The Nature of Repentance, Part 1

Introduction: Paul's Farewell Address and the Core of His Ministry

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, July 31st, 2005, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you turn with me in your Bibles, please, to the book of Acts, Acts and chapter 21. Acts 21, and I shall read in your hearing verses 17 through 24. Acts chapter 20, I should not have said 21, I'm sorry, Acts chapter 20, verses 17 to 24.

0:46 Luke, writing the account of events in the third missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, tells us, And from Miletus he, that is Paul, sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, You yourselves know from the first day...

1:09 The first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time, serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to... Jews and to Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:48 And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But I do not hold my...

2:09 My life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Now let us again pray and ask God by the Holy Spirit to come upon preacher and hearer alike, and do our souls good.

2:38 Holy Father, we thank you for your presence with us. As we have sought to worship you in spirit and truth, and now we again call upon you because we need special help as we come to the ministry of the Word. Give to your servant all of the dimensions of the help he needs that he may preach, not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. And give ears to hear.

3:09 Break down all prejudice, all stubbornness, all willfulness, all arrogance. May every single thought that would stand in opposition to the mind of Christ be brought captive to the Lord Jesus in this hour. We ask for our good and for your glory. Amen.

3:33 Now those of you familiar with this section of the book of Acts will know that the Apostle Paul is on the tail end of his third missionary journey. He is hastening to arrive at Jerusalem as soon as possible. And on his way south and east along what we would now recognize as the western coast of the land of Turkey, he comes to the coastal town of Miletus, just a bit south of the city of Ephesus. And knowing that he will never see the Ephesian church again, he calls, he calls for the pastors, the elders, the bishops, the overseers. And when they come to him, he desires to lay before them what is really his final and farewell address. And in this particular address, he highlights three things concerning his three years of ministry there in the city and environs of Ephesus. He begins first with the manner in which he served Christ among them.

4:53 Look at verses 18 and 19. You yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time, serving, and the Greek word for serving literally means performing the role of a bond slave to the Lord Jesus, with all Lordship. And then he begins with the manner in which he served Christ among them. He sets before these men with holiness of mind and with tears and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews.

5:24 He sets before these men with whom he would have had the most intimate interaction from the time he arrived in Ephesus, these outstanding characteristics concerning the manner in which he served his Lord Jesus while among them. But then secondly, he focuses upon the method, of his ministry among them in the next verse. How I did not draw back from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house. When he comes to the method of his delivery, he says it was unfettered fidelity to the whole corpus of God's truth. I did not keep back anything that was profitable, and I did it both by power, public and by private discourse, publicly and from house to house. And having reminded them of the outstanding characteristics of the manner of his ministry, and then the method of his ministry, in verse 21 and in verses 24b and 25a, he reminds them of the matter or the content of his message, while he was among them. Verse 21,

6:49 Testifying, and there the verb is the very word you would use if someone were speaking under oath in a court of law. Solemnly testifying, solemnly declaring both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. That was the matter, the substance of his ministry. Repentance, faith.

7:18 Verse 24b, I hold not my life of any account as dear to myself, that I may accomplish my course and the ministry I receive from the Lord Jesus, and here's the same Greek verb, to solemnly testify the gospel of the grace of God. So he reminds them of the matter of his ministry was repentance, faith, solemn testifying of the gospel of God. Solemn testifying of the gospel of the grace of God. Verse 25a, And now, behold, I know that you all among whom I went about preaching the kingdom.

7:57 Paul, give us a distillation of the matter of your ministry over three years in Ephesus. He says it was a solemn testimony of the gospel of the grace of God. It was a constant setting forth of the necessity and nature and fruits of repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. It was a declaration that God in his Son and by the Spirit was now establishing a reign of grace.

The Grand Indicatives and Gospel Imperatives

8:32 Through the gospel I preached unto you the kingdom of God. Now in these verses it is clear that Paul was constantly absorbed in his ministry with what I called a few weeks ago the grand indicatives of the grace of God. He declared the gospel, the good news, the evangel of the grace of God. That is God's good will to hell deserving sinners in the person and work of his own dear Son.

9:09 In other places Paul says the very essence of his ministry was that of proclaiming Christ. Galatians 1.16 When it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son that I might proclaim Him. That was the substance of his ministry.

9:35 Colossians 1.28 Whom we preach. 1 Corinthians 2.1-2 And brethren when I came to you I was determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him as crucified.

9:49 Paul would never be embarrassed after listening to him preach for three weeks to have you say Paul you are a one-note Charlie. It's Jesus. It's Christ. It's salvation by grace.

10:03 It's the cross. It's the resurrection. You're always talking about Jesus. You're always talking about who He is.

10:11 You're always talking about what He's done. He'd say you've heard me correctly. That's the very heart and the nerve center of the apostles' ministry. A declaration, an explanation of the great indicatives of God's grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

10:32 However, while those glorious indicatives of grace were foundational, were central, Paul makes it plain that there were two gospel imperatives that he never tired of emphasizing. And in verse 21 he identifies them. He says, testifying, solemnly declaring repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. So vital were these gospel imperatives that Paul reminds the Ephesians that I was sounding these notes continually in the context of that dominant emphasis in the gospel of the grace of God, a constant reiteration and affirmation of the great indicatives of God's saving mercy in the Lord Jesus. No one had any question when they heard the apostle speaking about God about Jesus, who he was, what he had done, God's grace manifested in Jesus, what they had to do in order to personally appropriate the benefits of those great indicatives. They had no question for Paul says both to do and to greet, publicly and privately, I was constantly declaring repentance toward God

Repentance and Faith: The Hinge to Salvation

12:02 and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, today and for several Lord's days to come, God willing, we're going to consider together evangelical repentance and saving faith. God's hinge on the door to salvation. Evangelical repentance and saving faith, God's hinge on the door of saving grace.

12:31 Now let me explain my imagery. If a door is to open there must be some hinges unless you're just going to knock it down. And the hinge is made up of two plates. One plate is attached to the door jammer to the door frame and the other to the door and they're held together with a pin.

12:49 And if the door is to swing open there must be a hinge or hinges on which that door pivots. And I'm suggesting that the door into salvation, that salvation set before us in the grand indicatives of the gospel of the grace of God. The holding forth of who Jesus is. The holding forth of what Jesus has done to reconcile sinners to God.

13:21 If that door is to bust open and we are to walk in and possess all of the riches of that gospel of the grace of God we will do so as we personally experience that hinge reality of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Now just a little technicality of Greek grammar. In the original when the apostles stated these words he used an article before repentance testifying both to Jews and to Greeks the towards God repentance and he doesn't use another article and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And by that construction he is reminding the Ephesians and instructing us that he did not think of these as two distinct exercises of the soul each in its own isolated insulated category. No, he thought of them he preached them because he knew in experience there is no other hinge into the possession of salvation but that repentance which is suffused with faith and that faith which is suffused with repentance. By using the article once

14:49 the apostle is indicating that these two realities are a unit and they are utterly inseparable. As Professor Murray said in his excellent essay on repentance and faith treating them in one chapter in his lovely little book Redemption Accomplished and Applied all true repentance is permeated with faith and all true faith is permeated with repentance. Repentance is the tear in the bright eye of faith and faith is the gleam of hope in the wet eye of repentance. And no one is saved without a two-eyed gaze upon God as revealed in Jesus Christ. Repentance the tear in the bright eye of faith faith is the gleam of hope in the wet eye of repentance. And because they are inseparable one wishes that one could teach them inseparably but can do it. If I were to attempt to do it I would keep you here for three hours and that would be unconscionable and by the time I was done I would be talking to myself most likely and maybe Harry sitting over at the tape deck.

The Nature of Repentance Unto Life: Framework and Imagery

16:18 And so I am going to have to break them down though I want to emphasize at the outset from the text and in Christian experience they are utterly inseparable just as surely as the two plates on the hinge are inseparable if a door is to swing open so likewise if you were to pass through the door into the possession of God's saving life in Christ you will experience that repentance which is permeated with faith and that faith which is permeated with repentance. Now this morning we begin to take up together the nature of repentance unto life. And I am using the term repentance unto life because it is a Biblical term. It is found in Acts chapter 11 and verse 11 and it is the terminology used in the shorter catechism based upon this phrase. We will look at this text more carefully later but you will find in Acts 11 and verse 18 Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life. That repentance which swings open the door into the possession of God's saving life in Jesus Christ.

17:37 And as I attempt to do this this morning and in coming weeks looking together at the nature of repentance unto life the Scripture will be our source of authority. Isaiah 8, 20 To the law to the testimony if they speak not according to this word there is no light in them. The Scriptures will be our source of authority as we seek to grapple with the nature of that repentance which is unto life. Secondly, the shorter catechism will be the framework of our organization.

18:13 How are we going to handle the Biblical materials and put them in categories? The shorter catechism will constitute the framework of organization and then thirdly the analogy of a tree will be our visual aid. And I will seek to paint before you with words the picture of a tree with its soil its roots its trunk and its main branches. So then we come this morning to make an attempt to consider and understand together the nature of repentance unto life.

18:50 The shorter catechism in its original form question 87 is question number 91 in the Baptist version what is repentance unto life? And the answer given is this repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God with faith full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. And that material can be shifted over to the imagery of the tree as we consider these four headings in order to grasp with the help of God the nature of repentance unto life. We'll look at the soil of repentance unto life. Repentance unto life is a saving grace.

19:57 We'll look at the two tap roots whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. Then the trunk or substance of repentance unto life does turn from sin unto God. And then fourthly the branches or attendance of repentance unto life. The emotional does with grief and hatred of his sin.

20:32 The volitional turns from it unto God with full purpose of and then the ethical attendant and not only full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. So the soil the tap roots the trunk and the branches. So we begin this morning I hope to cover with you the soil and the tap roots. The soil of repentance unto life.

The Soil of Repentance: Saving Grace

21:02 The catechism says repentance unto life is a saving grace. Not a saving work. Not a meritorious work but a saving grace. That is a grace that is consistent with God's gracious salvation in Jesus Christ and where you find true repentance evangelical repentance there you are seeing in your own heart or in the life of another the manifestation of the grace of God.

21:42 Remember Paul said he was constantly solemnly testifying the gospel of the grace of God and yet he says earlier he was constantly solemnly testifying repentance toward God. So if repentance is in any way a work for which we can take credit Paul was negating his very gospel of the grace of God. And there are those who say well if we must repent and repentance is something we do then that is a negation of the grace of God. All you need to do is nod your head tip your hat to Jesus the graciousness of God's salvation.

22:26 That is nonsense. In this one paragraph Paul says solemnly testifying the gospel of the grace of God solemnly testifying repentance toward God. Paul had no sense of contradiction between a gospel of the grace of God and a gospel that demanded repentance. Why?

22:46 Because he understood what is so beautifully captured in our catechism definition repentance unto life and the grace of God. The human heart in its native condition untouched by supernatural grace will never repent never. Romans 8 7 tells us why. The carnal mind that is the disposition of the soul with which we were born because we are part of Adam's race the carnal mind is enmity against God it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be a word of ability. The disposition with which you were born is so adamantly set against the government of God in your soul that you are considered God's enemy carnal mind is enmity against God unless God intervenes by grace changing the prevailing disposition of the soul from one of a clenched fist to that of a bent knee there will never be repentance for repentance is in its very essence the bent

24:15 knee before the God whom we have defied the God whom we have rejected we should not surprise us that when we open our Bibles we find that repentance is described as the gift of God and I want you to look quickly with me at three texts in which the Greek verb in one form or another did only to give has as its direct object And if you have a modern translation that says, gives the opportunity and puts opportunity as the direct object, that's a butchering of the Holy Word of God. Throw that translation away.

25:09 It's unworthy to be in your hands. And there are modern translations that do that because they don't like the fact that repentance is both commanded but given. But let God be true and every man a liar. Acts chapter 5, Peter is preaching before his Jewish opposers and we read in verse 30 and 31 these words.

25:31 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew, hanging him on a tree. Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, to give a form of ditamy and a direct object to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. Not to give merely an opportunity. Or a call or a command but to give repentance itself to Israel and as a result forgiveness or remission of sins.

26:07 Here repentance is clearly stated to be God's gift. And then in Acts 11 and verse 18, here the context is those who were with Peter when he went to the household of Cornelius.

26:21 And while he was preaching the Spirit of God came. Upon everyone in the house they were all converted. They were all indwelt by the Spirit. To prove it to Peter God let them talk in other languages like they did on the day of Pentecost.

26:35 So even Peter and his prejudicial Jewish companions would have to acknowledge God's giving them the same gift of the Spirit that he gave to us. How can we forbid the water? And they baptized him. They stayed for a little while.

26:47 Then they come back. And the folks at Jerusalem hear Peter and his buddies were eating with this Gentile. Shame, shame. He was eating non-kosher food.

26:59 So Peter says, simmer down fellows. Let me tell you what God's done. And he tells them in the presence of witnesses. And what happens?

27:05 Acts chapter 11 and we can pick up say at verse 15. And as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell on them even as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord. That he said, John indeed baptized with water.

27:22 But you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit. If then God gave unto them the like gift as he did also unto us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was I that I could withstand God? And when they, that is the Jewish people and the leaders back there in Jerusalem.

27:43 When they heard these things they held their peace. In other words, they shut up. They stopped all their objections. All of their questions.

27:52 They held their peace. And glorified God saying, then to the Gentiles also has God, now a form of the verb did in me, given repentance unto life. They didn't say, oh Peter, you must have preached a marvelous sermon. Give us the secrets of effective evangelism.

28:14 No. Nor did they say, well bless those Gentiles use their free will. And they exercise their inherent powers. To repent and believe.

28:26 Bless God they made the right choice. That is what they said. Look at the text. They held their peace and said, God has granted to the Gentiles repentance.

28:38 God did something sovereignly and graciously and powerfully in their hearts. While Peter was preaching. He brought them to faith in Christ. A faith that was not divorced from repentance.

28:51 Isn't it interesting? The word that is used in verse 17. He gave them the same gift that he gave to us when we believed. They didn't say, well then God has granted faith.

29:02 That would have been accurate. Because in other passages, faith is said to be the gift of God. As we shall see in subsequent studies. But they said God has granted repentance.

29:12 Why? Because they knew if it was real saving faith. It was permeated with repentance. And so they magnified God.

29:21 That he had given them repentance unto life. A third text. Remember what I'm trying to demonstrate. That the soil in which repentance grows.

29:33 Is the soil of the grace of God. Repentance is the gift of God. Repentance is the manifestation of the mighty operation of the power of God. Upon a human heart.

29:47 The third text. 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. At the mouth of two or three witnesses.

29:55 Let every word be established. Here's the third witness. Paul is giving instructions to his spiritual son, Timothy. And he's telling him that you're going to minister in settings where people are going to become stubborn.

30:09 Bullheaded. They're going to go running after strange doctrines. And what are you going to do, Timothy? Timothy, I don't want you to think it's your head against their head.

30:18 Your words against their words. This is spiritual warfare. And this is what I'm telling you to do, Timothy. Verse 24 of 2 Timothy.

30:26 And the Lord's servant must not strive. That is, be argumentative. As though if your arguments can conquer theirs, you'll win the day in their hearts. No, the Lord's servant must not strive.

30:38 But be gentle to all. Apt to teach. Forbearing. In meekness correcting them that oppose themselves.

30:48 If. If. If peradventure God may give them repentance. Repentance.

30:55 Repentance. Repentance. Repentance. Repentance.

30:57 Unto the knowledge of the truth. And they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. Having been taken captive by him. Unto his will.

31:09 Timothy. You're no match for the devil's deluding, captivating work. There needs to be the intervention of almighty God. You go on pouring out truth in a disposition of non-combattiveness.

31:25 Graciousness. Gentleness. And patience. In the hope and in the prayer that almighty God will take that truth.

31:33 And by the power of truth grant them repentance. That they may embrace the truth. And may be recovered from the snare of the devil. So what do we learn from these three passages?

Repentance as Duty and Grace: God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

31:46 We learn that the soil of repentance unto life is the grace of God. Now by application, let me say this. Repentance is clearly a gospel duty. Do you believe that?

32:00 I hope you do. Acts 17.30. The times of this ignorance God winked at.

32:06 He overlooked. But now commands all men to repent. Because he has appointed a day in which you'll judge the world in righteousness. By that man whom he has chosen and given witness unto all.

32:24 In that he raised them from the dead. God commands. All men. No exceptions.

32:31 Everywhere to repent. Repentance is a gospel duty. Therefore, if you or anyone else does not repent, you will be judged for your impenitence. You remember what Jesus said in Matthew 11 verses 20 and 21.

32:50 Words could not be clearer. Matthew 11, 20 and 21. Then began he to uproar. Great to scold the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done.

33:02 Why? Because they repented not. Woe unto you, Chorazin. Woe unto you, Bethsaida.

33:09 If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon that were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. He chides them that they did not repent. It was their responsibility. It was their ability to repent.

33:29 It was their duty to repent. The message of repentance had been preached to them. The same Lord Jesus said in Luke 13, 3 and 13, 5. I tell you, nay, but except you repent, you will all likewise perish.

33:46 Repentance is a gospel duty. Listen to me, children.

33:50 Listen to me. Once you've heard of God's love in the Lord Jesus, that he so loved the world that he gave his whole, only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish. Once you have heard that God has set his Son before you as a willing and an able Savior, with the promise that any who believes in him will have him and all of his salvation, and you are called to turn away from your indifference to Jesus. Turn away from being your own little God, doing your own little thing, running your own pathetic little life, and you're to give yourself up to God in Christ.

34:31 Once you've heard that message and you say, I won't, God holds you accountable for being impenitent. God commands you to repent. You're responsible to repent. That's the clear teaching of the Bible.

34:44 Yet, the Bible teaches with equal clarity that repentance is a gospel grace, that God gives repentance. Therefore, if you have repented, all the glory and the credit goes to God. And if you won't repent, all the blame is yours. God's covered his bases, hasn't he?

35:08 He gives all the praise if I repent.

35:12 Yes! And if you're prepared to go before God and argue with him in the day of judgment, then hold your ground. If you're not, and I pray God you're not so arrogant to think you're ready to go and argue with the God who made you. You should fall.

35:32 You should fall on your face and say, Oh God, I ought to repent. I know that I should repent. I know that you call me to repent, but I have no power to repent. Oh God, have mercy upon me.

35:47 You see, God intends to shut us up to mercy and to mercy alone. And be like that blind beggar who had no power to open his eyes. But Jesus was passing by and he cried out, Son of David, have mercy. Shut up.

36:02 Shut up. You old beggar got no time for you. It says he cried the louder, Son of David, have mercy. And Jesus stood still.

36:11 And he came and said, What do you want me to do for you? What a silly question to ask a blind man who's crying out for mercy. Did the Lord think he was going to say, Hey, I'd like a trip to the Bahamas next month.

36:23 No. But the Lord wanted him to isolate and identify his need. And he says, Lord, that I may receive my sight. Dear children, young people, listen to me.

36:34 Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me.

36:35 Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me.

36:35 Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me.

36:35 Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me.

36:35 Listen to me. Listen to the Lord Jesus. Oh, Lord Jesus, you've been exalted to give repentance. I don't have a penitent heart.

36:41 I've got a hard heart. I've got a selfish heart. I've got a proud heart. I've got a rebellious heart.

36:47 Lord, I can't change it into a penitent heart. Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me.

36:54 And Jesus will stand still in his tracks and say to you, What do you want me to do for you? And you say, Oh, Lord Jesus, break this hard heart. Lord, break this stubborn heart. Lord, take this heart that loves it.

37:07 Sin loves its own way. It doesn't love you. It doesn't love your people. It doesn't love your word.

37:12 Lord Jesus, do for me what I can't do for myself. What do you think the Lord's going to do? Say, Well, you're just a little kid. You're a little pipsqueak.

37:23 You're a little nobody. I've got no time for you. I'm running the universe.

37:29 You say to him, Lord Jesus, this is my need.

37:33 And the Scripture tells us, Him that comes to him, he'll in no wise cast out. Never, never, never did a sinner own his need. In the presence of Jesus. And have the Lord Jesus do anything other than meet that need by the power of his grace.

37:51 You can't give yourself repentance, but you can begin to cry to God.

37:57 Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near. Isaiah 55, 7. Jeremiah 29, 13.

38:06 And you shall go and seek me. And you shall seek me and find me in the day that you search for me with all your heart. Stop this wretched business of sitting back waiting for God to zap you while you feed your ears with your Walkman every waking hour with anything other than things that will make you think about God and Christ and sin and heaven and hell.

38:34 You're hardening your heart.

38:39 Take your Bible down. Begin to read. Begin to cry to God. Begin to plead with him to do what he delights to do.

38:47 The soil of repentance unto life.

38:51 What is it? The grace of God. If you sit here this morning, a penitent believing sinner, there's only one reason at the end of the day. The risen Jesus, to magnify his grace, who's been exalted to give repentance, has granted that repentance to you.

The Taproot of Repentance: A Felt Awareness of Sin

39:11 And all the glory is due to him. But then secondly and quickly, what are the tap roots of repentance? Repentance unto life. Taking the definition of the catechism, the imagery of the tree, the catechism goes on to say, repentance unto life is a saving grace, that's the soil, whereby a sinner out of, see what the framers were saying, out of, in other words, there was something from which this repentance comes.

39:43 Out of, and they mention two things, a true sense of sin, and an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it. They recognize that this repentance, the soil of which is the grace of God, is never experienced apart from these two tap roots that feed and nourish the trunk and give it life and subsistence. And what are they? A true, a true sense of sin and an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ.

40:26 Now let me reword those two things for my two headings. The two tap roots are these. Number one,

40:33 a felt awareness of one's own personal sin and sinfulness. A felt awareness of one's own personal sin and sinfulness. The writers of the catechism said out of a true sense of sin. Notice they did not say out of a mere admission of sin.

41:04 You read dozens of gospel tracts. Go to mass evangelism counselors' classes and they will teach you to do this. Get the person who's walked the aisle to sit down and then ask them, will you admit you are a sinner? And will you pray after me when you make that admission?

41:28 Oh God, oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. A mere admission of sinfulness. I've only met one person in my life who denied that she was a sinner.

41:42 People will admit, well, nobody's perfect.

41:46 We've all done some things we shouldn't do. Mere admission? No, there's no repentance with just mere admission of sinfulness. And the old writers in these, these theologians and pastors understood it.

41:59 Out of a true sense of sin. Not a mere sense, but a true sense of sin. And what's involved in this felt awareness of one's own personal sin and sinfulness? It's the recognition.

42:17 As Jesus said in Luke chapter 5 in verse 31 and 32, they that are whole do not need a doctor, but they that, are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Is Jesus saying that there are actually some people who are inherently whole and therefore don't need Him? Of course not.

42:43 This would be a contradiction of the whole teaching of the Bible. He's saying it in the context with people who had no true sense of sin. Oh yes, they trafficked in things that involved. Oh yes, I've been defiled by being around, a Gentile.

42:58 I've got to wash my hands. And maybe when I went to market, there was a Gentile 30 feet away and sneezed. And some of the vapor landed on me, so I've got to wash my face. I've got to wash and cleanse myself and go through all these rituals lest I be defiled.

43:13 What was their problem? They admitted sinfulness, but they had no true sense of sin. That sin was what they were. That's why Jesus had to say, don't you understand?

43:25 It's not that which comes from without, that defiles, but that which comes from within. For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed adultery, fornication, murder, theft, and a host of other sins. They had no true sense of sinfulness. And if you and I are ever to come to true repentance, there must be a felt awareness of our own personal sin and sinfulness.

43:55 Yes. And that's why, Jesus said in John 16, in the age of the Spirit, when He is come, He will convict. That word convict means to persuade with overwhelming persuasion. He will convict the world of sin.

44:18 There will be something more than a mere admission that we're not all we should be. A true sense of sin. And what is at the very heart of that true sense of sin? Well, I want to look at two examples.

44:32 One in the Old Testament and one in the New. Psalm 51. Here is a man who has a true sense of sin. Sense, felt, experiential awareness.

44:48 And it's true. Something that's true is that which accords with reality. If you ask me, how tall are you? And I say six foot four, I'm lying.

44:57 That's not reality. Line me up at the wall, put a stick in my head and with my shoes on, you'll get something like five, eleven, eleven and a half. That's true. Six foot four, that's a lie.

45:10 There must be a true sense of sin. That is an awareness of sinfulness that accords with reality. And it's felt. It's not merely admitted.

45:22 Look at David. Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to my will. According to your lovingkindness.

45:32 According to the multitude of your tender mercies. Bloodhug my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.

45:43 For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Now here's the nub. Against you. And you only have I sinned.

45:55 And done that which is evil in your sight. He had done lots of other evil. He had done evil to Bathsheba. He had done evil to Uriah.

46:09 He had done evil to the nation before whom he was placed as a man after God's own heart. He had done all kinds of evil against all kinds of people. But a true sense of sin brings us into the theater where there's only two people. The God of the universe and you, the sinner.

46:31 Nobody else. I'm not now one of many. I'm alone in the presence of the God before whom I'll stand alone in the last day against you. You only have I sinned.

46:50 That's the true sense of sin. Now look at a New Testament example just as vivid in Luke chapter 15 when our Lord gives the parable of the prodigal son. The prodigal son. The prodigal son.

47:03 The prodigal son. The large-hearted father.

47:08 You remember, the son wanted nothing more of the father's government. It was restrictive. It was spoiling his fun. Keeping him from finding life with a capital L.

47:21 Hey, Pop, give me my inheritance. I want to live in this house with your rules and your regulations and your restraints and all the rest is a living death. I want life and life is out there. Out from under your government.

47:38 Out from under your restraints. But now the Scripture tells us in Luke 15, 17, but when he came to himself, when he returned to sanity and began to see things in truth, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare. See what he's saying? My father's not that narrow-hearted, mean-spirited, hyper-regulating pain in the neck that is in the house I'm living in.

48:13 My father's so large-hearted that even the servants to whom he sustains no filial relationship are the recipients of his lavish heart.

48:26 He sees, begins to see things in truth. And what does he say? I will arise and go to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned. I have sinned against the petty little rules of your household.

48:42 I have sinned against societal standards. I have sinned against myself. No, I have sinned against heaven. I've sinned against heaven!

48:56 My father, I see my sin and feel it in its true light. It has to do with heaven. It has to do with heaven. The God who made me, the God who saved me, says to me, Thou shalt and thou shalt not.

49:12 I've had a clenched fist in his faith. Father, my clenched fist to you was simply a mirror image of the more wretched clenched fist against the God who made me, who gives me breath and life and strength and all things, Father. I see now reality. I've sinned against heaven.

49:32 That's a true sense of sin without which there is no repentance. A felt awareness of one's own sin. One's own personal sin and sinfulness. But then you ask, How much?

The Depth of Sin-Awareness: Driving to Christ

49:47 And I answer, Enough to make being saved the most important thing in your life. How much true sense of sin must there be? I say enough to make being saved the most important thing in your life. Remember the Philippian jailer?

50:11 When he has sinned, seen the power of God at the moral and ethical level, the very men that he has beaten and thrown into a prison, put their hands and feet fast in the stocks, he knows that they don't belong there. He knows they didn't deserve his rough treatment. And yet what are they doing? Cussing him like all the other prisoners who were guilty?

50:36 No. They're in there blessing God at midnight. He has seen a miracle at the moral level just as profound and generous, as shocking as the miracle of the shaking jailhouse. Then he sees this physical miracle in which God shakes the jailhouse and instead of everything imploding and everybody lying there dead and bleeding, just their shackles fall off.

50:59 God tailor-made the shaking of that jailhouse so that just the manacles and the shackles busted loose. Furthermore, he sees another miracle. All the prisoners don't split.

51:14 They stay there.

51:16 Do you ever think of those three things? Those were the miracles he saw. And suddenly, this man realizes there is a living God. The God who can do what he does to his servants.

51:26 The God who can do what he does to shake the jailhouse and split the block at just the place where the manacles fall off and then work in the heart of hardened prisoners that they stay and they don't split. I'm not right with this God. Only one thing mattered right now. Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

51:45 I've got to be right with this God. What must I do? Take us home and we'll tell you. And in the middle of the night, he goes home, wakes up his household and says, there's a couple of preachers going to tell us how to get right with God.

51:59 Well, dear, it's not convenient. Nothing, nothing is more important than getting right with God.

52:07 You see that with the prodigal. Once he comes to his sanity, to his spiritual and moral sanity, he says, I will arise and go. And it wasn't just a bunch of blow. The next verse says, verse 20, he arose and came.

52:24 He arose and came. Once he saw the reality of who he was and what he was and what was there in the father's house. Only one thing matters. I've got to get back to Pop's place.

52:39 And that's the problem with some of you. You sit in this place as you do this morning. You're not messing about and mucking about. You're looking at me.

52:48 You're riveted and your heart is stirred. But you go, you go home and you do nothing.

53:07 And you'll never get right with God until getting right with God is the only thing that matters. Because God says, you'll seek me and find me in the day you search for me with all your heart.

53:20 God's not satisfied with some little corner that he gets when you're sitting here listening to preaching.

53:29 And I tell you a few things, a few things even tempt me to discouragement in the ministry. But this is one of them. When I pour out my heart and the Spirit of God enables me to preach to you and I say, Lord, surely someone will go home today in desperate spinousness. And week after week I hear no report that anyone has had dealings with God.

53:57 I feel like the prophet at times has said, I've spent my strength for naught.

54:02 Or it says, they have come to the birth and brought forth nothing but wind. That's Bible. Graphic imagery.

54:12 On a birthing table. In labor pairs. And nothing to show for it but wind.

54:21 Out of a true sense of sin. You're never going to repent until out of a true sense of sin there is enough of that true sense to make being saved the focus concern of your soul. Secondly, enough to make you despair of saving yourself. How much conviction do you need?

54:41 Enough to persuade you. You're never going to fix up your own mess. Your sin and sinfulness are such that you're not going to that you are helpless to do anything about it. You've got to come to that place that we saw several weeks ago of that publican.

54:59 While the Pharisee's preening himself in the presence of God bragging about what he doesn't do and what he does do off there at a distance. Is that publican banging on his breast probably looking at the altar of sacrifice saying, Oh God, I go out of myself. I fix my gaze upon that sacrifice. Being consumed in fire upon that altar.

55:24 And by that sacrifice alone I approach you. God, be propitious. Be placated in your anger towards me, the sinner. Going out of yourself.

55:38 How much felt awareness must you have of sin? Enough to make being saved a focused concern of your soul. Enough to make you despair of saving yourself. Enough to drive you out of self and into Christ.

55:55 One of the most beautiful pictures of saving faith is in Hebrews 6 and verse 18 where the writer to the Hebrews describes saving faith as running to one of the cities of refuge. That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we may have a strong encouragement who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hopes of the world. You remember the Old Testament provision of the city of refuge. You were guilty not of murder but manslaughter.

56:28 And yet the witnesses are not there to demonstrate it and the next of kin could come and track you down and there were these cities of refuge where you could run and once you got inside and the door was shut you were safe until the death of the high priest. And you got the picture of a man who's got the near of kin who believes he's a murderer and the man knows he's not. He was guilty of manslaughter that is inadvertent taking of another life and he's running and running and running he's out of breath his lungs are burning his legs are like lead and he flops through the door of the city of refuge and the door is shut and he knows he's safe. What a beautiful picture.

57:07 That's what faith in Christ is. When your sense of sin is deep enough to drive you out of self and into Jesus you need no more but no less will do. You need no more no more conviction than that amount that will drive you utterly out of yourself and entirely into Christ. That much but no more.

57:34 That much but no more.

57:39 Have you been driven there? That where you are this morning?

57:44 When I preach these things can you sit and say Oh Lord how well I remember whether in a short compass of time or over a long compass whether with a more radical thunderbolt thunderbolt thunderbolt thunderbolt thunderbolt thunderbolt type of experience or that which is like Lydia whose heart the Lord opened. There is no model conversion in the Bible. There are many models enough to tell us there is no model singular. There is no divinely revealed pattern of conversion.

58:21 But the whole witness of the Bible is if you don't see your sin in its true light enough to be driven out of any refuge that's in you or in others what you are what you can do and driven into Jesus and Jesus alone you ain't got enough conviction yet. But if there's enough that you say nothing nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling fall I to the fountain fly wash me Savior or I die. That's the first tap root and that's as far as we're going to get. We'll have to leave the second tap root God willing for next week.

Conclusion: The Urgency of Repentance and Hope in Christ

59:04 But I want to close reminding you of two hymns one we sing more than the other. In that lovely gospel invitation come ye sinners poor and wretched weak and wounded sick and sore Jesus ready stands to save you full of pity joined with power. He is willing He is able doubt know , know, more. And then in hymn number 390 notice the first stanza you may want to turn there as we close hymn number 390 Come, come you souls by sin afflicted bowed with fruitless sorrow down by the broken law convicted through the cross behold the crown look to Jesus mercy flows through Him alone we'll see God willing next week. that that second tap is the apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. In other words there will never be any true repentance no matter how deep your conviction unless there is that ray of hope that seeing that in Jesus there is full forgiveness to see God only in His holiness and justice is to hate Him and to run from Him. To see the God of holiness and justice

60:32 through the cross is to draw near to Him.

60:38 Marvelous, marvelous reality. But that will have to wait in the interest of time. But I pray that God will take some of the things we've focused upon today and cause some of you to say this is the last Lord's day I'm going to sit and feel something of the pressure of the Spirit of God upon my heart and go home and do nothing. Grab my Walkman grab my silly toys push the things out Oh my dear dear Oh my dear dear Oh my dear dear Dear young person, dear adult, don't trifle with your never-dialing soul.

61:13 A few more breaths and it's going to be all over for all of us.

61:18 There'll be a tombstone. People come once in a while and throw a flower on it. But that ain't the end. The day of judgment is coming.

61:27 The day of judgment is coming. You'll be called out of that grave. I'll be called out of mine. If you come before the God who made you as an impenitent sinner, it were better for you that you'd never been born.

61:38 For you'll hear the words of Jesus, Depart from me, you cursed, I never knew you.

61:46 May God grant that we'll hear the words, Come, you blessed of my Father. Come, come, you blessed. Enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Let's pray.

62:06 Father, we're so thankful for the gospel of the grace of God. Thank you that you've moved toward us in infinite love, overwhelming mercy, and how we pray that that love and mercy will conquer sinners today. Refresh the hearts of your saints when we think of what you've done to take out our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh and give us the gift of repentance. Oh, Lord, we thank you.

62:37 We praise you. Seal now your word to our hearts. May we know the blessedness of ongoing dealings with you throughout the day. We ask in Jesus' name.

62:49 Amen.