Repentance

The Missing Note of Repentance in Contemporary Gospel Preaching

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, June 14, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Our study in the Word of God this evening is the fourth in a series of meditations drawn together by the common concern expressed in the words, some missing notes in contemporary gospel preaching. Now, I've sought to underscore each time we have taken up this theme that we are not dealing with an abstract theoretical concern, but since Almighty God has made but one provision to remedy the soul-destructive malady of sin, and since that one remedy is set forth in the gospel, any perversions of? Additions to or subtractions from that gospel are ruinous to the souls of men. The first missing note in contemporary gospel preaching which we have examined is the note of the wrath of God.

1:32 And if you were not present for those studies, they are available from the Trinity pulpit, and I urge you to get hold of them. Not because of...

1:41 any particular excellence in the preaching, but simply because there at least is an honest effort to deal honestly with this dominant biblical theme so woefully lacking in much of contemporary gospel preaching. Tonight we take up the second of these missing notes in contemporary gospel preaching, namely the note of repentance. And as we attempt to come to grips with this vital issue, we shall consider, first of all, the prominence of repentance in the biblical preaching of the gospel. The question that is before us is this. What place, if any, was given to the teaching and preaching of repentance in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles? The question that is before us is this. What place, if any, was given to the teaching and preaching of repentance in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles?

The Prominence of Repentance in Christ's Preaching

2:40 The question that is before us is this. Was this a note included at all in that cord of truth which constitutes the gospel of the grace of God? If it was a note that was included, was it a dominant note in that cord of truth? Well, in taking up this division of our subject, the prominence of repentance in the biblical preaching of the gospel, consider with me, first of all, the prominence of repentance as the one that guides us to the gospel!

3:12 And, if we take in the next section of the gospel, we shall we think about the prominence of this note in the preaching of Christ himself. If you turn with me to Mark's Gospel, chapter 1, you will notice that Mark, plunging right in to his subject in verse 1 of chapter 1, says, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And there follows then an account of the life and ministry of John the Baptist, John the Baptist, John the Baptist, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, James, and things which are the very beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. and then beginning with verse 14 the direction or the attention is again directed to our Lord now after John was delivered up Jesus came into Galilee and here is a summary of his Galilean ministry preaching the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe in the gospel here Mark by the inspiration of the Spirit is summarizing the dominant lines of emphasis in the ministry of the Lord Jesus and he tells us that the great themes of his preaching were these first of all there was the declaration of the presence of gospel mercies

4:36 in the person of the King of Grace the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand and when we read in other portions of the gospel record we come to understand that that kingdom was not the offer of a political kingdom which was temporarily postponed by the unbelief of the Jews but it was nothing other than that spiritual kingdom which had been prophesied by all the prophets of the Old Testament a kingdom which was now at hand in the person of the Lord Jesus and so a great and dominant note in the preaching of our Lord Jesus was that all of the promises of God's mercy to his people are at hand in the coming of the kingdom through the person and presence of the King himself and so the note of pure gospel provisions is bound up in that language the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand but then you will notice that there was another dominant note in the preaching of our Lord Jesus in the light of the presence of the unspeakable privileges of the kingdom that are at hand our Lord continually laid upon his hearers

6:04 these two great imperatives look at them in verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 verse 15 repent ye and believe in the gospel he did not call them simply to faith nor to a faith that was devoid of repentance he did not call them to a repentance that merely had reference to the legal demands of God apart from the gracious provisions of gospel grace that to which our Lord continually called men had these two focal points the note of repentance and the note of faith and the summary of his Galilean ministry is this that is set before us by Mark in which we see that repentance was not an occasional note sounded by our Lord it was a fundamental it was a central it was a prominent note in the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ in the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ when we turn to the gospel of Luke we find a similar emphasis coming through in the fifth chapter of Luke's gospel in which our Lord self-consciously speaks of his own mission as the son of man and the savior of sinners

7:29 he has just accomplished an amazing act of forgiving grace in the case of Levi or Matthew in the case of Levi or Matthew in the case of Levi or Matthew in the case of Levi or Matthew and this distinction between the Lord and the Son of God and this distinction between the Lord and the Son of God disturbs the religious snobbery of the leaders of that day and they are disturbed that our Lord is found in such close proximity to sinners and Jesus in answering to them says these words in verses 31 and 32 of Luke 5 Jesus answering said unto them those that are in health have no need of a doctor but those that are sick I am not a sick man I have not come to call the righteous but sinners now notice not to a decision not to a profession not to a surface acknowledgement of who I am and what I've come to do our Lord says that the very end for which he calls sinners is that they might experience a deep and thorough work of repentance so we see that according to our Lord himself repentance is no secondary issue it is central to his whole mission as the Son of Man who has come to seek and to save that which was lost he conceives of his mission

8:57 in no lesser terms than one of bringing sinners to repentance so that if Jesus Christ has ever sought and saved a sinner so that if Jesus Christ has ever sought and saved a sinner so that if Jesus Christ has ever sought and saved a sinner he has sought and saved him in a way of repentance and if your professed salvation from Christ has left you a stranger to the realities of repentance you have not been sought and saved and called by this Christ but by some other well then we find our Lord again in such passages as Luke 13, 3 and 5 emphasizing the note of repentance and saying but we must pass over much of this material and come to what is one of the most pivotal passages in the ministry of our Lord in Luke's gospel chapter 24 for here we find our Lord not in a preaching role emphasizing repentance but we find him in a teaching capacity his post-resurrection teaching ministry to his disciples instructing them with repentance and teaching them with repentance and instructing them with repentance and instructing them with repentance and instructing them with repentance with respect to the gospel that they are to take to the ends of the earth subsequent to his ascension to the right hand of the Father and we read in Luke 24, 44 the following words

Repentance as Essential for Remission of Sins (Luke 24)

10:23 and he said unto them these are my words which I spoken to you while I was with you that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me and I will say to you then opened he their mind that they might understand the scriptures and he said unto them thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance and or repentance unto there is a textual problem whether you have the conjunction chi or whether you have the preposition ice that repentance and or repentance unto remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations beginning from Jerusalem you are witnesses of these things now according to our Lord's words there is no gospel which does not focus upon the realities set forth in the certainty and the significance of the death of Christ notice the language he opened their mind that they might understand the scriptures

11:52 and he said unto them thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead the third day as they go forth among the nations they are to bear witness to these things what things well first of all to the truths that cluster around the fact and the meaning of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and surely there is no one who has even but the most cursory acquaintance with the gospel that would say any gospel presentation was a truly biblical gospel if it omitted all reference to the death of Christ a gospel script of the fact the certainty the meaning of the death of Christ upon the cross and on the cross is no gospel whatsoever furthermore he went on to say that is surely as these things include testimony to his death there must be this testimony to his resurrection and rise again from the dead the third day and in the light of 1 Corinthians 15 1 to 4 and the entire chapter we can say with equal conviction and dogmatism that no presentation of the gospel is biblical if it omits the fact and the significance the implications

13:20 of the resurrection of Jesus Christ a Christ who is crucified dead and buried whose carcass has long since turned to dust is not a Christ who in the livingness of resurrection power can save sinners it is only the resurrected Christ whose resurrection is the validation of all that he did in death whose resurrection installs him in a position of power from which he can call and save sinners it is only such a Christ who is presented in the gospel but now you'll notice if you simply look at the passage that Jesus says in the light of that preaching of the objective realities of his death and resurrection according to the scriptures there is a divine imperative that is to be preached to all men if they would experience the remission of sins provided for sinners in the death and resurrection of Christ and whether we translate it repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name or repentance unto remission of sin this much is clear no remission of sin is promised by our Lord divorced from repentance the passage is clear whether it is repentance

14:48 and consequent upon that repentance true remission or whether it is repentance unto remission our Lord gives no one any authority to promise remission to sins to any sinner among all the nations except that sinner repent now granted one of the keys to a proper understanding of the passage is repentance and remission of sins preached in his name that is a repentance that is a call to forsake sin sin that has been seen in its true light in the full revelation that has come in the person and work of Christ it is to be gospel repentance it is to be repentance preached as a divine imperative following the opening up of the grandeur of divine mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ it is to be repentance not so much poured down upon men amidst the fire and thunder of Sinai but amidst the awesome grandeur of Golgotha and the open tomb it is to be repentance preached in his name in the light of the full revelation

16:17 of God in Jesus Christ but it is nonetheless repentance preached in his name not simply trust Jesus not simply make a decision not simply believe the record God has given concerning his son there is to be repentance unto remission of sin and our Lord authorized no gospel that did not have repentance as a prominent note in that gospel well then did the apostle take him seriously well if you'll turn with me to the book of the Acts we'll look very quickly at several pivotal texts in which we have a distillation of some of the early apostolic preaching did they take our Lord seriously did they offer remission of sin to guilty hell deserving sinners apart from repentance well let's take that specimen sermon preached on the day of Pentecost Peter is exalting his Lord and in the midst of proclaiming Christ to the multitude gathered there on that significant day the scripture tells us that as he preached God did an amazing and wonderful thing verse 37 of Acts 2 now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart literally they were stabbed in their hearts

The Prominence of Repentance in Apostolic Preaching

17:45 as with a dagger and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles brethren what shall we do you see here was no little sales job no Madison Avenue con job to get people to make some kind of a weak inquiry about spiritual realities the word of God had reverberated in the deepest chambers of their spirits until the great realities of their culpability and guilt so possessed them that they literally broke Peter off in the middle of his sermon and cried out what shall we do and what was Peter's answer now we don't want to embarrass anyone we don't want to put anyone to shame everyone bow his head close your eyes no no Peter didn't go into the rigamarole of trying to get people to slip up a hand in secret and then trick them to walk down an aisle and then go back into a little room and feed a few verses under their nose and give them protestant absolution and send them back home half deceived or fully deceived and on their way to hell thinking they were saved because they made a little ditty decision no no look at the language of the text when they heard this they cried out what shall we do and Peter said unto them repent ye and be baptized every one of you unto the remission of your sins

19:12 you notice what he ties together repentance and the remission of sins and we'll not go into the problem part of the text there is a very reasonable explanation salvation is not found in baptism that would contradict everything else that is taught in holy scripture but for our purposes we simply want to extract that close conjunction which Peter makes between repentance and remission so that everyone who is stabbed in his heart knows if I'm to get rid of this great burden of guilt that I feel that I painfully experience if I'm to come to the remission of my sins it will only be in the way of repentance if I miss the way of repentance I'll miss remission I'll go down to my grave and on to judgment under the load of this guilt of my sin we find Peter preaching in Acts and Peter preaching in Acts 3 and again in this situation an entirely different setting there does not seem to be that same powerful sovereign work of the spirit pricking many hearts with deep conviction but as the apostle brings his sermon to a close notice his wording in Acts 3 and verse 19 repent ye therefore and turn again

20:38 in order that your sins may be blotted out now isn't that the great provision of the gospel the divine method of blotting out the sins of men scrubbing them from God's record and in its place giving us the perfect record of the Lord Jesus Christ and yet Peter informs his hearers that if their sins are ever to be blotted out they must look for the blotting out of their sins in no other path but the path of true repentance repent ye therefore in order that your sins may be blotted out in Acts chapter 5 here we find Peter preaching before those who had just a short time before abused them persecuted them and this is what he says of his Lord verses 30 and 31 Acts 5 the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew hanging him in a tree him did God exalt with his right hand to be a prince and a savior not sometime in some future age between time and eternity

22:04 right now he's been exalted to God's right hand constituted a prince and a savior to do what? look to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins the exalted Christ gives remission of sins only in those situations where he gives repentance if he gives no repentance he gives no remission but blessed be God where he gives repentance in every instance he grants full and complete remission to the true Israel of God and then in chapter 8 in verse 22 we find him in a one to one situation not preaching before a vast auditory but preaching to an individual who though he made a profession of faith he made a decision he was baptized he was even a close companion of one of the eminent servants of God for a while but when his true character emerged Peter doesn't tell him now Simon your problem is you are a backslidden Christian or you're a carnal Christian and you need to learn the secret of the deeper life and get things all sorted out no no when he showed he had no basic perception of the spirituality of the kingdom

23:29 no basic passion for holiness Peter concluded he didn't have the root of the matter in him at all and so he says to him in Acts 8 in verse 21 thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter thy heart is not right before God you've made a profession you've made a decision you've been baptized you've been very impressive wherever the evangelist has been you're at his side but in spite of all of this your heart is still unchanged now what directive does he give him look at it repent therefore he doesn't say simply admit your wickedness your wickedness he says repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray to the Lord if perhaps the thought of thy heart shall be forgiven thee for I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity if this gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity is ever to be broken in the case of Simon Simon is given to know by the preaching of Peter it will only be in the context of a deep and thorough repentance a repentance as pointed and specific as was his sin but now someone who's been schooled in the so-called teaching of distinguishing things that differ

24:55 says ah but Pastor Martin don't you know that that was preaching to ethnic Israel a people already in external covenant relationship to God and to them the message was to have a change of mind but when the gospel went to the Gentiles it was a gospel of simply trust in Jesus simply believe is that so well it certainly cannot be substantiated from the book of Acts because we read in Acts 11 the record of Peter coming back and reporting his experience when he preached to a household of Gentiles Cornelius and his household who were what we might call loose proselytes but they were Gentiles and when his Jewish friends heard that he had eaten with Gentiles as well as preached to them they were disturbed but he gives a report of what God did in sending the spirit upon that group of Gentiles gathered in one place and notice the conclusion to which these people came when they heard it in verse 18 and when they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying that to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life

26:23 so when the gospel first comes in a Gentile context it comes with this understanding that is surely as we who had all the privileges of association with the Jewish nation the scriptures in our hands the great legacy of the prophets the temple worship the priestly line the sacrificial system as surely as we will find no true forgiveness except in a way of repentance so likewise the Gentiles if ever they are to come into the possession of that life which has been purchased for the people of God in the doing and the dying of Christ it will come only in the way in the way of repentance and when we turn to the testimony of that great apostle to the Gentiles he gives us two summary statements one that summarizes three and a half years of ministry in a very citadel of Gentile pagan worship and pagan culture and life the city of Ephesus and then another that summarizes his entire ministry up to the very point that he gives that summary the first passage to which I make reference is of course Acts 20 and verse 21 the apostle is summarizing the substance of three and a half years ministry

27:52 in Ephesus and notice his language in chapter 20 and verse 20 I shrank not from declaring anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house testifying not even in words to the priests that in the temple of the Lord in Ephesus pressed on and on and the Apostles of Israel heartily imagined what he had foreseen which as the Apostle says through the suffering of the sick which is the trial and the Torment as we say these days considered as the God closest to the God distinct reference to Jesus Christ as God's Messiah, the exalted Lord, the only Savior of sinners. Now notice, Paul did not simply preach faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, nor did he simply preach repentance toward God. He said, these were the two great watersheds, as it were, of all that I taught, repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, underscoring the inseparability as well as the distinct elements of repentance and faith.

29:20 And then we turn to the final passage in the Apostolic Record, Acts 26, and all I'm seeking to set before you is the biblical evidence of the prominence of the note of repentance in the teaching and preaching of our Lord, and of his apostles, Acts 26 and verse 20. Paul, standing before a heathen potentate, again giving his testimony and an account of his ministry, says, verse 19, Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but declared both to them of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, The notion that there is a distinctive gospel for Jews and one for Gentiles is unfounded theological rubbish.

30:17 The great apostle says, I had no gospel. I preached it where?

30:25 And here was that message. Look at it. What did you preach, Paul? He says, this was my message, that they should repent to God's worth, the of repentance.

30:47 For this cause the Jews seized me in the temple and assayed to kill me, having therefore obtained the help that is from God. I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come. Now notice how that the Christ must suffer, how that he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light, both to the people, that is the Jews, and to the Gentiles. You see how he brings it all together?

31:19 He said, my gospel was one gospel, to the Jew, to the Gentile. It proclaimed the saving mercies of God in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, saving mercies terminating upon the death and the resurrection of Christ. Oh, how he must have loved to take the Old Testament scriptures, Isaiah 53 and 55 and 56, Psalm 27, Psalm 22, and other passages such as that, and set forth the Lord Jesus as the suffering servant of Jehovah, by whose death and resurrection a just peace has been made on man's behalf with God. But my friends, when he was done, he didn't tell people, now all you need to do is admit you're a sinner and believe Christ died and you're fixed up forever. He told them in the light of those things, they had to repent, they had to turn and furthermore, they had to prove by their subsequent pattern of life that the repentance and the turning was real. They had to do works worthy of repentance. Well, my friends, I rest the case.

The Woes of a Missing Note

32:38 Can anyone say who believes his Bible that repentance was an absent note or even an occasional note in the preaching of our Lord and of His apostles? No, it was a dominant note and I say it is this missing note in contemporary gospel preaching that lies at the root of so many of our present woes.

33:05 Now then, having set before you from the Scriptures the prominence of the note of repentance in apostolic preaching and teaching and in the preaching of our Lord, this brings us in the second place to what I believe is the most important part of our life. What I trust is a burning question in the hearts and minds of all who hear my voice. If indeed, as the Scriptures teach, there is no remission, no forgiveness, no pardon, no acceptance with God apart from repentance, a repentance drawing to itself all of the light and privileges of the glorious gospel of the grace of God, but a true and deep and thorough repentance. Nonetheless, I say, if there is no forgiveness and pardon apart from that repentance, then the question that ought to be burning in every mind and heart within sound of my voice is this, what in the world does that word repent? What does the word repentance mean? For if I miss repentance, I miss life. If I miss repentance, I miss pardon.

Defining Repentance: Turning from Sin Unto God

34:10 If I miss repentance, I miss the forgiveness and the remission of sins. And if I miss that, I'm under that frightening thing we contemplated for three, three weeks, the wrath of Almighty God. Now, let me give you a very sober warning as we try to bring into sharp focus the basic meaning of that repentance demanded by the gospel. Beware of establishing doctrines on etymologies of words.

34:40 Now, we are often told, well, don't you know, that the Greek word for repentance is comprised of a preposition and a verb. Put them together and they mean by, etymology, an afterthought, a change of mind upon reflection. Well, that's good etymology, but that's bad theology. For the meaning of a word in Scripture is not determined by etymology, but by scriptural usage.

35:09 How did the Holy Ghost use a word in the Bible? And its meaning is in its use, not in its etymology. And when we look at all of the passages in which people are saying, said to repent, called upon to repent, parallel passages in which the word repent is not used, but the activity is described, what is the fundamental conclusion to which we are inevitably drawn? Well, let me suggest it is this.

35:40 The basic meaning of repentance is simply this. It is a turning from sin unto God. That's the heart, that's the core, that's the distilled essence of the biblical demand of repentance. It is a demand to turn from sin unto God.

The Reasonableness of Repentance and Faith

36:08 Now, let's think of why this demand is so inextricably bound up with the call to faith and to entrance into the provisions of the gospel. When the gospel comes to us as sinners, how does it find us? Well, if we have any acquaintance with the Bible in our own hearts, we know that when the gospel comes to us, it finds us all under guilt and condemnation. The wages of sin is death.

36:40 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3.19 What things soever the law says, it says to those that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world, come under the condemnation of God. When the gospel comes to us, it finds us not only all under guilt and condemnation, but it finds us all in bondage, alienation, and rebellion against God.

37:11 Whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can it be.

37:22 If when we were, our enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. So when the gospel comes to us, what does it find in us? It finds us in a state of condemnation and guilt. It finds us in a state of alienation, bondage, and slavery to our sins.

37:44 Then it sets before us the amazing provision that God has made in His own beloved Son, the appointed substance, the substitute for sinners, who took the place of sinners and in the room instead of sinners perfectly kept the law and then went to the cross and died the death which the law demanded but was raised again as a vindication of the sufficiency of His work. And in setting forth the Lord Jesus in all the glory of His redeeming grace, then God issues the summons to sinners to do what? To repent and to believe the gospel. You see how reasonable those two demands are? To believe the gospel means that the sinner credits all that God has said about His Son. He is willing to entrust the well-being of His guilty, bound, condemned soul into the hands of Jesus Christ. But what did Christ come to do?

38:49 Take away the posture of a guilty conscience while His back is still torn, while His heart is still one big clenched fist in the face of God? Did Jesus Christ come from heaven to die in order that sinners might go on in alienation, rebellion, and bondage without any fear of hell at the end? Is that why the Son of God came?

39:18 I hope everything within you says, Preacher, no! That we should all know that Jesus Christ would be the minister of sin.

39:30 No. That's why you see the call of repentance is bound up with the call to faith. For what is the call to repentance? It says to the sinner, leave the sins that brought you into condemnation.

39:45 Turn from that alienation. Turn from that posture of your back towards God and your fist clenched against God. Turn from your rebellion. Turn from your indifference to communion with God.

40:01 Fellowship with God. Obedience to God. Turn from that indifference to His law, His people, His ways, His church. Turn from all of that to God.

40:13 And it's as though the sinner says, but if I turn to God, He's got a converse against me. He's a God of infinite holiness. He's a God of infinite and inflexible justice. How can I turn to a consuming fire?

40:28 And we say, oh my friend, He calls you to turn while He calls you to believe. No man comes to the Father but through Christ. Turn and face that God with Jesus Christ the Mediator summoning you to come. And that's why Spurgeon said, repentance is the tear in faith's eye.

40:52 You see, when the eye turns to behold Christ in faith, if it truly turns, it's a heart broken for its sin and broken from its sin. Not! With no fear of punishment for sin, that's turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.

Repentance Illustrated: The Thessalonians and the Prodigal Son

41:20 And so Paul can write of the Thessalonians, and I love this passage. Turn please to 1 Thessalonians 1, where there is a beautiful description of the repentance of the Thessalonians. I'm seeking to establish now that the fundamental meaning of repentance is a turning from sin unto God.

41:43 Paul says, of the Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 9, back up to verse 8, for from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to Godward is gone forth, so that we need not speak anything. For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had among you. Now here it is. How you turned unto God.

42:15 From idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

42:35 Whom does Christ deliver from the wrath to come?

42:40 Everyone who makes a decision. Everyone who makes a profession. Everyone who goes through a little rigmarole, of praying a prayer that someone else puts in his mouth but can't put in his heart. No, no.

42:54 He saves from the wrath to come only those who can be described in these words. Who turn to serve God and to wait for his Son from heaven.

43:14 Noah, my listener, get it straight. No one will be delivered from wrath in the final day if he has not turned to embrace God. To give him that supreme place in his affection that God deserves and demands. To embrace the law of God as the rule of his life.

43:40 The people of God as his companions for time and eternity. Turning to God from your idols. An idol is anything that claims your affection and robs God of his due. For then there were literal idols, these Thessalonians, stone and wooden gods.

44:05 And they turned from them. Your idol may be your face.

44:11 It may be an ambition. It may be your career. It may be a friend. It may be a relationship.

44:18 Anything that keeps you from wholeheartedly saying, Oh God, you're my God with all my heart. I long to do your will. As you give me strength, I shall do it even unto death. And any person or thing that keeps you from saying that is an idol.

44:41 They turned from their idols to the living God. And notice, the one in whose presence all of this was done, it was in the light of the person and work of Christ, which they knew, having ushered them into communion with God now, had pledged that they should know what the old writers called the beatific vision. When they would have the consummate joy of open-faced communion with God, they would have the joy of open-faced communion with God. And so what they knew now of the work of Christ didn't send them glibly on their way saying, Well, I've got enough of Christ to fire-proof me.

45:18 That's all that matters. I'm a carnal Christian, but I'll make it. That's all that matters. Now I'll get on with business as usual.

45:24 No, no. What they tasted of what Christ gave them in communion with God now made their heart and flesh long for the consummate glory. And so he says you waited for his son, for his son from heaven. Why?

45:42 Not to escape things that were getting kind of hot down here, but because face-to-face communion with God through Christ had now become life's greatest treasure. And they longed for its consummation. My friend, that's what it means to get saved. That's what it means to come to repentance.

46:01 To turn from your sins unto God through Jesus Christ, the one and only appointed, mediator between God and man. Now if that's what repentance is, then do you see that it affects the whole man? The mind, how it thinks about God, his laws, his ways, his justice, his holiness. What the heart feels about God, his ways, his person, his justice, his holiness, his son, his salvation.

46:31 It affects the will. What I choose with regard to God, his claims, his law, his people. You see, repentance is an act of the whole man, the judgment of the mind is changed. The bent of the affections is changed.

46:46 The commitment of the will is changed. Not perfectly, but fundamentally, pervasively, and basically, and one day, thank God, perfectly. But in principle, there is that radical turning from unto the living God. Perhaps one of the clearest illustrations of repentance is in that familiar story of the prodigal son, all of you children know that story.

47:14 That young man that had a judgment in his mind about his dad's government, and his dad's presence, and his dad's fellowship. He said, I don't like it. I want to get away from it. And he looked upon his dad in only one light, old money bags.

47:29 Give me which comes to me. That's all he looked upon his dad, his old money bags. So he got what he wanted from his dad and left it, had no desire for communion with him, had no love for the government of his house, no delight in communion with him. And the scripture says he went off into a far country.

47:48 And there he showed what his mind was thinking, what his feelings were feeling, and what his will was choosing. He then gave himself to what the Bible calls riotous living. His mind said that true bliss in life can never be found at my father's side and within the rules of my father's house. True bliss can only be found out there in the whorehouses.

48:11 Out there where people really live. And his judgment was such that it led him to go to a far country to really find life. His affections were where his mind and ultimately his feet were. But then the scripture says he came to himself.

48:34 And what happened? He had an entirely new judgment about his father's house. He said, I will arise and go to my father. And I will say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven.

48:45 And in thy sight am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. What an about-face. When he had all the privileges of a son, he couldn't stand it.

48:56 He had such a view of his father's heart, his father's laws and ways that he couldn't stand them. He wanted to leave them. Now he says, my father's heart and law and ways are such that I've counted a privilege just to be one of his hirelings that lives out in a little shack in the back. He's such a gracious man.

49:13 His will is just. And his rule is holy and good. And he said, I'll go back and say, Father, you're not the tight-fisted, hard-hearted, insensitive creature that I said you were when I left. You're just the opposite of that.

49:30 And the scripture tells us that when he came to himself, he doesn't sit there and have some wishful thinking. It says he got up and he went and he did arise and he did come to his father. And, you know, the subsequent history. What's repentance?

49:43 It's the prodigal coming to think right thoughts about the father to think right thoughts about his haunts of iniquity. He no longer looked upon his sinful companions in the whorehouses and the drinking places and all the rest as anything desirable. He abominated it. He spiritually vomited it out.

Three Points of Application: Question, Conclusion, Exhortation

50:08 And he found the father willing to receive him to put the robe upon him, the finger upon the ring upon his finger and the rest of the story. You know, that's repentance, my friends, an entirely new judgment about God in his ways, in his laws, an entirely new disposition of the affections, an entirely new choice of the will. Well, time is going from us all too quickly. And in these few remaining minutes, in the light of this brief survey of the biblical data indicating that repentance is a dominant note in the preaching of our Lord and his apostles seeking to bring into sharp focus the essence of the meaning of repentance is turning from sin unto God.

50:52 Now, in conclusion, let me seek to bring home three very fundamental points of application. Number one, there is a searching question based upon our study tonight. And the question and I trusted will search you to the depths is this listening to my voice tonight in this auditorium, in your homes, in a car, on a beach somewhere on the Jersey Shore, wherever you are, my friends, stop what you're doing. And let this question sink deeply into your consciousness.

51:26 Do you know anything of this repentance we've been talking about tonight? Do you know this change of mind of affection and will this turning from your God through Jesus Christ alone? My friend, if you know nothing of this repentance, you know nothing of forgiveness. And if you know nothing of forgiveness, you are.

51:57 Under wrath. And if you are yet under wrath, you are to be pitied above all the creatures of the earth. Oh, my friend, if you're a stranger to this repentance, you're a stranger to God and to grace. And I plead with you.

52:13 Oh, I plead. Don't, don't, don't just push this off as the rantings of another old-fashioned preacher. This is the word of God. And you to repent.

52:28 You have it upon the word of Christ. If you accept, you repent, you'll perish. Then there is a second line of application and it is this. Not only does a searching question based upon our study come to our consciences, but an unavoidable conclusion grounded upon our study comes before us.

52:49 An unavoidable conclusion grounded upon our study. And what is the conclusion? Well, it is this, that much of current religion is rotten to the core. Much of current religion is rotten to the core for the simple reason that it knows nothing of this repentance.

53:10 All the so-called born-again people in this country, supposedly 30 to 40 million, and no real moral impact upon the fabric of society. Why? Because this repentance has not been preached. This repentance is not known amongst multitudes.

53:33 This repentance is not known amongst people who speak glibly of being born again and being saved by Jesus Christ. I cannot help but think of the text in Jeremiah, they have healed slightly the hurt of the daughter of my people, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. God goes on to say, they have dabbed them with untempered mortar. They've done a patch job, that's all.

54:03 They've done a lot of good, but not to make them good. Enough religion to take away the sting of conscience, but not enough to make them have conscience about walking before God in every detail of life, so as to have an impact as salt and light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. I remind you of the announcement of the angel, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people, not in their sins, but from them. And if he's not saved you from your sins, your sins of materialism, your sins of obsession with sex, your sins of obsession with yourself and with your own plans and with your own face and your own form and your own friends, if he's not saved you unto holiness, he hasn't saved you. An unavoidable conclusion from our study is simply this, much of current religion is rotten to the core. But then finally a burning exhortation necessitated by our study was brought before us, and that exhortation is this, and in part it was fulfilled in the pastoral prayer tonight. Pray that God will give power to those who are seeking to preach to this generation the biblical doctrine of repentance.

55:22 Pray that the Holy Spirit will come upon that preaching and make it efficacious in the hearts of men, for unless God grants repentance, no sinner will ever forsake his darling idols and turn from them unto God. That's why in Acts 5.31, 11.18 and 2 Timothy 2.26, repentance is here, or in these texts declared to be the grant and gift of God. We must not only pray that God will give power to those who boldly preach repentance, but pray that God will raise up a host of preachers to preach it. That God will correct the deficiencies in the content of the preaching of good and earnest men, but men who have either through ignorance or through simply going along with the current cliches failed to thunder this note into the ears of our generation. And then let us cry to God that he will work in our hearts

56:26 a deeper spirit of repentance than we have ever known, for repentance, to be sincere, must be perpetual. It's not the act of a moment, it's the acquisition of an attitude. And as long as sin remains, the necessity for repentance abides. So we're going to be repenting until there's no more cause for repentance when we see him and we're like him.

56:51 And in the midst of the bitterest tears of repentance, friend, remember, there should be glistening on those tears the hope that the God who put in you a broken heart for your remaining sin is the God who's going to take away all that remaining sin. And one grace that will not carry to glory is the grace of repentance. Hallelujah. But that will be such the experience only of such who have come to repentance and to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

57:25 Let us pray. Our Father, we are so thankful that you have not left us an obscure record of your mind and will for sinners. We thank you for the clear testimony of these many passages that we've examined tonight. We thank you that every call, every command to repent is also an offer of mercy, telling us that you are willing to receive the returning sinner.

58:07 Oh, marvel of marvels that you, the infinitely holy God, would take us into fellowship with yourself. Oh, we pray for any who even now are in the throes of wrestling with the pull of their idols, and yet they know to go on as idolaters is to go on to destruction. Oh, Father, give them such a sight of your overwhelming mercy and kindness in the Lord Jesus that they may turn from their sins with full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience and in the joy of sins forgiven, in the joy of being liberated from sin's bondage. May they serve you, the living and the true God, and wait for your Son from heaven. We do pray, even as we exhorted your people, raise up a host of fearless men endowed with the Spirit to hurl into the conscience of this giddy, light and frothy generation the necessity of sobering, the reflection upon your just claims and the command to repent or perish. Oh, God, we pray, raise up such a host of men and for those who are seeking to be faithful to this biblical note of gospel preaching,

59:35 bless them, make them bold and fearless, give them measures of the Spirit's anointing that hitherto they have never known. And, oh, may we yet live to witness men breaking under the preaching of the Word, even as on the day of Pentecost they cried out in the anguish of soul, pricked in their hearts, Oh, God, we long for that day when our preaching will be interrupted by the sob and the cry of broken, penitent hearts. Oh, our Father, hear the cry that we offer in your presence and help us who are your people not to be discouraged in the ongoing work of repentance. Help us in our moments of bitterest grief over our sins to take encouragement that you, having planted within us that longing to be done with sin, will one day consummate that work and the longing shall come to fruition. Even so, even so, come, Lord Jesus, we long for the day when we shall serve you and love you with un-sinning heart. Hear our cry, seal the Word. Oh, may the great and final day reveal that the Word was not preached in vain this night.

61:02 Hear us, oh, our God, hear us. For the sake of your Son and to your name and to your name alone be praise and honor and glory. Amen.