Nature of Repentance

Prayer for Personal Conviction and God's Blessing

0:03 Though I trust we have all joined in prayer as Pastor Smith led us to the throne of grace and entered into the petition for God's blessing upon the ministry here in this place, let us again seek God's face, and as we do so in a moment of silent prayer, would you pray for yourself very personally? And would you pray something like this, O God, if no one else, if no one else hears your voice speaking through the Scriptures,

0:38 Lord, speak to me. There are some of you that if I could do it without embarrassing you, I'd like to walk down off this platform and plant myself about 12 inches from your face and ask you, would you pray that kind of a prayer? If not those words in that sentence, O God, if no one else hears your voice in the Scriptures, Lord, may I hear what you would say to me.

1:11 Let us pray together. Our Father, we do acknowledge again that our days are passing swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and a few more beats of our hearts, a few more breaths, and we will be gone.

1:42 Stand before you, the bright and burning Holy God. O our Father, we pray for you. O our Father, we pray for you. O our Father, we pray for those who sit here tonight, who trifle with their sin, who trifle with the blood of Christ, who trifle with the sacred realities of which we have just sung, sin and grace and righteousness and repentance and faith and prayer.

2:11 Lord, in mercy, break in upon them, we pray. Deliver them from themselves and from the clutches of the enemy, of their soul, and so attend the preaching of your word that some may mark this night as the night they had dealings with you in true repentance and faith. O God, for the good of their souls, we plead, and for the honor of your dear Son. Amen.

The Necessity of Repentance: Repent or Perish

2:44 Now, for many of us, the words of 2 Peter 3 and verse 9 are familiar words, Here the Apostle writes, Now, while this text is often brought forward when people are debating the doctrine of election or some other facet of biblical particularism, my purpose is to say that I am not a believer in the doctrine of election.

3:27 My purpose in reading it is simply to underscore one very simple and obvious fact that is stated in this verse, and that is that the only alternative before every one of us sitting in this place is either to repent or to perish. God, in His infinite love and mercy to sinners, in His extended long-suffering to sinners, God, Himself, has no way to save sinners from perishing except they repent, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

4:12 And so the only alternative before you, before me, before all men and women, boys and girls, is either to repent or to perish. And since this matter of repentance is of such importance, such a crucial nature, if I have any genuine concern for your never-dying soul, I must, to be free of your blood, from time to time take up this subject in a very focused way and seek to set before your minds what is that repentance by which we shall avoid perishing? What is repentance unto life? Several weeks ago,

4:57 April 16th, to be precise, I began a series of sermons, and in the beginning of that series, I stated that we would consider together the necessity, the nature, and the fruit of that repentance without which we shall surely perish. The nature, the necessity, and the fruit of evangelical repentance. And in that first study, we considered, together, just the necessity of repentance. And in handling this life and death issue, I sought to demonstrate from the Scriptures the absolute necessity of repentance.

5:42 And I did so by organizing the biblical witness under two major headings. Heading number one, that the only gospel authorized by Jesus Christ contains a clarion call, to repentance. And we looked at Luke chapter 24, verses 45 to 48. And then the second heading was this, that the only gospel preached by the apostles contained a clarion call to repentance.

6:13 And then we looked at seven key texts out of the book of the Acts, and the united testimony of our Lord's definition of His authorized gospel. And that of the gospel preached by the apostles is that repentance is indeed an integral part of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And now tonight, we shall move on to consider the nature of evangelical repentance, having established the necessity. Now tonight, the nature.

The Gravity of the Subject: Life and Death Issues

6:53 And as we do, remember the issue at stake. This is not a matter of reshuffling a little bit of your mental furniture about a biblical doctrine. We are dealing with issues of life and death. We're dealing with issues of eternal glory or eternal shame.

7:13 We're dealing with issues of heaven and of hell. And may God help you, some of you who even now are glassy-eyed, and your eyes don't engage mine. Do you really believe that those of us who stand here mean what we say? I think some of you really think we're just doing our thing.

7:34 That's what you get paid for. That's what you're suited for. God knows I'm not doing my thing. And that I must resist the temptation, even now, to get off these steps and come to some of you and get straight in your face in love and say in God's name when.

7:55 Would you believe these are issues of life and of death? Would you believe these are issues of life and of death? Would you believe these are issues of life and of death? Would you believe these are issues of life and of death?

7:59 Would you believe these are issues of life and of death? They are. May God help us to handle them in a way that reflects our conviction that that is true. Well, how then do we take up so broad and vital a subject as the nature of evangelical repentance?

Approaches to Understanding the Nature of Repentance

8:18 Well, we could look at passages in which the Word of God says certain people that they repented. And looking at those passages, we could then seek to extract the principles which demonstrate what their repentance was. For example, Jesus says, the Ninevites will rise up and condemn His generation because they repented as the preaching of Jonah. That repentance will stand them in good stead in the day of judgment.

8:50 It was true evangelical repentance. And we could turn back to the book of Jonah and there we would see the elements of true repentance. and there we would see the elements of true repentance. If we take in a context among a people whose repentance a people whose repentance is validated by the Lord Jesus.

9:04 is validated by the Lord Jesus. Or we could take the prodigal son. In the context in which Jesus speaks of joy and the presence of God over one sinner that repents, he gives the story of the prodigal. So we could look at the prodigal and see what were the elements involved in his repentance.

9:26 or we could take some Old Testament characters. Manasseh, the Moses, the Jacobite, Manasseh and Athena, Menasseh, the Moses, the Jacobite, and Nino, or he could take some Old Testament characters like Manasseh, the Moses, the Jacobite, and Nino, most wicked king in Israel, and yet at the end of his days, the Scripture says he repented. And we could look into that experience of Manasseh. That's one way to approach seeking to understand what is the nature of evangelical repentance. Or a second approach we could

9:47 take, we could examine the key words in the Old and the New Testament and enlarge upon various aspects of the significance of those words as they are illustrated in the Scriptures. And that's a very legitimate approach to take to a basic biblical doctrine, to examine the very words which the Holy Spirit uses to set forth that particular biblical reality. Or we could take a third approach, take a good, balanced, working definition of repentance and examine the key words in the Old and the New Testament and enlarge upon that particular Or we could take a third approach, take a good, balanced, working definition of repentance and demonstrate how it expresses the major elements of the doctrine as found in words,

10:33 examples, and precepts. And it's that third approach that we're going to take together as the framework of our study will be the marvelous definition of repentance found in the Shorter Catechism. It is my conviction that there is no finer, more balanced, more comprehensive statement of the basic issues of the nature of repentance to be found in any uninspired literature than the definition of repentance in the Shorter Catechism. I'm persuaded it is the most accurate definition setting forth the essence of the teaching

11:15 of the Bible on the nature of repentance, but also it enables us, once memorized, to hold the basic strands of the biblical doctrine of repentance. And I think that's a very good idea. If we are to study the biblical doctrine, altogether, we can go back over that definition of repentance and then call to mind the biblical text and the biblical examples illustrated in that definition. And then thirdly, I hope for some of you who've never engaged in catechetical instruction for yourself or your children, or if you've grown slack in it, I hope you will get sold afresh and be stirred up for the first time or for the second time in the

Defining Repentance Unto Life from the Shorter Catechism

11:54 a renewed commitment to catechetical instruction and how critical it is if we are to have a grasp upon the teaching of these basic biblical doctrines. Well, with that review and introduction behind us, we now come to our subject for tonight, the nature of evangelical repentance. And when the question is asked in the Shorter Catechism, what is repentance unto life, the very question shows a sensitivity to biblical language. The phrase repentance unto life is taken right out of Acts 11 in verse 18. Peter and his companions are giving a report

12:39 of what happened when Peter preached in the house of Cornelius. And the Spirit of God came upon that gathering under the sound of the word. They are brought to faith and repentance. They are baptized, and when they are giving the account, the Jews back in Jerusalem, who were a bit suspicious as to whether or not God would save Gentile dogs without making them first into Jews, they had to hold their peace, the Scripture says, and glorify God because He had given to the Gentiles repentance unto life. And so the framers

13:17 of the Shorter Catechism, sensitive to that biblical phrase, asked the question, what is repentance unto life? And the answer they give 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 full purpose of, and endeavor after, eternal life. Now, the question is, what is repentance unto New obedience.

13:57 That's repentance unto life. If you're a stranger to that, you have no spiritual life. Repentance unto life. What is it?

The Source of Repentance: A Saving Grace

14:08 Well, as we think of that definition that gathers together the main strands of biblical teaching, let's consider it, breaking it down into three major categories. First of all, the source of true repentance, the soil of true repentance, and the substance of true repentance. Source, soil, and substance. First of all, then, the source.

14:35 Repentance unto life is a saving grace. Now, why in the world did the framers of the Catechism use that language?

14:48 Repentance unto life is a saving grace. Well, they wanted to underscore that, that repentance, though a spiritual act of the sinner, it is the sinner who needs to repent, who is commanded to repent, who does indeed repent when there is any repentance unto life, nonetheless, that very act of repentance is an evidence of the operations of God's saving grace and God's mercy. For the call to repentance comes to sinners, who are held in the grip of a moral and spiritual inability.

15:32 They are the slaves of their sin. They love their sin. The last thing in the world they want to do is to part with their sin. The last thing they want to do is to become the subjects of God in Jesus Christ.

15:47 And yet, repentance is a saving grace whereby this sinner, out of a sense of his sin and an apprehension of the mercy of God, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God with full purpose of and ever after new obedience. So, wherever there is true repentance, the grace of God has been operative, implanting the grace of repentance in the sinner's heart, just as clearly as the Bible teaches, that God implants the grace of faith within the sinner's heart. And there are no fewer than three specific texts

16:31 that when you look at the grammar of those texts, you have a form of the verb to give, and the direct object of what is given is repentance. Let's look at them together. Acts 5 and verse 30. Acts 5 and verse 30.

16:49 Back up to verse 29. Peter and his companions, preaching, speaking to those opposing them, said, We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew, hanging Him on a tree. Him did God exalt with His right hand, a Prince and a Savior.

17:13 The crucified Christ is now an exalted Prince, and as He exercises His princeliness and His saving grace and power, how does He do it? Look at the text. He is exalted, a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sin. He is exalted to give remission, but remission only in the way of repentance.

17:43 And as surely as He grants the remission, He grants the repentance that is unto that remission. Repentance unto life is a saving grace. God's grace is operative. In giving the gift of saving repentance.

18:02 Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11. The verse I referred to earlier, in conjunction with the little phrase, repentance unto life. The setting again.

18:17 Peter and the Jewish companions have come back to their own, and they report how the gospel had been received among these Gentiles in the household of Cornelius. And after giving this description of what God did, verse 18, And when they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified Cornelius and his household, saying, Isn't it wonderful? They decided for Jesus. That's the way a lot of people today would have responded to the report.

18:49 You tell them, you were preaching in a household, and the whole household got converted. They'd say, Isn't that wonderful? They decided for Jesus. That isn't how they responded.

19:01 Nor did they respond by saying, When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified Jesus. They held their peace and glorified God, saying, Oh, Peter, what an unusual unction God must have given you, that a whole household would come to faith. No. Nothing about what the sinners did.

19:19 Nothing about what Peter did, the preacher. But now notice where their praise is fixed. Then to the Gentiles also has God granted, given repentance unto life. They hear that a whole household has turned from sin and appropriated Christ, as he is held forth in the gospel.

19:44 They glorify the God whose grace was operative in granting repentance unto life. And the third text is 2 Timothy. Here Paul, speaking to his spiritual son Timothy, introducing him to many aspects of what we might call sharper edges of Biblical realism, the darker shadows of Christian ministry, he lets him know that it's not going to be easy. There will be times when the servant of God is tempted to enter into the jousts of argument and strife.

20:22 But notice what he says. Verse 24 of 2 Timothy. The Lord's servant must not strive, but be gentle toward all, apt to teach, forbearing, in meekness correcting them, correcting them that oppose themselves, if, if this demeanor of the servant of God, not being argumented, not regarding the issue as though it's my arguments must batter down his, my will must somehow run over their wills. No, the Lord's servant must not be striving, be argumentative, combative, but gentle toward all, apt to teach, forbearing, in meekness correcting them,

21:06 that oppose themselves, if peradventure, God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will. They recover themselves when? When God is pleased to give repentance unto the knowledge of the truth. When God is pleased to give repentance unto the knowledge of the truth.

21:39 Three specific texts in which repentance is said to be given by God. And this is why the framers of that marvelous statement of what repentance is, begin with the emphasis that the source of evangelical repentance, the source of repentance unto life, is the operation of God's own free, sovereign, efficacious grace. Repentance unto life is a saving grace. So that sitting here tonight, if you are a penitent and believing sinner, now notice I didn't say if you repented,

22:21 as though it were a point action in the past. No, if you ever truly repented, you are repenting. So you are a repenting and a believing sinner. That's all kind of sinners on their way to heaven.

22:33 Repenting, believing sinners. That's what they are from the point they first began to repent and believe, until repentance and faith are no longer needed. And faith is turned to sight. And that which is the cause of repentance is no longer with us.

22:49 Our sin is dealt with forever. If you're a penitent, believing sinner, it's because God has put forth that marvelous, gracious energy of His Spirit upon your spirit, in the language of Ezekiel 36. He has taken out the heart of stone. He's given you a heart of flesh.

23:12 The first conscious actings of that secret, powerful, regenerating work of God in grace are the actings of repentance and faith. A repentance permeated with faith, and a faith permeated repentance. As we freely, joyfully embrace the gospel call to repent, and to believe on the Lord Jesus. And if sitting here tonight, as we begin to unfold more of the nature of repentance, and you say, I don't have a clue, that is, in my experience, what shall I do?

23:50 Cry to the exalted Christ, who from His place as Prince and Savior stands ready to give what He demands, and without which you will perish. Well, you say, if I have no innate power to repent, how can God call upon me to do what I can? Because it's your duty to do it. It was never your duty to sin.

24:10 It was never your duty to be a rebel against God. You were made to know God, to obey God, to follow the Lord Jesus. And it is your wicked, perverse will that has turned you aside. Though you have no power to rectify it, Almighty God commands you to repent, and assures you that one is exalted in Christ, that one is exalted at His right hand, in glory and in power, and in a plenitude of grace, exalted to give the very thing God commands.

24:46 And in our evangelism, brethren, my brothers and sisters, I pray God, the Spirit will baptize our hearts with enlarged desires for sinners, greater boldness in our witness for Christ, less concern about being a tactful witness, more concerned about having blood on our hands. But may we never, in our most passionate, fervent, aggressive evangelism, may we never forget evangelism is not a con job on fellow sinners. It is an activity in which God may be pleased to take our witness to Christ and make it the vehicle of His own sovereign, almighty,

25:29 omnipotent grace. What is the source of true repentance? Repentance unto life is a saving grace. Now we move, secondly, to consider the soil of repentance unto life.

The Soil of Repentance: Conviction of Sin and Grasp of Christ

25:43 What is the soil? And I use that term because this is the language of the Shorter Catechism. Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of, it comes out of something, so let's look at it as the soil, whereby a sinner out of, and then two things are identified as the soil out of which true repentance grows. Whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ.

26:23 So what are the two elements in the soil of evangelical repentance? Number one, a spirit wrought conviction of sin and secondly, a spirit imparted grasp of Christ. There they are. A spirit wrought conviction of sin and a spirit imparted grasp of Christ.

26:46 Let's look at them and some key passages under each heading. So often in our day evangelism is carried on this way. You have an opportunity to speak to someone or you hear an evangelist preaching and you'll say, and if you're here tonight and you are without Christ, if you're ready to admit you're a sinner, then go to Christ who died for sinners and He will receive you. Personal evangelism techniques are all geared to get someone to admit their sinnerhood.

27:16 The framers of our confession had no place for mere admission. They wrote these words and with great purpose and with a sensitivity to biblical teaching. Whereby a sinner out of a true sense, a true sense of his sin has to do with an experiential acquaintance with what my sin is at the level of my spiritual sensitivity. Not a mere intellectual admission.

27:55 Oh yes, everybody got the measles 15 years ago. I got them with my brothers and my sisters. Yeah, I've had the measles. I got a few scars to remind me of it.

28:05 I had this or that. Yeah, big deal. I have yet to meet a fellow mortal. Only one.

28:12 One time. One time. I saw this witness woman who came to my door who would not admit that he or she was a sinner. Only one.

28:23 Almost everyone would admit their sins. In fact, it's popular now to admit it. That way we can mutually absolve one another. Nobody's perfect.

28:30 The President can carry on in the Oval Office and Giuliani can carry on in public. Yeah, none of us is perfect. We're human. You hear that all the time.

28:40 You're human. What they mean by that is we are faulted, sinful people. Admission of sin is not a strange thing. There are many who'll admit they are sinners.

28:53 But that's not the issue. The issue is a spirit-wrought conviction of sin, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin. Now, what biblical witness was pressing in upon the framers of that statement when they wrote those words? Well, surely it must be passages such as these.

29:13 Let's look at Romans 3. You'll remember that from Romans 1-18 all the way through to Romans 3 and verse 20, the Apostle has one passionate concern, and that is to demonstrate that the Gospel that he preaches wherever he goes, that he hopes to preach in Spain, with Rome being his new base church to support him and stand behind him as he takes this new Gospel foray into Spain, and he is outlining that Gospel which he's preached wherever he goes, which is the power of God unto salvation, and what is the base note in that Gospel? As he sounds the Gospel forward, what is the base note?

29:57 It's 1.18-3.20 demonstrating every single human being on the face of the earth is a sinner and guilty before God. And what is his concern in demonstrating universal sinfulness?

30:10 Well, let's look at verses 19 and 20 in his summary statement, chapter 3. Now we know that what things whoever the law says, it speaks to them that are under the law, and he has demonstrated that all men are under the law. Some have God's written codified law in the Ten Commandments. Some have the remnants of that still upon their constitution.

30:35 They show not the law written on their hearts. That's the distinctive privilege of a believer. But it says they show the work of the law written upon their hearts. Like those pictures one sees of the columns and forms as part of the massive buildings of ancient Greece.

30:52 And you know that once there was a breathtaking temple that stood there. The remnants showed you that it was once glorious. That's the way we are. Conscience has been twisted.

31:03 Our whole inner moral constitution has been defaced. But the massive pillars are still there and some of the parts of the walls and we can't escape it. So that people who've never seen the lids of a Bible, never heard the Ten Commandments, have a conscience that accuses and excuses and in many cases shows the echoes of the thundering voice of God that spoke from Sinai and wrote with the finger of God upon the two tablets of stone. And Paul says, whatsoever things the law says it speaks to them that are under the law.

31:38 To what end? Now look at the text. That everyone may admit he's a sinner? No.

31:44 Look. That every mouth may be stoned. And all the world be brought under the judgment of God. Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight for through the law comes, now notice, the knowledge of sin.

32:06 When the law has done its proper work it brings what? The knowledge of sin. And what is that knowledge? A mere intellectual exception.

32:15 Yeah, we're all sinners. We're all friends. We're all human beings. No.

32:20 It's a knowledge that shuts your mouth. It's a knowledge that presses you into silence before Almighty God with the head dropped. Spirit crying with that publican. God, be merciful to me.

32:47 Sinner among many and I'm comfortable in the crowd. When Holy Ghost conviction grips a man he becomes a very lonely person. It's just God. The sinner and his mouth is shut.

33:06 I want to ask you. Has your mouth ever been shut? Nothing to say. No excuses.

33:13 No equivocating. No blame shifting. Almighty God has called me a hell against whom his anger justly burns. My mouth is shut and I say, Oh God, the indictments are warranted.

33:24 The indictments are justified. In the language of Psalm 51 we cry with David who had been guilty of some of the worst crimes in his life. And I say, Oh God, the indictments are warranted. The indictments are justified.

33:39 In the language of Psalm 51 we cry with David who had been guilty of some of the worst crimes in his life. And I say, Oh God, the indictments are justified. In the language of Psalm 51 we cry with David who had been guilty of some of the worst crimes in violation of the second table of the law. He had wantonly committed adultery.

33:58 He had calculatedly plotted the murder of Uriah. Yet when he comes under conviction what is his language? Psalm 51 against you and you only have I sinned and done that which is evil in yours that you may be clear when you judge that you may be justified when you speak. Lord, you indict me for my sin.

34:21 I embrace the indictment and you are vindicated. You haven't overstated the case. That's Holy Spirit conviction. Jesus said in John 16 8 when the Spirit comes what will His ministry be to the world through the people of God to whom He comes.

34:43 And when He is come He will convict. He will reprove. He will convince that word to convict means to so persuade as to shut the mouth of the adversary. He will reprove the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment.

35:03 And when the Holy Spirit does His work there is what the Shorter Catechism describes as the sinner out of a true sense of his sin. That's what Luke describes in Acts chapter 2 when Peter is preaching and verse 37 says now when they heard the word of the Lord they were stabbed in their hearts as with a dagger. Didn't say well you know to come to think of it we did have a little something to do with what Peter is accusing us of namely murdering Messiah. They were not there just merely admitting under pressure that they did something bad.

35:43 They were stabbed in their hearts. It's what Paul describes in Romans 7. He said I had not known sin by the law of God until God the Holy Ghost saddled up the tenth commandment and rode into this private world of sin until God the Holy Ghost saddled up the tenth commandment and rode into this private world of sin into this proud Pharisee's heart and he took him

36:28 to pieces. He said I had not known sin except the law said you shall not covet. Suddenly that heart that I thought was a pure I saw to be a seething boiling smelly bottomless pit of evil desire and I who strutted around alive before God's law suddenly I wound and I heal and I kill and I make alive. I would never be a tool of the devil to bring accusation against a sensitive conscience

37:12 and say you must have so many ounces or pounds of conviction. Your conviction must cause you to lose at least one half night's sleep and cause you at least to fast for three days a day. You must be prepared to state from the Bible if your mouth has not been shut and you've not come to a knowledge of sin that goes beyond a mere intellectual admission of being a general flop you know nothing of true evangelical

37:56 repentance. The soil of repentance is conviction of sin wrought by the great and powerful God Jesus. It is trying to get people very comfortable in a climate where there can be a kind of a sneaking in of the fact that Jesus is the answer to your problem. Musical forms are used

38:35 people brought under pungent conviction of sin, crying out like the prodigal, who've been tapping their feet and swaying and getting high on the Christian contemporary rock stars.

38:55 Watch the modern evangelistic crusades, and they clap because you clap to give your approval of performers, musical performers. Football players give their testimony. Clap, clap. Where was the clapping when it says they were cut? Where was the clapping when Saul of Tarsus

39:16 went down like someone had shot him with a .30-06 through the skull? Where was the clapping when David is prostrate saying against thee, and thee only have I sinned? Where was the clapping when the prodigal was beating upon his breast? I mean the publican saying, God

39:36 be merciful. I'm no killjoy. I laugh as hard as anyone in this place when it's appropriate to laugh. I'll point as hard as anyone. But I tell you, you don't hapify people into true repentance.

39:54 You won't sneak them into repentance by a watered-down gospel. And I say again to you, the rising generation, God in hell resists the pressure that will be on you. Oh, don't you love souls? You've got to be like them to win them. When you're like them to win

40:12 them, you've got nothing to win them to. Nothing worth winning them to. One of the blessings against the dark backdrop of our increasingly decadent society is where common grace is being swept away by the carlooms. It's going to be the people of God who reflect the alternate lifestyle at every level. Where just common courtesy will be found pretty much only in

40:38 the Christian. Where gentlemanly behavior and womanly demeanor and behavior will be a distinctive mark of the people of God! From that standpoint, I welcome the decadence. You You understand what I'm saying?

40:54 What in the world are you doing being kind? I'm a Christian. What? I'm a child of God.

41:02 I'm to reflect my Heavenly Father. He sends His rain unjust and unjust. He's a kind God. I want to reflect Him.

41:10 That's why I'm kind to you. I'm not earning brownie points. That God who could have thrown me into hell, you're such a good person. Oh, you don't know me.

41:20 The opportunities I've had in the past couple of years in that very area. Well, you and your wife have such a positive attitude to cancer. It's so lovely to see your positive attitude.

41:31 Pat me. Say, no, no. It's our relationship to God.

41:37 God's done something to radically adjust it. And it all begins with God showing us how bad we are. Holy Ghost conviction. Look at the prodigal.

41:48 Be the last biblical reference. The Lord is demonstrating that it is like God to receive sinners. The Pharisees are upset. The first part of Luke 15.

42:00 They're upset that He's hobnobbing with sinners. And Jesus gives three parables to demonstrate that God in heaven welcomes sinners. And He, Christ, who's come to reveal the Father, is simply revealing this disposition and action of God. And then He says there was a son.

42:17 Man had two sons. And that son goes into the far country. Now when the Scripture says He came to Himself, what is His language? Look at it.

42:26 Luke chapter 15. Verse 17. But when He came to Himself, He'd been guilty of moral and spiritual insanity. He was out of His mind.

42:38 He was out of His tree. Now He comes back to Himself. He says what? Hey man, things are really much better back in my dad's path.

42:52 I go back, put on a front, tell him maybe I'll hang out in his pad for a little bit until I get over my hunger pains, get a few pounds back. I'll earn a few shekels, then I'll split and go back to where life is really at. I can tolerate Pop's pad for a little bit. No, look at the language.

43:12 I will arise and go to my Father and say, Father, I have sinned against heaven. Against heaven? There's no mention of heaven in the first part of the story. He just says, Dad, I've had it up to here.

43:26 Rules, regulations, standards, I've had it. Give me the inheritance coming to me. I'm splitting.

43:34 No reference that he stood in the front yard and raised his fist and cursed God and said, God, you're behind Pop's rules and you're behind Pop's standards and you're behind everything that Pop stands for and I can't stand you, God. I've had it. I'm getting away from you, hoping somehow you're attached to Dad.

43:52 But when he comes to himself, he sees beyond Dad. Beyond Pop's pad and Pop's standards and Pop's laws and rules. He said, I've sinned against heaven. I've sinned against heaven.

44:06 And in the sight of my Father. And I'll arise and go to my Father and say what? I'm no more worthy to be called your son. There's a genuine sense of the shut mouth.

44:19 He's not coming back. He said, Dad, I know. Well, I've been gone. You've been losing some sleep and had some rough nights.

44:25 Now, Pop, can we sit down? And I'll come back to where you don't have to go to bed at night with a broken heart. I'll be closing up. But let's come to terms.

44:33 You know, Pop, those standards you had before, they were a bit extreme. And let's make no negotiating. He says, even the servants that appear at Pop's door in the morning to get his orders, they have a gracious master. I'm ready to go back into slave shack and come and take my orders every morning.

44:51 What a transformation of this whole perspective about Pop's path and Pop's rules and Pop's regulations. Why? He came to himself. There was that operation upon his mind that the Bible calls repentance.

The Soil of Repentance: Apprehension of God's Mercy in Christ

45:07 Spirit wrought. Conviction of sin. But then the second element of the soil is spirit imparted grasp of Christ. Listen to the language.

45:18 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. Now, what does the word apprehend mean?

45:39 Well, if you pick up your local freebie. Paper that gives local news, there'll be a column in there. At least there is in the Cedar Grove Times and it lists the actions of the police during the week and offers for so and so apprehended John Doe at 2 30 on Thursday afternoon on Pompton Avenue apprehend. What's that?

46:01 It means to lay hold of, you can't apprehend something that's not there. You can see something's there, recognize it, acknowledge it, shake his hand, curtsy to it, do whatever you want. But to. Apprehend is to lay hold of it.

46:15 And the framers of our of that shorter catechism captured a very vital principle. They said repentance comes out of the soil, not merely of spirit wrought conviction of sin, but a spirit imparted grasp of Christ apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. In other words, they understood what Jesus taught in Luke. Before he said, this now is what you are to preach among the nations, Christ must suffer the third day, be raised from the dead and that repentance unto remission of sin should be preached.

46:56 How in his name that is the repentance that is unto remission of sin is to be preached against the backdrop of the revelation of God's mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ to preach. Repentance in the name of Christ is to preach repentance in the context of the proclamation of the gospel that Christ must suffer and that he did suffer and what God has accomplished in his suffering. He was buried. He was raised.

47:31 The fact of his resurrection, the implications of his resurrection. He's a living Christ. Stand from your sin. Hold of the mercy of God in Christ.

47:45 He's wise, biblically. He's a living Christ. He's a living Christ. He's a living Christ.

47:49 He's a living Christ. He's a living Christ. He's a living Christ. What Professor Murray so beautifully describes this way that all true faith is permeated with repentance and all true repentance is permeated with faith.

48:01 That's why he would not write two separate chapters in his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Repentance and Faith. He put in one chapter to seek to get through to every reader this truth, to talk about the priority of repentance. Or the priority of faith is ludicrous. Faith is engagement of the whole person of the sinner with the whole Christ.

48:27 To be saved by Christ to the ends for which Christ is a Savior. Well, what is he a Savior from? He's a Savior from sin. Put yourself in his hands and you're saying, I want done with sin.

48:39 It's power as well as it's guilt. It's dominion and it's defilement. I want done with sin. Jesus saves from sin.

48:48 I want done with sin. I trust him. See, all true faith is permeated with repentance. And if it's true repentance, it will be permeated with faith.

48:58 Merely to know from the law of God that I'm a sinner and condemned and helpless is to be driven to despair. But to know that I'm all those things but Christ is a willing and an able and a pleading and an entreating and a welcoming Savior. It is in that. Context.

49:20 That true repentance is wrought in the heart of a sinner. Zechariah 1210 is a wonderful text that captures this truth. They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him. So lovely little couplet.

49:38 I couldn't find to him. I scoured my only hymns and three or four old hymn books. Couldn't find it. I think it's by Newton.

49:47 And it has this couplet in it. A bleeding. Savior I have viewed, and now I hate my sin. The law can awaken us to the reality of our sin, but it's when we view that sin in the light of the cross that the Spirit of God works in us a hatred for that sin. These are the words of Newton. In evil long I took delight,

50:18 unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck my sight and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on a tree in agonies and blood, who fixed his loving eyes on me as near his cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his death, though not a word he spoke.

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50:49 conscience felt and owned the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins. His blood had spilled and helped to nail him there. But the hymn doesn't end in despair. Here's the

51:03 last stanza. A second look he gave, which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom paid. I die that thou mayest live. And it's in that setting that repentance

51:21 unto life will be found in the heart. The spirit wrought conviction of sin, the sinner out of a true sense of his sin. A spirit imparted grasp upon Christ and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. And if you say, but pastor, how much conviction must I have? I

The Nature of Conviction and Faith: Varied Experiences, Same Truth

51:45 answer, enough conviction to know you deserve the wrath of God and enough conviction to cause you to despair. That much. No more. Oh, Rabbi Duncan said it beautifully. It is wonderfully said to

52:08 know that I need nothing more than a crucified Christ to save me, but nothing less will do. How much conviction do I have to have? Enough to make you persuaded that God gave you what you deserve. He plunged you into hell and caused angels to praise him for his justice.

52:29 And enough to know you can't fix yourself up. You've got to go out of yourself to another. You may shed tears, you may not shed tears. You may lose sleep. You may not lose sleep. The Spirit of God records Paul preaching and

52:44 it just says, in the most beautiful way, Lydia hears and it says, whose heart the Lord opened, so she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul. The next thing you know, she's getting baptized. She didn't go into a paroxysm of great dread and fear, and tears, and days of seeking. Just gently, beneath the level of any perceptible operation that the human eye could discern, the Spirit of God was opening your heart like a flower opens to the sun.

53:17 No noise, no clanging, no struggles.

53:22 But in that same chapter, there's an old hardened Roman jailer man. He beats up on the servants of God, probably went to bed that night, said all in a day's work. He was sleeping soundly until these characters are in there at midnight, like blood streaming down their back, and they're so irresponsibly happy. They're singing hymns and praying and praising God at midnight.

53:44 Maybe the jailer slept through that. I don't know. It doesn't say. But I know when he got awake, and God rattled the jail.

53:51 When the earthquake came, he got scared with us. And it says he came in trembling, calling for lights. And he's got a dagger. Prisoners have split.

54:00 And before Rome can send her emissaries to kill me, I'll take my own life. And he has the dagger raised, and Paul and Silas say, Do yourself no harm. We're all here. And he falls down, cries out, What must I do to be saved?

54:15 Paul takes him in his home, preaches to him and his whole household at night.

54:22 Two people, one saved like the flower opening to the sun. The other one, God had to send some thunder and lightning, rocked the jailhouse. Get the man ready to take his life. Well, was the jailer man more saved than Lydia?

54:34 No. Don't ever get hung up on how much of this, that, and the other. The issue is this. Have you had enough conviction to know that hell is what you deserve?

54:46 And anything other than that is all mercy. And have you had enough conviction of the pollution and bondage of your heart to know you can't turn over a new leaf and fix yourself up? You've got to run to Christ with all your chains and all the vomit of your sin all over your being and cry to him to deliver you. And how strong must the faith in Christ be?

55:12 Enough to embrace. That's it. As many as received him. Some in their reception of Christ, it comes like thunderbolts of awareness, of immediate assurance.

55:25 And others grab with a kind of tentative grasp and wonder, have I really laid hold and has he laid hold of me? But the Bible never says, by grace are you saved through strong faith or through a medium amount of faith. It just says, by grace are you saved through faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

55:44 It says, Believe with strong faith. It doesn't qualify. It doesn't qualify. It simply says, He that believes on the Son hath life.

55:53 He that believes not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him. That's the soil of evangelical repentance. And that's why, even though it is painful to set Christ before people week after week, month after month, who seem to be indifferent to him, when you're persuaded that if God's going to give anything, any sinner in this place, repentance, he'll give it in the context he's held for, in all the freeness and the fullness of his saving mercy. And it's in that context that God will give repentance unto life.

Conclusion: Preaching the Uncompromised Gospel

56:32 So you preach on, you pray on, you believe on, and you trust that God will do his work. Well, time is gone. We didn't get to the substance. We looked at the source and the soil, the substance.

56:48 And we'll save that for another time. We'll save that for another message. As I told someone at the door this morning, the older I get, the more I am determined, God giving me breath and sanity, that I'm not going to preach over vital things. I'd rather preach one vital thing into your hearts than preach over three things in the surface way that only touches your head.

57:10 And you've heard enough tonight. This is no excuse if you do not go to this exalted Christ, seeking from him repentance unto life. What excuse will you have? Some of you, God's exposed you and showed you.

57:27 Your Christianity's all a sham. Don't resent that exposure. It's the kindest thing God's done to you. He strips us that he might clothe us.

57:36 You see, in that sense, people have a misunderstanding of effectual calling. They think it's God taking the sinner, kicking and screaming, and still wanting to cling to the world and drags him into the kingdom against his will. No. Effectual calling is God working beneath the level of our consciousness, doing those things which so dispose the soul that we want the very things God commands of us.

58:03 We want to forsake our sin. We want to go to Christ. We want to get out of the God business. We want to get out of the self-savior business.

58:14 We are joyfully prepared to cast ourselves upon Christ and Christ alone as he has freely offered to us in the gospel. My dear fellow believers in this place, we have a wonderful gospel to preach. And though we wish these pews were filled with seeking sinners, we're not prepared to compromise the message which alone can do them good to get the pews filled. And may God grant that you never will.

58:48 Never will. And if God's going to rescue sinners in this area, and we beg him that he will, and we look to him for ways that we may be more devoted and enterprising and zealous and bold and spirit anointed, there's only one instrument God's going to use. It is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. That gospel that indicts men for what they really are, that sets forth God's saving acts in Jesus Christ, and that sends out a clarion call that they must repent toward God and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

59:33 There is no other gospel. May God grant that till Christ comes, that gospel will be preached from this place if it means there's twenty people sitting in the first three rows. I pray it will not come to that. But that has happened.

59:52 In churches that have known blessing, God has tested the faith and brought them down to a mere handful. But a handful of people that loved their God and wouldn't budge from his word prayed on and labored on. Some of those works have blossomed again, causing them to believe the promise that desert shall blossom as the rose has some application to their circumstance. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer: For Repentance and Discerning Hearts

60:24 Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And we pray tonight for those who have never, never taken seriously what they are and what they have done as sinners. And we pray that you would efficaciously take your word into their hearts.

60:49 And whether by thunder and lightning in their souls, or whether by that gentle influence that you exerted upon Lydia, O Lord, we ask that some would mark this day as the day they sought you and found you in grace. O God, we pray for your people in this place, that you will make us a discerning people, that while we will never be guilty of a sinful judgmentalism upon the motives of others, give us, we pray, a keen eye and a discerning ear and heart to make judgments on what is propounded as gospel.

61:33 And may we have no sympathy for nor involvement in anything that is anything other than a gospel. O Lord, we thank you for your grace, that exalts your Son, that heralds the demand for deep and thorough and real repentance, and calls men to a whole-souled embrace of a whole Christ, prophet, priest, and king. O our Father, we pray that from this congregation you would raise up men in whose hearts this gospel burns like fire, and that they may stay with Jeremiah.

62:15 Your word was in my heart as a fire, shut up within my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. Then I spoke with my mouth. O Lord, be pleased to do it. Hear our cry.

62:32 Seal your word to our hearts. Receive our thanks for the mercies of this day. And help us that should we be called into your presence in the coming week, we would stand before you clothed in the righteousness of your beloved Son. We ask these mercies in his name.

62:53 Amen.