The christian life is a life of progress. We are constantly struggling to remember and apply the gospel to our lives. We have to preach the gospel to ourselves daily. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We are saved from God’s wrath, sin, hell, death, and satan. We are saved to live and serve God throughout all eternity by the power of the Spirit. So although we have done nothing to merit God’s marvelous work on our behalf, out of gratitude we desire to worship and serve our triune God. In Ephesians we see that we are ‘God’s workmanship created in Christ for good works that he has prepared beforehand for us to walk in them.’ The problem is that we still live in a fallen world and often crave after other things. Often I find myself so broken and messed up in my sin. I do not ‘walk in a manner worthy of the gospel’. This sends us back to the gospel as I see my sin and the greatness of our Savior. It causes us to cry out ‘wretched man that I am who will deliver me’, but ‘thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord’. As we seriously consider the process of becoming more like Jesus I thought you might be interested in a couple of notes (from Stuart Scott’s Biblical Counseling lecture) that I took a number of years ago on the process of change.
We must possess a deep theological understanding of guilt, repentance, forgiveness, replacement and mind renewal in order to help people change biblically. Because these concepts are so central to the doctrine of sanctification, Satan and man’s sinful flesh work overtime to distort them.
1. Guilt: A legal liability or culpability to punishment. Sometime you may not feel guilty when in actuality you are. God has given us the faculty of conscience to help us identify the presence of guilt. The only true answer to guilt is forgiveness through repentance. God must remove the guilt of our sin through His appointed means of repentance. This is true before salvation (Luke 24:47) and after (Matt.6:12).
2. Repentance: The word “repent” basically means to turn or to change. It is best illustrated by the picture of someone who is walking one way but does a “180″ and heads in the opposite direction. All true human repentance has reference to a turning from the state or occurrence of sin and turning to God for forgiveness and renewal. Scripture often alludes to a false repentance that does not actually bring forgiveness (eg. Matt.3:7-8; II Cor.7:10b), so we must understand some elements (comprehension of sin, confession of sin, choosing to turn away and not repeat), effects (restitution and reconciliation, regret), and examples of repentance (Psalm 51) in order to practice it ourselves and help others do so as well.
3. Forgiveness: The best definition of forgiveness is a promise of pardon done both properly and with the right motivation. Man needs forgiveness from God both before salvation and after salvation. The forgiveness needed before salvation can be called judicial forgiveness, because God acts as a judge, declaring us righteous forever and delivering us from eternal condemnation (Romans 4:3-8; Colossians 2:13-14). The forgiveness needed after salvation can be called parental forgiveness, because God is now our loving Father who wants to free us from the temporal discomfort of His chastening (Matthew 6:12; Hebrews 12:5-11). We are to forgive one another just as God has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13), so when we grant forgiveness to someone, we are promising that we will “not remember” their sins anymore (Jeremiah 31:34).
4. Replacement: Biblical change must involve both “putting off and “putting on.” In other words, It must involve both dehabituation and rehabituation (from the heart on out into behavior). Old sinful patterns must be replaced with new godly ones in order for the change to be pleasing to God and to last over time. Replacement is taught everywhere in Scripture (e.g. Psalm 1:1-2; Isaiah 1:16-17; Romans 13:14; 1 Thess.5:21-22; Hebrews 10:25; James 5:12; I Pet.3:9; 3 John 11), but the most clear and complete reference is Eph.4:22-32; Col. 3:5-17.
5. Mind Renewal: Prior to regeneration, one’s mind is corrupt, blinded, futile, and darkened (Rom.1:28; 2 Cor.4:4; Eph.4:17,18). Since the mind of the lost is corrupt, it doesn’t choose what is good; since it is spiritually blind, it doesn’t know what is good; since its thoughts are futile, it doesn’t perform what is good; and since it is ignorant, it doesn’t even know what evil it is doing. What a tragic train of thought.” – MacArthur, Anxiety Attacked. In regeneration, one’s mind has a new capacity to be interjected with and controlled by divine thoughts. (I Cor.2:11‑12; Rom.1:16; Lk.10:27; Eph.5:17‑18; Col.3:16). Suggested pattern of renewal from Philippians 4:6‑9.