Repentance

 Repentance                             01-25-25

I had intended to post this blog yesterday, but about half way through I hit the wrong key and lost everything.LOL So,I am trying again today! LOL!I still have some information about rewards and the judgment seat, but I thought I would look at one of the "problem"verses today before going on.I had a friend that brought this verse up a while back,so I thought I would give my take on the verse.The verse in question is Luke 24:47. Look at this.

Luke 24:47

Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

This verse is Luke's version of the Great Commission texts found in all the Gospels and maybe in Acts.Jesus is indeed commanding His disciples to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins.The question however is this:Is Jesus speaking of eternal life here? I do not believe that He is.This is a discipleship verse meant for believers.In the great commission,Jesus not only spoke about eternal life,(Mark's Gospel) but He instructed His disciples to make other disciples.(Matthew's Gospel)He said that after we share the Gospel with someone, we should take them under our wing and teach them how to walk out their new found life.He is making a distinction between eternal life by grace through faith and discipleship through obedience. Hear me out.

If you study the Gospels,one of the first truths you encounter is what is called the"Synoptic Problem." Now,I only have the basics on this, but that is enough for our purposes.Matthew,Mark,and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels.Synoptic means "same sight, or"seeing all together."They are similar in structure, content, and wording.The Gospel of John,on the other hand,is the only Gospel to have a stated purpose.John wrote the gospel so that people might believe in Jesus and by believing in Jesus might have eternal life.(John 20:31)Let me illustrate this with a look at word usage in all the Gospels. Let's look at a few words and their usage by the Gospel writers.I am using a concordance based on the ESV.The numbers may vary due to the version that you read but not significantly.Look at this.

1)Repent or Repentance. Matthew 5 times. Mark 3 times. Luke-Acts.(Luke wrote Acts)20 Times.9 Times in Gospel. John 0 times.

2)Kingdom. Matthew 54 Times Mark 20 Times Luke-Acts 53 Times 45 Times in Gospel. John 5 times.

3)Believe.Matthew 8 Times. Mark 11 Times. Luke-Acts 16 Times 8 Times in Gospel. John 54 Times. If you look at the other forms of believe such as believes or believed, the numbers become more pronounced.

4(Life) 17 Times. Mark 8 Times Luke-Acts 26 Times 14 Times in Gospel.

John 47 Times

5)Eternal. Matthew 6 Times. Mark 3 Times. Luke-Acts 6 Times. 4 in Gospel.

John 17 Times.

6)Eternal Life. Matthew,Mark,Luke-Acts combined 8 times. John 17 Times.

Can we draw a conclusion here? I believe we can.The Synoptics-Acts are primarily focused on the ideas of Kingdom and Repentance.John,on the other hand,is directed to matters of belief and eternal life.This can be borne out even more as one looks at the different audiences of the writers.Suffice it to say Matthew is writing to Jewish believers,Mark to Gentile believers, especially Roman and possibly Greek believers,Luke is writing to a new believer named Theophilus to assure him in his new found faith.John's audience however is undefined.Maybe written to Jews but there is evidence that may contradict that.The point is that the only evangelistic book in the New Testament,has an undefined audience.Why? it was written to all mankind to explain the truth of the gospel of belief in Jesus for eternal life.One final point before we move on.If repentance is a condition for eternal life, why is the writer of the book about eternal life absolutely silent on the matter? Not once does John mention the word repentance or any of it's verbal forms.Not one single time.You can make up your own mind on that one. Now let's take a look at what Luke 24:47 is saying.

To begin, not one single, solitary time in the New Testament is there a direct connection between repentance and eternal life. Not one.Acts 11:18 included.Luke is making a connection between repentance and forgiveness.We tend in our reading to make "forgiveness of sins' a part of being born again.Jesus forgives us our sins and gives us eternal life.That can be misleading.I want to show you something.Sin is not the problem when it comes to obtaining eternal life.What Ronnie!!?? Have you gone off the deep end? No,I don't think so. Look at this.

Colossians 2:13-14

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

The record of debt with it's legal demands was our sin that separated us from a Holy God.Jesus's work on the cross provided forgiveness for our sins before God.But,more importantly it cancelled the legal requirements, we owed a debt that could only be satisfied by our death.Look again.

Romans 3:23-25

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

Look at the word propitiation.That word means satisfaction or appeasement.Because of our sin God was angry with the whole human race.Jesus,on the cross not only cancelled our debt by paying it Himself,He also satisfied God's sense of judgment and appeased His anger.Remember what Paul said in Corinthians? We have been reconciled through the blood of Jesus.Once again, as it pertains to eternal life, sin is not the problem.

Wait a minute Ronnie,we all still sin after being born again.Yes,I know and that is what Luke 24:47 is about.But,hold on I am getting ahead of myself.Look at this.

John 16:7-11

7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

When Jesus was about to leave the earth,He told His disciples the above words.When Jesus left He would send the Holy Spirit.Now,here is where it gets interesting.The Spirit was going to convict(convince) the world of three things.Sin,Righteousness,Judgment.Only those three as it pertained to the unbelieving world.Now look at verse 9.What does it say? Concerning sin, they must repent and clean up their lives....

Wait a minute Ronnie! It doesn't say that!! Oh,my bad. I meant to say that ...concerning sin they must confess and continue for the rest of their lives in doing good works, and if they fail in those works then they are not saved...Ronnie it doesn't say that either.NO IT DOES NOT.What does it say?

"....concerning sin, because THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN ME..."(CAPS MINE) The only sin that the Holy Spirit is convicting the world)unbelievers) is unbelief.No play on words intended."Because they do no believe in me."

This passage goes on to say that the Spirit convicts(convinces)us of our need before God Almighty of the transferred righteousness of Jesus.Our righteousness doesn't cut it.Also that the ruler of this world is judged.

Only ONE sin.Sin is in the singular in the Greek.Not SINS plural.Not the multitudes of sins that we as human beings, believer and unbeliever commit every single day.NO! Not those sins.Why? Because Jesus cancelled those sins and the debt and the legal requirements of the Law that they put us in bondage to.Jesus Christ the Lord PAID for all those sins. If those sins still stand between us and the Father,we are,as the Apostle Paul put it,"without God in the world." We would still be "dead in our trespasses and sins..."

Well,why did Jesus tell us to repent for the forgiveness of sins? It must be kept in context.Jesus is giving us the key to living for God in this world.He is showing us God's formula for fellowship with Him.Remember Matthew's version of the Great Commission? Let's look.

Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Look at the language."Make disciples..." "teaching them to observe...."

Folks that is not the language of believing for eternal life.Once again, if observance of the commands of Jesus is required for eternal life, we are all in trouble.Luke 24:47 is just one among many verses that present difficulties for us laymen.HOWEVER,if we can keep the context of the verses in front of our eyes,most if not all can be harmonized.There is no contradiction in Scripture.

We do a Bible study every Sunday morning up here.We are in the Book of Isaiah and probably will be there until Jesus comes back.Right Todd? Right Anthony?lol Anyway,in Isaiah one of the themes of the book is God's desire to keep the children of Israel out of His courtroom.Why? Because if they enter His courtroom in a legal proceeding, they are going to be found guilty and judged.Well,in Isaiah as well as the contemporary prophets,Hosea,Amos,Micah they did not heed God's warning.They contended with God and were found guilty and eventually went into captivity. 

The same principle applies here today.We must approach God on His terms or not at all.If we require repentance or any other good work for obtaining or maintaining right standing before Him,we will be found guilty and suffer His judgment.Only faith(Paul) or belief(John) in Jesus as the Son of God and the giver of eternal life,will satisfy the Father.Reading the Bible in this context will alert you to verses that seem to require something other than belief.You can then begin to look at what these verses are saying.If it is not about eternal life,then what is it about? Repentance,confession of sin, praying, giving, on and on are good works.It is what God requires to maintain fellowship with Him.It is what makes us pleasing in His sight.

Look at this.

Ephesians 2:8-10

 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

 

 Look at the language once again.Verses 8 and 9 are adamant.We do nothing for our salvation.Why? Goes all the way back to Genesis.Pride.Pride that leads to boasting.God will allow no boasting in His presence.A gift of God,NOT A RESULT OF WORKS.(CAPS MINE)

 

 Now look at the language of verse 10....created in Christ Jesus for good works."And now the show stopper."..which God prepared beforehand,that we should walk in them." We don't even plan the works ourselves, all we do is walk where God tells us to walk.Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.What else does it say here?

 We should walk in them.Should being the key word here.This word, according to the smart guys signifies "a clear obligation or divine attention.'We are expected to walk in good works.However,it is our choice.We can choose whether or not to walk in them.Our choice.

This choice is what this study on rewards is all about.We are going to be rewarded, paid wages for all of our good works that we walk in.But,in no way imaginable are we to even think that we can offer something of our own righteousness before God as a means of justification.As it pertains to entrance into His presence and His kingdom, the only standard is perfection.Holy,Holy,Holy is the Lord God Almighty.Only perfection will satisfy.That is what the Lord Jesus did.That is why they call it the Good News,the Gospel.

A last word.You can answer those two questions in the negative.What two questions Ronnie? 1)Is eternal life free? 2)Is eternal life eternal.One or both of these questions can be answered in the negative.But,and this is a big but.If you take that course, you are burdened with harmonizing all the verses that do speak to eternal life being free and being eternal.Scripture cannot be broken.That is out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Himself. 

We will take a look at the Judgment Seat of Christ in the next post.Hope you are enjoying it.

All we must do is believe.

God Bless.