Andrew Fountain - The Gospel 5: Gods Right to Our Allegiance (Repentance)

1. The Big Picture

1. There is a cosmic struggle between God and the forces of evil
   
   • It is not a balanced struggle, God is far stronger
   • By evil we mean:
     
     • cruelty, injustice & oppression
     • cheating, stealing, deceit and corruption
     • sickness, suffering, pain & death
   • But God is determined to root out every hint of evil in the universe
     
     • So there can be no more suffering or injustice or sorrow or pain —totally banished
2. The Battle
   
   • What right does God have to fight evil?
     
     • He is the creator, and everything was created for the purpose of good
     • He intended everything to be good, and he has a right since he made it
   • The response of the forces of evil is:
     
     • God has no right to tell us what to do
     • He is evil and deceitful himself (Satan to Eve)
     • Actually it is rebellion against God that brings happiness and submission brings sorrow
     • There is a clever game that goes on in the mind that we call “rationalization”
       
       • That makes evil good and good evil: Possessions cartoon
   • So the battle is mainly fought in the area of belief and allegiance
     
     • When someone changes sides
       
       • they stop believing lies about God
       • change their allegiance to him
       • start to trust and follow him
3. God’s Battle Plan
   
   • The central idea of God’s plan is to focus evil in one place and then destroy it
     
     • If you have an infestation of insects like moths or roaches, you don’t destroy the whole house, but put down a bait that draws them into a trap which you then destroy
   • God’s first way of focusing evil was by giving laws
     
     • This effective because rebels have nothing to rebel against unless there are laws
     • Parable of the vineyard workers
   • The next thing God does is to reveal his love
     
     • How does this focus evil?
     • It actually raises the stakes and forces polarization
   • People cannot remain neutral any more, they either accept or reject
     
     • So in this parable it forced evil to the surface
   • John 1:1-18 describes this happening
   • But although the evil comes to the surface, ultimately God’s love wins
     
     • This is because when Jesus died and rose from the dead
     • He made a way to take evil on himself and destroy it in his own body
       
       • and then to offer that freedom from evil to anyone who wanted it
       • but there was one thing that they had to do: they had to change sides
     • This means changing allegiance from those opposed to God to God
       
       • It means recognizing God’s rights as a creator
       • It means acknowledging him as God
4. We are all caught up in this
   
   • There is no way that we can be neutral
   • Everything turns on whether we
     
     • recognise God’s rights
     • that his creation show allegiance to him and not to his enemies
   • Living a life that does not respect his authority is actually siding with the enemy
   • We are either for him or against him

2. What actually happens when we are saved

1. The Holy Spirit is working in us
   
   • No body can say “I am a Christian because I was smart enough to figure out that Jesus was the way”
   • Jesus told Peter that God had revealed it
   • God draws people to himself
     
     • Jesus said...
   • But we can still resist God up to a point
     
     • If God is really determined to show us his love (Paul)...
2. Faith / Repentance
   
   • We put our trust in Jesus
     
     • giving him our allegiance
   • We turn away from the wrong things in our lives
     
     • desiring not to do them (even though we may fail much of the time)
3. We become a new creation
   
   • We are united with Jesus, getting the blessings from his death and resurrection
     
     • Our sins are forgiven through his death
     • We are no longer enemies of God, but are fully reconciled with him
   • We become a “new creation” through his resurrection (“born from above”)
     
     • The Spirit comes to live in us
       
       • bringing us into experience of the love of the Father and of the Son
     • A new heart is created within us that wants to please God
     • We are adopted by the Father and become his beloved children
     • A new resurrection body is promised to us, along with an eternal inheritance

3. What do we tell people to do?

• Repent and Believe
  
  • Acknowledge God’s kingship
  • ask forgiveness for not doing this in the past
  • ask for this gift of new life
  • keep on asking till you receive

Updated on 2009-10-05 (r.81) by Andrew Fountain