2 Timothy 2, and I want to begin
reading in verse 23. Our subject this evening is repentance.
Repentance. 2 Timothy 2, verse 23. Foolish and unlearned questions
avoid. Questions that can't be answered
from the Word of God. Questions that should not be
asked. Avoid those questions. This is the reason why they just
generate strife, gender strife. Can God make a rock that he can't
pick up? What a dumb question. And men
have argued about that. Can you believe that? And the
servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all
men, apt to teach, patient. in meekness instructing those
that oppose themselves, if God perhaps, for a venture, would
give them repentance, to the acknowledging of the truth, that
they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who
are taken captive by him at his will. There are different ways
that a child of God, children of God, witnesses to lost people. First of all, he witnesses as
he walks by faith in this world. As he lives his life, trusting
the Lord day after day, trusting the Lord for everything. And
as he lives upon Christ and follows the Lord, follows His Word, he's
a witness to the loss that's around him. The Master said,
let your light shine before men. Don't make your light shine.
but let your light shine, that men may see your good works and
glorify the Father which is in heaven." Just living our lives
before the Lord. The Apostle Paul was writing
to the Thessalonican church and he said this, he said, when I
came and preached the gospel to you and I left there, and
I came back later and I began to talk to the counties around
where you lived, Will you worship?" He said, I didn't have to say
anything. They themselves come to me and
told me what kind of lives you were living. They saw the effects
the gospel had upon you. How you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from
heaven. Paul said, you are a witness
to them the way you live your life. And secondly, we witness
to the lost men by the attitude that we have Paul mentions that
here in verses 24 and 25, not striving, not arguing, not in
a critical or mean and hateful attitude, in meekness instructing
those that oppose themselves, being gentle to all and patient. I never know, I never know any
argument that I've ever had with anybody where I got loud and
they got loud that accomplished anything. Patience, gentleness,
meekness when we deal with God's Word. There's another way that
we witness to lost people. And thirdly is this way speaking
the truth, instructing those that oppose themselves, teaching
up when we have an opportunity to sit down and teach men the
truth. handing them out a tape, handing
them out a CD, giving them a track, sitting and talking with them,
opening up God's Word, and just showing them these verses and
teaching them. That's the way that we're a witness to lost
people. And the aim of our witnesses
is this. It's not just to win an argument. It's not just to make someone
think that we've got a lot of knowledge in God's Word. It's
not to impress people. But here's the end of our witnessing
to people. It's got a good end to it. This
is our aim, to bring men to repentance. Under God, by the grace of God,
to bring men to repentance. He tells us that in verse 25.
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, teaching
them, if perhaps God will grant them repentance to the acknowledgement
of the truth. Now, the Holy Scriptures has
a lot to say about repentance. Let me give you five or six things
before we look at this passage here. It has a lot to say about
repentance. God commands it. God commands
it. God commands everybody, everywhere,
at all times, to repent. Acts chapter 17 and verse 30.
Now it may seem contradictory to say God commands it and yet
He has to grant it. If He don't grant it, men cannot
repent. It's a gift of God. So it may
seem contrary to say God commands it and yet He has to grant it.
But God being the moral judge of this earth can command all
men to repent. And Him being God, He can command
nothing less. And yet, being a gracious Lord
that He is, He can withhold what He commands. Now that's so. That's so. He has to grant it,
and He may give it or withhold it, but still He commands. All
men, and all men ever were, are told and commanded and required
to repent. Secondly, no man is saved apart
from repentance, except you repent. you shall all likewise perish. You and I have studied a couple
Sundays ago on election, and we stressed that it was unconditional. But salvation is not so. Salvation
is conditional. Except you repent, you shall
perish. Except you believe that I am
He, you shall die in your sin. If men are interested in being
right with God, and men are interested in dying easy on their deathbed,
and going out into eternity with a good hope, then they should
be concerned about repentance, because there is no salvation
apart from it. And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
the first message that Mark has recorded, the Lord Jesus preached
repentance. He came preaching, the kingdom
of God is near. Repent ye and believe the gospel. And the last instructions our
Lord gave to His apostles was on this subject of preaching
repentance. It behooved Christ to suffer
and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
His name among all nations. And that's the first message
that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. When those men
threw up their hands and said, what shall we do? He said, repent
every one of you. Every one of you repent and be
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And somebody read this passage
to us the other day, how repentance affects the attitude of heaven. I don't know what else upon this
earth affects the attitude of heaven, but repentance does.
There's joy in heaven, joy in the presence of the angels over
one sinner that repented. That affects heaven. It affects
heaven. It must be important, if it moves
heaven, to rejoice. Now, there's a repentance that
is not unto salvation. There's a repentance that will
kill you. There is repentance that has deceived a lot of people.
And let me mention that first. The Apostle Paul said this about
a false repentance. I rejoice, he said, not that
you were made sorry, but you sorrowed to repentance. For you
were made sorry after a godly manner, for godly sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation. But the sorrow of this world
worketh Death. There is a sorrow, there is a
repentance that does not save. It deceives a person, but it
does not save. And what's so deceiving about
this repentance that does not save, it has a lot of the same
attitudes that true repentance does. It may be a sorrow, but
a worldly sorrow. It may be a fear, but a worldly
fear. It may be anxious, but a worldly
anxiety. It may be a regret, but just
a regret a person got caught. We used to go to jail much years
ago, and almost every week somebody was repenting. But when you started
talking to them, there's repenting, they were sorry they got caught.
As soon as they got out of jail, they lost their repentance. But
that's a deceitful repentance. Listen, Cain feared his punishment. He feared. My punishment is greater
than I can bear. Does true repentance have fear?
So does this. So does a worldly repentance. King Saul was so full of regret,
he made this statement. I have sinned against the Lord. But what made him so full of
regret? You guys are getting feedback. Can you hear this?
I'm getting some kind of feedback. I don't know what it is. Some
kind of feedback. King Saul said, I've sinned against
the Lord, and he was sorry that he sinned. But come to find out,
he was sorry just because he lost his kingship. He wasn't
sorry he sinned, he was sorry that he lost by doing so. Remember
Judas? He says, I've sinned against
the Lord, and the Scripture says he repented and went out and
hanged himself. Repentance. But he hanged himself
and went to his own place. And King Herod, who cut off the
head of John the Baptist, was exceeding sorry, exceeding sorry. And Pharaoh was full of fear
and regret. He said this, I have sinned against
the Lord. Me and my people are wicked. And yet none of these people
were ever saved, as far as we know. All of them died and perished
in their sins. But all of them had regret, all
of them had sorrow, they all had a degree of fear, and they
expressed that fear. So there is a repentance that
does not save. So what is true repentance? What
is repentance unto salvation? The first thing I want you to
notice about repentance here in verse 25 is this. It is vitally
linked to the truth. Now look at that. It's vitally
linked to the truth. In meekness instructing those
that oppose themselves, if God pre-adventure will grant them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. So the question
that a person needs to ask themselves this evening that's concerned
about repentance is this, what's my attitude towards the truth? If repentance is vitally linked
to it, then what's my attitude towards the truth? And as you
and I read the Scriptures, one of the things that becomes evident
in salvation, it's always vitally linked to the truth. A person
can't be saved apart from the truth. Now listen to these Scriptures,
and I'll read them to you. And they all have to do with
being saved, and that whole round. God will have all men to be saved,
and come to the knowledge of the truth." See there how salvation
is linked to the truth? "...of his own will begot he
us with the word of truth." Begotten and the word of truth is linked
together. Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth,
purifying and obeying the truth are linked together. They receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Receiving
the love of the truth and being saved is linked together. They
can't be separated. When the Spirit of truth is come,
He will guide you unto all truth. Being led of the Spirit and led
in the truth are vitally united. They can't be separated. The
Spirit leads in the truth, not apart from the truth, not outside
the truth, but in the truth. I came to bear witness unto the
truth. Everyone who is of the truth
heareth me." Hearing and truth are vitally united. So that repentance
is vitally united to the truth. And here in verse 25, the Apostle
Paul uses this word, acknowledging. I was looking in Vines when I
did a study on this. and Vine's concordance, he split
this word up in three parts. And I thought this was very interesting.
I think it will help us to understand what the Apostle Paul is talking
about when he said, grant them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth. And first of all, Vine says this
acknowledging means to confess, to confess the truth. I acknowledge
my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. I confess
to God my transgression. Whosoever denieth the Son, he
hath not the Father. He that confesseth or acknowledgeth
the Son, he hath the Father also. So acknowledging simply means
to confess. Repentance is to confess the
truth. Confessing the truth. We've heard
that question asked so many times. Is he a professing Christian?
I don't think there's any other kind. Is he a professing Christian? That don't make any sense, does
it? There is no other kind. If you're a Christian, you confess
it. You profess that you are. And Vine says this. He said,
this acknowledging of the truth is a knowledge of the truth. a recognition or a recognizing
a thing to be what it is, to know, to have a discernment of. You shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. It's knowing the truth. I have
not written unto you, John said, because you know not the truth,
but because you know it. And you know that no lie is of
the truth. Leave me, David said, in thy
truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation. Knowing the truth is what this
word acknowledgement means. But it means something else,
and I think this is very important. Those first two things are critical,
to confess the truth, confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus,
and to know the truth in our hearts, to have our hearts open
to know it. But Vines says something else
about it too. And it's this. He says, "...an
intensity, a close, strained, extreme in degree, to grip soundly,
violent or severe, Now let me read that to you again. He said,
this word acknowledging means to know with intensity. It means to know closely, or
strange, or extreme in degree, to grip soundly. To be violent
about it. It means you've got a hold of
the truth. You've found it, you've embraced it with a violent embracing. And it's embraced you. You've heard people say, that
person's extreme in his views. That person's extreme in his
practice. That's what Vine says this word
means. So acknowledging means to know, to recognize, to be
aware of, a surety, a certain knowing, a gripping reality,
an intense knowing, a thorough recognition. of the truth. Now
that's so important there. And the reason that's so important,
this last point tells us that the truth gets deeper than just
the top of the head. It goes beyond just a mental
assent of the mind. It goes beyond just saying, well,
I agree with what you're saying. No, it's deeper than that. That
acknowledging of the truth means the truth has got a hold of me.
And I've got a hold of it. It's intense. It's intense. Well,
no wonder the Lord Jesus said, you'll know the truth, and it'll
make you free. You know the truth this way,
and it'll make you free. The hard knowledge of the truth,
brothers and sisters, is a powerful thing. God will have all men
to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. The knowledge of
the truth in our hearts is such a powerful thing, He'll deliver
us from the snare of the devil. That's why He labors with all
His might, to keep you away from the truth and keep the truth
away from you. You know why this house, you know why they're down
here on the park this evening playing football instead of here?
You know why that is? The devil is fighting tooth and
toenail to keep people away from the truth. Because he knows if
the truth ever gets into a person's heart and takes hold of them,
he's lost them. He's lost them. He's lost them
from his kingdom of darkness. That's why Paul said it's only
through acknowledging of the truth that a man can recover
himself out of the snare of the devil. We often call repentance
a change of mind. It's that. It's a change of mind. It's a change brought about by
knowing the truth. Knowing the truth becomes so
intense, so heart-gripping, such a reality, it has a profound
effect upon the heart of an individual. There's nothing that will reach
a heart to change it thoroughly as truth. It'll change the intellect. It'll change the emotions. It'll
change the will. It'll change the affections.
It'll change us. It'll change our conversation.
It'll change what we believe. It'll change where we go. It'll
change our desires. It changes us. Truth will save
a man from the power of the devil, and nothing else will. And Paul
links repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Let me give you
three examples of these. You remember in Acts chapter
2 when the Apostle Peter preached there on the day of Pentecost?
Thousands of men, when he stood up to preach Christ and God had
raised him from the dead. You've taken by wicked hands,
have crucified and slain him. You fellows crucified the Son
of God. That's what he confronted, didn't we? You were the very
men that stood before Pilate, he said, and said, let him be
crucified. We won't have this man to reign
over us. We hate him. Away with him. And now here these
men were. They were broken, and Peter said,
Repent every one of you, and look what an effect it had upon
those men. Look what the truth did for them
men. Look how it thoroughly changed them. It took those men who had
crucified the Master, spit in His face, and now they were so
thoroughly changed that Scripture says they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine. And they met together daily to
hear the preaching and remember the Lord's death. And they even
sold their property and gave it to those who had need. That
shows us what a thorough effect truth will have when it gets
hold of a man's soul, his heart. And Paul was writing about this
repentance in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. And here's the effect. Listen to this. Listen to how
gripping it is. Paul was writing to them about
this godly sorrow being wrought in their hearts, and he said,
here's the effect. What carefulness it wrought in
you. Yea, what fear, what desire,
what zeal, what revenge. See the effect it had upon them?
They lived such careless lives. They just went and came as they
pleased, walked after the course of this world. God smoked their
heart and brought her out repentant. And boy, I tell you what, it
had a tremendous effect upon them. And that passage I read
to you over in 1 Thessalonians, where the Apostle Paul said,
you turned to God from idols. You turned to God from idols. That's what the truth will do
to you. Well, it's related then to truth. But we still haven't
got into the truth. We've talked about the truth.
Repentance is related to the truth. And when a man comes to
know the truth, and he gets a hold of it, and the truth gets a hold
of him, it will thoroughly change his whole heart. But what is
the truth then? I want to give you four Scriptures,
and I want you to turn to these Scriptures. First of all, I want
you to turn over to Acts chapter 20. Four truths concerning repentance. I want you to look in Acts chapter
20. I want you to look down in verse 20. Four truths concerning
repentance. Look in verse 20. Acts chapter
20, verse 20. I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you, but I have showed you and taught you publicly
and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and to the Greeks
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're not going to look
at faith in Christ. We're going to look at repentance towards God. Repentance
is towards God. A thorough change, then, towards God. Repentance is a
change of mind, but it's a thorough change. It's a change of the
heart. And it's a change towards God. Change in one's opinions, change
in one's thoughts, change in one's attitude towards God. Now what does this tell us about
man? What does this tell us about
us? If Paul said, I preach repentance to all, then this tells us that
every man is in need of repentance. And if man is in need of a change
of mind towards God, then that tells us we think wrongly of
God. We must change our thoughts towards
God. Our thoughts are not His thoughts.
Our opinions of God are not right. That's why we're commanded to
change our attitude towards God. Man's natural opinion of God
ranges everywhere from no opinion, to a low opinion, to a false
opinion. And repentance is coming to the
knowledge of the truth concerning God. That's my first point. What
is repentance? It's coming to the knowledge
of the truth concerning God. You say, Bruce, everybody knows
who God is. Well, why preach repentance? Everybody thinks
rightly of God, then why preach repentance? Repentance is a change
of mind towards God. Was there not a time in your
life when you had such an opinion of God, you thought He could
see no further than you could? You thought He knew no more about
yourself than you know. that your ways, your thoughts
were hid from Him. I used to believe that. I thought
I could hide. That's why I continued on in
my sins. I secretly thought down in my heart, this is hid from
Him. He's not seeing this. Oh, I would
never have come out and told you that. Do you think men would
live like they live if they knew God's eye was upon them? You know why men go on in their
sins and so flippant about it and so bold about it? They think
within their heart, He's not saying this. He's a God of for
all. He's not near. His eyes are not
running to and fro, beholding the good and the evil. No, I
know more than He knows. I'm doing some things that He
don't know I'm doing. Now people think that. They won't
tell you that. But if they knew that God's all-searching
eye was looking at every thought, every word, every motive, I'm
telling you they wouldn't see them as easy as they do and come
home and lay down and go to bed. It's because they think that
God can see no further than they can. And anyway, He can't see
as far as they do. But there come a time And you
can bear witness to this in your own conscience. You changed your
opinion. You changed your mind towards
God. His holy eye pierced the darkness
of your soul and you were made to know that you were naked and
open in His eyes. He knows your thoughts. He knows
your motives. He knows the word that's in your
mouth before you speak it. He has thorough knowledge of
you, and you come to understand that He could see sin in you
even when you could not see it in yourself. This is sort of elementary, really. Do you know it? But it's the
truth. It's the truth. The Word of God is a discerner
of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. That's how closely
God knows a man. He knows the intentions. I intend
to do this, a man thinks in his heart, and God knows that. And
God knows that. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret sins,
sins that I don't even know about. Cleanse me from it. Those men
you were telling us about this morning, Glenn, those scribes
and Pharisees brought charges against that woman. They went
out condemned in their own conscience. I just wonder when they went
out, they were thinking in their mind, how did he know that about
me? I had that in. I had that in. How did he know
that about me? Well, that's one thing repentance is. It comes
to the knowledge of the truth that God knows you. He knows
me. We can't hide anything. Did you
ever, number two, have such an opinion of God that you thought
He wasn't angry with your sin? Men live thinking God loves them,
and they just relish in that. They don't really believe that.
They don't really believe that. But they don't have any thought.
Is God angry with my sins? Does He count my sins just a
trifling thing? Does He just say, sweep it under
the rug? I just want you to be happy. My main concern is not
holiness. My main concern is just that
you be happy and live in a way that will make you happy. That's
what God wants for me, just for me to be happy. People think that, you know.
People think that. And you know why they think that?
They've got a wrong opinion of God. But let a man come to know
the truth that God's of two pure eyes to look upon evil. He cannot
see sin to justify it in any way. Oh, that changes everything
then. When David says, Lord, rebuke
me not in thy wrath. Don't chastise me in your hot
displeasure. Oh, don't deal with me for my sin. But you changed your mind concerning
God. That's what repentance is. He
grants repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth that he's of two
pure eyes to behold my sin. He cannot look upon it. That my sin has separated him
from me. He cannot look upon it. He must
forgive it. He must wash it away. Or he must
judge it. He must judge it. But He has
to deal with it. You know, that's one of the things
this generation just will not confront, that God's going to
deal with sin. He is going to deal with sin.
He dealt with it yonder on behalf of His people on Calvary's Cross.
And there's where the debt was paid. And now He brings His people
to acknowledge the awfulness of their sins, and it's washed
away. It's confessed and forsaken and
washed away. But everybody else, they refuse
to face that God is angry with sin. There was a time when we thought
that God was too strict. He required perfect obedience.
He required perfect love. He required perfect worship.
I don't think that anymore, do you? I'm glad He requires that. I'm glad he requires perfect
obedience. I'm glad he requires perfect
love, because I know who rendered it to him. Don't you? There was a time when our heart
would have been disappointed when we thought of the Day of
Judgment and knowing what God required of us to be there. Perfect
holiness, perfect righteousness. Why would He require this of
me? I can't provide it. I thought this in myself when
I was under conviction for years. Why does God require me to be
like I can't be? And it made me half mad. Like
Paul Luther, I want a God that I can love and one that loves
me. But I can't see how I can perform
what He requires of me and it made me half mad. But I changed my mind. When we hear that every one of
our transgressions must receive a just, recompensive reward,
oh, we thought that's too strict. That ain't fair. That ain't fair. When you heard that Christ the
Lord commanded you to bow, and yet you said in your heart, I'll
not have Him to reign over me. But we've changed our mind, haven't
we? We've changed our mind. towards God. There was a time when God put
us under a frown in Providence, and we accused Him. There was a time when we didn't
get everything we wanted, and it made us mad. There was a time
when we were told that salvation was of the Lord, and He could
pass us by and save us, and we said, that's not right. That's
not fair. But we changed our mind towards
God. Repentance towards God. Repentance is coming to the knowledge
of the truth that God is God. And you and I are sinful creatures.
And we own Him as being the God of truth. And we bow to Him and
acknowledge Him as such. Are complaining? is the complaining
of a sinful creature against a good and faithful Creator who
is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works. That's repentance when we come
to realize that. All our complaining against God,
all our accusing God is nothing but the complaint of a sinful
creature against a good and faithful Creator. This truth has so thoroughly
changed our opinion of God. It's bowed our hearts before
Him in reverence and submission. And now you can truly and willingly
say, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give
glory. You're right. You're right. Repentance
towards God. He's right, ain't He? He's right. No matter how He deals with us,
He's right. And He's holy. Turn to another scripture right
quickly. Look in Hebrews. I'll just look at this right
quickly. I've got three more right quickly. Hebrews chapter
6, repentance. Here's another place that word
is mentioned. Repentance in Hebrews chapter 6. Look at this. Hebrews
chapter 6 and verse 1. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance From dead works. Repentance from dead works. What is a dead work? Well, it's
a work that has no life to it. It has no life to it. It has
no spirit to it. Repentance from a dead work means
you had a dead work, but you can't repent. If a man is dead
in trespasses and sins, it's not a work of faith. It's not
a work or labor of love. It's not done by a gracious heart.
It's not done in obedience to God's Word. And it usually originates
from a heart of self-will and self-righteousness and vainglory
for the praise of men. When I was in a lost religion,
I repented all the time. Repented all the time. And I'll
tell you what we did when the Lord saved us. We didn't bring
our old religion with us. Did we? When the Lord saved Paul, you
know what he said about all his former religion? I count it done.
That's to be repented of. That's dead. That's all that
is. Dead. I've often wondered, Larry, about
these Presbyterians that are baptizing their little infants.
I wonder if they repent of that when the Lord saves them. That's
a dead work. What is a dead work? It's done
from a dead heart. An unregenerate heart to baptize
an unsaved infant should be repented of. Not gloried in or trusted
in. What things were gained to me,
I counted lost for Christ. Those things are gone. They're
gone. We don't trust them. We don't
trust them. Right now. Am I trusting the
Lord Jesus Christ right now? Right now. Job. Thirdly, Job. Look in Job. Job chapter 42. Look at this. This is very important. Look in Job chapter 42. Look
here, beginning in verse 1. Repentance is a change of mind
towards God, a thorough change of mind, a change of mind concerning
dead works. Whatever we did in a lost state
of religion was dead. It was dead. It needs to be repented of, not
trusted in. Repentance is a change of mind
concerning the truth about oneself. Look in verse 1. Job answered the Lord and said,
I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden
from thee. Who is he that hath counsel without
knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not, things too wonderful for me which I knew
not. Here I beseech thee, and I will speak. I will demand of
thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye saith thee. Wherefore, I abhor
myself, and repent in dust and ashes." What is repentance? It's the truth about myself.
What kind of person am I? I'm such a person that should
be abhorred by my own heart. That's the truth. That's what
Job said repentance has to do with. coming to know the truth
about oneself. Not self-pity, but self-abhorrence. Not self-confidence, but self-abhorrence. A man may feel sorry for sin
and not abhor himself. A man may fear punishment and
not abhor himself. A man may fear hell and not abhor
himself. One way to know if repentance
has been begun in our hearts You've fallen out of love with
yourself. You take sides with God against
yourself. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? Not wretched man that
I was. I've read commentaries on Romans
chapter 7 verse 24. Well, all of seven. where some
men have been so bold in trying to explain away that we're yet
sinners. They said Paul was speaking about
himself before the Lord saved him. Well, he didn't avoid himself
before the Lord saved him. He trusted in himself before
the Lord saved him. You remember in Ezekiel chapter 36 where the
Lord was saying, I'll give you a new heart, I'll give you a
new spirit, and I'll cause you to walk in My statues. and keep
my judgments and do them. Now you would think once a fellow
got a little ways in the Christian life, he'd start bragging. Boy,
look at me. Look how I'm walking. Look at
what I'm keeping. Look how I'm doing. But he'd
go right on down there in verse 31 of that chapter, and here's
what he said. After I've done this for you,
then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings
that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight." You shall loathe yourself. That's repentance. That's repentance. It's not just loathing your sin. It's loathing yourself because
of your sin. A self-loathing. Boy, this generation
is misty here, folks. I'm telling you, it's misty here.
This self-esteem is running amok. Make people think, well, we ought
to have. There's nothing wrong with having confidence. Confidence
that we can do our job and do this and that. But boy, this
self-esteem, that I'm really something. Even when I stand
before God and when He looks upon me, I'm something. It's
killing people. It's killing people. That's not
repentance. True repentance is a loathing
of our sinful nature, which makes us despair of saving ourselves. because it continually convinces
us of our weakness and inability and drives us out of ourselves
to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved by Him. I tell you, believer,
you and I are still so sinful in ourselves that if the Lord
left us alone, we'd leave Christ. As much as we love Him now, we'd
leave Him, and we'd turn to our own righteousness, and we'd see
nothing wrong with it. We'd be bragging about it. One
more scripture, Acts chapter 8. Look in verse 18. The knowledge of the truth concerning
God. We had wrong thoughts of Him,
low thoughts of Him, evil thoughts of Him. It's coming to know who
He is and embrace Him there. Repentance from dead works. our
old false religion, disowning it, coming to the knowledge of
the truth of who we are and abhorring ourselves. And here, coming to
the knowledge of the truth that salvation is indeed a gift of
God. Look at it in chapter 8 and verse
18. And when Simon saw that through
laying on of hands, this is the Simon the sorcerer, He saw through
laying on of hands the Holy Ghost was given. He offered them money,
saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands
I may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part
nor lot in this matter. Thy heart is not right in the
sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy
wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart
might be forgiven thee." Simon's attitude is an example of this
whole false concept of salvation be in my human merit and works,
and not by the gift of God." Now, he said, I can buy the Holy
Spirit. What's the difference in a man
saying, I can merit salvation? There's no difference. It's all
the same. I can work hard enough to be
saved. I can be faithful enough and obedient enough and God will
owe me salvation. I can be justified and saved
by what I do, by my own merits. And Peter says those people who
even think that must repent and come to the knowledge of the
truth that salvation is indeed the gift of God. God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son Christ loved us
and gave himself for us. It's a gift, not of works, lest
any man should boast. And it's given to us freely through
Jesus Christ our Lord. And people wonder about us. They
call us dogmatic and you can't get away from those things, they
say. I can't get away from what I
think about God. Can you? What you believe about God this
evening is so intense in your heart that you can't deny it.
All you can do is confess it. You believe in the sovereign
God, don't you? And when you look back on your life before
the Lord actually saved you, it's nothing. It was dead works,
and you repented of that. It's gone. Glenn, you was lost
when you was in religion. I remember you called me. You
ain't trusting in that, are you? You abhor that. You threw that
away. And you can't change your mind about that. Somebody tried
to come to you and tell you. Well, Glenn, you're just confused.
No, I'm not confused either. And I tell you what, nobody can
come and convince you this evening that you should think highly
of yourself because you know better. The truth of it has gripped
your heart. And you know that salvation is
a gift of God. And it comes to you through the
blood and the righteousness and the obedience of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's gripped your heart, ain't
it? And you can't deny Him. You can't deny His salvation
is a gift. Now that's repentance. That's repentance. I may have
got scattered on it. May have not made it as plain
as somebody can. But that's what I see repentance
is. And it's a wonderful thing when God grants a person repentance.