Luke chapter 13. We'll start reading verse 1. There
was present at that season some that told him of the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus
answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were
sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things?
But I tell you, no. But except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. Or the eighteen, whom the tower
of Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that these were sinners
above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no. but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Let's go ahead and pray. Heavenly Father, we pray to you
in Christ's name, and we ask, Lord, that you'd bless our time
here this morning, that you'd bless our services with Brother
Donnie, who's come to preach to us. Lord, we ask for your
spirit here. Lord, we ask that you'd give
us eyes to see and that you'd give us ears to hear. Lord, open
your word unto us. Allow us to see Christ. It's
in his name we pray. Amen. Except you repent, you
shall all likewise perish. The scripture here speaks to
you. It doesn't speak to others. It
very expressly says, except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. So, what then does it mean to
repent? What does it take for a man to
repent? If this means that I have to stop sinning to repent, then
there's no one in here that will be saved. Salvation is not sinning. This is saying, unless you repent,
you shall all likewise perish. Some might say this is trying
to change their life. They say, I've got to get on
the straight and narrow. I've got to change things up.
Get on the straight and narrow. I've got to repent. And somebody
else might find that they've fallen into great calamity. They
say, well, I've done it this time. So they repent. They're
going to change their ways, do something different. And then
there's somebody else that might find repentance is finding religion. I've got to find a system of
do's and don'ts. This keeps me in line. And all these things
have to do with keeping some form of outward keeping it together,
if you will. And yet, if we look at the scripture,
God looks at the heart. God looks at the inward man.
He looks at the heart. So even if I do keep it outwardly
together in front of you, what does that have to do with anything?
God's my judge. You're not my judge. So God says
that he hates a high look and a proud heart. These are things
that can only be seen inside. These aren't things that you
can maybe see in me from the outside. So this idea of repent
of your sins, this is not even in the Bible. So when someone
says that, they're saying something that is false. This is a man-made
system of outward do's and don'ts. So what is repentance then? because
that's what the Lord said, except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. Repentance is a change of mind. And so what I'd like to do is
give you five points here that illustrates what the scripture
has to say about repentance and what it is. So first, if you'll
turn over with me to Acts chapter 20. in verse 21. All right, we'll
start in verse 20. And how I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you, but I've showed you and have 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. So the first point is, what is
repentance? Repentance first is towards God.
God is holy, God is sovereign in His will, and if it turns
out that I don't believe the gospel and it winds up that I
find that my faith didn't amount to anything, I can't then blame
God. This is a change of mind toward
God in saying that He owes me something, that He has to do
something for me. This change of mind, this repentance,
is toward God first and seeing Him as holy, even if He passes
me by. And I don't want that, but I'm
saying that if He does, He's holy and He's right for doing
so. And we have evidence in this verse of whether we do have repentance
or not. If you look back in verse 21,
it says, Repentance toward God and faith towards our Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith is evidence of repentance.
So, this is a change of mind. My change of mind is faith towards
the Lord Jesus Christ to save me. Not myself, not a system
of do's and don'ts. This is faith towards the Lord
Jesus Christ. So, what is repentance? It's
faith towards God first. Secondly, turn over to Acts chapter
5. In verse 31, him, Christ, hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. What
we see here is repentance is given. Repentance is not something
that is earned. It's not something that is owed.
It is not something that is a right. Repentance is something that
God only can give. And if He can only give it, and
I can earn it, and it's not owed to me, then that means there's
nothing that I can do to influence Him, to make Him have to give
it to me. If He gives it to me, it's if it's His own will, according
to His own good pleasure. It's a change of mind. It's not
a decision. What do you do with a gift? You
receive the gift. This is a change of mind in the
way that I see God and what He gives me in terms of repentance.
It's Him giving it to me. And thirdly, let's look at Luke
chapter 5. I can just read this one. Luke
chapter 5 verse 32 says, "...I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners unto repentance." So we see here, thirdly, what
is repentance? Repentance is not for the righteous. It's for sinners. Now, when we
say it's for sinners, does that mean that we're saying that,
and by saying sinners, it's someone who has sinned? Well, yeah. But
we're not saying it's someone who does good sometimes and sins
sometimes, and you have this balance where you're trying to
do more good, but you've got these things you've done that
are bad or sins. It says, I've not come to call the righteous,
but sinners unto repentance. If you look up that word sinners,
it means those who are completely in the dominion, power, and authority
of sin. That means it's somebody who
sins all the time. It's all they do. They can't
do what's right because they are a sinner. It's a change of
mind, again, repentance, change of mind of what I am before God. I'm a sinner. I'm not somebody
coming before Him saying, well, I've done some good things. No,
I'm a sinner. I have no grounds that I can
claim. I have nothing to look to Him other than saying, Lord,
I'm a sinner. So we see it's not for the righteous.
What is repentance? Turn over to Hebrews 6.1. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance. And what is it? Foundation
of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God. So
what is repentance? It definitely is from dead works. So dead being powerless, fruitless,
unable to give, to induce, or produce life. And what it's saying
here is your works, anything that you can do and present it
before God is sin. And it's sin because of who does
it. It's not because of what you're doing. What you're doing
may be outwardly a good thing. It's because of who's doing it.
Because my hands on it, it's tainted. If I were to give my
coat to someone who is cold, freezing to death, we could say,
yes, that's a good thing. But yet, if I was a leper and
gave it to him, it makes him unclean. What I have to offer,
and that's how we are before God, we're lepers, spiritually.
When we give our coat, it makes anything it touches unclean.
There's nothing that I can have my hand on and it be clean and
acceptable for God. Number five. Turn with me to
Acts chapter 26. Verse 19, whereupon, O King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but showed first
unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all
the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent and turn to God, and do what works meet for repentance. Now, we just read in Hebrews
where he said, we're turning from dead works. We're not laying
again the foundation of repentance, the turning from dead works.
But now he says here that they should turn to God and do works
meet for repentance. What does that mean? Well, there
were some people that asked the Lord this question. They said,
Lord, what shall we do that we might work the works of God?
And what was his response? This is the work of God. that
you believe on him whom he hath sent." This is the work of God. When it says, works meet for
repentance, that word means worthy of repentance. It is worthy of
repentance, a change of mind to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is an acceptable work. This is a change of mind. So a change of mind is not something
that you can do. It's something God has to give
you. It's toward God. It's not for the righteous. It's
turning from dead works unto works meet for repentance. So it's a change of mind as a
result of what God has done for you. So then how does repentance
come about? And I'd like us to spend the
rest of our time in Luke 15 in looking at the work of repentance
and how that comes about. And I've gotten my margin written
in front of Luke 15, repentance. That's what this whole chapter
is about. How does it come about? Verse
one, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners
to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured and
said, receiveth sinners, and he eats with them. And then he
spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having
a hundred sheep, if he should lose one of them, doth not leave
the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost,
until he find it? And when he finds it, he lays
it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls
together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them,
Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost. And
I say unto you that likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth, more than 99 just persons which hath no
need of repentance." So we see here, everything here is given
as a type. Who are the types here? Christ is the shepherd. This is the shepherd and he has
his sheep. And he says he's going after the one that was lost.
So the lost person, that's the sinner. One of the things to
keep in mind about being lost, when you're lost, you don't know
that you're lost, because that means you're really lost. If
you know you're lost, you can look to try to find your way
out. Secondly, if you're lost, you can't find your way back.
There was nothing that this sheep could do to get back to the herd.
It was content to stay lost where it was, not even knowing that
it was lost. How is repentance described here
in verse 7? He says, more than 99 just persons
which hath no need of repentance. This sheep needed found. You and I, we need repentance. Well, when was the sheep found?
It's when Christ the shepherd went to look for him and found
him. That's when he was found. It's not when he came to Christ.
When somebody says, you know, I found Jesus, no, that's not
the way it works. He found me. And so this is what's
shown forth in the story here. Christ the shepherd came to him.
Where did Christ find you? You that have had the gospel
revealed unto you, where did he find you? I was lost. I would
not have been found had he not found me. So how does repentance
come about? It requires the work of Christ.
Secondly, How does repentance come about? It requires the work
of the Holy Spirit. Let's read on in our Luke 15,
verse 8. Either what woman, having ten
pieces of silver, if she should lose one piece, doth not light
a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she
find it. And when she hath found it, she calls her friends and
neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the
peace which I had lost. Likewise I say unto you, there
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repented." This is the work of the Holy Spirit. And what
I want to do is give you a couple points here. I could spend the
whole time here on this passage, but we don't have that. So what's lost? The coin's lost. So we can see from the passage,
it's in the dark, the coin's in the dark, it's lost. It's
not seeking to be found. It's not crying out. It doesn't
know that it's lost. It's dead for all intents and
purposes. There is no life in it. It can do nothing but lay
there, lost. This pictures our spiritual condition
without the Holy Spirit. We can't get up. We can't cry
out. We can't find our way. We are
lost in the dark and content to be there. Did the coin know
it was lost? No. Could it have prevented itself
from being lost? No. Was it looking to be found? Well, no, it wasn't. What did
it take to find it? It took the lit candle, which
is a picture of the illuminating work of God the Holy Spirit.
It's illuminating that which could not be seen otherwise without
its work being involved. The coin was content in the dark,
lost, our spiritually dead state. It could not call out, it didn't
know, it was lifeless. But yet, life came. The Holy
Spirit illuminates that which could not be seen otherwise.
God's word here we have before us. It is a dead book to me,
apart from God the Holy Spirit making it alive. I cannot, you've
had times when you've read and you've read and you've read and
you get nothing. You wind up and you're frustrated because
the Holy Spirit's not speaking to me. This is death. I have
no ability to have life, to see, to see Christ in the Word. Secondly,
I can't even see the attributes of God. I can't see that God
is holy apart from Him revealing that unto me. All I can do is
look at how I am in comparison with that somehow. He is holy,
high above us to a standard that we cannot even meet. Holy means
other. When I see Him, when the Holy Spirit reveals Himself unto
me and I can see Him, it's only then that I see myself and my
sin for what it is. I would never be able to see
my sin for what it is apart from the illuminating work of the
Holy Spirit. Christ and His person become more than just a doctrine
and series of facts. You can read this book and extrapolate
a series of, yes, it says this and not that, and you can come
up with a list of many things it does say, but that's not salvation. Salvation is a person, the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and apart from the Holy Spirit revealing
that to me, I could never see it, and I would never see it,
and I'd never seek it out because I'm lifeless, spiritually dead,
and in the dark. A few things about the Holy Spirit
we can see just from this passage. First, in verse 8, it says, He'll
seek diligently. So the Holy Spirit is first sent. God the Father sends the Holy
Spirit to execute the work in which He said to do. The Holy
Spirit is sent diligently, and he seeks with urgency, and it
will find its target. And there's no chance of you
missing it. It says right here, she swept the whole house. She's
looking everywhere for that coin. There's one lost, and I'm not
gonna lose it. So it looks everywhere. Secondly,
we see that there's a specific number. It said there are 10
pieces. In verse four of this passage,
it says, the shepherd had 100 sheep. So there is a specific
number. God knows what that number is.
The reason He knows what that number is, because He chose every
one of them in Christ before the world began. And if I'm one
of those number, one of those whom Christ died for, whom His
Son came into this world, lived, died on the cross, paid my sin
debt, Is there any way that I could not be saved? No, he knows, and
so he must find, the Holy Spirit must find and quicken every one
of those for whom Christ died. So it is a specific number. He
sees that I'm, he gives me this new nature to see that I'm lost,
to see that I need found, to see and calls me to seek him
out diligently. This is a change of mind. He
found me. It's not me finding him. He found
me. I was in the dark and dead. And
lastly, we have the work of the father. And we'll start in verse
11 here. Certain man had two sons. The
younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of
goods that falleth to me. And he 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. And when he had spent
all, there arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to
be in want. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into the fields
to feed swine. And he would have feigned to
have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat,
but no man would give to him. But when he came to himself,
he said, how many of my father's hired servants have enough bread
to spare and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father
and will say unto him, father, I've sinned against heaven and
before thee. I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me
as one of his hired servants. Two things here. One, we are
to have confidence that what we ask for, we will receive.
The scripture says, whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in
my name, he may give it unto you. Secondly, be careful what
you ask for, because you just might get it. You don't trust
yourself. The scripture says, lean not
unto thine own understanding. Just because an opportunity presents
itself does not mean that I'm meant to go through that door.
It might mean just the opposite. We're to pray for wisdom, for
strength, for direction, for his will to be done and to not
have my own will done. The son here got just what he
asked for. He asked his father to give him
his substance. He went away, he forgot his father,
and he didn't esteem what he had that he later found out that
that's what he really needed. He fell very far. He fell as
far as a Hebrew could go, feeding swine. That was as low as he
could go, unclean swine. There's nothing he could do to
change his situation. What he had done was done. What I do as a sinner before
the Father, I'm in my situation. I can't get out of it. I'm stuck
where I am at. I'm guilty before God. I cannot
come before Him. I've fallen very far. There's
nothing he could do, but in verse 17 it says, but when he came
to himself. Have you ever been here? Have
you ever been going along the road and you find no peace, you
find no comfort, you can't look up, everything's dark, everything's
down, but then he came to himself. What is that? Well, that's the
call of the gospel. That's the Holy Spirit quickening
me, giving me ears to hear. And what that means is Why was
that given? Why was the call of gospel given
to me? Because God the Father ordained
it before the world began. That's what the whole chapter
of Ephesians 1 has to say, is the reason why he did what he
did. He ordered everything before the world began and sent the
Holy Spirit to call me at this time in this place. God so loved
the world that he gave us his son. He made him in the flesh,
perfect before the law, to be rejected of men, to die the death
of the cross, and to rise again. And the Lord said of them, which
thou has given me, I've lost none. He is gonna find every
one whom the father gave him. The love of the father here passes
all bounds. You know, we know nothing of
love compared to the love of the father. He gave all. He gave His Son as a ransom for
many. He ordered this world around
the salvation of His people, even the death of His Son. God
the Father is an all-consuming fire, and I cannot approach Him
outside of Christ. He is the God of the Old Testament.
The same God of the Old Testament we read about is the God of the
New Testament. I cannot approach unto Him. How
did the Hebrews react when they came before Mount Sinai? They
said, no, we don't want to go up there. Moses, you go for us.
We don't even want to come near Him. You talk to Him for us.
That's the same God of the Bible today, 2016. And so I must come
through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to come into His
presence. So what we see here His repentance here changes my
view of him because of these things, because I fear God the
Father. I know what I've done. I know
what I am. Repentance here, I want to give you three evidences of
repentance that we can see from this passage. In verse 18, we
have a confession of sin. He says, Father, I have sinned. Second thing we have, no claims
on God. Verse 19, I am no more worthy
to be called thy son. You're saying, God, I've sinned
and I have no worth that I can bring before you to tell you
to do anything for me. I'm asking the third point on
sheer mercy and your sheer grace that you would save me according
to your good pleasure. We have such wrong views of God.
Yet, we find here, the Father's love was there before I fell,
because he had to have seen me to love me in Christ before the
world began. And the Father's love, it's still
there afterward, even after I fell. How can that be? Because Christ
paid all the debt that I owe on the cross. That's the only
way that that can be. The father here was ready and
looking to show mercy. Compassion was there before the
confession came because his love is not grounded in my confession. His love is grounded in his son.
If you look at verse 20, it says, And he arose and came to his
father, and when he had a great way off, his father saw him,
and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed
him. And his son said, this is the confession, everything he
drummed up he was going to say to his father, Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and in thy sight am no more worthy to
be called thy son. And he couldn't even get out
his full confession, everything that he had planned to say to
his father. And his father's response was, Bring forth the
best robe. Put it on him. You can't put
on the righteousness of Christ. He has to put it on you. There's
nothing I can do to influence it, but he can put it on me.
His forgiveness and his mercy was there before I even got out
my confession, because it's not grounded in me. It's not about
me. That's what we find out, is that salvation's about his
son. Everything is found in his son. Put on the righteousness
of Christ. Secondly, he says, put a ring
on his hand. What's a ring represent? A ring
represents something eternal, something enduring. Your sin
is forever paid for, and you'll never have to answer for it if
Christ died for you. Fear not, you've been chosen
in Christ from eternity. If God the Holy Spirit, which
is the earnest of our inheritance, that's what it says in Ephesians,
the Holy Spirit's the earnest of our inheritance, that's a
down payment, is what earnest is. Earnest money is a down payment
when you buy something. If you've been given the Holy
Spirit now, that's a down payment on what you're going to be given
later. This is God's promise to you in choosing you before
the world began. And he says also, I'm going to
put shoes on his feet. He's going to give you a new
nature to walk in this world in a new spirit and a new man.
This is not the man that sometimes sins and sometimes does something
good. This is a man who's always holy.
He's always righteous because that's the same spirit of God
which he's given you. And what's the father say? He
said, my son was dead and now he's alive again. My son was
lost and now he's found. What leads a man to repentance?
Romans 2.4 says it's only the goodness of God that leads a
man to repentance. It's the goodness of God and
his willingness to save you without you doing anything. Except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. I'll leave you there.