Discipleship
Let’s Recap:
▪ Jesus was not interested in numbers, but level of
desire.
▪ The parables He spoke challenged peoples’ level of
desire.
▪ That level of desire corresponded to how bad they
saw their need to be.
▪ That need was exhibited in their desperation to find
a solution to their problem. The greater their need,
the greater their desperation to find the solution.
▪ No matter what the outward symptoms were, that
problem is sin, that solution is death, and Jesus is
the only One who can solve it.
▪ We were absolutely helpless and hopeless in our
sins. Nevertheless, Jesus died on our behalf.
Realizing the level of our need is not
only important in deciding to come to
Christ for our salvation, but it is also
foundational to making
right choices as we
follow Christ day by
day.
The Importance of Repentance
Luke 15:8-10
“Or 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.”
What is repentance?
Repentance = metanoéo, to
change one’s mind, to think
completely differently about
something, to do a mental 180°
turn.
Confession = homologéo, to say
the same thing about
something, to be in agreement
with an authority.
Mark 1:4-5
John came baptizing in the wilderness and
preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from
Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized
by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
Repentance = metanoéo, to
change one’s mind, to think
completely differently about
something, to do a mental 180°
turn.
Confession = homologéo, to say
the same thing about
something, to be in agreement
with an authority.
These are not the same as saying
you are “sorry.” That is merely an
expression of emotion and may or
may not be expressing repentance.
Luke 15:11-32
Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And
the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me
the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to
them his livelihood. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far
country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal
living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe
famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then
he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country,
and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he
would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that
the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How
many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough
and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and
go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have
sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no
longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one
of your hired servants.”’
“And he arose and came to his father. But when
he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had
compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed
him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned
against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer
worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out
the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his
hand and sandals on his feet.
Repentance is a decision that is
made between two opposing
options.
The Dual Makeup of Humanity
birth
death
Physical Life
practical
positional
The marred
image of God
in all of us
new
birth
Spiritual Life
Romans 7:18-23
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)
nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me,
but how to perform what is good I do not find. For
the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I
will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will
not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that
dwells in me.
I find then a law, that evil is present with me,
the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law
of God according to the inward man. But I see
another law in my members, warring against the law
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin which is in my members.
Are you getting mixed signals?
So which one will you choose?
The old life of
sin and selfish
behaviour
The new life of
peace and living for
God and others
Who I was
without Christ
Who I am
in Christ
Which sounds more appealing?
The old man
The new man
A slave to sin
A child of God
Is under the Law
Is living in grace
Paid with death
Rewarded with righteousness
Separated from God
Walking in the Spirit of God
Controlled by guilt
Constrained by love
Fearful
Free
Hebrews 9:13-14
6:1-3
For
if the blood
of bulls
and goatsof
and
Therefore,
leaving
the discussion
thethe
ashes
of a heifer,
sprinkling
the let
unclean,
elementary
principles
of Christ,
us go sanctifies
on to
for
the purifying
of theagain
flesh,the
how
much more
perfection,
not laying
foundation
of shall
the
blood offrom
Christ,
whoworks
through
eternal
Spirit
repentance
dead
andthe
of faith
toward
offered
without
spot to God,
cleanse
God, of Himself
the doctrine
of baptisms,
of laying
onyour
of
conscience
from dead works
serve
theofliving
hands, of resurrection
of the to
dead,
and
eternal
God?
judgment. And this we will do if God permits.
Repentance is not just turning from
something, but turning to something.