The whole of Scripture proclaims that forgiveness of sins is received only through faith in Christ. Those who suppose that God forgives their sins because they are good people, are led astray by their vain imaginings.
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Everyone acknowledges that, “You can’t take it with you.” Common sense wisdom understands that our works have no eternal value. So why do some try to stack them up as having merit with God? Belief in God’s promises is what counts as righteousness.
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The forgiveness of sins is received — not earned. Now a sizeable portion of the Church thinks otherwise. Yet this is clearly what Scripture teaches us. Forgiveness is received by faith.
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If you cannot believe God’s promise then you may as well insist that the sun will rise in the west tomorrow morning. For if you cannot believe that which is most sure, how certain is anything else that has been taken for granted up until now?
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Promises are laughable words, unless received with faith. Abraham and Sarai were promised a son in their advanced old age. Abraham laughed; he laughed so hard that he fell to the ground.
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We cannot place our trust in works wrought by ourselves. Surely, this is evident to everyone. Who among us has been found faithful — even to his own intentions?
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Being sorry for our sin does not merit forgiveness. You probably heard a retort something like this at some point in your life: “Sorry doesn’t fix what you broke.”
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These are important distinctions. Faith is different than sorrow or contrition. It is also different from devotion or works of penance. Faith stands apart, believing in the Redeemer...
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We are saved, forgiven, and made righteous through faith in God’s Christ. There is no other way to God; there is no shortcut.
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When David was brought up short by the knowledge of his secret sin, he was contrite and confessed his sin. After his confession, the prophet Nathan spoke words of forgiveness from the Lord.
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After we take the tantalizing fruit of sin, a frightening self-consciousness overwhelms us. All we want to do is cover our sin and hide from God. This terror is contrition; and it is not enough.
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The promise, though veiled, goes all the way back to Genesis. That very first sin demanded the declaration of a Savior from the loving God. For from those tragic bites of forbidden fruit...
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How strange it must seem to a child, for the parent who loves, to also seem so angry. For the threat of an oncoming car does not concern the unknowing child who is chasing a ball into the street.
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Life and death are in God’s hands. And there is nothing that we can do to deliver ourselves from the grave. The foolish harden their hearts to this fact of life. But the wise are contrite.
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Our ways lead us to certain death. They are low and dusty, clinging to the world and sin. Yet, God is always calling us to the way of life.
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We are in bondage to the flesh: these bodies of death with their natural inclinations that serve the law. We are bound by nature to sin “in thought, word, and deed.”
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It is the height of arrogance for someone to think that justification occurs through the human acts of contrition, devotion, or other acts of love or good works
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Paul speaks plainly about these two parts of repentance. He writes that we are dead to sin, this taking place through our baptism.
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It is not enough to only believe the history of the gospel. One must have faith in the one who is the incarnate gospel. One must trust in Christ for the remission of sins.
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To think of repentance in terms of contrition alone is to act in accordance with the law. This is unstable ground since it depends upon the person who is sorry for their sin.
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God has always been ready to forgive. Proof of his willingness is the ways he has provided for people to have faith and turn to him.
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Believe that you are truly forgiven in heaven when you hear such words as these on earth: “I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
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The promise of divine grace is received through hearing the gospel. This hearing occurs in many ways. It is received through the reading of the Scripture, both individually and corporately.
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We cannot fear, love, and trust God without faith. In other words, we cannot keep even the first of the commandments without faith, let alone the rest of the law.
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The witless child who does not believe his parents got him a birthday present, will never enjoy the gift. Perhaps he was sorry for having been a disobedient child but just could not accept that his parents loved him nonetheless.
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If repentance is only a matter of sorrow for sin, then human nature tries to appease God. But we cannot appease God by any means.
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As long as we live in this flesh, we will experience all of these feelings. For the law will never cease to accuse us of sin.
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We are very weak. Jesus reminds us if this fact of our human nature. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
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Simply stated, contrition is when a person, because of love or fear, stops defending sin and confesses it instead.
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Repentance begins with a heart that is moved toward God’s mercy and then has faith that he forgives for Christ’s sake.
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The Lutherans, on the other hand, confessed that the power of the keys was the authority of Christ spoken by any confessor, and dependent upon two things: contrition and faith.
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