I'll echo Winston's sentiment. It's good to be in the house
of the Lord on this first day of the new year and where the
gospels preach. So you can see the title of my
message today. I'm continuing a series of messages
here called The Righteousness of God. This is the fourth in
that series. But in each one of them, I have
singled out a single thought that I've tried to concentrate
on. Today that thought is going to
be godly repentance. You see that on the screen there.
And all those verses of scripture there, it looks like a lot of
scripture it is, but they all deal with repentance. And we're
going to look at those verses in their different contexts.
I started this series by telling you the reason, there's a reason
why the righteousness of God, which is always revealed in the
gospel, what makes it right for God to show mercy to sinners
through the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, through
his perfect satisfaction to law and justice, why that is one
of, if probably the most important, single piece of information in
the gospel. There are reasons behind that,
and this is just one of those reasons. Because the righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel is the only thing that will bring
a sinner to godly repentance. A repentance that's necessary,
vital, to prove that you're of God, that you're saved, that
you're headed for heaven. So that's what we're going to
look at today. As I said, we're going to try to concentrate on
this one thought, godly repentance. It's not often in life that we're
utterly and totally deceived about anything. Now, we sometimes
get a little off course, you know, sometimes we need a little
correction, but it's not very often in life that we are just
totally taken in, that we are, that we, what we learn about
an issue It's totally contrary to what we thought we knew. Not
very many times in life. But in the matter of salvation,
in the matter of God being just when he justifies the ungodly,
we're all taken in. Our own hearts deceive us on
this issue. Let me show you God's description
of us all on the matter of salvation. He tells us who we are by nature.
Look at Jeremiah 17. Now we usually start in verse,
or just read verse 9 here, but I want to go back in the context
here a little bit to the start of this thought in Jeremiah.
Here in Jeremiah 17 and verse 5. It says, Thus saith the Lord,
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his
arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. You see that Lord,
that capital L-O-R-D is Jehovah who saves. The issue here in
Jeremiah's writing is salvation. He's talking about the God of
salvation. And the man that trusts in man
and makes flesh his arm, it's the man trying to work out his
own righteousness. It's the man trying to add to
what Christ has done. That's what he's talking about.
And then if you look at Jeremiah 17, 7, he contrasts that like
The Scriptures do so many times. There's a contrast between that
cursed man and the blessed man. Blessed is the man that trusts
in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is in the matter of salvation. Now look at Jeremiah 17 and verse
9. You see, The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? He's talking
about here. Not about everything. We're not
deceived about everything. But in the matter of salvation,
we're all deceived by nature. We have to be taught of God.
We can't overcome this desperate wickedness we have in our heart
in the matter of salvation. We have to be taught. The natural
hearts of fallen humanity are our own worst enemies in this
matter. You see, by nature, we think
we're doing that which is pleasing to God, when in reality, we're
doing that which is an abomination to God. We think we're truly
trusting in the Lord. We think we're trusting in His
blood, His righteousness, in His cross, in His death. And
we'd say that we're resting in Christ alone. That's what I said
before God brought me to the Gospel. But in reality, we're
looking to the Lord plus something in ourselves. We're looking to
a Lord whose death alone, really, when you get right down to it,
didn't save anybody. It takes that little addition
of the sinner to make that death effectual. Therefore, the death
alone is not the Savior. We're looking to a Lord whose
death leaves multitudes perishing under the wrath of God, unless
and until the sinner responds with their part. If you've ever
looked to a Savior whose death left any sinner he died for in
any danger of perishing, you haven't looked to the God of
the Scriptures. You haven't looked to the Christ of the Scriptures.
You've looked to a counterfeit and not the Christ revealed in
the Gospel. You see, by nature, we're all
caught up in a sin. A sin we don't recognize as sin. It's sin, but we don't recognize
it that way. It's the sin that deceives us.
We're in bondage and we don't know it. We're committing sin
and don't realize it. Committing sin in the scriptures
means we're not resting our entire salvation, beginning to end entirely
in the finished work of Christ alone. Christ addressed this
issue of committing sin with those of his day. Look at John
8. I didn't put all the verses here,
but I'll tell you what this context is. Christ told those who believed
on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples
indeed, and you'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
And they said, Lord, we're Abraham's children. We've never been in
any bondage. What are you talking about free? And this is Christ's
answer to them here in verse 32. Jesus answered them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committed sin is the servant
of sin. You see, he's talking about a
spiritual bondage here. They were thinking physically
and he was talking spiritually. Committing sin is trying to work
out our own righteousness before God. It's trying to do something
that will gain God's favor or acceptance. All without exception,
me, you, everybody, is guilty of committing sin. Although none
of us knows that we are, none of us will admit that we are,
until God sits us down and shows us that's what we're doing. Paul
addressed this issue in a different way. Look at Romans 6, verses
17 and 18. He says, but God bethanked that
you were the servants of sin. That's bondage. Being a servant
of anything is bondage. But you've obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then
made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
You see, by nature, we're in bondage to a sin we don't recognize. We're deceived by this sin. It
takes the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel to uncover
this sin and expose this deception. Neither of those things will
be made known apart from the Gospel. And no sinner will be
delivered who hasn't heard, understood, and believed God's Gospel. That's
why the Gospel, wherein the righteousness of God is always revealed, is
a confrontation to the sinner who truly hears what's being
stated out in that Gospel. It's a confrontation. It confronts
us with some things. The gospel confronts a sinner
with the knowledge of a just God and Savior. It confronts
a sinner with the knowledge of a God who blesses sinners on
the basis of Christ's finished work, and that alone with no
contribution from the sinner. That's a confrontation the first
time you hear it. The gospel reveals the true and
living God. He's the God of the scriptures
from beginning to end. But as we saw in our last lesson
in this series, he's the God who's unknown to any of us by
nature. The gospel confronts us with
a God we never heard of, a Christ we aren't believing in, not trusting,
and a righteousness that we're totally ignorant of. Before the
gospel, we didn't know God. We didn't know how God could
bless a sinner for Christ's sake alone and be doing right when
He does so. That's a confrontation and this
confrontation must take place. I've said this before and I'll
say it many more times if the Lord enables me to stand here.
The most immediate need in the life of any sinner born into
this world is to be sat down under the preaching of God's
gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. When this
Gospel confronts a sinner. When this confrontation occurs,
we can readily see a change is needed. A change is demanded. Think about it for a minute.
When you're brought to face-to-face with a God you didn't worship,
a Christ you never trusted, a gospel you never believed in, a righteousness
you'd never heard of, A change is needed. It's demanded. And
it's not a small change. It's not just a little veering
to the right. We're not almost on the right way here. It's not
just movement. This is an about phase. This
is a radical change that means we're going in one direction
and we have to turn around and go the other way because we were
totally deceived about this. This radical change is reasonable,
it's logical, it's scriptural, God commands it. 34 times in
the New Testament this radical change I'm talking about is called
repentance. 34 times, always translated repentance. Godly repentance is a change
of mind, it's a change of action, a change of direction, a change
of life. But it's a change of mind and
direction that's brought on by the testimony of God alone. It's
a change that's commanded by the gospel. It's a change that's
initiated specifically by the righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel. Here's what I'm saying. Godly
repentance will not come, it cannot come, apart from the gospel
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. The righteousness
of God is the only thing that will bring a sinner to godly
repentance. And godly repentance will come.
It will come to those who have truly embraced God's gospel. It will come to those who've
turned to a just God and a Savior. It will come to every sinner
who finds salvation in the doing and dying of Christ alone. It
will come to those who are convicted and convinced of the evil of
imagining that they had any part in causing God to bless them.
Why will godly repentance come to these sinners? It will. These
sinners will repent of their former idolatry and dead works. Why? Well, I'm going to give
you four reasons out of the scriptures why this repentance will come
to those who truly believe the gospel. First, because God commands
it. Look at Acts 17 in verse 30.
It says, In the times of this ignorance God winked at, but
now commands all men everywhere to repent. God now commands all
men everywhere to repent. And we talked about the times
of this ignorance in the last lesson, but let me remind you
what it is. Up to this point under the old covenant, you see
Paul is addressing a bunch of what he told them. You're way
too superstitious. He told them they were worshiping
a God of their imagination. He called them idolaters whether
they heard it or not. Up to this point, God had not
addressed the idolatry of the Gentiles. He hadn't addressed
it. He hadn't sent them prophets. He hadn't sent them the law to
picture and typify the person and work of Christ. He hadn't
given them the patriarchs who were faithful to God. He hadn't
addressed the issue with the Gentiles. But now, now in this
gospel age, he says, he's commanding all men, Jew and Gentile alike,
to repent. Why? Godly repentance begins
with how or upon what basis God saves and declares righteous
ungodly sinners. Look at Acts 17 and verse 31. Why are men to repent? Because
God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. The
command of God is repent. Why must men repent? Because
God's standard of judgment is righteousness. It's the righteousness
of the God-man. And God assures all men that
that's His standard of judgment. He assures them. He assured them
when He raised Christ from the dead. That's when He assured
all men that that's the standard by which He will judge both now
and at the judgment. Why should men repent at the
preaching of the righteousness of God? Because the righteousness
of God is not our standard of judgment by nature. That's not
what we judged by before God brought us to the gospel. Repent
now. Repent because the gospel has
shown you something you had never seen before. Godly repentance
is repentance commanded only by the gospel. You see, men repent
of all kinds of things. We've repented of numerous things
in this life, a change of attitude, maybe we got serious about religion,
or maybe we did whatever. But that's just natural conscience
repentance. I'm talking about a repentance
that's commanded in the light of the gospel. And that's what
godly repentance is. It's repentance commanded by
God in light of the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel.
In other words, without an understanding of the righteousness of God,
what makes it right, what Christ has done to make it right for
God to justify ungodly sinners. Without an understanding of that,
a sinner has nothing to repent of. He has no right reason to
repent. Until God changes a sinner's
standard of judgment, that sinner has no need to change. The need
to repent is created by, it begins with an understanding of and
a submission to God's standard of judgment. Until a sinner is
convinced that God judges men justified or condemned on the
basis of the righteousness of God-man freely imputed to his
or her account, until then, that sinner has no need to repent.
And that works in reverse as well. The sinner who refuses
to repent, the sinner under the gospel who refuses to repent
is giving evidence that they have not changed their standard
of judging saved and lost. So it works both ways. Why do
all sinners need to repent of their standard of judgment? Because
it's not our standard. You might say, You might be sitting
there thinking, well, you don't know what my standard of judgment
is. I don't. I don't know what your standard
of judgment is. It could be faith. It could be repentance. It could
be good works. It could be a number of things.
But I don't need to know that. You know why? Because I know
what God's standard of judgment is. And I know that by nature,
this word says, none of us judge by God's standard of judgment
by nature. Remember Jeremiah 17? The heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? So the only reason any sinner would repent of their
standard is because they've seen and are convinced of God's standard.
The question the gospel always answers is how can God save those
who are sinners in all that we do? How can he save those whom
he himself declares to be ungodly? How can he do that and be just,
be doing right when he does it? What makes it right for God to
save and eternally bless one sinner and yet condemn and eternally
punish another sinner when both the sinners we're talking about
Both are sinners, both are equally deserving of God's eternal wrath,
and both are equally unable to deliver themselves from condemnation
or gain the least of God's favor. So what makes it right for God
to bless one and condemn another? Until God's standard of judgment,
until the righteousness of God is revealed, The sinner has no
right answer to that question, because the right answer, he
can do it on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed in that
alone, and we don't know that by nature. God's people will
acknowledge that the God they now worship, is the God who was
unknown to them by nature, even by the world's religion that
they were under. They will acknowledge that they
did not come to the true and living God until God brought
them to the gospel, until he revealed Christ's righteousness
imputed as his standard of judgment. God's people will do that in
each successive generation because the command of the scriptures
is repent. Repent of the God you worshiped
before God brought you to the gospel, before he taught you
the righteousness of God, before he revealed to you the knowledge
of the God who was unknown to you by nature. Repent of the
dead works by which that so-called God of your imagination, before
you knew of the true and living God, repent of those dead works
by which that God accepted your worship. Therefore, godly repentance
becomes one of the greatest evidences that a sinner is truly born of
God, that his faith is of God. That brings us to the second
reason why believing sinners in every generation will come
to godly repentance. First, because God commands it. Second, because godly repentance
is the first and main evidence that your faith is genuine, that
it's truly God-given faith and not just something you've made
up in your mind. Having preached the gospel at
Pentecost, Peter commanded repentance on the basis of sins remitted. Look at Acts 2 in verse 38. Now, Peter has preached the gospel
here. And on this particular occasion,
3,000 souls were saved. But here's what Peter said to
them. You see, he puts repentance and remission, payment of sins,
together there, to be preached. Christ did the same thing to
his disciples in Luke chapter 24 verses 46 and 47. Christ said
unto his disciples, thus it is written and thus it behoove Christ
to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Repent because you now see the
truth about the remission of sins. The only basis for the
remission of sins is not our confession. It's not anything
we do. It's the blood of Christ and
that alone. In other words, by the blood
of Christ, the sins he bore in his body on the tree have already
been remitted. They've already been paid for.
They've already been punished in full. God has already forgiven
and Christ's blood will continue to cleanse those whose sins have
already been fully punished and paid for in the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is God's provided propitiation. His penalty-bearing, justice-satisfying
sacrifice. For every sinner he was given,
Christ has paid their debt of punishment in full. Nothing owed
by those sinners. Christ paid it all. without the
righteousness of God revealed in the gospel? None of us knows
that. Not one of us realizes that that debt has already been
paid. By nature, we're not looking to a Savior whose death alone
has paid for and fully put away every sin he bore in his body
on the tree. We believe that multitudes will
yet perish for whom Christ died. It's not until God brings us
to the gospel sits us down under the preaching of the righteousness
of God and teaches us of true remission that we'll see otherwise. Look at Hebrews 10, verses 16
through 18. This is the language of regeneration
here, and I'll explain that in a second. This is the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I
will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now
where remission of these is, there is no more offering for
sin. The covenant he's talking about
here is the everlasting covenant of grace made in the Godhead
before time began. But he says, I'm going to make
it with individual sinners in time in each successive generation. And he does that when he puts
that law in our hearts and writes it in our minds. When is that?
When he teaches us what Christ has done under the law, satisfied
it in its precept and in its penalty, and brought in the righteousness
by which God justifies ungodly sinners. And it's the sins that
Christ has paid for and been punished for that God remembers
no more. Now, where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. You see, when a sinner
comes to understand that the sins borne by Christ have been
remitted, they've been paid for, there's no dead owed. God's justice
will never demand of those sinners Christ died for any payment or
punishment for their sins, not one. And when the sinner comes
to understand that, in regeneration, there's no more offering for
sin, no more offering my faith, no more offering my reformation,
no more offering my good works, no more offering my zeal in religion.
No, I see that debt's already paid. I don't need to offer God
anything. That debt took care of the problem.
This is the way it works in regeneration. First, a sinner sat down under
the gospel, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. Next, through
the operation of the Spirit, life is given. The Spirit of
God imparts spiritual life to the sinner. The first evidence
of that life is faith. Under the gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed out of the gospel, the body of truth, and
into that subjective faith that the Spirit gives in regeneration. The regenerate sinner believes
the gospel. In other words, he embraces the
righteousness of God as God's standard of judgment. And they
repent of, they renounce the God they worship before they
heard the gospel and the righteousness of God. Further, those same sinners
embrace the faith that sees sins remitted in the death of Christ
alone. And they repent of, they renounce
the faith that saw itself completing or at least having some part
in bringing about the remission of sins. You see, I used to think
until I added my part, My sins were still owed. I was still
facing the eternal wrath of God. Now I understand. That debt's
already been paid. It was paid when Christ bore
it, when Christ was punished on the cross. So there's no adding
to that. It's done. Godly repentance is
a change in the direction you're going, but it's more than just
a change in direction. We do turn around and go the
other way. Godly repentance is also a renouncing
of the direction you were headed in. You see, we embrace the gospel
and we renounce what we once believed. Godly repentance is
a change in your thoughts about how God saves a sinner, but it's
also a renouncing of the way you formerly thought God saved
a sinner. In other words, in faith, in
true God-given faith, sinners embrace a new way, a new way
of salvation, a new God, a new Christ, a new everything. In
repentance, in faith they embrace that new way, but in repentance
they expose their old way, their old way concerning salvation.
They expose it, they renounce it as a false way, a broad way,
a way that seems right to men, but a way that's leading men
toward destruction. God-given faith embraces a new
God, a new Christ, a new gospel, a new righteousness, and it renounces
its old God, its old Christ, its old righteousness, its old
gospel. Without this renouncing, there
is no God-given faith. Without godly repentance, there
is no evidence that faith is genuine, that it's of God. This renouncing our old way is
what makes God's gospel offensive to the natural, unregenerate,
unconvicted mind. It's offensive. As long as you
allow your family and friends to think that the gospel you
now believe, sitting here, is just a better or a more scriptural
or a more reasonable way of stating things, there's no offense in
that. As long as you allow your family
and friends to think that the God you now worship is just a
better understanding of the same God you always worshipped, there
won't be any confrontation. There won't be any anger from
them. You won't have to worry about them. You can get along
with them just fine, even sitting under this gospel. But as long
as you do these things, you are avoiding godly repentance and
you're giving no evidence that you have embraced the gospel,
that you've embraced its God, a just God and Savior, or that
you've embraced its Christ who has accomplished the salvation
of his people in full. Godly repentance is not the only
evidence of salvation. There's faith, there's love for
the brethren, love for the gospel, but Without godly repentance,
until a sinner repents of their former idolatry and dead works,
all other evidences are just empty claims. You see, without
godly repentance, even my faith is just a claim, a mental agreement
to a system of doctrine. Repent because God commands it. Repent because repentance is
the first and the main evidence that your faith is genuine. Now
the third reason, repent because the unrepentant will perish. Look at Luke 13 verses 1 through,
well, 1 through 3 to start with. There were present at that season
some that told Christ of the Galileans whose blood Pilate
had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto
them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all Galileans
because they suffered such things? I tell you nay, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Those are pretty strong
words. Except you repent, you shall likewise perish. There's
another incident, let's go ahead and look at it in verses 4 and
5 here. Luke 13, 4 and 5. Or those 18
upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them, think ye
that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you nay, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Now, the sinners mentioned
in both of these incidents obviously died horrible deaths. I mean,
Pilate mingled the blood with their sacrifices. That's a terrible
way to die. And a tower fell on some while
they were seeking to get into the pool of Siloam there to be
healed. So they were obviously horrible
deaths. Was the manner of their death
an indication of the degree of their sinnerhood? Was God punishing
these sinners for the greatness of their sin? Now, although that's
not stated, that's the issue Christ seems to be addressing.
In other words, are you thinking more highly of yourself because
you didn't suffer like these? You think they're the greatest
of sinners? You think you're in some way better than these
sinners? Well, by nature, where do sinners
think more highly of themselves? More so than in the matter of
salvation. I thought my believing is what
made the real difference between saved and lost in my former religion. I thought my religious zeal was
proof positive that I was headed for heaven. And everybody in
my former religion encouraged me to do so. They encouraged
me in that thinking. It is my faith in Christ alone
and my repentance of such thinking that gives me confidence that
I am now being led by the Spirit of God, that my faith is truly
genuine and of God. Paul called himself the chief
of sinners. Was Paul just being falsely humble
in that? No, he was stating what every
regenerate sinner knows, what every regenerate sinner owns,
that we, in ourselves, are unworthy of the least of God's favor,
and we are totally undeserving of any blessing from God, based
on anything found in us. And you and I can see that truth
in ourselves much better. I can see that in myself much
better than I can see it in you. Because I know what this guy
thinks and what he does. And you know the same about yourself. The best thing any of us can
say about ourselves is that we are sinners. Saved by the mercy
and grace of God. Saved by the doing and dying
of Christ alone. And for no other reason. If a
sinner is saved because they do something, if a sinner is
saved because of anything found in them, even their faith, those
sinners are justified by their works, and those sinners rightly
have room to boast. But, as God said of Abraham,
no sinner has a right to boast before God because salvation
is by the mercy and grace of God in the doing and dying of
Christ alone. The horrible deaths these sinners
suffered won't hold a candle to the death of the unrepentant
sinner. The unrepentant will perish eternally. They will suffer the full and
final separation from God. Now, does that mean that godly
repentance is a condition for salvation? No. There are no conditions
sinners must meet in order to be saved or kept. Godly repentance
is the main and the necessary evidence that our faith is in
the just God and Savior who saved us based on Christ's work alone,
based on His righteousness and beauty alone. It's just an evidence,
it's not a condition. Repent of your dead works and
idolatry, because the unrepentant will perish. The fourth and last
reason every regenerate sinner will repent, because none of
God's elect will perish, but all will come to repentance. Look at 2 Peter 3 in verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to us. We're not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now, the Lord's
not slack concerning his promise. In Peter's day, they were saying,
where's the promise of Christ's return? He said he was coming
back. Where is that promise? And they were scoffing at the
believers of the gospel like Peter. But Peter says he's not
slack concerning his promise. He's long-suffering to us-ward.
He's long-suffering to his elect, the chosen of God, not willing
that any of the us-ward, not willing that any of his elect
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The only
reason for God's delay in Christ's second coming is his long-suffering
towards his elect. That event will not take place,
it cannot take place, and every sheep has been brought into the
fold until every chosen sinner has been given faith and godly
repentance. It can't take place till then. That's what's delaying Christ's
coming. It's not really a delay, it's on God's timetable, but
that's why we might think it's delayed. God's working. in this gospel, sending it out,
calling out his elect, delivering them out of the darkness and
idolatry of their religion unto the gospel. Repent, because none
of God's elect will perish, but all will come to repentance.
Now let me summarize here quickly what I've said, and I'll be done.
In each successive generation, those sinners chosen by God,
those sinners redeemed by Christ, those sinners regenerated by
the Spirit of God under the gospel, those sinners will repent of
their former idolatry and dead works because God commands it
under the preaching of the gospel, based on the righteousness of
God revealed in that gospel. God commands men everywhere to
repent. Second, Repentance is the first
and main evidence that your faith is genuine. Without godly repentance,
your faith is just mental agreement to doctrine. Third, the unrepentant,
those who refuse to repent, those who hear the righteousness of
God and yet refuse, will perish. And fourth, because none of God's
elect will leave this world without godly repentance. by the Lord,
teach his people, and bring his people to true faith and godly
repentance.