REPENTANCE AND DEAD WORKS
A. Introduction: Why is repentance important?
Repentance is the first key to the riches of the kingdom of God.
Repentance is the first key to being a successful disciple of Jesus.
When there is no daily repentance, we will come under the curses of the Law of God and will live a life of failure and defeat in different areas of life.
When we repent daily, God hears and answers our prayers instantly.
When we repent daily, the power, the riches and the blessings of God’s kingdom will be poured out into our lives.
When we repent daily, we can walk in continuous victory over every problem we face in life.
When we repent daily, we will be blessed beyond all that we can ask or imagine so that we can be a witness and a blessing to others.
When we repent daily, we become true disciples of Jesus, fulfilling our destiny in Christ.
No believer can bypass the foundation of repentance from dead works in his daily life and expect to be a victorious disciple of Jesus.
A believer who builds his life in Christ without daily repentance is like a house built on sandy soil.
Such a life is unstable and will face calamities sooner or later.
The first teaching of our Lord Jesus when He started His earthly ministry was the command to repent (Matthew 4:17).
If Jesus has made repentance the first foundation to a disciple’s life in God’s kingdom, how can a believer be a true disciple of Jesus if he ignores repentance or teach others to do so?
Is such a believer greater than our Lord Jesus?
MATTHEW 4:17Likewise, in the book of Hebrews, Paul also confirmed that the first of the six basic doctrines of Christ for a new believer is ‘Repentance from dead works.’
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
HEBREWS 6:1-2, NKJB. Objectives of this lesson
1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God,
2 And of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement.
The objectives of this lesson are as follows:
- To teach a believer the meaning of dead works.
- To teach a believer the result of dead works.
- To teach a believer the meaning of repentance from dead works.
“Dead works” are works which are sinful and lead to death in our spirit, soul and body.
Dead works include evil words and evil acts.
They arise from evil thoughts in our hearts.
Our old human nature, or our “flesh”, is born with sin and is not capable of doing anything good.
Because of sin in our nature, our works are all sinful works, which are dead works.
The following is a list of dead works that come from our flesh (or our old human nature).
GALATIANS 5:19-21, NKJD. Dead works always result in death
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like: of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
All sin leads to dead works which ultimately lead to death.
Dead works bring death to our spirit, soul and body and to all that we do.
Thus dead works always result in disease, defeat, disaster, destruction and death in the lives of those doing the dead works.
These are the curses of the Law of God that we will suffer from when we produce dead works.
ROMANS 6:23The Lord’s teaching is very clear.
For the wages of sin is death.
JOHN 4:14
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
LUKE 13:3,5
[Jesus said]: “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
If we do not repent of our sins and dead works, we will perish.
We will suffer from all sorts of destruction to our spirit, soul and body.
We will suffer from failure in all that we do.
We will also not inherit the kingdom of God and thereby lose our salvation (Galatians 5:21).
E. What is repentance from dead works?
"To repent” is to turn away from all evil and to do the will of God.
“To repent” is to confess our sins to God and to turn away from all sins.
“To repent from dead works” is to turn away from doing dead works and instead do the works that God has asked us to do.
The very moment we repent of our sins and dead works, God forgives us our sins and remembers them no more (1 John 1:7-9).
The very moment we repent of our sinful thoughts or sinful words or sinful acts, the curses of the Law of God over our lives are broken.
1 JOHN 1:7-9Also, God’s blessings are fully restored to us the very moment we repent.
7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from ALL sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will purify us from ALL unrighteousness.
God’s blessings, including His healing, His deliverance, His success, His wisdom, and His prosperity will come pouring into our lives the very moment we repent.
In the Parable Of The Prodigal Son, the father in the story (representing our Father God) restored back to the prodigal son all the inheritance that the son had lost in wild living as soon as the son repented (Luke 15:11-24).
LUKE 15:11-24 (The Parable Of The Lost Son)From the above parable, we can learn the following:
Jesus continued: “There was a man with two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
- The younger son’s sin separated him from his father’s blessings.
- He remained in poverty and failure and in need as long as he did not repent.
- The son was forgiven of his great sin the very moment he repented.
- The blessings of the father were restored to the son the very moment he repented.
- There was a full restoration of every blessing that the son had lost when he repented.
Only in this way will we be able to live a victorious Christian life and bring glory to God.
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TESTIMONY
Pastor Healed Of Severe Pain In Big Toe
About 3 years ago, a pastor I know came down with severe pain in one of his big toes.
We had been praying together regularly whenever he was home from his itinerant ministry as a healing revivalist.
The doctor said it was gout and told him not to take excessive protein, which was hard for him as he loved nasi kandar.
He suffered for about three months until one day when the Holy Spirit pointed out to him the cause of his problem.
On that morning, during his quiet time, the Holy Spirit directed his attention to a pair of reflexology sandals that he had bought 3 months before that at a hypermarket.
Being a deliverance minister, he realized right away that these sandals had opened a door for the devil to put the sickness on him.
He repented by throwing out the sandals right away.
His pain disappeared immediately.
Later he testified in the church concerning this deliverance.
Hallelujah!!!
PAUSE ...................................................
Church Member Healed Of Severe Pain In One Leg
About a few months after the above testimony, a sister drove her husband (both new believers) to see me on a Monday morning, as her husband was unable to drive.
Her husband, an engineer, was suffering from severe pain in one of his legs, and both had not turned up during Sunday worship the day before.
They asked me, "Pastor, can you tell us what doors we have opened to the devil to attack one of us with this severe pain?"
I said, "You need to seek the Holy Spirit for yourself."
However, I testified to them concerning possible open doors and finally mentioned the testimony of the pastor above with the reflexology sandals.
They said they did not have any reflexology sandals at home, but mentioned that they had just been to the a park and had walked on the reflexology pathway there 2 days ago on the previous Saturday morning.
They then recalled and told me that the last time the husband suffered from such a severe leg pain was when they had walked on the same reflexology pathway one year previous to the present time, just before they became believers.
I told them to repent and they did so right away.
I then prayed healing over the husband.
By the next day, he was totally pain-free and testified of his miracle in church later.
Hallelujah!!! All glory to God!!!
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