A certain man had two sons, and
he came to the first and said, Son, go to work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will
not. But afterward he repented and went. And he came to the
second and said likewise, and he answered and said, I go, sir,
and went not. Whether them twain or which of
them two did the will of his father, they say unto him the
first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily
I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom
of God before you. For John came unto you in the
way of righteousness, and you believed him not. But the publicans
and harlots believed him, and you, when you had seen it, repented
not afterward, that you might believe." Chapter 1 Let me mention
this, that Jean-Claude Souillot, who will be here next Wednesday
night to preach for us, Jean-Claude Souillot, he's been here with
us several times. He's from Cholossosson in France. That takes some saying, doesn't
it? So Jean-Claude, he was with Bruce
last night, and Bruce said they had a wonderful service. But
tonight, look here in this particular passage of scripture I read to
you, there's repentance that's mentioned twice. He said, one
of his sons, go work in my vineyard. He answered and said, I won't.
I just will not do it. But afterward, he repented and
he went. The second one said, I go, and he went not. And then
he talked about how that John came in the way of righteousness
and public and heartless. They believed him. And when you've
seen them believe in Him, seen this great faith that they did,
that God worked in them, repented not afterward that you might
believe. Now, you remember last week we talked about conversion.
And Paul, you know, preached repentance and faith at Ephesus. And we've seen that repentance
came first. John the Baptist went preaching
repent. Repent, plead the wrath to come.
Our Lord Jesus Christ went preaching the kingdom, repent for the kingdom
of heaven's at hand. So I want to talk about repentance
tonight. My next message after the Wednesday
after next will be on faith, repentance and faith. Tonight
we want to talk about repentance, going through this Bible doctrine.
What is repentance? What is repentance? Well, it's
a change of mind, a change of mind. It's a consciousness. of
regret. It's being conscious that you've
done something that's wrong. And it's a change of mind, and
we'll get into it later, but it's having a conscious of regret.
And not only that, but it's a change of conduct. Whenever you have
a change of mind, it'll change your conduct, your reaction to
whatever your mind was changed to. And that's what happened
to this man. He said, I will not go. And afterward, he repented. And so that repentance means
that he changed his mind, and then his conduct changed because
he went. He went. Now, if he'd have just
had remorse, which a lot of people have, he would have said, well,
I really feel bad about telling my dad, you know, that I wouldn't
go. I feel bad talking to my father the way I talked to him.
I felt bad about lying to my father. And he could have felt
remorse and went on about his business. But he really had a
change of mind. And he said, I will not go. And then he repented. And because
he repented and had that change of mind, then he conduct changed,
too. He conduct changed, too. Now,
what is it that leads a man to repentance? It's a change of
mind. It's a change of conduct. And I'll tell you, if God ever
changes your mind, and we'll see what it is here in a while,
But you'll get up and you'll go to your conduct, the way you
live, and the way you go and where you go will be changed
dramatically. But what is it that leads to repentance? What
is it that leads to it? Now, you keep Matthew, and look
over with me in Zechariah chapter 12. Now, Malachi is the last
book in the Old Testament, right before Matthew. Well, Zechariah
is the next one over. Malachi, then Zechariah. Zechariah
chapter 12 and verse 10. Well, grace is what leads a man
to repentance. It's a gift of God. Repentance
is a gift of God. And it's the grace of God, the
gift of God that produces this change of mind and this change
of conduct. Look what is said here in verse
10, Zechariah 12, 10. And I will pour upon the house
of David, upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, watch it now, the
spirit of grace and supplications. They're not only going to pour
grace on them, but they're going to supplicate me, and they're
going to cry out to me, they're going to look to me, and then
look what happens. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn. And that's what our Lord
Jesus Christ said, Blessed are they that mourn. And shall mourn
for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that's in bitterness for his son. So it's the grace
of God that changes a man. I'll pour out on them a spirit
of grace and supplication. And I want you to look at one
more with me in Acts chapter 5, just one more, and then I'll
quote the rest of it. But I want you to see that this
is the grace of God and a gift of God. But here in Acts 5 and
verse 31, Peter's preaching of the Lord
Jesus Christ again. They've been there in front of
the Sanhedrin and they're all accusing them and going to beat
them and all that. But look what he says here in
verse 30. The God of our fathers hath raised
up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him, him hath God
exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior. Now
watch this, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness to
sinners. So he's the one given and exalted
to grant repentance, to give repentance. And this is spiritual
Israel he's talking about. And with repentance, he's the
only one who has the ability to forgive sins. And that's,
beloved, and that's why Peter says, you know, and he said this
also in another place when they had him hemmed up over preaching
to Cornelius's house. And they got back and they said,
tell us, you know, you went and preached to these Gentiles. How
could you do this? And he began to tell how that
the Holy Ghost fell on them. And then they all began to rejoice
and says, well, we thank God that God has granted repentance
unto life to the Gentiles. Giving repentance. So repentance
is a gift. If you ever repent, and you have
this change of mind, this change of conduct, it's the grace and
gift of God that works it in you. Now, Lord, beloved, that's
what Paul told Timothy. He said, Timothy, Be gentle unto
all men after teach to instruct peradventure. God will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of what? The truth. That's what
repentance does. It acknowledges, I believe the
lie, now I believe the truth. Acknowledging the truth about
God, acknowledging the truth about yourself, acknowledging
the truth about the scriptures, acknowledging the truth about
Christ, acknowledging the truth about all your false religion
and idols. And that's what he's talking
about. And so if we have repentance, it's the gift and grace of God
that gives us. Well, how in the world is that?
What leads to it? Repentance. How do we get it?
Gifts of God. And secondly, it's by preaching,
by teaching. That's the means that God calls
men to repentance by. With Jonah, everybody knows the
story of Jonah, how that he got on that ship. He didn't want
to go to Nineveh. Didn't want to go to Nineveh. Didn't want
to preach. None of us, the scriptures tells us that it took him three
days from the time he entered in one gate and by the time he
got to the other. Three days to walk across that city. But
anyway, when he went, you know why he went? He went preaching
repent. Repent ye, repent ye, God to himself said repent ye.
And by the time he got across that city, the king heard it.
And he said, I want everybody in Nineveh to fall down before
God. I want everybody to put some
sackcloth around you, and even go out and put sackcloth on your
cattle. Perhaps God will have mercy on
us and not destroy us. And he preached repentance. Boy,
those folks had to change a lot. Oh, let's repent. Let's even
put that sackcloth on our children. Perhaps God will have mercy on
us. and beat her on their Pentecost.
He preached, and he preached that you crucified the Son of
God. Some of you were right there, and you ridiculed Him, you derided
Him, you mocked Him. You've done all those things,
and I'm telling you, by your wicked hands, crucified Him.
God raised Him up now, and this same Jesus whom you slew, God
has made Him both Lord and Christ, and then they back up and said,
Oh, sirs, What must we do? And the first word out of Simon
Peter's mouth, repent ye, repent ye, and be converted. Repent ye, and be baptized. Oh my, a change of mind. And
God gave them repentance. Three thousand souls that day.
So you see, beloved, it's a change of mind. It's a gift of God.
And God uses the teaching and preaching of His Word. When Paul
talked about how the gospel came to the Thessalonians in power
and in the Holy Ghost, did he have much assurance? You know
what the effects of it was? They turned from their idols
to serve the living God. Turned from their idols. And
you know the greatest idol that men have today? Two great idols.
Two great idols that men worshiped at, knowledges they worshiped
at today. First was the love of God. That's the one everybody
worships at. My God's a God of love. My God's
a God of love. My God's a God of love. People's
upset, you know, because folks rejoiced over that infidel, that
murderer, that mass murderer getting killed, and they're upset
because folks rejoiced at it. I don't have a bit of pride rejoicing
over that. I hate them with a perfect hatred. Over in Revelations,
it talks about how that the saints of God, they all start out, they
begin to shout, hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,
while the smoke ascends right up out of hell in their nostrils.
And they said, hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,
and He, salvation blows unto Him. And that's what Peter said. He
said, and that second one is, not only is the love of God,
but the second one is man's free will. It says, God's a God of love. And
man's got this almighty will, and God can't do anything for
him unless he lets him do it. So his will's got more power
than God. So those are two altars that people are worshiping at
today. And God saves men from those idols. You know how He
saves you from them idols? He'll teach you. And then when
He changes your mind, you really learn real quick that your free
will can't even cure a toothache. Can't cure a headache? Can't
make you feel better about yourself? Oh, when God changes your mind,
oh, you realize, I ain't got no ability, I got no power, I
got no friends, I certainly don't have any merit. Oh, He changes
your mind. And you'll turn from them, my
friends. You'll turn from that self-righteousness. You'll turn
from all that testimony. You'll turn from all those things
that you trusted in. And, oh, you'll turn when they
trusted themselves. Oh, God, He'll change you. I
mean, when He changed your mind, you're going to turn from the
imbeciles, and you're going to turn to who? The living God. But what's involved? Oh, so repentance
is a change of mind, a change of conduct. It's a gift of God,
and it's through the preaching and teaching of God's Word that
He works it in a man. But what is involved in a person? What's involved in a person who
is brought to repentance? What is it in a person that's
involved who is brought to repentance? Well, just like the new birth,
the whole person's involved in it. The whole person's involved
in it. What do I mean by that? Look
in Romans chapter six. Romans chapter six. The whole
person's involved in this repentance. The whole person is. The mind,
the intellect, the understanding, Look at Romans 6, 17. The whole
person's involved in it. You know, most people think that
it's the will that they've got to impress. It's the will that
has to become brought forth. And if they can just get somebody
to do something, that they come forth and they shed a few tears
and they get their will involved in it, get them to do something,
In fact, that's repentance, but repentance involves the mind,
the intellect, the understanding. It involves the whole person,
everything about that person. And this is what Paul's meaning
here in verse 17, Romans 6. But God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. When God brought that
form of doctrine, brought the truth to you, You became free. You were no longer servants of
sin. The whole person. He didn't say your will's no
longer the servant of sin. He didn't say your body's no
longer the servant of sin. He didn't say your mind's no
longer the servant of sin. He said you. So whatever it is
that makes up you, the whole person, that's the person that
received this form of doctrine. That's the person that, beloved,
was set free from sin. You see, beloved, by the law
comes the knowledge of sin. And that's why we're talking
about preaching and teaching on repentance. By the law is
the knowledge of sin. And there must be a knowledge
of sin before there'll ever be any repentance. There must be
a knowledge of sin before there'll be conviction. Paul, you know
that when the Galatians says, well, if the law don't circumcise
us, if the law don't sanctify us, if the law's not our rule
of life, if the law's not what sanctifies us and makes us closer
to God, if the law's not what in the world's the purpose of
the law, Paul? You know what he said? It was added because
of transgressions. Now, beloved, God wrote that
law when they look at it. They say, oh, I don't have no
problem with loving God with all my heart. I don't have no
problem having any ideas. I don't have no problem. I don't
lie. I don't covet. And they can look
at that objectively, and you thank anybody, and when they
look at that and don't say, my soul, look how far short I fall
to that. My, how can I, me love God? Me got on my mother, father,
and mother all the days of my life? Me never covet anything. Me never bound a false witness.
And we could go on and on. So this law comes and brings
us this knowledge of sin. And Paul tells us that, beloved,
the law was never intended to produce life or salvation. For
what the law could not do. Nothing wrong with the law. It's
the problems with us. It was weak through the flesh.
And because it was weak through the flesh and our inability to
keep it, God sent His own Son, and for sin, as a sacrifice for
sin, He judged sin and condemned sin, and fulfilled that law in
Himself on that cross. Huh? And I tell you this, people
don't know anything about Holy Ghost conviction, but you'll
know something about sin when God gets through with you. You
know, and Paul says, the law changed. He says, the thing that
was made death unto me was good. But you know what was made death
unto me? It wasn't the law. It was my sin that condemned
me. It was my inability to do it. And the law came to show me the
sinning sinfulness of sin. Here was a man who said, Oh,
after the rises of the Pharisees, I was without blame. But when
God got through with him, he says, the very commandment that
I thought was my life, that I could face God with, he said, I found
that very law to condemn me, and produce death in me, and
brought sin out in me, and now I see that sin is exceeding sinful. You want to know what sin is?
It's exceeding sinful. Is it seeming sinful to you now?
Bruce Crabtree and I was talking about that today. One of these
days, we was talking about Floyd, one of these days we're going
to leave this, I mean leave sin behind. Sit at your desk in a
place with your Bible open in front of you, books in front
of you, studying, and beloved, there's this awful thing called
sin. But let your mind wander. That
you've got this pride, you go and see him. It's just, you don't
have to do anything, you just think of something. An attitude will make you see
how sinful sin is, an attitude in you. Go ahead. And oh, that's what, that's
what the law come to do. And it don't just get to part
of the person. They don't just get to just a
little bit of the person. When this law comes, it makes
you to be sinned from the top of your head to the sole of your
feet, from inside to the outside. And I tell you, men don't like
to be sinners. They don't like to be sinners.
They don't want to acknowledge their sin. So if they're ever
going to be a sinner, they must be convinced of it. And a preacher
can't do that. Only the Holy Ghost can do that.
And we're talking about repentance, you know. And that's why Job
said, how in the world did Job say, I abhor myself, and I repent
in ashes, dust in ashes? What caused him to say that?
Huh? Them hundreds of these fellows,
that was his buddies, friends, comforters. None of them said
that. Only Job said that. And David. David cried, Oh God,
it's against you and you only that I sin. Oh my. That publican went up to the
temple to pray. What did he do? smote on his
breast and said, God, be merciful to me. What? The sinner? The sinner? Paul cried out, O
wretched man that I am. Wretched man that I am. Let's
look over here in 2 Corinthians 7 with me just a moment. Let's
look at some repentance. You know, and this is what our
Lord's talking about on Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are they
that mourn. Blessed are they that are poor in spirit. That's
repentance worked in a man. And it's the whole person. It
involves the whole man. His mind, his heart, his will,
his intellect, everything about it. But look here. You know,
this is when Paul had rebuked the Corinthians for allowing
that man who lived in incest and then adultery in incest let
him continue in the church, and he rebuked him for that, said
to turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh,
hopefully for the saving of his soul. Well, that letter from
Paul brought repentance to these people. They changed their mind
in the way they dealt, their mind about how to deal with sin
from then on, and their conduct about it. Look what it said here
down in verse 9. Now rejoice, not that you were made sorry,
that you were sorry. Now, see, he said, you know,
a lot of people are sorry about something. But that you sorrowed
to repentance. If you just made me sorrow, But
not to repentance, it wouldn't amount to anything. For you were
made sorry after a godly sorrow, according to God, according to
a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing.
It wasn't us that done this. It was God that changed your
mind. It was God that brought this godly sorrow into you. For
godly sorrow works repentance to salvation. I mean, and there's
nothing ever to be repented of. If you repent, or you sorrow,
are you ever going to change your mind about what God's done
for you? Are you ever going to change your mind about Christ
dying for you? Christ shedding His blood for
you? No. You'll never repent of this salvation.
You'll never repent of the grace of God. And that's what Paul's
saying here. For the sorrow of the world, all that does is work
days. That's all it does is work death. People get sorry, get
caught all the time. Go tell their wife, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, I won't do it no more. I'll tell her, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry, I won't do it. Oh, that does work death. It eases their conscience for
a little while. Climbs their conscience for a little while.
And, oh, beloved, there's not always repentance involved in
the whole mind, and the law comes and convicts us of sin through
the preaching and teaching of the Word. But repentance, includes
the heart and the feelings, the emotions. I mean, you know, when
you repent, your heart and your emotions, that's the feelings
that go on here. It's not just a passing sorrow. Not just a
passing sorrow. You know, you remember Jesus,
lover of my soul? The hymn writer said this, he
said, Justin, holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness, vile
and full of sin I am. Thou art full of grace and truth."
But that's what we are. Holy and just is thy name. I'm
the one that's all unrighteousness. Thou and full of sin I am. Oh, my. And it's a deep-felt
emotion. Paul called it godly sorrow here.
It's a deep-felt emotion. And then let me show you this
in Isaiah 55. Let me show you this in Isaiah
55. Look with me here in Isaiah 55,
verse 7. You know, repentance not only
includes the mind, the will, the intellect, the understanding,
but it involves the heart, the feelings, a deep, deep emotion. You think that Job didn't feel
deep emotion when he said, I am the whole of myself? And here he goes, here in verse
7. Repentance includes the will. Let the wicked forsake his ways,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God he will abundantly
pardon." Now, this includes the will. When it says here, let
the wicked forsake his way, that's what he's going to do. He'll
have to forsake his way. His way is the wrong way. Let
the wicked forsake his way, and if he in repentance, he will
forsake his way. And not only that, but let the
unrighteous man forsake his thoughts. He'll have to forsake his thoughts. I mean, that's what has to be.
And that's the last thing that operates in a man, is when God
works repentance in him, is this will. God said he forsakes his
wicked ways, and he forsakes his unrighteous thoughts. He
understands that everything he thought about God was wrong.
Everything the natural man thinks about God is wrong. And every
way that the natural man goes, whether he's in a pulpit, or
whether he's in a pew, or whether he's in the White House or the
poorhouse, his ways are wicked, and he's going to have to change
them. And he won't do that until the will's the last thing to
be involved in this. Ain't that right? I remember Tim Dane preaching
years and years and years ago up in Nanticoke, West Virginia.
And he preached a message out of Joel 2.13. He says, leave
your hearts and not your garments. That's all the world knows how
to do. Leave the garment. I'm sorry. Well, you've got to leave your
sin, and I'm going to close with, well, look with me real quick
over in Luke chapter 3. I'll show you some more things
about this business of repentance. It includes the whole man. The
will, the understanding, the intellect, the mind, the heart.
In Luke chapter 3. Here's what John the Baptist
is talking about, repentance. Chapter 3 and verse 8. Paul talking about how it affects
us and what happens. John the Baptist talked of here,
says in verse 8, "...bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance."
Worthy of repentance. Oh my, you say you've repented?
And you say, God's done something for you, changed your heart,
changed your mind. Well, he says here, if you have repented, I
want to see some fruit of it. I want to see that there's some... And begin not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our father. Don't you start saying, well,
we're all right. We're in the right church. We
believe the right things. We're doing the right things.
You know, we're okay. He said, God's able with these
stones to raise up children of Abraham. And He was. He said,
look, told us to look under the rock from which we hewn. And
now, he said, now also the axe is laid under the root of the
trees. And went three, which bringeth not forth good fruit
as hewn down and cast into the fire. People backed up, and they
said, now, John, you're telling us to get over a pit and bring
forth fruit from it. And the people asking said, what
then shall we do? They began to ask the question.
And he started talking about, this is the fruit of repentance.
This is when if you repent, there's going to be such a change in
your character and conduct. He that hath two coats, let him
impart to him that hath none. He that hath some food, let him
do likewise. What he said was, you'll quit being so selfish. You'll become generous. You'll
become gracious. You'll worry about other people's
needs, not just your own. If you see somebody cold and
they need a coat, you give them the coat. See somebody hungry,
you'll feed them. And then look what else he said.
Then also came the public as to be baptized. Master, what
shall we do? Now, the publicans is the tax
collectors. He said, exact no more than that
which is appointed to you. If you're supposed to give you
a dime, don't you charge them eleven cents. If they're supposed
to give you ten dollars, don't you charge ten fifty and pocket
the fifty cents. He said, you get Whatever they
owe, don't you dare take anything more than that. And a fellow
that's repented, he'd do that just as it's natural for him
to take no more than what was acted, than it is for him to
breathe. And then look what else he goes on to say. And the soldiers,
they come up to him. And the man of him said, what
do we do? We got a tough job, you know,
we're warriors. We got wars to fight, we got
things to do. And he said unto them, don't
you do violence to no man. You know, these soldiers, you
know, they had the ability to do anything they wanted to do.
They could run over somebody anytime they wanted to go. You
know, the power of that uniform went to their minds. And then
he said, don't you accuse anybody falsely. Don't you bring anybody
in front of the magistrates, don't bring them in front of
the king, don't bring them in front of the governor, don't
bring them in front of a judge, don't you dare bring them up
there and accuse them falsely. And then that's what he said,
and you be content with whatever pay they give you. Be content. If they pay you a dollar, don't
you start grumbling and griping because you're not making a dollar
a quarter. That's what he's saying. You take what God gives you and
be content. And also, that's what he's talking
about. You know, if you're repentant,
that's the fruit of repentance. You begin to change. And our
beloved, in Paul's ministry, was to turn Gentiles from darkness
to light. And when a soul is brought to
repentance, the law of leniency, the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
his soul becomes confronted with some questions. And he faces
some great, great things. First of all, he has this great
question about God. God. God says, you thought I
was like you, and the first thing you say, well, God's not like
I thought he was. He's not like I thought he was
at all. Oh, my. You have a different view about
God. I used to have this view of God as being hard and austere. and require me to do certain
things, and live certain ways, and pray so much, and give so
much, and that if I didn't need that, you know what, he's going
to really, really get on me. Now my mind's changed about God.
I see him as the God of grace and mercy, God of justice, saving
as much by his justice as he did by his grace. And then, whenever
you have a different view of God, that necessarily means you'll
have a different view of man, especially yourself. You'll cease to be trying to
be saved by your own goodness. You'll quit running around saying,
God is love, God is love. Like that's all there was to
God and His nature and His character. And then not only will you have
a new view of God and a new view of man, but you'll have new views
of eternity and of death. for death. Floyd was just going
scripture after scripture today. He said, what kind of a change
is going to take place when I leave here? He said, I don't know.
But he said, I know this. He says, the Lord said, O grave,
where's your victory? O death, where's your sting?
He said, Christ said the sting of sin is the law. The sting
of sin is the The sting of death is sin, and the stint of sin
is the law. And he said Christ took away
the sting, he bore it himself, and he fulfilled the law. So
thanks be unto God for the victory we have in Christ. I don't have
to face sin or the law. Oh my, that's what we're talking
about. You've got new views of eternity. Repentance not only involves
the whole person, but it causes the person's outlook in this
world to change dramatically. He views things and the value
of things differently than he ever did before. Things that
were invaluable now become trinkets and toys, and things that didn't
amount to anything now become the most valuable things in the
world, things that you can't see. If faith brings hope up,
that's the most valuable. And repentance causes a soul
to walk in the fear of the Lord. You know, the fool has said,
there is no God. It's in his heart, there is no
God. But oh my, when repentance is worked in a man's heart, he
walks in the fear of the Lord. People who know God, they walk
softly when they draw near to Him. It says over in Acts 9,
they walked in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy
Ghost. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God with reverence
and godly fear. Oh, we walk softly before Him.
And then there's a great, great reverence for God that was never
there before where repentance is worked. Oh, what a great reverence
for God that wasn't there before. You have a reverence for His
justice as well as His mercy. You have this great reference
of God. And last of all, you have a sense of your own unworthiness.
You are really brought to a sense of your own unworthiness. You
come to the place where you're like David. You say, Lord, wash
me. Wash me. I can't wash myself. Wash me. Wash me. You're like Paul. I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, there's no good thing. And part of the
covenant according to Ezekiel 36, 31 is that I'll make you
loathe yourselves for your evil ways and your evil doings. And
David said in Psalm 34, excuse me, 38, he said this, he said,
I'm filled with this loathsome disease. What loathsome disease,
David? S-I-N-I. And then we confess
it, then we confess it. An old hymn writer said, Oh,
for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a
heart that always fills not blood, as freely shed for me. Give me a heart. Give me a heart.