This Sunday in our corporate reading of the
confession, we’ll be speaking of regeneration: “Regeneration, or the new birth,
is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ
Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of
sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance
is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus
Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour”
(Baptist Faith & Message 2000, IV.A).
“Repent” is the first command of the Gospel
(Mark 1:15). I say “command,” and not “invitation,” for that’s exactly what it
is. The command to “repent” comes in the context of God’s Kingdom (Matthew
3:2; 4:17). The King doesn’t invite; He commands. We see this further in what
is traditionally called “the Great Commission,” don’t we?
“And Jesus came up and spoke to
them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age’” (Matthew
28:18-20).
“Repent” isn’t a popular approach to
preaching the Gospel anymore, is it? Easy on modern sensibilities or not, it is
the entryway into a saving obedience by faith to the Gospel (see Romans 1:5; 10:16;
16:26; 2 Thessalonians 1:8 for the idea of obeying the Gospel by faith). I
suspect the command to “repent” in the Gospel has never been popular
(like the true Gospel itself) because it labels us sinners so depraved that God
Himself had to take on flesh and take His own wrath against us on Himself to
accomplish the impossible: our salvation (Matthew 19:25,26; Mark 10:26,27; Luke
18:26,27). In an age where the religion is self and the worship self-esteem,
the Gospel is scandal. As it should be. To help us overcome our inborn natural
religion, God gives us a gift: the ability to obey His command to repent.
He gave it first to the Jews: “He
is the One Whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to
grant repentance to Israel
Then He gave it to the rest of us: “When
they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God
has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life’” (Acts
11:18).
The Holy Spirit brings it to His
people through the Scriptures, including the apostolic letter: “For though I
caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it
- for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while - I now
rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the
point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of
God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the
sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without
regret, leading to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10). “The Lord’s
bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach,
patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition,
if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the
truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the
devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26).
Note that both of these describe repentance not just at the initial moment of
conversion, but continually in believers’ lives as they mortify sin. This, in
fact, was Luther’s first point of the 95 Theses that sparked the Reformation (he
nailed these to the Church door in Wittenberg
“Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy has caused
us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and
undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected
by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the
last time...you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but
imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God” (1 Peter 1:3-5,23). If you are a Christian, He has caused
you to be born again through the preaching of His Word, and His Word begins the
Gospel with the command to “repent.”
Has the King given you the
continual gift to obey His command by the power of His Spirit?
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