If evangelism is the arm, then I believe that repentance is the elbow. If evangelism is the car, then I believe that repentance is the wheel. If evangelism is the Shakespearean play, then I believe that repentance is the loyal, but passed-over servant in King Lear. What does this mean? In my humble and often misdirected opinion, repentance is the key to which every other human action orbits and is often overlooked by other flashy aspects of evangelism.
Frank, our godly trainer, continued to serve heaping mounds of doggy chow to our hungry pack as we gulped and wolfed down certified strips this past Wednesday night. We ended up skipping the second half of Christology because our substitute trainer was stuck somewhere, traveling for work, so if it seems that I'm back tracking in two weeks--well, I am. :)
In class, we reviewed what we've learned so far and had a pop quiz. Now, I'm not one to usually bomb pop quizzes, but I totally failed--in every miserable sense of the word--at this one. I realized how little I had retained from the outline of this evangelism class and while I've learned so much from other classes, I have set my mind that I want to retain as much as I can, as this has been the most fruitful class that I've taken on evangelism...to date. On a pleasant sidenote, my dear canine poochy friend, Peggy Jo, (I would be the drooling, lumbering mutt and she would be the classy, well-kept, beautiful pure bred) aced the pop quiz and took home (by a landslide) first prize, the blue ribbon and the clydesdale-sized trophy. She has been faithful to the homework and it beautifully showed. Why do I tell you this? Because I believe that out of all of the pop quizzes, standardized tests, and #2 pencil exams, this has to be one of the most important. I can't think, in all of my schooling years, where this would be a test you would want to fail at. So I'm thankful that I have a dear sister who takes this seriously and she has sharpened me to follow her example.
The quiz was on the outline of what we've learned so far. So here is the quiz (the answers will be found at the bottom of this post.)
I. How does the bible describe God?
a. _______________ and _________________
Scripture:
Scripture:
b. __________________________________
Scripture:
c. __________________________________
Scripture:
II. What does the bible say about Man?
a. __________________________________
Scripture:
b. __________________________________
Scripture:
c: __________________________________
III. What does the bible say about Christ?
a. __________________________________
Scripture:
b. __________________________________
Scripture:
c. __________________________________
How did you fare? I'm sure you did far better than I did.
There was much discussion on the various aspects of true repentance and what that looks like but the bottom line was that if someone claims to have faith, but shows no repentance, then you have to question which repentance category they are in. (II Corinthians 7:10)
This whole topic is of great interest to me because of my personal testimony of how God drew me to Him. You see, the challenge with true repentance and false repentance is that true repentance can easily be counterfeited in various ways. Here's how I counterfeited before I got saved:
1) I was genuinely sorry...for getting caught.=false repentance
2) I hated the consequences of my actions which brought about genuine emotion.=false repentance
3) I was genuinely, emotionally sad at my pattern of sin.=false repentance
4) I justified my sin by doing good acts to those I sinned against.=false repentance
5) I found that I hated when people called what I was doing wrong sin and hated any religious talk that would use such words.=false repentance
6) I made excuses, covered up and disguised my sin, yet felt little peace or security from such acts.=false repentance
7) I avoided talking about my sin.=false repentance
8) I only partially and temporarily changed.=false repentance
9) I hated God more after I would pay restitution.=false repentance.
10) I was endlessly restless, for my conscience could find no peace, even after I would apologize.=false repentance.
11) I rejected anything the bible said as to how to repent.
12) I did not desire the things of the bible.
Every single one of these, though, I did with a good church-girl cloak. A moral and spit-shined veneer.
It's exhausting to even have to type all of that. I remember growing up and in my early twenties, how exhausted I would sometimes be lying in bed at night after a full day of the last twelve (and then some) undertakings of false repentance. It takes a lot of energy and time to skillfully hone such activities. Of course, I suppressed such things and did not find it to be tiresome then. I can only say it now as experiencing the merciful gift of genuine saving grace and realizing the exact and precise biblical peace and serenity as attributed to those who are no longer enemies of God (Romans 8:7, Ephesians 2:13-16) , though my life is probably busier and fuller than it ever has been.
So what path does one start on toward true repentance?
1) You must believe and repent. (key word, believe) Romans 10:9, Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8-9. This is where it gets tricky. How does one believe? Of their own volition? No, you cannot believe without God planting faith in you. Hmmm...so one asks--has God planted faith in me? Do I care if He's planted faith in me? Do I care that I believe? If the answer is yes to the last question...then immediately pass go, do not collect $200 and land on Romans 10:13. AND E-mail, call, write, send your best pigeon and get a hold of me as quick as possible. BTW--the bible describes faith in Hebrews 11:1, if you're interested in the true definition.
2) Repent of all that dishonors God. II Corinthians 7:10-11. Biblical repentance will sprout an eagerness for righteousness according to the revealed will of God. (Isaiah 55:6-7, Luke 9:23) In Mark 10 we see Jesus masterfully bypassing all of what the rich young ruler treasured and getting to the heart of the matter which he was unwilling to admit that he had offended God, was a sinner, forsake all that he treasured and follow Christ. See the Grace Church webby for an amazing sermon on true repentance as taught this past Sunday morning by our fearless, godly trainer, Frank, who rightly divided the word in his most marvelous sermon thus far. (And that's saying a lot.)
3) Repentance involves confession of sin to God. Confession, in scripture, means "to say the same as." Being in agreement. So when we confess, we do not try to hide or skew the facts. We simply confess everything that comes to mind-starting with I'm a sinner a general and am in need of the specific Saviour, Jesus Christ, the God of the bible. Agreeing with everything that God has to say about who man is without Him. Understanding that the owner and creator of all sees us as if we were bum-naked before Him. Meaning my heart is laid bare and He sees every single layer of sin and suppression that I have built for myself as if it were as transparent as glass.
4) Forgiveness is to have complete purification from unrighteousness on the basis of Christ's righteousness freely imputed (applied to one's account.) (I John 1:9) (See more as this will have it's own post-oh joy! oh joy!)
So in conclusion--which repentance do you have and will you repent and believe in Jesus Christ?
Answers:
I. God is:
a. creator and owner of all.
Scripture: Psalm 24:1 and Genesis 1:1
b. holy
Scripture: Matthew 5:48
c. requires perfect obedience
Scripture: James 2:10
II. Man is:
a. totally depraved--broken God's law in every way.
Scripture: James 2:10, Romans 3:10
b. guilty so the consequence of sin is death.
Scripture: Romans 6:23
c. cannot earn by good works
Scripture: Titus 3:5
III. Christ is:
a. fully God and perfect, sinless man
Scripture: Colossians 2:9
b. a Saviour and demonstrates His love
Scripture: Romans 5:8, II Corinthians 5:21
c. the victor over death and is ressurected
Scripture: I Corinthians 15:4
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