Repentance and Faith
Repentance and Faith
The second mark of a “doer of the word” is repentance. For God’s Word tells us what we are as well as what he is, discloses to us our sin, and calls us to confess and forsake it. Several of the graphic similes of Scripture enforce this truth. The Word of God is like a mirror, showing us what we are like (Jas. 1:23–25), like a sword to prick our guilty conscience (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12; Acts 2:37), and like both a hammer and a fire to break and purify us (Jer. 23:29). Whenever we read the Scripture we hear God saying to us:
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions…. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! (Jer. 7:3; Isa. 1:16–17)
The third characteristic of the “doer of the word” is faith. Faith is an integral part of the Christian life, for “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Christians are frequently described in the New Testament as “believers” who “through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Heb. 6:12). But faith is very commonly misunderstood. It is not screwing ourselves up to believe something which we strongly suspect is not true; it is resting confidently on him who is true. Faith cannot exist in a vacuum or in isolation; it is always a trustful response to a trustworthy person. We must never set faith and knowledge over against one another as if they were mutually exclusive. For faith is based on knowledge: “Those who know your name will trust in you” (Ps. 9:10).
We trust God because we know him to be trustworthy. How? Because he has revealed himself to be such. As we read in Scripture about the character and mighty deeds of God, about his faithfulness to his covenant in the history of Israel, about “his very great and precious promises” (2 Pet. 1:4), about Jesus Christ in whom all God’s promises find their “yes” (2 Cor. 1:20), and about the men of faith who were “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Rom. 4:21), our faith is quickened, nourished and matured.
So then it is no use moaning that we seem to suffer from a chronic unbelief, or envying others (“I wish I had your faith”), as if our lack of faith were like our temperament, a congenital condition which cannot be changed. For God himself has given us the means to increase our faith:
Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Rom. 10:17)
We have to take time and trouble to hear in order to believe. The Christian who wants to grow in faith must spend time meditating on God’s Word. He will soon discover what is meant by “the encouragement of the Scriptures” (Rom. 15:4).