Acts 20:20-21 "You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you
publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus."
So, what do we know so far about repentance?
That it requires a broken and contrite heart; that pride will keep us from it;
that it's a matter of the heart and not just the intellect, and; we have to
exercise our will to do it, lay our will at the feet of Jesus and then
follow the Father's will.
What about faith?
I brought out the Funk & Wagnalls 'New'
Standardard Dictionary of the English Language (the 'new' 1938 edition). Back
then, they had much more time of their hands because the definitions are
'loaded'. The very first definition says:
"A firm conviction of the truth by what is
declared by another by way either of testimony or authority, without other
evidence; belief in what another states or affirms, or testifies,
simply on the ground of his truth or veracity; especially (as distinguished by
mere belief), practical
dependance on a person, statement or thing as trustworthy; fiducial as opposed to merely
intellectual belief; trust."
Veracity = truthfulness
Fiducial = of the nature of faith, or
practical confidence, as distinguished by merely intellectual
confidence.
I'm going to unpack that just a little bit
and go so far as to say: "Faith is based on mere belief as opposed to
intellectual belief on the testimony or authority of another - without other
evidence." I think maybe at least some of us have read something similar to
that somewhere in the Word of God. Oh yeah, it's in Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is
confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Mr. Funk and Ms. Wagnall's (yes, you read
that right) and the many, many men and women who contributed to this edition,
must have read their Bibles - at least the ones who gave this faith it's
definition!
When we come to Father as His children in
humble repentance and we are exercising great faith in our God. I believe that
in His mercy, but also because of this act of faith, Jesus moves into action.
Imagine for a moment, Jesus at the Right Hand of Father. As we humbling draw
near to God's throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), Jesus becomes very excited. As we
repent for our wrongdoings, He jumps up, points at us and while looking between
us and Father, says, "See, look at (insert name here). See, Dad, what they're
doing? They are at the foot of My Cross and turning their hearts and wills back
to You. My Blood now covers them - they are worthy to be in Your Presence!!!
Isn't that the most WONDERFUL thing you've ever seen??" And Father smiles and
huge, wide smile, with tears of joy flowing down upon the throne. He is moved
so much by the faith of the one repenting that He turns to Jesus, then looks at
us and says, "I forgive you."
Faith not only moves mountains, but it moves
something bigger, the Heart of God Himself. Reach out in faith today and let
repentance free you.
This song has been stirring in my heart all
week. I just have to 'get it out'...
The Touch of the Master's Hand - Wayne
Watson
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