Drawn to True Repentance #1

In true repentance, the sinner understands that mercy, an offer of mercy, is being presented to him in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, repentance happens in the context of faith. If repentance is not just simple regret over sin, what then is true repentance? Scripture again provides the answer, and Pastor Don Green will immerse us in it today on The Truth Pulpit.

Hi, I'm Bill Wright, and we're continuing our series, Unless You Repent. Earlier, Don told us that regret alone is not repentance, that miracles don't produce repentance, nor does even the deathbed. Moreover, obvious judgments of God fail to change the unregenerate heart. True repentance is indeed brought about only by the work of the Holy Spirit.

So let's find out more about it as we join Don Green now in The Truth Pulpit. We saw that Judas Iscariot in Matthew chapter 27 felt remorse, felt regret over his sin, but he did not turn to Christ. He committed suicide. And that is the truest, surest evidence that there was no heart for Christ, that there had been no change in his mind about Christ. He simply wanted to end the weight of guilt that he felt without turning to Christ in it.

And so regret alone is not repentance. We saw secondly that the mere fact that someone witnesses miracles, that miracles do not have the power to produce repentance in someone's heart. In Luke chapter 16, we read that a man who rejects Moses, who rejects the teaching of Scripture, will not repent. They'll also reject, it says, a man who comes to them from the dead. You remember that the rich man who was in Hades was begging Father Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his brothers so that they would not come to this place of torment. And Father Abraham told them, he said, that's not going to do any good.

They have Moses. Let them hear Moses. And he argued, showing his own lack of repentance even as he was suffering the torments of judgment, he said, no Father Abraham, if they have a man that comes from the dead, they'll listen. And he said, no, they won't. If they won't hear the Scriptures, they won't listen to a man who comes from the dead again.

That's why this word is so important. It is a response to this word that is going to produce repentance or not, not something external, something that is apart from the Scriptures. Let me go off on another tangent that I had to deal with several years ago that needs to be said, although I'm not aware of it ever being an issue here within our church. There are lots of people who get excited about supposed sightings of Jesus within the Muslim world. Perhaps you've heard of this and heard stories that Muslims are seeing visions of Christ and are supposedly coming to faith in Christ because they're seeing visions of him.

Don't be sucked into that silly mindset if, because look, first of all, the Bible says that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. And so the fact that someone sees a supernatural vision is no indication that they're seeing anything from God. Furthermore, the thing that concerns me so greatly about immediately wanting to baptize these testimonies as being indications of coming to true faith in Christ is that these visions are happening apart from any involvement with the Scriptures, apart from the word of God at all. And it is the word of God that God uses to produce true repentance in the heart of a man, of a woman.

If repentance is in response to the word of God, you have these dear people who are already in a false religion being further confirmed in deception by demonic appearances if the visions are real at all. There's no reason to think that this is something that is producing true faith in Christ when it is happening apart from the word of God, apart from the reading of the word of God, apart from the preaching of the word of God, apart from an understanding of the word of God, because it is in the word where Christ is truly revealed. And we cannot be sucked into silly things and emotional things that are apart from the word of God and think that somehow we're dealing with the true realm of salvation. As soon as you depart from the word of God, you are vulnerable to satanic deception. And so, we as individuals and we as a church, we have to cling tightly to this word because this word is our life, this word is our hope, this word is what gives us the true discernment that we need in order to know the realities of these things. Once you close your Bible and walk away from it and start talking about salvation apart from the explained word of God, you are in a realm that is just waiting to suck you up in deception. That's how important the word of God is in all of these things. And so, we want to be careful, we want to be discerning, we don't want to just get on the bandwagon of what everybody else is saying, what everybody else is excited about, it's exactly appropriate to test the spirits as 1 John 4, 1 says, to see whether they be of God. And the only way you can truly test the spirits is by comparing them to what Scripture says. That's all we're trying to do here.

I've offended a lot of people already, I might as well keep going, right? I really don't care, I really don't care, the truth is what matters. Now, so we've said regret alone is not necessarily repentance, regret alone is not repentance, that miracles do not produce repentance. Thirdly, we said that approaching death does not even necessarily produce repentance. And we reminded ourselves, we reminded ourselves from Scripture that there were two thieves on the cross. One of them did repent and one of them did turn to Christ, one of them did cry out for mercy and say, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

But there was a second one who was also on the verge of death who did not. He went to his death rebuking Christ, rejecting Christ, and so we see that approaching death does not produce repentance necessarily, that is not an indication of anything. And finally, we saw from Revelation 9 and Revelation 16 that even the judgment of God does not produce repentance in and of itself. The men in Revelation 9 and 16 refused to repent even when God had slain a third of humanity with His judgment.

And Scripture specifically says they still did not repent, they still did not repent even when such great pressure had been brought upon them externally. And so we realize that repentance is, comparatively speaking, a rare thing. Comparatively speaking, we need to understand what it is that brings about repentance and what true repentance looks like.

And with that said, we quoted, I believe, from the shorter catechism, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question number 87. What is repentance? Having said, this is not repentance, now let's get into the good stuff and say, what is true repentance? And trust God and ask God to open our minds, to open our understandings, to illuminate us so that we would understand these things deeply, that those of us that are in Christ would be anchored further, confirmed, to say, yes, this work of God has happened in my heart. And I come away from this stronger, more certain because I see what Scripture describes as having happened to me.

That's a great place to be. And for those of us that perhaps have had a veil over our eyes, you know, I'm hoping, trusting, praying that God would remove the veil for us as we consider these things. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 87, it says, what is repentance? And it answers it with this phrase, it's a little bit long, I'll read it a little bit slowly. Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin... I'm going to paraphrase it to help the wording just a little bit. And seeing the mercy of God in Christ with grief and hatred of his sin turns from it to God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.

There's a lot in there, let me read it again. Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and seeing the mercy of God in Christ with grief and hatred of his sin turns from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. In repentance, there is a new mind that is brought to pass.

There is a turning, there is a change of mind that takes place. A change of mind toward God, a change of mind toward sin. Where before the sinner loved his sin, according to John chapter 3, perhaps was ignorant of his sin, unaware of the offense that his life was to a holy God. Now in repentance, a new mind comes upon him and he sees that differently.

Whereas before the things he accepted and loved, he now turns and hates. He has a new mind toward sin. And as this definition brings out, in true repentance, in true repentance, there is a recognition that in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is mercy and salvation offered to him. So that in true repentance, you are not simply feeling remorse about your sin, you're not simply seeing, looking backwards and saying, I have been a wicked sinner. In true repentance, there is a turn to Christ to embrace the offer of mercy that is made in the gospel.

And you embrace Christ in true repentance. It's not simply the negative response to your prior sin, there is a positive turning and embracing of Christ that takes place. There is an understanding that mercy is offered in Christ and you turn from sin to God with a full purpose of pursuing obedience henceforth and forevermore.

Now, as we've said many times, that is an inward turning. That is not, as it is so often misrepresented by people that do not understand the gospel, we are not talking about somebody doing works in order to be saved. We are talking about what is the nature of saving faith. Saving faith is a repentant faith like that.

A repentant faith that says, I turn away from sin and I embrace Christ who forgives me and cleanses me from sin. There is this turning and true faith in Christ is a repentant faith that is repelled by sin and comes to embrace Christ as a result. And so there is this inner turning that takes place in repentance. And repentance is more than an emotional reaction to outward circumstances. There's so many ways to go wrong on this, aren't there? Repentance is not produced by ten verses of Just As I Am, waiting for one more.

I'm waiting for one more to come down the aisle. That's, you know, and you're playing on the emotions. That's not the way to produce true repentance. True repentance is a fruit of grace from God in the heart and it cannot be brought about by artificial means. Scripture makes it plain that God is the one who grants repentance. 2 Timothy 2 25 says, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.

So all of that was introduction. And now the question is, what does the genuine repentance that God produces look like? What are the elements of true repentance?

How can we recognize the real thing? We want to illustrate this. We're just going to use Scripture's illustrations to make our point.

First of all, we can say this, building on the things that we have already said. First of all, true repentance has a true sense of sin. True repentance has a true sense of sin. And I would invite you to turn to the book of Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 36. Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost and he is telling the Jews that they had crucified their own Messiah. And he says in verse 32, this Jesus God raised up again to which we are all witnesses.

Notice immediately that the context of the repentance that we are going to see is in the context of the proclamation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Verse 33, therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. They had observed the Holy Spirit falling upon the believers.

They were speaking in other tongues, known languages, not idle babble. And so Peter is explaining to them what they have seen. And in verse 34 he says, it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. So Peter is proclaiming to them the resurrected and ascended Christ and says, this is the Jesus that I am preaching to you. This explains the miracles that you see in front of you. And then he says in verse 36, and I love the dogmatism with which he speaks here in verse 36, he says, therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

You're the man, so to speak. You crucified the Son of God. You Jews crucified him when you handed him over to Pilate, so that Pilate would carry out the deed under Roman law. And what was the response of them to this powerful preaching? Look at verse 37. He says, now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart. They were convicted of their specific sin of what they had done when Christ was in their hands. And yet, beloved, here's what I want you to see as we distinguish true repentance from the false versions that we have seen before.

This is so very critical to see. They were pierced, they were convicted, but they realized that something was missing. They needed to do something in response to this conviction that had been brought to bear on their heart.

And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? They recognized their guilt. They understood that they were guilty, but they realized that they needed something more. That guilt, the conviction alone, was not enough. The sense of shame and accountability alone did not relieve them of the judgment which had now been proclaimed upon them and which had been brought about and convicted in their heart.

They knew that that wasn't enough. It's interesting that our charismatic friends want to talk about speaking in tongues and the display of the Holy Spirit, but when you read the chapter all the way through, here's where it brings you. It brings you to a proclamation of the risen Christ and a conviction of sin produced by the preaching of the gospel. Read the whole chapter, not just verse 4, my charismatic friends, not that there's an element of that in our church.

Just read the context, for heaven's sakes. But they say, brethren, what shall we do? They recognized that they needed something more. They had a true sense of their sin.

Watch it. They had a true sense of sin in response to the proclamation of the crucified and risen Christ that was being born out of a proclamation of the Word of God. For someone wants to know, is my repentance genuine?

One of the first things I would try to help them with and ask them is, is your sense of conviction of sin, is your sense of the gospel a response to the Word of God explained to you, the Word of God read to you, the Word of God reading it for yourself? Is this inner response that you have a reaction to the Word of God itself? That's what you see going on here in Acts chapter 2. There's was. There's was. And they were pierced inside, but they knew they needed more. They needed something beyond the conviction in order to resolve the guilt that had been brought to bear upon them in order to deal with their guilt. They needed something else.

What was the else that they needed? Secondly, repentance sees mercy offered in Christ. Repentance sees mercy offered in Christ.

It's a Christ-centered focus, a Christ-centered turning that takes place in true repentance. And so they asked the million-dollar question in verse 37, Brethren, in light of our guilt, what shall we do? And Peter, speaking under the power of the Holy Spirit, says to them this in verse 38. Peter said to them, Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.

And with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. In true repentance, brothers and sisters, my friends, in true repentance, this is so very important. In true repentance, the sinner understands that mercy, an offer of mercy is being presented to him in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, repentance happens in the context of faith.

Look at verse 41. So then, those who had received His word were baptized, and that day there were added about 3,000 souls. They received the word. In other words, they believed what was being preached to them. They received Christ as He was presented to them as Peter, as we have seen earlier in verses 33 through 36, Christ as the one risen from the dead, Christ crucified for sinners, Christ ascended on high.

That Christ is the one that you must receive. And their baptism was an outward sign of the inward turning that God required from them. They renounced themselves. They renounced their prior sin of crucifying Christ. They turned from it, and they turned not just away from sin, they turned to Christ in order to receive Him. They saw that mercy was offered in Christ. And beloved, this is one really critical component of distinguishing false repentance from true repentance. And I venture to say that some of you need to hear this.

And this is a relief. This is a grace for us to be able to hear from God's word that it is like this. Repentance, true biblical repentance, is not a call for you to sink in unending guilt and remorse over your past sins. The idea is to move beyond that sense of conviction to realize that Christ in His crucifixion and resurrection has paid for that guilt so that you no longer carry it on your account. The idea of repentance is to turn to Christ so that He could relieve your guilt and bring you into His family with a full sense of forgiveness and acceptance by the God that you had previously rejected and by the God whom, in your sin, you had so greatly offended.

True repentance brings about a true sense of sin and the ability to see the mercy offered in Christ. Well, next time on The Truth Pulpit, Pastor Don Green will call our attention to a final aspect of the genuine article as we conclude our series, Unless You Repent, be with us then. Right now, though, Don's back in studio with some closing words. As we close today, I just want to make something available to you. You know, as you listen to these radio broadcasts, they have to fit into a 25-minute format, and we're very grateful for the opportunity the Lord's given us to do just that. But the radio messages are born out of a longer sermon message that contains more information, more background, a fuller explanation of the passage than what we're able to do on radio. So I encourage you to go to our website and find the link that says, Follow Don's Pulpit. That'll lead you to a podcast that gives you the full-length sermons from every Sunday and every Tuesday from my pulpit. I really think that it'll minister to you over time to hear the full-length messages.

So we make that available for free, and we would love you to join us in that way as well. Thanks, Don. And, friend, to take advantage of what Don just mentioned, please visit TheTruthPulpit.com. That's TheTruthPulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, and we'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit.