Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. I've entitled this message, God
Commands All Men to Repent. Now what does that mean? What does it mean to repent? I'm reading from Acts chapter
17, beginning in verse 30. We're going to pick up in a message
Paul had been bringing in Athens. And he says in verse 30, and
the times of this ignorance God winked at. That doesn't mean
he winked his eye, it means he overlooked it. But now he commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. God now commands all men everywhere,
and that includes me, and that includes you. God commands all
men everywhere to repent. Some 70 years ago, A man came
into the town where I was born. I'm not 70, I'm 61, so it happened
before I was born, but I was a member of the church where
this took place. A man came into town in Ashland, Kentucky, and
he introduced the message like this. There's two lies going
around in Ashland, Kentucky, and you can imagine the people
were earnestly listening to see what they were. And he said,
the first lie is that God loves everybody. And the second lie
is that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody. Now, no
one in this town had ever heard anything like that. But let me
ask a question. Is it necessary to say something
like that? Is this provocative? Is this antagonistic? Is this
inflammatory? Why did this man come saying
something like this? God doesn't love everybody and
Christ did not die for everybody. Now, the way I would answer that
question is what does the scripture teach? Can you verify from the
scriptures that God loves all men everywhere without exception? Well, we know he said himself,
I hate Esau. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. That's God speaking. Psalm 5.5
says, Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. So you can't verify
that God loves all men from the scripture. The scripture doesn't
teach that. Christ said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring.
And there should be one fold and one shepherd. Christ died
for the sheep, he did not die for goats. The Lord said in Ephesians
chapter five, verse 25, Paul said, Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it, the church. Hebrews 10, 14 says he,
by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Christ's death was for the elect. Now, obviously, the Bible does
not teach that God loves all men the same and that Christ
died for all men the same. And really, if you teach that
God loves all men the same and that Christ died for all men
the same, you're left with a message of salvation by works. It's not
the love of God. It's not the death of Christ.
It's what you do that makes the difference between you and somebody
else. If Peter is in heaven and Judas is in hell, the difference
was what Peter did and Judas did not do if Christ died for
them both and if God loved them both the same. But that is not
supported from the scripture. If you teach that God loves all
men the same and Christ died for all men the same, you're
forced to preach a message of salvation conditioned upon what
man does. Now, that being said, I can tell you something that
all men everywhere are commanded to do. You and I are not commanded
to figure out whether or not we're one of the elect, or if
Christ did indeed die for us, or if God the Holy Spirit has
given us life. Now, if we're saved, all those
things are true of us. God does love us, always has. Christ did die for us. God the
Holy Spirit gave us life. But we're not called upon to
figure out that, but we are called upon and commanded to repent. God commands all men everywhere,
and that includes me and you, to repent. At the opening of
Christ's public ministry, he began with these words, repent
ye and believe the gospel. After his resurrection, just
before his ascension, he gave the disciples these instructions
to preach repentance and the remission of sins in my name. When Peter preached on the day
of Pentecost, we read in verse 36, therefore let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard
this, they were pricked in their heart. And they said unto Peter
and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall
we do? Then Peter said unto them, repent. That's what you're to do. Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. When the writer to the Hebrews
is giving the six foundational truths that every believer must
be grounded in, the first thing he mentions is repentance from
dead works. The Lord said, I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, what is repentance? I want to know what the Bible
teaches with regard to this. And I want to be somebody who
repents. So what is repentance? Repentance. What does it mean
to repent? Now, most people think it's a
change in behavior. If you repent, you change in
your behavior. Now, that is not what the word
means. Repentance does not mean a change
in behavior. Now, if your behavior is bad,
you ought to change. You know that, and I know that.
If my behavior is bad, I ought to stop behaving myself that
way. And as far as that goes, I would
never sin again. I would never sin again. I would be the embodiment of
the Beatitudes. I would be poor in spirit, mourn,
be meek before God, hunger and thirst after righteousness, to
be merciful, to be pure in heart, to be a peacemaker, to be persecuted
for righteousness. Listen to this. If you gave me
or if God gave me a blank check and said, now it's okay for you
to commit this sin or these sins, you'll still be saved. Would
you want to do it? I wouldn't. No, if I was given
a blank check to sin, I wouldn't want to use that to sin. A believer
doesn't want to sin. These things ride on to you that
you sin not. But let me say this. Repentance
is not a change in behavior. Now, there are fruits of repentance
and works of repentance. I realize that. But repentance
is a change of mind. Let me repeat that. That's what
the word means. It's made of two words which
mean a change of mind. Now, listen to this definition
of repentance that I got out of the Blue Letter Bible. It's
something I use quite a bit. And I was looking at the Greek
definition of repentance and it said this. Repentance is a
change of mind. And the definer would have been
better off if he would have just stopped there. But listen to
what he says. And this is what most people believe about repentance.
Please listen carefully. Repentance is a change of mind
that involves a turning with contrition from sin to God. The repentant sinner is in the
proper condition to accept the divine forgiveness. Now, I want to say, what do you
mean by turning from sin? Does that mean you don't sin
anymore? You've turned to God and you've stopped sinning? You're
not being honest if you say that is your experience. You still
sin. So if you call repentant to turning
from sin to God, you've not repented. And then he says it's showing
a proper contrition that makes you able to accept the divine
forgiveness. Now, where is this language coming
from accepting forgiveness? If you sin against me, Let's
say you kill a loved one. And if I say, I forgive you. And you say, well, I accept your
forgiveness. You know, I'm going to be very
offended. As a matter of fact, I'm probably going to say, I
withdraw my forgiveness. It doesn't work that way. You
don't accept forgiveness. That kind of language is so contrary
to even common sense. And yet people call this repentance. It's turning from your sins. You've repented of your sins,
which, by the way, is a phrase not found in the scriptures.
Preachers use it all the time, but you won't find that phrase
in the scripture. Repent of your sins. Not once. Repentance is
a turning from your sins and contrition so you can accept
the divine forgiveness. Now, let's look at what the Bible
says about repentance. It means change your mind. A
change of mind. Paul said in verse 20 of Acts
chapter 20, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,
but have showed you and taught you publicly and from house to
house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God. and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now repentance is primarily a
change of mind regarding God. Don't miss that. Repentance is
a change of mind regarding God. And that's actually how it's
used in our text too. He says the times of this ignorance God
has winked at, these false notions and thoughts you've had of God,
these false ideas, these idols, these images that you've made
of God that is less than the living God, that is a man-made
God, a man-like God, these false ideas you've had of God that
were all wrong. He says the times of this ignorance
of God, God overlooked, but now, He commands all men everywhere
to repent. He said, my thoughts are not
your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways. Heaven is higher than the earth.
So are my thoughts above your thoughts, and my ways above your
ways. Repent of these low thoughts,
these human-like thoughts you've had of God. He said in Psalm
50 verse 17, you thought I was altogether such a one as yourself. I think of what Luther said to
Erasmus, Erasmus, your God is too human. Now I could say that
with regard to the God that's preached by most preachers in
this day. He's way too human. Whereas the
God of the Bible said, who is like unto me? Nobody and no thing,
God is other. There's no one you can compare
him to. Men's thoughts of God are too
low, their thoughts of themselves are too high, and their thoughts
of salvation are altogether wrong. Repent. Listen, we have God waiting
on men instead of men waiting on God. Repent of that. We have men thinking salvation
is dependent upon man's will and not on God's will. Repent
of that. We have men seeing God's salvation
as an offer and not a gift. Repent of that. We see men thinking
of salvation as an opportunity for them to take and not an accomplishment
that Christ achieved. Salvation is seen as a reformation
of character rather than a creative work of God. We have men giving
God their hearts instead of God giving them new hearts. That's
what David asked for. Created me a clean heart. Somebody
says, let God in, give him your heart. What would he want with
that filthy thing? He'll give you a new heart if
you ask him. That's what David said, created
me a clean heart, oh God. We have men saying, do and live. or as the message of the Bible
is, live and do. It's a completed salvation. Listen
to this. I want to ask you a few questions.
Is salvation by choice or by chance? Now, just about everybody
would say, well, certainly not by chance, it's by choice. Whose
choice? Man's or God's? The Lord said,
you did not choose me, but I chose you. Are sinners dead in sins,
according to the scriptures, or do they retain some ability
to cooperate with God in salvation when helped by the Holy Spirit?
Well, the scripture says they're dead in sins, unable to do anything
to save themselves, and if you take that away, you make salvation
by works. The death of Christ, was it for
man or for God? Did Christ die and bring his
death to you up for you to accept or reject or was it for God so
God could be just and justify somebody like you? The blood
of Christ wasn't shed for men, it was shed for God so God could
do something for us. Did the death of Christ make
salvation a possibility or did it save? When he said it is finished,
was it really finished? Was salvation accomplished? Is the Bible God's word or man's
word? It can't be both. Is it fully inspired? It's either
fully inspired or it's not inspired at all. God is either absolutely
sovereign or he's not sovereign at all. Men are either dead in
sins, totally dependent upon God to do something for them,
or they retain some kind of ability. Election. It's either conditional
or unconditional. It's either conditioned upon
God looking through the telescope of time and seeing your choice
of Him, and then He chooses you in return, which is foolishness.
Or it's unconditional, God's unconditional choice of His people
before time began. Christ's death, it either saved
or it didn't. God's grace, it either saves
or it doesn't. It's either irresistible, invincible,
or it can be resisted. God's people are either preserved
and cannot fall away or they can fall away. And let me tell
you this, if you can fall away and be damned after once being
saved, that means it's up to you to keep yourself, your own
works. Men have it wrong, too low thoughts
of God and too high thoughts of themselves. Now, whatever
repentance is, it's like faith, the gift of God. Let me read
you some scriptures. This repentance, this is repentance
not to be repented of. Listen to this scripture. Him
hath God exalted as a prince and a savior for to give repentance
to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. God also hath to the
Gentiles granted repentance unto life. You see, this thing of
repentance is not something a natural man can do. It's the gift of
God. Only those who are born of God
exercise this thing of repentance, this change of mind where you
take sides with God against yourself. This is the work of God. Listen
to what Jeremiah says. Jeremiah says, turn thou me and
I shall be turned For thou art the Lord my God. After I was
turned, I repented. When? After I was turned, I repented. No natural man without the Spirit
of God, without God turning him, will repent. Now John the Baptist
spoke of fruit, meat for repentance. And Paul spake of works, meat
for repentance. There's fruit and there are works. that always accompany repentance. Repentance is not merely academic. It's a change of mind that comes
from a change of masters. And it wasn't you that did the
master changing. God did something for you. You now have a new master. That's where that change of mind
comes from. A change of mind that comes from a new master. And with that, there will be
new motives that weren't there before. The glory of God. And
there will be a change in manners. This thing of repentance is not
just academic, having your opinions changed about something. There
are always fruits with repentance. Now, repentance is a change of
mind with regard to God. It's a change of mind with regard
to myself, and it's a change of mind with regard to salvation. Now, please listen carefully
as we consider this thing of repentance. Repentance comes
first of all, from seeing who God is. Job put it this way in
Job chapter 42, I've heard of thee with the hearing of the
ears, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore? I hate myself and repent in dust
and ashes. Now, where did Job's repentance
come from? From seeing the Lord. Same with
Isaiah. Isaiah said, in the year King
Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. And what did he say as a result?
Then said I, woe is me, I'm undone. Now, this thing of repentance
comes from finding out the true character of God. Now, I used to believe under
the right circumstances, I could please God. Now, a God that I
could please, not much to Him. I repent of that. I used to believe
God was too holy, too strict. I repent of that. I used to be terrified by God's
sovereignty. I saw no safety in it because
I had no control. I repent of that. I love the
God who is sovereign. I used to sit in judgment on
God. I used to think in my own heart, well, it's not fair for
him to elect some and pass by others. That's not giving everybody
an equal chance. It's not fair for Jesus Christ
just to die for the elect and not everybody. That's not giving
everybody an equal chance. What I was saying by that is
I'm more fair than God. I'm more holy than God. I'm more
just than God. And I sit in judgment on God
and cast my judgment upon what He does. I repent of that. I realize that there's no salvation
apart from this. That this isn't keeping people
from being saved, it's saving people who would have been damned.
I repent of these harsh, judgmental thoughts of God. I repent of that one time thinking,
if all I had was Christ, that's not enough, that scares me. Now
I don't want to be found anywhere else. But in Christ, there's
a repentance toward God. Repentance is a change of mind
with regard to yourself. Now, key scripture to understand
what this means is what the writer to the Hebrews called two times
in the book of Hebrews, Repentance from dead works. Now what does that mean? Repentance
from dead works. It means every work that I performed
before God gave me life was a dead work. A work of one dead in sins. It was a work of iniquity. There's not one religious thing
that I did before God saved me that wasn't anything more than
filthy rags. That is what Isaiah said, our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. You see, when you repent
of dead works, you repent of all your works of religion, you
see that they were no good. That they couldn't save you,
that they couldn't contribute to your salvation in any way.
And the only way you can be saved is for Him to save you. For Him
to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. And you repent
of having any higher view of yourself than that? You find
out when you repent with regard to yourself. You go farther than
believing the doctrine of total depravity. You believe you are
totally depraved. You believe when you repent concerning
yourself, you believe that all you are is sin. You believe that
everything you do is sin. You believe that you cannot not
sin. And you believe that your sin
is all your fault. You can't blame your mommy and
daddy. You can't blame your circumstances. You can't blame the sovereignty
of God. Your sin is all your fault. You stand before God.
guilty as charged. And you're unable to look down
your nose at anybody for anything. You can't sit in judgment on
anybody for anything. And if you really believe you're
a sinner, you know that you have no claims on God. If He passes
you by and doesn't give you mercy, just and holy is His name. You
really believe that when you have repentance with regard to
yourself. You used to think that if you
had the circumstances right, you could turn things around
and you'd always promise yourself you would. Tomorrow I'll be better.
Tomorrow I'll repent. I won't be this way tomorrow.
But it never changes. You find out when you repent
with regard to yourself. In and of yourself, you're nothing
but sin. And repentance is a change of
mind with regard to salvation. I used to think there's something
I can do to make myself savable. In the right circumstance, I
can be saved. I don't believe that way anymore.
I repent of that foolishness. I used to see no safety. entrusting
Christ alone. I needed something else. I repent
of that. I see no safety anywhere else. I used to dislike the doctrines
of God's discriminating grace, election, and effectual atonement
for the elect. The regenerating work of the
Holy Spirit for those the Father elected and Christ died for.
I used to dislike that. I don't anymore. I love this
because I see that this is the only way I can be saved is if
God does something for me. And I repent of any hope of self-salvation. Now, what is the one evidence
that you've repented? The one evidence of true and
genuine repentance is faith in Christ. You look to Him alone. Now, wherever you have repentance,
you have faith in Christ. And the evidence that a man has
truly repented before God is he looks to Christ alone for
all of his salvation and claims no past, present nor future merit,
all I have is Jesus Christ. But He's all I want and He is
all I need. If a man is truly repented, he
is looking to Christ alone. Paul called it in Acts chapter
20, verse 21, repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ. May God grant us all repentance. Call the church, write or email,
and we'll send you a copy of this message. This is Todd Kniper
praying that God will be pleased to make himself known to you.
Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send
a request to todd.neidert at gmail.com. Or you may write or
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