Romans 1:1¶ Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
Romans 1:2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
Romans 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
This is a profound piece of inspired scripture. To often we skip important parts, in a hurry to get to the meat of the epistle. This introduction in the apostle Paul's letter to the saints in Rome, is very revealing. He starts off by letting the readers know that he is a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle (by God and not man), separated into the gospel (now here is the important part), concerning God's Son Jesus Christ. He did not say, "Concerning a religion", or, "concerning a system of beliefs or principles". He wrote, "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord".
Paul was separated unto the good news (gospel) of God, which was concerning Jesus Christ. That's it. He was separated unto good news, not a system of rules, ordinances, laws, or principles. Paul was not separated unto a program concerning how to live your best life now. He was not separated unto the gospel, concerning how to put in place, principles to have a successful Christian life. He was not separated unto a religion, concerning guilt laden people who needed to feel better about themselves. No sir! He was separated unto the good news of Almighty God, concerning His Son JESUS CHRIST!
People ask, "What is life really all about?" Life is about a whole race of loosers, just the devil's children who desired to be their own god and needed to be rescued from certain eternal damnation by the ONLY TRUE MAN that ever lived, Jesus Christ. We desperately needed a Saviour. He was God's only begotten Son, a God-Man, born in the flesh to a Jewish virgin and obeyed the law perfectly, right from His youth so that He could be our perfect substitute and rescue us from under the law and the condemnation of it. The law is cold and unforgiving. It says if you disobey it in one spot, you have broken the whole thing. If you break it, the punishment is eternal death. Jesus kept it perfectly. That qualified Him to be the representative for the entire human race. He then took the full brunt of the Father's wrath on the cross, that should have been poured out on us. Jesus, because of the joy that was before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and humiliation. We are the ones that sinned. We deserved it, not Him. Jesus was perfect, sinless and yet was slain and his blood ran to the ground in order to pay for our sin. God looked on Jesus hanging there on that tree, and His justice was satisfied. Jesus became sin for us, who knew no sin. Jesus made peace with God for us. He did it all! He promises that if we believe in Him with all our heart, He will come back for us and take us to be with Him for ever. Apart from all religion. Apart from all self effort or works of righteousness on our part. A marvelous free gift indeed!
It's all about Jesus. Many people, through religion are working to gain acceptance with God, and it is futile. It is a never ending struggle to try to gain favor with God on your own merit. That is why there are so many religious people in a miserable state of bondage. They try and try, and things just won`t get right. There is no real joy, no love, or peace in their life. One must accept that our right doing will forever be insufficient to win God's favor. The only way to get into God's love and favor is to get into Christ. Jesus is the only Man that ever fully pleased the Father. God's love is found in Jesus Christ. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit places us into the physical body of Jesus where He becomes our identity. We become like cell transplants in Him. Jesus becomes our life, our hope, our righteousness, our everything. There is no longer "I". Only Christ. We enter into His history, His crucifiction, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and seated with Jesus at the right hand of God. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Heirs to the coming kingdom. It's all about Jesus! It is not about our experience. (Satan loves when we focus on that.) It is not about our "churches" or our Christian lives. It's all about HIM. Jesus, the only true Potentate. The King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
New Birth Repentance
There is much confusion in Christian circles about what repentance is, and I thought I might try and shed some light on the issue. The myths about new birth repentance is, that it involves a certain condition of sorrow for the sin committed. Another myth is that it involves a turning from all known sin, getting yourself cleaned up and start living right. If this was the case, we would all be unsaved and we could never know for sure if we are truly saved. This is a doctrine that has prevented many from entering the kingdom of God. There is no virtue being sorry. God does not care that we are sorry. What we ought to be even after we are saved is very very sorry for our sin, but there is no virtue in that. So many people feel guilty about their sin and come down to "the alter", crying, desperately sorry that they lived the way they lived, make a resolution to stop sinning, and don't get anymore saved then someone would watching a hockey game. All that is, is a selfish sinner feeling guilty and trying to relieve himself of that guilt. So what is this this thing of repentance in reference to salvation?
Repentance is a word that needs a connotation put to it. "Repent", simply means, to turn. If someone were walking north and they repented, they would be walking south.
So we know that we need to repent in order to be saved, so what are we repenting from and what are we repenting towards?
Ac 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is new birth repentance. Repentance towards God. When Adam sinned in the garden, he repented from God. It was more than just eating a fruit. It was a decision to live his own way, with his own system and his own beliefs. Because of that, we are born separated from God and we need to repent from everything, our own life, our self-sufficiency, and repent towards God. New birth repentance is a focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is repenting from the life of independence from God, and telling Him that He is back in charge and that we are back to walking in fellowship to Him. This repentance does not involve any direct focus on righteousness or sin. It is simply entering into another mental state. It does not involve any act on our part. It is not something we DO. It is merely a turning from dead works, and a turn towards Jesus.
Heb 6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
This is the foundation. Repentance from dead works and repentance towards God. When we repent or turn towards God, the natural evidence that we did, will be that we stop living in sin. Trying to repent from sin is a futile task. That would be focusing our attention on the sin and taking our eyes entirely from Christ. By faith we overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. Repentance and faith go hand and hand. You cannot relate to God by faith without repenting towards Him. Also, you can't repent to God without believing in Him.
What about dead works? What are they? Dead works are works that are dead. Not only sin, but any work or act of righteousness that we would do to get right with God, would be a dead work. Christ made peace with God for us and any work that we contribute to the free gift, would be a dead work. Christ freed us from dead works, to serve the Living God.
So the question must then be asked, did we repent? It would be futile to go back into our history and see if we repented once. The proof is, are we repenting to God today? Is God the focus of our day? Is He in our thoughts and involved in the decisions we make? Do we love Him and His righteousness? Or can we secretly sin when no one is looking? Can sin dwell in our minds for days, with out being driven out by the Lord Jesus living inside us? The proof of a true repentance is that sin is alien and unwanted in this temple of God. If there is a sin, there is a such a struggle inside us because of the knowledge the we hurt our Saviour, and the rest of our lives we live in desperation to not let that happen again. Where is your focus? Is it on God, or is it on things of the world? Where is your heart? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
Repentance is a word that needs a connotation put to it. "Repent", simply means, to turn. If someone were walking north and they repented, they would be walking south.
So we know that we need to repent in order to be saved, so what are we repenting from and what are we repenting towards?
Ac 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is new birth repentance. Repentance towards God. When Adam sinned in the garden, he repented from God. It was more than just eating a fruit. It was a decision to live his own way, with his own system and his own beliefs. Because of that, we are born separated from God and we need to repent from everything, our own life, our self-sufficiency, and repent towards God. New birth repentance is a focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is repenting from the life of independence from God, and telling Him that He is back in charge and that we are back to walking in fellowship to Him. This repentance does not involve any direct focus on righteousness or sin. It is simply entering into another mental state. It does not involve any act on our part. It is not something we DO. It is merely a turning from dead works, and a turn towards Jesus.
Heb 6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
This is the foundation. Repentance from dead works and repentance towards God. When we repent or turn towards God, the natural evidence that we did, will be that we stop living in sin. Trying to repent from sin is a futile task. That would be focusing our attention on the sin and taking our eyes entirely from Christ. By faith we overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. Repentance and faith go hand and hand. You cannot relate to God by faith without repenting towards Him. Also, you can't repent to God without believing in Him.
What about dead works? What are they? Dead works are works that are dead. Not only sin, but any work or act of righteousness that we would do to get right with God, would be a dead work. Christ made peace with God for us and any work that we contribute to the free gift, would be a dead work. Christ freed us from dead works, to serve the Living God.
So the question must then be asked, did we repent? It would be futile to go back into our history and see if we repented once. The proof is, are we repenting to God today? Is God the focus of our day? Is He in our thoughts and involved in the decisions we make? Do we love Him and His righteousness? Or can we secretly sin when no one is looking? Can sin dwell in our minds for days, with out being driven out by the Lord Jesus living inside us? The proof of a true repentance is that sin is alien and unwanted in this temple of God. If there is a sin, there is a such a struggle inside us because of the knowledge the we hurt our Saviour, and the rest of our lives we live in desperation to not let that happen again. Where is your focus? Is it on God, or is it on things of the world? Where is your heart? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
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