A Missing Doctrine
In a recent conversation about salvation a ten year old responded, “Well, it starts with repentance. Repent, believe, be baptized.” (See Acts 2:38).
I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting to hear how God loves us. But, truly, there is no salvation without repentance (and the love of God). Christ died to take the penalty for our sin. If we fail to recognize our sin and repent, He does not save us.
This boy is living in a covenant household. God is glorified in his home. The Word of God is read, studied and discussed by the adults in his hearing. As a result, he has an understanding of what it means to be saved.
The conversation led me to think about the responsibility we have to children and grandchildren. What is our own understanding of salvation, the gospel, the events that are taking place in the world today, and even repentance?
In another conversation with a woman who is much older than the boy, God revealed a sin she was continuing in that was harmful to her marriage. As she talked about it it was apparent that she was acknowledging that it was sin, but, because her husband’s sin was worse than hers, she saw no need for repentance.
Any time that we respond to sin with sin, we must repent. Our tendency is to acknowledge and maybe even stop the behavior while failing to repent of it before God.
When King David was confronted by Nathan the Prophet after impregnating Bathsheba and killing Uriah, his confession was, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge” (Psalm 51:3-4).
David acknowledged his sin before God and man but then turned to God specifically and asked to be washed clean.
Have we lost the doctrine of repentance and the freedom that it brings? It probably will not change any earthly consequences that come from the sin but it will cause us to be spiritually released from the guilt before God.
The other thing that is truly wonderful about repentance is that in many cases others can see it. The behavior stops, words of repentance are offered to a victim, restitution gets paid and human relationships are restored!
Even when Paul talks about putting the sexually immoral person out of the church (1 Corinthians 5:1-5) it is for the hope of repentance and restoration “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:5).
It is one thing for us to have this understanding of the need to repent of our sin for salvation and to be right with God, but what about the need for national repentance as we watch the judgment of God fall on us?
In our nation today, we need repentance. Our land has been soaked in the blood of aborted babies. We have despised the Word of God and refused to stand up for biblical principles in the public square and all too often, in the church. We have lost the concept of the covenant family and the family of God within the Church.
We need to repent for not fulfilling our personal responsibilities as well as sitting by while the state takes over declaring right and wrong. Only the LORD has that authority but we have allowed it to be taken over by state “lawmakers” with no such authority before God.
That 10-year-old’s statement, “Well, it starts with repentance” continues to ring in my ears. Will we acknowledge our sin (personal and national) or will we repent of it, acknowledging God’s just judgment on it? Will we teach the next generation not to just acknowledge their sin, but to repent of it?