Third Sunday after Trinity

Repentance is required for salvation. Unless a man turns from his sin, he cannot be saved. It is not possible to enter heaven while holding on even to the smallest and seemingly most harmless sin. As Jesus tells us, the way of salvation is narrow, and few are those that find it. Yes, repentance is necessary for salvation. So how can you be certain that you are repentant?

Many Christians look to their own hearts to find a feeling of sincerity. In the confession of sin at the beginning of the service, we say, “I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them.” This is a good confession, but what about the times you don’t feel particularly sincere? And what if you’re only sorry and not heartily sorry? Is your salvation now in limbo?

If heartfelt sincerity is required for true repentance, then how can you ever be certain of your salvation? There are many times that I’ve apologized and asked for forgiveness when I didn’t feel like saying the words. I said them anyway. Was that repentance?

Likewise, many Christians believe that repentance requires having pure motives. Are you repenting because you’re truly sorry that you have sinned against God, or are you only repenting because you got caught? “What? You’re repenting because you don’t want to go to hell? That doesn’t count. You must repent out of a sincere love for God and a heart-felt sorrow that you have disappointed Him.” This sounds pious, but if it were true, it would exclude everyone of us from salvation. Are you willing to stake your soul on the sincerity of your confession and the purity of your motives for repenting? I think not. This would remove all certainly of salvation and leave you an easy target for the whispered doubts of Satan.

So then, if repentance is not determined by heartfelt sincerity nor by purity of motives, what is the definition of repentance? Instead of looking to human ideas, we should look to the Scriptures. In our Gospel text this morning, Jesus tells us what repentance is. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Lk 15:4–7).

Did you catch that? Here is Jesus’ definition of repentance. The sheep was lost. The shepherd goes out and finds it, carries it home, and says, “Rejoice with me. I have found my sheep which was lost.” In this same way, Jesus says, there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. Jesus calls being found by the shepherd repentance.

Salvation is 100% the work of God. The Scriptures clearly teach this. But what about repentance? Don’t we have to repent? Not exactly. Yes, repentance is required for salvation. Yes, God commands all men everywhere to repent. But repentance is the gift of God. And repentance is the work of God within us. Salvation is way too important of a matter for God to leave in our hands. Would you let your ten-year-old child or grandchild drive on the interstate? Of course not. The stakes are too high. Likewise, salvation is far too important of a matter for God to leave in our hands. He insists on doing all of the work Himself. The penalty that you owe because of your sin: God alone must pay that. That faith that believes that God has done this: He alone must give this to you. The repentance that is required in order to be saved: God alone must work it within in your heart. Salvation begins and ends with God.

Jesus tells us that repentance is being found by the shepherd. Tell me, what did the sheep do to get found? “Ah,” someone might say, “it must have been thinking repentant thoughts before the shepherd found it. Maybe it let out some repentant bleats to help the shepherd know where to look. Surely the sheep did something to contribute to salvation! God starts the work of salvation, but then it’s up to us to meet Him halfway—or at lest, partway. After the sheep was found, then it walked back to the sheepfold, right?” No. The shepherd picked up the sheep and carried it home.

It’s almost as though Jesus anticipates this kind of objection to God as the sole actor in salvation. And so, He tells the story again, but this time the sheep has been replaced with an inanimate object, a coin. Jesus seems to wants to hammer the point home. One could argue that a sheep has at least some agency, some desire to try to find its way home, some innate ability to seek repentance. In that case, what about a coin?

“What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk 15:8–10).

What a wonderful comfort it is to know that repentance is being found by God. It is not your work; it is His work within you. And because it’s His work, you can be certain that He will finish the job and do it well. Your salvation is assured! It is as real and certain as the nails in Christ’s hands and feet! Everything necessary for your salvation was accomplished on the cross at Calvary. This is God’s gift to you. And the repentance and faith you need to take hold of this salvation is also God’s gift to you. What a glorious relief it is to know that salvation is a gift completely out of your own hands.

In closing, I’m going to read a paragraph from the Lutheran Confessions: Formula of Concord, Article XI.

God in His counsel, before the time of the world, decided and ordained that He Himself would produce and work in us by His Holy Spirit’s power. Through the Word, He would do everything that belongs to our conversion. This doctrine also provides the excellent, glorious consolation that God was greatly concerned about the conversion, righteousness, and salvation of every Christian. He so faithfully provided for it that even before the foundation of the world was laid, He considered it, and in His purpose ordained how He would bring me to salvation and preserve me in salvation. He wanted to secure my salvation so well and so certainly, since through the weakness and wickedness of our flesh salvation could easily be lost from our hands, or through the devil’s and the world’s craft and might it could be snatched and taken from us. Therefore, He ordained in His eternal purpose what cannot fail or be overthrown. He placed salvation for safekeeping in the almighty hand of our Savior, Jesus Christ, from which no one can snatch us (John 10:28). Therefore, Paul asks in Romans, because we “are called according to His purpose” (8:28), who “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”?

This is most certainly true. Amen.