John Zeug

Following a recent discus-sion on this topic, I though itgood to commit to paper mythoughts, based upon Scrip-ture, and my understandingas to why we as ApostolicChristians believe that con-fession of sin and restitutionare an inherent part of theconversion experience.When John the Baptist be-gan his ministry, he declared,“Repent ye: for the kingdomof heaven is at hand.” (Mat-thew 3:2). Those who re-sponded to the message“... Were baptized of him inJordan,

confessing their sins

.”(Matthew 3:6). Many of thePharisees and Sadducees who came to his baptism withoutbeingwillingtoexpe-rience a change in their lives were rebuffed by John theBaptist with, “O generationof vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath tocome? Bring forth thereforefruits meet for repentance”(Matthew 3:7-8). It is clearfrom the above Scripturesthatwhatwasexpectedinthe way of “fruit” was acknow-ledgment of specific sin inpeople’s lives, and that partofthe repentance experience was to confess these sins. Italso appears that this confes-sion was not a simple state-ment of acknowledging that“I am a sinner,” but that therepentant persons were sosincere that they had the de-sire to be unburdened of theirsinsinresponsetoProv-erbs28:13:“Hethatcoverethhis sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and for-saketh them shall havemercy.”Jesus began His ministry with the same message: “Re-pent: for the kingdom of heavenisathand.”(Matthew4:17). We see the sincere re-sponse by Zacchaeus afterhis encounter with Christ,“Behold,Lord,thehalfofmygoods I give to the poor; andifIhavetakenanythingfromany man by false accusation,I restore him fourfold.”(Luke 19:8). As a chief among the publicans whohad become rich, probablythrough “false accusation”,his conscience urged him tobe willing to make this right.What a testimony of thepower of Christ workingthrough him!Hedidnot

earn

his salvation by confessingand making restitution, buthis faith convicted him of theneed to be free of the guiltbrought on by wrong-doingno matter how embarrassing.Christ recognized both hisfaith and humility, and thusdeclares, “This day is salva-tion come to this house, for-somuch as he also is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19:9).Repentance is not just amomentary feeling sorry forsins committed. The HolySpiritinspiredtheapostlestogive a clear understanding of thedepthoftruerepentance.To the members at Corinth,the Apostle Paul rejoicedthat those in the church whoneededtorepenttrulydidso.

The Newsletter of theApostolic Christian Publishing Company

xhortations

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

— II Timothy 4:2

Volume 2 Number 2 Summer, 1997

In This Issue

Confession of Sin and Restitution — Page 1

The Need of Repentance — Page 3

“I Will Remember the Works of the LORD”— Page 4

Growing in Knowledge — Page 8

“Shall I Find Faith?” — Page 11

The Prodigal Father — Page 15

In The Night — Page 16

Continued on page 2

Confession of Sinand Restitution

“He that covereth hissins shall not prosper...”

Summer, 1997 Exhortations • 1

They did not just feel bad for what they had done, “Butthat ye sorrowed to repen-tance:foryeweremadesorryafter a godly manner, that yemight receive damage by usin nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salva-tion...” (II Corinthians 7:9-10). Also the Apostle John writes, “If we confess oursins, he is faithful and just toforgive us our sins, and tocleanse us from all un-righteousness.” (I John 1:9).Repentance includes

Godly sorrow;

confession —makingthe sin known; and a

turning around

— no longer continu-ing the sin or the sinful prac-tice.I believe that in today’sevangelical world many havetried to provide an easierroad of repentance by coun-seling souls that they needonly confess sins to God.That is an interesting con-cept. Since God alreadyknows everything about us,telling God the sins one hascommitted is really only an

acknowledgment,

not confes-sion. While acknowledgmentis indeed a necessary firststep as part of repentance,thehumblingexperiencethatcomes through

confession

—especially to those whom wehave wronged — is part of the

fruit

of repentance. It isboth a true testimony of thesincerity oftheconvert’shav-ingreceivedthegraceofGodto repent, and a testimony toother unconverted people of therealityofthepoweroftheHoly Spirit to change lives.What if an unconverted per-son were fully aware that aconvert had not asked himfor forgiveness of somethingthey bothknewwasanunfor-given trespass? Does notScripture clearly indicatethat the convert should askforforgivenessofmanaswellas of God? The Apostle Paul writes, “If it be possible, asmuch as lieth in you, livepeaceably with all men.”(Romans 12:18). If this ex-hortation is addressed to thebeliever, should not the convert seek to make thingsright, as much as is possible, with all men? Another scripture indicat-ing that confession is part of the healing process is to befound in the General Epistleof James: “Is any among youafflicted? let him pray. Is anymerry?lethimsingpsalms.Isany sick among you? let himcall for the elders of thechurch; and let them prayover him, anointing him withoil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shallsave the sick, and the Lordshall raise him up; and if hehave committed sins, theyshall be forgiven him. Con-fess your faults one to an-

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save JesusChrist, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, andin fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstra-tion of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not standin the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (I Corinthains 2:1-5).

This is the common thread which unites the articles in thisissueof

Exhortations.

Eachofthemdeals,insomemanner,with what happens when man — the motivating nature of man —confronts the Word of God.So long as the Lord tarries, every generation will face thesame challenge of coming face to face with God’s Word. Whatimpact will it have on our lives? Will we accept and embracethe Word of the Lord in faith with a humble heart? Will wedismiss it out of hand as we despise and reject it as “unfashion-able”, out-of-step with the times?Or will we perhaps be among those who try to find a middlecourse, a way to accommodate the gentle commands ofGod tothe sinful ways of the world? Will the life-giving Word of Godchange us, or will we change the Word of God so that we neednot give our entire life?Only a genuine experience of the new birth in Christ and of empowered, sanctified living in Him to the end will avail usanything in that day when He shall return to claim His church.

“Strive thou, till thy zeal is burning, And thy first-love grows so warmThat thou all this world art spurning, Half-love willnot bide the storm.”

Exhortations

isthenewsletteroftheApostolicChristianPub- lishingCompany,Syracuse,NewYork.Itspurposeistodeclare andpromotetheoriginaldoctrinalstandpointsandpracticesof theApostolicChristianChurchthroughthepublicationofrele- vantarticles,bothhistoricalandcontemporary. Correspondenceregardingthisnewsletterandotherpublica- tionsidentifiedhereinmaybeaddressedto:ApostolicChristian PublishingCompany,P.O.Box416,Syracuse,NewYork13215- 0416.Emailmaybesentto:exhort@acpub.org.VisitourWorld WideWebsiteontheInternetathttp://www.acpub.org GregoryD.KufchakEditor GaiusW.LaubliAssociateEditor DavidM.FreundBusinessManager

The Newsletter of theApostolic Christian Publishing Company

xhortations

Confession of Sin andRestitution

Continued from Page 1Continued on page 3

“I believe that in today’sevangelical worldmany have tried toprovide aneasierroad...”

2 • Exhortations Summer, 1997

other, and pray one for an-other, that ye may be healed.The effectual fervent prayerof a righteous man availethmuch.” (James 5:13-16).Some have argued that thisscripture is directed to physi-cal healing only; however, verse 15 specifically men-tions

committed sins

prior tothe direction to confess oneto another, coupled withprayer, to effect healing.My personal counsel tothose who have come to thepoint of wanting to be freedfrom the guilt of sin, is to re-mind them of what happensto sins that are specificallybrought to the foot of thecross to be washed “white assnow” (Isaiah 1:18). It isthrough Christ, “In whomwehave redemption through hisblood,theforgivenessofsins,according to the riches of hisgrace” (Ephesians 1:7). Asconverts confess their sins,they are, in effect, beingbrought to the foot of thecross to be washed by Hisblood, and we then can beassured of the promise that“... thou wiltcast alltheir sinsinto the depths of the sea.”(Micah7:19).Whatagraphic word picture: to visualize oursins to be washed away andthen buried into the deepestsea, never to be raised again with a feeling of guilt. Satancannot then come later totempt us by saying, “Youhave only acknowledged yoursin.”Wecanrejoicethat wehavefullyunderstoodandexperienced “... repentancetoward God, and faith to- ward our Lord Jesus Christ.”(Acts 20:21).

Continued from Page 2

If thou would’st own the gift of graceAnd heaven’s joy inherit,Then walk by faith before His face,Led by the Lord’s own Spirit.Thou must with Christ be crucified,And all thy sins and all thy prideUpon His cross must perish.In true repentance, die to sin,In Jesus’ name believing!Baptized into His death with Him,Full pardon be receiving!Who dies with Christ will with Him rise,A new life’s way before him lies —The road of life with Jesus.— Zion’s Harp, Hymn 106

Confession of Sin andRestitution

The Need ofRepentance

Edward Baer

From

The Visitor,

November, 1930

When Jesus began His ministry, He preached thismessage: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is athand.” (Matthew 4:17).This was the kernel of His message to all who had notyet heeded it and accepted Him as their King and Lord.It was His message to those who had not yet beenawakened by God’s message, and who had not yetturned from their wrong course of life.It is a striking thing that the Lord made this plea andcommand — for it is both a plea and a command — theessenceofthebeginningoftheGospel.Andthoughthisis striking, it is not strange. It is a very logical thing thatChrist should have called on His hearers to do this, andthat He placed it before them as a vital duty. For it wasabsolutely necessary that they should recognize them-selves not as they would like to have prided themselvesto be, but rather as they were in God’s sight: and thiswas very different.ThesepeopleneededtoseehowhighGod’sstandardwas, and it was necessary for them to realize that theywere sinners. Besides this, it was necessary for them,movedfromwithin,tochoosetohumblethemselvesandto admit thattheywere sinners. Thenitwasneedfulalsoto start on a very different path.Only in this way could they be ready for the kingdomof God in its dual sense — both that it should comewithinthem,as ChristsaidtoHisdisciples,andalsothatthey should be ready to enter the kingdom in whichnothing evil shall enter, but which the Lord Jesus willsetup and which will be an eternal kingdom.But as pertinent and necessary as it was in the timewhen our Lord was on earth that men should repent inorder to receive His kingdom, and to be prepared toenter it, it is no less needful and important today.

For everyone needs the Savior,

and a person cannot sharein the salvation which Christ has brought through theshedding ofHisblood, unless one doeshumble himself before the Lord, recognizing: “I have sinned. I cannotstand as I am before God’s righteous judgment. I musthave a Savior.” One finds that not only has he donewrong,butthathisheart

evilandneedstobechanged.It needs to be purified and given new impulses andmade responsive to God’s Spirit.If a person sees these things, and sees with shameand penitence that his life has been so unworthy andsinful that he is undone without the Savior, and if he cantruly call, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” — then ishe given the opportunity to take another very important

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