Okay, take your Bible one more
time and let's find Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Notice verse 20 and 21 of Acts
20. So this is Acts 20, 20. The apostle
meeting with these beloved elders from Ephesus. He reminds them
that he kept back nothing. nothing in the way of preaching,
nothing that was probable unto you, but have taught you and
have showed you everywhere, publicly, privately, from house to house,
in every synagogue of the Jews in the area of Ephesus, testifying
both, preaching both to the Jews and also to the Gentiles, Preaching
repentance, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ. So the title of the message today
is, Faith and Repentance. What an important subject we
have before us today. It is impossible to have true
saving faith without true Holy Spirit conviction. And likewise,
it is impossible to have true repentance without true faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They go hand in hand. Both dwell in the heart of the
regenerated center, implanted there by the sovereign hand of
God. He gives repentance and he gives
faith. I desire both. And I only desire
both because he has taught me the necessity of both. Someone
said years ago, I preach to you today as one who may never preach
again. For I am a dying man, I'm preaching
unto dying men. But you sit here today listening
who may never hear another scripture read, who may never hear another
gospel sermon, for we have no guarantee of tomorrow, do we? All we have is right now. Not
even, there's not even a guarantee of my next breath. If God withhold
that next breath, I'll be in his presence. That quick. That quick. We read in scripture,
today's the day of salvation. Right now. Don't harden your
heart. Don't harden your heart. Don't
stop up your ears. Today's the day of salvation.
Every time we come together to hear the gospel, of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to come with an eager attitude
and great anticipation to hear a word from God. Wouldn't that
be something? If God Almighty would speak to
your heart through His Word, through His servant, and the
power of God the Holy Spirit, Wouldn't that be something we
could say with those people there, believers in Thessalonica, that
the gospel came not in word only, but, oh, it came in power, and
in the Holy Ghost. Oh, that we might come with great
anticipation of hearing a word from God, and then having grace
in our heart, giving ear, having received ears to hear, to receive
it, believe it, and submit unto it. Oh, I tell you, what a joyful
time that would be. Oh, may God be pleased to speak
to our heart today on this vital and important subject of repentance
toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, by
nature, we do not have a repentant heart. By nature, we don't have
a believing heart. By nature, we love darkness and
hate light. By nature, we're rebels. We're
not repentant sinners. By nature, we're rebels. Now,
these words found in Acts 20, recorded here for us, our learning,
are the last words the apostle gives unto these dear believers
Elders he calls them from Ephesus he declared unto them that he
had kept back nothing that they needed to hear look at verse
20 He said I remind you I've kept back nothing that was profitable
unto you But I've showed you and I've taught you everywhere,
in every house, publicly and privately about the gospel of
God. As he says in verse 24, I've
received that the Lord did testify of the gospel of the grace of
God. Salvation is all of grace. What he declared unto the church
there in Ephesus, He declared also on the streets of Ephesus,
publicly, for everyone needs to hear the message of the gospel
of the grace of God, as Paul defined it in Romans 1, concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Of which he says, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believes this gospel. Take a look at verse
27 of Acts 20. He said, I've not shunned to
declare unto you all the counsel of God. A lot of times this verse
is quoted, they quote it where they say the whole counsel of
God. That's not what it says. All
the counsel of God. All the counsel of God. Paul
did not disguise the truth. to take the offense out, or to
take the edge off the truth to keep it from offending someone. As we studied and I read this
morning from Galatians chapter 1, Paul said, I do not preach the gospel to be
pleasing unto men, but rather the servant of God. Paul means
that he had not disguised any truth, he not held back any truth,
but declared all the counsel of God Unto all who would hear
it all the counsel of God Concerning salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. What is all the counsel of God
in salvation? the Lord Jesus Christ What is
all the counsel of God concerning redemption from our sin? The
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What is all the counsel of God
concerning salvation? It's salvation through the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, He's all the counsel
of God. He's all the purpose of God.
God has never saved one sinner apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam, fallen, was saved through
the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go right on down.
Abel, who brought the blood offering, was saved through the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham, go right on down. Abraham
looked unto the Lord Jesus Christ and that glorious substitutionary
sacrifice for all of his salvation. For the Lord said, Abraham, saw
my day, he rejoiced to see it, and he was glad." All the counsel of God concerning
salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be determined here at
Zebulun as the Apostle Paul to preach the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. To know nothing among you but
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified as all the counsel
of God, as all the will of God concerning your salvation, concerning
your redemption in Him. May we be as consistent as Paul
to declare that salvation is of the Lord, that he will have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. He will be gracious to whom he
will be gracious. Paul had but one message, look
at verse 21, Acts 20, 21. Paul but had one message for
the Jew, the religious Jew, or the lost pagan Gentile. Both
needed to hear the same gospel. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there's no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Testifying
both to the religious Jew and also to the pagan idolater. The
same message. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
let's take a look at those two things. repentance and faith. A belief in the sovereign grace
of God does not exempt the sinner from believing or repenting. Now we're often accused of that.
Ah, you preach grace, sovereign grace, therefore the sinner doesn't
need to believe, therefore the sinner doesn't repent. I never
said that. I've never heard of any grace
preacher that has said that. Yes, we preach the sovereignty
of God, which leads to true repentance and true faith. Both are given
of God to glorify His mercy and to glorify His grace. Now let's
go to school here this morning. Let's go to school. Let's be
ready to get our Bible in our lap and let's get ready to turn
and read some scripture and let's go to school and see if we can
learn something from God's Word about the importance and necessity
of repentance and faith. I want to know what God says
about these two things. Now, how important is faith in
Christ and repentance toward the Lord Jesus Christ? Okay,
let's turn to Luke chapter 13. How important is repentance and
faith? Well, let's see what God says.
Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. Verse 1, there were present at
that season some that told him 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? I tell you, nay, except ye repent,
ye'll likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom
the tower of Siloam fell and slew, think ye they were sinners
above all that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay, but except ye
repent, You'll perish. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
began his public ministry, went preaching, repent, for the kingdom
of God is at hand. John the Baptist, the forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ, came preaching repentance, repentance,
repentance. Now how important is repentance? Vital, isn't it? How important
is faith? Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. The whole chapter, faith is a
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11, look at verse 6. How important is faith? Without
faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. Without faith, it is impossible
to satisfy God. You see, a man without faith
is a man without Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that can please God. So how important is faith and
repentance? Real important, isn't it? Absolutely
important, imperative. Secondly, both faith in Christ
and repentance toward God don't bloom in our heart naturally.
Both faith and repentance are the sovereign gifts of God. He gives those gifts unto His
elect. He gives those gifts when He
will, to whom He will, For His own glory. You see, it's His
goodness that leads us to repentance, not His wrath, His goodness.
Repentance and faith are both the gifts of God. Sovereignly
given. Let's see if we can find that
in the Word. Turn to Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. Then Peter, verse 29, and the
other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than
men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew and hanged
on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be Prince and Savior for to give repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sin. He's the exalted Savior who sovereignly
gives salvation to whom he will. Turn again to Acts 11 verse 18. when he's talking about the conversion
of Cornelius in his house, these Gentiles, verse 18, Acts 11,
when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified
God, saying then, have God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life, life in Christ Jesus. So we know that Repentance is
the gift of God. And we know beyond a shadow of
a doubt where true saving faith originates. Now, you all know
the scripture, Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9. We don't need to turn
there. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourself. Faith is the gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. So faith and repentance,
both, are given of God. They come by His hand, by His
will, His sovereign, unchanging will. Thirdly, both faith and
repentance toward God are the sovereign commands of God. Turn to Acts 17. When Paul was
preaching to those pagans on Mars Hill, His sermon is recorded
for us here in Acts chapter 17 verse 29, for as much then as
we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Gentile, that the Godhead rather, is like unto gold or silver or
stone, graven art and man's device. And in time to this ignorance
God winked at, overlooked, but now commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. Because he is appointed a day
in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto
all men that he raised him from the dead." Faith is rather repentance
is the sovereign command of God. Likewise, faith. Turn to 1 John. 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter
3, verse 23. This is His commandment that
we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and
love one another as He gave His commandment. 1 John 3, 23. So faith in Christ and repentance
both are the sovereign command of the Lord God Almighty. Fourthly, both faith in Christ
and repentance toward God Own, recognize, bow, submit to the
sovereign will of God as salvation is revealed in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the truth, who is the true God, who is the just
God and Savior, who is the just and the justifier. True faith
acknowledges the truth. True faith and true repentance
toward God bow to the sovereign claims of Christ. Well, He's
my Savior, but He's not my Lord. That's not true faith. He's my
Savior, but He's not my God, my Savior. That's not true repentance. You see, true faith and true
repentance own His sovereign Lordship. That's right. Preacher, can you make good on
that? I think I can. Find 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter
2. This is one way that I know I
have true repentance and true faith. True repentance loves
the sovereignty of God. True faith loves the sovereignty
of God. If you buck at those things, but, but, but, but, you
don't have true faith. You don't have true repentance.
Now, I'm saying that true faith and true repentance bow and acknowledge
and love the sovereignty of God. in salvation, in creation, and
in providence. 2 Timothy 2, verse 25. Let's back up and read. Well,
verse 25. Verse 23, let's start there.
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender
strife. And the servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt, able to teach, patient,
in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, and peradventure,
God perventure will give them repentance to Acknowledging the
truth That they may recover themselves out of the snare the devil have
taken Captive by him who are taken captive by him at his will
so true repentance does what I Acknowledging the truth of
who God is, holy, just, righteous, of who we are, sinners, of who
the Lord Jesus Christ is, God our Savior, who actually saves
His people and salvation all by His grace. What about faith? What about true faith? Flip one
page, Titus chapter 1. You see, true faith acknowledges
the sovereignty of God in salvation. And in all things, Titus 1.1,
Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to
the faith of God the elect, and the acknowledging of the truth,
which is after godliness, or glorifying the God in hope of
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, hath promised before
the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word
through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment
of God our Saviour." What does true repentance do, does? acknowledges the truth. What
does true faith do? Acknowledges the truth. Fifthly,
both faith in Christ and repentance toward God, now listen carefully,
this is key, are not isolated experiences. It's not something
isolated way back. Well, one time I did believe.
No, if you ever did, you still do. If you ever repented, You're
still repenting. Now there's an article in the
bulletin today by Pastor Mahan on that very fact. If you stop
believing, you never did truly believe. If you stop repenting,
you never did truly ever repent to begin with. You see, it's
just not some isolated act. Repentance is a life of repentance. Faith is a life of faith. We're
looking, coming, repenting, believing Him all the time. So, faith and repentance are
not isolated, single, one-time experience, but rather a lifelong
state of being that is both powerful I mean, it's powerful. It works
powerfully in you. It's perpetual. It's ongoing. It's permanent. It's permanent. It's a permanent fix. It's growing. That which is alive and given
of God grows. It's increasing. And it never
ends. Now, it never ends in this life. Now, one day faith will end in
sight. And one day we'll have nothing to repent of. But both
faith and repentance in this life never end. We're continually
believing the gospel. Believers do continually come
to Christ, as Peter writes in 1 Peter 2, to whom coming? Believers
do continually look unto the Lord Jesus Christ. We studied
in Hebrews 12, remember? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. And believers do continually
believe on Him. all the time. Here's the sixth
thing, both faith and repentance toward God, now listen, listen
carefully, both faith and repentance toward God are the fruit and
evidence of salvation, not the cause or ground of salvation. Now this religious world has
flipped that upside down. They think if you're sorry long
enough And if you repent long enough that somehow you earn
God's favor. Well, you just put salvation
by grace. You just destroyed that. Now
you've got, you've made repentance that's a gift of God, but you've
made repentance a work. And if you repent long enough
and hard enough and shed enough tears, somehow you're going to
earn God's love. That's a lie. That's a lie. You see, repentance is the fruit
and evidence of salvation, not the cause. You don't believe to be born
again. That's impossible. A dead man
can't repent. A dead man can't live. We're
spiritually dead in sin. God must give life. God must
raise us from the dead. And when he does, he gives us
a new heart, a new nature that is a repenting heart, a believing
heart, a broken heart, a convicted heart that always looks to Christ
alone for all salvation. Now, we read in 1 John 5, 1,
whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, how important is
the new birth? Our Lord said, except you be
born again, you cannot see, understand, repent, or believe the gospel.
Except you're born again, you can't enter into the kingdom
of God. So faith and repentance are not the cause of the new
birth. They cannot be. Faith and repentance are the
evidence of the new birth. That's so clear. That's so plain. That's what this book teaches.
Faith and repentance are the fruit of the spirit, not the
product of the flesh. Faith is a gift of God. The fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, meekness, temperance,
faith. Faith in Christ. We believe according
to the work of His mighty power. Our Lord said in John 6, No man
can come to Me except the Father which sent Me, draw him. We have to be drawn. We have
to be quickened. You have He quickened who were
dead. And when He quickens us by His
sovereign power, by His Holy Spirit, of His own will, begat
He us with the word of truth. We're going to study that in
James chapter 1 verse 18. When He raises us from the dead
by His will, by His grace, and gives us life in Christ Jesus,
we believe the gospel. And we have a continual repenting
heart. Here's the seventh thing. Both
faith in Christ and repentance toward God come at the same time. You say, which is first? We don't need to even consider
that. They come at the same time. They're
given by the same hand of God. They bloom in the heart of the
regenerated spirit. They bloom in the heart by the
regeneration of the Holy Spirit in us. They're given at the same
time and they bloom at the same time. Where you find one, where
you find a true repentant sinner, you know what also you find?
You find a believing heart, a trusting heart. Where you find one, you
find the other. Brother Mahan used to always
use this illustration. Repentance and faith is like
a piece of paper. A piece of paper has two sides.
It's one piece of paper, but it has two sides. And that's
what faith and repentance, they're inseparable graces given of God. There's an article in the bulletin
today on the back page, don't read it now, but I think in that
article you can find a good fit description of what true repentance
leads unto. You see, if you miss true Holy
Spirit conviction, you'll miss true repentance. If you miss
true repentance, you'll miss faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you miss faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to
miss salvation by God's grace. When He has come, the Holy Spirit,
He will reprove the world of sin, of judgment, of righteousness,
and of judgment. If you miss true repentance,
you'll miss true faith in Christ. Now listen to this. As repentance
grows, now you know this is so, you who have been believers a
good while. As repentance grows, so does
conviction of sin. As we grow more in grace and
we grow more in repentance, so do we grow more in the conviction
of what we are before God. As we grow in grace, we see more
of our ugliness, don't we? We see more of His goodness and
His holiness, but we see more of our ugliness. We can say with
the Apostle Paul, and he didn't say, O wretched man that I used
to be when I was Saul of Tarsus. He's speaking this as the Apostle
Paul, O wretched man that I am. That's a repentant heart. As
he said, I count everything else dung, lost, and ruined that I
might win Christ and be found in Him. That's a repentant heart.
As repentance grows, so does conviction of sin. As our faith
grows, the greater our love and esteem and appreciation grows
for the Lord Jesus Christ, who put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. As we grow in faith, our esteem
of Him doesn't grow less and less. We say with John, He must
increase, I must decrease. That's true faith. That's true
repentance. Someone said this, self must
sink in repentance that Christ may be raised up in our heart
to trust him. That's pretty good. Here's another
saying of an old preacher, when we've grown too big for repentance,
we have grown too proud for faith. One more. When faith is tempted
to climb to presumption, repentance brings it back to sit at the
feet of our Master as a little child to learn of Him. I like
all three. You see, in this vital matter
of faith and repentance, the Lord Jesus Christ is foremost. A repentant heart looks to the
Lord Jesus Christ for all things. Forgiveness, pardon, Redemption? Faith doesn't look, we say faith
is not subjective. And I know, I think you know
what I mean by that. Faith, the true saving faith
doesn't look inwardly for assurance or confidence or salvation. Faith
is what we call objectively. Objective, we look to Him, the
object of saving faith. Our Lord said, look unto me and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. I am God and there
is none other. True repentance says, guilty before God. Guilty. Stop your mouth, let every heart
become guilty before God. True repentance says we're guilty
before God. True faith looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ for complete justification before God. Being justified freely
by His grace to the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
True repentance says, I used to be a sinner. True repentance
says, I am a sinner. True repentance says, we are
sinners. We've all sinned to come short of the glory of God.
True faith looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for all righteousness. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
imputes righteousness without works. True repentance says,
we're empty. Man has bestated altogether vanity. True faith looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ for all fullness. In Him was all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, and were complete in Him. Of His fullness
have we all received grace for grace." That conversion experience
that's all whoopee-do, but lacks deep conviction, is phony. It's not real. phony faith that lacks deep conviction. That faith that lacks deep conviction
is phony faith, not real faith. Now, let us not be afraid to
examine ourselves whether we have true saving faith that looks
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not be afraid to examine
ourselves, do I have a repenting broken spirit? He's nigh unto
them of a broken heart? Save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. Do I have repentance that leads
to faith in Christ? Do I have that faith that leads
to repentance? Always looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. These two graces that are gifts
of God are inseparable. Now you remember that scripture?
What God had joined together, let no man put asunder. Repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. God grant us to believe the gospel
and to continue to repent and have a repentant heart before
God.