrow or Zeal to be made right with God but then you have this tax collector and you know anything about Tax Collectors they’re hated by most Jews notorious in their societies but what about his behavior indicates that he understands the magnitude of his own sin besides just crying out to God he’s beating his best and you say what’s that about well that’s not something really we do anymore but that was a sign of sorrow and Contrition in that society when you see Jesus crucified and some people realize that he’s dead it says that many of them beat their breasts because they just were so sorrowful over what had occurred so you see him doing that what else indicates that he understands his sin he wouldn’t even look to Heaven yeah what else yeah he cried out we’ve mentioned that okay yeah he does seem to be more or less alone notice it says that he stood some distance away so he only goes so far into the temple into the temple complex apparently because he doesn’t feel worthy to go any closer the Pharisee just strides right up there but the tax collector stands some distance away he won’t look to Heaven he’s beating his breast he’s asking God for Mercy but then also notice what he calls himself the The Sinner that is something significant here’s another instance where we have a special use of the Greek definite article the the before the word sinner tax collector doesn’t use this term to distinguish himself from the Pharisee he doesn’t know anything about the Pharisee and the Pharisees sin rather this is the definite article used to express the sense of par excellence the greatest or the most prominent of a particular category you saw this recently if you were part of listening to my sermons on John 3 John 3 10 Jesus identifies Nicodemus as the teacher of Israel you’re the greatest you’re the most prominent you’re the most illustrious teacher of Israel and you still don’t understand that’s definite article with the par excellent sense same idea here this tax collector prays to God and he identifies himself as The Sinner he says God I am the worst I haven’t studied other people’s sins but I’ve come to see my own and all I can say is that I must be the worst yet please have mercy on me and this is an attitude of someone who’s truly turned in his understanding of repentance and it’s resulted in a turning in his emotions he now has a Godly sorrow and you know it’s profound look at the next verse what does Luke 18 14 say just this one who identify himself as the worst sinner goes away Justified the one who saw his sin and sorrowed over it the one who cried out for the Lord for his Mercy he was the one who was considered acceptable to God righteous before God here again is that mysterious gospel logic you cried on repentance to God as the worst sinner God accepts you you pretend you’re righteous and you refuse to acknowledge your sin or sorrow over it oh you’re condemned Fred as a wicked one Godly sorrow a change a turning in your emotions that’s part of true repentance but as all sorrow over sin Godly well let’s look at another Passage you see this next in your workbook second Corinthians 7 verses 9 to 10 you can turn your Bibles over there second Corinthians 7 9-10 here Paul speaks about how he received word about the Corinthian Church and how they repented after Paul confronted them in a letter about sin they had committed as a whole in the congregation is here is that he hears that they’ve repented and in verses 9 to 10 of chapter seven Paul notes how he knows their repentance is genuine or one reason that he knows their repentance is genuine for look what he says in second Corinthians 7 9-10 I now Rejoice not that you were made sorrowful but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance for you are made sorrowful according to the will of God that you might not suffer loss in anything through us for the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret leading to leading to Salvation but the sorrow of the world produces death so what was so encouraging to Paul about the Corinthians that they express sorrow they had a sorrow and not just any old sorrow but a Godly sorrow now there is such a thing as a worldly sorrow that’s very different from Godly sorrow now look at the two questions under number two in your workbooks what does Godly sorrow over sin produce repentance without regret what and to what does this repentance without regret lead salvation what about worldly sorrow how does it contrast with Godly sorrow what it leads to is death what about the sorrow itself okay we’ll say more about in a second there’s a difference in what the sorrow is essentially concerned about but does a worldly sorrow have repentance or at least if it does it’s not a repentance without regret a momentary repentance perhaps but there’s regret eventually connected with it and the outcome is indeed a death why why the difference in these sorrows why the difference in their outcomes well it goes back to what Glenda mentioned there’s essential there is an essential difference over to over what the sorrow is really about one is centered on God the other is centered on the self worldly sorrow is really only about the consequences of sin or the loss of sins enjoyment it’s basically self-centered it eventually regrets the repentance and it Longs for that sin again you see this kind of Sorrow exhibited many times in the world especially when someone gets caught in some terrible trespass but Godly sorrow while acknowledging the pain of sin’s temporal consequences it’s ultimately god-centered it is grieved primarily over what an offense or an injustice sin is to God what a person’s sin has done to God can you think of anyone in the Bible who showed ungodly sorrow over sin that really just led to death Judas is a great example Saul’s another one these are people who are caught in terrible sins they express sorrow over the sin even a certain willingness to change maybe not Judas so much he does throw the money back into the temple but it didn’t result ultimately in Repentance and certainly not salvation Judas commits suicide Saul kind of does the same thing Esau too though we don’t see him reported as ending up in death we never see him even though he’s sorry about giving up his Birthright we never see him actually returned to God and it said in the New Testament that he sought for repentance with tears but he never actually repented he wanted repentance or rather he wanted the results of repentance without the repentance these are all examples of ungodly sorrow leading to death but can you think of anybody in the scriptures caught into sin who then expressed Godly sorrow leading to repentance and even salvation David is probably one of the most clear examples right he has this terrible set of sins that he commits with Bathsheba and really he deserved to die because of it for God pardons him there was a certain discipline that God gave to David as a leader of the nation but even though he committed adultery murder blasphemy deception God pardon his sin because David owned up to it and had real Godly sorrow over it who else Peter is another good example I mean what a contrast between Judas and Peter essentially both betray the Lord Jesus but Judas won’t come back to Jesus in Repentance he kills himself Peter does and he’s restored by the Lord and we could look at other examples so you see that true repentance is a turning both in the understanding and the emotions if there is a true understanding or turning in the understanding it will also result in a change in the emotions but there’s one more part it’s not enough to realize that you’re wrong and feel Godly sorrow or feel sorrow over it no if those things are true in a biblical sense those who have truly turned in their understanding and emotions will also turn in their Wills they will commit to change and in to embrace God’s way to make whatever needs to be made right right there is a change in the will there is a turning in the will indeed if we just stay in the same passage and look at verse 11 notice what it says there second Corinthians 7 11.
for behold what earnestness this very thing this Godly sorrow has produced in you what Vindication of yourselves what indignation What Fear what longing what Zeal what avenging of wrong and everything you demonstrate yourselves to be innocent in the matter Paul’s saying here well it’s not contradicting what he just said he says actually you didn’t really sin you’re innocent after all no that would contradict what he just said rather Paul is pointing out this other part of true repentance There’s an actual forsaking of the evil that was committed and that was sorrowed over there’s a forsaking of the evil in the will to follow God’s way a truly repentant person he gives up his sin he gives up his self-righteousness he gives up the lordship over his own life I’m going to decide what I do and God doesn’t really have a say no he gives all that up because of these other things that have taken place in him he now understands what’s really going on about himself and God and his sin and he’s been affected by it even in his emotions this is only natural this is the expected outcome of somebody who really understands sin and has come to hate it it’s come to sorrow one memorable and instructive call to repentance in the scriptures is Isaiah 55 7. so why don’t you turn your Bibles over to the Old Testament so we can see this together Isaiah 55 7 . really this is another good example if you consider the context of repentance and Faith because in the earlier part of the passage you see the positive invitation of God the positive aspect emphasized but in Isaiah 55 7 you see the negative aspect of conversion emphasize repentance look at what it says in Isaiah 55 7.
let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord that is Yahweh and he will have compassion on him and to our God he will abundantly pardon now I know we’re just looking at one verse here but notice to whom the call is made is it made to the righteous or is it made to the wicked so the wicked to the unrighteous ones and what is it the unrighteous man is to forsake according to this verse his thoughts and his way his way in his thoughts now what is meant by the expression his way exactly his conduct Behavior the way he lives his life this is not literally like there’s a path he’s going on it’s like God says don’t go down that road now this is figurative this is how he lives his life you want to forsake that way your speech and behavior the way you live now that part of man is observable isn’t it but what about the thoughts are they observable they’re not this is because they are inside a person they are the inner man but God says you ought to forsake those two so in true repentance where does god require the forsaking of evil in the heart the thoughts but also your life your behavior your speech and conduct there’s that change in will to forsake evil in all areas inside and out of course it begins in the heart but there’s that commitment to forsake it outwardly as well and this is done for a purpose so that this wicked person according to verse 7 May return to Yahweh and notice what is Promised of such a forsaker immediately Upon returning to God pardon compassion abundant pardon it says isn’t that a surprise immediate pardon what about Penance what about a bunch of good works first to arouse your compassion God what the text says not necessary it is merely the change of heart it’s merely the change of will that says no longer my way God your way to that God says you now have my compassion you have my full pardon here again is the beauty of the Gospel this is why we say salvation is by faith alone apart from works it’s all about a change Tire which God does but we have a role in we give our will we give up our sin we have a turning of our Wills to God so to summarize here is the repentance part of conversion you really see it summarize on the screen is it turning away from sin and a turning to God the Turning takes place in the Inner Man it affects the understanding the emotions the will and it must have all of those to be really true repentance if you only have one of these or two of these you may think you’re repenting but you’re not really someone might acknowledge this sin is wrong but still not be moved to change or someone might will to change but he doesn’t really understand why and so it doesn’t follow through any incomplete repentance any only partial repentance well not only will it fail produce to produce lasting change it will not save that’s not biblical repentance true replant true repentance is of the whole man the whole inner man must be a complete change of heart to be real this is what we’ve seen but repentance is just the negative side of the coin the positive side is Faith or belief negatively a person turns from sin positively he turns to God but what exactly is a person turning to positively in God let’s now talk about faith some people think they have faith in God if they believe intellectually that Jesus really existed or that Jesus really is God or that Jesus really did die for the sins of mankind but saving faith is much more than this if you look at the end of section c on page 50 you’ll see a good definition of Faith provided there what is faith faith means trusting in clinging to or embracing Jesus Christ with the object of our faith faith means trusting trusting in clinging to or embracing Jesus Christ who is the object of our faith you see this is something that we need to understand when it comes to believing in Jesus the kind of belief that the Bible is talking about is an entrusting kind of belief it is a firm conviction in which you take a risk in a sense on Jesus you go all in on him you give yourself holy to Jesus you rely on him alone to save you and you take him as Lord of your life you see there’s a wheelbarrow on here I remember hearing a story illustrating the difference between mere intellectual belief and entrusting belief this is just a parable I don’t believe this really happened there’s once a tightrope Walker who claimed he could walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope while pushing a wheelbarrow and many gathered to watch the feet man before he did it the first time he asked someone in the crowd in particular as to whether that person believed the Walker could succeed in his task without falling and the person said yeah I think you can do it somewhat nervous the tight word walker then proceeded to do exactly as he set out to do he walked the entire distance over Niagara Falls pushing the wheelbarrow and he walked back of course the crowd was very impressed by this clapping cheering The Walker then found that same man in the crowd and asked him another question do you think I can do this again without falling or losing the wheelbarrow the guy was more enthusiastic yeah I I believe you can well the Walker then did it again he took the wheelbarrow went across the Tyrone went all the way back and of course the crowd is even more impressed even more pleased wow what a feat the walk and then comes back to that first person that he talked to and he says do you think I can do it a third time without losing the wheelbarrow without falling off and man’s is even more confident he says absolutely I am sure you can do it and then the Walker says to him well then get in the wheelbarrow that’s the difference right you see believing in Jesus isn’t just watching risk free from the sidelines while Jesus accomplishes the amazing feat of Salvation no it’s getting in Jesus wheelbarrow you trust that Jesus really is fully gone fully man just as he said that he does fully pay for the sins of those who believe in him and also fully supplies his own righteousness to make those persons Justified and acceptable to God you believe the message of Jesus you believe the person of Jesus you acknowledge Him as Lord of your life you give yourself over to him for his service you cannot acknowledge Jesus to be who he is and not give yourself to him there would be a total disconnect there if he is who he is then you must give yourself to him your heart says to Jesus you alone are worthy of devotion as the Savior and Lord I entrust my whole self to you do you see how in a way this is just saying the same thing that repentance did it’s just a more positive emphasis but really it’s the same no one who Embraces Jesus in such a full way also holds on to sin or self-made efforts to earn God’s favor or clings to his own way that’s why repentance and Faith are really two ways of talking about the same thing you must give up All to Jesus to receive Jesus salvation what does God promise to all those who have such a faith in Jesus in their hearts immediate salvation all the Privileges of a child of God no Works no rituals no amount of Good Deeds required just genuine faith in the Son of God in the heart God promises salvation to those who simply believe and God makes good on that promise look at C1 in your notebooks so turning back the page number of questions centered on Romans 10 what promise is given to those who simply call upon the name of the Lord it will be saved whoever will call in the name of the Lord will be saved just call on him from the heart no uncertainty with that statement it’s guaranteed simply call by faith on the sun and you will be saved or to use the bronze serpent analogy mentioned here in the context that we’ve even talked about it similarly from John 3 you just look at the serpent and you’re healed and by analogy you just look to Jesus in faith and you’re saved that’s it go back up a second go to Romans 10 verses 8 to 10.
and we can actually turn there now Romans 10 8 to 10.
some famous verses here Dr declaring salvation by faith to give you a little bit of context of these verses right before Paul clarifies why the Jews have not come to be saved as a whole why haven’t the Jews believed well they’re still trying to earn salvation through the law by keeping the law they’re not realizing that the real way of salvation by faith has been staring them in the face the whole time indeed the apostles have brought the message refreshed to Israel so no Jew can say oh the truth about salvation is too difficult or too far away to find not at all for Paul says starting in verse 8 Romans 10 8.
but what does it say salvation by faith what does salvation by faith say the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith which we are preaching that if you confess with your mouth Jesus says Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in Salvation look at the workbook questions that come after these verses so this is next page 2A faith is required for salvation what must you confess Jesus says Lord Jesus is Lord he’s God he’s the Lord of your life to be what must you believe God raised Jesus from the dead that’s an essential aspect of the gospel and what is the promise result from God he will be saved now you might be saved or hopefully will be saved God will consider it and think about it know you will be saved again we ask that’s it yes that’s it and isn’t that good news that’s why we call it the gospel nothing is required to be saved from God’s Wrath and brought into Eternal Paradise With Jesus accept simple faith in him how radically wonderful such a message is compared to all the things taught by world religions bent on the false Gospel of works keep all these rules do these rituals and God might let you into his heaven no gospel says this is how God chooses to glorify himself in simple faith we acknowledge him that we are helpless without him need him to do everything and he essentially responds that’s right you know what I am pleased to glorify Myself by Saving you in this way God gets all the glory when salvation is just by faith now looking at Romans 10 8-10 you might ask yourself hey Pastor Dave I thought you said salvation all comes down to Faith in the heart what’s this here in Romans 10 about confessing with your mouth in order to be saved I mean that sounds like something external and extra you mean I really need to say out loud Jesus is Lord to be saved it says confess with your mouth do I really need to do that what do you think if you truly said you let everybody know what he’s done for you and he is your lord very good Glenda you said if you’re truly saved you will let everybody know about what God has done for you and answer the question do you need to confess to the math that Jesus is the Lord to be saved the answer is yes and no no it is not required to be saved because by definition faith is an internal reality so how could the word of faith which is Paul’s way of summarizing the Gospel how could the word of faith require something Beyond mere faith however the answer is also yes because just as Glenda said any real faith of the heart will result in a Readiness to confess Jesus outwardly to the people of the world that’s why those two things can be said together if you say oh I believe Jesus is my heart I’m not going to confess him out loud well then you betray yourself you show that your faith is not real here we begin to provide one important clarification to the amazing truth we’ve been meditating on that salvation is by faith alone by repentance and faith alone apart from Works prayers and rituals if someone is truly repentant truly has faith in Jesus that person will have noticeable changes taking place in his life he will start praying to God he will confess his faith publicly in some measure he will seek to be baptized or to speak even more fundamentally this person will start living righteously his life will become characterized by increasing holiness not perfection but a fundamentally New Direction after Jesus why and how is this true and what does a change life have to do with Assurance of salvation sorry a little bit of cliffhanger we have to wait till next time to discuss that speaking next time do remember hopefully you saw the email that next Sunday we have our special Kingdom worker with us you’ll be speaking during both the Sunday School hour and the main service but because of where he serves there will be no live stream during the next Sunday School or during the service so you’ll definitely want to show up in person to the Sunday school class if at all possible you’ll be encouraged I’m sure by hearing what our kingdom worker has to say and you will be very much an encouragement to him so next Sunday we won’t come back to this we’ll be hearing our kingdom worker but the following Sunday we will resume where we left off come back to Salvation part three and we’ll talk about how salvation changes a person to walk a new way we’re going to talk about sanctification and what that has to do with Assurance of Salvation after that of course we’ll take a break for the summer months of July and August and pick up the rest of fof in the fall couple minutes left questions about what you heard today yeah mark is that the controversy so-called I think they came out in the 80s over lordship salvation so-called came primarily from or largely from well you just read in Romans perhaps you can comment on that the controversy over lordship salvation coming from what I just read in Romans which part of Romans right confessing with the mouth Jesus as Lord yeah I’m sure that and many other passages what the controversy that has existed it’s not as intense today but still there are those who in the name of Defending salvation by faith alone push back against the idea that a person’s life needs to be changed and they’ll say you’re basically trying to make salvation by works by saying somebody has to live holy but no there is a subtle distinction we’re going to clarify it more next time but if the faith is real if the repentance is real according to the scriptures there must be a change there must be a forsaking of sin that’s what repentance is right we already talked about it it includes the forsaking of all that dishonors God in the will if that is not borne out in a person’s life in some measure well the Bible would indicate there is ample reason to question that person’s salvation that’s not real repentance that’s not real faith yes we do want to guard the encroachment of any sort of work onto salvation guard salvation by faith but we cannot at the same time slip into easy easy believism which is oh just believe in Jesus and it doesn’t matter what happens with the rest of your life now you don’t really have biblical belief if that’s the way you’re thinking about it we’ll say more related to those things but yeah certainly this has been a relevant Topic in American evangelicalism over the last decades another question yeah it was always portrayed as you just have to say a prayer and you know oh saying this prayer I’m saying how do you address that yeah so what we great questions age talking about very commonly in Christianity people will talk about praying a Salvation prayer or even what’s preventing you from praying a prayer to God for salvation right now what do we say to that well what we’ve talked about today certainly has implications because we know that no Prayer Will Save and if you walk someone through a Salvation prayer or you tell someone only has to do is pray there’s a great danger that you or that person may now have a false Assurance of Salvation because they prayed a prayer does that mean that you should discourage them from praying or that if they want to pray after you’ve given the gospel to them you should say no no I don’t think so but you need to keep it in its proper understanding if a Prayer of Salvation is being said it’s only an expression of a change that’s already taken place in the heart so in helping that person understand salvation show them or actually when I when I evangelize often the way I kind of end my presentation is do you repent and believe because it’s something that should have already taken place in the conversation if they really do or maybe they’re they’re still a question or something like that because walking a person through a prayer afterwards we want if we do that is just to let them Express the results of their salvation to God rather than as a means of salvation if we start treating it like a means we’re setting that person up for some severe problems later on either because they’re not really saved or they might begin to doubt their salvation because they wondered if their prayer was right or did they pray it the right way or um was the prayer effective you know it’s interesting that in New Testament times when it came to religion the Romans the Pagan Romans believe that you had to pray things exactly right or the gods would not hear if you messed up the prayer at all you had to restart the whole thing we don’t want to have that kind of understanding slip into Christianity where you say did you pray this in your prayer how long was your prayer because otherwise you’re not saved no we want to protect people from that expressing that you know what they just believed or what they’ve just understood To God In Prayer that’s a fine thing in fact practically that helps you test their understanding of Salvation hear what they pray and say okay did they really get it but we want to help people understand that whether we’re using a prayer or not or whether they pray or not that’s not the thing that saves them it’s the it’s what’s going on in their heart so as we go through Christians but yet you’re concerned are they safe how do you approach that lovingly a prayer point and Museum yeah very good question Sage so if somebody has prayed a prayer they believe that they’re saved but their lives seem to indicate that they’re not how do you approach them let’s say that question for next time because that’s going to have a lot to do with our next topic so but it’s a it’s a very relevant one let me close this in prayer and we will get on with the rest of our Sunday Lord we thank you for this time looking into salvation and repentance and Faith specifically Lord It’s amazing it is such an assault on Pride when you declare in your word that no it’s just repentance and faith that saves no work of ours no Penance no ritual no long prayer none of it it’s just that change of heart which really you yourself producing us we are just responding to your work so all glory to you God help us to be clear on this and help us to help those Lord who who have gotten off track with understanding salvation or even in their own belief before you so that they truly are saved God we rejoice in your salvation but we do want to make it known we want to see more people safe so we pray that you Empower us to do that and uh accept our worship and the rest of our and bless the rest of our service today in Jesus name amen