Well, good morning, everyone. If you would, to begin our service, open your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. We'll read the first 13 verses. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him.

He should bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Now this is one of the quite a few places in the Old Testament the Lord talks about sending the gospel to the Gentiles so that when it happened, we shouldn't be surprised, should we? We'll look at that here in just a few minutes. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.

Thus saith God the Lord. He that created the heavens and stretched them out. He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it. He that giveth bread unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles.

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison. and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth. Ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein, the isles and the inhabitants thereof, Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice. The villages of Kedar that Kedar doth inhabit. Let the inhabitants of the rock sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord and declare his praise in the islands. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar. He shall prevail. against his enemies. We'll end our reading there.

All right, let's all stand as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. In thy name, O Lord, assembling, we thy people now draw near. Teach us to rejoice with reverence, speak, and may thy servants hear. Let thy word be food to nourish those whom thou hast called thine own. May thy people's graces flourish. All our trust in Thee alone. Now with joy we come before Thee. Seek Thy face, Thy mercy's own. Lord of life, of light and glory, bless this church before thy throne. While our days on earth are lengthened, may we live them, Lord, in Thee. Cheered by hope and daily strengthened, till Thy glory there we see.

Okay, if you would turn in your hymnal to song number 256, It Is Well With My Soul. 256. When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well. with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part, but the whole! is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.

It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. Good morning. Our pastors ask us to read in the book of Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11. We'll read the first 18 verses together.

And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea. heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and did eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision.

A certain vessel descended, as it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners, and it came even to me. Upon the witch, when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.

And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter, slay, and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done three times. All were drawn up again into heaven.

And behold, immediately there were three men already coming to the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And the spirit made me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me And we entered into the man's house. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Amen. We'll end our reading there.

Let's pray together. Our Holy Heavenly Father, we bow thankfully before you together as a family in this place come to worship. That you would grant us this time of worship and to glorify your name. To hear of you and be edified. And instructed. The many gifts that you pour out on us. We're so thankful that that it is your will that you would call the people and redeem the people and even today to strengthen those and edify.

Father, we worship your name for your holiness and your goodness, and it's because it is your right to be worshiped. We pray that you give us a spirit of worship and the ability and a heart to in Christ. We're thankful that as we sung, it is well with our soul. And we, we lay 100% of the responsibility and the right, the cleansing of sin and the calling, the bringing to repentance, the giving of life that you would call sinners to a throne of mercy. And therefore it is well with our soul. And that is all of your doing and your will and your purpose. your goodness and your right.

And we worship you for for who you are. In Christ. We thank you that you've seen fit to give us this place to come together. In worship, we we pray wherever your name is going forth. Even now that. That the word accomplish your purpose. Bring sinners to repentance and edify your people and bring glory to your name as as it ought. We thank you for full forgiveness of sin in Christ because of his life and because of his death, because of his perfect sacrifice. We would ask that you keep our hearts focused there on him as they should be.

We don't forget to pray for each other. You remember that we're dust and we're thankful. The many trials of this life. And we don't grieve and mourn as those that have no hope. Father, you do remember that we're dust and we do grieve. We do struggle and we pray that you'd be with us and heal and comfort us with your presence as you see fit. We pray for our children and our families in this dark time that you continue to show your goodness as you've seen fit in the past. We pray all this thankfully and in Christ's name. Keep your Bibles open there to the book of Acts chapter 11.

I titled the message Pride, Prejudice, and Repentance. I think this will be a message that will just come right to us where we all live, believer and unbeliever alike, right where we live every single day. Pride, Prejudice, and Repentance. Now verse one of Acts chapter 11 says, and the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

Now Peter is returning with his friends, those six friends that went with him from preaching there at Cornelius' house. And you know, he just, they all had to be just coming back home, just rejoicing, rejoicing in God's mercy and grace, rejoicing in Christ Jesus.

I mean, they had a mountaintop experience, didn't they? They saw Cornelius and his house and those people from that town. They gathered there to hear the gospel. The Lord poured out the Holy Spirit upon them. The Lord saved them by his mercy and his grace. I mean, they're just on the mountaintop.

I mean, what a blessing to be able to see this happen. But when they get home, boy, they're going to get pulled off the mountaintop, aren't they? And the first thing I want us to see about this is this. Let's never forget this. It'll make us go a whole lot easier on those people around us, particularly believers. Sin is alive and well in every believer.

Verse two says, and when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision, the Jews, they contended with him. saying, thou wentest in to men uncircumcised and did eat with them. These men came and contended with Peter for going to preach to Gentiles and having relations, you know, a fellowship with Gentiles that God had saved. Now you can, I would imagine that really had hurt Peter's feelings. You just don't expect conflict and opposition from your brethren Especially if we're going and preaching the gospel to sinners, you just don't expect that. You look back at Acts chapter four, just a short while ago. I mean, this had to really surprise Peter, because just a short while ago, they were all of one heart and one spirit. Acts four, verse 32.

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither said any of them that out of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. Now, when the people there were the multitude, all of those believers, when they were of one heart and one soul, there was no divisions between any of them. When they had that spirit, look how the Lord blessed. Verse 33, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all.

They were of one heart, of one soul. The Lord blessed the preaching of the gospel, and now they're contending with Peter for preaching the gospel to Gentiles. And for once in his life, Peter kept his cool, for once in his life. But here's the problem that caused these men, who I assume are believers, to contend with Peter over going and preaching to these Gentile sinners. This is the problem. And this is the problem that comes up if there's a problem between two believers. Almost always this is the issue. They made something else more important than Christ. Something else was more important than Christ, than His glory and the good of His church. Something else was more important.

And what caused it all was pride. These Jewish believers had such pride They had such pride of race that they descended from Abraham, that they had been God's people on earth, that they had been God's nation on earth for all those years. They were so proud of that. They were so proud that God gave them the prophets, that he gave them the priesthood, that he gave them the tabernacle and the temple and all these ceremonies and pictures of Christ. They were proud of that. And worst of all, what that all boils down to is this, they are proud of grace. God had been so gracious to that nation Israel and they were proud of it.

They were proud that they had it and the Gentiles didn't. And they wanted to look down their nose at the Gentiles and mock them and say, we got something you don't. And they didn't want them to get it. They did not want Peter going and preaching them because you know, what just might happen is somebody, if God sends a preacher to those Gentiles, Why, they might just believe Christ. God just might be gracious, and they don't want that.

Isn't that awful? And I'll tell you what that stems from. It's racial prejudice. There's nothing more contrary to the gospel than racial prejudice. That we're all of one heart, we're all the fallen in Adam, and they were prejudiced against the Gentiles. And they thought that the Gentiles were just too sinful to save. They were so far gone, God will never show mercy to them like he has to us. Isn't that pride? That's a false pride about how good we are.

Now I'll make a statement, and I'm confident of this. Every person in this room will wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Salvation is all of grace. And it's all of grace. There is. It's all God's grace giving me something that I do not deserve. He's it's of his grace. Salvation is by sovereign grace. The Lord saves whom he will, when he will.

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I tell you, I love it that way. I love that I don't have to take the first step towards God, but he'll be gracious to me just because he would. Not because there's any goodness found in me, but just because he would. I love salvation by sovereign grace.

A sinner can't be saved any other way. Grace is unconditional. Now, when I say it's unconditional, what I mean is God gives grace to a sinner without any cause to be found in the sinner. The sinner doesn't have to meet any qualifications other than being a dead sinner who has no hope in himself, we don't have to do something good in order for God to be gracious to us.

Grace, God's saving sovereign grace is all conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? On what he did for his people, on who he is. God's grace is saving grace, that it saves his people from the controlling power of sin. And as I've told you many times, Being saved from the controlling power of sin doesn't mean that we sin less than we used to.

The controlling power of sin is what keeps us from being able to trust Christ. We cannot trust him because we've only got this sin nature. But when God comes in power, that old man cannot make us quit trusting in Christ. He can't make the new man quit trusting in Christ.

You've been delivered from the controlling power of sin so that while all we do is sin, We still, the believer never quits believing and trusting on Christ. You've not just been saved from the condemnation of sin, from being punished in hell from sin, but the controlling power of sin that you believe and trust Christ right now. God's grace is regenerating grace, where he gives spiritual, eternal life to his people, again, sovereignly. by the will of the Holy Spirit, who blows where he listeth, and comes and gives life to his, he gives life to the dead, spiritual life, so that we live and we believe, we see Christ, we follow Christ. It's keeping grace. God's grace is keeping grace.

Why is it that you do not run away from Christ and quit believing him and start believing something else? Why don't you? Is it because you're so strong? I hope we don't think we're so strong so the Lord don't have to teach us contrary to that. Tell you why we don't run off from Christ. His keeping grace. No man can pluck them out of my hand. Salvation is all of grace. Isn't it? It's all of grace.

Now if you look over at Acts chapter 15, since salvation is all of grace, it takes the same grace to save me as it does a heathen who's never heard of Christ. It takes the same grace to save me as the worst idolater that you can find. You notice, well, look, Peter says it here in Acts 15 verse six.

The apostles and elders were come together for to consider this matter. Do you have to be circumcised in order to be saved? What kind of parts of the law do you have to keep in order to be saved? And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

And God, which knoweth the hearts, bared them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them. There's no different, there's no reason for us to be proud because there's no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, the law? Why do you want to put them under the law which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. And Peter said that exactly right. He didn't say they will be saved same as us. Those horrible people, they'll be saved the same way us good people are. He said, no, we should be saved even as they. The same grace it takes to save me is the same grace that it takes to save the heathen.

Now that's God's grace. And I know when we hear salvation is all of grace, that insults the flesh, doesn't it? And we ought to be insulting the flesh. There's nothing good in it. But the believer loves grace. As much as what Salvation by Grace says about the rottenness and the evilness and the defilement of sin in this flesh, the believer loves grace. Oh, I love God's grace. that he would give me something that I do not deserve, that he would give me everything that Christ deserves by his perfect, precious life. Don't you love God's grace? I love to hear about God's grace.

Some years ago, I think it was even before I was the pastor here, I preached a message on grace, and I forget how many young women in the congregation had the middle name grace. People must love grace because we're naming our daughters grace. We love grace, don't we? Oh, we love it. Well, since I love grace, I truly believe in salvation by grace. I truly do. That this should be my genuine attitude. It shouldn't just be a religious saying that I say to sound good to y'all. This should be my genuine, heartfelt feeling.

If the Lord saved me, by His grace, I have no doubt He's got grace enough to save you. I have no doubt. I mean, no doubt whatsoever, because I'm the chief of sinners. If God saved me, I know He can save you. I know He can. But you know, the old man, now you believe that, don't you? I mean, we believe that. Everybody here does. At least in the head, we believe that. But you know, our old man will never, ever, ever, ever believe He'll never bow to it, he'll never submit to it, and that's why we have to constantly fight against this old man and the pride that we have in our flesh.

You know, this day, when Peter got back home, he got back to Jerusalem, and his Jewish brother contended with him. This day, Peter stood strong, didn't he? He stood strong and bold and contended back with them, not by getting angry with them, but by preaching the gospel to them. But you know the pressure from this interaction later on is gonna come back to haunt Peter and cause him to make a grievous error.

Let's look at that in Galatians chapter two. Galatians chapter two. Beginning in verse seven. But contrary wise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision, the Gentiles, was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter. For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, to preach to the Jews, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, but they, under the circumcision, and only they would that we should remember the poor the same, which I was also forward to do." Now, these men saw that Paul was called to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Peter was called to preach that very same gospel to the Jews. Same gospel. You don't preach one gospel to the Jews and one to the Gentiles. It's the very same gospel. This is what they believed, this is what they went preaching. But look at verse 11.

But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before the certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, these Jewish brethren were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them that were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, in so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation."

You know, they must have had some sort of a Bible conference going on. Peter was the guest preacher, you know, just like we do after we have, you know, a guest preacher. We get together and eat and sit and talk. And Peter preached to him, and then he was sitting at the table with all these Gentiles. They were having fellowship. They were talking about the gospel and the food and all the different things. You know, they're having such a good time together.

And Peter looks over and a bunch of Jews are coming in the door. They got there late for whatever reason. And Peter got up and left those Gentiles and went and sat with the Jews. Like it's better to be sitting with the Jews than slumming it over here with these Gentiles.

And Paul's going to withstanding about this. That is not just being rude to the Gentiles. That's acting contrary to the gospel of grace. Look at verse 14. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if thou being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, you don't live now after the manner of the law, you live after the gospel of Christ. And not as do the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

We who are Jews by nature and not sinners or heathen of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, by the faithfulness of Christ to do everything that it takes to save his people, and not by our works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. If while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are also found to be sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin?

God forbid. And what Paul's telling Peter here is, you know, you got up and left those Gentiles. Well, you're just acting like that. The Jews are better because they grew up observing the law and so the ceremonies and, and you're completely denying salvation by grace. You're completely denying. being justified by faith in Christ without our works. Because you're going off to sit in fellowship with these people, you're making it look like they're better than the Gentiles.

And you know the life of poor old Peter. This is something that he struggled with his whole life long, this prejudice against the Gentiles. And you and I, in some form or fashion, are gonna suffer with this very, just like Peter did, with some sort of pride and prejudice against other people, like somehow we're better than them.

The new man is gonna have to fight the old man on that every step of the way. Well, here's the second thing I want us to see. The old man will never stop trying to mix grace and works. Now, we saw this earlier in Acts chapter 15 when the apostles came together to consider this manner.

I tell you, the Jews who grew up under the law before Christ came, I mean circumcision was like the most important thing in this world to them, the most important part of the law. And you know why it was? Again, it's pride. Because it's something in my flesh that differentiates me and makes me better from a Gentile. That's why they loved it so much.

And when Peter went and preached to these uncircumcised Gentiles, He comes back and talks to his brother like, you violated our law. You violated our customs. You violated our ceremonies. You can't do that going into these uncircumcised people. At least make them be circumcised before you preach to them.

So their solution to this whole matter was to say, yes, yes, no doubt we're saved by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. but you have to be circumcised too. We'll let the rest of the law slide, but circumcision, now we're gonna keep that one. And yes, there's no question, you can't be saved apart from grace. You can't be saved without faith in Christ, but you also can't be saved without this work of circumcision. See, their solution was to mix law and grace, wasn't it?

And the old man will always try to do that. Now, he's spiritually dead, But he's smart. He knows the flesh. He knows our nature. Let's compromise. That's what the old man is going to say to the new man. Let's compromise. And the new man won't do it. He will not compromise and mix law and grace. He won't do it. So there's always going to be a battle between this new man and the old man. Now listen, there's some things we can compromise on. There's some things we can compromise and we should. compromise on. And there's some things we can never compromise on. Paul talked about eating meat offered to idols. Now there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that at all. But if that offends a weaker brother, don't do it, Paul said.

You're free to do it, but we can compromise on that. I have a dear, dear friend, I mean a friend that is so close to me, and he is adamant that Melchizedek is not a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. I think he is. We can compromise on that. I mean, you know, we're still good friends.

Here's what we can't compromise on. Salvation is by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, revealed in the word alone. We cannot compromise that. But that's what they wanted. That's the best solution they'd come up with. Instead of saying Christ is the end of the law and we're doing away with it all, we're gonna keep circumcision and mix works and grace. And it comes back to this thing of pride.

They still thought they were better than the Gentiles. Like they had something to contribute to their salvation that the Gentiles didn't. So it takes less grace to save me as it does that Gentile. Now that's the flesh thinking, that's the way this flesh will always think, and that thinking, that I'm somehow less sinful than somebody else, so it takes less grace to save me than somebody else, completely destroys the preaching of salvation by grace.

And let me show you that, Romans chapter 11. Romans 11, verse five. Even so then, at this present time also, there's a remnant according to the election of grace. And aren't you thankful for that? There is a remnant. God's gonna keep a people. There's a remnant according to the election of grace.

And if it's by grace, if salvation, justification is by grace, then is it no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. Now what Paul's saying there is this, it's either all of grace or it's all of works. The moment you add works to grace, it's not grace anymore. And the moment you add grace to works, it's not all works anymore. It's all one or the other. And I'll tell you what that means.

Nothing that we do, according to, that's found in the law of God, adds to or contributes to our salvation at all. And God gave proof of this. He gave evidence of this long before this fight ever started about mixing grace and circumcision. The proof of it is Abraham. Abraham. When did the Lord save Abraham? Many years before Abraham was ever circumcised.

He gave him the token, the sign of circumcision many years after that the Lord saved him. Salvation is by grace alone. But do you know it still requires circumcision? It still requires circumcision of the heart, not the flesh. Romans chapter two. Romans chapter two, verse 28.

For he's not a Jew. part of spiritual Israel, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew. He's part of spiritual Israel, which is one inwardly. His circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. And that circumcision of the heart and giving a new heart and the new birth, that's all of God. It's all of his grace to give us that, even though we don't deserve it.

All right, so there's a problem here, isn't there? There's a problem these Jewish believers have with circumcision. Just like some of us sometimes, from time to time, end up having a problem with something that really don't matter. That's just making a mountain out of a molehill. But here's the thing about believers. Number three, sooner or later, the believer is going to submit to the word of God.

Verse four, back in our text, Acts chapter 11. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by the four corners, and it came even unto me, upon the which, when I fastened mine eyes, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air, All animals that were under the mosaic law were unclean animals.

And I heard a voice saying unto me, arise, Peter, slay and eat. But I said, not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

And this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. And behold, immediately, There were three men already come unto the house where I was sent from Caesarea unto me, and the Spirit made me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house, and he showed us how he'd seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

He's gonna preach the gospel unto you, the gospel of your salvation. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God?

And when they heard these things, they held their peace. They quit contending with Peter. They held their peace and glorified God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Now, once these people, these brethren who were contending with Peter, once they started hearing the gospel again, once they heard the message that Peter had preached to Cornelius at his house, they repented, didn't they?

They turned back to Christ. They turned from their works of the law. They turned away from their pride. They turned away from their prejudice. And they turned back to Christ. Now they rejoiced in Christ. Now they rejoiced in God's grace that the Lord had granted repentance to the Gentiles too. They repented.

Now repentance, the word means a turning. It doesn't just mean being sorry. It means a turning. a radical turning, a radical change. It's a 180 degree turn where you think the opposite, you believe the opposite, you see the opposite than what you ever did before. Now there's no salvation without repentance. If you would be saved, you must repent and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But here's the problem. We can't turn ourselves, can we? We can't change our mind. I mean, you who have been born again, how long have you been trying to change the mind of the old man? You can't do it. He's got a nature that cannot change. His mind cannot be changed.

So the Lord, if He's going to save somebody, you know what He does? He gives them the gift of repentance. Peter calls it here, granted repentance. He gives it to everybody He saves. Paul said in Romans 2, here's something we know. It's the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance. It's His goodness that turns you to Him. It turns you away from your idols to trust in and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And every believer, everyone who believes Christ and trusts Christ, I'll tell you why they trust Christ. Because the Lord turned them. He turned them so they see Christ. And once they see Him, they believe Him. They follow Him. They trust Him. They worship Him. And they won't go back.

I wanna give you two things on this matter of repentance. First is repentance unto salvation. Now every son and daughter of Adam needs to repent because we're all born believing in free will works religion. We're all born loving self so much that we'd rather trust ourself than trust Christ. Here's what we think by nature.

We read in the scripture that God requires something. He requires something of me. If he's gonna accept me and require something, then I'd better get to work to provide it. I'd better get to work to do what God requires of me. And we trust himself somehow to do it. Some way, somehow, we find a way to trust himself. We're gonna trust in our own works. We're gonna trust that I made a decision to accept Jesus and let him into my life. Well, I remember walking an aisle, I remember doing these things and I have a changed lifestyle now. This is how you can tell that I'm saved, I got saved, I got a changed lifestyle.

They might even bow down to a statuette and pray to it and stuff. But really and truly, their faith is not in that little statue. It's in how well they do praying to him, how well that they follow all the form and the ceremony. I was in Mexico one time and saw one of the saddest things I have ever seen in my life. Cody Groover was there, and it made him so sad to see he broke down in tears and had to leave. We were in some sort of cathedral or something. You remember it, Ralph, that oldest building in Mexico or something, you know, it was the Catholics built.

And there was a woman in there, a mother, I assume, with three small children. And you know what she was doing? She was showing those children how to bow down to this little statue that was in a little alcove there, you know. And she taught them that. And when they got down on their knees, you know, she moved around.

You hold yourself this way. You hold your hands this way. You hold your head this way. Teaching them how to pray to that statue. Their trust is not in that statue. It's in, do I kneel right? Do I hold my hands right? Do I hold my head right? It's self. It's trusting self.

Well, how are we ever going to be away, turned away from trusting the idol that we love the most? The idol we love the most is ourself. How am I ever going to be turned away from trusting in myself? Only by seeing Christ. I've got to see someone better. And believe me, it ought not be hard for me to find somebody better than me. But certainly if the Lord shows me his son, I'm gonna see somebody better than me and I'll trust him. Well that sounds good, that's what I want. That's what I want for myself, that's what I want for my loved ones, that's what I want for you.

How is it we're gonna be turned away from our favorite idol and trust Christ instead of trusting myself? There's just one way, by hearing Christ preached. I can't trust him if I don't know who he is. If I don't hear of him, when we hear Christ preached, the Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see Christ so that we run to him, so that we trust him and wouldn't trust anybody else, but we can't do it until we know who he is.

Look at 1 Thessalonians. This is what happened in Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians chapter one. Look first at verse nine. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned to God. Now that's repentance, it's a turning. You turn to God from your idols to serve the true and living God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Now when did those believers in Thessalonica, when did they turn to God from their idols? It was only after they heard Christ preached. Look at verse four, knowing brethren, beloved, your election of God for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy ghost and a much assurance assurance in Christ. As you know, what manner of men we were among you for your sake, these Thessalonican believers believed only after they heard Christ preached. So I can't make myself repent. I can't change my mind. I can't turn myself. But if I would be saved, I must be turned, right? I must repent. Then what's my prayer? Where does that leave me?

Lord, turn me. Turn me. Let me show you that in Psalm 80. The believer's prayer is, Lord, turn me. Turn me. Psalm 80. Verse three. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Lord, if you turn us, we'll be saved. Verse seven. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Verse 19. Turn us again, O Lord, God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Lord, if you turn us, we'll be saved. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 31, Lord, turn me and I'll be turned. If you turn me, I'm gonna be turned to Christ and I'm gonna believe.

That's repentance unto salvation. But here's the thing about repentance. Here's the second thing. For the believer, repentance is not a one-time thing. It's constant. The believer's life is lived constantly turning back to Christ. We still have this sin and this pride to deal with. We still have self-righteousness that is so ingrained in that old man, he'll never let us go.

And we need to be turned every day away from ourselves to be turned back to Christ. There are times a believer can get off on a tangent. They can get caught into a bad attitude that lasts some while. And the only way we can be turned back to Christ turned away from the flesh and turned to Christ is by hearing Christ preached. See, that's every person needs to hear Christ preached. What will cause the unbeliever to turn to Christ for salvation? Hearing Christ preached. What will fix my bad attitude and my fixation on my flesh and my fixation on wanting my way and my pride and my glory? Hearing Christ preached.

You know, when the Jews heard what Peter was preaching, That the Lord said, don't you call common what I've cleansed. Don't you call something unclean that I've cleansed. They repented of their bad attitude. They said, why? The Lord cleansed me. He cleansed me from all of my sin by the precious blood of Christ, and he did the same thing for them. Cleansed them the same way he cleansed me, and they glorified God. They repented of their bad attitude, didn't they?

When they heard Peter say, back in chapter 10, verse 36, Peter told Cornelius, he's Lord of all. He's Lord of all. When those Jewish believers heard that, they repented of their bad attitude. Because you know what they were reminded? The Lord's the first cause of everything. Anything that happens, the Lord did. The Lord's the one that sent Peter to preach to these Gentiles so that he'd be glorified in saving those Gentiles that he chose to save from the foundation of the world. And instead of being mad at Peter, now they rejoiced in the grace and mercy of God. And it came from hearing Christ preached.

You and I need to be turned, don't we? We need to be turned to Christ for salvation. We need to be constantly turned away from this flesh, from the things of this world and look to Christ and trust Christ only. And the only thing that will turn us is the preaching of Christ, is the preaching of his word. That's why what we do here is so important. Yeah, you could quit coming to the service and you wouldn't lose your salvation, but you'd be a believer starving out there trying to eat on husk or something, you know. The only thing that will turn us, that will keep us turned to Christ is the preaching of the word.

And that's my prayer for all of us this morning, that the Lord will turn us. They'll turn us to him for salvation, and he'll turn us to him to keep us from looking at ourselves and look to him. I'm just confident of this. If the Lord will turn me away from myself to look at Christ, My attitude in all things is going to be pretty good. It's going to be pretty good. That's what we need. All right.

I hope the Lord bless that to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you for the gift of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of your mercy, the gift of your grace, the gift of faith, the gift of repentance. Father, how we thank you. How we thank you.

The salvation is of the Lord. Then in no way do we contribute anything to our salvation, but salvation is of the Lord. That's what gives us that confidence, that confidence that Christ cannot fail, that if we trust him, we cannot be discouraged. We cannot be condemned. The confidence that we have is all found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So father, turn us. Turn us to Christ. Turn us to look to him. Turn us to trust him and keep turning us so that we trust him all the days of our life. Lord, keep us from ourselves. Keep us from our pride and our arrogance and our self-righteousness and turn us to Christ. Humble us by turning us to Christ that we always may be found at his feet begging for mercy and grace. Father, it's in Christ's name, for his glory we pray, amen. All right, Sean.

Okay, if you would turn in your hymnals to song number 318, and stand as we sing, I Need Thee Every Hour. 318. I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can peace afford. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need Thee.

O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need thee every hour, stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need thee every hour in joy or pain. Come quickly and abide or life is vain. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, Most Holy One. O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.