Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on May 12, 2024.
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Audio Transcript
Bibles and turn to Luke chapter five. We have it on the screen as a matter of convenience, but we always want to encourage you to use your own Bible in case you want to go back and look at it later to see what we talked about. Today we’re looking at the calling of the disciples, and we want to personalize it in all these messages and asking ourselves, are we true disciples of Jesus Christ? Do we demonstrate the characteristics that we’re observing in the text? If you are, it’s an encouragement to you that you are a disciple of Christ.
But if you’re not exhibiting these different characteristics, you need to stop and ask yourself, have you really given your life to the Lord and committed yourself to Him? I began reading in Luke 5:1 as the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word. He was standing by Lake Gennesaret. He saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.
He got into one of the boats which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Master. Simon replied, we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing.
But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets. When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and said, go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord.
For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. Don’t be afraid, Jesus told Simon. From now on you will be catching people. And then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.
Then we go further into the passage beginning in verse 27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, follow me. So leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him. And then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house.
And now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them. But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, why do you eat? And Drink with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus replied to them, it is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
May we pray? Heavenly Father, give us comfort from your word. If we are true disciples and we are exhibiting these characteristics in our life. But we also pray that if there are those among us today that are not exhibiting these characteristics, that they would search their hearts and that they have not placed their faith in your son, Jesus Christ, his death, his burial and his resurrection, that we might have salvation. We ask that you would move in them today to bring them to that.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen. A disciple is someone who devotes oneself to a teacher to learn from and become more like them. For the Christian, this refers to the process of learning the teachings of Jesus and following after his example in obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship not only involves the process of becoming a disciple, but of making other disciples through teaching and evangelism.
We’ve already looked at several characteristics in the series so far. I just want to read through those today to refresh our memories. True disciples of Jesus desire to be close to Jesus. True disciples of Jesus desire to hear God’s word. They let Jesus use what they have.
They let Jesus interrupt what they are doing. They don’t look for great things from Jesus to do. They are willing to do simple things that Jesus asks. They recognize Jesus as master. They believe Jesus, despite their personal experience.
When things don’t seem like they should go a certain way, they still do what he says. They worship Jesus and they recognize their deadly condition, which is what we talked about last week, the problem with sin that separates us from God. Today we’re going to be looking at how a true disciple of Christ responds to their understanding of their sin nature. We’re going to be looking at the idea of repentance. True disciples of Jesus show repentance not just sorrow for sin.
We go to verse 31. Jesus replied to them, it is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. All followers of Jesus Christ at some point in their life come to repentance. Sometimes repentance is equated with confession or possibly sorrow for sin.
Confession is just an acknowledgement. I’ve sinned. Lord forgive me of that. Repentance goes deeper than that, and we’re going to be looking at it today. It’s not just acknowledgement.
Of our sin. Neither is it just sorrow for sin that might accompany repentance. They’re different. We need to understand the difference. Because true disciples of Jesus Christ live a life of repentance, which means that they live a life walking with God.
They live a life of walking on God’s path instead of their own path. And they live a life looking at sin not the way that we look at it, but they see it and understand it the same way that God does. Let’s look at some definitions today. The Greek word for repentance is derived from a verb meaning to radically change one’s thinking. It’s not just about feeling sorry.
It’s not just about emotions. It’s about changing your thought process. It’s about changing how you look at your life, about changing how you view sin. And it’s not even just changing it, but it’s this radical change that happens. Meaning it’s more of just.
It’s not an opinion change. It’d be like this. I can have a change of opinion where I think I like Whoppers better than I like bitch Big Macs or cheeseburgers versus a repentant heart would say, I will never eat a Big Mac or go to McDonald’s again. One is just a change of your mind, but the other one is a change of direction in how you’re going to live and how you’re going to move forward. Whereas sorrow, it’s just a feeling of deep distress.
It’s caused by a loss in someone’s life, or by disappointment or some other misfortune suffered by oneself or others. Sorrow says, I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. You’ve heard that expression. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to change and you’re never going to take another cookie out of the cookie jar. It just means that you feel sorry because somebody caught you.
It’s your misfortune. You’re now disappointed. Remorse, on the other hand, it’s when you have this deep regret or guilt for doing something wrong. You say, I’m overwhelmed with guilt, possibly because I wrecked my sister’s car. It doesn’t mean that you’re never going to drive a car again.
You just feel this deep remorse for it. Sorrow might say, I feel sorry that I lost the opportunity to receive the reward because I was absent too often. Or sorrow might say, I’m disappointed that I missed the promotion at work because my work was not up to par. Or maybe I feel sorrow because I have to spend time in jail because I did something Wrong. It doesn’t mean that there’s a change of direction.
Sorrow and remorse can accompany repentance, but it’s not the same thing. If we look at the Hebrew word that most closely approximates repent or repentance, it’s translated in the Old Testament English as return, which basically means to turn around and go in the opposite direction. God wants us to do more than just feel sorrow or remorse for our deadly condition of sin. He wants us to radically change our thoughts, thinking, and he wants to see our sin the way that he does. And in response to that, we turn and go a different way.
Often when we present our gospel to people, we talk about that in this life, before we come to know the Lord, we’re walking in this direction according to the way I think, according to what I want to do, according to what the world is telling me to do. But a person that experienced repentance doesn’t keep going this way. They don’t feel bad about going this way. They turn and they go God’s way and they walk on God’s path. That’s what repentance is going on.
With the definition, we read that in theological context, the implication is to turn from a road that’s characterized by rebellion toward God into a road instead that is characterized by by obedience. It’s a change of heart and mind that results in a change of direction. The emphasis, therefore, is upon our actions, not just our thoughts, not just our feelings those accompany repentance. But true repentance and a follower of Christ shows that their actions are changing. The emphasis is upon actions that necessarily proceed from turning one’s orientation toward God.
Once you quit walking this way in your way and you turn towards walking this way, you’re on a different path. You’re faced with different things, and you’re going to act differently because God is with you. Repentance therefore results in actions. It results in a different type of fruit in your life. It’s not just emotions and it’s not just feelings.
Let’s kind of put it all together then. Repentance therefore refers to an event. It happens at some point in your life that you have to make that turn to follow the Lord. An event in your life in which an individual attains a divinely provided new understanding understanding of their behavior. That means that at some point the light comes on in your head, wow, I’m seeing my life now the way that God sees it, that I’m separated from Him.
My sin isn’t just bad. My sin is deadly. And it’s Devastating. And it separates me from the Lord. God has to give you that understanding.
A divinely provide a new understanding of behavior. Because of that, the person feels compelled to change that behavior and to begin a new relationship with God. John would have described this in John chapter three as being born again. He was speaking to Nicodemus that night. Jesus was speaking to him.
Nicodemus was a religious leader. He was in the priestly class. He knew the Bible, he knew his theology. He was completely and thoroughly theologically trained. He thought that way about everything.
And he also had this interest in Jesus howbeit he came at night so that nobody would know that he was there. But theologically trained mind a feeling and a desire to understand Jesus better. But that wasn’t enough. Just being interested in Jesus, just knowing the Bible was not enough. Jesus told him that you have to be born again.
There has to be this change in direction. There has to be repentance where you are following the Lord that accompanies faith. Nicodemus needed to change. He needed to be born again. He needed to start on a fresh path of following God, not religion.
And that path would be a new relationship with God. And it would result, therefore in a change of behavior. Let’s go to Acts, chapter 20, verses 20 through 21. And we read this. You know that I did not hesitate to proclaim anything to you that was profitable and to teach you publicly.
And from house to house. I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. Paul is reminding them about something important that he spoke to them. He says he didn’t hesitate. He was proclaiming it everywhere because it was going to be profitable for everyone to hear what he had to say.
He did it publicly. He did it from house to house. He talked to the Jews, he talked to the Greeks. He was telling everybody this important thing that they needed to do and what they needed to learn about was repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus. Paul preached to everyone both repentance and faith.
In essence, we could say that they’re two sides of the same coin. They go hand in hand. True faith is always validated by repentance. Someone says, I can believe. But if there is no repentance in their life, if there’s no change of behavior, if there’s no following the Lord, that faith is not genuine faith.
Similarly, we talk about how works are a proof of living faith. Someone can say that I have faith. But James said, if there are no works, if there is no faith fruit in Their life, whatever they’re calling faith is not genuine. So it is all true. Followers of Jesus Christ at some point have decided to turn from going their way to following the Lord.
And that produces fruit and it produces works. Again, let’s read that definition. Repentance refers to an event in which an individual attains a divinely provided new understanding of their behavior. They feel compelled to change that behavior, and they began a new relationship with God. A relationship with God of friendship, of lordship, and also of him being the Father.
Let’s go to Scripture. We’ll start out in the Old Testament. 2nd Chronicles 7:14. This is what God the Father said to his people. If my people who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and hear the word for repentance in the Old Testament and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.
God promised in the Old Testament that seeking him turning from sin will result in forgiveness and healing. And we talk about salvation. It can be salvation from physical problems, but most importantly, it’s salvation from spiritual problems. It is about healing in our lives. That’s the Father speaking in the Old Testament.
Let’s go to the New Testament. John the Baptist and Preparation for Jesus Christ to come had a similar message here about guess what? Repentance. He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him. Brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath, therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance.
Now these crowds were coming out to John. There were prostitutes and there were tax collectors and there were fishermen. But there were also priests and there were Levites. There were religious people there. All of them needed to do the same thing.
They needed to produce fruit consistent with repentance. There needed to be a change of heart and mind that resulted in a change of direction for them. We have to ask ourselves, if we say that we’re followers of Jesus Christ, is there a different kind of fruit in our life? Or does our life just look like the world? True repentance results in you living differently.
We go on now to Luke chapter 13. We’ve heard God the Father in the Old Testament. We hear John speaking in preparation from Jesus. And now we have Jesus himself. What does he he say about repentance?
We’re not going to read the text here. Jesus is talking about some unfortunate deaths that have occurred at his time, about contemporary news. And twice he makes this sentence. I tell you, unless you repent, speaking to everyone there, you will all perish as well. And then again in Verse five.
I tell you, unless you repent, repent, you will all perish as well. Jesus said that everyone needs to have a change of heart and mind that results in a change of direction. Let’s go now to Luke, chapter 15. Jesus tells one parable, but it has three parts. One is about the lost sheep, hundred sheep.
One of them leaves 99, the shepherd leaves behind. And the shepherd goes to find the one sheep. That one sheep, instead of going God’s way, and the shepherd’s way was going its own way. So the shepherd leaves these to go after him. And when he finds that sheep, Jesus says that this is like when one sinner repents and returns to the Father.
Let’s read there. I tell you in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance. He goes on in the second part of the story. It’s a parable of the lost coin. And there’s a woman, she’s lost one of 10 coins.
And those 10 coins, according to tradition, would have been given to her from her father, and she would have warned them if she was from a particular people group across her forehead. And if her father was angry with her, he would have pulled one of those coins off and everybody would see she only has nine coins. What did she do now? This woman had lost her one coin, and she didn’t want people to think wrong of her, so she’s desperately seeking in her house. It’s the same way about God going after those who need to be found.
And once again, Jesus gives his phrase. I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who does. What’s the word? Repents. They change from going their way to changing and going God’s way.
The last part of the parable is the parable of what we call the prodigal son, or I’m going to call him the day. The lost son. There was the lost sheep, there was the lost coin, there was the lost son. We’re not going to read the text today, but if we remember the story, the son is at home with his father. His father is providing for him well, and he decides to, in essence, rebel against his father.
He says, I want all my money now. I’m not going to stay here and help you anymore. And he goes off on his path, going his own direction, and everything is wonderful until he runs out. Of what? He runs out of money.
He ends up feeding Pigs, the worst thing that a Jew can do because they’re not supposed to eat pork, they’re not supposed to touch pigs, they’re not supposed to be around them. But in that muddy pigsty, he decides that I believe in my Father, that if I go back to him, that he will accept me. So he has this belief and his understanding about the Father. But he doesn’t stay there in the pigsty. What does he do?
He repents. He returns to the Father. And that’s the picture here, that he comes back home to his Father. He restores his relationship with his Father. He’s living with his Father.
And because of that, Jesus doesn’t say that the angels rejoice in heaven. But here in the story, the Father is a picture of God the Father. And what does he do? He has a great celebration because his son returned. His son repented.
Now, if he had just said, I have faith in my Father, that He’s wonderful, that wouldn’t have been sufficient to restore the relationship. He had to return to the Father and walk in his path. That’s what repentance is. Let’s go to Acts, chapter 2, verse 37 through 38. We’ve seen God the Father in the Old Testament, John the Baptist.
We’ve heard what Paul said. We’ve heard what Jesus says. Now, what about Peter? When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart. Peter just presented the Gospel to them.
And they said to the Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, well, what should we do? And Peter replied, and what’s the sermon about today? Repentance. He said, repent and be baptized. And that repentance together with faith.
Place your faith in Jesus Christ, but also turn and walk in the Lord’s path. Have a change of heart and mind that results in a change of direction. Don’t just be sorry for your sin. Make there be a difference in your life. We started with God the Father.
Let’s finish with God the Father. In the New Testament, his message never changes. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God the Father not only in the past, but he now commands all people everywhere. To do what? Say the word, to repent.
And the reason for this is because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness. And if you haven’t placed your faith in Jesus Christ and you haven’t repented and you’re not walking in God’s way, you’re going to be left over here to face that judgment. We’re going to end today by going to 2 Peter 3, 3 through 13. And what we’re going to be reading out here about, it’s a picture of the end times, what people are going to be like. We’re going to see here that God says things are going to get worse, things are going to get bad, People aren’t going to listen to what I have told them.
And judgment is coming and we can fall into the trap of saying, God, why in the world are you letting things get so bad? Well, that’s what sin does, it makes things get worse and worse. So then we say, well, God, why are you allowing it to go on for so long? And we’ll get to the verse here and guess what it’s going to be about? It’s going to be about repentance, why God is allowing things to go on badly for so long.
Above all, be aware of this. Scoffers will come in the last days, scoffing and following their own evil desires, walking in their path, scoffing, mocking God in his way. And they’re going to be saying, where is this coming that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation. In other words, they’re saying, who is this Jesus?
It’s been 2000 years since he was around. He’s not coming back. Nothing has changed the world. Just going to continue on walking in my own way is the best way to approach. This tells us in verse five that they even deliberately overlook.
They’re making a conscious choice, they’re overlooking the creation. They’re saying, by the Word of God, the heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about. In other words, evolution is rampant. Our world doesn’t want to accept that God created everything, because if they do, they have to acknowledge that he is still the God and owner of everything. By the Word of God, the heavens came into being long ago.
And the heavens were brought about from water and through water, and through these, the world of that time perished when it was flooded. He’s warning them that because people rejected the Lord, years and years ago, the great flood came that wiped out all of the population except for Noah and his family. And it’s a warning to us that a similar thing is going to happen to us. By that same word, the present heavens and earth are now not spoken, stored up for water and a flood, but they’re stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. When we ask God the question, why are you putting things off so long?
Part of the Answer is, the day will come at the right time that I am going to judge the world by fire and I’m going to destroy the ungodly and make a new creation and restore things. But verse nine we read, the Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay. A thousand years to God is like a day in his mind. He’s not delaying his promise. He’s not putting off the promise.
Instead, it tells us that he is being patient, putting up with everything that is going on because he’s not wanting any to perish, but he’s wanting everybody to come to what? Repentance. The longer God puts off the destruction of this world, the more opportunity he is patiently giving people that they will repent, that they will avoid the judgment that’s on this side, instead be walking with him and be saved from it. The day of the Lord, it’s going to come like a thief when we’re not expecting it. And on that day, the heavens will pass away with a loud noise.
The elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. And since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming true. Repentance results in holy conduct and it results in a life of godliness. And because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat. But based on his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth.
We where righteousness dwells. When we present the gospel, the last part down there is what we are looking forward to. A new creation. When God will get rid of all evil, when he’ll get rid of all sickness and disease, and everything will be restored the way he intended it to in Genesis chapter one, where everything he created was good.
The definition of repentance. Repentance refers to an event in which an individual attains a divinely provided new understanding of their behavior and feels compelled to change that behavior and begin a new relationship with God. So we end with the questions, has there been an event or a turning in your life when you consciously decided, I’m not going to walk my way anymore, I’m not just going to believe in Jesus, but I am giving my life to him, and I’m turning and I’m walking in this way. And every follower of Jesus Christ, that has to happen at some point if they are true believers. Number two, have you come to understand how your Sin affects God and your relationship with Him.
Seeing sin from God’s perspective helps us to understand how utterly terrible and awful it is and how he can’t associate with sin. So when we have sin in our life, if we’re walking this way, we’re not walking with God. Yes, he’s here, he’s with us, but it’s like being in the room with somebody that you don’t talk to and you don’t even acknowledge they’re there. They’re there, but you don’t have a relationship with with them. Someone who has repented is walking with God.
God is walking beside them. They’re listening to Him. They’re desirous to follow his commands. Has your life changed? Does your life look like the world or does your life look like a repentant life?
Walking on path with the Lord and do you experience a real intimate relationship with with God? Because if you’re walking this way, you’re not on God’s path. You’re not walking beside him like the one sheep that was returned to the shepherd that together they were going back to the fold. My encouragement to you today is that if your life is an example of repentance, praise the Lord. That’s an encouragement to you when Satan causes you to doubt your salvation because you can say, no, my life pictures this walk.
But if your life doesn’t picture this walk of repentance, even if you say you believe in Jesus, it may just be an intellectual assent because you haven’t given your life to the Lord to walk with him on the right path. And my encouragement is to you today that you reach out to someone that has one of these name tags. And we want to sit down with you and talk to you about what it means to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Would you bow with me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
Help us to understand that walking with you, Father is more than just being sorry about our sins or feeling bad because of the consequences of them, but by placing our faith in Jesus Christ and by the power of your spirit spirit, you allow us to walk in a new way by your side, following your will, Father. Work in our hearts to encourage us today or to lead us to the point that we need to place our faith in Jesus Christ and repent today. In his name we pray. Amen.