Transcript Unit 8 Doc 2 - Turning to God

Doctrine 2 Unit 8
4
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen
you,5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but
also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full
conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be
among you for your sake...
9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of
reception we had among you, and how you turned to God
from idols to serve the living and true God,
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to
come.
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Salvation is of God,
no response necessary
Salvation is of us, God can
only plead and hope we
respond...
12
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so
now, not only as in my presence but much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling,13 for it is God who works in you, both to will
and to work for his good pleasure…
The salvation God has effected from beginning to
end can and must impact our whole lives, even our
wills (that which we are responsible to do)
– Pg 132, Textbook
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Basic response to…
◦ Mark 1:15, Luke 5:32, Acts 2:38
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The OT background
◦ Deut 4:30, 30:2, 2 Kings 17:13?
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A gift…
◦ Ezekiel 36:22-32 (cf. 11:17-20)
The New Testament word for repentance means changing one’s
mind so that one’s views, values, goals, and ways are changed
and one’s whole life is lived differently. The change is radical,
both inwardly and outwardly; mind and judgment, will and
affections, behaviour and life-style, motives and purposes, are
all involved. Repenting means starting to live a new life.
Packer - Concise Theology
Not dissimilar to before in the Old Testament:
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Matthew 3:8
Acts 5:31
Matt 11:20-24
Luke 15:7
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Repentance distorted if we lose the truth that:
 God is Just?
 God is Merciful?
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Are you aware of any popular substitutes today
for the call to repentance we’ve seen so far?
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Repentance is an on going experience…
◦ Colossians 3:5-10
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Knowledge of the facts…
◦ Luke 4:16-21
◦ John 5:31-40
1 Corinthians 15:17
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Assent or agreeing with the facts…
◦ But James 2:19
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Trust, a personal commitment
◦ John 6:35, Gal 2:16, Phil 3:9
This approval of the facts of the gospel will also involve a
desire to be saved through Christ. But all this does not
still add up to true saving faith. That comes only when I
make a decision of my will to depend on, or put my trust
in, Christ as my Saviour. This personal decision to place
my trust in Christ is something done with my heart, the
central faculty of my entire being that makes
commitments for me as a whole person.
Wayne Grudem
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Faith by itself is empty & weak…
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Biblical faith finds it’s object in…
◦ Gen 15:6 (cf. Heb 11:11,17-19)
◦ Hebrews 1:1-3, John 14:1
Faith has absolutely no value in itself; its value lies solely in its object. Faith is
the eye that looks to Christ, the hand that lays hold of him, the mouth that
drinks the water of life.
John Stott, Your Mind Matters!
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Ephesians 2:8-9
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1 Corinthians 2:14
Faith is the conviction that, whatever happens around us, the
face of our heavenly Father is turned toward us in love…
Hebrews 6:11-18
Our Confidence
Is NOT presumption, a false hope...
Is NOT boasting in who we are/what we've done
BUT relies on God and what HE has done
There is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus
Romans 8:1
I frankly allow there are some presumptuous persons who profess to feel a
confidence for which they have no Scriptural warrant. There always are some
people who think well of themselves when God thinks ill, just as there are some who
think ill of themselves when God thinks well. There always will be such. There never
yet was a Scriptural truth without abuses and counterfeits.
...[But Paul], who would cry, “O wretched man that I am!” (Rom 7:24), had a clear
view of the fountain of evil within his heart. But then he had a still clearer view of
that other Fountain which can remove all sin and uncleanness. He, who thought
himself “less than the least of all saints” (Eph 3:8), had a lively and abiding feeling
of his own weakness. But he had a still livelier feeling that Christ’s promise, “My
sheep shall never perish” (John 10:28), could not be broken. Paul knew, if ever man
did, that he was a poor, frail bark, floating on a stormy ocean. He saw, if any did,
the rolling waves and roaring tempest by which he was surrounded. But then he
looked away from self to Jesus, and was not afraid. He remembered that anchor
within the veil, which is both sure and steadfast;—he remembered the word, and
work, and constant intercession of Him that loved him and gave Himself for him.
And this it was, and nothing else, that enabled him to say so boldly, “A crown is laid
up for me, and the Lord shall give it to me”; and to conclude so surely, “The Lord will
preserve me: I shall never be confounded.
J C Ryle, Faith and Assurance
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Read Unit 8 Notes
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Read NBD Article: Faith and Repentance
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Mini Essay:
Make an argument from scripture for saving faith
being more than just knowledge and assent…