Man's Response

1) Piecing it Together: The Gospel Requires a Response

**BEGIN with REEL on ATHEISTS GOING to HEAVEN?

A. A COMPLETE GOSPEL PRESENTATION HAS FOLLOWING ELEMENTS[1]:

a. GOD

b. MAN

c. CHRIST

d. RESPONSE

B. When PRESENTING the GOSPEL…PEOPLE MUST KNOW: GOD = CREATOR W/ AUTHORITY to DETERMINE RIGHT & WRONG && GOD = HOLY & JUST JUDGE...

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C. PEOPLE NEED to KNOW THEIR FALLEN-NESS,, CONDITION of SIN…FALLING SHORT of GOD’S STANDARD...

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D. PEOPLE MUST KNOW that CHRIST MADE a WAY for THEM....PAID FOR THEIR SINS && OFFERS HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS to US BY FAITH.

a. It’s also important to remember that JESUS = THE WAY (John 14:6) and He is the only name that brings salvation (Acts 4:12).

GOSPEL EXCLUSIVITY = OFFENSIVE…BUT IT’S NECESSARY...

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E. FINALLY: GOSPEL PRESENTATION MUST ELICIT a RESPONSE...

PEOPLE MUST NOT ONLY HEAR,, BUT MUST RESPOND in FAITH…RECEIVING CHRIST as LORD & SAVIOR.

FAITH = the ANTITHESIS of WORKS… BUT a RESPONSE = STILL NECESSARY...

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2) Faith Comes by Hearing: The Gospel as God’s Power of Salvation

A. ONLY THROUGH HEARING the GOOD NEWS CAN SOMEONE BE SAVED!

TURN & READ: a. Romans 1:16-17 ESV “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

TURN & READ: b. Romans 10:8-17 ESV “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, 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. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

B4 SOMEONE CAN RESPOND—THEY MUST HEAR!

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C. TWO PRIMARY & 1ST RESPONSES BIBLICALLY (2 SIDES of ONE COIN)

FAITH

REPENTANCE

^^^^^ REPENTANT-FAITH.

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3) The Response of Faith

A. MOST OBVIOUS RESPONSE is to BELIEVE… PLACE FAITH & TRUST in CHRIST as SAVIOR...

READ: a. Hebrews 11:1,6 ESV “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. . . 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

i. See also: John 20:29.

TURN & READ: b. 1 Corinthians 1:18-21 ESV “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”

c. John 1:12-23 ESV “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

TURN & READ: d. Acts 16:29-32 ESV “And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.”

“BELIEVE ” as a verb COMES FROM the GREEK WORD: PISTEUO which in this context means, “to entrust oneself to an entity in complete confidence, believe (in), trust, w. implication of total commitment to the one who is trusted.”[3]

1. IT’S NOT MERE INTELLECTUAL ASSENT…BUT a PERSON TRUST. TRUSTING in CHRIST & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS to SAVE...

TURN & READ: e. Eph. 2:8-9 ESV “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.”

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4) The Response of Repentance

A. JOHN the BAPTIST…JESUS… && THE APOSTLES ALL PREACHED REPENTANCE from SIN...

TURN & READ: a. Jesus preached, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

i. ***NOTE: REPENTANCE & FAITH GOING HAND in HAND...

b. John the Baptist’s message was one of repentance with a baptism unto repentance (see Matthew 3:8-11).

READ: c. When the 12 apostles were sent out by Jesus to preach, the Scripture says, “So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent” (Mark 6:12).

B. AGAIN,, SCRIPTURE PRESENTS FAITH & REPENTANCE ALONGSIDE ONE ANOTHER...

TURN & READ: a. Acts 20:21 ESV “‘You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’” (emphasis added).[4]

TURN & READ: b. Hebrews 6:1 ESV “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment” (emphasis added).

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*****AFTER PETER’S SERMON on DAY of PENTECOST HE RESPONDS: REPENT & BE BAPTIZED.

TURN & READ: C. ACTS 2:38 “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

a. WHY DIDN’T PETER SAY BELIEVE??

THE FACT THAT THEIR HEARTS WERE PRICKED SHOWS THAT THEY HAD ALREADY BELIEVED to SOME EXTENT...

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D. Word Studies: What does “repentance” actually mean?

a. In the New Testament, there are 56 occurrences of “repent” or “repentance” in the ESV. This includes 34 found in the verbal form “repent” and 22 in the nominal form “repentance”.

i. The VERBAL FORM in GREEK is μετανοέω (METANOEO) and it means, “to change one’s mind” or to, “feel remorse, repent, be converted.”[5] It is TRANSLATED REPENT 100% of THE TIME it is found IN the N.T..

ii. The NOMINAL (NOUN) FORM in GREEK is μετάνοια (METANOIA) and it likewise means, “a change of mind” with the, “nuance of remorse” also, “repentance, turning about, conversion”[6] and it is translated, “repent, repentance, or repenting” every time it is found in the New Testament.

iii. REPENTANCE, BY DEFINITION = A CHANGE of MIND,, ACCOMPANIED BY SENSE of REMORSE or REGRET CONCERNING SIN....

TURN & READ: 1. 2 Cor. 7:10 ESV “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

2. CHARLES SPURGEON is reported as having said, “If I hate sin because of the punishment, I have not repented of sin. I merely regret that God is just.”

iv. THE PROOF of A TRUE CHANGE of MIND = CHANGE of ACTIONS....OUTWARD FRUIT, as JOHN the BAPTIST PREACHED “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt. 3:8, emphasis added).

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v. IN REPENTANCE…PEOPLE COME to VIEW THEIR SIN as GOD DOES..... AS SIN. = CHANGE of MIND

IT’S ACKNOWLEDGING PERSONAL SINFULNESS & DIRE NEED for SAVIOR

TURNING FROM SIN to CHRIST (IN FAITH) FOR SALVATION

****REPENTANCE is NOT a WORK/ACT THAT SAVES. SALVATION = BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH.

WE DON’T CLEAN UP to COME to CHRIST…WE COME as WE ARE....

BUT WE ALSO DON’T STAY AS WE ARE...

a. Millard Erickson, writing on the cost of following Jesus says, “Any attempt to increase the number of disciples by making discipleship as easy as possible ends up diluting the quality of discipleship instead.”[7]

i. While SALVATION = FREE GIFT , THERE is A COST to FOLLOWING JESUS..

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5) The Response of Baptism & Church Gathering

A. WATER BAPTISM THROUGHOUT the N.T. = THE RESPONSE of SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN SAVED.... THROUGHOUT ACTS,, PEOPLE GOT BAPTIZED ALL the TIME... (see Acts 2:41; 8:12-13, 38; 9:18; 10:48; 16:15, 33; 18:8; 19:5).

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B. WATER BAPTISM = PART of THE GREAT COMMISSION of THE CHURCH:

TURN & READ: a. Matthew 28:19-20 ESV “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.”

i. IMPLICATION = THOSE WHO BECOME DISCIPLES WILL GET BAPTIZED…PART of THE SAME PACKAGE...

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C. ****NOTE the ACT of BAPTISM ISN’T a WORK DESIGNED to SAVE,,, RATHER IT’S AN “appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Pet. 3:21).

IT’S OUTWARD SYMBOL of INWARD WORK.

BAPTISM DOESN’T RESULT in SALVATION...

BUT THOSE WHO ARE SAVED HAVE NO REASON to REFUSE (IF PHYSICALLY ABLE)

1. See also: Rom. 6:1-4

a. MICHAEL BIRD, theologian, helpfully describes the difference between baptism with the Holy Spirit and water baptism by writing, “Water baptism is the rite of passage for entry into the church, while Spirit baptism is the point of entry into the Christian life. Baptism is always associated with beginnings in the New Testament, not secondary or subsequent events in believers’ lives.”[8]

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D. THE N.T. MODEL = UPON CONVERSION, BELIEVERS JOIN & GATHER W/ OTHER BELIEVERS...

TURN & READ: a. Hebrews 10:24 ESV “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

b. ***WE CAN’T LIVE OUT the “ONE-ANOTHER’S” of SCRIPTURE WITHOUT GATHERING!!

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6) The Christian Life: Lived Under Lordship

A. LAST…THERE ARE LIFELONG IMPLICATIONS to LORDSHIP of JESUS CHRIST...

**MANY PEOPLE WANT to ACCEPT CHRIST AS SAVIOR....BUT NOT AS LORD.

WE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT to PRESENT a COST-LESS CHRISTIANITY...

TURN & READ: a. Luke 14:25-33 ESV “Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.’”

TURN & READ: b. Matthew 16:24-27 ESV “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.’”

i. The LORDSHIP of CHRIST = TOTAL…NO FACET of LIFE UNTOUCHED…NO STONE LEFT UNTURNED...

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B. TRUE CONVERSION = PROVEN THROUGH FRUIT...

FRUIT = AN EXPECTATION in THE N.T.

YOU CAN COME AS YOU ARE! ....BUT WE DON’T STAY AS WE ARE...

TURN & READ: a. Eph. 2:1-3 ESV “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (emphasis added).

TURN & READ: b. 1 Cor. 6:9-11 ESV “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (emphasis added).

TURN & READ: c. 2 Cor. 5:17 ESV “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

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C. EVERYONE WILL EVENTUALLY SUBMIT to LORDSHIP of CHRIST…WE EITHER BOW NOW WILLINGLY…OR LATER UNDER FORCE...

TURN & READ: o Phil. 2:9-11 ESV “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

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D. WHILE WE WAIT on CHRIST’S RETURN…GOOD WORKS = EXPECTED of BELIEVERS...

******WORKS AREN’T the ROOT of SALVATION...BUT THEY ARE the FRUIT...

TURN & READ: a. James 2:14-17 ESV “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

TURN & READ: b. Titus 3:3-8 ESV “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.”

i. TITUS’ PASSAGE = ESPECIALLY HELPFUL

1. LIFE of SIN = PAST TENSE...(v3).

2. SALVATION = BY GRACE & GOODNESS of GOD,....NOT GOOD WORKS.(v4-5).

3. THOSE WHOM GOD HAS SAVED SHOULD BE: “careful to devote themselves to good works” (v8).

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E. CHANGED LIFE = EXPECTATION.

^^^^^FAITH + REPENTANCE TOGETHER PROVE SOMEONE GENUINELY BELIEVES in JESUS CHRIST...

RECEIVING CHRIST BOTH AS LORD & SAVIOR...

N.T. MODEL = FRUIT = REQUIRED EVIDENCE of CONVERSION & REGENERATION

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7) Takeaways:

1. THE GOSPEL = GOD’S METHOD FOR BUILDING HIS CHURCH...

2. PEOPLE CAN’T COME to FAITH W.O. HEARING the GOOD NEWS!

GENERAL REVELATION = SUFFICIENT to CONDEMN

*** ONLY SPECIAL REVELATION = SUFFICIENT to SAVE

3. THE PROPER RESPONSE = FAITH + REPENTANCE.... “REPENTANT-FAITH”

4. FAITH = BELIEF & TRUST IN CHRIST AS SAVIOR…RECEIVING HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AS YOUR OWN....

5. REPENTANCE = CHANGE of MIND...

ACKNOWLEDGING PERSONAL SINFULNESS

ACKNOWLEDGING NEED FOR SALVATION

COMING to AGREE W/ GOD REGARDING SIN

CHANGE of MIND = CHANGE of LIFE....

CHRIST = LORD.

6. NO ONE CAN TRULY COME to CHRIST & REMAIN UNCHANGED....

N.T. EXPECTATION = FRUIT in BELIEVER’S LIFE....

WATER BAPTISM

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

LIVING UNDER LORDSHIP

“GOOD WORKS”

CLOSE in PRAYER....

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[1] This list is not my own, but I can’t remember at this time where it came from. Regardless, it’s a helpful framework. [2] It’s important to remember that while general revelation (God’s glory in creation) is sufficient to condemn, special revelation is required for salvation. For more information you can revisit Defining the Gospel Pt. 2, Section 3. [3]Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). In A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 817). University of Chicago Press. [4] In this context, Paul the Apostle is testifying to his faithful ministry before the Ephesian elders before departing from them. Both faith and repentance were clearly part of Paul’s ministry. [5] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). In A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 640). University of Chicago Press. [6] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). In A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 640). University of Chicago Press. [7]Erickson, M. J. (2013). Christian Theology (3rd ed., pp. 868–869). Baker Academic. [8]Bird, M. F. (2020). Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction (Second Edition, p. 701). Zondervan Academic.