The Message of Evangelism, Part 5 - Lesson 8
This transcript is generated by artificial intelligence. It may contain errors, misidentifications, or omissions.
Exact and perpetual obedience—so we've got the standard, the sovereign, the standard, the sinner, and we looked at that, the man is guilty, before God because of Adam's sin imputed to us, reckoned to us, as well as our own personal sin. Man can't earn his way to God; a man is will face the consequences of his sin, separation from God for all eternity. And then we looked at the Savior, who is truly God and truly man, who has lived a perfect, righteous life, and has died as a substitute for sinners and has been raised victorious from the dead. And now we come to the final one, the summons, the summons. The summons. Robert Murray McShane tells about an American immigrant, named Luke Short, who—remember—listening to a sermon by the Puritan John Flavell, in England, when he was 15 years old. The text was, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema." Maranatha. Luke Short left really unaffected by that sermon, went on to live the rest of his life apart from Christ. And yet, 85 years later, after hearing Flavell preach, while standing in his field, the Spirit of God effectually converted him at the age of 100, as he meditated on that sermon. That was just like a time bomb in his brain, you know, that was just waiting to go off. And so God brought it to his mind on a quiet moment in his thoughts, and the Lord used it to convert him. So as we consider the summons of the Gospel, It is twofold. what is the summons? What is the summons? It is the summons of repentance and faith, repentance and faith. And so turn to your Bibles to Acts chapter 20 to see this. Acts chapter 20, starting in verse 20. But really, we're after verse 21. Acts 20, verse 20. If you want 20/20 vision on the summons, right? Here it is. "How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you testifying both to Jews and to Greeks in public, and from house to house, of repentance toward God, and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." So Paul is speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus, and he reminds them about his ministry and the proper response to the Gospel. These two realities are what make up our summons to the lost after giving them the good news. Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So really, two sides of the same coin. It's a 180-degree turn, turning from sin to Christ. Repentance is the turning away from sin, faith is the reliance upon and receiving of Christ. Repentance and faith can be distinguished from one another, but they should not be divided from one another. When people are called in Scripture to respond to the Gospel message, sometimes only repentance is mentioned. And faith is not mentioned in the context. Even we give an example here. Luke 24 , Luke 24, verse 47, it says, "And that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." So focus there on repentance. Sometimes only faith is mentioned. When the Philippian jailer asks Paul what must I do to be saved, and he says, "Believe." And the Lord Jesus—he just speaks about faith. He doesn't say, "Repent." Right? So sometimes only repentance is mentioned. Sometimes only faith is mentioned. And sometimes both are mentioned together. Well, of course, we just read one example of that in Acts 20. In Mark chapter 1, we see both mentioned. It's actually significant. It's really the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Mark 1:14 and 15. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God. Okay, that's what we're after. We're talking about the Gospel of God. And saying the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel. There's the summons right there. Repent and believe in the Gospel. So what this means is that when one is mentioned, repent, or believe, the other one is assumed. It's implied. So we shouldn't make arguments like, you know, he just says believe in the Lord Jesus in Acts 16, the Philippian jailer. So you, you know, repentance is something else. Repentance is later. It's, you know, some later thing that we do. Or you could equally say, well, then we just need to repent, not believe. No, no. These are both implied. When one is mentioned, the other is implied. And so that's important to remember. One writer said, "The faith that saves is a repentant faith, and the repentance that saves is a believing repentance." 1 Thessalonians 1:9. "For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you. And how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God." Acts 26, verse 18. Paul says, "To open their eyes so that they may turn—there's repentance— from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, and they may receive forgiveness of sins in a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." So we see both there as well. Also, it's important to say at the outset that repentance and faith are both gifts from God. They're commands. Gospel commands, but they're also gifts that God gives. We see that both spoken of that way in Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11, verse 18, we read, "God has—or then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life." So there is a repentance that leads to life, to spiritual life. And that is a gift from God. It is a gift from God. There's a passage—I can't remember the specific verse—I'm not going to spend time to look it up, though. The thing is, in Jeremiah 30, it says, like, "Cause us to turn that we may turn." Cause us to repent that we may repent. That's a great prayer. In your own life. "Lord, cause me to repent of this sin so that I may repent." What does that acknowledging? It's acknowledging that repentance is a gift from God. Faith is also a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 and 9 is a familiar passage to many of us. "For by grace you've been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Now, this is the gift of God. Likely refers to that entire grace— salvation by grace alone— salvation that whole package, which includes faith. But Paul speaks about how it's been granted to you, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His name in Philippians 1:29. So we are granted faith. We are gifted with faith. So repentance is a gift. Faith is a gift. And how does this all fit together? Well, when we bring in the doctrine of regeneration, we understand that regeneration precedes faith and repentance logically. In the sense that in order for a dead sinner to embrace Christ, they must be given life. So spiritual light is given in regeneration, or spiritual life is given and the sinner repents and believes. And so God grants the gift of repentance and faith when He regenerates a soul. And repentance and faith also involve the whole person, the whole person. In other words, mind, affections, and will. So those are some preliminary things that are important to set out for us as we think about the summons to the Gospel. But really, the summons is twofold, as we've said. You must turn in repentance toward God, and you must trust in Jesus Christ. So first, let's consider repentance, often used word. I think a lot of people have probably heard this word before. But probably—I'm talking about like unbelievers—that even in the culture. But probably don't have a good sense of what it is that repentance means biblically. So what is repentance? Well, instead of me making up a definition, let's consider the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Helpfully defines it this way: "This is question 87. Repentance, until life, is a saving grace. Whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ doth with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God." With full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. So I want you to notice just what I just said about the whole person. It talks about an apprehension of sin. That's your thinking. It talks about hatred of sin. That's your affections. And it talks about with full purpose and endeavor after new obedience. That's the will. That's like the desire to follow the Lord. So repentance. There's repentance defined helpfully. But one of the great passages about repentance in the Old Testament—actually, there's two— that are really significant—is Joel 2. And Isaiah 55. So Joel 2, verses 12 to 17, and then Isaiah 55:6 and 7, are two really key texts you want to mark and know related to the doctrine of repentance. In the Old Testament. And then, of course, there's many others. I would say a highlight—I want to highlight in your New Testament—is 2 Corinthians, 7, verses 10 and 11. Because that passage explains seven different evidences of true repentance. Paul describes godly sorrow and worldly sorrow, and the repentance that leads to life. And he speaks about the fruits of that repentance. What are the marks of someone who's repented? That's a great, great passage there. But Joel 2, Joel 2, verses 12 to 17, say this: "Yet even now declares Yahweh, Return to me." That's repentance. "With all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to Yahweh your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and He relents over disaster. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him, a grain offering and a drink offering, for Yahweh your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, consecrate the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priest, the ministers of Yahweh, weep and say, "Spare your people, O Yahweh. And make your—not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' So this—I love this passage. Because it really helpfully shows us the summons to repentance. We have the invitation to repentance in the beginning of verse 12. "Yet even now," God is saying, "it's not too late." And the context of this is the threatened judgment in verse 11. Yahweh utters His voice before His army, for His camp is exceedingly great. He executes His word—or He who executes His word is powerful, for the day of Yahweh is great. Very awesome. Who can endure it? So it's a summons saying, "You can't endure this day. The day of God's judgment." And so here's an invitation. It's not too late. And the invitation comes from God Himself. Declares Yahweh. Okay, now let's turn to Isaiah 55. Keep your finger in Joel. We'll be back. Isaiah 55. And here is one of the great invitations in Scripture to come to Christ and—this is important for us because we're talking about the summons— this is a biblical passage about the summons to believe. But it also gives us a great passage on repentance. Verse 1, "Come, everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters." And he who has no money, come. Buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good. Delight yourself in rich food and climb your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant. My steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that you—that did not know, you shall return to you—shall run to you. Because Yahweh your God and of the holy one of Israel for he has glorified you. Seek—here's our verses 6 and 7—really key passage on repentance. Seek Yahweh 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 Yahweh, that He may have compassion on him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. So this is how we want to summon people. You know, just reasoning with them, to come and see how everything's been provided for them. To buy things that are already paid for, right? And then to reason and say, "Hey, why would you continue in your sin? Why would you spend your money for that which is not bread?" And there's this reasoning as we summon the sinner to repent. What is your sin ever done for you? And then here's the call to repent again. Verse 6 and 7. So there's this invitation in Joel that is matched with an invitation to repent in Isaiah as well. Then in Joel—go back to Joel— if we were to continue with this, we have the imperative to repentance. Not only an invitation, but this is a command. Return to me with all your heart. Notice that there are two aspects to this repentance, this command. It is God-word. Return to me. And it is genuine. With all your heart. So repent in a God-word way. Return to me. And it is genuine. That's what it says about the Thessalonians. We read that passage. First Thessalonians 1:9. You turn from idols to serve the living and true God. You turn to God. And then it is genuine. With all your heart. So it's comprehensive. That's the idea. It is a turn of the whole person. So we might—let's just kind of think about this for a second. What do we mean by that? Well, it is a recognition of sin of remorse for sin and a resolve against sin. So recognition of sin. We recognize sin. We agree with God about our sin. Remorse is the hatred of sin that the Westminster Confession stated. And then resolve against sin the illustration that I must have heard it somewhere, but I've used for years, is the idea of a declaration of war. So no battles have been fought yet, but the enemy has been identified. I'm resolved to fight sin, to turn away from sin." To say, "This is the enemy. In the strength that God supplies. So we want to make it clear that repentance is not us cleaning our lives up. It's not performing good works. The word God sees that, and then He's pleased, and He's—no, no, no. We don't merit our salvation, but when someone is truly repentant, there is a resolve against their former sin that they had peace with. Now they see they're at war with sin. They—when they have remorse over it, they hate their sin. Then they rightly identify the enemy, and there's a resolve against sin. That's that new purposing Their view of sin has changed. They recognize it differently. that the Westminster Confession spoke about. So recognition of sin, remorse for sin, and resolve against sin, or if you want it—if you want it in cease, you could say confession of your sin, contrition for your sin, and a change in direction, away from your sin. If you wanted in essence, saying the same thing as God, sorrow for sin and surrender. Okay. I surrender. It's like similar wartime image. So recognition of sin and remorse for sin You can see in recognition different passages, in Scripture. Psalm 51 against you. You only have I sinned. and a resolve against sin. David says the prodigal son in Luke 15. It says against I've sinned against heaven and against you. So he's talking to his father. I've sinned against heaven and really heaven It's a stand-in word for God. And so I've sinned against God, and I've sinned against you, Father. David says, "I have sinned" is a circumlocution for God. when he's confronted by Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:13. So there's that recognition of sin. It acknowledgment of it, confession of it, and then a remorse over it. Joel speaks to this aspect of remorse over sin when he speaks about fasting, weeping, wailing, tearing your heart and not your garments. Tearing your garments would be an outward expression of grief, of sorrow. But he's saying, "Do that in the inside." Right? Don't just do the outward show. I mean, that's okay to do, but make sure that's true of your heart. And so he's calling them to inwardly have remorse over their sin. Repentance is more than tears. Esau cried that he didn't have the blessing, but he couldn't find repentance in it. Paul contrasts that worldly sorrow from a godly sorrow in 2 Corinthians 7:10 and 11. So there is this—there can be tears, and yet they're not true grief over our sin. Maybe that we've been caught or something else. Thomas Watson says, "Heaven is never longed for till sin be loathed." He says, "A woman may as well expect to have a child without pangs as one can have repentance without sorrow." I guess there's epidurals, but you get the idea. Repentance not only is a recognition of sin, a remorse over sin, but also a resolve against sin. One writer said it's a purposeful decision to forsake all unrighteousness and pursue righteousness instead. Saw that in Isaiah 55. Declaration of war. Wayne Grudem defines repentance this way. He says, "Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ." And of course, we could talk about—we won't really focus on this now— but you could talk about the fruits of repentance, what results from what comes from repentance. John the Baptist says, "To the Pharisees, to the religious leaders, bear fruits in keeping with repentance." Joel Beke and Paul Smalley say, "Repentance is not merely a gateway into the Christian life, but the pathway we must follow all our lives until we reach the kingdom of glory." So it's something we are continuing to pursue in our lives. So there's that repentance unto life coming to initially turn from our sin. And then there's that ongoing repentance in our lives where—which we do as Christians. Joel then, back to Joel. Joel gives them some incentives to repent. And this is helpful for us because as we reason with the sinner, as we summon them to repent, we want to show them the reasons they should repent. The incentives in verses 13, the middle of 13 to 14. And he gives them an incentive in the character of God, in the middle of verse 13. He says, "Return to Yahweh your God for"—here's a reason. Here's an incentive. He is gracious and merciful. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And he relents over disaster. So here's a reminder of God's character. And actually, he's really pulling on Exodus 34:6, that famous statement about the character of God. We actually looked at that when we talked about the sovereign. We talked about God's character. And that's just a great go-to passage because it just is a whole bunch of God's attributes in one passage. Revealing God. And so Joel pulls on that passage to give an incentive for why you should repent. Because this is who God is. Here's his character. Here's a second reason to repent. Second incentive. And it's not only the character of God, but it's the hope of communion with God. The hope of communion with God. This is what we're after. Christ died to bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18. So verse 14 of Joel 2 says, "Who knows whether he will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him So how does this teach us about communion with God? a grain offering and a drink offering for Yahweh your God? Well, we have to think about an Old Testament, Mosaic law context where there's the sacrificial system. What happened for in Joel's context was they had this locus plague, and it basically wiped out a bunch of their crops, which prevented them from offering things like a grain offering. So it actually hindered their worship hindered their communion. So because of their sin, God said, "I will, you know, in the Mosaic covenant, if you sin, then you'll have curses." Right? So they're sinning. They're getting a curse. Like, not getting the produce of the land. But what does that affect? It affects their worship. So now they can't bring the things that are required in the law to offer to God. And they can't enjoy that same communion with God. And so he's saying, "If you repent, then they'll be opportunity. I'll leave a blessing behind him so likely God's going to restore the physical bounty of the land so that then they can offer grain offerings again." So then when you understand that principle or what's happening there, you can see the principle that is being taught here. That repentance will lead to renewed communion with God, renewed worship of God. That's true for a believer. That's also true for the unbeliever who's completely been separated from God in their sin. They're dead to God. But they were created to worship him. They are worshipers all the time. But it's what they're worshiping. And so when we repent, we are able to have communion with God. So there's a beautiful picture there. And then we see not only these two powerful incentives, the character of God and communion with God, but we also see the importance of repentance, the importance of repentance in verses 15 to 17. And he's really showing the urgency of how this is more important than anything in your life. Nothing should take priority over repentance. Really, he's saying it's more important than your wedding day. He's calling all the people. So verse 15, "Blow the trumpet in Zion." Consecrate a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the people. So gather everyone together. And then verse 16, "Consecrate the congregation." Assemble the elders. Gather the children. Even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Whoa. So notice how this is all ages. It's like young and old. It's also you've got a bride and a groom. They're getting married. And he's like, "Cancel it. This is more important than that." It's more important than the consummation of your marriage. To repent. That's what he's saying here. And then verse 17, "Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh weep and say, 'Spare your people, O Yahweh, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations.' Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'" So he's calling on the priests to cry out to God as well. So we might reason with people that repentance is more important than your reputation. Some of these people will fear repenting and their sin because of their reputation. It's more important than your relationships. Luke 14, Jesus is having people who are counting that having to count the cost of following him. And we studied that passage in our series on Luke. But whoever doesn't hate his father and mother cannot be to my disciple. More important than relations. More important than your resources. Than your resources. Acts 19, when the people repent, in Ephesus, I believe, they bring their magic books they bring their magic books to the middle of the city and they burn their magic books. Because they're not going to sell them on eBay. Because they don't want other people to practice magic. Right? And so this is like, "Ah, man, we can't just sell this." So they put it in a pile and they have a book burning thing where they're demonstrating their repentance It would be in the millions of dollars and it tells us the cost of it. of resources that they're burning. But it's more important than their resources. So Jesus says, in Luke 13, "Repent, or you will likewise perish after there's some natural disaster, some moral evil, and there's some natural evil happening." And he says, "The message here for everyone is repent." It's also important, I think, to show people and reason with people as we summon them to repentance that no matter what someone has done, no matter their sin, God is merciful. That's back to the character of God. That God can and will forgive sinners who repent. And the example you can give to them is Manasseh. You can give them a number of examples. Manasseh in the Old Testament, Paul in the New Testament. Right? Manasseh's repentance can be seen in 2 Chronicles 33. And when you read that passage, you see how wicked Manasseh was as a king. And yet he came to his senses and the Lord forgave him. There were still consequences. That couldn't be turned back from his actions. But the Lord saved this wicked king in the New Testament. Paul, a persecutor of the church, recounts his testimony numerous times through the book of Acts. And he even in Timothy speaks about how God saved him as an example of God's patience to others. So that others wouldn't lose hope that God couldn't save them. That they would have hope that God could save them because he saved such a wretch like Paul. So Manasseh in the Old, Paul in the New. So that's repentance. That's the first part of our summons. We summon people to repentance unto God. Turning from sin to God. So before we get to the second one, any questions on that or clarifications on repentance, repentance? Yeah. Several of these verses said return. Yep. Return. These are summons to lost people. So is that a return to the original state of man? You know, the way God intended. Is that the return? Because I've actually heard it taught like the lost sheep being someone that was not lost because they were in the flock and then they were out of the flock. So yeah. Some of these are, like, for instance, in Joel, it's addressed to Israel. And so Israel as a corporate nation is in a covenant with God and so they have broken that covenant. And so he's calling them back to say that God is your creator. God is made you. to covenant fidelity. In those contexts. But I think, yeah, in a general sense, we might reason out as well And he's made you to worship him. But you've been, you've been separated because of your relationship to Adam because of your own sin. And you need to return to him in repentance to be reconciled to him. I think that's what I would say. Any others? Yeah. Do you have any distinction if you talk about the difference in repentance and then the just regret? Uh-huh. Sometimes even in yourself, it can be hard to discern. Yeah. Would you say there are any specific marks of true repentance versus that? Well, that's what 2 Corinthians is really getting at. And so I direct you there. If you want to real deep dive, Thomas Watson's book, The Doctrine of Repentance, is basically an exposition of that passage. And it's great. It's powerful. But actually, Paul gives these different ones here. Verse 11. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, So he actually gives those are the marks right there. Now, we don't have time right now what punishment at every point you've proved yourself innocent in the matter. to expose what those would look like practically. But that's the starting place, I think, to have there's other examp les of Esau, Judas, false repentance. And then or Saul, New Testament. And then true repentance examples as well that you could also look at. Stuart Scott has a free PDF where he works through those two. I can't remember the name of it. But if you looked up Stuart Scott, PDF repentance or something, you'd probably come up with it. Jim Eliff has a book called The Unrepenting Repenter. That's also a good one. To check out. And he has a good resource where he's looking at examples as well as evidence. That's just what comes to mind. So those I'll probably have more that come to mind. But I'll tell you later. All right. Let me just keep on going here. So that we can fit in here the second aspect of the summons. You must trust in Jesus Christ. You must trust in Jesus Christ. And this is the faith aspect. So go to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, which gives us somewhat of a it's close as we have to a definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And so what are some of the ingredients of faith? Here's my definition of faith. I know I gave you the Westminster's for repentance. But here's my attempt. It is a whole person response to and reliance upon the whole Christ. So it's a whole person response to and reliance upon the whole Christ. It's all of me trusting all of Christ. Or entrusting myself to Christ. John Murray has a great quote about faith and redemption accomplished and applied, page 111. He says, "Faith is knowledge passing into conviction, and it is conviction passing into confidence. It is a receiving and resting upon him." Oh, yeah. And here's the Westminster. I knew I had it. Westminster Confession of Faith. Quote, "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone." For salvation. As he is offered to us in the gospel. MacArthur says this in biblical doctrine. Saving faith is a fundamental commitment of the whole person to the whole Christ. Sounds like I got my definition from him, actually. With his mind, heart, and will. The believer embraces Jesus as Savior, advocate, provider, sustainer, counselor, and Lord God. So there are really three aspects historically that have been seen in biblical faith. Knowledge, assent, and trust. So cat, but it's not spelled C-A-T. It's K-A-T, right? Cat. So knowledge, assent, and trust. Knowledge intellectual, assent, we might get into the affectional aspect there. Trust, volitional. So there's content, to believe, conviction, or affirmation of the facts. That they are true. And then a confidence in Christ, resting and relying upon him. One writer says this. In saving faith, the mind embraces knowledge, The heart gives assent or the settled confidence and affirmation that Christ's salvation is suitable to my spiritual need. a recognition and understanding of the truth concerning the person and work of Christ. And three, the will responds with trust with a personal commitment to reliance upon an appropriation of Christ as the only hope for my salvation. With respect to conversion, then, the one who possesses saving faith wholeheartedly embraces the truth concerning his own sinfulness The newly awakened believer becomes absolutely convinced that he is helpless to address the inevitable misery of his spiritual condition. and Christ's suitableness to save him. And he looks on Christ with the certain conviction that Christ's efficiency is the perfect answer to his spiritual bankruptcy. End quote. So remember the three Rs. These come from most of the confessions, like Westminster, London Baptist, Heidelberg, the three Rs. Faith receives Christ. Faith relies upon Christ. Faith rests on Christ. So a receiving, a relying, a resting on Christ. That's how you can think about faith. Faith is all of you receiving all of Christ for all of life. So just as faith, repentance is whole person response, so is faith. The object of our faith is Jesus Christ and his words, his person and his words. So we are receiving Christ. John 1, verse 11. John 1, verse sorry, John 1, verse 12. John 1, verse 12. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. What is it that we receive Christ as? Well, we receive him as all that he is. He is the treasure hidden in the field. Matthew 13, 44 to 46. And the pearl of great price. So we receive him as such. Paul saw Christ differently when he was regenerated and he couldn't help but receive him. He saw Christ as the treasure and everything else as loss. That he once considered of value. And so we've used the illustration before, but in regeneration, the price tags are switched back into their proper places. Whereas before, Satan had mixed up all the price tags of everything and the valuation of things in our minds. Such that we sought after the wrong things. But in regeneration, the price tags are switched so that we embrace Christ in faith. John Piper, this isn't like a quote, but he really, this is a summation of what he really says in his book, Saving Faith. He says, we receive Christ as treasured savior, treasured Lord, treasured righteousness, treasured wisdom. So it is that receiving him for all that he is. And so that's why we need to really put forward Christ a lot for people. Because it is the sight of Christ that God uses to draw the sinner to himself. It's a resting upon Christ. That's who they're drawn to, is Christ. Resting upon him as our solid foundation, as our rock. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, 6 and 7. Speak this way. Says, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. So you rest upon Christ. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus. Blood and righteousness on Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking at sand. And it's a reliance upon Christ. It's a reliance upon him. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3, verse 5. All right. What do we have time for? Okay. Okay, my buddy, I'm going to give this illustration because I think it's helpful. I gave this at Winter Camp, so as well. But my friend Mike Ricardi, he gives this illustration. I said it's really helped to distinguish how people hear us saying believe in Christ. And to correct them if they're thinking this way. So he says this, quote, so people say, do you believe? He's comparing it to believing in Santa Claus. So people say, do you believe in Santa Claus? What they don't mean is, do you rely upon Santa Claus for getting through the day? Or to save your soul? Or anything else? They mean, do you believe that Santa Claus is a real person who rides a flying sleigh and gives children gifts on Christmas? When people ask you, do you believe in Jesus? A lot of people hear that question in the same way as, do you believe in Santa Claus? Do you believe that Jesus existed and that he was God and so on? That's not saving faith. When we ask the question, do you believe in Jesus, we're asking it more in the same way that people intend when they ask, do you believe in yourself? When people tell you to believe in yourself, they don't mean believe that you exist. Evidently, you exist or they wouldn't be talking to you. They mean trust in yourself. You are capable of doing whatever you want to do. Believe in yourself. You can do it. Saving faith is believing in Jesus in the way that one would alternatively believe in himself. Jesus can do it. I rely upon him and his doings and not my not me and my doings. His fitness, his capacity, his suitability rather than my own or anyone else's. He goes on to say, what this means is that we cannot conceive of saving faith as that which merely uses Christ to escape punishment. You can trust somebody. You don't love. And I've heard pause there. Piper a great illustration. He says, like, you can have a surgeon who's like really good. They're the best surgeon on the surgery that you need. And you're going to say, like, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to let them operate on me because I need them to. But I hate their guts. Right? Like, I hate this person. Right? So he says, you can say, I hate this person, but they're suitable to handle the need that I have. Piper's like, that is not saving faith. It's not like, well, Christ can save me from my sins, but I don't love him. I don't, you know, I hate him. No, that's just so contrary to saving faith. Okay, back to the Ricardi quote. You can even trust someone you don't like. You don't have to delight in the character of a fireman who saves you from a burning building. You just have to trust that he's going to get you to safety. You can hate a person and still trust are true in a given moment. that the words he's speaking to you But saving faith in Christ is preeminently an eager embrace of Christ. It's a wholehearted delightful reception of Christ for the fullness of who he is. And who is he? He's not a pain in the neck. He's not a savior who can get you out of a burning building, but someone you'd really hate to live with he's a source of all righteousness, all life, and all satisfaction. He is the bread of life who satisfies for whom we delightfully forsake all else. Saving faith, trust Christ for righteousness and receives Christ as treasure. End quote. I think that's really helpful because of how people think about when we say, do you believe in Jesus? You often think about the way the demons believe. You know, do you believe he existed as a human being? I mean, that's a good starting point, but that's not saving faith. the hungry. He is the fountain of living waters who quenches all spiritual thirst. He is the pearl of great price So we've seen the summons to faith. We've seen the summons is repentance unto God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Here's a good quote here. About the object of your faith. It's not ultimately repentance and faith are not meritorious. Repentance looks away from self faith looks to Christ who is the one who saves us. Piper says, faith saves the way swallowing a pill heals. Or pills heals. He's not swallowing that you are excuse me. It is not in swallowing that you are healed, but that is the instrument by which the healing medicine is taken in. And then Beke and Smalley say, weak believers, be encouraged for the smallest seed of faith is sufficient to bring you to heaven. However, the stronger your faith, the more it will bring heaven into you. So just the smallest amount of faith in the right object, Christ, is saving faith. Saving faith. All right. Any other questions there? Concerning faith or repentance or the summons? Or the gospel message? All right. If you have them, come up and talk. If you're too shy. Laura, thank you for the summons that we've studied. Thank you for summoning us effectually. Lord, we are endeavoring to be as clear and as faithful as possible in the external call of the gospel. Giving out the message. Including the summons. But Lord, it is it is required for a sinner to come to you for the effectual call to be given out by your Spirit. To take the external call and make it effectual as we go out and speak to others about Christ and the gospel and give the summons, that we would go in the confidence that you will summon effectually your elect. And bring them to yourself. And we can go in that confidence to just be freed up to be as clear as possible, as faithful as possible by your regenerating work. And so we would ask that and leave the results to you to draw sinners to yourself like you drew us. Lord, when we heard the message, maybe we heard it a lot of times. Before we embraced Christ. But may we be faithful to continue to give out the gospel and be dependent in prayer that you would draw your people to yourself. And we will give you all the glory. We can take no credit for our own salvation or anyone else's. And so, Lord, may we love Christ more and we may we embrace him for all that he is and may that change our our lives more and more. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. How are you doing? Good.