This episode addresses the purely "transactional" understanding of salvation by mercenary Christians. "Transactional" Christians are professing Christians who have made a calculated decision to "follow" Christ, not because His way is better, but because He's the only One who can satisfy their sin-debt. While elements of this perspective are also embraced by genuine believers, true Christians follow Christ because they actually see Christ's way as so much better. They reflect on their false ways by contrast, and repent. Like the Psalmist, they have two encounters with the Law of God: one challenging and convicting, the second delightful and instructive. Mercenary "believers" are likened to the wicked, lazy "servant" in the parable of the talents. That servant also had a transactional understanding of "accepting" Christ. He took care of his sin-debt problem by ostensibly trusting Christ and then went off and buried his talent in the ground. He never fell in love with Christ and never delighted with the Law of God in the inner man. The other 2 servants delighted in the gifts of the Master and invested those gifts to honor Him. A transactional, mercenary view of Christ and the salvation He offers is consequently not salvation at all, for the wicked lazy servants ends up in hell.
Grace to Repent
This recap of the prior weeks' lessons emphasizes the necessity of God's grace in repentance. Many believers unfortunately don't avail themselves of God's grace to repent, because they're unaware that God honors sincere prayers that say something like, "Lord, I confess this sin, but I honestly don't want to repent..can you help me?" The primary casualty of such a prayer is human pride, and God gives grace to the humble honest petitioner who acknowledges that even though he knows about God's ways, he can't honestly embrace them as his own. The grace to repent, is consequently God's answer to the psalmist's first petition in verse 5: "that my ways be established to keep your statutes." The psalmist rests his hope on God's grace to repent in verse 32: "I will run the way of your statutes, for you will enlarge my heart." God establishes the psalmist's "ways" by enlarging his heart and helping him to repent.
“Graciously Grant Me Your Law”
The road to looking like Christ involves confession and repentance. While many readily confess their sins, repentance is often more challenging. Psalm 119: 25-32 records the psalmist's struggle to repent, and the psalmist's dependence on the grace of God to help him repent. "Remove the false way from me and graciously grant me your law." (29) The Psalmist implores God to give him a gift he doesn't deserve, i.e., grace, and that gift is His law. The gift of God's law here refers to granting the psalmist's a love for God's law, whereby he can abandon false ways and repent. This dependence on the grace of God to repent is underscored by verse 32: "I shall run the way of Your commandments, for you will enlarge my heart." Grace enlarges the psalmist's heart, enabling him to repent and therefore fulfill God's law. The application for NT believers struggling to repent is straightforward. Grace doesn't just release us from the penalty of sin, it also changes us from within, giving us a new heart so we can honor God by obeying Him. We run the way of commandments because He enlarges our heart.
“Lord, Show Us the Way!”
This episode addresses the means by which God would establish the psalmist's ways to keep His statutes. (5-6) These verses capture the goal of the entire psalm. On the road to receiving God's assistance, the psalmist acknowledges his faulty ways and repents: "I consider my ways and turn my feet to your testimonies." (59) This statement indicates repentance and directs the psalmist's to God's testimonies. Throughout Psalm 119 eight expressions of God's way (way, law, precepts, ordinances, commandments, testimonies, word, statutes) become the central focus of the psalmist. The more the psalmist reflects on God's testimonies, statutes, etc., the more the way of God is established in his life. In like manner, NT believers are called to consider God's testimonies, i.e., His kindnesses, and the reflection leads to repentance. (Rom. 2:4) The more we reflect on all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ, the Son Himself Who is the Way, becomes our way of life. God establishes our way as we abide in the Way.
God’s Kindnesses: Motivation to Repent
This episode unpacks Romans 2:4, where the kindnesses of God lead us to repentance. Reflection on the Lord's many kindnesses helps resolve the dilemma of many who're stuck in confession without repentance. Constant repentance, or turning to the Lord, is absolutely essential if anyone of us would make progress towards the beatific vision. Without it, veils and blockages obstruct our vision of the glory of God and transformation stalls. Part of the solution to unwillingness to repent is reflection on God's many kindnesses. We are called to reflect on God's bountiful gifts in Christ, how God canceled our ridiculous debt to Him. We reflect on the Holy Spirit's persistent shaping us into the image of Christ, even when we stubbornly resist Him. And how many times, has God intervened and delivered us out of dire circumstances that we ourselves created? God's many kindnesses, when deeply pondered, often lead to reconsideration of our stubborn rebellion, leading to repentance.
Stuck in Confession without Repentance?
This episode spells out the challenge of making progress in sanctification when one is unwilling to repent. Based on previous episodes, the uncovering of the glory of Christ is the means of transformation, but a veil to this glory often descends when we don't turn to the Lord, i.e., repent. So what do you do when the principal avenue of transformation, beholding the glory of the Lord, is cut off because you're obstinately on the wrong road and unwilling to make a U-turn? You simply don't want to repent. Navel-gazing and fixing yourself is not the answer, turning to the Lord WHERE YOU CAN is the solution. Romans 2:4 states that the kindness of the Lord leads to repentance. Believers stuck in confession without repentance are encouraged to reflect on God's abundant kindnesses. This mediation on God's work, echoing "I believe, help my unbelief," engenders honest confession and partial repentance, leading to more openness to making an about-face and embracing the straights paths of the Lord. The veil lifts more and more, we see our rebellion in light of God's glory, and we fully repent from the heart.
Repentance and the Roadmap of Sanctification
This final episode presents the typical roadmap of sanctification in which believers typically prioritize "sin" issues in their walk, eventually leading to a crisis point in which they discover they can't live the Christian life in their own power. The options are then to double down on the power of the flesh to live the Christian life (the Galatian error), or abandon all hope in the flesh and completely depend on Christ's resurrection power to live the Christian life. Repentance from dead works should ultimately result in repentance from the old self itself.
What true repentance looks like
This episode develops the application of true and false repentance based on the parable of the talents, highlighting the Biblical expectation that true believers will not be perpetual infants who see salvation singularly in terms of forgiveness of sins. "Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" is the secure foundation of Christ's work that every believer is expected to build on with 'gold, silver, and precious stone." False repentance never advances beyond preoccupation with sin issues to serve the living God.
Fake Salvation: a look at the wicked, lazy “servant”
This episode focuses on the wicked, lazy servant in the parable of the talents, providing a stark warning that true repentance is marked by service to God bearing fruit. Salvation that doesn't bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance is tantamount to burying the talent of salvation in the ground. The attitude of the evil servant never changes with respect to God: he flatters himself about his superficial salvation experience which is all about forgiveness of sins, but service to the Master is not in view, who is apparently unreasonable for expecting him to sow without seed. This contention contradicts everything the Scripture says about God who provides bountiful gifts, His own Son chief among them. The wicked lazy servant is around the gospel and pays lip service to knowing Christ, but never knew HIm.
Self-centered “salvation”
This episode applies the parable of the talents to the ultimate goal of repentance from dead works which is service to God. The servants with 5 and 2 talents had a proper perspective of salvation, which was to bear fruit pleasing to the master. "Trading" involves wins and losses: a perfect description of the Christian life where we still sin. The servant who is God-oriented is open to at least trying to bring his master profit. The wicked, lazy servant has a distorted view of salvation: God is somehow unfair for expecting a return since He hasn't given him seed to sow with. The servant who buried his talent in the ground is completely self-centered and doesn't even consider service to God as the reason for salvation.