Doctrine Study - Conversion
Notes
Transcript
Conversion: our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation.
Conversion: our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation.
Conversion: turning from sin (repentance) and turning to Christ (faith).
Conversion: turning from sin (repentance) and turning to Christ (faith).
Faith: trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.
Faith: trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.
Faith: knowledge, approval, and personal trust.
Faith: knowledge, approval, and personal trust.
Knowledge/understanding is needed:
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?
Knowledge is not enough:
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
James
Approval/agreement is needed but not enough (may need context of 2:23-25):
This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
Faith is personal dependence on Jesus (for Salvation):
“receive” paralleled with “believed”:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
“Believes in him,” not just, “believes him”:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Belief described as coming to Jesus (, Matt. 11:28-30):
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Faith should increase w/ more true knowledge about Christ:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
(But, knowledge does not automatically increase faith...)
Repentance: a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.
Repentance: a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.
Repentance: an understanding that sin is wrong, a sorrow over sin and a hatred of it, and a personal decision to turn from it.
Repentance: an understanding that sin is wrong, a sorrow over sin and a hatred of it, and a personal decision to turn from it.
Repentance is more than mere sorrow over sins:
As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
2cor79-10
Godly sorrow - repentance to God:
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Worldly sorrow - sorrow about consequences, etc. but not genuine renouncing of sin:
For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
Why are repentance and faith two sides of the same coin?
Why are repentance and faith two sides of the same coin?
True turning toward Jesus means turning from sin.
True turning toward Jesus means turning from sin.
Repentance and Faith continue to be practiced throughout the rest of the Christian’s life on earth:
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
matt
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
gal2
Break Time
Break Time
Prayer: thanks to God for the “gift of tears;” requests that he soften hearts toward repentance and faith.
Prayer: thanks to God for the “gift of tears;” requests that he soften hearts toward repentance and faith.
Is repentance necessary in true conversion?
Is repentance necessary in true conversion?
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
matt
“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
is55
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Only Faith (with Repentance assumed): , , , , etc.
Only Repentance (with Faith assumed):
and said to them, “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.
luke
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “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.
Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
“When we realize that genuine saving faith must be accompanied by genuine repentance for sin, it helps us to understand why some preaching of the gospel has such inadequate results today… the gospel message becomes only, “Believe in Jesus Christ and be saved” without any mention of repentance at all.”
“…commitment to Christ, if genuine, must include a commitment to turn from sin. Preaching the need for faith without repentance is preaching only half of the gospel.”
“[Jesus] comes to us in his majesty and invites us to receive him as he is - the one who deserves to be, and demands to be, absolute Lord of our lives as well.”
Discussion: how should this affect the way we present the gospel to unbelievers?
Discussion: how should this affect the way we present the gospel to unbelievers?
Discussion: is faith a work?
Discussion: is faith a work?