Necessity of Repentance

Driving home: And according to the words of our text, the only way to avoid that reality is to come to repentance. Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And so the little term phrase, repent or pe…

Martin lists biblical descriptions of hell (outer darkness, weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, eternal fire, undying worm, unquenched fire, smoke of torment) to convey the terrifying reality of what it means to 'perish' and underscore the urgency of repentance.

God sets before us this inescapable fact that the only way to avoid perishing is to come to repentance. And if you sit there and ask, well, why should that be a big deal to me? I respond by saying you and I have a responsibility to read into that word, perish all of the frightening realities that the word of God itself attaches to that word. To perish does not mean to go out of existence and back into nothingness.

2:15 - 2:58 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin turns to Luke 24:44-49, arguing it uniquely provides the 'fulsome description' of the gospel, which includes Christ's suffering, resurrection, and the preaching of…

Martin creates a hypothetical scenario where he is invited to preach evangelistically for three days. He asks the audience what they would think if he failed to preach about Christ's death, resurrection, or repentance, using their expected negative response to affirm the necessity of these elements in the gospel.

He says to them, you must go out and preach those truths that cluster around My cross, the necessity for My death, the nature of My death, the blessings procured by My death, that I died just for the unjust to bring men to God, that in My substitutionary curse-bearing My Father can be both just and the justifier of those who trust in Me. As He sends them forth, He wants them to preach the truths that cluster around His cross. Now let me ask you, you men from other churches, we've got some deacons here, I'll use you as part of my interaction

22:34 - 23:17 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But in three nights, I never once gave a clear, clarion call that men must repent. What it means to repent. What are the actings of the soul in repentance. And I held out forgiveness of sins without ever mentioning repen…

He criticizes a local church celebrating Easter by opening a new stage with showmanship, arguing it reflects a lack of repentance from worldliness and a failure to preach true repentance, turning the church into 'cheap theater.'

And one of the tragedies is, in our day there are people at least preaching something of the truths that cluster around the cross. And next Lord's Day, people will speak much about the truths clustering around the resurrection. But in a church in this very area, they're going to celebrate the open tomb by opening their new stage. Full of showmanship to reach the lost.

29:14 - 29:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He begins examining the book of Acts, starting with Peter's sermon on Pentecost (Acts 2), to demonstrate that apostolic preaching consistently included a clear call to repentance.

He describes the events of Pentecost (mighty wind, tongues of fire, speaking in dialects) as God getting everyone's attention with 'sirens blowing and horns blowing and bells ringing,' emphasizing the dramatic divine enablement for the apostles' preaching.

You remember the setting? The Spirit of God, according to the promise of Jesus, has come in power and God has come with the sirens blowing and the horns blowing and the bells ringing to get the attention of everyone in Jerusalem. There's this mighty wind that people hear and tongues of fire over their heads. And then they begin to speak in dialects and languages that they had not acquired in the natural way.

35:22 - 35:47 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He begins examining the book of Acts, starting with Peter's sermon on Pentecost (Acts 2), to demonstrate that apostolic preaching consistently included a clear call to repentance.

Martin recounts being told he wasn't an evangelist because he taught the Bible rather than telling stories. He uses this to contrast expository apostolic evangelism with anecdote-driven preaching, reinforcing the need for biblical content.

And here's an expository evangelist. This is what used to amaze me. When I was in a, quote, evangelistic ministry popping around the country in little evangelical churches becoming, some of you have seen some little cards that even had revival meetings on them. And after two, three days I'd have men come to me and say, well, you know, you're not an evangelist.

36:27 - 36:48 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You see, the command to repentance is not law. It's gospel. If God commands me to turn from sin with the promise that in turning from sin and to His Son I shall have forgiveness, that's grace. That's not law. That's grac…

He compares the Athenian philosophers who 'had nothing else to do but go around and talk about some new thing' to modern crowds gathering for demonstrations, questioning who is earning bread, to highlight the timeless human tendency towards idleness and seeking novelty.

If perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven no repentance no forgiveness the message is clear then we come to act 17 here we have an example of Paul preaching to a group of pagan philosophers in the Areopagus I've always been fascinated says these guys had nothing else to do but go around and talk about some new thing I wonder if they were collecting unemployment or disability or what. It's just like.

48:52 - 49:25 Read in full sermon

The point: You can't tickle people into getting serious about God. He's an awesome being.

He recalls Dr. Tripp's powerful preaching about God as a 'glorious, awesome God,' worthy of reverent worship, to illustrate the kind of serious, majestic presentation of God that draws and repels simultaneously, leading to true repentance.

You can't tickle people into getting serious about God. He's an awesome being. Can you not, you who are here in the seminar, still see Dr. Tripp with his fist clenched and his eyes looking up at that beam closed. The God

58:54 - 59:08 Read in full sermon

The point: If you're not one of those [penitent believing sinners], I pray God you'll give yourself no rest until you become one. You go to God and say, Oh God, I've seen it with my own Bible, in the opening up of the Scriptures, t…

He references the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son (Luke 15) to show that it is the seeking person (shepherd, woman, father) who calls others to rejoice, concluding that God Himself rejoices in heaven over a repenting sinner.

Lord, I've turned from the whole shooting match, and I want to be yours. Yours entirely, yours now, yours forever. You know what happens in heaven when that happens? When you read Luke 15, parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, people so often say, well, the angels rejoice.

62:54 - 63:17 Read in full sermon