A Message to Preachers on the Need to Preach Repentance from Sin.
Why So Many Unfaithful Professing Christians?
Romans 6:1-18 _________________________________
Intro: The title of the message identifies the problem. To
some degree in all our churches there is a number of people
who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior who are not
faithful to Him.
Their lives pretty much remain the same after their
profession of faith, with the exception that now they are
identified as Christians because they now have their names on
a church roll.
They are frustrating to the God fearing pastor who
loves his flock, and longs with heart felt love to see those to
whom God has entrusted him with living victorious lives in
Christ, being a ready and willing tool of God to bring Glory
to our Lord and Savior, and reaping the benefit of the full
blessing of God.
These "Christians" in name only, are frustrating and
a source of discouragement to any child of God who longs to
see Christ lifted up and magnified and to receive the honor
and worship our God and Savior should receive.
They are frustrating because they are a liability to any
local congregation of believers. These folks do not bring
anything into the church, they are a stumbling block to others
in the church and the lost the church is trying to reach.
We all have heard someone say, "Well if so-in-so is a
member of that church I do not want to have anything to do
with it." What they are really saying is that if that person is
a Christian, a child of God the whole thing is a sham.
I am not talking only of those who do not come to
church or tithe or take a part in the ministry of the church. I
am also talking about the outwardly piteous hypocrite who
sits on the front pew and has a part in everything....a negative
part!
I agonize over the matter, trying to come to grips with
it, and explain it....so as God’s preacher, his pastor, His
messenger I can help the poor souls whose lives are marked
by being unfaithful to God.
I. FIRST BEING UNFAITHFUL TO GOD IS SIMPLY SIN.
A. In order to offer help to a person with a problem
there must be a correct diagnosis of the ailment.
1. Here I believe is the problem. Many pro-
fessing Christians, and church members....have never
come to grips with sin, what sin is or how God looks at it.
2. I preached a message some years ago about
the fact God hates sin, and the roof fell in the church I was
pastoring. I was accused of being unkind, unloving,
uncaring.
3. Why, I ask myself are they so unset over
preaching a basic fundamental true, that God hates sin?
4. The conclusion I came to is that they do not
understand what sin is. Further I wonder how can someone
claim to be a Christian, a SAVED child of God and not know
that God hates sin.
5. How can one know of true salvation without
understanding what sin is and how God views sin?
B. In reading Rom. 6:2, Paul I believe is addressing
this very issue.
1. Note V1. "What shall we say then? Shall we
continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How
shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
2. There were people in Rome whom Paul had
heard of who were practicing sin openly with no conviction
and justifying it by saying....its OK is under Grace.
3. In the strongest terms possible Paul says,
"God Forbid!". Kenneth Weust, "May such a thing never
occur!" Literally Paul says, "Let it not be!"
C. Paul is saying in the next verses, "We were saved
FROM sin!!!!"
1. Salvation is salvation from sin. Sin is the
reason we need saving. We need saving from sin!
2. The true believer is DEAD to sin. That is
the redemptive act of God. That’s what salvation is all
about....being saved from sin! God forgives us when we
repent of sin and then gives us a new nature that enables us
not to sin anymore. If men are not sinners there was no need
of Christ to die for...what? SIN.
3. We now live unto God, V10 We are not
alive unto Christ our Lord.
Yes, Paul says CHRIST is our LORD! That
means our master our God.
D. It seems apparent to me that if a professing
Christian, who claims to be saved has no real understanding
of sin....then there is a grave problem.
1. If he has no regard for sin, thinks lightly of
it, has no real conviction about sin then this person has a
serious spiritual problem. I ask the question what was on
there mind when they made a profession of faith and
supposedly became Christians? What did they think was
happening to them. What in fact were they doing.
a. Joining a church?
b. Getting a ticket to heaven?
c. Identifying with a church for the social good
they might reap?
2. Yes, Christians can sin. But there are
qualifying doctrines and truth about God dealing with His
children who sin.
a. 1 Cor. 10:13, "There hath no
temptation taken you but such is common to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye
are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
a. That truth is this; "For whom the
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. HEB 12:6
3. This presents another question: How can a
professing Christian live habitually in sin, with no apparent
chastening of God?
The answer is he can’t!!!!!
4. Paul in 1 Cor. 11:28-29, (READ) is saying
these folks who were saved and who did not discerning the
Lord’s body by blatantly sinning without repentance. These
people were saved and because they were God’s children they
were chastened of God and even God killed some of them
because they would not repent and turn from their sin.
a. What does it mean, "not discerning
the Lord’s body?"
b. Simply, they knowingly, willingly
sinned with no regard that every sin brought suffering to the
Lord Jesus!! They knew better, but could care less!
God dealt swiftly and pointedly with such gross un-
gratefulness.
5. Many professing Christians sin openly with
no remorse or shame and there is not chastening in their lives.
ILLUS: It was learned that the Sunday School Superin-
tendent in my father’s church was having an affair with
woman in the church. The pastor and deacons went to him
privately and told them of their concern and to learn the truth
of the matter that was becoming a scandal in the small town.
They were angrily told that it was none of their business and
what he did in his life was his own business. At this point
could you say this man was really saved or not? Answer is
not really. Christians are capable of gross sin. The church
dismissed him from his position in the Sunday School and he
quit coming to church. He continued the affair, left his wife
and family and bitterly denounced the church. Other than
the normal destructive effects of a divorce, he lived a
ordinary life. In time the scandal blew over. He never
returned to church and lived a normal live. Was he saved?
If is very doubtful. Why? No chastening of God. What
does God say he does to his child? Yes, he chastens them and
does not chasten the Devil’s brood.
II. SECOND: WHAT CAN THE PREACHER DO?
A. First we must present the True Gospel as
God would have us too.
1. This is the day of "easy believism."
Most people believe it totally correct to simply go through a
Roman’s road 123 plan of salvation and pronounce the person
saved and a child of God.
2. I sure you know what I am mean.
B. One thing is missing in many presentations
of the Gospel and from the "Roman’s road" as many use
it.....that is repentance!
1. When John the Baptist came
announcing the coming of Christ he preached repentance and
demanded of his hearing....proof they had repented by some
action within their lives.
2. Jesus also preached, "repent for the
kingdom of God is at hand". We do not preach the
kingdom...per-say. The kingdom of God, is at least seven
years away from this moment, BUT the kingdom of God is a
kingdom of the saved based on salvation.
3. ONE thing is clear, repentance is a
part of the coming kingdom of God. Repentance is a vital
and necessary part of salvation!!
C. Eph. 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of
works, lest any man should boast."
1. Grace is not cheap!!! Grace cost the Son of
God, all the agony and terribleness of the penalty of sin. It
Cost God much!!
2. Here-in is a problem, in understanding it is
free to us, it has caused some to not appreciate it great Cost
to God.
3. They conclude that repentance is not a part
of salvation. They are dead wrong! The whole point of
being saved is to be saved from sin! A salvation that does not
address sin is not biblical salvation!
It is a man pleasing deception of the Devil.
D. The teaching repentance is a vital and necessary
part of salvation. Do I fully understand it? Simply I answer
no. I’ll let the theologians try to explain it.
But I will teach it, and I will preach it because
that is part of the Gospel...a vital part.
This is why I believe so many have no regard
for the fact God says we are not to sin, we are to live holy and
righteous lives before God and the World. We are not to
love sin or NEVER EVER live comfortable with sin in our
lives.
1. Jesus in Mark 1:15, said, "...the kingdom of
God is at hand: repent ye and believe the Gospel."
2. The 70 disciples Jesus sent out preached
that men should repent. Mark. 6:12
3. Jesus speaking to the speaking to the lost
religious Jews said, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye
shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:5
3. Peter in Acts 2:38, at Pentecost "preached
repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sin and receive the Holy Ghost."
4. Again in Acts 3:19, "Repent ye therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."
5. Paul addressing the lost Greeks on Mars
Hill, said to them, "And the times of this ignorance God
winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to
repent:" Acts 17:30 Some say that repentance was only at
part of the preaching of the Kingdom. However, these were
not Jews, but lost Greek philosophers.
6. Others would say repentance is from Christians it
comes after salvation and is a part of maturing in Christ.
Jesus in Luke 5:32 said, "I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:32
7. The early church after Peter went and
preached the Gospel to Cornelius the ROMAN centurion.
Peter told him of Christ Jesus and part of what
Peter told him was that, Acts 10:10, "And he commanded us
to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which
was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead."
When Peter returned to church in Acts 11:18,
"When they heard these things, they held their peace, and
glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles
granted repentance unto life."
8. Paul in 2 Cor. 7:10 said, "For godly sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow
of the world worketh death." (2 Corinthians 7:10)
9. 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all
should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
E. In Simple terms God says repentance is a part of
salvation. They go together.
1. Why do so many live such sinful and
unfaithful lives as professing Christians?
2. They seem to have no conception or
understanding of sin.
3. Why? One reason is maybe we
have not taught them....it is our responsibility.
III. THIRD: REPENTANCE IS THE BASIS OF A GODLY LIFE.
A. Therefore if any man {be} in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new. 2Corinthians 5:17
1. Why is it we preach over and over again
with little or no response that God children should be faithful
and committed.
I believe a man is really saved by grace does
not needed to be told over and over that he is under solemn
obligation to serve Christ: the new life within him tell him
that as he hears the Word of God on the matter.
I believe the Bible is telling us that the saved
man HAS repented of sin and will hate sin.
Sure we know we will sin, 1 Jn 1:8 tells us that
and we know it from personal experience....but the Child of
God will fight sin and never be comfortable in it.
Why, he has been converted from sin!!!! He
is no longer the slave of sin.
2. To claim to believe that He can save your
soul, forgive your sins, give you eternal life, and yet be less
than your Lord and God is simply strange to me and totally
foreign to the Bible.
To imply that one can could accept salvation
from sin as a free gift of God and then fail to acknowledge
His authority over one’s life is a travesty to the reality and the
power of the Gospel.
ILLUS: In some circles there is a controversy over where a
person came be saved and Christ not be their Lord. They call
the matter "Lordship Salvation." I have not read those that
have written about the matter. I do not have time and more
than that I believe that were a man is saved Christ becomes
his Lord. I also believe that if Christ does not become the a
person’s Lord that person is not saved. Christ is Lord and
you cannot separate Jesus from His Lordship. Where that puts
me in the controversy I do not know, but where it puts me in
line with the Bible I do know. It put me squarely in the
center of God’s truth! That the only place I feel comfortable.
3. Many are preaching a weak and unscriptural
Gospel that leaves out the hideousness and evil thing that sin
is. Many appear to be ashamed even to talk of sin. Many
are preaching a compromised Gospel tailored to appeasing
man’s lust, offering Him, a pure and holy and righteous
God....without demanding any holiness or little devotion to
purity of the individual receiving salvation. This
"philosophy" of the modern gospel is of the Devil.
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober,
and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto
you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children,
not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in
your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be
ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written,
Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:13-16
This false gospel that Paul commended in Galatians
1. It is a "another gospel that is not the gospel." Paul said in
Gal. 1:10, "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek
to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the
servant of Christ."
That verse puts all preachers to the test. They are man
pleasers or servants of God. A true preacher of God has but
one duty to be faithful too. To preach the "unsearchable
riches of Christ." (Eph. 3:8)
"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’s sake." (2 Cor.
4:5)
Conclusion:
We have an awesome responsibility as God’s called
messengers. We must be careful we do not lessen or take
away from God’s truth. We must preach ALL God’s truth
correctly, absolutely and in the authority of God’s Word.
We do a get disservice, yes we commit sin, gross sin
if we preach not the whole counsel of God’s Word.
We must understand it is an impossible task, if God
does not do it through us.
The blind can not lead the blind. We must know
God’s word and we must preach it. You may lose your
popularity....some may think you strange. You may lose
church members. You may lose friends. You may be
accused of being unloving and uncaring....of being too
demanding.
But in truth how can you share Christ’s love for you in
any greater way that to loving, and caringly warn people of
the wages of sin and the need of repentance. That’s their
only hope to receive eternal life and live a victorious life in
Christ....bringing honor, glory to Him who is
Worthy...producing fruit to His honor.
(I have over 100 messages at http://bible-truth.org/sermons.html)
