Understanding Grace: The Balance of Faith and Repentance

FERGUSON: Now, in our last study we were thinking about the opening verses of Genesis 3, and this fairly remarkable thing that happens in Genesis 3 that the serpent distorts the character of God. And you remember we were talking about the fact that this belongs to the very essence of legalism, when God's loving character, His fatherly concern, is divorced from His law. [00:00:00]

And our eyes are focused on the law simply as though they were naked commandments and not the directives of our heavenly Father who obviously wants the very best for us. And so though we often read in the Scriptures about the subtlety and the deceitfulness of Satan, sometimes we don't appreciate how deeply that goes into the narrative of Scripture. [00:00:28]

And it's there right in the opening verses of Genesis 3 how the serpent, in a sense, draws Eve first of all into legalism, and then draws her into antinomianism. And in a very remarkable way Genesis 3 underlines how closely related to one another these two errors are. We so often tend to think of them as absolute opposites to one another, and therefore needing different kinds of spiritual medicine in order to deliver people from them. [00:00:53]

But as we go on I think we will discover that in the gospel, both legalism and antinomianism are dealt with, especially by the apostle Paul, by using exactly the same medicine. Now, in this study, I want us to go back a little to our earlier discussion about the order of salvation, the order of grace. [00:01:33]

One of the things that came up in the controversy over the "Auchterarder Creed," and then "The Marrow of Modern Divinity," was this whole question of, "Do we forsake sin, do we repent in order to be prepared to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?" And, Boston and his friends, in connection with the Auchterarder Creed, argued that that's a very unhelpful way to understand the message of the gospel, to put repentance first. [00:02:13]

They were wanting to argue that repentance does not precede faith as a condition for coming to Christ. Just as they wanted to emphasize that no increase in sanctification does anything to our justification. For some people that was a very frightening thought. If you don't insist that you've got to add to your justification and your sanctification, then will people not live any way they want? [00:03:08]

In the application of redemption to sinners, salvation comes to us as justification, it comes to us as regeneration, and adoption, and sanctification, and perseverance, and glorification. Salvation comes to us who repent and believe the gospel. And doesn't that very language that's used in Scripture, "Repent and believe the gospel," indicate to us that repentance must come before believing? [00:04:24]

And it seems to me that that very way of looking at things, understanding the application of redemption by looking through spectacles that have been crafted, as it were, to see a chain as the organizing principle, almost inevitably means that either you put the link of repentance before faith or you put the link of faith before repentance. [00:05:34]

The gospel of the kingdom is preached, or the gospel of Christ is preached, and then the summons is given to those who have heard it to repent. Just one word, "Repent." Does that mean that you repent but don't believe? There are other occasions when the gospel is preached and the summons is given, "Believe." "What will I do to be saved?" "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." No reference to repentance. [00:06:24]

And the language of repentance and faith in the New Testament is essentially an hendiadys. That, the same reality of coming to Christ is being viewed from two different perspectives. One, in relationship to the sinful life, the other in relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. So that sometimes, one of the terms will stand for both terms. [00:07:43]

Repentance, genuine repentance, takes place within the context of faith, takes place within the context of us responding to the grace of God and Jesus Christ in the gospel. That's why Paul says ultimately the law on its own will not lead us to evangelical repentance. It may convict us of sin, but the turning around requires the kindness of God, the hope of salvation. [00:10:27]

And it's this that transforms repentance from a work that we accomplish to a response that we make wrought in us by the power of the Holy Spirit as we turn from our sinful lifestyle to a genuine faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. There's a very interesting discussion of this in "The Marrow of Modern Divinity." It takes place between Nomista, the legalist, and the pastor whose name is Evangelista. [00:11:59]

And Evangelista then says, "Well, would you have a man do all this truly before he come to Christ by believing?" And the legalist says, "Yes, indeed, I think it is very meet." Then says Evangelista -- you can almost sense his triumph here -- "Then, I tell you truly, you would have him do that which is impossible, because godly humiliation proceeds from the love of God, the good Father, and so from the hatred of that sin which has displeased Him. And this cannot be without faith." [00:13:22]