Repent and Believe

Jesus is member of the Trinity – One God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

(From the Nicene Creed) We believe in Jesus Christ…God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, …of one Being with the Father…

Matthew 9:9–13 (NIV84)9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.

 Jews hated tax collectors so much that they got their own sin category (“tax collectors and sinners”)

11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”

• Your presence with them implies you support their choices

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

• Jesus was referring to Hosea 6:6 (NLT2) I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.

• Jesus did show mercy, and He called them to repentance, because they were sinners.
• Jesus’ main message in his public ministry was

Matthew 4:17 (NIV)  From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

John 1:14 (NIV) 14  The Word [Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

• Completely grace, completely truth.

The Bottom line: the Law was intended to build love for and trust in God.

• Much more than show us we are sinners who are dealing with a holy God
• And much more than showing us we need a savior to free us from the eternal consequences of breaking the law

Jesus said love of God and others was the main point of the Law:

Matthew 22:35-40 (NIV)35  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 

37  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38  This is the first and greatest commandment. 39  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

• The #1 goal of the Law is to love God.
• The #2 goal of the Law (which is actually almost exactly as important as #1) is to love other people.

Romans 13:8–10 (NLT) 8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. 9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

James 2:8 (NIV84) If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.

Romans 9:30-32 (NLT2) 30  What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31  But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32  Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.

• Anyone who has ever been married can tell you that there’s a difference between pursuing a relationship with your spouse or following the rules.

• What if Jesus was drawing people back to having trust in God?

John 3:16–17 (NLT) 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

• Do you think it more likely that Jesus was sitting with sinners and tax collectors, telling them…
  • …to follow the rules?
  • …or about his Father and why he is good and trustworthy?

Romans 9:30-32 (NLT2) 31  But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32  Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.

Romans 3:20 (NLT2) For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

Galatians 2:21 (NLT2) I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Maybe repentance has less to do with thinking differently about our sin,

and more to do with thinking differently about God.