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Sunday School

The Gospel of Repentance and Faith, Questions

Speaker
Mark Twombly

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Summary

The gospel of repentance and faith is explored through its essential components: God’s holiness, man’s sinfulness, Christ’s saving work, and the call to repent and believe. We are reminded that the gospel is not merely an invitation but a command to be obeyed, requiring complete surrender to Christ as Lord. The lesson walks through a God-centered gospel presentation, emphasizing that salvation begins with understanding God’s perfect holiness, recognizing our utter inability to save ourselves, and trusting wholly in Christ’s finished work.

Key Lessons:

  1. A faithful gospel presentation must begin with God’s holiness and end with a call to repentance — omitting either produces a distorted gospel.
  2. Faith is not mere mental agreement with facts but utter and exclusive reliance on the finished work of Christ, bringing certainty and assurance.
  3. Assurance of salvation rests not on our performance but on Christ’s finished work on the cross, while genuine salvation produces evidence of transformation.
  4. We must contend earnestly for the true gospel without being contentious, discerning false gospels that obscure or add to Christ’s sufficiency.

Application: We are called to be always prepared to share the gospel with both right content and right character, maintaining the joy of salvation through daily reflection on what God has done, and praying for open doors to proclaim Christ faithfully.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does starting a gospel presentation with God’s holiness rather than man’s sinfulness change the way people understand their need for salvation?
  2. What is the difference between healthy self-examination and unhealthy doubt about our salvation, and how do we navigate that tension?
  3. In what practical ways can we prepare ourselves daily — both in content and in character — to share the gospel when opportunities arise?

Scripture Focus: John 3:16 (God’s love and the gift of eternal life), 1 Peter 3:18 (Christ suffering for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous), Romans 5:6-8 (God’s love demonstrated while we were sinners), Isaiah 59:1-2 (sin separating us from God), 1 John 1:8–2:2 (confession, forgiveness, and Christ as our advocate), Jude 1:3 (contending for the faith once delivered).

Outline

Introduction

Well, good morning and welcome to the Sunday before Christmas. Merry early Christmas to you. Hope you enjoyed the snow last week, but it is long gone. It’s too bad. It was beautiful.

Praise God. Yeah, Skip, you were pushing through and trying to help us last week. We appreciate that.

As we introduce the lesson today, I thought I would open with some of the words of the angels to the shepherds in Luke 2, which would be appropriate for us today.

In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”

Salvation and the gospel are all throughout the scriptures. It’s just really amazing.

Rejoicing in Our Salvation

And as I consider the phrase “good news” or “good tidings,” we see that even in the Old Testament, Psalm 96 says that we are to proclaim news of good tidings from day to day. This isn’t just for Christmas time; this is for all year round. May the Lord refresh and renew us in the gospel through this second and last lesson on the gospel of repentance and faith.

I’m going to open with some worship verses that I think will help us, which I commend to you. When the scriptures talk about, for example, in Psalm 51, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,” how do we maintain the joy of our salvation? I think we do it by reminding ourselves of what God has done. Here are just a few verses that I’ve grown accustomed to reading and praying through each morning, just so I never lose sight of the great salvation that I have in Christ.

“I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock and made my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.”

Isn’t that something we want? We recognize the pit from which God has rescued us, and our hearts are inflamed with thankfulness and worship to God, along with a desire for others to experience that.

May that be true. May many see, fear, and trust in the Lord as he puts his song in our mouths. We proclaim that in Psalm 34. There are so many precious verses there. “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.”

May that be true of us, particularly around Christmas. May we be radiant with his glory. I think of the words in Isaiah 9, “Arise, shine, for your light has come.” The glory of God has shone, not far from us, but upon us and in us. These are beautiful things for us to reflect on as we think about our salvation.

“The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

It’s interesting how the scriptures talk about the Lord. Psalm 27 begins with “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” He is our salvation. Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation.” Wonderful to think about.

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. He brought me forth also into a broad place. He rescued me because he delighted in me.”

Have you ever been out in nature and it gets a little dark or rainy, maybe you feel a bit scared, and then you come out into a field and the sun shows up? How does that feel?

I know it’s an incredible sense of relief and freedom. I always think about that nature scene when I think about this verse. He rescued us because he delights in us. He brought us into that place of freedom and salvation. It’s wonderful for us to reflect upon that.

Psalm 51 and the Connection to Evangelism

And then I’m thankful to our brother Danny who brought this to my attention. He’s out in Washington state for the holidays. I hadn’t thought as much about this as a gospel verse. This is something that you may be accustomed to praying every day. I know that I am as I prepare my heart to receive God’s word.

But I want to draw your attention to how it ends. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted to you. Isn’t that interesting? There’s a connection between our salvation and our living in its reality right before us that prepares us to lead others to him. May that be so of us.

“There’s a connection between living in the reality of our salvation and being prepared to lead others to Christ.”

Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say continually, “Yahweh be magnified.” Amen. With that, let me pray for us.

Father, we’re just overwhelmed. May you wash over our spirits this morning. Overwhelm us with the reality of your holiness, the seriousness of sin, and the wonders of your salvation. Particularly this Christmas time when we can be indulgent in all the wrong ways, but we want to be indulgent in your ways. We want to drink deeply from all that you have for us, particularly in the fountain of salvation. Make this morning a time of that, this season a time of that. Would you use us, Father, to lead many to faith and maturity in you, in your way, in your time, in Jesus’ name.

Amen. All right. This is week two. I think it was three weeks ago now; we missed the week because of the snow.

I thought we’d dive a little bit more deeply into the essentials of the gospel. Some of you have submitted questions, and Pastor Davis recommended questions as well.

What Is the Gospel?

What are the essentials of the gospel?

What are the things that we need to communicate to say that we have communicated the gospel faithfully? Repentance and faith, assurance in the gospel, right? We can think about what that means. You hear about the idea of assurance of salvation or eternal security, as our statement of faith puts it. I want to talk a little bit about what that means. It’s not a shallow thing; it’s something very deep.

Then there is contending for the faith. What is the true gospel, and how do we contend for it without being contentious with people? That’s something that God would lead us in. We will have some questions and application, and feel free to ask questions. We have a good amount of content to cover today, but I welcome interruptions as we go. If you might have the mic handy, we might need it sooner rather than later. Thank you for that.

All right. What is the gospel? One of the things I mentioned last week is that it’s good for us to have a few things in our toolkit to be ready to answer that.

We are always praying for and looking for open doors for the gospel. Sometimes those windows or doors open and close very quickly.

Key Gospel Verses

If we have a quick moment to share something with someone, it’s good for us to have maybe a verse or two just to share. There are three that I’m recommending here. This is probably the most popular one that even many unbelievers know. Many unbelievers have looked up, having watched football, and seen this in the end zone: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. If you can sow that seed with someone, that’s a wonderful thing. Hopefully, it will lead to further conversations, but that’s a wonderful thing to think about. I’m not over this yet. As familiar as it is, it’s amazing. As believers, we know what it means to perish, right? That’s a very serious thing. Yes, Arthur, you did say we could interrupt you.

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Yes, I did. Thank you.

I just wanted to point out to everyone, I don’t know why more people don’t see this. One of the reasons I believe this is one of the most favorite verses is that if you look carefully at the words, you’ll see the letters of the gospel actually in the verse. For God so loved the world, there’s your “gotten” Son, there’s your “O” and your “S,” and that another “S” shall not perish, there’s your “P,” eternal life.

That’s fun. That’s really amazing. The gospel is there even in the English language. Thank you, brother.

You’re welcome.

That’s something. You had mentioned this to me before, and I’d forgotten about that. The word “gospel” is in that verse. Another short version is one that I use a lot with people. I think it’s really helpful: For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that he might bring you to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.

That’s 1 Peter 3:18.

Then there’s so much we can unpack from these. I’m just going to go fairly quickly. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. This is not only a great salvation verse; it’s a great assurance verse, is it not? If you’ve passed out of death into life, eternal life is by definition eternal. It’s something that you can’t lose. This is great assurance for the believer as well.

Here’s the medium version. We talked about this, I think, last week in terms of what is the gospel. This is what Paul said the gospel was: Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I proclaimed as good news to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I proclaimed to you as good news, unless you believed for nothing. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

The Importance of the Resurrection

One of the things you may notice in these last few verses that we’ve talked about is that the resurrection is prominent. I don’t know about you, but particularly early on in my life, when I heard these truncated or brief gospel presentations, the resurrection wasn’t really mentioned.

I think it’s important that Christ is alive. We serve a risen Savior.

“It’s important that Christ is alive. We serve a risen Savior.”

Key Elements of the Gospel

With that, let me take a few minutes to walk through what I believe are important key elements of the gospel. Some of you were here when we did the grace evangelism series, and I think it was really helpful to equip us in knowing the gospel, having some things maybe a little bit more detailed ready if we have the opportunity to talk with people.

The God-centered gospel presentation emphasizes God’s glory and man’s sinfulness.

Let me just ask you, sometimes you see tracts or maybe when you heard the gospel for the first time, do you remember what was the first thing that was mentioned? Does anybody remember?

Maybe this will resonate with you. The thing that I remember is man is sinful.

That’s the first thing. But what does that mean if we don’t understand who God is and what sin is? And so that’s really where we want to start. The God-centered message proclaims God’s holiness.

“The God-centered message proclaims God’s holiness — that’s really where we want to start.”

I think sometimes we lose sight of the seriousness of sin. How many of you have been following the Kirk Cameron controversy these past two weeks about what he said about hell or what he isn’t saying about hell? It’s really interesting, and it’s so important for us to remember what we’ve been saved from. Eternal conscious torment is an important aspect of the character of God because it shows the holiness of God and the seriousness of sin and the wonders of our salvation. If you give that up, you’re giving up a lot, aren’t you? We must be bold to proclaim and believe the things that God says in his word that are so clear.

The God-centered message reveals man’s sinful condition. We are sinners both by nature and by behavior.

We sin because we’re sinners, and we’re sinners because we sin. It’s just part of who we are. That’s the reality we are born with. The God-centered message declares Christ as Savior and Lord.

It’s really interesting that the phrase “the whole Christ” came to me this past week. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I thought, where have I heard that before? It’s a book by Sinclair Ferguson that kind of unfolds this. He urges believers that when we proclaim Christ, we proclaim the whole Christ.

Not just part of Christ; he is Savior and he is Lord. In the book of Acts, when it proclaims what Christ has done, particularly his resurrection, it says God has made him both Lord and Christ.

His resurrection declares something about him: that he is king. That’s part of what we emphasized last week.

The gospel is good news about the king.

He is the king, and kings rule with absolute sovereignty. No one more than Christ himself.

The God-centered message calls sinners to repent and believe in Christ.

Some of you might remember these. These are good things to cover. If you’ve covered these things, you’ve really covered the gospel. I want to go through the verses that explain this. If you haven’t seen these before, these will be super helpful, but if you have, these will be good reminders. What do we want to communicate about God?

God Created and Owns Everything

God created and owns everything.

By default, God created and owns everything and everyone. The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. That’s Psalm 24:1. It’s important to communicate this to someone who is far from God and doesn’t know him. God is Lord over you whether you realize it or not. He lays claim on you because he created you. He created you. We know in the beginning, God—that’s how we start the whole thing. That’s why atheism is such a big deal. If we remove God, man is quote free but really enslaved, as the gospel tells us. God is perfectly holy; in him, there is no darkness at all. It says in 1 John 1 and in Matthew 5, the command is to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. I recall in the Old Testament when God said that to Abraham. I can just imagine how he responded: “Walk before me and be perfect.”

Psalm 24:1: “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it.”

God Demands Perfect Obedience

What do you do with that? I think my reaction would be, well, it’s too late for that. Enter the gospel. God demands perfect obedience to his law.

God’s standard is perfection. James 2:10 tells us that if we have violated or disobeyed one command, it’s as if we have violated the whole thing.

“God’s standard is perfection. If we have violated one command, it’s as if we have violated the whole thing.”

When we think about eternal punishment and all those things, it’s not a matter of degrees. There are others who are more sinful than us. I presume none of us is as sinful in an outward way as some of the villains of the past, like Hitler, Marx, and Stalin. Yet we’re on the same level as far as God is concerned, which is hard for us to believe. It’s all molehills compared to the huge mountain that is God. It’s important for us to remember that his standard is perfection, and he rightly demands that.

Man Has Broken God’s Law

What about man? Well, man has broken God’s law. Romans 3 is really important to think through as it quotes from the Psalms that there is none righteous, not even one. I think that’s one of the most common things, isn’t it?

When we talk to people about the gospel, what do people say about their own goodness? What’s the phrase they use?

Not so bad.

Not so bad.

I didn’t kill anybody. I’m a basically good person. What does that mean? “Basically” is kind of loaded. You recall Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” What did Jesus say?

“Why call me good? There is no one good but God alone.” We must have his definition of good. It’s not that God grades on a curve.

“Why call me good? There is no one good but God alone. We must have his definition of good.”

Sin Separates Us from God

We must recognize this. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Look with me at Isaiah 55.

I love this one. I think it is graphic for us in a good way.

The arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor is his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Isaiah 59:1-2: “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you.”

Who’s accountable for the separation?

It’s us. We’ve got to own that.

We live in a society and a culture that, in many ways, is like an excuse factory.

I am probably too impatient when I’m around people and they start making excuses. Particularly in this country, where we have so many blessings and benefits, go someplace else for a little bit and see how you do. Overall, that’s not a political statement; it’s just a reality that we are accountable to God regardless of our situation in life. We have violated his law; sin has separated us from him.

But we’ll get to the good news in a minute. Man will pay the eternal penalty for sin, for the wages of sin is death.

That’s eternal death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. I think we talked about this last week. Why hell? If we walk away from the source of eternal life, there can be nothing but eternal death.

This is not illogical. This is not unjust. This is reality.

Man Cannot Save Himself

That you can see how I think it was John MacArthur who wrote a book called Hard to Believe. You can see how this grates against our human sinful nature and our pride. We don’t naturally gravitate to or want to believe this. And then this is a big one: God cannot save himself by his good works.

If the standard is perfection, if you sin once, there’s no way you can get there.

As a recovering perfectionist, as I’ve mentioned, I gravitate toward the idea that there might be some way to make up for all the sins that I’ve committed. That has an appeal to me. I think it has an appeal to a lot of people, and there are a lot of religious systems—really every religious system except for Christianity—that will accommodate that and give you a false path to that.

Titus 3:5 states, “He saved us not on the basis of the deeds which we’ve done in unrighteousness, but by his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” Isaiah 64:6 is very straightforward.

“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind carry us away.” Our very best apart from God is repulsive to God. Isn’t that amazing? All of our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.

Isaiah 64:6: “All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. Our very best apart from God is repulsive to God.”

So when someone talks about, “I’m basically a good person. I’ve done this. I’ve done that,” some of my more Catholic friends will really work hard to assert themselves. I think about this and become horrified. Don’t you realize that what you’ve just said is repulsive to God? The very thing that you’re asserting as the means for you to get in is the thing that keeps you out because of your pride. Isn’t that amazing?

I talked to a friend recently who was kind of moving in that direction, and there was a lot of “I, I, I” and “me, me.” My eyes were getting big, and I was thinking about this, just horrified. What does that say about our glorious gospel? What does that say about our Lord?

And then, of course, Ephesians 2:8-9 states, “For by grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God.”

Christ: Fully God and Fully Man

That no one may boast. I hear this and I just hear boasting. I hear boasting, and I think God does too. We have to be really careful, even as believers, to keep humble as our Savior was. This is so important.

Think about the incarnation. Jesus entered into that. That’s amazing. He didn’t have to do that. But as we know, that was the plan all along.

Let’s talk about Christ. Christ came to earth as both God and as sinless man. This is one I probably should memorize, but I don’t have it handy, so I’m just going to read it: Colossians 2:9. For in him, yes, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. He is both fully God and fully man. That’s a mystery. We can’t fully explain that. That’s amazing.

“He is both fully God and fully man. That’s a mystery we can’t fully explain. That’s amazing.”

He demonstrated God’s love by dying on a cross to pay sin’s penalty.

Everything that needed to be done for us to avoid hell has been done.

Christ Died for Us While We Were Sinners

For God demonstrates his own love toward us.

Look with me at Romans 5.

Incredible.

As you can tell, I’m not over it yet.

For while we were still weak, starting at verse six, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man someone would dare even to die.

But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8: “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

We think about the crucifixion and all that went on around that—people slapping him, spitting at him, all of that.

He died for them.

At least he offers his salvation to all sinners, and they reject. So many reject. Most reject. That’s what he died for.

There are a number of other verses that demonstrate this as well, and I encourage you to commit them to memory. Then he rose from the grave and is alive today. We read that in 1 Corinthians 15.

Utter and complete victory, not only in the body but in the spirit. Right? He was made alive in the spirit, and he experienced spiritual victory. I think it’s in Hebrews that it says he tasted death for everyone.

Right? This is what Christ did. It’s really worthwhile to explain this—not just sliding over, “Well, Christ died for your sins. Just pray this prayer and you’re good.” Let’s really talk about what happened here. That’s an amazing thing.

The Call to Repent and Believe

And then sinners, what must sinners do?

They must repent of all that dishonors God.

Look with me again at Isaiah 55. When we think of repentance, this is probably the best biblical definition of repentance that we have.

“Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn to God, and he will have mercy and abundantly pardon.” Let’s see, where am I here? I’m not quite getting that. Yeah. And he’ll have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

It’s a wholesale rejection of our thoughts, our words, and our ways. All of them are corrupted, and that’s what we must repent of. In Luke 9:23, we’ll talk a little more about this as we go on. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” There’s so much in the unbelieving world and even in the professing believing world that says you have to assert yourself.

“Repentance is a wholesale rejection of our thoughts, our words, and our ways. All of them are corrupted.”

Arthur, I’m glad you brought this up because I had a comment when you mentioned man.

Yeah, this is better.

What I’m going to say is that when I worked for the state as a counselor, the word “sinner” gets exchanged for the word “abused.”

Yeah. The word “sinner” gets exchanged for the word “abused.” Okay, got it.

And so what happens is, I mean, I’ve had my own experience in that I was abused as a child.

Yeah.

And when you’re abused, one of the serious consequences is extremely ungodly character.

Yeah.

What happens is when you have people counsel people like this who aren’t Christian or don’t have the word of God, they may introduce the person to Christ on a level where they say, “God loves you. Because he loves you, he accepts you.”

But the idea of talking about sin is where they really lack. They don’t address the actions of the person.

Yeah.

See, that’s interesting because there’s a lot to unpack there. There are horrible things that happen to people, and people are sinned against.

But at the same time, we are both victims and abusers, all of us as sinners. You have to have both in the equation. It’s interesting that even though there are horrible things that happen to people—and brother, you and I have talked about that—it’s still not an excuse, correct? In the world, there are excuses instead of the redemption that’s in Christ.

Praise God for redeeming you, brother.

Yeah. So we must repent of all that dishonors God. We must believe in Christ as Lord and Savior. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Lordship salvation. It’s right. If we confess that he is Lord, we take over our lives. I surrender to you. I no longer am following myself; I’m following you. When we hear things like lordship salvation, maybe we can talk about that a little bit later. It’s a redundant term. There’s no other kind, right? We are surrendering ourselves to him as Lord because he is Lord.

And then, will you repent and believe in Christ? In Acts 17, it says God has commanded all people everywhere to repent.

And that’s a bad word in our culture.

But what was the word that I associated the last time we talked?

Anybody remember? When you think of repentance, think of what?

I guess I didn’t do a very good job.

It’s a change of mind, right?

Repentance and Refreshing

Turning away from self and toward Christ. Toward God. There’s another R word that I would love us all to associate with repentance. I’ll just share the verse from Acts.

Repent and return, that times of refreshing may come to you from the presence of the Lord. Always associate repentance with refreshing. I think it’s Proverbs 28:13 that says he who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. Right? We always want to enter into repentance not simply to come to Christ but as part of our regular rhythm of life. We talked about how, as we have received Christ, we should walk in him. That’s how that goes. I hope that’s really helpful for you. If you have the notebook from the grace evangelism class, go back and refresh yourself in it. Otherwise, you can look at these slides and have them ready for when you talk with unbelieving friends.

Acts 3:19: “Repent and return, that times of refreshing may come to you from the presence of the Lord.”

Repentance Is Essential to the Gospel

Jesus said to them, “It is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Is preaching repentance essential to the gospel? Yes. The phrase “repentance for the forgiveness of sins” shows up several times.

Second Peter 3:9 states, “The Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” You see the direct contrast: perish or repentance.

2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”

Very, very clear. One of the things I mentioned last time I taught was that I think the two weaknesses of most American presentations of the gospel, at least those I have been exposed to, is that it doesn’t start with God primarily and it doesn’t end with repentance. If we give those the short end of the stick, we are not preaching the gospel. We’re not proclaiming the gospel faithfully. But God desires repentance so that we would come to him fully. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent.

The Gospel as Command

We mentioned that earlier, and that brings to our attention one of the aspects of the gospel that sometimes we forget. We think of the gospel as an invitation. It is that; it is a command.

1 Thessalonians 1 talks about what happens to people who do not obey the gospel. It is an invitation to be accepted, but the gospel is a command to be obeyed for everyone. When we hear things like, “Well, if someone intends good and they never hear the gospel or they haven’t really received Christ, God will accept them,” what does that say about the work of Christ? If that’s true, as it says in Galatians, then Christ died needlessly. We don’t say that. We don’t say that at all.

“The gospel is not only an invitation to be accepted — it is a command to be obeyed.”

Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith toward God.

There is a lot to unpack there.

But we need to repent from dead works—those works that we talked about in Isaiah 55, those works that are odious and repulsive to God. They are filthy rags. We repent from those things. We don’t assert those things.

Faith: Utter Reliance on Christ

All right. Faith. Let me dive a little bit more deeply than we did last time on this. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. When we talk about faith, we talked about it not being merely mental assent to facts.

There are a lot of people who might do that about Christ. In the book of James, it says that even the demons believe and shudder. They’re not saved. They understand it.

I would say, and others have said this before, too, that demons probably have better theology than you and I do. They understand at a level that we don’t, but they’re not saved because they haven’t put their utter reliance in Christ. Faith is utter and exclusive reliance on the finished work of Christ for salvation and absolute assurance in it. You can have absolute assurance.

“Faith is utter and exclusive reliance on the finished work of Christ for salvation and absolute assurance in it.”

Faith is certainty. I will talk a little bit more about that later. Faith is certainty. Doubt is not a virtue.

That’s kind of a common thing that you may have heard with some modern evangelical books: we want to embrace our doubts. Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t dig deep and ask questions honestly. That’s important.

But we also have to recognize what it says in the book of James. The one who doubts is unstable and ought not to expect that they would receive anything from the Lord. There is a bedrock assurance that we have in faith in Christ.

Preparing for Gospel Conversations

All right. Before I get into this, any questions or comments before I discuss how we prepare ourselves for gospel conversations?

Either I’m doing a really good job or a really bad job. I can’t quite tell.

Thank you, brother. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word. Let your words always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should answer each person. Isn’t that a wonderful thing to aspire to as we pray for open doors?

I think we talked about this last time. We don’t kick down closed doors. We need discernment here, but we pray for open doors. Ria, I appreciated your questions last time about this. We have friends and family members that we don’t always have those open doors, right? But we desire their salvation, and we want to do that in a wise way.

Lord, how do I respond to them with grace? How do I know how to respond? A good way to open each day is to pray that every situation I’m in would reflect something of the gospel. May I always be ready to reflect Christ in word and in deed.

Colossians 4:2-6: “Devote yourselves to prayer… that God will open up to us a door for the word.”

Nope, went the wrong way.

The Right Heart for Sharing Christ

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and fear. Those items that we just went through a few minutes ago are a means by which we should always be prepared, always ready, excited about the opportunity. But the readiness, I think you’ll notice, isn’t simply knowing the right content but having the right heart. You see that?

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.

If you want to call other people to submit to him as Lord, if you and I want to do that, we need to be in a place where we’re submissive to him as Lord, right? We are. Then we saw in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart,” right? It ends with, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you.” There’s an inner preparation of both content and character of being aligned with him. One of the things I shared last time was that I’m embarrassed about the times that I shared Christ in an impatient way, not reflecting his character. We always want to make sure that in both how we say it and what we say, we’re doing it with the character that reflects Christ.

“Readiness isn’t simply knowing the right content, but having the right heart. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.”

So let’s talk a little bit about Glenda.

The Object of Faith

Hold on. Let me get a mic for you. I go back to faith. When you listen to the health and wealth teachings, they think that you can have faith if you want a car or a house. They have faith in things.

The object of faith is who Christ is. That’s where we put our faith—in the person. But the health and wealth teachings put their faith in things.

Whatever they think they want, they believe they have seen it out there, and their faith can bring it to them. That’s what they’re teaching. The object of faith is not Christ; for the health and wealth teachings, the object of faith is the things they want. That’s not our teaching of faith. Faith is about who we have as the object of our faith.

Amen.

If you listen to the health and wealth teachings, whatever they want, just think about it. It’s as if faith is floating out there, and if I want a car, a house, or a big bank account, I just think on these things. That’s where they anchor their faith—in things, not in Christ.

“The object of faith is Christ himself — who he is — not things we want from him.”

That’s a great point, Glenda. What is our faith in, and what is it for? It is centered on him. I often think when people say things like, “God’s going to make me healthy, wealthy, and wise,” it takes so many forms.

It’s been around for millennia now. I have a sense that God is thinking, “Really? That’s all you want? I can give you that in an instant. I have so much more in mind for you.”

For example, in Hebrews 12, it says, “He disciplines us for our good that we might share his holiness.” That’s a little bit more generous than stuff. I read that and think, “God’s going to let me share his holiness. Be like Christ, not only in this life but into eternity.” That’s a little bit better than a new car, right? Not to mention that Jesus said clearly you cannot serve God and wealth, and the prosperity gospel puts wealth on the throne, really putting self on the throne.

Okay, I’m not going to say any more about that. I think that’s pretty clear.

Assurance in the Gospel

Let’s talk about assurance in the gospel. None of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his possessions. Turn with me to Luke 14. I commend this to you for consideration. This is something that is often not talked about when we bring the gospel to people. It may be titled in your Bible starting at verse 25, “The Cost of Discipleship.” What is the cost of discipleship? What is the cost of coming to Christ?

Everything. Everything. I mentioned before that I have one person who asked me this question: “Mark, what’s it going to cost me to follow Christ?”

Let Christ answer that question for you. Here it is: Is he worth it?

Yes.

We mentioned this earlier. He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Glenda, this stands in opposition to what you just said. We don’t assert ourselves. We don’t put ourselves in the center. We deny ourselves. And again, is it worth it? Is it worth it? Yes. Think about all those analogies Jesus gave in the parables.

“What’s it going to cost me to follow Christ? Everything. Is he worth it? Yeah.”

A person sold all they had and bought a field so he could dig and find that pearl of great price.

Yes, it’s worth all of that. Jesus is worth all of that. Sometimes we’re a little too comfortable to realize that. If we’re anxious about stuff, which I get sometimes, I’m sure I’m not the only one about God’s provision, it shows maybe I haven’t given that up as I should.

He is different. Amen.

He is our provision.

Amen. As I mentioned last time, this doesn’t mean we sell all of our possessions and move on. What it means is we relinquish our ownership of those possessions and say it all belongs to him. That may mean you sell all your possessions and take off. Some people do that, right? But you live differently. I think of it this way: If you’re a steward and not an owner, is a steward or a slave anxious? Is a steward or a slave worried about provision? No.

That’s a given. He just wants to manage what he’s been given well. I think often I, and maybe you, act like an owner more than a steward. If you’re a steward, we walk with freedom in taking care of what God has given us. The witness is this: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have that life. These things I’ve written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Again, the assurance of faith, the certainty of faith—you can know. In Romans 8, it says, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” This is an internal assurance that we can have if we have the Son of God. And that’s a wonderful thing to think about. Not a shallow thing, but a deep thing. I’m going to walk through a little bit of a tension that I think does need to be there with this.

The Tension Between Assurance and Examination

There’s a tension here between assurance and examination because we have verses like this. We have Luke 10 and other verses that talk plainly and forthrightly about eternal security. But it also urges us to examine ourselves to see if we’re in the faith.

Jesus talked about the wheat and the tares. There are people among believers who are not believers, who look like believers and may think they’re believers, but time will tell that they’re not. We are to test ourselves to see, as it says, test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves, or do you not recognize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless you fail the test?

“There’s a tension between assurance and examination. We are to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith.”

Now, 1 John 1 tells us that this is really helpful. Actually, let’s turn there because I think this is incredibly helpful for us. When I first came to Christ, I think I’ve shared that part of what led me to knowing that I needed him was that he could see my thoughts. I was horrified immediately because I thought, well, then I’m definitely going to hell. Even as an eight-year-old, this was really clear to me.

Almost immediately after I came to Christ, I had a heightened sensitivity to sin, but it was overrealized to the degree that I thought to myself, I cannot confess sin as fast as I’m committing it. I can’t keep up. This is what I felt because I knew my thoughts were not always pleasing to him.

1 John 1, starting in verse 8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. This is to believers. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Then it continues, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you,” this is an unfortunate chapter break. “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, not you and I the righteous.

He himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. What do we base our eternal security on? Not our performance, but on his performance.

A pastor friend of mine explained to me in such a helpful way, what do you look to for assurance of salvation? It’s very common in American Christianity to say, well, look back to that day that you made this decision. He said, “No, we need to look further back to the cross where he made his decision to save you.” We base it on him.

We really do want to say that. The question is, is there evidence that that’s happened? I just want to be careful to say this isn’t about basing our salvation on our performance. Yet, we are saved to good works, as we saw in Ephesians 2. We want to see if there is evidence that we are saved. As I just quoted from Romans 8, the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we’re children of God, a desire for righteousness, and a hatred of sin. Those are things that we should see.

Evidence of Salvation: The Ongoing Battle with Sin

But a man must test himself. This is from 1 Corinthians 11, which is our primary instruction for the Lord’s table. A man must test himself, and in doing so, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. When we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. This is why we should examine ourselves like this at least once a month, right? When we do the Lord’s table, we should ask, “Am I in Christ or am I condemned with the world? Is the pattern of my life unrepentant sin, or is the pattern of my life seeking him?”

If you have a guilty conscience because of sin, that’s not a sign. In Romans 7, Paul said, “That which I do not do, that what I want to do, I don’t do.” This is the conflict between flesh and spirit. On the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but with the other, my flesh serves the law of sin.

This is one of the unfortunate chapter breaks.

What’s the next verse? “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The fact that sin bothers you and that you’re still fighting it is evidence not of a lack of salvation but of salvation. If it stops bothering you, then you’ve got something to really look at. I just want to encourage us with that.

“The fact that sin bothers you and you’re still fighting it is evidence not of a lack of salvation but of salvation.”

Contending for the Faith

Got just a few minutes here. I’ll give you 10 minutes. Contending for the faith, the true gospel. I love this from Jude 1. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

We see in the context of the book of Jude false teachers attacking the church. We see this throughout the New Testament. It really kicked in early. We must be on the defense. We must contend for it. We must fight for it. And what is it? It was once for all handed down to the saints.

The gospel is a stewardship. It’s a message that we don’t make up, that we don’t modify. It’s a message that we’re faithful to. But we are to contend for it. As I said earlier, we must contend, but we must not be contentious. The Lord’s bond servant must not be quarrelsome, as it says in Second Timothy, but patient with all.

Jude 1:3: “Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”

The Lord’s slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God may give them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth. There’s a way to be bold without being contentious, without being prideful. That’s what God calls us to.

Let’s talk a little bit about false gospels. I’m just amazed. If you look at the book of Galatians, he is grieved over them lapsing in their understanding of the gospel. He says to the Galatians, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.” This is actually quite literal.

Does anybody know any false religions based on the revelation of an angel?

Islam, Mormonism.

What’s that?

Seventh Day Adventist. One branch of it, I think, with that one prophetess.

Ellen G. White.

For such men, the scriptures say, are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

Satan doesn’t come to us with a red outfit, a pitchfork, and a pointy tail. He looks really good. His ministers look really good. Sometimes they wear attractive or ridiculous costumes, either physically or in their style. We need to be very discerning about false gospels.

False Gospels: Easy Believism

Some examples we’ve talked about are easy believism versus lordship salvation.

I mentioned the book “Hard to Believe.”

The gospel is hard to believe. I would say it’s impossible to believe unless you are born again. You cannot even see the kingdom of God. Jesus said God has to do something in you. Lowering the bar to an unscriptural level, taking the holiness of God out, and taking repentance out puts you on a road of easy believism. Then people say they’ve come to Christ, but they don’t live for him. You wonder why.

Because it’s kind of a bait and switch, isn’t it?

We must count the cost. If you look at Luke 14, no one goes into battle or builds a building without counting the cost. This is why I think we need to be really ready for longer conversations with people about the gospel. What are we putting before them? A complete surrender of their lives and their eternity to God. That’s not a decision that most people are going to make quickly.

“The gospel is hard to believe — impossible unless you are born again. We must count the cost.”

Nor should they consider the claims of Christ. Is he Lord? Am I ready to surrender all that I am and all that I have to him?

Again, because I’ve had so much experience counseling, you find people with addictions where easy believism is so common because they’re desperate.

When you have an addiction, you’ll do anything. You see the destructiveness of it, and you’ll do anything to try to escape from it, even accept Jesus Christ. The problem is that when a person accepts Christ in that manner, it’s only because they’re trying to overcome that one sin.

They don’t think about their whole life and how much there is to repent of. It does such damage. Thank you, brother. God might free you from that addiction, which is part of the outcome of your salvation, but that’s not the goal. I know I’ve mentioned to you before a friend who professed Christ because his wife was a believer and he thought it would help his marriage. He fell away because his goal wasn’t Christ; his goal was something from Christ. That’s why lordship is so important. We need to discern that. Sacramentalism.

False Gospels: Sacramentalism and Cults

There’s a lot I can say here. These are forms of believing salvation can come from, or at least in part from, human tradition. Mark 7 is one of several passages where Jesus impugned the Pharisees for teaching as doctrines the precepts of men, teaching human tradition as if it were from God. Baptismal regeneration is an example of this.

I had a friend that I’ve been speaking to lately who’s on his way toward Catholicism. We walked through the Roman Catholic catechism a little bit, and it’s horrifying because it’s such a mix of faith and works. It uses maybe the same terminology that you would agree with, but it means something completely different. The most common examples would be Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, where faith and works are mixed. You’re asserting yourself, and they confuse the evidence of salvation with merit. The way they use the word “merit” is really quite something. I can see in my pride, even as a believer, that I could go along with that. It sounds like I can assert that I did something. We have to be really careful about that.

Even in some forms of more formal Protestantism, like Presbyterianism, I think when you start to get into infant baptism—which I know they say doesn’t save—you begin to enter unbiblical categories that can be really confusing to people. I was asked to mention this, and I think it’s important. Some of you may know of a concept that’s fading a bit but is still out there called federal vision. Has anybody heard about that? Doug Wilson and his crew out in Moscow, Idaho, really promote this. They go further than infant baptism; they go to infant communion. Now we’re getting into all kinds of crazy, to be quite honest with you. These things are really unbiblical and confuse people about how they are part of God’s people and the kingdom of God.

I have many Presbyterian friends that I love, and they’re believers, right? But I think some of the hyper use of those traditions can really be confusing to people. We have to be careful. Cults, right? In short, professing a different Christ, as I preached earlier this year in 1 John 4:1-6. We need to be right about the human and divine nature of Christ. If you’re talking with a Jehovah’s Witness or a Mormon, people like that, you can make that a fairly short conversation. It’s discerning if you should be talking to them at all. I understand various convictions about that.

Who is Jesus? Get right to it, and you’ll find they don’t believe he’s God.

“Know the gospel so well that you can spot any counterfeit. Who is Jesus? Get right to it.”

That’s almost universal in any of the false cults that purport to be Christian. Go right there. Who is Jesus? You may know that the New World Translation of the Bible, which comes from Jehovah’s Witnesses, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”

That’s not what it says. So that’s just an example to be really careful. I will say this: it can be overwhelming if you read books on cults and things, which I did in college, because there are a lot of different belief systems around. You can be tempted to think you need to know a lot about all these different things.

How does someone spot a counterfeit? There are professionals who know the real thing so well. That’s what we need. That’s what I’m advocating for.

Quick Questions and Closing

Yeah, I think it’s helpful to know some things, but know the gospel and be grounded in the gospel. As Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and a stranger, they simply will not follow.” That can happen to us as we grow in him. It’s all about the nature of Christ and the gospel. We are right at time, Glenda. I’m so sorry. That was my fault. Anything that obscures or adds to these is to be avoided. Anything that adds to Christ or obscures Christ is to be avoided.

Just real quick, can you lose your salvation? No. Spend some time in Hebrews 6. Even in my own family, we have conversations about this. There are people who can pretend to be Christians, who can really seem like Christians, and over time it’s revealed. Hebrews 6 tells us that, and if you keep reading, it talks about how we are convinced of better things concerning you, things with regard to salvation. I think it’s super clear in that passage; he’s not talking about believers. The exclusivity of Christ—no one comes to the Father but by me—this is probably the biggest question. John 14:6. Is that fair?

No, it’s not fair. God doesn’t have to offer anything to you. It’s incredibly unfair because God offers grace when he doesn’t have to. That part is not fair. To quote the theologians Reliant K, the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair. In that way, it’s not fair. There’s a lot to explore there.

Is the doctrine of hell unloving? I talked about that a little bit earlier. It reflects the holiness of God, the seriousness of sin, and the wonders of salvation. We need to be real careful how we talk about it. We’re not heartless, but it’s a great motivator—both a great occasion for worship for us, for our salvation, and a motivation in our love for others, our heart for others.

What is the difference between justification and sanctification? I think I alluded to that a little bit when I talked about sacramentalism, where there’s a confusion of those things. Romans 8:3 says, “God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.” Christ has fulfilled the requirement once for all on the cross, and he’s fulfilling the requirement in us as we are sanctified. There’s a lot to unpack there.

That’s a quick one, and then just some recommended resources for us that I’ve mentioned. I’m sorry for going overtime. I’m open to questions afterward. I hope this has been a time of worship for you. To say that our salvation is awesome doesn’t even begin to cover it.

And so, Lord, would you just have, even at this Christmas time, the reality of the coming of Christ, our unworthiness, your glory, your condescension, just explode within our hearts and overflow in us, among us, and through us to the salvation of others.

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