Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve 
the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell-bound. It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form. You renounce the world whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practice, and you deny yourself, and take up the cross and go after Christ. Your nearest and dearest, and the whole world, may call you a fool, or say you have religious mania. You may have to suffer financially, but it makes no difference. That is repentance. ~ D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, “Studies In The Sermon On The Mount”, Vol. 2, pg 248
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It never ceases to amaze me how the Gospel message finds itself under attack in the name of evangelism. While the message is simple it is not simplistic. Just what do I mean by that? Often the Gospel message is boiled down to “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”, or “Ask Jesus into your life and He will forgive your sins and give you eternal life.”. This is a reductive theological gospel message. It is missing a number of critical components and leaves the hearer with an “easy believism” gospel. This kind of gospel message ignores among a number of things, the critical doctrine of Biblical repentance and makes no demands of real fiduciary faith upon the hearer that brings about life transforming results ( 2 Corinthians 5:17; James 2:14,17). This is not a statement of infusion such as the Roman Catholic Church holds in sacramentalism but rather a declaration of the result of saving grace (imputed righteousness) that produces a new creation, new desires, and Christ honoring works (Ephesians 2:10) which are the natural fruit of the “New Man” ( Ephesians 2:15; 4:24; Colossians 3:10) birthed in the believer through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5). So let’s take a look at the deficiencies of the reductive gospel so prevalent today. In this first article we will take a brief, critically targeted, certainly not comprehensive looks at the missing message of repentance.
Continue reading ‘A Reductive Gospel – Part 1′
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