Repentance & Faith
May 12, 2000

by Rose Murdock

"Therefore, Leaving the principals of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God."   Hebrews 6:1

Repentance and faith are both foundational.  They are principals which we are to build upon.  Many times we teach one or the other as more than foundational teachings.  Or we teach one as more foundational than the other.  We need a foundation of repentance from dead works.  We also need a foundation of faith towards God.  We need both.  But they are both foundations.  Foundations are meant to be built upon.

We need a foundation of faith so we know how to receive from the Lord when we need something.  The way we receive anything from God is by faith (See James 1:6-7).   When the Lord promises something to us, we need to know how to stand and receive that.  We need to know how to stand against the enemy.  How to take authority over him.  How to kick him out of the territory God has given to us.

But we also need a foundation of repentance from dead works.  We need to lay aside the deeds of the flesh.  To put away sin.  To quit trying to justify ourselves.  But we need both faith and repentance together to make the cement that is strong enough to build on.  If we try to take one without the other we end up with a squishy foundation that we can’t build on.

If we have all repentance and no faith then we remain defeated by the enemy in an attitude of false Pharisee-type ‘religious’ humility, that is really not humility at all.  It’s more like self pity and the kind of pride that draws attention to itself in a subtle, more socially acceptable way.

If we have all faith and no humility or submission to God, then we go off on wild tangents and lose power because we’re not based on the Word of God but on our own fleshly whims-trying to move in faith to fulfill fleshly desires rather than spiritual ones.  Faith is to be based on the revealed truth of God’s Word.

These things are foundational.  They are absolutely necessary, but they are foundational.  We need to get the right mix and then go on and build the house!

The Lord said to me, "When you see a people who have a proper balance of faith and repentance, you will see My power begin to move in their lives, because that is a foundation I can build on."

Repentance

Repentance from dead works is a foundation that is meant to be laid in our lives from the moment we turn our lives over to the Lord.  To repent means to turn away from.  When we think of repentance from dead works we think of repenting from sin, which of course we need to do as we'll see here also.  But we need to realize that repentance from dead works also means to repent or turn away from trying to justify ourselves, from trying to do certain "works" to earn righteousness.  Those are dead works.  Dead works includes things we do that we think are profiting us and earning us righteousness when in reality they are dead because the only work that earned righteousness for us was Jesus' redemptive work.

But of course we also need to repent of sin, the 'dead works' or things we've done that God says not to do.  To repent means to turn away from so it doesn’t mean you continue in those dead works and then ask for forgiveness.  God does forgive.  He pours out His mercy and grace because He wants to develop a relationship with us.  His goodness gives us something to respond to.

Romans 2:4 says the goodness of God leads us to repentance.

1 John 4:19 says we love Him because He first loved us.

He took the first step in giving Himself to us.  He showed His love towards us first and His desire is that we respond to that love.  God is full of grace and mercy.  He’s very patient and kind.  Do we take advantage of that?  Is it repentance we are looking for or forgiveness?  We should be looking for repentance.  Because if we are looking for repentance, we are looking to put away forever the works of our flesh--sin.  But if we’re just looking for forgiveness alone then are we planning on continuing in sin?

Don’t get me wrong, God will forgive us if we confess our sins, (1 John 1:9).  But what kind of relationship do we have with Him if we keep hurting Him and then just count on Him forgiving us over and over?  That’s what Israel did and eventually there’s a price to pay for that.  Are we really sorry for our sin?

"Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance.  For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death."  2 Corinthians 7:9-10 NKJ

God’s doesn’t want us to be sorry just to make us feel bad.  He wants us to have a godly sorrow that leads to repentance that leads to salvation.   God always has our own good in mind (See Hebrews 12:9-10).

God’s mercy endures forever, but there may be a point in time when in an effort to escape difficulties we desire repentance and it’s too late.  We may really and truly be sorry, (although that sorrow may be due to us realizing the difficulty we have to go through because of our sin), we may receive forgiveness from God, but the consequences of our sin will still be there.  Look at Esau:

"For you understand that later on, when he (Esau) wanted to regain title to his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected, disqualified and set aside, for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance what he had done--that is, no chance to recall the choice he had made--although he sought for it carefully with bitter tears."  Hebrews 12:17 Amplified Bible

Esau had sold his birthright for a meal.  Later on when he wanted it back, it was too late.  There was nothing he could do to regain it no matter how sorry he was for the choice he made earlier in his life.  I’m not saying you can’t receive forgiveness from God if you sin.  God is faithful and just to forgive us.   He promises to remove our sins as far as east is from west (Psalm 103:12).   But at the same time we can’t continue in sin and think there will be no consequence to pay for it.

A word needs to be said here about resisting.  We need to repent of sin, but then we need to resist the temptation when it comes again. (And it will come again!)   We need to have a determination when it comes to resisting temptation.  This attitude is described some in Hebrews:

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.   For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."  Hebrews 12:2-4

He goes on and talks about how the Lord chastens us for our profit, for our own good so that we may be partaker of His holiness.  If God didn’t love us, He wouldn’t correct us.  He would just let us go on our way and make a mess of things.  But God leads and guides us because of His great love for us.

Do we resist unto blood?  Do we resist sin to the point of shedding our own blood?  We need to be that committed and determined in our resisting sin.  We have Jesus, (not everyone around us), as our example.  We see He did it by keeping the joy of the other side of the cross on His mind.  He had victory on His mind!

The Bible says ‘Resist the devil and he will flee’ (James 4:7).

It is necessary for us to learn not to give in to the flesh.  We need to recognize the voice of our flesh and not give in to those fleshly desires.   We’ll never be able to go any further in our walk or work with the Lord if we don’t get that.  We are not supposed to be repenting of the same sin over and over.  We’re supposed to go on.  Thank God we can because of Jesus.   He has made us more than conquerors!

God doesn’t want us to remain in a place of defeat by being in bondage to sin or by trying to earn our way to righteousness through dead works.  He wants us to go on!

Faith

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."  1 Peter 5:8-9

We are to resist our adversary in the faith.  Repentance brings us to a point of dependence and commitment to God.  Faith gives us what we need to actually live it out in our lives.  Through faith we can make a reality the desires of our heart that repentance brings.

Faith is the determination that we’re not going to give up.   We’re not going to let the devil have his way in our lives.  We’re not going to give in to the whims of our flesh but we’re going to walk in the spirit and live in obedience to the Word of God.

Faith doesn’t make excuses.  It doesn’t wallow in self-pity.   It gets up and gets going and gets on with what God has said to do.

Jesus and His disciples were going across the sea in a boat.  He had said to them, "Let us pass over unto the other side." (Mark 4:37).  A storm rose up and the boat was full of water.  Jesus was asleep on a pillow.  The disciples woke Jesus up saying, "Don’t you care that we are perishing?"  Jesus got up and rebuked the wind, told the sea to be still and there was a great calm.   Then He said to His disciples, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"

Being full of fear when the storms rise up is not how the Lord wants us to live.   He wants us to be full of faith and trust in Him.  Jesus was sleeping on the pillow.  He knew He had said, Let’s go over to the other side, and that’s where they were going.  But the disciples got their minds off what Jesus had said and onto the storms raging around them.  It's more than getting your eyes on the storm, it's getting your eyes off of the Word of God!

If we don’t have a foundation of faith when the enemy comes and tries to divert our attention from what the Lord has said to us, we won’t be able to stand.   Without faith we won’t be able to get through the pressures of life that come against us.  We’ll just accept whatever comes our way as ‘the will of God’.  We need to have discernment to know God’s will.  This comes by knowing God’s Word.  His Word is His will.  The Bible tells us how God wants us to live.

We need faith to please God, (Hebrews 11:6).  We need faith to be able to live our lives in a way that glorifies Him.  The Bible says to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).  It’s a fight.  The storms that come against you may be circumstances of life, they may be discouragement from the enemy, they may be deception by well-meaning people, they may be weariness of your own flesh.  But the storms come and we need to trust God and walk in obedience to His Word through it all.

Faith and obedience go hand in hand.  If we really and truly believe God means what He says and that He really did say it, then we will be obedient to it.  We need to put the Word of God first place in our lives.  We need to ask God to reveal His Word to us because the Word of God has to come alive and be revealed to us before we can really have faith in it.  You can’t take other people’s word for it.   You can’t take someone else’s opinion of the Word and try to put faith in it.  The truth of the Word has to be revealed to your heart and then you act in obedience to it.

Faith really is a revelation of the truth.  It’s a revelation that the Word of God is the truth.  That’s why you can’t base your faith in other people’s experiences, (good or bad), because you don’t know the depth of the revelation of the Word of God in their life.  You don’t receive this revelation from other people you receive it directly from God Himself, through His Word, by His Spirit to you.  That’s why you need to spend time yourself with the Lord.   That’s why you need to read the Bible for yourself and ask the Lord to reveal it to you.  Then you have something to base your faith on.

Building on the Foundation

It’s time we accept both faith and repentance as foundations we are to build on.  Let’s accept them both and go on from there.  Let’s build the house the Lord wants us to build.  Let’s grow up and get on with advancing the Kingdom of God in the earth.

"For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 
1 Corinthians 3:9-11

Jesus Christ is our foundation.  He’s the author and finisher of our faith and He’s the expression of God’s goodness which leads us to repentance.   We are the building that is to be built upon this foundation.

The thing that will keep us from growing and building this house the Lord wants is envying, strife and divisions (See 1 Corinthians 3:3).  As long as we’re arguing about or resisting the basic foundations and doctrines we won’t ever be able to build or to grow up.

As we submit ourselves to God and are obedient to His Word, we will begin to see His work in our lives.  That’s really what we’re striving for anyway isn’t it?

God Bless you and have a great day!