The Great Doctrines of the Bible by Rev. William Evans (best books to read for self improvement TXT) 📖

sin also. We must forsake what we would have God remit. In the writings of Paul repentance is more of an experience than a single act. The part of the will and disposition in repentance is shown:

a) In the Confession of Sin to God.

Psa. 38:18—“For I will declare mine iniquity: I will be sorry for my sin.” The publican beat upon his breast, and said, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). The prodigal said, “I have sinned against heaven” (Luke 15:21).

There must be confession to man also in so far as man has been wronged in and by our sin (Matt. 5:23, 24; James 5:16).

b) In the Forsaking of Sin.

Isa. 55:7—“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord.” Prov. 28:13; Matt. 3:8, 10.

c) In Turning Unto God.

It is not enough to turn away from sin; we must turn unto God; 1 Thess. 1:9; Acts 26:18.

III. HOW REPENTANCE IS PRODUCED.

1. IT IS A DIVINE GIFT.

Acts 11:18—“Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” 2 Tim. 2:25—“If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” Acts 5:30, 31. Repentance is not something which one can originate within himself, or can pump up within himself as one would pump water out of a well. It is a divine gift. How then is man responsible for not having it? We are called upon to repent in order that we may feel our own inability to do so, and consequently be thrown upon God and petition Him to perform this work of grace in our hearts.

2. YET THIS DIVINE GIFT IS BROUGHT ABOUT THROUGH THE USE OF MEANS.

Acts 2:37, 38, 41. The very Gospel which calls for repentance produces it. How well this is illustrated in the experience of the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3:5-10)! When they heard the preaching of the word of God by Jonah they believed the message and turned unto God. Not any message, but the Gospel is the instrument that God uses to bring about this desired end. Furthermore, this message must be preached in the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 1:5-10).

Rom. 2:4—“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Also 2 Pet. 3:9. Prosperity too often leads away from God, but it is the divine intention that it should lead to God. Revivals come mostly in times of panic.

Rev. 3:19; Heb. 12:6, 10, 11. The chastisements of God are sometimes for the purpose of bringing His wandering children back to repentance.

2 Tim. 2:24, 25. God oftentimes uses the loving, Christian reproof of a brother to be the means of bringing us back to God.

IV. THE RESULTS OF REPENTANCE.

1. ALL HEAVEN IS MADE GLAD.

Luke 15:7, 10. Joy in heaven, and in the presence of the angels of God. Makes glad the heart of God, and sets the bells of heaven ringing. Who are those “in the presence of the angels of God”? Do the departed loved ones know anything about it?

2. IT BRINGS PARDON AND FORGIVENESS OF SIN.

Isa. 55:7; Acts 3:19. Outside of repentance the prophets and apostles know of no way of securing pardon. No sacrifices, nor religious ceremonies can secure it. Not that repentance merits forgiveness, but it is a condition of it. Repentance qualifies a man for a pardon, but it does not entitle him to it.

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS POURED OUT UPON THE PENITENT.

Acts 2:38—“Repent… and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Impenitence keeps back the full incoming of the Spirit into the heart.

B. FAITH.

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE.

II. THE DEFINITION OF FAITH.

1. IN GENERAL:

a) Knowledge.

b) Assent.

c) Appropriation.

2. IN PARTICULAR:

a) Towards God.

b) Towards Christ.

c) In Prayer.

d) In the Word of God.

3. RELATION OF FAITH TO WORKS.

III. THE SOURCE OF FAITH.

1. THE DIVINE SIDE.

2. THE HUMAN SIDE.

3. MEANS USED.

IV. SOME RESULTS OF FAITH.

1. SAVED.

2. JOY AND PEACE.

3. DO GREAT WORKS.

B. FAITH.

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE.

Faith is fundamental in Christian creed and conduct. It was the one thing which above all others Christ recognized as the paramount virtue. The Syrophoenician woman (Matt. 15) had perseverance; the centurion (Matt. 8), humility; the blind man (Mark 10), earnestness. But what Christ saw and rewarded in each of these cases was faith. Faith is the foundation of Peter’s spiritual temple (2 Pet. 1:5-7); and first in Paul’s trinity of graces (1 Cor. 13:13). In faith all the other graces find their source.

II. THE DEFINITION OF FAITH.

Faith is used in the Scriptures in a general and in a particular sense.

1. ITS GENERAL MEANING:

a) Knowledge.

Psa. 9:10—“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee.” Rom. 10:17—“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith is not believing a thing without evidence; on the contrary faith rests upon the best of evidence, namely, the Word of God. An act of faith denotes a manifestation of the intelligence: “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” Faith is no blind act of the soul; it is not a leap in the dark. Such a thing as believing with the heart without the head is out of the question. A man may believe with his head without believing with his heart; but he cannot believe with his heart without believing with his head too. The heart, in the Scriptures, means the whole man—intellect, sensibilities, and will. “As a man thinketh in his heart.” “Why reason ye these things in your hearts?”

b) Assent.

Mark 12:32—“And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth.” So was it with the faith which Christ demanded in His miracles: “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” “Yea, Lord.” There must not only be the knowledge that Jesus is able to save, and that He is the Saviour of the world; there must be also an assent of the heart to all these claims. Those who, receiving Christ to be all that He claimed to be, believed in Him, became thereby sons of God (John 1:12).

c) Appropriation.

John 1:12; 2:24. There must be an appropriation of the things which we know and assent to concerning the Christ and His work. Intelligent perception is not faith. A man may know Christ as divine, and yet aside from that reject him as Saviour. Knowledge affirms the reality of these things but neither accepts nor rejects them. Nor is assent faith. There is an assent of the mind which does not convey a surrender of the heart and affections.

Faith is the consent of the will to the assent of the understanding. Faith always has in it the idea of action—movement towards its object. It is the soul leaping forth to embrace and appropriate the Christ in whom it believes. It first says: “My Lord and my God,” and then falls down and worships.

A distinction between believing about Christ and on Christ is made in John 8:30, 31, R. V.—“Many believed on him…. Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him.”

S. THE MEANING OF FAITH IN PARTICULAR:

a) When Used in Connection with the Name of God.

Heb. 11:6—“But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Also Acts 27:22-25; Rom. 4:19-21 with Gen. 15:4-6. There can be no dealings with the invisible God unless there is absolute faith in His existence. We must believe in His reality, even though He is unseen. But we must believe even more than the fact of His existence; namely, that He is a rewarder, that He will assuredly honor with definite blessing those who approach unto Him in prayer. Importunity will, of course, be needed (Luke 11:5-10).

There must be confidence in the Word of God also. Faith believes all that God says as being absolutely true, even though circumstances seem to be against its fulfillment.

b) When Used in Connection with the Person and Work of Christ.

Recall the three elements in faith, and apply them here.

First, there must be a knowledge of the claims of Christ as to His person and mission in the world: As to His person—that He is deity, John 9:35-38; 10:30; Phil. 2:6-ll. As to His work—Matt. 20:28; 26:26-28; Luke 24:27, 44.

Second, there must be an assent to all these claims, John 16:30; 20:28; Matt. 16:16; John 6:68, 69.

Third, there must be a personal appropriation of Christ as being all that He claims to be, John 1:12, 8:21, 24; 5:24. There must be surrender to a person, and not mere faith in a creed. Faith in a doctrine must lead to faith in a person, and that person Jesus Christ, if salvation is to be the result of such belief. So Martha was led to substitute faith in a doctrine for faith in a person (John 11:25).

It is such faith—consisting of knowledge, assent, and appropriation —that saves. This is believing with the heart (Rom. 10:9,10).

c) When Used in Connection with Prayer.

Three passages may be used to set forth this relationship: 1 John 5:14, 15; James 1:5-7, Mark 11:24. There must be no hesitation which balances between belief and unbelief, and inclines toward the latter—tossed one moment upon the shore of faith and hope, the next tossed back again into the abyss of unbelief. To “doubt” means to reason whether or no the thing concerning which you are making request can be done (Acts 10:20; Rom. 4:20). Such a man only conjectures; he does not really believe. Real faith thanks God for the thing asked for, if that thing is in accord with the will of God, even before it receives it (Mark 11:24). Note the slight: “that man.”

We must recognize the fact that knowledge, assent, and appropriation exist here also. We must understand the promises on which we base our prayer; we must believe that they are worth their full face value; and then step out upon them, thereby giving substance to that which, at the moment may be unseen, and, perchance, nonexistent, so far as our knowledge and vision are concerned, but which to faith is a splendid reality.

d) When Used in Connection with the Word and Promise of God.

First, we should know whether the particular promise in question is intended for us in particular. There is a difference in a promise being written for us and to us. There are dispensational aspects to many of the promises in the Bible, therefore we must rightly divide, apportion, and appropriate the Word of God (cf. I Cor. 10:32).

Second, when once we are persuaded that a promise is for us, we must believe that God means all He says in that promise; we must assent to all its truth; we must not diminish nor discount it. God will not, cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

Third, we must appropriate and act upon the promises. Herein lies the difference between belief and faith. Belief is mental; faith adds the volitional; we may have belief without the will, but not faith. Belief is a realm of thought; faith is a sphere of action. Belief lives in the study; faith comes out into the market-places and the streets. Faith substantiates belief—gives substance, life, reality, and activity to it (Heb. 11:1). Faith puts belief into active service, and connects possibilities with actualities. Faith is acting upon what you believe; it is appropriation. Faith counts every