Sabaoth SUMMER 2019
FORESIGHT OF THE MASTER PLANNER – The Eternal Purpose
PLAN A2, BACK ON TRACK – Transformation: The proving of Faith and The Glory of God

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Our Freedom From Sin Section D – A Believers Need For Repentance In Sanctification

The Law, Faith and Repentance In Sanctification

Section D (3): REPENTANCE – A Believers Need For Repentance In Sanctification

In our last instalment (FAITH FOR SANCTIFICATION – Firstly Revealed To our Mind: Then Sealed Upon Our Hearts By The Holy Spirit) we saw that when it comes to sanctification, our faith plays out in a two-fold movement: downward, we cease to trust in our ability to improve ourselves; upward, we put our trust in Jesus for the transformation of our life. Trust is a firm reliance on the character or integrity of another; it is also a measure of the spiritual authority God puts at our disposal, which is also commensurate with the level of our spiritual maturity. Worldly maturity connotes the level of being independent of anyone; but spiritual maturity is the:

LEVEL OF OUR TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE ON GOD. It demands that we cease to trust in our ability to improve ourselves; and we put our trust in Jesus’ finished work for the transformation of our life.

While faith is our receiving of the grace “offered us in Christ.” and repentance is availing ourselves of this grace and utilizing the power of it to turn to God. It is paramount we realise that faith will always precede repentance as it impossible for one to utilise what he/she does not have an understanding of – we need first to understand this mercy of God as provided for us in the finished work of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ before we can now say we will go to God in repentance: it is this LEVEL OF OUR TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE ON GOD (from which faith is derived) that is a launch pad for our willingness to repent.

Repentance is an act by which we realise we have offended an Holy and righteous God; this act is characterised by a deliberate turn away from the sinful act(s) in question, begging for God’s forgiveness and turning to him and his ways. Repentance is also that window that opens for us to see what we are called to; this being that, we are to represent God’s living and working in human life; how the effects of sin’s offensive attack on God defeats this purpose and how it can be remedied by means of the lordship of God’s Spirit over man’s spirit, soul and body.

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

REPENTANCE IS THE REAL TURNING OF OUR LIFE TO GOD THAT STEMS FROM OUR LOVE FOR HIM WHICH LEADS TO A RIGHTEOUS FEAR OF HIM. THAT LOVE COMES FROM A PURITY OF HEART, GOOD CONSCIENCE AND SINCERE FAITH.

In this instalment, we look at the two extremes at which a believer might erroneously view sin at one end is the view that assumes that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary for salvation with the view that “I’ll go ahead and commit the sin because for grace, God will forgive me”

At the other extreme is tendency within the Christian life to favour legal assurances and practices in one’s journey of faith with the view that “I will TRY MY BEST to do what God wants by discipline and dedication of heart. I will use my WILL POWER”

But in-between this two extremes lies true freedom from sin:

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. (Romans 6:17)

In this section on repentance we look at:

Man’s Sinful Nature

Unbeliever’s Sorrowful Turning From Sin

Believer’s Need For Consistent Repentance

The Function And Purpose of The Law

Guilt & Godly Sorrow

Sorrowful Turning From Sin & Hopeful Turning To God

Quickening ‘Awakening’ Leading to Repentance

Confession

Cleansing (Deliverance)

The Quickening (or Awakening), Faith and Repentance Needed For Revival