Would you turn back to Mark chapter
1? What do you and I know of repentance? It's a good question, isn't it?
What do you and I know of repentance? Have we experienced repentance? Do we know what repentance means? Well, I pray that the Lord will
answer that question for us tonight from his word and that we might
be enabled truly to experience repentance before God. I've entitled this message, Repentance
Simply Stated. Repentance Simply Stated. Now repentance, like so many
other things in the gospel, is something that men make a work
out of. And thus they destroy and hide
its meaning. Pretty much like faith. Men make
a work out of faith. They make your salvation conditioned
upon your faith. Or they make your salvation contingent
upon you repenting. And thus they take away the meaning
of repentance and faith. Now when false preachers, and
I use that word carefully, I use that word carefully. It's not
just going glibly off my tongue. But when false preachers speak
of repentance, it's generally generally referred to as repent
of your sins. How many times have you heard
that? Repent of your sins. And by the way, that's a phrase
that's not found in the scriptures. Did you know that? You can look
through a concordance and you're not going to find that particular
phrase found in the scriptures. But here's what these false preachers
mean. They mean you are to turn from
your sins, be sorry for your sins, and do not return to those
sins. Now, is anybody saying that'd
be a bad thing? To turn from your sins? And to
be sorry for your sins? and to not return to those sins? Would to God that I do that.
Would to God that you do that. But that is not what repentance
is. It's just not what repentance
is. Now let me ask you a question. Are there sins in your life right
now that you are habitually committing? Are there sins in your life that
you are habitually committing? Now, does someone say no? Well, If that's really true, then I
must not be saved because I don't know anything about that. Or
it could be that your conscience is so seared that you don't know
what sin is in the first place. And that's why you make a statement
like that. Or, and here's what I suspect,
you're lying. You're lying. If there are sins that you habitually
still commit, that means by that definition I just gave that a
false preacher gives, it's turning from your sin, it's being sorry
for your sin, and it's not returning to it. If there are sins that
you habitually commit still, that means you haven't repented. you do not know anything about
repentance. Now, how sorry is sorry enough? And then you have to have sufficient
sorrow, you have to turn from them, and you'll be forgiven
of these sins. If you turn from them, if you're
sorry for them, and if you don't return to them, you will be forgiven. Now, listen to me real carefully.
That is a message of salvation by works. There's not a drop
of gospel in that message. And if that's what someone hears,
they cannot be saved from hearing that message. That is not the
gospel. And somebody that preaches that
is not a gospel preacher. You need to turn from your sins. You need to be sorry for your
sins, and you need to not return to your sins. Now, while I'd
say that's good advice, if that's the message a man brings, he's
no different than those Preachers Paul spoke of in Galatians chapter
6 who said, they constrain you to be circumcised, but they don't
keep the law. You know that preacher that's telling you to do that?
He's not doing it. But he's telling you to. So he
can glory in your flesh. Now, look at our text in Mark
chapter 1. John. At speaking of John the Baptist,
John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. John was the last of the Old
Testament prophets. And what I love about John was
not only was he a Old Testament prophet, he was the subject of
prophecy as we saw last week. He was prophesied in Malachi
chapter 3 and Isaiah chapter 40. And this is very important
for us to understand this. The Old Testament prophets did
not have a different message from the New Testament. Listen
to this statement by Peter in Acts chapter 10. To him, give
all the prophets witness, that whosoever believeth on him may
have the forgiveness of sins. Now he's talking about the Old
Testament prophets. To him, to the Lord Jesus Christ, give all
the prophets witness. In John chapter five, verse 39,
he said to the Pharisees, you search the scriptures, and in
them you think you have eternal life, and they are they, which
testify of me." Now, John did baptize in the wilderness. Was his baptism different from
Christian baptism? Now, the answer to that is no. No. Now, it was different in
the sense that Christ hadn't died yet. But the teaching was
the same. The only hope a sinner has is
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That's the teaching
of baptism. You're united to Him. When He
lived, you lived. When He died, you died. When
He was raised from the dead, you were raised from the dead.
As He ascended back to glory, you were. As He's seated in heaven,
that's where you are right now because you're united to Him.
That's the teaching of baptism. There's no different baptisms. You know, Paul said in Ephesians
chapter 4 verse 5, there's one baptism. He didn't say, well,
there's the baptism of John and then there's Christian baptism.
There's only one baptism. And the baptism John was administering
was Christian baptism. Now Christ hadn't died yet, but
John believed the same gospel Abel did. He believed the same
gospel Isaiah did. He believed the same gospel the
apostle Paul did. There's only one gospel. There's
one Lord, there's one faith, and there's one baptism. So John's
baptism wasn't some kind of different baptism. It was Christian baptism. And we're gonna see that in a
moment, but notice it says, John did baptize in the wilderness. Now, to baptize means to immerse,
to submerge, and to emerge. You're immersed all the way under
the water. You go all the way under. We
don't leave anything sticking out. And then you come up from
the water. And it's to picture the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ, me being in Him. I mean the gospel
is seen in baptism. You know, we don't sprinkle people.
The Bible means immerse. We don't sprinkle people. When
somebody dies, you don't throw dirt on them, do you? No, you
bury them all the way under. And baptism, what's the requirement
for baptism? There's one thing, faith. That's
it. Our Lord said, he that believeth
and is baptized, the same should be saved. Now he didn't say that
in order to make us think that the act of baptism saves because
it doesn't. You can go underwater and come
up a thousand times, it won't wash away one's sin. But he's
letting us know that what's the one requirement for baptism?
Faith. He that believeth and is baptized,
the same should be said. He that believeth not shall be
damned, the Lord said. The idea of sprinkling infants. I started to say, It's hard to
believe that somebody believes something like that, but it's
really not hard to believe. It's the natural man's religion. He's
going to make a work out of something, and if you sprinkle infants,
you're saying by that, someone says, I'm not saying by that.
Yeah, you are. You're saying by that that this somehow helps
them to be saved. You're at least better off being
sprinkled than you are if you're an infant that's not sprinkled.
It's putting some saving efficacy in that act. And if you sprinkle
infants, you believe in salvation by works. You don't preach the
gospel of God's grace. Now, John baptized in the wilderness
and he, his preaching is described as he preached the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins. Look at it in verse
four. John did baptize in the wilderness, that act, And here
was his preaching, and he did preach the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. Now, he was saying that the only
way sins can be remitted is through what baptism depicts. The life
of Christ, the death of Christ when he became the sin-bearing
substitute, the resurrection of Christ when he put away sin.
And that word repentance, the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins is made of two words, which means a change
of mind. Metanoia, change. Metanoia, mind. A change of mind. You and I,
now listen to this statement, you and I will not have a change
of mind unless our minds change. Isn't that simple and yet true?
You and I will not have a change of mind unless our mind is changed. You see, repentance, like faith,
is the gift of God. It's beyond the ability of someone
who is dead in sins. The only way you can experience,
the only way I can experience this thing of repentance is if
God gives me life. It's beyond the ability of the
natural man. Listen to these scriptures. Acts
5 31. Him hath God exalted a prince and his savior for to give repentance
to Israel. It's a gift of God. The forgiveness
of sins. Acts 11 verse 8 says, then hath
God also to the Gentiles granted given freely, graciously bestowed
repentance unto life. I think of what Paul said in
Romans 2 24. I mean, a second Timothy 2 24
per venture, God will grant them repentance. to the acknowledging
of the truth. I love the scripture in Romans
2, 4, it's the goodness of God that leads thee to repentance.
That doesn't mean you see God so good it just makes you repent
and makes you change your mind. No, it's the goodness of God,
his capacity to save somebody like you, that leads you to and
causes you to repent. Now, notice He speaks of repentance
for the remission of sins. Repentance for the remission
of sins. Now, does that mean you repent and then you're given
the remission and forgiveness of sins? Does that mean you're rewarded
the remission of sins because you've repented of your sins?
No. No. doesn't even come close to
meaning that. Now this word for repentance
for the remission of sins is a preposition that's found 1,774
times in the New Testament and only 140 times is it translated
for repentance for the remission of sins. It's translated other
times concerning, into, unto, towards, Here it is, it's a change
of mind concerning the remission of sins. That's what repentance
is at its very basic level. It's a change of mind concerning
remission of sins. Every natural man thinks there's
some kind of formula that you do. You believe, you repent,
you turn from your sins, you get your life straightened out,
and your sins will be forgiven. That is salvation by works. Nothing more. You see, salvation
doesn't end with the forgiveness of sins. If I do this, this,
and this, then I'll be given the forgiveness of sins. Salvation
does not end in the forgiveness of sins. Salvation begins with
the full, complete, free forgiveness of sins. You know what happens? You find out you've been forgiven. You find out you've been forgiven. Why? Be kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another even as God because you asked him forgave
you. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another because you repented of your sins. No, be kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake. No other reason. Even as God
for Christ's sake hath forgiven you, not because you fill in
the blank, whatever it might be, but because God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. Now look in verse five. And there went out unto him all
the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized
of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. Now, does
that mean somebody comes up to the water and says, before I
can be baptized, I got to come clean with what I've done. I've
been guilty of fill in the blank, whatever it might be. I've committed
this sin. I've committed that sin. I confess to being guilty
of it. And I can't go into the waters
of baptism until I make that confession of sin. Is that what
that means? No, no. Don't ever confess your
sins to another human being. Don't do it. All you'll do is
bring them down. That's it. All you'll do is accelerate
their self-righteousness, because they'll think, well, maybe I
didn't do that. There's no good that comes out
of anything like that. Confession means speak the same
thing. When you confess your sins, that
means you're speaking the same thing God says about your sins.
That means you're at agreement with God. And you see yourself
in this life that I agree with what God says about my sin. And
the only way I can be saved is by what baptism depicts. Me being
in Christ. When He lived, I lived. When
He died, that was my sin payment. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. Accepted. Justified. in God's
sight. Now repentance, a change of mind. How many times have you changed
your mind? You believe something and you
don't believe it anymore. That's called repentance. You believe something and you
don't believe it anymore. Repentance. Now let's see what
the Bible says repentance is and what somebody
repents of. Now, let me give you five or
six things. I want you to think about these. In Acts chapter
20, verse 21, we read of repentance toward God. You used to believe certain things
about God that you don't believe anymore. That's called repentance. You used to Dislike God, as far
as that goes. You disliked the way He was.
You disliked His sovereignty. You didn't see any safety in
having no control in salvation. You were in His hand. It was
up to Him as to what was going to happen to you. You didn't
like that. You do now. You're glorying it now. You used
to dislike His holiness. He's too strict. You love it
now. You love who He is, every attribute. You love His absolute justice,
how sin must be punished. You find your safety in that. You love every attribute of Him
and you didn't used to. You love the way He saves now.
You used to dislike the fact that He chose a people and that
Christ only died for the elect and God's grace is invincible
and irresistible and you think that's not fair. You've changed
your mind. You see that whatever God does
is fair, whatever God does is right. There's a repentance toward
God. Listen to this scripture from
Job chapter 42 verse 5. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I abhor myself. and repent in dust and ashes."
Now, if you ever see the Lord in His holiness, in who He really
is, you're going to have a complete change of mind about yourself.
You used to believe you had a free will and whenever you wanted
to, you could become a Christian and that you could, if the circumstances
were right, you could overcome this sin or that sin and you
used to make resolves and resolutions. I'll be this way in the future. When you see the Lord, you repent
of that foolishness. And you see that in and of yourself,
you are nothing but sin. Now, if you don't see yourself
that way, let me give you the reason. You've never seen the
Lord. That's the only reason. Because if you've ever seen the
Lord, who he is, you'll repent of the thoughts that you have
of yourself. I love what the Lord said in
Mark 115. This is so simple. I can't wait
to get to it when we get in Mark. He said, repent and believe the
gospel. Change your mind. You don't believe
the gospel. You don't see any glory in Christ
being all, but you change your mind. You repent. You believe
the gospel. You really believe that Christ
is all in your salvation. Now, if you've had repentance
toward God, if you've had repentance toward yourself, about what you
think about church, it's because you believe the gospel. You've
repented and you believe the gospel. You believe that Christ
is all in salvation. You didn't used to feel that
way. But you do now. You really believe that He's
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
It's called repentance. Repent and believe the Gospel. And then in our text, repentance
concerning the remission of sins. I used to think that forgiveness,
and that's what the word remission is, same word translated forgiveness.
I used to think that forgiveness was the reward at the end of
a process. Kind of like good karma. Good
karma. If I'm good, good things will
happen. That would summarize most people's religion. Good
karma. If I'm good, good things will happen. If I'm bad, bad
things will happen. You repent of that. You understand
that there's only one reason for the forgiveness of sins. Only one. Hebrews 9.22 says without the
shedding of blood there is no remission. Ephesians 1.7 says
in whom we have redemption through his blood. The remission of sins. Hebrews 10.18 says where the
remission of these is. There is no more offering for
sin. Matthew 26, 28. This is the New
Testament in my blood shed for many for the remission of sins. Don't you mean when you sing
that song, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is that flow that makes me white as snow. No other
fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I'd like you
to turn to this passage of scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Hold
your finger there, mark one, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Verse 21, unless when I come again, my
God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many
of you which have sinned already and have not repented of the
uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have
committed. Now this is a change of mind
about sin, isn't it? There is a change of mind about
sin. If my repentance leaves me indifference
about the commission, an indifference about the commission of sin,
it's a repentance that needs to be repented of. Amen. When we're talking about what
repentance is, we're not in any way saying, don't need to worry
about sin. That's not what, no. Paul speaks of them not repenting
of that sin. Now, in closing, I'd like us
to consider what the Scripture says repentance actually does. True repentance is what it does. True repentance owns God's holiness
and my own personal sinfulness. Now you read the book of Job.
How he was afflicted. He lost all of his wealth. He lost his health. He lost his
family. And throughout all those afflictions,
he never really repented. You know when he did? When he
saw the Lord. I've heard of thee with the hearing
of the ears. now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I hate myself
and repent in dust and ashes. Now you look throughout the scripture
that's what happens when somebody sees the Lord. You remember when
Isaiah said in the year Uzziah died I saw the Lord high and
lifted up sitting upon a throne and what's he end up saying?
Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm cut off. When Daniel sees
the Lord, he says, my comeliness turned to corruption. When Peter
finally saw who the Lord is, he said, depart from me, Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. I'm beyond. All I would do is just depart. And that's what happens when
people see the Lord. They own his holiness. and their own sinfulness. Secondly, true repentance acknowledges
God's sovereign right to do what he will with his own. Now, if
that's not there, there's no repentance there. I think of
the Lord telling Eli, I'm going to kill both your boys. Now,
think of the severity of that. I'm gonna kill both their boys.
You haven't restrained them, I'm gonna kill them both. How
did Eli reply? It's the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. Whatever the Lord does is right. Through repentance, thirdly,
justifies God. David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. that
thou mightest be justified when you speak and be clear when you
judge. Your judgments are right. It
said of the publicans that they justified God being baptized
with the baptism of John. They justified God. I think of
the thief on the cross. What did he say? He said, we
indeed justly, talking about their death, we indeed justly,
we're receiving the due rewards of our deeds. But this man hath
done nothing amiss. True repentance justifies God
in all he does. And fourthly, true repentance
owns that it lies in God's sovereign right to save a man or to pass
him by. Now let that sink. True repentance
owns that it's within God's sovereign right to show a man mercy or
pass him by. And the leper understood this.
And there's no worship without this. That leper came, the Scripture
says, and he worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will, You
can make me clean. It's all up to you. I can't make
myself clean. I can't buy my cleansing. It's
up to your sovereign will. You can pass me by if you're
pleased to do so. But if you will, you can make
me clean. Fifth, true repentance gives God all the glory. There's a passage in Revelation
16 where they were scorched with heat and yet they repented not
to give Him glory. True repentance before God gives
Him all the glory. Six, real true repentance is
not a one-time act. Just like faith is not a one-time
act. It's always in the present. You
don't look back to some experience you had. Real repentance is continual. And here's my last point, and
I'm going to end it up with an illustration, but I like this.
This probably is my favorite point of all these things I've
given you. Real repentance looks solely to Christ for salvation
and claims no past, present, or future merit. I'll show whether
you really have repentance. You look solely to Christ and
claim no past, present, or future merit. In other words, where
there's true repentance, there's always genuine faith in Christ. Now I want to close with this
illustration found in Luke chapter 15. Now this is three stories,
all of which go together, but we're not going to go over them
all. I want to point out, though, in verse 7, he says, I say unto
you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth. This is about repentance. Look
in verse 10. Likewise, I say unto you, there's
joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. So this story about the prodigal
is a story of repentance. And let me say before I read
this, the star of this story is the father. It's not the prodigal. It's the father. Now, let's read
these verses. A certain man had two sons. And
the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion
of goods that falleth to me. Now, Ewington's fellow had a
sense of entitlement. That's exactly what that is.
A sense of entitlement. I've got this coming to me. Give
me the goods, the portion of goods. Give me my inheritance
right now. Want it right now. Now, that's
unheard of, but this guy did it. He was so brazen. And his father divided unto them
his living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country. And there wasted his substance with riotous living. This man took his inheritance
and partied until there was nothing left. I'm sure he had a good
time. I'm sure he made many friends along the way. Verse 14, and
when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in
the land, and he began to be in want, need, lack. What a blessed thing. He began
to be in want. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country. And he sent him to his fields
to work, to feed swine. I think this is pretty much like
somebody joining a church. When you begin to be in want,
you think, well, I need to join church. I need to get my life
straightened out. That's what this fella did. He began to be
in want. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat. And no man gave unto him." Now
here is the point. Somebody that's a son, they're
not going to be able to find satisfaction on husks. They're not going to be able
to find satisfaction in a church of works, which is exactly what
this is. This guy joined himself to a
citizen in that country. He put him to work and he found
no sustenance. Verse 17, and when he came to
himself, I love that. When he came to himself, you
know, if you're not a Christian, If you're not a believer, you're
crazy. You're crazy. Oh, would to God
that he would cause you to come to yourself. Now look what this
repentance is. He had a complete change of mind
about his father's house. Remember how he wanted to leave
his father's house? He wanted to get away from his father's
house. Now look what he says. How many hired servants of my
father's house have bread enough and despair, and I perish with
hunger. Now there's his repentance. It
was about his father's house. He saw it in a completely different
light. And he rehearses what he's going
to say. I will arise and go to my father,
and I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and
before thee. There's the sinner justifying
God. I've sinned against heaven and against thee. And I'm no
more worthy to be called thy son. That sense of entitlement
is gone. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his
father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. You see, his father was expecting
him. His father knew the day would return. That's our father. He was looking for him. And what
did he do? He had compassion and ran and
fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father,
I've sinned against heaven in thy sight, and I'm no more worthy
to be called thy son. But before he could finish his
rehearsal, the father said to his servants, bring forth the
best one. Now you know what that's referring
to. The robe of righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. And put
it on him. He didn't say hand it to him.
He said put it on him. And put a ring on his hand. That
ring signifying the eternal love of God. No beginning, no end. Eternal. And shoes on his feet. grace to walk in the gospel,
and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat,
and be married. For this my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found, and
they began to be married. Now his elder son was in the
field, and he came and drew nigh to the house. He heard music
and dancing, party going on. And he called one of the servants
and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, thy brother
is come. And thy father hath killed the fatted cat because
he received him safe and sound. Now he wasn't happy, was he?
He was angry. He was angry. And would not go
in. Therefore came his father out
and treated him. And he answered and said to his father, lo, these
many years do I serve thee, neither transgress I at any time thy
commandment. A couple of statements. Number
one, He sure didn't enjoy serving, did he? And number two, he's
lying. Neither transgressed at any time
thy commandment. Nobody believes that. I sure
don't. I know that's not so. And yet thou gavest me, never
gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But
as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living
with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And
he said, in him, son, thou art ever with me, and all I have
is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad.
For this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, was lost,
and is found. The story of repentance. May God grant. And that's the only way we're
going to have it, if God grants it. May God grant us repentance. And
let me give you one other scripture to chew on. God commandeth all
men everywhere to repent. Repent. Let's pray. Lord, grant us repentance for
Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen. Rich lead us in a song.