Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #97： Why Should Christians Repent if They're Already Saved？

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Real Christianity, a weekly show designed to help Christians know their Bible,

00:00:04.940 defend their faith, and truly understand what it means to follow Jesus.

00:00:08.980 The premise is simple. The culture is getting louder. The church is getting flashier,

00:00:13.840 but few pastors are teaching on how to live a biblical life.

00:00:17.780 My name is Dale Partridge, along with my incredible wife, Veronica.

00:00:21.160 Join us as we start an important conversation about what it really means to be a Christian.

00:00:30.000 We'll be right back.

00:01:00.000 Welcome to Real Christianity. Today we are talking about why should Christians repent 1.00

00:01:07.800 if they're already saved? This is actually a pretty common question that I've received

00:01:12.360 several times over the past year, maybe two years. More people are asking this question

00:01:18.140 about ongoing repentance. We're going to talk about that today. I'm also going to give a

00:01:22.160 brief exposition of the gospel that might help you have a better comprehension of how repentance

00:01:28.820 fits in with the gospel and why Christians should continue on with repentance. Before we get

00:01:38.040 started, Veronica is not with us on this episode, but she will be back next week. One thing I wanted

00:01:43.240 to mention is if you guys haven't heard of our program at ultimatemarriage.com, it is a really

00:01:48.560 great program. It's a six-week program. You could do it with your small group or just as an individual

00:01:53.740 couple. It's on how to build a biblical marriage. And we talk about kids, sex, finances, the theology

00:02:00.620 of marriage, biblical roles, all of it. And it's not overwhelming. It's just, hey, pick a day

00:02:07.340 once a week for six weeks straight before you go to bed, spend a half hour to 45 minutes

00:02:13.900 going through the video and then doing a few questions with our marriage challenge checklist.

00:02:19.660 It's a great program, and we've had so many couples, probably close to 1,000 couples over the last two years, go through the program and just have much healthier biblical marriages.

00:02:33.120 So if you want to check that out, just go to ultimatemarriage.com.

00:02:36.600 Again, that's ultimatemarriage.com.

00:02:39.840 Okay, I want to talk about repentance, and we're going to start with a passage from Hebrews

00:02:47.240 chapter 10, 11 through 14, which when you read something like this, your theology might

00:02:53.300 say, why do we need to repent if this is true?

00:02:56.560 So we're going to start from here.

00:02:57.820 It says in verse 11, and every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly

00:03:03.720 the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

00:03:07.000 verse 12, but when Christ has offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down

00:03:14.620 at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for

00:03:19.520 his feet, for by a single offering he has made perfected for all time those who are being

00:03:26.140 sanctified. Okay, so this is a contrast between the insufficient system of the Old Testament

00:03:33.620 sacrificial system for removing sins or being clean, and a contrast to the new covenant system

00:03:41.200 that Jesus is the high priest and he makes the sacrifice of himself and is a sufficient sacrifice

00:03:48.320 for all time in comparison to the repeated sacrificial work that was happening by priests

00:03:53.280 in the Old Testament of sheeps, lambs, and rams, and bulls. So if Jesus' work on the cross

00:04:00.040 is sufficient for all time and for all the saints, why are Christians who have already been forgiven 0.78

00:04:06.460 of past, present, and future sin called to ongoing repentance or to participate in that

00:04:13.420 type of ongoing repentance if this has already been forgiven? So this is a good question.

00:04:18.420 And so to start, let's just confirm that anyone who's been brought to repentance and received

00:04:23.920 Christ through faith is completely forgiven for all time. These are people who have felt the fear

00:04:33.040 of the Lord, and by that I mean they've felt the deep sense of guilt, shame, and conviction over

00:04:41.100 their sin and realized their inability to stand before God and earn a righteous verdict.

00:04:47.920 What I mean is that they knew they were guilty and deserving of hell. These people have

00:04:53.820 been there. And for that reason, these people, Christians that is, have thrown themselves at the 1.00

00:04:59.960 feet of Christ and placed all their trust and all their hope into him who is righteous and who can

00:05:06.200 earn that righteous verdict before the king. Now, why does placing our faith in Christ make us not

00:05:13.440 guilty? This is another quick question since we're here. Let's just talk about it. Well, Christ did

00:05:18.000 two things for us. He lived a sinless life. That means that Jesus followed God's law perfectly.

00:05:23.820 and then he allowed himself to be sacrificed on a cross in our place as a way to pay for our sins.

00:05:30.860 This is sometimes a complex idea for people to understand if they don't have the understanding

00:05:35.660 of the Old Testament and they don't understand. Sometimes in the church today, we give the good

00:05:40.800 news without giving the bad news. We give the good news without explaining the context of

00:05:46.140 Jesus' plan or God's plan of redemption throughout the Old Testament. When we look at the Bible,

00:05:53.060 the way that they explain the gospel is always through the lens of the Old Testament. What

00:05:57.800 happened there and how Jesus is the fulfillment of all the things that we're preparing people for

00:06:04.040 and pointing people to in the Old Testament. And so I'm going to give you just a quick lesson here.

00:06:08.680 It's Leviticus 17, 11. It says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. Okay, so just real

00:06:15.260 quick, what it's saying here is that blood is actually the life, our life, that seemingly

00:06:22.140 intangible substance of life is actually in the blood, is what it's saying. And this has actually

00:06:29.220 come to be scientifically true, is that what makes actual life existence has been scientifically

00:06:36.940 proven back to, they're realizing that it's found in the blood. And so this is Leviticus 17, 11,

00:06:42.920 for the life of the flesh is in the blood. And God's saying, and I have given it for you on the

00:06:49.040 altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for sins.

00:06:57.620 And so this idea here is that you go, oh, wow, God has given us blood so that, you know,

00:07:06.120 especially for the Levites in the Old Testament narrative of the sacrificial system where 0.61

00:07:10.080 you're sacrificing animals and the blood needs to be spilled in order for the sins of that

00:07:15.400 individual or the nation of Israel to be forgiven or to be covered is what the word atone means.

00:07:23.160 So in other words, in order to cover our sin, someone's blood or someone's life, because the 0.72

00:07:29.960 life's in the blood, must be spilled on our behalf. We're guilty. We need to be paid. We need to pay

00:07:36.080 a consequence, a price, and somebody's life needs to be taken or to cover up our sins. And then,

00:07:43.300 you know, in the Old Testament, as I said before, it was sheep, rams, and bulls. In the New Testament,

00:07:47.800 it was Jesus, right? The perfect lamb, as John the Baptist says, the lamb who takes away the sins of

00:07:53.260 the whole world, right? So Jesus, he substituted his life and the place of our life. He paid the

00:07:59.980 debt so that we wouldn't have to. Okay, 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, for our sake, he, Jesus,

00:08:07.840 or sorry, God made him, Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the

00:08:16.260 righteousness of God. I'm going to read that just one more time for you to grasp it. Okay,

00:08:20.260 it's 2 Corinthians 5.21. It says, for our sake he made, that is God made, him, Jesus, to be sin

00:08:27.780 who knew no sin, who didn't sin at all, so that in him, in Christ, we might become the righteousness

00:08:35.920 of God. Okay, this is a beautiful statement. What's being said here is that God has actually

00:08:43.640 imputed or given Christ's righteousness to us through faith in Christ. So we've been given

00:08:54.360 the righteous verdict, even though we are guilty. God has actually applied Christ's righteousness

00:09:03.620 to us. And the way that we receive that application is through faith. This is why we're not guilty.

00:09:09.900 So if you've experienced this in your life, you are saved. You're saved, born again, Christian.

00:09:17.320 You will never be unsaved. You've been born again and you've been justified and you will be glorified.

00:09:24.320 You can see Romans 8 that talks about that. And how do we know that? How do we know that you're

00:09:29.260 you're not going to be unsaved at some point. How can we rest in the fact that your repentance

00:09:35.060 and faith, or as Jesus says, repent and believe was sufficient. And it was sufficient in a sense

00:09:42.400 that you are saved. How do we know that? John 10, 27 through 29 says, this is Jesus talking.

00:09:49.220 He says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life.

00:09:57.260 Okay, stop right there. Can you really promise somebody eternal life if you could possibly lose

00:10:02.180 your salvation? That's an important question to ask, right? Can you really promise eternal life

00:10:07.860 if you could possibly lose your salvation? He goes on to say after this, I give them eternal life.

00:10:15.760 And he says, and they will never perish. Okay, these are Jesus's words that he gives his sheep

00:10:22.160 eternal life, and they will never perish. That's a bold proclamation. Jesus is God incarnate in

00:10:29.900 the flesh. The Bible says that it's impossible for God to lie. He says right here that they will

00:10:35.140 never perish, comma. And then, so I say, no, no internal thing will take you. Jesus will never

00:10:41.780 perish, or Christians will never perish. His sheep will never perish. And then he talks about

00:10:47.360 these external things. He says, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. So no internal thing

00:10:52.820 in you or no external thing will take you away from him. Verse 29, my father who has given them

00:10:58.400 to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. So we get

00:11:05.860 back to square one. If all of this is true, why do Christians still need to repent? They're never 1.00

00:11:12.000 going to perish. The sacrifice has been made once and for all, for all time, past, present, and future

00:11:17.520 sins. You know, you've been justified. You have been imputed his righteousness. You are eternally

00:11:24.860 secure. Why do we still need to repent as Christians? So I want to break this down into

00:11:31.120 two types of repentance we see in the Bible. And I'm going to call this big R repentance and

00:11:37.200 little r repentance. Okay, so big r repentance is the type of repentance that is generated during

00:11:44.560 the moment you first believe. This is the, oh my goodness, I'm guilty, save me repentance that you

00:11:51.620 only do once. Then we have in contrast to that, or I should say in complement to that, is little r

00:12:02.180 repentance, which is not as much about guilt and shame as it is about sorrow and sadness

00:12:09.860 for betraying the God who did save you. So little r repentance is not a saving repentance, but

00:12:18.380 in a sense, it's a renewal of the heart behind that saving repentance.

00:12:24.080 okay but but most of all i would say that the this little r repentance is a fruit of big r

00:12:33.260 repentance and what i mean is that ongoing repentance is the evidence that you have

00:12:38.520 genuinely been saved and so you know people who call themselves christians and continue on in

00:12:45.740 habitual sin and are not broken and repentant have revealed that they're likely not saved

00:12:54.820 And I'm not talking about an apology.

00:12:58.300 We got to look at the difference between this

00:12:59.600 because lots of people apologize for their sin.

00:13:02.000 I'm talking about repentance.

00:13:05.260 Many people are apologetic for their sin

00:13:07.320 because sin is painful.

00:13:10.040 It hurts people.

00:13:12.120 It actually hurts them.

00:13:14.240 And it hurts other people.

00:13:18.900 And so people apologize for their sin.

00:13:22.040 They hate the way it makes them feel after they've sinned, and they hate the way it makes

00:13:26.720 other people. But in reality, an apology about your sin is different than repentance. Repentance

00:13:32.940 means a turning away from the sin and turning toward Christ. People that are apologetic over

00:13:40.420 their sin and not repented of their sin, meaning they continue to walk in this habitual sin,

00:13:45.240 They may be addicted to pornography, as a good example.

00:13:50.640 These people aren't repentant.

00:13:52.920 They're apologetic.

00:13:53.800 They hate the way that the porn makes them feel after they're done looking at porn.

00:13:57.740 They hate the way that it makes their spouse feel when they get caught.

00:14:02.080 They hate the guilt and the shame that comes with it, and they might apologize for looking

00:14:06.800 at it, but in reality, they love porn, and they keep coming back to it.

00:14:11.040 And if they didn't love porn, they wouldn't keep coming back to it, but they do, which

00:14:14.360 implies that they have not actually repented in a big R sense or a little R sense. And this is

00:14:20.100 the difference between apology and repentance. And so these people are revealing that they are

00:14:26.300 also likely not born-again believers. And so a saved person exhibits genuine repentance

00:14:34.180 in an ongoing manner. They turn away from their sin and toward Christ for forgiveness

00:14:42.060 as the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin.

00:14:45.460 And this is exactly true of my life. 1.00

00:14:47.540 When I do something stupid or say something stupid 1.00

00:14:50.000 or think of something stupid or whatever it might be, 1.00

00:14:54.640 the Holy Spirit is a gift of God 0.98

00:14:58.180 that comes in and brings conviction into my heart

00:15:01.180 and teaches me the difference between right and wrong.

00:15:03.400 And I go, oh gosh, I shouldn't have said that.

00:15:05.740 And I will usually in the moment

00:15:08.840 bring myself to repentance right there.

00:15:12.060 But often I actually give myself periods of time to even exercise repentance, not keeping a long list of the things that I have failed at.

00:15:21.560 The great Puritan writer, Thomas Brooks, once said,

00:15:26.160 Though true repentance is never too late, yet late repentance is seldom true.

00:15:31.920 And this means that saved people repent of their sins quickly and often because they are immediately aware, by way of the Holy Spirit,

00:15:39.360 that they just hurt the Savior that they love.

00:15:44.520 Jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.

00:15:47.060 Love is the evidence.

00:15:48.480 Obedience and love are the evidence of the relationship between a believer and his Lord.

00:15:55.420 So basically, our identity is not as a sinner, but as a saint who sins.

00:16:02.460 So you're no longer a sinner.

00:16:04.760 You're a saint who sins.

00:16:06.700 And, you know, let me give you just a contrast to what a sinner is versus a saint. 0.90

00:16:12.820 Everything an unsaved person does is sinful. 1.00

00:16:15.740 Everything. 1.00

00:16:16.740 Because it's not done in faith.

00:16:19.060 And we know that because Romans 14, 23 says,

00:16:21.460 for whatever is not from faith is sin. 1.00

00:16:25.660 Even serving the poor as an unbeliever is sinful 0.96

00:16:29.500 because you're serving in self-righteousness. 0.98

00:16:32.580 And this is where we get the verse in Isaiah 64, 6,

00:16:35.020 that says all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags.

00:16:39.080 Even our righteous stuff isn't good enough outside of Christ. 0.99

00:16:43.640 Because for the unbeliever, sin is a condition. 1.00

00:16:47.060 It's not an act, right? 1.00

00:16:48.020 We are born into sin.

00:16:49.940 We are slaves to sin.

00:16:51.460 We are born as sons and daughters of Adam,

00:16:55.140 and we are slaves to sin.

00:16:57.880 You can read Romans 3 if you want to learn more about that.

00:17:00.880 But for those who are born again, 0.55

00:17:02.440 they are sons and daughters of Jesus and we're slaves to Christ who has redeemed us in part

00:17:09.260 and we still happen to sin. You know, I think it's Galatians 5 talks about the war that's

00:17:15.120 happening between the spirit and the flesh. They're contrary to one another is what it talks

00:17:20.540 about. Thomas Watson once said, while sin still remains in the born again Christian, sin does not 0.95

00:17:27.980 reign in the born again Christian. But still, the question remains, does the Bible actually call

00:17:34.620 us to repent as Christians? Let's look at 1 John 1, 8 through 10. It says, if we say that we have

00:17:43.040 no sin, we deceive ourselves. This is a letter written to Christians, by the way. So just, you 0.92

00:17:48.780 know, remember that context here. He's saying, hey guys, if we say we have no sin, including John,

00:17:53.800 we deceive ourselves. And the truth, that is Jesus, right? I'm the way, the truth, and the life

00:17:58.560 is not in us. Verse nine, if we confess our sins, he, Christ, is faithful and just to forgive us

00:18:06.660 our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make

00:18:12.800 him a liar and his word is not in us. All right, so we can't argue that we have no sin as Christians.

00:18:20.540 We do. But we have an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. And out of our relationship

00:18:26.360 with our Savior, similar to like a relationship with our spouse, when we sin against them,

00:18:31.660 it doesn't necessarily nullify the marriage, right? It doesn't nullify my marriage when I

00:18:35.860 sin against my wife. But repentance is required to restore the pure status of that relationship.

00:18:44.740 And that's what this is really about.

00:18:48.660 So yes, Christians are called to repent.

00:18:52.120 We're called to confess our sins to one another

00:18:53.960 and pray for one another that we may be saved.

00:18:56.320 We're called to bring our sins before the Lord.

00:18:59.340 And if the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin,

00:19:02.580 take a moment to repent of it before the Lord.

00:19:07.440 And this should be something that's heartbreaking.

00:19:11.360 but the lasting joy that comes from being clean and clear with God is worth it, right? This is

00:19:20.500 not an act to be driven by legalism. This is an act to be driven by love, okay? You're doing this

00:19:28.880 out of relationship with Christ, not because you have to to keep yourself super saved. That's not

00:19:34.680 what we're talking about. He is faithful to forgive you because he loves you and he will not forsake

00:19:40.200 you, but you want to be in right relationship with him. So this is the heart of what I want

00:19:47.300 you guys to walk away with today. Hopefully you are already practicing repentance. What we do at

00:19:53.120 church, actually, before we do communion, you know, communion talks about 1 Corinthians chapter 11,

00:19:58.860 this opportunity to examine yourself and not to take, you know, communion in an unpure manner,

00:20:05.760 having divisions between people or issues of sin that you haven't repented of. I would say these

00:20:10.820 are things that we should be doing before we take communion so that we don't drink condemnation to

00:20:15.520 ourselves is what it says. This is a complex theological issue, but just go along with me

00:20:19.160 for a second, is that what we do is we sit before the Lord as a church, our little house church,

00:20:24.460 and we will have a minute or two of silence facilitated by whatever gentleman is leading

00:20:31.020 communion at the time, facilitating an opportunity of repentance, of opportunity to get before the

00:20:35.940 Lord. And it's actually one of my favorite parts of church because we just, it's a moment you go,

00:20:41.760 oh my goodness, I get to look back across my week and I get to go, oh Lord, that stupid thing that 0.99

00:20:48.040 I did this week. Forgive me, Father. You know my heart, Lord. That's not my intention, Lord. I 0.99

00:20:54.120 should not have done that. Father, I will not do that again. Lord, I'm sorry I'm broken over these

00:20:59.020 things. I can't believe that I did this thing. The grace of God is so great in my life. And even

00:21:04.000 still, I'm still sinning. Father, forgive me, Lord. Help me. Encourage me. This is a great time.

00:21:12.660 We need to have those moments on a regular basis, examining ourselves, not because it keeps us

00:21:18.120 super saved, but because it keeps our relationship pure. And it's the evidence of somebody who is

00:21:27.400 saved. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, Lord, that it's so deep and so complex.

00:21:35.300 It's an ocean that we will never reach the bottom. There's so much great wisdom and truth,

00:21:40.920 Lord, that is all for our benefit, Father. We do not have all this content to overwhelm us,

00:21:47.640 Father, but all this content that would make us, it's for our benefit, Father. We are the

00:21:53.300 beneficiaries of your word. And we thank you for that, Lord, that you've not left us guessing.

00:21:58.780 Lord, that you've given us these great things. Father, I pray that anybody that's listening

00:22:02.460 right now, Lord, if they have heavy things on their heart, sins they've committed against you,

00:22:07.480 things that are in the dark, Father, that they would drag those things out in repentance,

00:22:11.280 in sincere brokenness to have done something so wicked to spit in the face of their Savior,

00:22:18.120 your Father. Lord, that you would just bring those things to light. Lord, that you would purify the

00:22:24.760 relationship with your saints, that there would be fruitfulness and joy and not shame and condemnation,

00:22:30.500 Father, but that the sorrow would be removed and replaced with this pure relationship with you.

00:22:35.520 I pray that in your Son, Jesus's name. Amen. Thank you guys for joining us today. I hope this

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Dale Partridge - May 13, 2020

Real Christianity #97： Why Should Christians Repent if They're Already Saved？

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