Grace and Peace Episode 44
Presbyterian Church of Easton
July 18, 2021
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:2
Heidelberg Catechism
88Q. What is involved in genuine repentance or conversion?
A. Two things:the dying-away of the old self, and the rising-to -life of the new.
89Q. What is the dying-away of the old self?
A. To be genuinely sorry for sin and more and more to hate and run away from it.
90Q. What is the rising-to-life of the new self?
A. Wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work.
91Q. What are good works?
A. Only those which are done out of true faith, conform to God’s law, and are done for God’s glory; and not those based on our own opinion or human tradition.
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Every week in worship we confess our sin to God and receive God’s assurance of pardon. This is salvation, the good news we proclaim. And our hope is that the Holy Spirit will then come into us and begin a transformation. This transformation is a life-long process. As we go through this transformation we develop a desire to avoid sin. We want to serve others. We become more and more like Christ. We experience more and more joy.
But there is one thing that we must do before all this starts. That one thing is called repentance. All repentance means is that we turn around. Once we led our lives running from God. Repentance means you run toward God. You desire to follow God and obey his will.
God has already taken the first step. He has forgiven us. So let’s take the next step and start following him. Then we will experience great joy and transformation to new life. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for forgiving us. We pledge to follow you wherever you may lead us. And we thank you for the great joy we experience as your followers. In your son’s name. Amen.
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