Substance of Repentance

Recap: Necessity and Nature of Repentance

0:04 Now, we come tonight to what is the third in a brief series of messages on the subject of evangelical repentance.

0:15 Now, the words evangelical repentance are intended to point us to that repentance which is an integral part of the good news. Evangelical means pertaining to the evangel or the good news of the gospel. And evangelical repentance is that repentance which is an integral part of the proclamation of the gospel and is an inseparable element in a saving response to the gospel. So, we are considering the Bible's teaching on that repentance which is an integral part of the proclamation of the gospel and an inseparable element in a saving response to the gospel. And I have stated that we would consider this subject under three broad headings, the necessity, the nature, and the fruits of evangelical repentance. In our first study, we considered the necessity of repentance and we did so under two major headings. We saw from Luke chapter 24 verses 45 to 48 that the only gospel.

1:31 Authorized by our Lord Jesus Christ contains a clarion call to repentance. Christ, in that passage, is instructing his apostles as to what they are to preach as they go out among all the nations and make disciples. And he tells them that they are to preach that Christ should suffer, should rise again from the dead the third day. And that repentance of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2:00 That repentance unto remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. So, any supposed gospel that does not contain the announcement of the significance of the cross of Christ. The fact and significance of the resurrection of the Christ is not the biblical gospel. Likewise.

2:28 A faithful proclamation. Of his cross and his empty tomb. If it is not attended with a clarion call to repentance is an unauthorized gospel. And then we saw in the second place that the only gospel preached by the apostles also contained a clarion call to repentance.

2:52 And beginning in Acts 2.38 all the way through to Acts 26.20. We looked at seven key passages that give us a little praises.

3:03 A little synopsis of circumstances in which the apostles were preaching. In some cases to multitudes. In some cases to a group of people. In some cases to individuals.

3:17 And this note of repentance was present in their proclamation of the gospel. So that the conclusion that we draw out of 2 Peter. 3 and verse 9 is a valid conclusion. God is not willing that any should perish.

3:35 But that all should come to repentance. If we do not come to repentance we shall perish. It doesn't matter if we say I don't believe in perishing. Any more than if you walk out onto change bridge road or horse neck road.

3:51 And say I don't believe that a moving vehicle can hurt me. Plant yourself in front of one and find out you are not superman. The reality is that almighty God has said if we do not come to repentance we shall perish. Then in our second message we began to consider the nature of repentance.

4:11 What is this repentance that Jesus said is to be an integral part of the proclamation of the gospel. What is this repentance that was a dominant note in the gospel preaching of the apostles. And I suggested there were a number of ways to approach that consideration. But that I was choosing to use that wonderful statement.

4:34 That wonderful definition of repentance found in the shorter catechism. What is repentance unto life? And the answer given is this. Repentance unto life is a saving grace.

4:47 Whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin. And apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. Does with grief and hatred of his sin. Turn from it unto God.

5:01 With full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. And in breaking down that wonderful and comprehensive definition of repentance. We noted together that it points us to the source of repentance. Repentance unto life is a saving grace.

5:22 Repentance is not a work. We bring to God. And ask him on the basis of something we do to accept us. No repentance as well as faith.

5:34 Are the gifts of God. They are the result. The fruit of God's sovereign gracious working. In the human heart.

5:43 In what we call regeneration or the new birth. And the new birth becomes vocal. In the soul of a sinner. When there is the repentance toward God.

5:57 And faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And we looked at three texts of scripture. In which repentance is said to be the gift of God. Acts 5.31.

6:09 Acts 11.18. And 2 Timothy 2.26.

The Source and Soil of Repentance

6:13 And let me say by way of an aside. I looked at it again this week to make sure my memory was serving me right. Beware of certain modern translations. That say we are going to put the Bible into the language of the common man.

6:26 So they can understand it. If you have good news for modern man. You will find in all three of those texts. And this translation was done by Greek scholars.

6:38 Out of the original text. And yet in all three texts they render it this way. God has given opportunity to repent. Making opportunity the object of God's giving.

6:50 And that's a theological bias that refuses to acknowledge. That repentance is a gracious donation of God himself. So the source of repentance is the grace of God. If any sinner ever comes to repentance.

7:09 Is because God has been working in him that which he doesn't deserve. It is the grace of God. And then we looked at the soil of repentance. Repentance unto life is a saving grace.

7:20 Whereby a sinner out of. Out of two things. A true sense of his sin. And secondly apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ.

7:34 And those words are simply describing spirit wrought conviction for sin. Repentance comes out of the soil of a true sense of sin. Not a mere admission of sin. But a true sense of sin.

7:53 That is a conviction wrought by the spirit through the word. In conjunction with the conscience of the individual sinner. That sin is a very real moral commodity. There is a God who has rights over us as his creatures.

8:10 That God has expressed his will in his law. And we in Adam fell. We rebelled against that God. And in our own personal existential experience.

8:21 We live with the clenched fist against the God of heaven. Romans 8, 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God.

8:31 Neither indeed can it be. And no one is ever brought to repentance. Who is not first of all brought to a true sense of his sin. He sees his sin as against God.

8:46 In the language of David. Against you oh God and you only have I sinned. Or the language of the prodigal. He came to himself and said I will arise and go to my father.

9:00 And say to my father I have sinned against heaven. He comes to the awareness. This true sense of his sin. That involves the invisible world of God.

9:15 And his law. And our obligations to him. But the second element in the soil. Is what the old writers have described as an apprehension.

9:27 Of the mercy of God in Christ. That is a different way of describing. Laying hold of God's offered salvation. In the person and work of the Lord Jesus.

9:41 Evangelical repentance is to be preached in Christ. In Christ's name. That is it is to be preached in the context. Of the proclamation of what God has done for sinners.

9:54 In the person and work of the Lord Jesus. To preach in his name means in the light of what is revealed. Of the mercy of God to sinners. In the person and work of Christ.

10:07 And this is why we insist that true faith. Is permeated with repentance. True repentance is permeated with faith. And the framers of that confession.

10:19 And that catechism understood this well. That there is no evangelical repentance. Outside of the context of the preaching of the gospel. There may be a legal repentance.

10:32 A sense of dread and of terror. And of fear of the judgment of God. But there will be no turning from sin unto God. As long as we see God.

10:43 As against us. In his righteous wrath and anger. It is only when having seen God against us in his anger. We see him for us and toward us.

10:55 In and through Christ in the gospel. That we will ever turn to that God. In true repentance. And we concluded that second study by.

11:06 Seeking to answer the very vexatious question. How much conviction is necessary. To true repentance. And I answered enough to know.

11:16 That you're not right with God. That your mouth has been shut. Romans 3 20. And enough to know that there is no hope in yourself.

11:25 Or in any other human being. That much no more is needed. No less will do. And how much apprehension of Christ.

11:35 Enough to know that he alone can meet our need. And enough to embrace him with all our heart. On his terms. No less.

Introduction to the Substance of Repentance

11:44 No more. Now I've condensed into. 12 minutes. The essence of.

11:51 Couple of hours of exposition. But we come now tonight. Having looked at the source of repentance. Repentance under life is a saving.

12:01 Grace it is the grace of God. The soil of repentance. Where in the sinner. Who has a true sense of his life.

12:10 And a true. Sense of his sin. And an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. We move from.

12:18 The source. And the soil. To the substance of repentance. And the substance of repentance is captured.

12:26 In three units of thought. In that wonderful definition of repentance. The sinner. Out of.

12:33 A true sense of sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ does. With grief. And hatred. Of his sin.

12:41 Turn from it. Unto God. With full purpose of. And endeavor after.

12:45 New. Obedience. You see the three elements. That constitute.

12:49 The very substance of repentance. Genuine sorrow and hatred of sin. Secondly a resolute. Thorough turning.

12:53 From sin. Unto God. And thirdly. An unfeigned.

12:57 Repentance. In the spirit. Of God. In the spirit.

13:01 Of God. In the spirit. Of God. In the spirit.

13:05 Of God. In the spirit. Of God. In the spirit.

13:09 Of God. In the spirit. Of God. And so.

13:13 With. A unique. And unfeigned. Commitment.

13:17 To live out. This new. Mindset. With respect.

13:21 To. God. And to sin. First of all then.

Element 1: Genuine Sorrow and Hatred for Sin

13:25 Genuine sorrow. And hatred. For sin. Where.

13:30 Did. The framers. Of that. Catechism.

13:34 Get the notion. That repentance has. As. Something.

13:39 Of its. Well, they got it out of their Bibles. And I want you to turn with me to what is a watershed text indicating that wherever there is true evangelical repentance, there will be grief and sorrow for sin. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7, the context is Paul's response to hearing good news from Titus that the Corinthian church has yielded to his pastoral rebukes and admonitions concerning some elements of sin in their midst which had not hitherto been dealt with.

14:18 And Paul is rejoicing that Titus has come back to him, you find this in verse 6, giving a good report of what has happened among the Corinthians. But now notice how Paul describes the psychology and the truest sense of the word, the psychology of that repentance which he heard about from Titus and that made his heart glad. Verse 8, For though I made you sorry with my epistle or my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that that epistle or letter made you sorry, though but for a season.

14:56 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry unto repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly sort, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing. Now here's the key statement. Godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation.

15:24 A repentance which brings. No regret, but the sorrow of the world works death. For behold, this selfsame thing, that you were made sorry after a godly sort. Now, if you get nothing else, you get the notion that in Paul's mind, news of any repentance that did not make the professed penitent sorry would never, never have registered with Paul as being genuine repentance.

15:55 How many times? How many times does he use the word sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, and then the key statement in verse 10, for godly sorrow, that sorrow that has its reference point in God and is from God and leads to God, that is the sorrow that works repentance, that repentance which is unto salvation. Here's the terminus, salvation. The way.

16:26 To it, godly sorrow that works repentance unto salvation. Ah, but someone objects. This is describing the repentance of believers. I answer your objection by saying, as we've established in previous studies, repentance and faith are not the acts of a moment, but the acquisition of a disposition of heart.

16:50 And the repentance in the initial turning to God through Christ is not substantial. But the act of faith in Christ is substantially different from the ongoing repentance of the one who is in Christ. Anymore than the initial acting of faith in Christ is substantially different from the ongoing exercises of faith toward Christ. So the objection falls to the ground, has no substance to it because it assumes there's a qualitative difference between initial and ongoing repentance.

17:23 And that assumption has no footage. in holy scripture so the apostle in this passage clearly sets before us that wherever you find a repentance that is unto participation in god's saving mercy and grace initially or continually it will be a repentance which has a path into it out of the reality of godly sorrow you see that with your own bibles with your own eyes sitting on your lap godly sorrow works repentance on to salvation and that is a repentance that brings no regret why for it is true it is real it is bonafide not bogus repentance that which leads to and accompanies true repentance is called godly sorrow and could it be otherwise if the soil out of which repentance grows is a true sense of sin that is seeing our sin in relationship to god who made us that we have wickedly and unreasonably rebelled against the

18:41 god who made us and whose law and purposes are nothing but good and righteous and holy how can the creature see himself in the posture of an inexcusable rebel against god his creator and not feel grief in his heart we recognize that our transgressions are against the holy law of god we have wantonly violated the rights of our creator we have grievously contributed here's where the gospel comes in to the agonies of christ its repentance preached in his name his repentance preached in the context of the proclamation of what god has done in christ he who knew no sin was made sin for us he bore our sins in his own body up to the tree the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all and how can we draw near and hear the dying groans of the son of god hear his cry of zero lics and my god my god why has god talking to god my god my god my god he his cry of have you forsaken me? How can we see his battered, bruised body? How can we look upon that scene

20:01 and know that what I've done and what I am contributed to his wounds, to his agony, to his grief, to his sorrow, to the shrouded heavens, to the piercing cry? Do you think you come giggling up to Golgotha? Do you come giggling to Golgotha when you see my sins placed him there? My sins not only are an affront to a holy and a gracious God, grievous contributors to the agonies of the dying Savior, but it's my sins that justly expose me to hell and to eternal separation from God. Surely, to have any truth in my life, to have any truth in my life, to have any truth in my life, to have any truth in my life, to have a true sense of our sin to any degree is to have a measure of sorrow and hatred for that sin. This is the watershed text that teaches us that godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation, a repentance not to be repented of. Now having looked at a text that teaches the doctrine, let's look at another pivotal passage that beautifully illustrates the

21:22 gospel of Luke, chapter 18. I begin reading in verse 9. Jesus is speaking, and he spoke also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and said all others it not. So the Lord has a purpose in constructing this story and telling it to his listeners, and he is aiming particularly at those who say we need no repentance, we're righteous.

21:55 We're righteous. We are in ourselves what we are in our cultivation of religious practices and duties and rituals. If there's any god who needs to be pleased with his creatures, then certainly we please him. They trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they looked down their religious snout at all others. They set all others it not. We're the holy ones. And the Lord's telling a parable to expose this horrible self-delusion. Now the parable. Two men went up into the temple. The one, a Pharisee, and the other, a publican, a tax collector, a man treated like a scumbag by these Pharisees. These tax collectors entered into a bargain with the Roman government that they'd collect taxes, and they would, as it were, rent the privilege of collecting taxes on a given road, and they would keep some, and they would give some to Rome, and because they were the constant reminder of Rome's rule over the Jews, and because they were in constant contact with the Jews, and because they were in constant contact with the Gentiles, they were despised by these separated ones, these fewer ones. So you could not have a greater contrast in terms of the setting there in Jerusalem. The Pharisee and the publican. Verse 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank

23:14 you, I'm not just the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this, and I wonder how he said it. Can you just hear his voice? This publican. I'm not this, I'm not that, and I'm certainly not one of those characters. Not this publican.

23:33 And God, if what I am not, does not give me full acceptance, let me remind you of what I do. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I get. Whatever was true of this man, there is not the slightest suggestion of any grief or sorrow in the presence of God. He's like a peacock spreading his feathers, saying, oh God, look at all of them. Ain't they pretty?

23:59 That's what he's doing. Creaming himself and spreading his peacock-like fan tail in the presence of God. No sense of grief, no sense of shame. What he is, what he does, he thinks, gives him access to God.

24:13 But now look at the contrast. But the publican, the tax collector, standing far off, probably just came inside the precincts where a Jew could come. At your court of the Gentiles, the court of the women. You had this court where the Jews were welcome to come. Maybe he just barely stood six inches inside. The publican would not so much, standing off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. Notice it doesn't say he wouldn't lift up so much his head or his face, but his eyes. The picture is he's bent over. And he's not even looking up. You see, I'm bent over, but I'm looking up and I can see all of you. Way over there, way over there and on the back row. He's not so much as even lifting up his eyes. He's bent. It's the posture of a man who's overcome with something. And whatever it

25:06 is, it won't let him strut in the presence of the Holy One of Israel. No filling up the chest. God, no, no. He's bent over. Won't even lift his eyes. Now look at the text. But he's smote his breast. He's beating on his chest. What's he doing that for? Look at the text. He's smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful. Be propitious. Oh, God, turn away your wrath from me on the basis of the sacrifice of the innocent one there upon the altar. God, be merciful. Be propitious to me. Now notice how he describes himself. It should read as the margin of the old 1901 has it. Not a sinner, but the sinner. The sinner. The sinner.

26:04 God, be propitious to me. God, who is so holy, I cannot look up at the thought of your holiness. I see and feel the reality of who and what I am. Oh, God, I only ask you turn away your wrath based upon the sacrifice of the innocent one. Be propitious. Be merciful to me, the sinner. Now listen to the words of Christ. Magisterial words. I, the sinner, I say unto you, this man went down to his house justified, declared righteous, possessing gospel forgiveness. He went down to his house justified rather than the other four. Everyone

26:52 who exalts himself shall be humbled. Now notice, he that humbles himself shall be exalted. He that humbles himself shall be exalted. When there is true humbling of oneself in the presence of God, he shall be exalted.

27:05 In the presence of God as a sinner, there will be a measure of true grief and hatred of our sin. What is taught in 2 Corinthians 7 is beautifully illustrated here. One other illustration that comes out of God letting us put, as it were, a speaker to the very heart of a broken, penitent man. Psalm 51. David, you remember, has been charged with his horrible sins of adultery and murder by proxy. The arrows of God have found their mark in the heart of David, and he's broken before God. Psalm 51 is the prayer that comes out of the heart of this man. Notice in the midst of it what he says in verse 17. We'll

28:00 back up to verse 15. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will show forth your praise, for you do not delight in sacrifice, else would I give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering, God, but you're looking for in the light of my sin is not just more religious activity, even divinely instituted religious activity. Lord, you're after my heart. And what does God want from his heart? Verse 17. The sacrifices of God are of broken spirit, of broken and a contrite heart, O God. You will not despise. David understood that there was a broken spirit and a contrite heart. O God, you will not despise. David understood that there was a discontented heart. You are the one, who has given you His body. You are the one, who knows how to save such a soul from their enemies. Can you true repent and lift back to live in the light of your own spirit, found in yourself? God is at their mercy. Genesis since the early morning.

29:08 David used to be very gay and insensitive when he had leisures, but he's not here females so he wouldn't be seen to be cool. H researching his letter in order to bring something out of his own sleep, he says, fled from his Jongles to submit. In nothing else will men be able to die and change of Karthik's son. Where I tracks his daughter to his razón destrucción, none of his sons представ circle and conciliam causes, is in the kingdom, Christ is established by His death and resurrection, the sending of His Spirit, who is a stranger to poverty of spirit and to godly mourning.

29:22 Jesus doesn't recognize your passport.

29:28 He doesn't recognize it. I'm sorry, folks. You go out of here and say, that preacher, I didn't say those words, Jesus did. The Son of God says if you're a stranger to poverty of spirit, and to spiritual mourning, you don't belong in His kingdom. Why? Because you've never known true evangelical repentance. And He didn't say, blessed are those who mourned sometime in the past, and blessed are those who were, but these acts that begin in God's regenerating work, they flower and they grow in the ongoing life of the true son or daughter. Of the kingdom. Now I ask you, do you know this in your experience?

30:20 Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin.

30:37 Do you know anything of that? I didn't ask you, have you known the full measure that you'd like to know? That you wish you knew? Is it your grief that you don't grieve more over your sins? That's the mark of the true penitent.

30:57 Do you know anything of that in your experience? If you don't, the time is coming when you will be grieved for your sin, but you'll not hate your sins. You may in the language of Revelation chapter 16 gnaw your tongue for pain. It's brutal language, but it's biblical language, and therefore I make no apologies to quote it, Revelation 16, 10 and 11.

31:23 The fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they repented not of their works.

31:40 While God is pouring out the tokens of his displeasure,

31:45 they're grieved and full of pain, but it's not the grief and the pain of repentance, but of defiance against God.

Element 2: A Resolute Turning from Sin Unto God

31:56 Genuine sorrow and hatred for sin is an essential, indispensable element of evangelical repentance. But secondly,

32:06 listen to the language of the catechism now, whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God. A resolute turning from sin, unto God. And those two things are inseparable. Any turning from sin that is not a turning unto God is a repentance that needs to be repented of.

32:39 It will only increase our judgment. Any professed turning to God that does not involve turning from sin is delusive.

32:51 You see? It's not turning from sin to nothing, to resolutions and a better life. No, that's to clean the house of the devil or the demon of outward wickedness, only to welcome in seven worst demons of self-delusion and self-righteousness and self-confidence.

33:14 No, it is a turning from it, from sin, unto God. But there is no turning unto God without divorcing your sin. It is utterly impossible to turn truly to God in biblical repentance without turning from sin. Just as it is impossible to have a true turning from sin without it issuing in a turning to God. Now, where did they get those notions?

33:45 Well, again, let's look at a couple of key texts. First of all, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9. Here the apostles writing to this infant church, which was very dear to his heart. It came to birth in the midst of great opposition and persecution. Paul was with them a relatively short time. He's apprehensive about their spiritual state. He writes this letter, and in it he describes what happens wherever he goes, and he starts talking about how wonderfully God blessed his preaching at Thessalonica.

34:24 He says, I go to open my mouth and say, hey, have you heard what God did in Thessalonica? And Paul says, huh, they've already heard. That's the thrust of the thought as we pick up the reading in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9. For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you.

34:44 And this is what gets reported. How you turned unto God 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. Do you see how he describes their conversion? One that was wrought by the power of God through the Word. He says in verse 4, knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election, how our gospel came to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. And when the gospel comes with power, what does it do? It turns men and women from their idols unto God with a heart committed to serve him, and to live for the age to come. That's exactly what Paul says. He says, that's what

35:37 happens when the gospel comes, not in word only. Some of you have heard it in word every Lord's day for years. But it's obvious it's never come in power. Why? You've not turned from your sin. You've not turned to God. You've not been blessedly loosed from an idolatrous attachment to this world with a heart set on Christ and heaven and the age to come. That's what the gospel did when it came to these idol worshipping pagans.

36:04 It rinsed them loose from all that they worshipped as God, and it fixed their hearts irrevocably upon the one true and living God for time and for eternity. Here's a text that no doubt was in the mind of those who penned that marvelous statement out of the true sense of sin, apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, with grief and hatred of the sin. We turn from it unto God. Look at the same emphasis in Acts 26. In this text we looked at a couple of weeks ago on repentance several weeks ago. Acts 26. The man who championed the salvation that is all of grace and all of Christ and by faith alone as we've been I trust freshly reminded in our reading through Galatians. Here he tells us what were the main pivots of his gospel preaching. Verse 19

37:09 speaking before King Agrippa giving his testimony and how God accosted him and changed him and commissioned him. Whereupon or wherefore 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 and he said this is what I preached that they should repent and turn to God. Doing works worthy of repentance for this cause the Jews seized me in the temple and sought 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 how that the Christ must suffer how he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles. Why do I read the whole passage to show how it all fits together. Paul said whenever I preached repentance it was in the context of proclaiming the truth about Jesus demonstrating from the scriptures Christ must die Christ must be raised what was accomplished in his death what was accomplished in his resurrection and when people said Paul what must we do to lay hold of the benefits of the work of Jesus in death and resurrection.

38:37 He didn't say bow your head close your eyes and pray a little prayer after me. He didn't say walk an aisle and go in and have a a non ordained Protestant priest absolve you when you pray a little prayer that he puts in your mouth all of this nonsense that sweeps multitudes into self deception. Thank God he saved some in spite of it. I know that if you sit here and say well God save me in that bless God but for everyone that gets truly saved hundreds are sent to hell with gross deception who know nothing of repentance nothing of turning to God.

39:16 Paul preached a free salvation based on the saving work of Christ but he got in the face of sinners with love and compassion and said you want what Jesus died to give sinners then stack arms here and now. Repent from your sins of self righteousness self will self love. Get out of the God business. That's the problem with some of you sitting here.

39:47 You are wickedly and willfully in the God business thinking you've got a right to run your own life and live by your own standards. Don't you marvel that God doesn't consume you? That he spares you to breathe his air? When you as it were have said God you've got no business being on the throne.

40:05 As far as I'm concerned. I'm on the throne to do my own thing my own way. It dictates of my own passions and lusts. Paul said I told people you want what Jesus purchased for sinners stack arms.

40:19 Repent. Turn to God. You're going to live from here on in a God obsessed God centered God oriented life. That's right.

40:32 And he said furthermore as we'll see in the subsequent message. The fruits of repentance. And if you say you've stacked arms. You've turned to God.

40:41 Then prove it by your life. Doing works worthy of repentance. Paul was a preacher of works. He just had him in the right place.

40:51 Your works this side of the cross are dead works. They're vile and filthy. They have nothing to do with your acceptance. Once you come nothing in your hands to bring.

41:03 And you say you've repented. You've turned to God through Christ. Now it's time to repent. You bring forth fruits that validate that you've turned from your sin.

41:12 And you've turned unto the living God. Let's look at an Old Testament passage. Isaiah 55. This gospel of repentance is not unique to the New Testament.

41:27 It is not something embedded in crusty moldy as people would say. Old Testament religion that somehow sheds its crust in its mold in the new. God never offered. Unmercy.

41:41 Without demanding that people repent. Two passages in Isaiah. The first Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1.

41:50 God indicts the nation for its sin, particularly its sin of formal religion. And God tells his people I'm sick and tired of all your church going and all your playing church. Verse 14 of Isaiah 1. Your new moons and your appointed feasts.

42:08 My soul hates them. They're a trouble to me. I'm weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands I'll hide my eyes.

42:15 When you make many prayers I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Now notice. Wash you.

42:22 Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doing from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well.

42:32 Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.

42:36 Come now. Let us reason together saith the Lord. Let us reason together saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.

42:43 Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat of the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. One of the most wonderful gospel pleas and promises found anywhere in the Bible.

43:04 God stoops to say, come, let's be reasonable. Let's talk this. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Let us reason together saith the Lord.

43:11 Let us reason together saith the Lord. God says, I can make them white as snow. They'll be as red like crimson. They'll be as wool.

43:15 But on what terms? Do you see how that wonderful promise of free, full, adequate forgiveness is embedded in the dual call to repentance. Wash you. Make you clean.

43:31 Put away the evil of the dual you're doing from before my eyes. Not just quit the sins that mom and dad see and that you're piercing. You begin to walk before the face of the Lord. And you confess your sins.

43:41 the face of the burning eye of God. It sees your stinking pride when it comes out in the middle of preaching. It makes you want to vomit. You're determined to put away your evil from before the eye of God. You say, yes, Lord, I'm willing to be obedient. By your grace, I want to serve you. Isaiah 55, one other beautiful illustration that in its very essence, repentance is not only genuine sorrow and hatred of sin, but a resolute turning from sin unto God. Look how these two elements are brought together beautifully in Isaiah 55. The first five verses of the chapter are another wonderful, free, unfettered promise and overture of gospel mercy under the guise of God becoming a street hawker, selling water and wine and milk and inviting people to come who've got nothing.

44:42 They're pockets. And God says, come, buy wine and milk without money, without price. He pleads, he entreats. It's pure gospel. But now look at verse 6. In the backdrop of that wonderful proclamation of gospel mercy, resting down on the work of the suffering servant in chapter 53, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near. Well, Isaiah, with what posture and disposition and attitude of mind can you say, mind and heart, should I seek him and call upon him? He said, I'll tell you. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. The promise of mercy and pardon is inseparably joined to the call to repentance, a repentance that involves turning from God. Our way. What's our way? It's the combination of our decisions, our words, our thoughts,

45:50 our deeds, our desires. Put them all together. That's our way. And God says, your way is the broad way that leads to destruction. Forsake your way. The whole shebang. Turn from it.

46:04 And furthermore, the thoughts that produce it. For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Your thoughts that you know how to run your own life. Your thoughts that you're confident to decide to do. Your thoughts that you know how to run your own life. Your thoughts that you're confident to decide good and evil, right and wrong. Your thoughts that you know how to fashion a God you can be comfortable with. Your thoughts about this, that, and the other. You were never made to be a little self-interpreting idol in the midst of God's world. This is God's world. You're God's creature. This is God's light to tell you who you are and what you're to be and what you're not to be and what you're to do and not do. And God says, you want my mercy? You want this gospel invitation? You want this revelation to be internalized in your life? Forsake your way and your thoughts. Be done

46:50 with them and return to God. And you take His way. You begin to live by His thoughts revealed in His Word. And in that context, you'll know mercy. Man, I'm not about... Then my friend, no mercy for you. You want your way? God help me to say it with a broken heart and go to hell with your way. You want your thoughts? Then live with them.

47:22 It's the shrieking and the screaming of demons and the damned and the devil and his angels.

47:30 You want your way? You want your thoughts? Look where they'll take you. You'll hear the king say, depart from me, you curse, into everlasting fire. But all the while, there's a merciful God who says, come. There's true satisfaction of soul in my provisions in the gospel. Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters. Christ is the living water.

47:58 He's the bread of life. Come to Him. He waits to receive you. But come, forsaking your way and your thoughts and with a disposition of preparedness to return unto God.

48:15 Isn't that one of the beautiful strands in the parable of the prodigal that Jesus told? When he came to himself, what were his first thoughts? Look at them afresh in Luke chapter 15. Remember what we're doing now. We're just establishing that a vital element in the very substance of repentance is turning from it, that is our sin, unto God. He's trying to bring many scriptures to bear upon that one simple but oh, how vital principle. Luke chapter 15 and verse 17. But when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my Father.

49:01 Have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger. You see what he's done? He's drawing a vivid contrast between the place that he left and the place that he now is. When he left the Father's house, he thought that was a terrible place. Oh yeah, there's lots of food and lots of love, but there's all kinds of rules and regulations around here. And I'm cramped by these rules and regulations. If I want to really live with this world, there's a lot of rules and regulations. I'm cramped by these rules and regulations.

49:34 I've got money, I've got a lot of work, I've got an idea, I've got two children. I've got a job, I've got a job. I can't decide on it. I may not be ready for it. I may have to think about it, and I might be more interested in it. But it's not going to be easy. My life is going to get at least a week without a job. The same thing again with the tax. So bread and bread is the same thing. Bread and bread is the same thing. I can't have more of that bread and bread and bread. But I can have a lot of bread and bread. But it's not going to be easy. I can't have enough bread and bread.

49:42 So let me stopapi and let me try to get a better level of bread and bread, so that

50:05 thrilling life is to be on the cutting edge of the latest fashion fads and the latest bizarre indulgence in this or that base lust and passion and it has a little fascination for you like it did for him but it wasn't long before the fascination all went and he begins to compare where he now is that he thought was the place of life with the place that he left and he said wait a minute even my dad's hired servant who are under as it were the the secondary tier of the second tier of his love and concern and reasonableness they have bread enough into spare things aren't so bad as I thought they were back in pops place he said I will arise and go to my father and say father I've sinned against heaven in your sight no more worthy to be called your son there's the element of shame and of grief make me as one of your hired servants I've seen the way you give orders to the servants I've seen the way you provide to the servants you are a gracious man my master out here in the hog he lied to me he promised me life with a capital L but it's nothing but a living hell that's what it is the way of a transgressors

51:30 no peace that my God to the wicked and he says I will arise and I'll go to my kid of lying shaming in having my eye set on his eyes I'll go to my imaginary ga die to considere the life Rudolf the father's provision in the thought that the father's face power rule you tried onto da from your idols, to serve the living and the true God.

52:20 Professor Murray has very wisely and astutely written, Repentance we must not think of as consisting merely in a change of mind in general. It is a very particular and concrete exercise of the soul. And since it is a change of mind with reference to sin, it's a change of mind with reference to particular sins. Sins in all their particularity and individuality which belong to our sins.

52:48 It's very easy for us to speak of sin, to be very denunciatory respecting sin, and denunciatory respecting the particular sins of other people, and yet not be penitent regarding our own particular sins. Now hear this statement. It's profound. The test of repentance is the genuineness and resoluteness of the sin of sin.

53:11 It's the genuineness of our repentance in respect of our own sins. Sins characterized by the aggravations which are peculiar to our own selves.

53:26 See what he's saying? When God knit you together in your mother's womb, He knit together someone of a very placid, easygoing, laid-back temperament. Therefore, your sins will sit on that temperamental cast. And your sins, your sins will be sins of procrastination.

53:46 Sins of unwillingness to confront when confrontation is the only righteous thing to do. Some of us were knit together in our mother's wombs with a very passionate and volatile temperament. Our sins will ride on that temperamental cast. And the passion and the earnestness will break over into rashness and into unrighteous anger.

54:14 Some of you, when God put you together in your mother's womb, He barely made you women or men. You've come into adulthood or young adulthood, and you feel very little of the stirrings of teenage passions and obsessions with boys or girls.

54:33 Others of you, like a raging fire in your breast almost day and night. Now, the point Professor Murray makes, and it's what point the Bible makes, your repentance is tested with regard to the sins. Not the sins that are peculiar to who you are.

54:50 Not the sins that may be peculiar to your brother, to your sister, to your neighbor, but to you. Some of you were given a relatively retiring, diffident kind of temperament. And behind that, you hide your unwillingness to be open with mom and dad, with husband or wife. You punish people with your silence, which is just as much a sin as the person who punishes with a volatile spate of angry words.

55:18 The proof of your repentance is, what are you doing with your sins, peculiar to who you are?

55:28 That's the question. That's the issue.

55:34 Beginning to get the feel of what the old professors say?

55:38 No big deal for some of us to repent of this or that sin. They were never an issue to us.

55:47 For other sins, we grieve and mourn that we make so little progress in killing them with gospel dynamics and gospel grace. But at least we've set our hearts against them.

56:04 What is repentance unto life? It is saving grace in which the sinner turns from it, his sin, his sins, unto God.

The Specificity of Turning from Sin

56:18 Have you turned from your sins?

56:24 What are they? Name them before your mind as specifically as God will name them in the day of judgment. Acting like they're not there doesn't send them away. Have you declared war with them?

56:44 I asked my wife on the way in, honey, should I use the analogy that one of the old Puritans used? He said, you know what repentance is? It's the vomit of the soul in which we vomit out, not someone else's sins, but the sins we have taken down as delicious food. And when the Spirit of God works in us the grace of regeneration, He turns the spiritual stomach to vomit what went down with such relish and delight.

57:16 Do you know anything of the vomit of the soul? Do you know anything of a real divorce from your sin? You've taken the wedding band and thrown it away in the name of Christ. That's repentance unto life.

Element 3: Full Purpose of and Endeavor After New Obedience

57:33 Then thirdly and finally and much more briefly,

57:38 by which a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God with, here's one of the inseparable accompaniments, with full purpose, with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. Purpose and endeavor. These were wise old birds. You see, there'll be no real endeavor unless it's rooted in the heart.

58:08 Someone can say, oh well, I've got it in my heart. They say, prove it by your life. By their fruits, you'll know them. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

58:19 Guard your heart, for out of it are the issues of life, with full purpose of. Ah, very, very key. Qualifying word. Not a half-hearted, I got caught, or my sins are getting me in horrible trouble.

58:36 I'm losing money, losing credibility. I'm going to lose my job, so I'm going to get my act together enough to get back my credibility and my...

58:45 No, no, friends. It's with full purpose of. With an unreserved commitment of the heart to live unto God and to pursue a life of holiness. Full purpose of.

58:59 And endeavor after. New obedience. It is Paul, I should say Saul of Tarsus, blinded by the light from heaven, accosted by Christ, who says, Lord, what will you have me to do? From here on in, there's one agenda for my life, Lord Jesus, it's yours.

59:23 Make it known to me. That's it. That's what a Christian is. Someone whose God has brought to the place, where he's only got one agenda.

59:35 Lord, what will you have me to do? I say, in every situation, in every relationship, what I spend, where I go, who become my chosen friends, what I eat, what I don't eat, what I watch and don't watch on the television, what I drink, what I don't drink, that one agenda is his. Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And if you've turned from your sins to God, you say that's the most reasonable thing in the world.

60:14 To seek to live in every single thing to his glory. That's full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience.

60:28 In other words, and we'll come more into that when we come to the fruits of repentance, and that's why I only touch upon it, because it really translates, it really transitions in to the next message. We can sing hymn number 494. I'm not asking you to sing it tonight, but we can sing it. In other words, if it sticks in our throats.

60:49 Jesus, Master, whose I am, purchased thine alone to be, by thy blood, O spotless Lamb, shed so willingly for me, let my heart be all thine own. Let my heart be all thine own. Let me live to thee alone. Jesus, Master, I am thine.

61:17 Keep me faithful. Keep me near. Let thy presence in me shine all my homeward way to cheer. Jesus, at thy feet I fall.

61:28 O be thou my all in all. Jesus, Master, whom I serve, though so feebly, and so ill, strength in hand and heart and nerve, all thy bidding to fulfill. Open thou mine eyes to see all the work thou hast for me. Lord, thou needest not, I know, service such as I can bring, yet I long to prove and show full allegiance to my King.

62:01 Thou and honor art to me. Let me be of praise to thee. Live to thee, O Lord, and let my heart be thine own. Those are the key words.

62:14 Just as grace alone, Christ alone, faith alone, maintains the purity of the gospel, my heart to Him alone maintains the integrity of God's saving work through the gospel.

62:32 Has God got what He intended when the gospel came to you? Your heart alone, His possession. May God grant that. Amen.

Prayer and Concluding Exhortation

62:48 that we will not trifle with this issue of the repentance which is unto life, that saving grace by which the sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and 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 new obedience. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank you for your word, that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And we pray, O God, we pray.

63:32 Some of us have prayed earlier in this day that this night, O God, you would make your word effectual to the salvation of some in our midst. Lord, do what only you can do. Take away all of the blunders that the devil has made. The devil has placed upon eyes and the stoppers in the ears and open eyes and open ears.

64:02 And turn hearts to yourself through the Lord Jesus. Those of us who by your grace have been turned, Lord, what can we say but thank you for delivering us from that horrible deception in which we really thought that life was to be found in the way of death. Amen. Thank you.

64:24 You've brought us to ourselves and you've turned our hearts to home and to you, our Father. We love you, our God. We love you, our Savior. Help us in the days of this week to live to you alone.

64:46 For your glory we plead in Jesus' name. Amen.