My text this evening is Acts
chapter 10 and verse 18. Acts chapter 10 and verse 18. Last week, as I was finishing
up the message, I briefly commented on this verse of scripture and
said that all of God's people have been given by the grace
of God repenting hearts. Now that subject of repentance
is so important and so vital, I'm going to risk repeating myself
and trust that you will follow along closely as we look into
this subject of repentance this evening. Acts chapter 11 and
verse 18. Peter had preached the gospel
down at Caesarea and there were a number of Gentiles, Cornelius,
his household, and his friends gathered in his house heard the
gospel, believed, and the Spirit of God fell upon them, and they
were baptized. Peter was rebuked rather sharply
by the church of Jerusalem for having gone in to eat with the
Gentile, and so Peter explained to them what had happened, and
their prejudice began to dissolve when Peter told them what had
taken place. Here in verse 18, when they heard these things,
how that God had been gracious to Cornelius through the word
of the gospel, They held their peace and glorified God, saying,
Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Now that's my subject tonight.
Repentance unto life. I do not know whether or not
you have ever repented. I just do not know. Brother Ralph
Barnard used to suggest that As preachers, we ought to preach
to our congregations as though everybody there were going to
hell and going right soon. That's good advice. We dare not
presume that all is well. I don't know whether you have
repented or not. I don't know if you will ever
repent or not. But I do know this. Our Lord
said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Now, we
hear little preaching in this day about repentance. We hear
little preaching about it, but my friends, without repentance,
there's no salvation. And there is no true preaching
of the gospel unless repentance is demanded in the message of
the gospel. I hear men say, well, repentance
was for another age. I don't find it to be so. When
John the Baptist came to announce the gospel of Christ, he came
preaching repentance, and this is what he said, Mark 1, verse
4, repent and believe the gospel. When our Lord Jesus Christ began
his earthly ministry, do you know what his first word was?
The first thing he said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost. The Spirit of God was poured
out upon the saints. And Peter began to preach the
gospel. And in that first message that Peter preached after the
Spirit of God was given, this is the way he concluded the sermon.
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ. Our Lord told his disciples that
as a result of his death and resurrection, this is one thing
that's sure to happen. Repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all nations. And the Apostle
Paul told the Athenians in Acts 17 that God commandeth all men
everywhere to repent. Now, it's evident from these
passages of Scripture and from the Word of God as a whole that
true saving faith involves this thing of repentance toward God.
Where there is no repentance, there's no faith. Where there's
no repentance, there's no remission of sins. Where there's no repentance,
there's no salvation. Where there's no repentance,
there is no real knowledge of. There is no real saving union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our text teaches us clearly
three things about repentance. I think that they will be obvious
to you as we go along. First, there is a repentance
which is not unto life. Peter tells us here, Luke records
it, how that God granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. Now by implication, he is telling
us that there is a repentance, however, that is not of God. There is a repentance that is
not unto life. There is a repentance that falls
short of true saving repentance. There is a repentance which is
in no way a sign or evidence of spiritual life at all. It's
not produced in the heart by the Holy Spirit, but rather by
the natural powers of men. It's produced by human conscience,
not by heavenly conviction. It's produced by didactic reason,
perhaps, but not by divine regeneration. It's produced by rhetoric, but
not by revelation. It may be produced by the emotions
of men, but not by the enlightenment of God's Spirit. Many a soul
has been snared by Satan and is eternally ruined by the deceptive
trap of false repentance. False repentance takes a lot
of forms, and all of them are equally deadly. I'll give you
five or six. Number one, any repentance that
is no more than a legal fear of God's wrath and of judgment
to come is a false repentance. When I was a boy, like most children,
I was told all about hell, especially when I got in trouble and did
things that weren't right, and I'd go to church and I'd hear
preachers preach about hell and judgment. Recently in our society,
there's been a film that's been circulated and thousands of people
have been scared to death by it called The Burning Hell. It's
especially effectual upon small young children who are afraid
of going to hell and afraid of the judgment of God. And as a
result of that kind of fear, men and women and boys and girls
are persuaded to make a profession of faith and it's called repentance,
but it's a false repentance. It's a false repentance. If all
the repentance you know is a repentance that arises from the fear of
God's wrath, it arises from the fear of divine judgment, you
have a false repentance. It is not this repentance unto
life. Turn back to Acts chapter 8. I want you to see this in
the Scriptures. Acts the 8th chapter and verse 20. This man, Simon Magus, wanted
the gift of the Holy Ghost so that he could lay hands on people
and they should receive the power to speak in other tongues like
the apostles did. And so he offered Peter some
money to buy the gift. And Peter said in verse 20, Thy
money perish with thee. Now, Peter is speaking by inspiration. He's saying, Simon, your money
is going to perish with you because thou hast thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part
nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight
of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy
wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine
heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art
in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. And
then answered Simon and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that
none of those things which you have spoken come upon me. He's
saying, I don't want this to happen to me. He's not willing
to turn to God himself, but he says, Peter, you pray that none
of these things shall come upon me. You have a similar passage
in the book of Genesis chapter 4. In Genesis chapter 4 in verse
13, you'll remember how that Cain had killed his brother Abel,
and the Lord God pronounced a curse upon Cain. And in verse 13, Cain
said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. He
was brought into fear because he had heard the word of God's
judgment, and he was sorry for what had happened, but his punishment,
he said, was that thing that greatly concerned him. And then
Felix, in the book of Acts chapter 24 and verse 25, Paul was preaching
to him. You'll remember the story. He
was reasoning with him of righteousness and temperance and judgment to
come. And then in verse 25, Felix trembled. And he answered and
he said, Go thy way for this time. Go your way now, Paul,
at this time. And when I have a convenient
season, I will call for you. What Felix is saying is this.
He's saying, Paul, I recognize that what you're saying is true.
I recognize that what you're telling me is the very word of
God. And I am fearful of God's judgment,
so you go your way, and when it's convenient for me, I'll
call for you to come again and preach to me again." And Felix
died in his sins. A mere fear of wrath, a mere
fear of divine judgment, a mere fear of God's law is not repentance. Secondly, any repentance that
is nothing more than an outward moral reformation, is a false
repentance. Turn back to the book of Matthew,
if you will. Matthew chapter 3. Today, men and women seem to
think that saving faith and the repentance that accompanies saving
faith is nothing more than the way they change their lives,
a reformation of life. They quit certain evil habits.
They change their manner of conduct. They change the kind of clothes
they wear. They may even change their speech.
But true repentance, while it may produce these things, is
much more than just a mere moral reformation. Repentance is a
change of heart. It begins within and works its
way out. It does not begin without and
work its way in. Here in Matthew chapter 3 and
verse 5, John the Baptist was baptizing. And all of Judea,
or Jerusalem and Judea, went out in that region to be baptized
of John, confessing their sins. Now look in verse 7. And when
he saw the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to his baptism,
he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you
to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits,
meat for repentance. Now wait a minute, John. He's
talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He's talking to
good, moral, learned, religious men. They were clean as a houndstooth. They lived a good life and John
said, you go and bring forth fruits worthy of repentance and
then I'll baptize you. What he's saying is your outward
religion, your outward reformation, your outward morality is not
repentance. Repentance has to do with this
thing here, the heart, the heart. Now, please understand, when
I speak of the heart, I'm not talking about this physical organ
that pumps blood through the body. I'm talking about the seed
of a man's emotions, his soul, his inner being. That's where
repentance comes from. That's where it's wrought. It's
something that God does in a man's heart. And thirdly, repentance
that is nothing more than a remorse for sin, a sorrow over sin, is
a false repentance. Repentance does cause men to
sorrow over sin, but it's much more than that Every murderer
no matter how malicious and vile his deed of murder may be When
you strap him in the chair is very sorry. He committed the
murder Every child that's been caught doing something that was
contrary to the laws of the household is very sorry that the child
did what he did when he sees the paddle in his daddy's hand.
He's very remorseful. And every sinner is remorseful
when he's made aware of God's judgment. Judas is a prime example. Judas had betrayed the Lord.
For 30 pieces of silver he had sold the Son of God into the
hands of those wicked men. He came back to the priest and
he said, I have betrayed innocent blood, I've sinned, and he cast
the money down at their feet. But there was no repentance in
him. No change of heart. He was sorry
he did it. He realized what he had done
and he realized the consequences of his actions, but there was
no change of heart. He was simply desperate. He was
in a desperate need and in sheer desperation, out of sheer misery
of soul, he cast down the money and he said, I have sinned. And
he perished in his sin. Fourthly, if you have repentance
that is nothing more than a desire for heaven, nothing more than
a desire to live forever under the blessings of God, you haven't
yet found repentance. Now, we desire God knows we do
desire the blessings of God's promise. We desire the benefits
of everlasting life. We desire eternal glory. But
if all we have that causes us to repent, if our repentance
is nothing more than a fear of hell and a desire to enter into
heaven, our repentance has missed the mark. Esau found no place
of repentance when he realized the value of his birthright,
though he sought it carefully with tears. And fifthly, it's
even possible for men and women to make a confession of sin and
yet have no repentance toward God. Turn over to Psalm 74. I want you to see this. Psalm 78, I'm sorry. Psalm 78. To use another popular
thing that goes on in evangelism, How many of you have seen television
evangelist, or you've been in crusades, or you've been in revivalist
meetings, and the preacher calls for people to come down front,
and after they've come, he asks them to manipulate them to get
them to come to start with, they've got to raise their hand and want
them to pray for them, then they've got to stand up, and then he
finally gets everybody to come down front, and he says to them,
repeat after me, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. Ever seen it happen?
Perhaps even as you were growing up and made a professional face,
somebody said, now, you've got to say, I'm a sinner. You've
got to confess your sin. Now, it's true. You must, from
your heart, confess your sin to God. But a mere confession
of sin is not repentance. There's got to be, by the grace
of God, a change in a man's heart. This is what happened here in
Psalm 78. Look at verse, let's go back up to verse 34. When
God slew them, then they sought Him. And they returned and required
early after God. Verse 35. And they remembered
that God was their rock, and the high God their Redeemer.
Nevertheless, they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they
lied unto Him with their tongues. For their heart was not right
with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant. This is what
they did. We're guilty. You've been right
to slay our fathers. You've been right to destroy
our sons and daughters. You've been right in all that
you did, and you're just in all of your ways. We're guilty, we're
sinful, and we repent of our sins. And God said, it's not
so, your heart's evil. And the very next words prove
that their hearts were evil, for they continued in their rebellion
against God. What I'm saying is this. Lip
faith, lip confession, lip service is an abomination to God. God
will never accept it. He requires a true, sincere,
repentant heart. Repentance is not saying, I have
sinned. That's not what it is. Merle,
repentance is knowing I am sinned. That's what it is. It's knowing
in my heart I am sinned. Sinful, nothing but sin. That's where repentance begins.
Sixthly any repentance that's only temporary is a false repentance
turn to first Kings chapter 21 First Kings chapter 21 you'll
be familiar with this story as well a have desired to have Naboth's
vineyard and He went to sulk him because Naboth wouldn't sell
him his vineyard and his ungodly wife Jezebel Came along and she
said well we can fix that Just kill the old goat, and we'll
take his vineyard. And so Ahab killed Naboth, and
he took the vineyard that Naboth possessed. And in verse 19, the
word of the Lord came to Ahab by Elijah, God's servant. And
he said, Hast thou killed and taken possession, and thou shalt
speak unto him? This is what the Lord told Elijah
to say to him. Look into the middle of verse
19. Thus saith the Lord, in the place where the dogs lick the
blood of Naboth. Shall the dogs lick thy blood,
even thine? In verse 27 now, And it came
to pass, when Ahab heard those words, he rent his clothes, he
put on sackcloth upon his flesh, and he fasted, and he lay in
sackcloth, and he went softly. He watched his steps. He was
careful how he behaved. He humbled himself before God.
And the word of the Lord came to Elijah again in verse 28.
And he said in verse 29, See how Ahab humbleth himself before
me? Because he humbleth himself before
me, I'll not bring to pass this evil in his days, but in the
days of his sons will I bring this evil upon his house. And
so the Lord saying to Elijah in essence, Now let me show you
what Ahab really is. He's humbled himself and he walked
softly. Therefore, because of his outward
humility, because of his show of humility, I'll hold back my
judgment and we'll see what happens. Well, three years passed. Ahab
humbled himself and he walked softly. For three years, he humbled
himself because God had spoken a word of judgment. For three
years, he walked in a repentant manner. But then in the next
chapter, At the end of those three years, the word of God
came by Micaiah the prophet, and Ahab rebelled against the
Lord God and showed his true heart. His repentance lasted
a while, but it was just temporary. And in verse 34, a certain man
drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the
joints of the harness. Wherefore, he said to the driver
of his chariot, turn thine hand and carry me out of the host,
for I am wounded. And it came to pass that in the
vineyard where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, there at
Ramoth Gilead, they licked the blood of Ahab as God said they
would. Repentance takes many forms. This false repentance does. And
if you have nothing but a mere form of repentance, you have
nothing but a fear of hell, nothing but a desire for reward, Nothing
but a temporary repentance. Nothing but a repentance that
takes a form of words before God. My friends, your repentance
is false. It's false. Now I know, I know
all of us have had lots of experiences in religion. I'm aware of that.
It's time we recognize false religion and denounce it for
what it is. denounce it altogether, denounce
every connection with it. Repentance is not something that
comes in just these forms of repentance. True saving repentance
is something else altogether. Our text tells us that there
is a repentance unto life. Now before I show you what that
repentance unto life is, I think it's needful to correct a couple
of things that are very harmful in the understandings of men.
Two in particular. One mistake is this. Many people
seem to think that in order to have true repentance, they must
have a deep, horrible manifestation of hell and the terrors of God's
law. I've often heard men and women
say this. They've talked to me. They come
and they're disturbed about their souls. They're disturbed in lack
of assurance. They say, well, I don't feel
my sinfulness enough. Therefore, I don't think that
I've truly repented. Now, I recognize, yes, repentance
causes a man to know his sin. But Rex, it is not this matter
of going through a deep, remorseful experience of the terrors of
hell and the terrors of God's law that brings about repentance.
Repentance is not measuring our sins. That's not what it is.
Repentance is an inward awareness of sin, our nature. Did you catch
the difference in what I say? Sin. the evil things that we
do. Some have done far more than
others, and it's likely that they are going to experience
some more detailed consumption by God's law than others will
because of their outward guilt. But let us not be deceived with
thinking that a mere remorse and guilt over outward acts of
sin is repentance. That's not where it is, buddy.
That's not where it is. It's not these things that I
have done. It's what I am. That's where
sin is. It's what I am. The thing that's
obnoxious to God is this carnal heart of ours. It is this heart
that's at enmity, not at enmity, this heart that is enmity against
God Almighty. That's what we are. And men come
to see that, they come to recognize their sinfulness. And in this
awareness of their sin, they come to hate their sinfulness.
Now it's a growing awareness. It's a growing hatred of sin. So that the believer, when he first comes to see Christ,
when he first trusts Christ, he has an awareness of sin, he
has a conviction of sin, he confesses his sin, he acknowledges his
sin, but the longer he grows and the more he experiences of
God's grace, the more acutely aware of his sin he'll be, and
Hubert, the more he's going to hate himself for his sin. Now
that's where repentance is. There are others who teach and
preach that repentance is a condition of salvation. They say that in
order for a man to come to Christ by faith, he must have repentance
as a condition. Well, my friends, salvation is
a free, unconditional gift of God. Repentance is the result,
not the cause, of God's saving grace. And we ought never to
try to get repentance, and by getting repentance qualify ourselves
for God's mercy. But rather come to Christ just
as you are, trust Christ just as you are, and if ever you see
Christ by faith, your heart will be broken in repentance. The
law of God, yes, preach it. Preach the law to expose man's
sin. Preach the law to let men know
they're sinners. Preach the law to set forth the
standard of God's perfect righteousness and holiness. But the preaching
of the law will never bring a heart to repentance. It'll never do
it. The law will terrify. The law
will harden. The law will frighten. But it'll
never change the heart. The conscience of a man will
torment him and frighten him. His conscience will tell him
he's guilty. His conscience will tell him that he's lost. His
conscience will tell him he's done done. But his conscience
will never change his heart. I'm afraid that the bulk of preaching
today, trying to get men and women to make a profession of
faith in Christ, is nothing more than a declaration of law. A
declaration that judgment's coming. so that men recognize their guilt
and they recognize God's judgment, but their hearts are hardened
in their unbelief. They may fear, but their hearts
are hardened in unbelief. It is nothing more than a stirring
of the conscience. All of you who have children,
as you've raised your children, you recognize that while they're
young, oh, you can really work on their conscience. You can
kind of manipulate the conscience. And a little child that's done
something that's wrong, they have to be paddled and corrected
because you want to see to it that they understand the wrong
that they've done, that they grow and mature as responsible
people. But as you take them and just
talk to them, just talk to them, before you take the rod out,
you know, You sit down and you talk to them and you reason with
them and you let them know you love and before long that conscience
begins to gnaw. Conscience works on them. Now
the older they get, the harder it is to reach conscience. The
older they get, the harder it is to deal with that conscience
because the conscience becomes hardened. But preachers, by their
psychological manipulation of congregations, work on the conscience,
and they cause men and women to get a profession of faith
because their conscience tells them they're guilty. But conscience
will never change the heart. It'll not change the heart. It'll
last for a little while. You can get religion, and religion
will reform your life. It'll make a drunk give up his
bottle, and it'll make a whoremonger give up his running around, and
it'll make a thief give up his robbery, but it'll not change
his heart. But I'm here to tell you that
one sight, oh, if God will give in your heart just one sight
of Christ crucified, that'll crush your heart. That'll break
your soul in repentance. True saving repentance basically
consists of these things. I gave them to you last week
briefly. I'm going to give them a little more in detail this
evening. True repentance, first of all, involves conviction. Conviction. Turn over to John
chapter 16. John chapter 16. There's no repentance unto life
where there's no Holy Spirit conviction wrought in the heart. It's not something a preacher
can produce. It's not something the preacher
can give. God's got to do it. I'm not talking
about natural conviction. I'm not talking about convictions
that are given by social training or given by religious training.
I'm talking about heart conviction, something that God produces.
There is a conviction, first, of sin. Our Lord said in John
16, verse 8, when he is come, the Spirit of God, he will reprove
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father and
you see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. Now, first, the Spirit of God
convinces, He reproves, He convicts men of sin. Not of sins, I again
emphasize. Now, He does reprove men over
acts. He does. You experience that,
and I do. When you are engaged in something
that's wrong, something contrary to the gospel, something contrary
to the will of God and the glory of Christ, the Spirit of God
reproves you for it. Don't misunderstand me. But the
primary principle thing is the Holy Spirit reproves His people
of sin, what they are, so that they begin to loathe
themselves. Job said, I have heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes see of thee, wherefore
I repent. I am poor myself, I loathe myself,
I loathe my very being. He will reprove the world also
of righteousness, of righteousness not our own, not our own, not
our own, but rather of Christ's righteousness. He will convince
us that God is righteous. He will convince us that God
requires righteousness. And that we have none and have
no ability to produce any. But Christ alone is righteousness. He's established righteousness
as a man. And He has righteousness to give
to men. And He's the only one who can
make you righteous. And He will reprove the world
of judgment. That is of the accomplishment of our redemption by the Lord
Jesus Christ. The prophecy has been fulfilled,
for now is the prince of this world judged. The penalty has
been exacted, for Christ has died. The price has been paid,
His own precious blood, and the propitiation has been accepted,
so that God's satisfied with the price that our Lord Jesus
Christ has paid, for He ascended up into glory, and He is seated
right now at the right hand of the Father. Repentance also involves
a conversion of the heart, a turning of the heart to God
as he's revealed in Christ. Now this conversion is a reconciliation
of a man's heart to God in his true character. You show me a man or a woman
who despises the character of God revealed in this book, be
it His holiness or His justice, His sovereignty or His mercy,
be it His infinite love or be it His everlasting judgment.
Show me a man or a woman whose heart is yet in rebellion to
God in His true character, I'll show you one who has not yet
been converted to God. Not yet converted. God's people
are turned in their hearts and reconciled to God. They love
Him as He is. They wouldn't have Him change
not one thing that He is and not one thing that He does. He's
God. We worship Him as such. There's
a reconciliation of the heart to the truth of God's Word, a
reconciliation of the heart to the ways of God in providence,
a reconciliation of the heart to God's Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as the sinner substitutes. Repentance also involves a commitment
of the heart. Turn over to Mark chapter 8.
Mark the 8th chapter. Our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking,
and this is what he says. Verse 34. He called the people
unto him with his disciples, and he said unto them, Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and
follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life
for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. Let me
try to tell you what our Lord's talking about here. This past
week, Sally Ponce's dad's had pneumonia, been under doctor's
care. Sally's had the responsibility of watching her dad suffer and
of caring for him while he suffers. That is not taking up the cross
and following Christ. That's not what it is. Now believers
do those things well. Believers handle those things
well. But that's not taking up the cross and following Christ.
She couldn't help it. That's something God brought
in his providence. To take up the cross and follow Christ is
as our Lord did for us. To willingly, voluntarily, deliberately,
Take up a path of duty or responsibility for the glory of Christ, knowing
full well it's going to cost you dear. Knowing full well it's
going to cost you dear. And following Him. Following
Him. It's called commitment. Commitment
to the will of God. Commitment to the gospel of His
grace. Commitment to His church and
kingdom. Commitment to his glory now listen If God has granted
to me repentance unto life To a greater or lesser degree They
say I'm committed to him I'm committed to it His will whatever it is I'm committed
to it committed to seeking it and committed to doing it If
He's granted me repentance, I'm committed to His gospel, the
furtherance of His gospel. If He's granted me repentance,
I'm committed to the increase of His kingdom. If God has granted
me repentance, I'm committed to His glory. So that though
we're not in the same measure, not in the same degree, not even
worthy to be compared, yet in the same way, in the same spirit,
as our Lord came to Gethsemane, And he said, now is my soul exceedingly
sorrowful, even unto death. Nevertheless, what shall I say? Shall I say, Father, save me
from this hour? No, because this is the reason
I came to this hour. This is what I say. Father, glorify
thy name. What I'm talking about is faithfulness.
That's a good word for commitment. Faithfulness, dependability.
One who is faithfully engaged for God in his heart and his
soul. And repentance certainly involves
a continuation, a perseverance. God's people do persevere in
the way. They go on repenting. Our conviction
increases. Our conviction of our sin and
of His righteousness and of His complete redemption. Our conversion
will continually increase so that we as believers are continually
growing in this thing of commitment to God. Our commitment will continually
increase before God. God's people continue in this
thing of repentance. Brethren, this one thing I do,
not as though I have already attained But I press toward the
mark for the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
I stay after it. I stay after it. God's people
are steadily, deliberately, earnestly pursuing one goal, and that's
God. That's God. Man wants something. If he really
wants something, he'll pursue it. He'll pursue it. A man wants a young lady's hand
in marriage. If he's made up his mind she's
the lady for him, he'll pursue her. Cost what it may, he'll
pursue her. Go where he must, he'll pursue
her. No matter what the cost is, no matter what the trouble
is, he's going to pursue that lady. I know. I've been there. I made up my mind I was going
to marry this girl here. She said I was crazy. I didn't
know what I wanted. I didn't know what I was talking
about. Well, I may have been. I may have been. But this is
what I must have! I'm going to pursue her till
I get her or till somebody else does. I'm going to pursue her.
I did. Now listen. If a man wants God,
hmm? If a woman wants God, If one
wants God Almighty as He's revealed in Christ, not just His blessing,
not just His heaven, not just what He can give, but if he wants
God, Hubert Montgomery, he'll pursue Him till he dies. He'll
pursue Him till he dies. He's going to stay after Him.
Now, this repentance unto life, our text tells us, is the gift
of God. God also to the Gentiles hath
granted repentance unto life. The goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance, Paul said. This is a marvel of divine mercy.
God not only provides the way of salvation and then invites
men to receive his saving grace, but he positively makes men willing
to be saved. Isn't that a marvel? You and
I wouldn't do that. No, we wouldn't do that. If we
invited a fellow, we prepared a big feast at the house and
we invited folks to come and they didn't show up, we'd get
mad and say, well, they don't deserve it anyway, we'll forget
about that. We sure wouldn't go out and pursue them and try
to find out why they didn't come and send somebody else after
them, get them to come. Of course, we're a little offended,
we're upset. But listen to what God does.
God Almighty punished His Son and punished our sin in His Son.
so that he spread a gospel feast. He's prepared a table for every
one of his lost children. And he secured in the death of
his son that those lost sons of his would be everlastingly
with him in glory. And then God sends his messengers,
messengers of mercy, who preach the gospel to men. If they're
faithful messengers, they labor earnestly. for the souls of men. They labor earnestly to bring
men to Christ. They preach and they plead. They
pray and they reason. But still, nobody comes. And the preacher can't make them
come. They won't hearken to the voice
of the preacher. They despise the message he delivers
and they despise him for being a messenger to deliver such a
message. But then, God sends another ambassador. He sends
another messenger. He sends another servant. A heavenly
messenger. One who cannot fail. And that
messenger is the Spirit of God. And when he calls, they hear
and they willingly come. They willingly come. He compels
them to come in by His almighty grace. But He compels them gently
and tenderly until they come with willing hearts. My heart
subdued by sovereign grace, I willingly, my Lord, embrace. I would not
hear, I would not bow, but grace has made me willing now. How about you? Has God granted
to you repentance unto life? Well, does your repentance last? Is it something that continues? Something that perseveres? Or does it just come in spasms? Just come in fits? About everybody
has that kind of repentance. Every now and then they feel
bad because they've done this or done that. Does your repentance
last? So that you stand before God
as David, and with the continual cry of your heart, you acknowledge
against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. Behold, in sin did my mother
conceive me, I will shape them in iniquity. I came forth from
the womb speaking lies, and I am nothing but sin. I don't even
mean that literally you weep big crocodile tears. A lot of
folks do that who don't know anything about repentance. I
mean that in your heart you weep over sin. Does your repentance
have any practical effect upon you? True repentance will. It will. I read a story today
of a missionary on one of the islands in the South Seas. He
had labored earnestly among men for a long time. Shortly after
he was there, this missionary came home one evening and found
that all of his property had been stolen, everything he had,
every piece of furniture, Every article, every piece of literature,
every knife in the house, every kind of utensil, everything,
every dish, everything was gone. Clothes, everything was gone.
Well, he continued to labor. And God graciously saved the
chief of this given tribe. And then he saved several others
in the tribe. And as the men and women were
converted, as they were given repentance unto life. Little
by little, everything that was stolen from his house was returned
to his house. Without any constraint, without
any compulsion, these men and women had a practical effect
upon their lives because they were given repentance toward
God. Now let me ask you this. Why do you repent? That's a question I ask myself
a lot. I go to God, acknowledge my sin,
and I believe, repent of my sin. Why? Would you repent and lament your
sin if there were no hell to shun?
and no heaven to gain." Reckon what kind of man Don Fortner
would be if he knew there were no such
thing as immortality, no such thing as eternal glory, and no
such thing as eternal damnation. Find the answer to that question,
and you'll find the answer to this. Has God given you repentance
unto life? Help us, Father, in some measure to know our hearts. Lord God, don't let us perish
with false presumption. Grant that we may truly have
repentant hearts before you, hearts convicted by your spirit,
converted by your grace, hearts committed to your gospel. and
your glory, your church, and your kingdom. Grant our Father
that in this place tonight, your word
will have effect and power for these whom you've gathered who
have no knowledge of Christ. Lord God, will you break their
hearts? Show them your Son. Show us your Son. that again
our hearts may be broken in repentance. Indeed, I believe you've granted
to many here repentance unto life. Our repentance must be repented
over for it's, even in its best condition, full
of sin, unbelief, But we do repent before Thee of what we've done, yes, and
of what we've left undone, yes. But Lord God above all things,
I repent for what I am and trust Your Son. His blood and His righteousness
alone and put away my sin, and clothe me with spotless purity
before a holy God. Accept the prayer that I offer,
the worship we give, the praise we bring, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. Let's turn to number 13 in our
Songs of Grace book.